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A battle is underway over recreational cannabis stores in Rhode Island – The Boston Globe

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A battle is underway over recreational cannabis stores in Rhode Island – The Boston Globe


“It’s the last thing I want to happen in the Rhode Island market,” said Edward Dow, chief executive of Solar Therapeutics, which has three dispensaries in Massachusetts and one in Rhode Island. “Don’t do what Massachusetts and every other state has done.”

Business owners who applied for Rhode Island’s 24 retail licenses last year are outraged by the potential about-face, arguing that should have been raised before they shelled out tens of thousands of dollars each to secure premises, hire lawyers, and pay nonrefundable application fees to the state.

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“Massachusetts is light-years ahead of us,” said Karen Ballou, who has applied to open a store on Main Street in Richmond. She noted Massachusetts, which has hundreds of stores open, is now considering social consumption lounges. “They’re going to be rolling that out, and we still don’t have retail stores.”

Ballou said she’s been paying $6,000 a month in rent on the Richmond property since September, and estimated she’s spent at least $50,000 on legal, architectural, and other costs. The state required potential cannabis retailers to have a fully executed lease and zoning certificate before applying for a lottery for one of the 24 licenses. The deadline to apply was Dec. 29.

“We knew that it was a gamble,” Ballou said. But nearly four years since legalization, she asked: “Why isn’t the process moving faster?”

Michelle Reddish, the administrator of Rhode Island’s cannabis office, declined repeated requests for an interview about the upcoming lottery. Spokesperson Charon Rose said the state is aiming to hold it in June, but first has to finish reviewing applications and contend with other factors, including three federal lawsuits challenging a requirement stores be owned by Rhode Island residents.

Rose said no decision has been made on how many licenses will be issued at the lottery.

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The Cannabis Control Commission is considering a phased-in approach, prompting alarm among those who already applied under the assumption that all 24 retail licenses are in play.

“You can regret the rules that you set, you can wish that you made them different, you can change them for the next round, but you can’t move the goal posts after the game is over,” said David Rozen, who applied to open a dispensary in an old Pizza Hut on Reservoir Avenue in Cranston.

The new stores could reshape Rhode Island’s cannabis market. The original medical dispensaries were large facilities relegated mostly to industrial zones, far from the foot traffic of neighborhoods or busy commercial hubs.

Now, under more permissive zoning and changing attitudes toward cannabis, smaller stores could open on busy commercial strips such as Thames Street in Newport or in downtown Providence. They could squeeze in next to a bakery or yoga studio, becoming part of the fabric of everyday life.

The Merchants Bank Building, located at 20 Westminster St. in downtown Providence. A prospective business owner is pitching a cannabis dispensary on the first floor.Alexa Gagosz

There are eight dispensaries currently selling recreational cannabis in Rhode Island after lawmakers in 2022 allowed existing medical marijuana centers to get a hybrid license to sell recreational pot as a transitional measure until the Cannabis Control Commission could get up and running. They sold a combined $120 million worth of cannabis last year.

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But new retailers were always the plan. They include special “social equity” licenses set aside for applicants who were disproportionately affected by marijuana prohibition, as well as for worker cooperatives. The law also set a cap of four stores in each of six geographic zones. (Just 6 of 33 Rhode Island municipalities ban cannabis stores.)

Ambrose Dwyer told the Globe he “got arrested for a joint” in 1982, and again in 1991, felony convictions that ultimately destroyed his life, he said. He wants to open in a former dry cleaning business on Chalkstone Avenue in Providence under the social equity license.

“They’re scared of competition,” Dwyer said of the existing eight dispensaries. “They’ve got a monopoly, and they’ve got their prices through the roof.”

With far fewer stores per capita, Rhode Island prices are higher than Massachusetts, at $5.67 per gram compared to $4.17 per gram in Massachusetts, according to the cannabis commission.

As prices drop, some stores in Massachusetts have been closing.

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“They should not allow dispensaries on top of dispensaries on top of dispensaries,” said Joe Pakuris, who owns the Mother Earth Wellness dispensary in Pawtucket, which is about 2.5 miles from the only one in Providence, the Slater Center, which opened in 2013.

Pakuris said rather than 24 licenses, the state should issue six to eight, and focus on areas that don’t have any stores, such as southern Rhode Island and the northwest corner of the state.

