EAST PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — For nearly 60 years, the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame has inducted notables into its ranks, providing this tiny state with a boost of pride.
Rhode Island
How the decision to honor a Trump ally tore apart a Hall of Fame
Then came the matter of Michael Flynn.
In December, it emerged that Flynn — a Rhode Island native, retired lieutenant general and former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was later pardoned by Donald Trump — would be inducted into the Hall of Fame at its annual banquet this spring.
At least nine members of the organization’s board resigned in response. Some of this year’s other inductees said they would decline the honor. The husband of one of the board members who had resigned reported the group’s former longtime president to the Internal Revenue Service.
Of all the institutions torn apart by the rise of Trump’s brand of politics and ensuing backlash, this may be the smallest and most unusual.
In interviews, half a dozen former board members expressed disbelief and sadness at how the gale-force winds of partisan politics had wrecked the organization’s reputation. The columnist for the Boston Globe who first reported Flynn’s impending induction acerbically called the body a “hall of shame.” A previous honoree chastised the board for elevating a “radioactive” candidate like Flynn.
A key figure in the dispute is Patrick Conley, an 85-year-old lawyer with a pugilistic temperament who serves as Rhode Island’s official “historian laureate.” Conley was president of the Hall of Fame for 20 years until 2023 and still holds sway over the organization.
Conley defended Flynn’s induction to the Hall of Fame in an opinion piece in the Providence Journal. The decision to honor Flynn had been the subject of “vile coordinated protest,” he wrote in late December. The board would not withdraw Flynn’s induction but would defer it to “a more peaceful and rational time.”
He gave no indication of when that time would be.
Conley didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment. Lawrence Reid, the Hall of Fame’s president, declined to speak with The Washington Post. Flynn did not respond to a request for comment on his induction.
John Parrillo teaches history at a local university and served on the Hall of Fame’s board for seven years before stepping down in late December, saying he disagreed with Flynn’s “far-right, militaristic” vision for America.
“It tears my heart out that I had to leave it,” Parrillo said. “We’ve never talked politics.”
Inductees are celebrated at an annual ceremony opened by bagpipes and studded with local dignitaries. Each receives a statuette, a replica of the “Independent Man” atop Rhode Island’s State House. Parrillo already had his nominee for 2025 picked out: novelist Cormac McCarthy, who was born in Providence and died last year.
The nation’s tiniest state — just 48 miles in one direction and 37 miles in the other — longs for recognition. “Some say we’re a small state with a big inferiority complex,” said one former board member, who like several others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “This idea that there are Hall of Famers, great people, honorable people, is something Rhode Island craves in its psyche.”
It’s a small state in other ways, too. Parrillo lives in Middletown, Flynn’s hometown, and knew Flynn’s mother (“a wonderful person”). But when he learned that Flynn had received a majority of the board’s votes, he was stunned. “I said, ‘Holy cripe,’” Parrillo recalled. “They have every right to do whatever they want, but we shouldn’t put controversial people in the Hall of Fame.”
The controversy around Flynn goes beyond pleading guilty to a felony, a plea he later sought to withdraw before receiving a presidential pardon. He is also a high-profile proponent of conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election, which he baselessly claims was stolen.
In December 2020, he was part of a group that urged Trump to direct the military to seize voting machines, witnesses told a congressional committee. When Flynn was questioned by legislators investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. He has toured the country telling audiences that America is in the middle of a “spiritual war” and called for the nation to embrace “one religion” during an appearance at an evangelical megachurch.
None of that information was provided to the Hall of Fame’s board members when they gathered on a November evening at a red-brick office park in East Providence. In the packet of background material they received on the 18 candidates under consideration, there were three pages marked with Flynn’s logo: a biography highlighting his military service and role as national security adviser, together with a long list of commendations, according to a copy reviewed by The Post.
The next morning, John Tarantino, a prominent Rhode Island lawyer who had recently joined the board, sent an email to his fellow directors. “I have struggled since I learned … that Gen. Michael Flynn is a nominee for admission to the 2024 class,” he wrote in a message obtained by The Post. He noted that the trustees of the University of Rhode Island had voted unanimously to strip Flynn of his honorary doctorate, citing his felony plea and controversial comments.
