Rhode Island
PBS NewsHour | Vigilantes fight vandalism along Rhode Island shore | Season 2024 | ThinkTV
GEOFF BENNETT: Spray-painted words and pictures, usually clandestine and often illegal, are getting erased by a group of New Englanders who have tagged themselves the – – quote — “anti-graffiti vigilantes.”
But, as Pamela Watts of Rhode Island PBS Weekly reports, the method they employ against the perpetrators is an art in itself.
The story is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.
HOLLEY FLAGG, Artist: I love those rocks, yes.
They’re my friends.
I have known them forever.
So I take it very personally when people deface them and put terrible things on them.
PAMELA WATTS: Artist Holley Flagg has good reason to be protective of the breathtaking rocks that define the 400 miles of Rhode Island’s rugged coastline.
It is the view right out the window of her third-floor studio in the home her family has lived in for generations.
The rocks were her childhood playground.
HOLLEY FLAGG: Grew up there, picnicked there, ran all over the rocks, know them like the back of my hand.
Also, I’m an artist, so I really love the beauty of them.
They’re just unique rocks.
PAMELA WATTS: Raw natural beauty is the bedrock of Flagg’s work.
She’s currently painting watercolors of nebula from images captured by NASA’s Hubble space telescope.
HOLLEY FLAGG: This is Madam Butterfly.
PAMELA WATTS: Flagg is also a graphic artist, creating designs for the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Natural History in New York.
But when so-called street art, spray-painted graffiti, began proliferating along the rocks in her Narragansett neighborhood, the artist saw red.
HOLLEY FLAGG: When you see somebody defacing them and writing their personal messages, which they think are going to be immortal, all over the rocks, it’s really upsetting to me, and I just — it’s visceral.
PAMELA WATTS: Flagg was so outraged, she took justice into her own hands, forming the citizens group Anti-Graffiti Vigilantes.
HOLLEY FLAGG: Just lightly brush over it like this.
PAMELA WATTS: Armed with only a brush and cans of latex house paint, she started taking a swipe at what she views as crimes against nature.
HOLLEY FLAGG: Let’s see what color you got.
That looks good.
PAMELA WATTS: Soon, a small posse of like-minded volunteers took up the charge.
Their restoration of these geologic gems requires wiping out the words and pictures in such a way it tricks the eye.
Instead of just a cover-up, the rocks magically appear as they once were.
HOLLEY FLAGG: I judge how close I am with the color that I have put on.
Really, the key to a good job is to just feather it in really lightly, let the texture of the rock come through.
PAMELA WATTS: At first, they tried to clean off the spray paint with wire brushes, even chemicals.
Nothing worked because the rocks were too porous.
The beach was too steep for sandblasting equipment, so: HOLLEY FLAGG: I know about painting and colors and nuance.
So we said, let’s try painting over it, camouflage.
PAMELA WATTS: How did you come up with this technique of camouflage?
HOLLEY FLAGG: I didn’t really think about it.
It was just very basic.
How do I make this look like the rock there?
I keep adjusting my paint colors as I go along.
You keep doing it until you like the effect that you have gotten.
PAMELA WATTS: Because the rocks are different.
Some are granite.
Some are brown.
So you have to pick the colors?
HOLLEY FLAGG: Yes.
And you do many colors over one little area of rock.
You don’t just say, OK, this rock is gray.
Here’s gray.
JOAN PAVLINSKY, Artist: Get a big dry brush and you just smash it into the rock.
I think it’s more just feel than anything.
PAMELA WATTS: Joan Pavlinsky is a social worker, artist, and determined to restore the rocks to their natural state.
JOAN PAVLINSKY: It’s just a way of kind of making my own mark by marking over other people’s work.
If you think about what art really is, it’s mark-making.
And, hopefully, we’re creating an environment so that it’s not going to be vandalized again.
MARIANNE CHRONLEY, Anti-Graffiti Vigilantes: If we do a good job, then they can’t tell where it was.
So that’s what we’re hoping, that, as you walk around here, you don’t even think about graffiti.
It’s just not what you came here to see.
PAMELA WATTS: Volunteer Marianne Chronley joined the group a decade ago.
Spring and autumn, the band of avengers attack rocks at places like this.
Chronley says they gather tips from informants.
MARIANNE CHRONLEY: We watch for it and we hear about it.
People tell us about it.
