Rhode Island
My Favorite Airbnb: A Beachy Rhode Island Bungalow
As a lot of my spontaneous weekend journeys do lately, it began with a textual content message: “Out of curiosity, whatcha as much as the weekend of October 21…” Two days later, my pal and I had booked an Airbnb.
Despite the fact that we deliberate this journey on the fly, it had a really deliberate intent: celebrating Taylor Swift’s latest album drop. And we could not consider a greater place to ring in Midnights than close to the singer’s storied seaside dwelling in Watch Hill, a coastal neighborhood on the most-southwestern level of Rhode Island (cue The Final Nice American Dynasty). We deliberate to stroll alongside the seaside, wander round city, and eat solely at eating places we might or might not have present in a ‘Taylor Swift information to Rhode Island’ article. And conveniently, our ladies’ weekend vacation spot was situated between New York and Boston, the place we dwell.
After a good quantity of looking out Airbnb for one thing that was cozy, cute, and straightforward to get to, we settled on an lovable bungalow in Westerly, a brief drive from Watch Hill. From Penn Station, I may take a three-hour practice trip on the Amtrak North East Regional. My pal was ready to select me up, having pushed in. (We have been glad to have a automobile that weekend, however there have been Ubers obtainable on the town had we wanted to seize one.)
From the practice station, it was a five-minute drive to the home, which felt prefer it may’ve been designed as a visitor dwelling, however had greater than sufficient room for 2. We every had our personal bed room with a queen mattress coated in a colorblocked quilt. In between, there was one lavatory and a big, open residing and kitchen space. One other large professional for metropolis house dwellers like me: The kitchen housed a washer and dryer, and the hosts left detergent to make use of.
As soon as we arrived on the Rhode Island Airbnb, we arrange store on the sofa beneath the comfy Woolrich blanket, chatting and watching YouTube movies on the good TV.
The house, inbuilt 1918, was stuffed with allure and quirks, and arrange with the whole lot we might want for our weekend keep—towels, further pillows, blankets. The renovated lavatory and kitchen had trendy home equipment and fixtures, and the area was very clear after we arrived, with decor that appears like an Residence Remedy function. I cherished the wallpapered washroom, farmhouse-style sink, and chopping block kitchen island and counter tops, and appreciated considerate touches just like the native soaps from Newport and plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bottles. (My one qualm within the lavatory—the water strain left one thing to be desired.)
Whereas we didn’t cook dinner on the home, there was loads of kitchenware and fundamental cooking provides within the cupboards (spices, oils). Because it was a fairly fast journey, we sadly didn’t benefit from the yard, both, however there have been idyllic porches in the back and front of the home, each with chairs and rugs, and a grassy fenced-in space out again with a loveseat and hammock when you fancy a night drink or morning espresso exterior. (A espresso maker and tea kettle have been within the kitchen.)
The hosts have taken care to make the area really feel homey however not cluttered, with beachy decor—California and Rhode Island-centric prints on the partitions, a buoy on the closet doorways within the bed room. There’s a document participant in the lounge and a bin stuffed with vinyls, plus design and structure espresso desk books. They left a bottle of wine for us within the fridge and a hand-written pocket book of the most effective issues to do, see, and eat within the space. They communicated with us effectively, making it recognized they have been there to reply questions or provide suggestions, with out overloading us with messages. (They have been additionally type sufficient to mail again a jacket we left behind.)
We solely had one full day in Rhode Island and a packed to-do record. All over the place we wished to go was not more than a 15-minute drive away. We began on the Cooked Goose for breakfast, then visited Napatree and Watch Hill Seashores, and at last spent a day in downtown Westerly’s espresso outlets, bookstores, and vintage outlets. For dinner, we ate the Olympia Tea Room, which has been open since 1916. Earlier than catching the practice the subsequent morning, we stopped into Knead Doughnuts for chai lattes and, duh, doughnuts, which have been scrumptious.
This Rhode Island Airbnb was the right dwelling base for our ladies’ weekend. The brilliant, sunny area provided loads of room for 2, however you may simply match 4 right here, as previous company have famous. One of the best half, although, was the benefit of getting there—it makes an excellent weekend escape for New Yorkers and New Englanders seeking to decelerate for a number of days.