Honoring Flynn would “jeopardize the success of our signature event” and force the board to answer “unnecessary and difficult questions” from the media for which “it would be hard to provide credible and reasonable responses,” he noted in the email. Tarantino urged his fellow board members not to vote for Flynn when they mailed in their ballots.
The following month, the board met via Zoom, former members said. That’s when it was announced that Flynn’s nomination had been approved, after receiving a majority of the 19 votes.
Ann Marie Maguire, who was the group’s treasurer, said her reaction to the news was one of total shock. “We just kind of sat there and said, ‘What?’” she recalled.
The resignation letters began arriving the next morning. Tarantino and Beatrice Lanzi, a former state legislator, wrote that the decision to honor Flynn was “disturbing” and “astounding.” (Tarantino declined to comment, and Lanzi did not respond.) Other resignations, Maguire’s included, swiftly followed.
One former board member dryly likened the decision to honor Flynn to a local Humane Society voting to support people harming animals. “It contradicts the mission,” the board member said.
But Conley — who describes himself as the organization’s “volunteer general counsel” — disagreed. In a Dec. 15 email sent to board members, Conley said he knew a college classmate of Flynn’s, who recalled him as patriotic and upright. “Has this leopard changed his spots?” Conley asked.
Flynn was the victim of a “weaponized FBI,” Conley continued, echoing a common Trump complaint. As a result, “I sought to vindicate Flynn in his home state.”
Maguire, the former treasurer, said that many of the Hall of Fame’s board members, including herself, were once students of Conley’s at Providence College, where he taught for many years. Conley brought Rhode Island history to vivid, pulsating life, she said. She described his class as the best course she ever took.
But when she joined the board, Maguire, 72, said she was startled by her former professor’s domineering ways, which included berating directors, particularly women.
Former board member Roberta Feather — a longtime professor of nursing at the University of Rhode Island — said that Conley called her a sexist slur in November during a disagreement over the process for putting forward a different nominee. Reached later by the Providence Journal, Conley acknowledged making the remark.
Feather and her husband, James Hackett, an attorney, said they found Flynn’s induction and Conley’s behavior unacceptable. In January, Hackett reported Conley to the IRS for potentially violating rules against “self-dealing” in a 2020 transaction in which Conley transferred his waterfront home, known as Gale Winds, to a foundation Conley runs. Conley said last month in an email to a reporter that he may have unknowingly run afoul of IRS rules.
On a recent afternoon at Gale Winds, a dark blue sedan with the license plate “JDPHD” was parked in the driveway (Conley has both a law degree and a doctorate). Just beyond the house were the waters of eastern Narragansett Bay, slate gray under a cloudy January sky. The woman who answered the door said Conley was unavailable.
Meanwhile, at least three of this year’s other inductees — the head of a breast cancer foundation, a former member of Congress and a nationally recognized oncology researcher — said they would decline the honor in the wake of the Flynn controversy.
The Hall of Fame’s annual banquet is still scheduled to take place in April. Flynn isn’t mentioned anywhere on the invitation. The current iteration of the organization’s website lists only nine board members, and the roles of vice president and treasurer are vacant.
Maguire, who resigned as treasurer, said the board needs to be overhauled for the organization to continue. While she describes herself as a former Trump fan, she has no admiration for Flynn, noting that he admitted to breaking the law.
“There are people from Rhode Island who have done so much,” she said. “Those are the people we should put on a pedestal, not Michael Flynn.”
Rhode Island
Pawtucket set to build hundreds of housing units as the next phase of the Tidewater Landing development begins – The Boston Globe
“Many people said it wouldn’t be done or couldn’t be done, and today we are here not only to say it’s getting done, but the funding is secure, and the construction of this infrastructure will begin within the next two months,” Grebien said.
Grebien anticipates the eastern side of the development will be fully built within three to four years, he said.
The work marks a step forward for the project, which had been burdened by persistent inflation in recent years. Rising costs led to a higher price tag than initially anticipated for the complex’s soccer and live entertainment stadium, the project’s first phase. The project relied on public bonds that are set to cost taxpayers more than $130 million over the next three decades.