When we hear that it’s down here, we say, all right, we all — we have got to get a crew together and come on down.
(LAUGHTER) PAMELA WATTS: The Anti-Graffiti Vigilantes say those who come to stroll along the shore often voice appreciation and sometimes offer to help.
HOLLEY FLAGG: A lot of people say, oh, I’m so glad you’re doing that.
And then other people are totally blank and have no clue what we’re doing.
And they just think this is a bunch of weird people.
PAMELA WATTS: Undaunted, they keep chipping away, true rock stars of Rhode Island’s shores.
HOLLEY FLAGG: I want you to be able to look at these beautiful rocks and not read things, no words, no images, just say, wow, these rocks are really beautiful, this ocean is beautiful, and we’re so grateful to have it.
PAMELA WATTS: For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Pamela Watts in Narragansett, Florida.
Rhode Island
Boys And Girls Battle In Nearly 1,000 Wrestling Bounts At 2026 New England Championships
PROVIDENCE, RI — Hundreds of boys and girls from the six New England states competed at the 2026 CNESSPA New England Championships in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday and Sunday.
Boys from 176 high schools and girls from 125 schools participated in more than 960 bouts at the Providence Career & Technical Academy. The girls had 12 weight brackets while the boys had 14.
For the boys, Ponaganset High School in Glocester, RI, came in first with 128.5 points, Xavier High School in Middletown, CT, an all-boys Catholic school, came in second with 119 points, and Central Catholic in Lawrence, MA, came in third with 105.5 points. For the girls, Massabesic High School in Waterboro, ME, came in first, with 52 points, Salem High School in Salem, NH, came in second, and Woburn High School in Woburn, MA, came in third.
Find out what’s happening in Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Boy Results
106-pound bracket: 1Samuel Floody (Scituate RI), 2Sam Winship (CENCTH), 3Josh Perez (XAV), 4Chace Armstrong (Ponaganset), 5Remington Grunhuvd (MSBC), and 6Matt Boucher (Timberlane).
113: 1John Woodall (Franklin), 2Antoine Jackman (GRLOW), 3Cole Desiano (RDGF), 4Caden Hughes (PNGT), 5Reid Grandmason (Exeter), and 6Kylan Berry (BNYE).
Find out what’s happening in Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
120: 1Zack Dixon (Xavier), 2Lucas Copper (CENCTH), 3Cole Lemovitz (Ponaganset), 4Dominic Simpson (Belfast), 5Logan Barry (Scituate RI), and 6William Accorsi (SOMS).
126: 1Nick Desisto (Tewksbury), 2Mael Pierre-Paul (BUNL), 3Brayden Boccia (MLFD), 4Cahota LaFond (COLC), 5Josiah Martins Semedo (N-B), and 6Jisup Shin (Weston).
132: 1Evan Boulard (MSBC), 2Robert Newton (Scituate RI), 3Derek Marcolini (MLFD), 4Dylan Meyers (RDGF), 5Aplollo Bellini (Ponaganset), and 6Zaphyr Musshorn (Xavier).
138: 1Lukas Boxley (LDYD), 2Kai Ly (MINN), 3Jason Ballou (ANDV), 4Jack Sauer (Franklin), 5Coleson Tully (Carver), and 6Asa Reis (Mt. Anthony Union).
144: 1John Carrozza (RDGF), 2James Lally (SJP), 3James Rocco (BARR), 4Duncan Harrington (Mt. Anthony Union), 5Jordin Agosto (AGWM), and 6Evan Madigan (EDL).
150: 1Isaiah McDaniel (MIDD), 2Alex Lamarre (BC), 3Henry McElligott (HOLL), 4Dan Greaney (LEOM), 5Leo Moore (RDGF), and 6Nicholas Genin (NWTS).
157: 1James Tildsley (SHAW), 2Carnell Davis (Ponaganset), 3Antonio Arguello (NTWN), 4Daniel Woods (WELL), 5Anthony Lombardi (MTHP), and 6Ben Byrne (Nashua South).
165: 1Colby Vital (Ponaganset), 2Matt Pappas (BHEN), 3Evan Schibi (GLBT), 4Harry Marino (COND), 5Jacob Critchfield (Hollis Brookline), and 6Brady Ouellette (Noble)
175: 1Cyrus Jones (SHRN), 2Harrison Muller (Danbury), 3Vincent Rivera (Xavier), 4Rhys Dewar (CENCTH), 5Cooper Theriault-Dinielli (PLNV), and 6Adryan Urena (LSA).
