Rhode Island
2024 Olympics: From basketball to sailing and everything in between here’s how RI is contributing
There is a certain feeling that comes with having a local connection to Team USA.
The Olympics have the ability to awaken something visceral inside us. It’s our nation against the rest on a grand stage, and our fellow citizens have provided us with more than a few recent memorable moments.
Elizabeth Beisel is perhaps the best example of this. Her three trips to the summer games in Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro brought two medals back to her North Kingstown home.
This comes back to the surface now with the Summer Games in Paris. Here are the folks the Ocean State has put on the world stage to represent Team USA.
- Tammi Reiss, assistant coach, 3×3 basketball
- Stu McNay, sailing
- Emily Sisson, distance running
- Emily Kallfelz, rowing
- Jovana Nogic, basketball
Be sure to follow along at Providencejournal.com for all the news about RI’s Olympic athletes.
Here’s what we know so far: Who are the Summer Olympians with RI connections?
In detail: Now that Rhode Island women’s basketball coach has reached the Olympics, she has one more goal
When RI’s acclaimed woman’s basketball coach, Tammi Reiss was growing up there was no WNBA there was only the Olympics and she’s had her sights set on that podium since elementary school.
Reiss was a star at Virginia — that’s one dream down. The next will come true later this month when the University of Rhode Island women’s coach travels to Paris as a member of the Team USA 3×3 women’s basketball staff.
She’s chancing a gold medal on the sport’s biggest stage.
More: Now that Rhode Island women’s basketball coach has reached the Olympics, she has one more goal
In detail: Former Providence basketball star Jovana Nogic eager to play for native Serbia in Olympics
Jovana Nogic’s time on the Providence College’s women’s basketball team reminded her of the “American Dream” she saw in movies and television shows as a youngster in Portugal. But competing in the Olympics for Team Serbia is a whole different type of dream come true.
“It’s something that I’ve worked toward for my entire life and something that I had set up as a goal since I was a little girl,” Nogic said. “It’s a fulfillment of a dream.”
Born in Serbia, Nogic didn’t live there for long as her parents left when she was 2 years old.
Now she’s representing them on the big stage.
More: Former Providence basketball star Jovana Nogic eager to play for native Serbia in Olympics
In detail: Jamestown’s Emily Kallfelz lands on U.S. Olympic rowing team for 2024 Summer Games
Emily Kallfelz’s rowing career began levels above water.
Her training started in the attic of her family’s Jamestown home. There, Kallfelz learned the grueling sport on the family’s rowing machine during sessions every morning with her father in their home. It eventually produced
.
The 27-year-old qualified for her first Olympics and will compete at the Paris Games in the Women’s Four.
“It’s not necessarily like being anxious or nervous, but I’m definitely feeling like this is kind of the culmination of what we all have been working toward for so long,” Kallfelz said of the Olympics.
More: Jamestown’s Emily Kallfelz lands on U.S. Olympic rowing team for 2024 Summer Games
In detail: NBC broadcaster on Providence’s Stu McNay’s chances at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris
The world-class sailor from Providence will compete in his fifth Olympic Games this summer, this time in the mixed-470 class alongside Lara Dallman-Weiss. This is the first time the 470 will be a mixed class at the Olympics and McNay attempts to improve on his ninth-place finish at Tokyo in 2020 and fourth-place spot at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The 42-year-old also scored 14th and 13th finishes at London (2012) and Beijing (2008). McNay was a two-time All-American at Yale and is a three-time national champion.
More: Gary Jobson on Providence’s Stu McNay’s chances at the 2024 Summer Olympic in Paris
What about the 2022 Olympics? 8 people with ties to Rhode Island who will be at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
While there are several other states without native athletes competing in the Olympics, a closer look finds that there are multiple connections to the Ocean State in these Games, which are to open officially on Friday.
Here are the Rhode Island connections to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games:
More: 8 people with ties to Rhode Island who will be at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
It’s filled in now, but in its prime Rocky Point pool hosted Olympians. Here’s the story.
At Rocky Point State Park, vestiges of an old saltwater pool remain along the right side of the road that used to be the main entrance to the amusement park.
These days, it’s full of grass, outlined by the cement perimeter from which kids used to jump in on a hot summer day. It’s marked by a sign explaining what used to be there — how it was 12 feet deep in the center and had three diving boards and two slides.
A note on the bottom of the sign reads, “Fun Fact: The 1936 U.S. Olympic Men’s swimming trials were held at this pool.”
Here’s the story: It’s filled in now, but in its prime Rocky Point pool hosted Olympians.
Did you know RI Olympic medalists get a special license plate? Here’s who has one.
In Rhode Island, scoring a coveted single-digit license plate is almost like winning the Olympics.
And winning an Olympic medal entitles you to a low-number plate.
Since 2016, the Division of Motor Vehicles has honored local Olympians with a special series of plates featuring bronze, silver and gold medals and the interlocking Olympic rings. Text printed at the bottom identifies the driver as an Olympic medal winner.
Currently, the plates are only registered to five vehicles, according to DMV spokesman Paul Grimaldi.
RI’s best Italian restaurants: Federal Hill to South County our favorites
From Federal Hill to South County, the best Italian restaurants across Rhode Island.