State officials had originally said its financial support would pay for the stadium and other work around it, but with the difficult economic climate, the state later shifted nearly all of its financial backing to the stadium itself. Still, developer Fortuitous Partners has long said it will see through the rest of the public-private partnership, including hundreds of units of new housing.
“We’ve worked very hard over the last couple years to smooth over obstacles big and small to get us here,” Pawtucket City Council President Terrence Mercer said.
The next phase of the development will focus on a more than 10-acre swath of land along the eastern shore of the Seekonk River, across the water from the stadium, Grebien said. There, development firm Pennrose plans to construct more than 70 units of affordable housing, while Wood Partners plans to build 325 market-rate units, he said.
“The financial stack is there,” Grebien said. “They’re ready to move …. They needed to see the stadium first to make sure it was that successful.”
The stadium has welcomed nearly 250,000 people since it opened in spring 2025, according to Dan Kroeber, managing partner at Fortuitous Partners.
“The evolution of this city, the evolution of Tidewater Landing is really just beginning,” Kroeber said.
For now, the city will build out stormwater infrastructure for that area, as well as “new sections of the public riverwalk, landscaping, lighting, and expanded public recreation spaces,” officials said. Pawtucket will also build a pedestrian bridge to link the development across the river.
“You’ve got the Seekonk River being activated, public and private investment, bringing new pedestrian connections, open space, and critical infrastructure down here — all the ingredients that we need to create a great neighborhood in this area,” said Quinlan Locke, vice president of development at Wood Partners.
According to Grebien, additional housing on the western side of the river, in what is now an unpaved parking lot just north of the stadium, will be built in a future phase. He said about 300 additional units are anticipated on that side of the river.
“Over the next four to five years, you’ll start seeing development on this side, if not sooner, because I think the market will push it,” he said.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
Rhode Island
‘Wallace the Brave’ creator draws on R.I. roots for beloved comic strip – The Boston Globe
Years went by and Henry, now 40, and with a family of his own, returned to his comic strip with a more poignant and real understanding of family life.
Henry talked to the Globe about his philosophy for the comic, creative inspiration, the four main characters — Wallace, Spud, Amelia, and Rose — and his old school approaching to drawing.
Q. Where did your love for comics originate?
Henry: Like most cartoonists, I’ve been drawing my entire life. It was something I’ve been doing since I was a kid and it was a passion that stayed with me through elementary school, high school, and even in college, where I was writing comics for the daily campus paper at the University of Connecticut. No matter what odd job I was doing I was always finding time to do cartooning at home. Andrews McMeel Universal gave me a chance to syndicate “Wallace the Brave” nationwide and internationally.
Were you doodling and thought ‘This might be a great career?” or did this come on later in life?
It came later on. When I was in elementary school, I was copying “Garfield” comics word-for-word to show my friends or copying “Far Side,” but it was just for fun and a creative outlet. It wasn’t really until that first year in college when I realized the job does exist. Someone has to do it. I thought maybe that could be me.
Describe “Wallace the Brave” and the world of Snug Harbor?
I would describe it as the view of a small town through the eyes of kids in grade school, full of mystery, and wonder, and adventure. and friendship. I take a lot of pride in the character development, but it’s a coastal New England town, which I think is why it would be perfect for the Boston Globe, and I think a lot of people in that area will see parts of New England that they recognize, even if it’s vague.
How much did growing up in Rhode Island — the Ocean State — shape that setting?
Oh, absolutely. I’m a child of the ’80s, where things were a little more lawless and there’s a bit of that in that comic. I’m really interested in just what happens when children get bored. Their mind wanders and adventure starts. Less screen time, more nature, and with Rhode Island being the backdrop of that, there’s a lot of ocean-focused scenery, and jokes. It’s almost like Easter eggs for the New England readership. It definitely has its heart in Rhode Island and New England.
What is “Wallace the Brave’s” origin, is it based on anybody you knew?
I’ve always kind of said the two main characters are Wallace and his best friend, Spud, and they’re opposites, but they’re very good friends. They counter each other’s weirdness and they appreciate each other’s weirdness, even if it’s a different kind of weirdness. The two characters are sort of my two personalities, just separated and magnified, and that’s where you kind of get the Wallace and Spud character. Wallace is who I want to be on a daily basis — positive, uplifting, and a ride or die friend — and Spud is the understated nervous worrier, which on my worst days I can be.