190: 1Sam Josey (SJP), 2Chase Catalano (XAV), 3Dylan O’Brian (FWRD), 4Logan Holmes (SHAW), 5Dante Richardson (CHSW), and 6Grady Pease (MDMK).
215: 1Matt Harrold (HAV), 2Owen Pavao (S-B), 3Shamus Pease (MDMK), 4Taiyo Gemme (OLWB), 5William Buffington (TAUN), and 6Merlin Smith (EDL).
285: 1Kaz Morosetti (NKNG), 2Brian Waller-Reitano (CENCTH), 3William Martinez (WLLS), 4Bishop Kearns (Bishop Guertin), 5Chris Levesque (OXFD), and 6Chase Galke (SHLT).
The full results for the boys are available here on Arena Flo Wrestling.
Girl Results
100: 1Ella Paris (Salem NH), 2Parker Theriault (Mattanawcook/PVHS), 3Sophia Gordon (SWIN), 4Riley-Anne Tarmey (TRIT), 5Abigail Garland (MTBL), and 6Hannah Perro (Noble).
107: 1Sora Bukoski (Penobscot County Wrestling), 2Elsa Scott (SHRN), 3Maggie Campbell (Woburn), 4Amelia Hough (Milford), 5Kelsie Strong (MARSH), and 6Clara Reynolds (NMIL).
114: 1Allison Patten (PILG), 2Kennedie Davis (BR), 3Ava Gamberdella (BRNF), 4Addie Smith (VERG), 5Mia Annello (BILL), and 6Ella Libiszewski (LUD).
120: 1Jillian Blake (TRUMB), 2Hannah Dyckman (Bristol County/Dighton Rehoboth), 3Maleeah Rios (BC), 4Alanna Smith (CMHL), 5Lauren McAteer (WPO), and 6Monica Flores Romero (Fairfield Warde).
126: 1Adelina Tate (ELTC), 2Caitlin Castoldi (Woburn), 3Delaney Frost (Noble), 4Maisa Allen (OTV), 5Ashlynn Cummings (FLUD), and 6Luca Marshall (TCTY).
132: 1Madeline Ngo (Newton North), 2Alexia Coleman (Salem MA), 3Eliana Selerais (AMTY), 4Kaydn Hansen (MTBL), 5Kylie Biter (OXFD), and 6Faith Young (Middleborough).
138: 1Adriana DeGroat (FRMG), 2Nevaeh Grunhuvd (MSBC), 3Winner Tshibombi (STRF), 4Keira Lynch (Salem NH), 5Daphen Nyan (Davies Career & Tech Academy), and 6Ania Konieczna (SHRN).
145: 1Sophie Grunhuvd (MSBC), 2Gabriella Kiely (STRF), 3Josephina Piel (NMIL), 4Gabriella Ramos (AGWM), 5Regan Murphy (Canton), and 6Hailey Isham (MT ABE).
152: 1Ava McGinnis (NOKO), 2Nmachukwu Okoli (BR), 3Zady Paige (BLFS), 4Rileigh Fagan (BP), 5Nora Demaine (Lake Region), and 6Mackenzie Lacoss (Spaulding).
165: 1Kaydence Atkinson (NBHS), 2Gabriella Mighty (STAM), 3Bethany-grace Dean (Bristol Eastern), 4Sadie Nadeau (Spaulding), 5Jordyn Reynolds (GLTS), and 6Stella Christopher (AGWM).
185: 1Kayli Morris (PLATT), 2Madi King (BBA), 3Madison Beauregard (Concord), 4Leanna Watson (Putnam), 5Emma Leonido (HANV), and 6Jillian Boncore (Alvirne)
235: 1Jeily Euceda (NRWK), 2Hillary MacDonald (LAWR), 3Lillian Soper (BUCK), 4Elaine Pinto (DURF), 5Jadaliz Acosta (Bloomfield/Weaver), and 6Alei Fiatoa-Fautua (NPRO).
View the full results for the girls here.