But a majority of applicants are concentrated around Providence and Newport, according to a Globe review of the submissions. In the northwest zone, where four licenses are available, only two applied.

Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket offers a “Flower Bar”, allowing customers to sniff cannabis before their purchase. The owners are concerned that opening too many dispensaries in Rhode Island could lead to oversaturation and price drops that would force businesses to close.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

The list of 97 applicants will likely be whittled down before the lottery. Around a dozen did not get zoning approvals by a March 2 deadline, and others could fail to meet requirements.

At most, the commission will issue 20 licenses, because not every license type received an application in each of the six geographic zones.

The state’s 57 cultivators who grow cannabis are also desperate for more stores. They cannot sell directly to consumers or to stores in other states, and many of the current dispensaries in Rhode Island also grow their own product.

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“We can’t wait,” said Allan Fung, a former Cranston mayor and lawyer who is representing multiple retail applicants and cultivators. “We’re asking to have the CCC conduct the lottery as soon as possible, granting all of the licenses at the same time, and not having a phased-in approach.”

The commission, meanwhile, is down to two members after chair Kim Ahern left in October to run for attorney general. Governor Dan McKee has not nominated a replacement, and his office did not have an update this past week.

Robert Jacquard, one of the two remaining members, said he does not yet know how he will vote on the number of retail licenses.

“I’m keeping an open mind,” Jacquard said.

The other commissioner, Layi Oduyingbo, did not respond to requests for comment.

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Marc Gertsacov, who wants to open a store on the first floor of the Merchants Bank building in Providence, said he, too, was “frustrated” by the delays and deliberation.

“I think that the state should let the market decide how much is too much,” Gertsacov said.

If selected, Gertsacov said he could open in a month or two. He picked the location because it could benefit from the foot traffic of tourists, college students, and workers in the city’s financial district who — for the first time in downtown Providence — could stop by after their 9-to-5.

“It’s a different version of a happy hour,” he said.


Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.

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RISP Kent County Arrests May 30: Stolen Vehicle – WarwickPost.com

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RISP Kent County Arrests May 30: Stolen Vehicle – WarwickPost.com


The Rhode Island State Police are stationed in several barracks throughout RI. Each week Troopers make multiple RI arrests, including Kent County arrests and Coventry arrests, recorded in the RI Trooper Log.
The Rhode Island State Police are stationed in several barracks throughout RI. Each week Troopers make multiple RI arrests, including Kent County arrests and Coventry arrests, recorded in the RI Trooper Log.

COVENTRY, RI — Coventry area Kent County arrests in the RI Trooper Log  May 18- 30 involved charges for possession of a stolen vehicle and fentanyl possession.

Here are the basics on those RI State Police Kent County arrests and Kent County arrests:

Kent County Arrests May 18 – 30

Stolen vehicle On Wednesday, May 27, at 2:04 p.m., troopers arrested Miriam Ndemba, 26, of 147 Devonshire Street, Providence Rhode Island, on an Affidavit and Arrest Warrant for Vehicle Theft, originating out of the Providence Police Department. The arrest was the result of a motor vehicle stop on Route 95 in the Town of West Greenwich. The subject was transported to the State Police Hope Valley Barracks where she was processed and later turned over to the Providence Police Department.

Missed Court, Weapons Charge On Thursday May 28, 2026, at 10:52 p.m., troopers arrested Joshua Harrington, 19, of 9 Bunny Trail, Hope, Rhode Island, for a Third Division District Court Bench Warrant for Failure to Appear for Pretrial Conference on the original charge of Weapons Other Than Firearms, originating out of the Coventry Police Department.

This arrest was the result of a motor vehicle stop on Cowesett Avenue in the Town of West Warwick. Harrington was processed at the Hope Valley Barracks and turned over to the Adult Correctional Institutions Men’s Intake Center.

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Fentanyl Possession On Friday May 29, at 10:32 p.m., troopers arrested Victoria Barrett, 33 of 981 Main St., West Warwick, Rhode Island, for 1.) Possession of Schedule I to V Controlled Substance – Less than 10 Grams (Fentanyl) and 2.) Affidavit and Arrest Warrant for Possession of Schedule I to V Controlled Substance, originating out of the Rhode Island State Police – Lincoln Woods Barracks. This arrest was the result of a Barracks investigation by Seargent O’Donnell and Troopers subsequently taking Barrett into custody at her residence. Barrett was processed at State Police Headquarters, arraigned by the Justice of the Peace, and transported to the Adult Correctional Institutions – Women’s Intake Center.