Do you think these characters all balance themselves out?
Balance is tricky. It’s more of about being true to the characters and giving them depth. I try to make them more than just two-dimensional characters, like, that one’s the nerd and that one’s the sports jock, because I have two kids, and they and their friends are not one-dimensional. They have many layers, I try to incorporate that with the way they interact with each other.
Are comparisons to Calvin and Hobbes humbling?
Oh, I love it. It’s one of the best comics ever made. I’ve had, and I get a lot of, comparisons with Calvin and Hobbs, Cul de Sac, and Peanuts, all awesome comics to be compared to. I will absolutely take it as a compliment.
Did you have any missteps on the way to syndication?
I’ve had a lot of failures in the cartoon world. I mean, I’ve probably had three or four comics before “Wallace the Brave,” and they progressively got better. The one before “Wallace the Brave” was called “Ordinary Bill,” and it had a little bit of a readership, and it was sort of that web-comic model, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t a great comic, and I abandoned it once the idea for “Wallace” came to me.
Why do you think comics about kids experiencing life unplugged — collecting bugs and flying kites — connects with readers right now?
It serves the same purpose as the comics serve in the newspaper as a whole. It’s a bit of escapism from the world. I want to live more like Wallace, but I’m still in front of a computer a lot, still checking out social media, so I think it’s a bit of escapism. One thing I’ve noticed — because as my kids come into reading age and are starting to read the comic more seriously — they’re taking cues from it. They want to be like the characters in it. I’m hoping a little bit of that trickles down to the kid audience, where they take a moment more to explore the world around them.
Are you using a computer to draw or hand-drawing your comic strip?
I am a dinosaur when it comes to that because I am still working pen and paper. I will usually watercolor them, but for for print in the Boston Globe, they’ll be colored digitally, just because it reproduces better.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
The Boston Globe’s weekly Ocean State Q&A features Rhode Islanders who are starting new businesses or nonprofits, conducting groundbreaking research, or reshaping the state’s economy. Send tips and suggestions to rinews@globe.com.
Carlos Muñoz can be reached at carlos.munoz@globe.com. Follow him @ReadCarlos and on Instagram @Carlosbrknews.
Local News
“Is Taylor Swift getting married here? Many, many, many have asked,” wedding planner Nicole Simeral said.
WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — When a large tent appeared next door to Taylor Swift’s Watch Hill estate this week, it didn’t take long for speculation about the superstar’s impending nuptials to ripple through the affluent New England seaside village — and the internet.
Soon, fans were swapping theories online, photographers were staking out vantage points and residents found themselves fielding questions about a wedding that never was. Or at least, a wedding that seems yet to happen.
The rumors, so far, have proved unfounded. But they offered a glimpse into life in Watch Hill, the Rhode Island beach community in the town of Westerly, close to the Connecticut border, where Swift has owned a home for more than a decade and where curiosity about the singer has become woven into everyday life.
Rumors take hold
From the nearby lighthouse, visitors craned for a better view of Swift’s mansion, a sprawling white home perched atop a rocky bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Security cameras dotted the property, and a guard called out to visitors who strayed too close.
Wedding planner Nicole Simeral, dressed in black, stood outside the small white chapel across from the massive yellow Ocean House hotel — Swift’s neighbor on the beach — waving along cars and buses that slowed and directing traffic to keep moving.
She watched visitors speculate about a wedding she said she knew wasn’t Swift’s. She’s working a different wedding every weekend in June in that spot. Still, the questions kept coming.
“Is Taylor Swift getting married here? Many, many, many have asked,” Simeral said.
She said there had been “a lot of chitter chatter” as people tried to connect sightings of people who know Swift in local shops to impending nuptials. But she doubted Watch Hill would be practical for a wedding of that scale because of its limited luxury lodging.
The Watch Hill rumors also dovetailed with separate online speculation that Swift and her fiance, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, were planning a celebration at Madison Square Garden, though no details about the pair’s wedding have been released, despite multiple requests for comment to Swift’s spokesperson.