Also Read
- Dozens Of New Hampshire’s Wrestlers Will Compete In New England Championship Bouts In Rhode Island
- Girls From Bedford, Concord, Londonderry, Salem, Other Schools Are Heading To New England Championships
- Timberlane, Goffstown, And Bow Win NHIAA Division Championships: New Hampshire Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School’s Crimson Tide Wrestling Team Places 2nd At NHIAA Division I Championships
- Timberlane Wins NH JV Tourney; Salem 4th, Milford 5th, Nashua North 8th, Bedford 10th: Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School JV Wrestlers Place 2nd At 2026 New Hampshire State Tournament
- Bedford, Exeter, Salem Win Bouts | North Beats South In Nashua | More: NH Wrestling Results, Part 2
- Londonderry, Milford, Portsmouth, And Souhegan Compete In The Final Bouts Of 2026: NH Wrestling Results
- Concord Falls To Timberlane Regional High School, 44-27; Crimson Tide Wrestlers End Regular Season At 21-1
- Exeter Hosts Quad | Portsmouth, Souhegan Compete At Invitational | Salem Takes 3 In MA: NH Wrestling Roundup
- Concord Wrestlers Sweep 3 Other High Schools At Their Last Saturday Quad Of The Season
- Winnacunnet, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack, Milford, And Portsmouth Post Wins: NH Wrestling Roundup
- On Senior Night, Concord High School Wrestlers Cruise To A Win Against Nashua South, 68-9
- Rhode Island’s Bishop Hendricken High School Again Wins NH’s Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament
- 9 Crimson Tide Wrestlers Place At Successful 35th Annual Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament In Concord
- Concord High School’s Crimson Tide Wrestling Team Nets The Blackbirds In Keene, 45-26
- Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament Celebrates 35 Years At Concord High School Saturday
- Concord’s Wrestlers Continue Their Winning Ways With Victories Against Souhegan, Bow, And Plymouth
- Londonderry, Merrimack, Portsmouth, Souhegan, And Salem Win At Weekend Wrestling Quads: NH Roundup
- Bow, Exeter, Londonderry, Milford, Nashua North, And Souhegan Win Wrestling Matches: New Hampshire Results
- Concord Wrestlers Beat Defending State Champions, Salem Blue Devils, 48-30
- A Dozen Schools Battle On The Seacoast | Souhegan Takes 3 At Quad | Merrimack Duals: NH Wrestling Results
- Crimson Tide Varsity Wrestlers Sweep 3 At Super Quad 2 In Concord; Others Rack Up Places At Tourneys
- Bedford, Londonderry, Milford, Salem, And Souhegan Wrestlers Win Matches: New Hampshire Results
- Concord High School’s Wrestling Team Beats Hollis Brookline, 54-22
- Concord High School Wrestlers Sweep 6 Meets At First Super Quad Of The 2025-2026 Season
- Salem Girls, Milford Boys Place 1st At Nashua Tourney | Londonderry Sweeps At Bow Quad: NH Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School Crimson Tide Wrestlers Crash Into Londonderry Lancers, 54-16
- Concord Wins 2026 Minickiello Tourney; Souhegan 5th; Portsmouth 6th: NH High School Wrestling Roundup
- Concord Boy Wrestlers Place 5th, Souhegan 7th; Salem Girls 2nd At 2-Day Maine Tourney: NH Wrestling Results
- Crimson Tide Places 5th; Salem Girls 3rd At George Bossi Holiday Tourney: New Hampshire Wrestling Roundup
- Central Catholic Places 1st, Shawsheen Tech 2nd, And St. John’s Prep 3rd At Historic Wrestling Tourney
- Crimson Tide Beats Jaguars, 75-5, While Bedford, Salem, And Souhegan Notch Wins: NH Wrestling Results
- Concord’s Crimson Tide Places 2nd At 2025 Salem Blue Devil Tournament: New Hampshire Wrestling Results
- Wrestlers From 5 Schools Scrimmage At Concord High School In First Bouts Of The Season
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 217 communities — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Rhode Island
RI’s Civil War history reveals an overlooked soldier | Opinion
Watch President Trump announce ‘Patriot Games’ for 2026
President Donald Trump touted the “Patriot Games” next year in a video address that also emphasized “no men playing in women’s sports.”
As Rhode Island joins the nation in marking its 250th anniversary, I’ve been asked a fair and important question: Why highlight Amos (Ramos) Butler? Why elevate one individual when there are so many well-documented figures already woven into our state’s history?
My answer is simple: because history is not only about what we have long remembered, but about what we failed to see.
