The Newport City Council will convene a special meeting Tuesday evening to consider a resolution advocating for the continued operation of the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center at Newport Hospital, as the facility faces potential closure due to budget constraints.
The meeting, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, in the Council Chamber at City Hall, comes as Newport Hospital’s parent company, Brown Health, grapples with “substantial budget shortfalls” that are forcing consideration of cuts to programs and services across the system.
In his weekly newsletter to supporters Sunday, Councilor Xay Khamsyvoravong outlined the stakes facing the community, warning that closure of the birthing center would create “The Last Generation of Newporters” if expectant mothers are forced to travel off-island for delivery services.
“Newport Hospital is considering cuts to services and is specifically considering closing the Birthing Center, where the next generation of Newporters are delivered,” Khamsyvoravong wrote in the email titled “The Last Generation of Newporters?”
Advertisement
The timing is critical, as Newport Hospital welcomes a new president on Monday who will immediately begin working on the hospital’s fall budget—with the birthing center’s fate “put squarely on his agenda.”
Economic and Safety Concerns
The proposed resolution outlines several concerns about closing the birthing center, including impacts on emergency services and the local economy. According to the document, expectant mothers typically make 2-4 impromptu trips to a delivery unit before giving birth, and without local services, they would likely overwhelm Newport Hospital’s already strained emergency room before being diverted elsewhere.
The resolution also warns that closure would increase demand on the city’s Fire and Rescue Department, whose ambulances would be “increasingly called upon to transport expectant mothers to off-island hospitals, potentially during time-sensitive and medically urgent situations.”
From an economic perspective, the resolution argues that poor access to healthcare would be “yet another reason young families with flexibility won’t move here,” further exacerbating Newport’s challenges with attracting and retaining families.
Advertisement
Personal Stakes
Khamsyvoravong brought a personal perspective to the issue, sharing memories of accompanying his mother, pediatrician Dr. Linda Rexford, on weekend hospital visits throughout her nearly five-decade career. He noted the irony that he wasn’t born at Newport Hospital himself, but spent countless hours there as a child.
“I have forty-one years of being told the people we rely on most are valued the least,” Khamsyvoravong wrote, referencing the compensation challenges facing primary care providers in Rhode Island.
Call to Action
The councilor is urging community members to make their voices heard before Tuesday’s meeting. He specifically called on residents to contact Sarah Frost, Executive Vice President and Chief of Hospital Operations at Brown University Health, as well as members of the Hospital Foundation’s boards and major donors.
Advertisement
“We need you to tell your story,” Khamsyvoravong wrote. “Newport Hospital and their parent, Brown Health, needs to hear it from you.”
The resolution, if passed, would be sent to Brown Health leadership, the President of Newport Hospital, the Governor of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Newport County state legislators, the Rhode Island Congressional delegation, and the town councils of Jamestown, Middletown, and Portsmouth.
The special meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, at Newport City Hall, 43 Broadway. The resolution is sponsored by Councilors Xay Khamsyvoravong, Stephanie Smyth, Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, Ellen Pinnock, and David R. Carlin III.
More from What’sUpNewp
Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run homer, Brayan Bello pitched one-run ball into the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 4-1, series-sweeping victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Advertisement
Read More
As more healthcare professionals earn doctoral degrees, patients struggle to navigate a system that prioritizes profit over personal care
Read More
Advertisement
Nine Homes Under $600K: Aquidneck Island’s Housing Market Reality
Read More
Advertisement
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Rhode Island Department of Transportation is facing a costly and dangerous problem after thieves stole roughly 11 miles of electrical wire from highways across the state, leaving long stretches of road without lighting and drivers at risk.
RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin said there have been at least 16 thefts in recent weeks, mostly in Providence, but also in Cranston, Johnston and Warwick. The agency first realized something was wrong after drivers began calling to report unusually dark sections of highway.
“Right now, about 16 sites or so around the Providence Metro area down into Cranston and Warwick and Johnston that we have different lengths of highway where the lights are out,” St. Martin said in an interview with NBC10.
Cars driving on the highway with no overhead lights. (WJAR)
Advertisement
St. Martin says thieves accessed underground electrical systems through manholes, cutting and removing large quantities of wire.
RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, speaking on WPRO Radio with NBC10’s Gene Valicenti, said the scale of the problem is staggering and growing.
“You would not believe how many locations throughout the state that we are experiencing the theft of our underground electric cables,” Alviti said. “They’re pulling it out and then selling it for scrap to make money.”
The thefts pose serious safety risks. St. Martin said the suspects are cutting into live electrical wires leaving drivers to navigate dark highways and roads.