Journal Staff
- Social media ads are seeking diners for a “new televised dining experience” in Narragansett on April 6 or 7.
- The ads are presumed to be linked to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who was recently spotted filming a similar show in Reading, Pennsylvania.
- While a television production company has applied for filming permits in Narragansett, there is no official confirmation yet that Ramsay is involved.
NARRAGANSETT − Is celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay preparing to film a restaurant renovation show in town?
Ads posted on social media seem to suggest the possibility.
“Eat with us for free,” the ad says in all caps. “Come be a part of an exciting televised dining experience for a brand new show in your community.”
It then advises that producers are looking for diners to join them on April 6 or April 7 at 10:45 a.m.
Hopefuls are instructed to send an email to THECASTINGFORYOU@GMAIL.COM, including their full name, email, phone number, photo and party size. The subject line should read “NARRAGANSETT” followed by the preferred date to attend.
Why should anyone think Gordon Ramsay is behind the ad?
Two week after the same ad (with different dates) solicited diners in Reading, Pennsylvania, Ramsay, currently starring in “Kitchen Nightmares,” was spotted with a film crew in Reading.
A similar scenario involving Ramsay recently played out in Maryland.
Steven Feinberg, head of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, confirmed that a television production company had applied for permits to film in Narragansett but declined to give further information.
The Providence Journal called Narragansett Town Manager James R. Tierney on Tuesday afternoon and left a message seeking information about a television show coming to Narragansett, but he had not responded by Tuesday evening.
Ramsay is not a stranger to Rhode Island. His “Kitchen Nightmares” came to Providence in March 2011 to save the restaurant called DownCity. It closed in December of that year. The original episode included what Ramsay called “one of the biggest fights in the history of ‘Kitchen Nightmares,’” between Ramsay and restaurant owner Abby Cabral.
PROVIDENCE – A dean of students for public schools in Cranston, R.I., was arrested on the suspicion of drunken driving after police allegedly found him passed out behind the wheel of a Volvo SUV and stopped at an intersection early on Monday morning, according to authorities.
Vincent L. Turchetta, Jr., 61, was charged with driving under the influence and with refusal to submit a chemical test, Cranston police wrote in a report.
Court records show Turchetta was released on personal recognizance later on Monday. An arraignment is scheduled for April 8.
Turchetta did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Jennifer Cowart, a spokesperson for Cranston Public Schools, confirmed in an email that Turchetta is a district employee.
“Cranston Public Schools administration is aware of the incident regarding Vincent Turchetta,” the district’s leadership team said in a statement. “This is a personnel matter and therefore, the district has no further comment.”
According to a police report, authorities responded to a 911 call around 12:44 a.m. reporting a man passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle at the intersection of Park and Reservoir avenues.
Responding officers found a gray, Volvo SUV stopped in the westbound left turn lane, as well as two other vehicles behind it attempting to turn left onto Reservoir Avenue while beeping their horns.
In body camera video footage obtained by the Globe, an officer can be seen knocking on the driver’s side window of the vehicle several times. When the man – who later identified himself on video as Turchetta – responds, the officer tells him to take his foot off the brake, put the vehicle in park, and turn off the engine.
“While I was briefly inside of the cabin of the vehicle, I could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage,” Officer Nicholas Snowling wrote in the report.
Turchetta told police he was heading home after going to a house party in Warwick and that he had three beers, the video shows.
When asked why he was stopped at the intersection, Turchetta told police, “I don’t know, man. I was just trying to get home,” the video shows.
Snowling wrote that while he was speaking to Turchetta, he could “smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, along with mumbled speech and blood shot water[y] eyes.”
According to police, Turchetta declined to take field sobriety tests, at which point officers told him he was under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence.
According to a 2021 report from The Cranston Herald, Turchetta previously served on the Cranston School Committee.
He resigned from the Ward 4 seat that year, telling the Herald it was “a good time to take a break” and citing scheduling issues, as he was teaching at the Community College of Rhode Island and at Coventry High School at the time.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
The Rhode Island Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at March 31, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 31 drawing
12-41-44-52-64, Powerball: 25, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from March 31 drawing
08-31-39-40-42, Lucky Ball: 04
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Numbers numbers from March 31 drawing
Midday: 7-5-3-5
Evening: 2-6-2-8
Check Numbers payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Wild Money numbers from March 31 drawing
03-09-31-34-36, Extra: 06
Check Wild Money payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes less than $600 can be claimed at any Rhode Island Lottery Retailer. Prizes of $600 and above must be claimed at Lottery Headquarters, 1425 Pontiac Ave., Cranston, Rhode Island 02920.
- Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot winners can decide on cash or annuity payment within 60 days after becoming entitled to the prize. The annuitized prize shall be paid in 30 graduated annual installments.
- Winners of the Lucky for Life top prize of $1,000 a day for life and second prize of $25,000 a year for life can decide to collect the prize for a minimum of 20 years or take a lump sum cash payment.
When are the Rhode Island Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 11:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:30 p.m. ET daily.
- Numbers (Midday): 1:30 p.m. ET daily.
- Numbers (Evening): 7:29 p.m. ET daily.
- Wild Money: 7:29 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Rhode Island editor. You can send feedback using this form. Our News Automation and AI team would love to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us.
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