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Garden City dining, top-paid state workers, Swift wedding. Journal top stories

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Garden City dining, top-paid state workers, Swift wedding. Journal top stories


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Here are some of The Providence Journal’s most-read stories for the week of Jan. 11, supported by your subscriptions.

Here are the week’s top reads on providencejournal.com:

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Cranston’s Garden City Center has announced two new restaurants that will be opening their doors this year and in 2027, and confirmed the sites for two other previously announced restaurants.

Each of the four restaurants will open its first Rhode Island locations at Garden City Center.

Journal food editor Gail Ciampa fills you in on the new lineup, where you’ll be able to get everything from noodles to bagels to authentic Mexican specialties and New Haven-style thin-crust pizzas.

Dining: Newport Creamery is gone. These restaurants are coming to Garden City.

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University of Rhode Island men’s basketball coach Ryan “Archie” Miller was once again the highest-earning state employee of the year in 2025, marking his third year at the top and among familiar faces.

A list of the state’s top 200 earners provided by the Department of Administration tallied up employees’ wages in 2025, until Nov. 15. It had little variation from previous years and saw the same five highest earners as 2024.

Each employee earned more than $200,000, and as usual it was overwhelmingly full of URI administrators and coaches, along with state police, correctional officers and health care staff at state hospitals.  

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Political Scene: Which RI state employees made the most money in 2025?

I asked Anna Gruttadauria if the terrible news of the Swiss nightclub fire had brought back memories of her daughter Pam.

Yes, said Anna – but really, she has thought of Pam every day since losing her almost 23 years ago in The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick. One hundred people died in that tragedy, and Pam Gruttadauria was the last. She persevered for three months at Massachusetts General Hospital before succumbing to her injuries at age 33.

The fire that killed 40 people at a club called Le Constellation at the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland was remarkably similar to the Station fire. Both were caused by indoor pyrotechnics that ignited flammable materials inside.

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Anna Gruttadauria and her husband, Joe, can’t help but ask themselves: How is it possible that the lessons of the Station fire were not learned?

Mark Patinkin: Swiss nightclub fire brings back memories for family of Station victim

Imagine a crowd of A-list celebrities descending on the village of Watch Hill in Westerly this summer to attend the wedding of mega celebrity Taylor Swift and football star Travis Kelce.

To Chuck O’Koomian, who owns Airline Express Limousine and Car Service with his wife, Ginny Cauley, it’s like a scene out of a horror movie.

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“It’s going to be a logistical nightmare,” O’Koomian told The Providence Journal, as part of our survey of wedding vendors about what it would take for the Ocean State to host a wedding befitting the world’s most popular woman.

No date or location has been announced for the nuptials, but here’s what would be involved in getting a large celebrity crowd to a wedding held at Swift’s Watch Hill mansion, the nearby Ocean House or the Watch Hill Chapel, where former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo and football star Christian McCaffrey tied the knot in 2024.

Local news: Why a Taylor Swift wedding might shut down Westerly streets

Amy Henion doesn’t live in a tiny house, per se, but her apartment is about as close as you can get to that in Providence. 

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She lives in the Arcade, the first indoor mall in America, which has been partially repurposed for residential living (there are 24 apartments each on the second and third floors of the old mall). 

Henion, who used to work for a tiny house blog and has written a book and even given a TED Talk about small living, moved in four years ago.  

She now runs a public Instagram page − “I Live in the Mall” − dedicated to life in the mall and her micro-apartment. 

What are the pros and cons of living in an apartment the size of three parking spaces? Read the full story to find out.

5 questions: Providence mall resident’s ‘dream’ apartment is just 250 square feet

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To read the full stories, go to providencejournal.com. Find out how to subscribe here.





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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick

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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick


WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.

Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.

According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.

The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.

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The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.

A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.

State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information


A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.

Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.

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McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.

“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”

“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”

The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.

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The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.

The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than $500K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than 0K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe


As the two-year anniversary of his wife’s death approaches, widowed single father Scott Naso is sounding an alarm to fellow parents across the country — and especially in Rhode Island, where he lives with his now 4-year-old daughter, Laila.



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