I did not set out to find Amos Butler. I encountered him while researching Civil War records connected to Rhode Island: lists of names, enlistment dates, regiments. In those records, I found a man listed as “Amos Butler,” born in Mexico, who served in the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment (Colored) during the Civil War. His name alone gave me pause. Amos is not a common Mexican name. That detail led me deeper into the archive, where questions of identity, language and recordkeeping began to surface.
What emerged was not a heroic legend or a tidy narrative, but something more historically instructive: a glimpse into how 19th-century bureaucracies recorded – or misrecorded – immigrant lives.
Amos Butler served alongside Black soldiers in a segregated regiment at a moment when the nation was redefining freedom, citizenship and belonging. His likely Spanish surname, Ramos, appears to have been Anglicized – or misunderstood – by the very system charged with preserving his service. That single alteration tells us a great deal about how people like him moved through official history: fully present and contributing, yet partially obscured.
This is not about retroactively assigning modern identities or reshaping the past to fit contemporary frameworks. It is about acknowledging what the records themselves reveal. Civil War historians know well that military documents often flatten race, erase origin, and simplify identity. Butler’s story fits squarely within that established scholarship. What makes it notable is that it unfolds here, in Rhode Island.
State histories tend to emphasize regiments, battles and leadership. Far less attention is given to the individual enlisted men whose lives complicate our assumptions about who served and why. Butler’s story adds texture to Rhode Island’s Civil War narrative by reminding us that migration, race and service were already intertwined long before the 20th century.
The 250th anniversary of the United States invites reflection, not revisionism. Major commemorations have always prompted historians to revisit archives, ask new questions, and consider whose experiences were overlooked. But commemoration is also, at its best, an act of recognition. To name and remember people of color who lived, labored and served in earlier generations is not to diminish the past – it is to honor it more fully. Their lives are not footnotes to history; they are part of its foundation.
We often say that history is written by those who leave records. But it is also shaped by how carefully we read those records – and whether we are willing to notice the irregularities, the misspellings, the lives that don’t quite fit our expectations.
Honoring Amos Butler is not about elevating one person above others. It is about acknowledging that the American story, and Rhode Island’s story within it, has always been broader and more diverse than the version many of us inherited.
At 250 years, we have an opportunity not only to look back, but to commemorate those whose presence affirms that people of color have always been here – living, serving and shaping this country in ways we are only beginning to fully recognize.
Marta V. Martínez is the executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts. She serves on the RI250 Commission. Martínez is producing a first-person monologue of Amos (Ramos) Butler, which will be presented as part of the RI250 celebration.
Rhode Island
Michael Flynn attends ‘Rhode Island First’ rally in Warwick
WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — Former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn appeared at a “Rhode Island First” rally in Warwick Saturday night with Vic Mellor, a congressional candidate running to unseat Rep. Seth Magaziner in Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.
Protestors gathered near the entrance of the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick ahead of the rally, where Flynn and Mellor gave remarks along with other conservative speakers and musicians.
“The purpose of this is to motivate the base, because there’s such a high percentage of Republicans and Independents that don’t vote,” Mellor said.
Devin Bates reports on a rally for Vic Mellor, a Republican challenger to Rep. Seth Magaziner, that featured Michael Flynn. (WJAR)
Protestors picketing outside the hotel felt differently, with organizers calling out the hotel’s owners for hosting “individuals associated with the January 6 insurrection, election denialism, and extreme rhetoric.”
“We don’t agree with Crowne Plaza letting them be here, we think it’s kind of sad that they do,” said Kristen Lancaster. “They’re not pro-democracy, they’re anti-healthcare, anti-science.”
Ahead of the rally, Flynn shared his thoughts about Rhode Island’s current federal delegation as Mellor seeks to become the first GOP candidate elected to statewide office since 2006, when Donald Carcieri was re-elected as governor.
“You’ve got manufacturing potential here, you have a workforce that really could be first class, but you don’t have a federal elected body of people right now that are bringing that back, because they’re fighting opportunity,” Flynn said.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (4)
NBC 10 News reached out to IHG Hotels and Resorts for comment on protestors’ frustration over the Crowne Plaza hosting this event, but the company had not responded.
-
Wisconsin1 week agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts6 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Maryland1 week agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida1 week agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Pennsylvania4 days agoPa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico
-
Oregon1 week ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling
-
News1 week ago2 Survivors Describe the Terror and Tragedy of the Tahoe Avalanche
-
Sports5 days agoKeith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death