Rhode Island
RI Senate to vote on gun ‘safe-storage’ law. What to know.
PROVIDENCE – When the state Senate votes Tuesday on proposed new “safe-storage” requirements for guns, it will, by chance, be doing so within days of this USA Today headline from Detroit: “School Gunman’s Dad Guilty of Manslaughter.”
There, James Crumbley, the father of a school shooter who killed four students and injured seven other people at Oxford High School in November 2021, was found guilty of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his son’s mental turmoil. Crumbley – and months earlier, his wife – were convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Safe storage bill draws opposition from Republicans
Closer to home, the proposed new Rhode Island safe-storage law that emerged from a Senate committee on a straight 9-to-3 party-line vote last week followed years of heart-wrenching testimony of family members left behind by a suicide in Warwick, as well as the accidental shooting death of a Johnston teenager at the hands of a friend playing with his uncle’s unlocked gun.
The three Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room cast the three nay votes.
They included Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz who, in her weekly newsletter, reiterated her belief that the legislation [H2202] co-sponsored by 28 of the 37 current senators is “an infringement on our right to self-defense with a firearm in our homes.”
And she was not alone. As both a Rhode Island National Guardsman and “Firearms Policy Coalition Member,” Christopher Morin of Coventry told the lawmakers in written testimony that the requirement that firearms “be secured in locked containers or equipped with tamper-resistant locks at all times when not in use” is impractical, “could delay or prevent individuals from defending their homes and loved ones in emergencies” and “infringes on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.”
He said the penalties could also add to the trauma of “individuals and families already suffering fromaccidents involving firearms” – presumably their own.
Arguments in support of the bill
But Rhonda Brewster, the mother of the 16-year-old shot to death by his best friend in Johnston in 2022, told legislators during one of the gun hearings last week that she has a chihuahua and a Rottweiler who would alert her of an intruder in plenty of time.
Working in child protective services for the state, she said, she also sees cases that don’t make the headlines where children get into guns and shoot themselves.
“Just within the last four months, we’ve had about six cases of children having access to guns – with their parents’ home – and shooting themselves,” she said.
More: RI faith leaders implore state ‘leaders to lead’ with assault-weapons ban and safe storage law
For South Kingstown Councilwoman Patricia Alley, last week’s hearings marked the latest in a year-after-year series of visits to the State House to recount the events that led to the suicide of her sister Allyson Dosreis at age 37.
“This bill would prevent other Rhode Island families from enduring the same devastation that my family and I have gone through after the suicide of my sister, Ally,“ she told the House Judiciary Committee.
Alley told lawmakers how she and her sister got close later in life when she reunited with her birth family. But COVID and the pandemic took a toll on her sister’s hairdressing business, and then her sister’s partner “abruptly” ended their 10-year relationship and listed their house for sale. He was active duty military, Alley said, and when his firearm wasn’t with him, it was in an “easily accessible location known to the family.”
“And when she was at her lowest, she used that gun to end her life,” Alley said.
“Suicide is often an impulsive act,” she told the legislators. “If you can prevent access to a gun, you can short-circuit that impulse and save a life.”
What would the penalties be for violating the safe storage law?
The potential penalties for violating the proposed new Rhode Island safe-storage law start with a fine of up to $250 a first offense, which would be treated as a civil infraction, to a fine of up to $1,000 for a second offense and up to six months in prison, and a fine of up to $500 for three of more violations.
The penalty gets steeper – a potential year in prison and $1,000 fine – for someone “who knows or reasonably should know that a child” or someone prohibited from purchasing a firearm “is likely to gain access to the firearm.”
The penalty increases exponentially for the gun owner if the unsecured gun is obtained by a child or a person prohibited by state or federal law from having a firearm and is then used to commit a crime or cause injury. Any of those scenarios would be punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Rhode Island
Massachusetts and Rhode Island Fought in Court Over This City
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of Rhode Island are nestled closely in what appears to be a perfect state of harmony in the southeast corner of New England.
However, it hasn’t always been such a cozy relationship for the two Revolution-era neighbors.
