Rhode Island
Oregon wildfire explodes to half the size of Rhode Island
By Rich McKay
(Reuters) -Winds and lightning strikes have sparked and fanned wildfires across the Pacific Northwest this week, including the largest fire currently burning in the U.S., which was rapidly expanding near the Oregon-Idaho border on Friday.
The Durkee Fire near Huntington, Oregon, has scorched 600 square miles (1,600 square km), an area more than half the size of Rhode Island’s land mass, authorities said. It is threatening several towns.
The blaze was set off by lightning on July 17, and wind gusts up to 60 mph (100 kph) drove the flames across brush, timberland and ranches, killing hundreds of cattle. The fire was only 20% contained on Friday, officials said.
While there is zero chance of rain through next week, winds have dropped and cooler air is in store, said meteorologist Marc Chenard of the National Weather Service.
“Hopefully it gives firefighters a break,” he said.
As of Thursday, wildfires this year have burned almost 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) in Oregon and 125,900 acres in Washington, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, Oregon.
In 2020, the worst year in recent memory, Oregon wildfires scorched more than 1.14 million acres, according to a tally by CBS TV affiliate KOIN.
In California, the Park Fire, believed to have been started by an arsonist, has forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents in Butte County, about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento.
A suspect was arrested on Thursday, accused of pushing a burning car down a bone-dry gully.
The fire grew uncontrolled overnight from 125,000 acres on Thursday to 178,090 acres on Friday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than a hundred buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
“The biggest challenge with this fire is getting to it,” said Fire Captain Dan Collins. “It’s steep land with almost no roads. It’s hard to get our people and equipment to the fire lines.”
More than 1,600 firefighters were deployed to contain the blaze, CalFire said.
Forecasters warned that winds would reach 30 miles mph (50 kph) on Friday and through the weekend. Combined with low humidity, it is a recipe for rapid growth, officials said.
Smoke from fires in western Canada and the Pacific Northwest have brought hazy skies and unhealthy air from the Rocky Mountains to Minneapolis and as far east as Detroit, weather reports said.
Denver had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Friday and ranked the 30th worst in the world, according to IQAir, a group that tracks air pollution across the globe.
Much of the smoke coming into the Central and Eastern U.S. comes from a raging wildfire in the mountainous Jasper National Park in the Canadian province of Alberta.
The park and the town of Jasper, which draws more than 2 million tourists a year, were evacuated on Monday, displacing 10,000 residents and 15,000 park visitors. As much as half of the structures in the town could be damaged or destroyed, officials said, as the blaze burned more than 89,000 acres as of late Thursday.
Videos posted on social media show entire streets leveled by the blazes in the Alberta province, with scorched trees, charred metal skeletons of cars, and nothing but rubble where homes and businesses had stood.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Rod Nickel, Sandra Maler and William Mallard)
FAIRFIELD, CT — A 28-year-old Providence, Rhode Island man was arrested on a warrant by Connecticut State Police this week in connection with a strangulation assault on Dec. 7 at the northbound I-95 rest area in Fairfield.
Ariel Dejesus Valdez, who state police said had overstayed a visa from the Dominican Republic, was charged with the following:
- Risk of Injury to a Child
- Reckless Endangerment 2nd Degree (2 counts)
- Strangulation or Suffocation in the 2nd Degree
- Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree
- Larceny 3rd Degree
- Breach of Peace 2nd Degree
The incident began at about 6 p.m. when Valdez got into an argument with a person, strangling them and smashing a window in a truck that sent shards of glass that cut an infant inside.
Find out what’s happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Valdez then ran off.
Fairfield police were first called to the scene, and temporarily evacuated the rest area while searching for Valdez, but did not find him, according to state police.
Find out what’s happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Valdez was eventually found back in Rhode Island, and was taken into custody this week. He was turned over to Connecticut State Police on Monday.
Valdez was released after posting bond on bail of $30,000, and he is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Jan. 23.
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To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.