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Liz McGraw Cries Revealing Unaired Details From Her and Jo-Ellen’s RHORI Clash (EXCLUSIVE) | Bravo

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Liz McGraw Cries Revealing Unaired Details From Her and Jo-Ellen’s RHORI Clash (EXCLUSIVE) | Bravo


For anyone wondering if Liz McGraw is still reeling from her clash with Jo-Ellen Tiberi on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, she is, ma. In fact, Liz even broke down into tears while revealing unaired details from their Episode 10 fight on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show.

Although the core drama that ignited during a car ride to South Boston was actually between Liz and Alicia Carmody, Jo-Ellen inadvertently entered the fray by trying to mediate their conflict. Even after they arrived for Rosie DiMare’s husband Rich DiMare’s Frank Sinatra-themed dinner show, Jo-Ellen’s peacekeeping efforts continued to rub Liz the wrong way, culminating with them sparring before, during, and after the performance.

“She’s yelling at me and simultaneously trying to fix my face,” Liz recalled. “Get your f–kin’ hand off me … It’s actually burning a hole through me. I don’t feel the love from your hand right now, or good intentions.”

A Complete Guide to the RHORI Cast’s Families, Friendships, Feuds & More (EXCLUSIVE)

Appearing to become emotional, Liz added, “I think, at the time, with all the s–t I was going through, my heart really just couldn’t handle it. That’s the truth. I just wanted away from it. I was steaming.”

After returning to her home in Rhode Island, Liz admitted that she’d “rage texted” Jo-Ellen, however. “I was just so mad,” she explained. 

Why Liz McGraw felt misunderstood amid her arguments with Jo-Ellen Tiberi and Alicia Carmody on RHORI

Ultimately, Liz chalked up her explosive reaction to the fact that nobody seemed to understand where she was coming from as they debated whether or not Alicia was ever actually “homeless” during her childhood.

From Liz’s point of view, the term “homeless” implied that she was living “on the street,” which she felt was insulting to Alicia’s “big, beautiful family” that opened their doors when her father sold their home and “abandoned” her and her mother. Either way, Liz previously insisted during Episode 9 that she wasn’t trying to be “insensitive,” but rather, she simply wanted to protect Alicia’s family members, whom she’d known her whole life.

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RHORI Midseason Trailer Teases an Arrest, Video Proof of Cheating, and More Drama

“I don’t know. I just really wanted to be, like, understood,” Liz tearfully added on the RHORI After Show.

When a producer asked why she was getting so upset, Liz elaborated, “Um… I know the way it looks. I know that this looks like I demand this absolute loyalty s–t. I don’t. I don’t need anyone’s loyalty. Just stop f–king with me. That’s it.”

She continued, “My harsh nature makes it easy to say … I’m like the attacker or something. But, like, I really don’t mean to be. I’m not trying to be the heavy-hitter, I’m not trying to, like, get karma on people. I’m not trying to do any of those things. I’m literally just trying to, like, survive and feel OK.”

Where Liz McGraw and Jo-Ellen Tiberi’s friendship stands after their RHORI fight

Jo-Ellen, for her part, doubled down on the After Show that she was simply “trying to deescalate the situation” between Liz and Alicia. She couldn’t help but remember how Liz had referred to her as “the devil” and “a demon,” however.

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When Alicia, meanwhile, questioned why she’d let Liz speak to her that way, especially when she’s usually “so strong with everybody else,” Jo-Ellen explained, “Because I care about her and because I want her friendship … We have fun when we have fun. And then when she turns that switch, it’s turned.”

During their meetup at the end of Episode 10, however, Jo-Ellen and Liz were unable to work through their issues. In a separate RHORI After Show clip, Jo-Ellen echoed her earlier comments about caring about the friendship, while Liz opened up more about their dynamic and why their initial reconciliation attempt had failed.

“Every time we have these fights, this is what ends up happening,” Liz said. “She’ll do something really f–ked up to me … And when I react or retaliate or say ugly things back, she will become the victim and be like, ‘You really hurt my feelings with that.’”