The tent itself, Simeral said, was hardly unusual. “Next weekend, there’ll be another tent just like this.”
For two summers, Westerly Police Department community service officer Nick Quaratella has stood at the entrance to a public path leading to the beach beside Swift’s estate, answering questions from beachgoers and keeping traffic moving.
“They come to the beach, but then they also ask if she’s here or not,” Quaratella said.
He said he can’t help but joke around with some fans.
“I’ll say, ‘Oh, did you hear that she moved?’” he said. “And they’ll say, ‘No.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson moved in.’ And they’ll go, ‘Oh, really?’ and then they’ll walk away.”
“That’s pretty funny,” he concluded.
Over the years, he’s seen plenty of unusual reactions. His coworker once spotted a fan on their knees, bowing toward the entrance gate near the property. Visitors have shouted “I love you, Taylor!” from the roadside. One woman convinced her granddaughter he was Swift’s security guard and posed for a photo with him.
Quaratella has fielded a few questions about the supposed wedding, but not as many as he expected.
“At this point, it’s part of my job,” he said. “It makes me smile. It makes me laugh. I have no problem with it. It makes the day go by.”
Living with Taylor Swift
Down near a strip of beach boutiques, lifelong resident Lauren Nigrelli said the frenzy surrounding the star has eased since Swift first moved into the neighborhood in 2013. Back then, Nigrelli recalled, fans would drive around in circles by her shop playing Swift’s songs.
“Things have definitely calmed down since then,” she said.
Today, Swift’s presence remains a fixture among local businesses in what she described as a “quaint New England coastal community.” Nigrelli, a Realtor who owns the boutiques Tide and Tide Kids, said she began selling apparel emblazoned with “Holiday House,” the nickname associated with Swift’s mansion, after children began coming into the store asking for it. On Saturday, she was also selling a Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding sticker book.
“I think every shop has something related to her,” Nigrelli said.
On the beach below the mansion, Audrey and John Curtis, a married couple from Connecticut who have been vacationing in Westerly for years, settled into beach chairs and debated the wedding rumors.
“We were just looking up at her house,” Audrey Curtis said, pointing toward the mansion. “She’s not getting married here now, though.”
Curtis said she had heard various theories, including speculation that a wedding might be held at Ocean House. But as she thought through the logistics, she became skeptical.
“Then I was thinking about, ‘How would everybody get here?’” she said. “In New York, you’ve got JFK, you’ve got LaGuardia, and she’s got two penthouses in New York that she combined, so I figured they could obviously have more people there.”
Her husband wasn’t so sure.
“They could lie and say it’s happening there, but it’s happening here,” John Curtis said. “When important people do things, they don’t want people to know.”
Six friends from New York, posing for photos in matching Watch Hill sweatshirts while celebrating a birthday, said Swift wasn’t the reason they chose the beach town, though they weren’t sure they would have discovered it if not for the singer.
Leslie Aucapina, 24, who attended Swift’s Eras Tour in Philadelphia, said she grew up listening to Swift’s music and thought the Taylor-themed merchandise was “really cute.” She liked that the excitement surrounding Swift helped local businesses and enjoyed visiting the inspiration for “the last great american dynasty,” a song about Holiday House from Swift’s 2020 Grammy Album of the Year-winning album, folklore.
But she said the speculation at times crosses a line. “If she wants to share it, she wants to share it,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s someone’s house.”
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
-
Lifestyle35 minutes agoDid you know? Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends
-
Education42 minutes agoThe Man of Faith Who Heard a Righteous Call in the Founding Credo
-
Technology45 minutes agoNvidia says its AI data center design runs hotter to use a lot less water
-
World50 minutes agoTrump says Colombia’s ‘El Tigre’ will be a ‘great president’ as socialist opponent launches legal challenge
-
Politics57 minutes agoDOJ investigating NYC coffee shop over hostile social post about pro-Israel politician
-
Health59 minutes agoPopular mommy blogger dies at 48 two years after devastating cancer diagnosis
-
Sports1 hour ago2026 World Cup Goals: Every Group-Stage Score Ranked From Best To Worst
-
Business1 hour agoBed Bath & Beyond begins reopening in California with a bonus: Old coupons will be honored