The cost to taxpayers is also significant. According to RIDOT, the stolen wire alone carries a material cost of about $470,000, not including labor to reinstall it.
Advertisement
“When you just look at the amount of wire that we are talking about that we are missing now, it is about 11 miles worth of wire,” St. Martin said. “Just the material cost about $470,000.”
RIDOT says it will likely take several weeks to fully restore lighting along impacted highways, including I-195, I-295, Route 37, Route 10 and Route 6. The agency plans to install heavier, anti-theft manhole covers in the coming months and is working with state and local police to identify those responsible.
Drivers like Perry Cornell say the outages make already challenging roads even more dangerous.
“Dangerous,” Cornell said when asked how it feels driving through dark stretches of highway. “It’s unsafe.”
Lights off on the highway. (WJAR)
Advertisement
Cornell said the situation raises questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the thefts.
“Why wasn’t this stopped and why wasn’t there a preventative action taken by RIDOT to stop this from continuing to happen?” he asked.
RIDOT is asking the public to remain vigilant. Anyone who sees suspicious activity near highway manholes is urged to contact local police immediately.
Dolan was also ordered to pay a $100 fine, and has completed community service and a driving while impaired course, the records show. Dolan previously lost his license for three months.
“This plea was the culmination of two years of hard work and negotiations by both sides, resulting in a reasonable, fair, and equitable resolution which allows all concerned to move forward,” Michael J. Colucci, an attorney representing Dolan, said in a statement.
Get Rhode Island News Alerts
Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday.
Advertisement
Dolan was arrested and charged in September 2023 in Coventry, where he also allegedly threatened to shoot police officers.
A felony charge of threatening public officials was downgraded to the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge on Wednesday, according to court records. A third charge of reckless driving and other offenses against public safety was dismissed.
Dolan resigned from the police department in November 2023 while the City of Pawtucket was attempting to fire him. He was acquitted by a jury earlier that year after he shot a teenager in 2021 while off-duty that summer outside a pizza restaurant in West Greenwich.
Dolan, who had an open container of beer in his truck at the time, had argued he pursued the teen and his friends after seeing them speeding on Route 95. The group of teens saw him coming at them in the parking lot of Wicked Good Pizza and tried to drive away, while Dolan claimed he wanted to have a “fatherly chat” and shot at them fearing he was going to be hit by their car.
The teen driver, Dominic Vincent, of West Greenwich, was shot in the upper arm.
Advertisement
In 2022, Dolan was also charged with domestic disorderly conduct and domestic vandalism after he allegedly grabbed his 10-year-old son by the neck and threw him outside, according to an affidavit by Coventry police supporting an arrest warrant.
Then, while the children were in the car with his wife, Dolan was accused of throwing a toy truck at the vehicle and breaking the windshield, according to the affidavit. The domestic case against Dolan was dismissed about a week after it was filed, per court records.
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report. This story has been updated to include comment from Michael Colucci.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
Costco is nominating former US commerce secretary and Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo to serve on its board of directors, the Washington state-based retail giant announced last week.
“We are very pleased to nominate Secretary Raimondo for election to our Board,” Costco chairman Hamilton James said in a statement. “Her vast experience in global business, politics and international security at the highest level will add an important dimension to our current expertise. We look forward to her contributions.”
Raimondo served as Rhode Island governor from 2015 to 2021, when she was tapped to serve as the Biden administration’s secretary of commerce. Before entering politics in 2010, she worked in venture capital.
Her nomination will likely be voted on at the company’s next shareholders’ meeting, scheduled for Jan. 15.
Advertisement
The nomination comes days after the warehouse store announced it would sue the Trump administration over its tariff policy. Costco says the administration’s tariffs are unlawful, since they were imposed under a law that has historically been used to impose sanctions against other nations.
Earlier this year, Raimondo said she is considering running for president in 2028, becoming one of the first Democrats to do so. She also criticized the direction of the party and suggested it had ignored bread-and-butter economics issues in 2024 election loss to Donald Trump.
She added, though, that “if I thought somebody else would be better, or better able to win, I’d get behind that person in a minute.”
Costco does not currently operate any stores in Rhode Island. The nearest location is located on Interstate 95 in Sharon, Mass., according to the company’s website.
Last year, the company seemed to back away from a plan to build a warehouse at a shuttered correctional facility in Cranston, WPRI reported. Officials in Warwick and Smithfield have also expressed interest in bringing the box store to their communities.
Advertisement
Material from previous Globe coverage and Globe wire services was used.
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.