She added, “If you didn’t do it, there would be no feelings to be hurt, like, you know what I mean? And she rapid-fired these insults at me that I was not prepared for at all. I thought we were, like, trying to, like, work it out. But what did you expect from what you were just saying to me? I’m ‘so mean and nasty.’ I don’t hear that often. But do I feel the need to defend myself when it comes my way? Yeah.”

As Liz concluded, “I think I show how much I care by being hurt. I want you to understand me. I want you to understand where I’m coming from. But I think I am learning that people don’t have to understand me all the time. You know, I’m like, whatever. I am who I am.”

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As you wait to see if Liz and Jo-Ellen can repair their friendship, don’t miss a sneak peek at more drama ahead in the RHORI midseason trailer.



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9 Offbeat Rhode Island Towns To Visit In 2026

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9 Offbeat Rhode Island Towns To Visit In 2026


In Charlestown, a garden village called the Fantastic Umbrella Factory sells no umbrellas. What it has instead is bamboo paths, a flock of emus, and a greenhouse of carnivorous plants, all down a back road as though it needs no explanation. That matter-of-fact oddness runs through the nine towns here. Some keep working relics going rather than roping them off as exhibits, like a windmill in Jamestown still open to the climb and a portrait painter’s birthplace in North Kingstown with its waterwheel still turning. Others trade in the genuinely strange: troll sculptures hidden in the woods, and a stretch of open sand that locals call Rhode Island’s desert. None of them sit far apart, which is the quiet advantage of a small state.

Little Compton

The marina in Little Compton, Rhode Island.

Little Compton’s village of Adamsville holds Gray’s General Store, founded in 1788 and run by the same family for seven generations until it closed in 2012. Rhode Island officials once proclaimed it the oldest continuously operating general store in the country, and its marble soda fountain and penny candy still live in local memory. The store sold johnnycakes made from cornmeal ground at Gray’s Grist Mill, which sits about 100 yards down the road and just across the state line in Westport, Massachusetts. Elsewhere in town, the Whitehead Preserve at Dundery Brook runs a boardwalk trail through ponds and wetland forest. Sakonnet Gardens opens its tightly planted garden “rooms,” hidden pathways, and water features by limited reservation, so anyone hoping to see it should book well ahead.

New Shoreham

The National Hotel on Block Island in New Shoreham, Rhode Island, with U.S. flags on display.
The National Hotel on Block Island in New Shoreham, Rhode Island. Editorial credit: Ray Geiger / Shutterstock.com

New Shoreham is the town that covers Block Island, reached by ferry from the mainland. The Southeast Lighthouse, built in 1875, stands above the Mohegan Bluffs on the island’s south side, where a long stairway drops to a beach beneath the clay cliffs. People scoop the natural wet clay, let it dry in the sun, and rinse it off in the surf, a ritual that has become part of a Block Island summer. Inland, the 1661 Farm keeps a small menagerie of exotic animals, including alpacas, emus, and kangaroos, and rents rooms on the property along with a wellness center. Cars come over on the ferry, though the island is small enough to cover by rented moped or bicycle.

Charlestown

Sand Sculpture at the Seafood Festival in Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island
Sand Sculpture at the Seafood Festival in Ninigret Park, Charlestown. Image credit: TongRoRo / Shutterstock.com.

Charlestown is a quiet coastal town whose strangest stop is the Fantastic Umbrella Factory, the garden village named at the top of this list. Bamboo paths wind past small teepees and rock mazes to pens of emus, goats, and ducks, with bohemian shops and a greenhouse selling carnivorous plants such as the Venus flytrap. A few minutes away, Ninigret Park holds two of the giant recycled-wood trolls that the Danish artist Thomas Dambo has installed around the world, and tracking them down feels like a treasure hunt. The same park is home to Frosty Drew Observatory, which opens on Friday nights under some of the darkest skies in the state for views of the Milky Way, the planets, and distant nebulae. East Beach adds clear water and white sand for a quieter afternoon.

Jamestown

Aerial view of the Beavertail Lighthouse in Beavertail State Park in Jamestown, Rhode Island.
Aerial view of the Beavertail Lighthouse in Beavertail State Park in Jamestown, Rhode Island.