In 1861, not long after the start of the American Civil War, the Bay State and the Ocean State were embroiled in a bit of an imbroglio over border rights to, of all places, Fall River.
The dispute was not the only border battle to develop between the two states, or the other northeast states for that matter.
New Hampshire and New York fought over rights to Vermont, which ultimately declared its independence from both with the help of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys.
The border battle over what would become the South End of Fall River is near and dear to our hearts.
Some border disputes in the “New World” lasted more than 200 years, dating back to colonial times and the first settlements along Massachusetts Bay when the British throne began to hand out land grants.
Locally, a lengthy debate erupted over whether Massachusetts or Rhode Island and Providence Plantations controlled a portion of land later to become a part of Fall River.
The land dispute ended in 1861 when the U.S. Supreme Court awarded an 11 square mile area of disputed land to Massachusetts, creating the South End of Fall River and establishing the current border with Rhode Island.
The Fall River Herald News wrote a piece on the land dispute in 2019. There is also a more detailed account online from the book History of Fall River, the source of which could not be immediately traced.
KEEP READING: Scroll to see what the big headlines were the year you were born
Gallery Credit: Andrew Lisa
KEEP READING: What were the most popular baby names from the past 100 years?
Rhode Island
Chinese billionaire pleads guilty to straw donor scheme in New York and Rhode Island – The Boston Globe
When asked, an attorney for Adams, Vito Pitta, said: âAs the federal government made clear today, the campaign had no knowledge of a straw donor scheme â and no member of the campaign has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing.”
Qin was previously included on the Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion from his stake in film and entertainment companies, including the Honk Kong-based SMI Culture. He has been in U.S. custody since his arrest last October on charges of using a fake identification.
A phone call to his attorney was not immediately returned.
Campaign finance records show Qin, who is a Chinese citizen with a U.S. green card, donated $2,000 to Adams in March of 2021. Under the cityâs campaign finance rules, green card-holders can contribute to races and participate in the cityâs generous matching funds program, which caps donations at $2,100.
Nine months after he donated to Adams, federal prosecutors say Qin began working âto find individuals to make more than $10,000 in straw donor contributionsâ to an unnamed New York City candidate.
At least one person donated $1,000 on Qinâs behalf on Dec. 9, according to prosecutors. The following day, Qin spoke with an unnamed co-conspirator, who told him they expected to be able to obtain up to $20,000 in straw donor contributions for the candidate.
Adams, a Democrat, is currently facing a federal investigation for his fundraising practices that prompted the FBI to seize his cell phones last year. Earlier this month, agents raided the homes of one of his top aides, Winnie Greco, as part of an investigation led by the U.S. Attorneyâs Office in Brooklyn.
An investigation by Manhattan prosecutors into an alleged straw donor scheme over the summer resulted in the arrest of six people, who were accused of seeking to divert public money into Adamsâ campaign to gain political favors.
Prosecutors say Qin engaged in similar straw donor schemes to funnel donations to a U.S. representative in New York and a congressional candidate in Rhode Island.
Federal Elections Commission records show Qin donated $2,900 in 2022 to the campaign of Allan Fung, a Republican former mayor who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Rhode Island. Fung didnât respond to messages seeking comment Monday.
Records also show that a man named Jonathan Chau, who provided Adamsâ transition committee with $1,000 on December 9, 2021, gave $5,800 to a committee supporting Fung, and $2,900 to a committee backing Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Long Island Republican.
Prosecutors said Qin hid his illicit funding efforts from the officials they were intended to benefit, causing them to unknowingly file false campaign reports.
Chau could not be reached for comment. Garbarino did not respond to an emailed request.
As part of the plea deal, Qin also admitted that he filed a false application for lawful permanent residency status in the U.S. 2019 when he claimed to have never used an alias. In fact, prosecutors said, he was provided the alias âMuk Lam Li,â along with accompanying identification documents, by an official in the Chinese government in 2008.
He used that identity to transfer more than $5 million to a U.S. bank account, spending some of it on a luxury apartment in Manhattan, according to prosecutors.
Qin will give up his right to live in the U.S. and be deported as part of his plea deal, prosecutors said.
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