Rhode Island
Does Rhode Island have the worst drivers in the country? One state is worse, per new study
Zebras run wild along Washington state highway
Video captured the moments when four zebras were seen running though traffic in Washington state.
Which states have the worst drivers? Rhode Island is one of them, according to a new study.
The online marketplace platform LendingTree released a new study revealing the worst drivers across the country, and Rhode Island took the second spot.
The silver lining is you can still say Massachusetts drivers are worse, as they took the top spot.
The study was compiled based on insurance inquiries from November 2023 to November 2024. Researchers tallied the number of accidents, DUIs, speeding-related incidents and general citations and calculated the total per 1,000 drivers in each state.
Alternatively, other New England states like Vermont and New Hampshire were ranked among the best drivers around the country.
Why does Rhode Island have bad drivers?
Rhode Island has the second worst drivers in the country because it has one of the highest rates of driving-related incidents, at 60.6 incidents per 1,000 drivers between November 2023 and November 2024.
The only state with a higher rate, Massachusetts, has 61.1 incidents per 1,000 drivers.
Rhode Island has the second-highest accident rate, at 39.7, tying with California.
The Ocean State also ties with Wisconsin for the 13th-highest DUI rate, at 1.9.
As for speeding-related incidents, Rhode Island ties with Hawaii as the 28th-worst at a rate of 2.4 incidents per 1,000 drivers.
Which states have the worst drivers?
These are the states with the worst drivers, according to LendingTree:
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
- California
- District of Columbia
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Washington
- Maryland
- North Dakota
- Utah
Which states have the best drivers?
These states have the lowest number of driving-related incidents per 1,000 drivers, making them the best drivers:
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Vermont
- Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Alaska
- West Virginia
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
Rhode Island
Rhode Island officials ask government for flexibility while residents renew services by paper | ABC6
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Rhode Island officials sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday for assistance to ensure residents are able to stay enrolled in essential services in response to the RIBridges cyberattack.
In the letter, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo asked the federal government to work with the state of Rhode Island to help residents stay enrolled in Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
On Dec. 5, the RIBridges system was hacked by international ransomware group Brain Ciper, which put the personal data of about 500,000 Rhode Island residents at risk, according to officials.
In the letter, officials said RIBridges was shut down, and as a result Rhode Island residents must submit paper applications, rather than online applications, to enroll for their benefits.
Officials said this time period is when people apply to renew coverage, and ask for the government to “grant the state of Rhode Island any assistance and flexibility it requires within all application rules and regulations.”
In the letter, the Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation said:
Dear Secretaries Becerra and Vilsack:
In light of a major cyberattack, we write to urge your Departments to grant the State of Rhode Island flexibility and time to comply with administrative requirements related to its public benefits programs and to provide any additional support to ensure that eligible individuals do not lose access to needed benefits.
On December 5, 2024, RI Bridges, the State of Rhode Island’s integrated online platform for social services, was hacked and the personal data (including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank information) of approximately 500,000 people was stolen and has been held for ransom. The State directed the vendor responsible for administering the platform to shut down RI Bridges in order to remove all malicious code and remediate the threat. Individuals now must submit paper applications to secure their benefits. The impact could be large since RI Bridges manages enrollment and eligibility verifications for programs, including Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and more. HealthSource RI, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace was also affected by this hack, which comes during the annual open-enrollment period for health insurance, when people apply for or renew coverage.
We appreciate everything your Departments have done already to assist Rhode Island with this situation, but given the scope of this hack and that it has targeted our most vulnerable constituents, we ask that you grant the State of Rhode Island any assistance and flexibility it requires within all application rules and regulations.
Thank you for your attention to this request, and we look forward to your prompt reply.
In the meantime, Rhode Island officials advise residents to protect their data, freeze your credit, monitor your credit, request a free fraud alert on your files, use two-factor authentication for accounts, and be aware.
For more information, call the RIBridges call center at 833-918-6603 or visit cyberaltert.ri.gov.
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