On Conanicut Island, the Jamestown Windmill is the town’s signature landmark, a three-story octagonal mill built in 1787 to replace an earlier 1730 windmill on the same hill. Its sails turned until 1896, and the structure still stands in the Windmill Hill Historic District, open for a climb up the winding stairs into the bonnet where the gears sit. The town marks it with Windmill Day each July. The shoreline carries a different kind of history: Beavertail, Fort Getty, and Fort Wetherill state parks hold concrete passageways and gun emplacements left from the island’s coastal defenses, with coves below for swimming and offshore wrecks for certified divers. Watson Historic Farm, a 265-acre colonial-era farm, runs hiking trails toward the water.

Lincoln

Aerial view of the historic village center of Albion in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Aerial view of the historic village center of Albion in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Lincoln Woods State Park is studded with glacial boulders that climbers know by name, among them Ship Rock, Buddy Boulder, and Bear Hug. Deeper in, an overgrown section locals call the “post-apocalyptic” woods hides old stone walls, abandoned structures, and roadbeds swallowed by trees. Olney Pond anchors the park with hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking, and the whole place stays quiet because it takes some effort to reach. Along the Blackstone River, the Blackstone River Bikeway follows the old canal past preserved 19th-century mill villages such as Ashton, including an elevated boardwalk over the Lonsdale marshlands.

Johnston

Tulip Farm in Johnston, Rhode Island.
Tulip Farm in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Johnston keeps its oddities in the woods. Snake Den State Park is scattered with ruins and relics that turn an ordinary walk into a low-key treasure hunt, while Johnston Memorial Park adds more open ground for a morning outside. Dame Farm and Orchards works year-round, with apple picking and a corn maze in fall, blueberries and peaches in summer, and wagon rides through the orchard’s wooded hills. The farm’s apple cider donuts have a following of their own.

Bristol

Adults dressed in British red coats from the American Revolution, march in a fourth of July parade in Bristol, Rhode island.
Adults dressed in British red coats from the American Revolution march in a Fourth of July parade in Bristol, Rhode Island. Editorial credit: James Kirkikis / Shutterstock.com

Bristol runs the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration in the country, first held in 1785 and still drawing crowds that dwarf the town. Its Main Street is painted red, white, and blue year-round, and on the holiday the bands and floats parade for hours before the fireworks close the night. The rest of the year, Bristol looks the part of a waterfront New England town, with historic architecture, the 18th-century Coggeshall Farm Museum at Colt State Park, and the open-air Chapel-by-the-Sea. The East Bay Bike Path runs 14.5 paved miles through coastal and wooded stretches, and the Beehive Café serves pastries and lunch by the water. On the strength of that July tradition, Bristol has been called America’s most patriotic town.

West Greenwich

West Greenwich Public Library in West Greenwich, Rhode Island
West Greenwich Public Library in West Greenwich, Rhode Island.

West Greenwich holds something a small New England state has no business having: a patch of open sand dunes that locals nickname The Dunes, or “Rhode Island’s desert.” It sits inside the Big River Management Area, roughly 8,300 acres where dunes meet woods and green swimming holes. Stepstone Falls is a multi-tiered cascade with an accessible swimming hole, and Breakheart Ponds opens onto horseback and mountain-biking trails. Just outside town, another of Thomas Dambo’s trolls hides near Browning Mill Pond in the Arcadia Management Area.

North Kingstown

Updike Square in Wickford Village, North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Updike Square in Wickford Village, North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

North Kingstown was the birthplace of Gilbert Stuart, the painter behind the portrait of George Washington that appears on the dollar bill. His restored 1750s home and mill still run a wooden waterwheel and gristmill, set among gardens, a millpond, and a stream where river herring migrate in from the Atlantic Ocean each spring on their way to Carr Pond. Nearby, Smith’s Castle preserves nearly four centuries of history on a site that traces back to a 1630s trading post, which makes the present house one of the oldest standing in Rhode Island. Casey Farm, an 18th-century working farm, overlooks Narragansett Bay, and the seaside village of Wickford, laid out around 1709, fills its blocks with eclectic shops and local eateries.

The Quieter Side of Rhode Island

What ties these nine places together is not a postcard version of New England but the opposite: working mills, a year-round painted Main Street, troll sculptures in the trees, and a desert that has no business existing. The state’s size means a person can string several of them together in a single day without much planning, and each one repays the detour with something genuinely its own.

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