Rhode Island
Rhode Island public school charges mother $117K for records request about teacher who called Charlie Kirk ‘garbage’
A Rhode Island public school district reportedly charged a mother roughly $117,000 for records pertaining to a high school teacher who was placed on paid leave after calling slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk a “piece of garbage.”
Benjamin Fillo, a social studies teacher at Barrington High School, was ousted in September shortly after posting a rant on TikTok branding Kirk a “piece of garbage” who “hated” the LGBTQ community, women’s rights, and democracy.
One irate mother submitted a public records request for information related to Fillo’s school email and course materials — but the district pushed back with a steep fee, according to a letter from the law firm representing Barrington Public Schools.
Nicole Solas sought to obtain any emails Fillo sent from Sept. 1 2024 onward referencing “Trump” and a secondary request for more email correspondences sent since Jan 1. 2016 also flagging “Trump.”
Solas additionally asked for all of Fillo’s “curriculum materials” he used “to teach the young and impressionable minds of other people’s children who are entitled to an education free from indoctrination,” according to the letter.
The law firm wrote that Solas clarified she was looking for all material Fillo used since he started teaching at the school in 2010, which came out to thousands of documents from 157 courses stored in three different learning management systems, according to the letter.
The records request flagged a staggering 789 emails Fillo sent containing the word “Trump” since Sept. 1 2024, according to the letter.
Solas’ request, though, wasn’t cheap.
If she wanted to obtain all the requested materials, she would have to fork over $117,130.50 — with the 15-year curriculum alone costing roughly $116,000, according to the letter.
“This estimate that we received is exorbitant, completely unreasonable, just to get the curriculum materials,” Solas told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday.
Solas told the outlet that she insisted on reviewing the curriculum materials in full because that is “the only way that you can see what kids are [doing] in public schools.”
Solas noted that she does not live in the Barrington School District and sent her children to private school.
She’s now pushing the school to release the materials free of charge.
“I just don’t see how this can stand if we file a lawsuit on it,” Solas said.
Shortly after Fillo was placed on leave, a group of outraged students and parents stormed into a school board meeting to push for Fillo’s permanent removal.
“No matter what anyone says to me, I will never stand for violence, especially of a man who was publicly murdered in front of his wife, one of his children and thousands of students and other bystanders,” Jakari, one of Fillo’s students, said during the meeting.
Kirk was assassinated during a stop on his Turning Point USA American Comeback tour at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. His alleged gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice.
Rhode Island
Authorities ID man killed in Thanksgiving crash on Mass. highway near Rhode Island
Authorities have identified the person who died in a crash involving a vehicle and a tractor trailer on a Massachusetts highway on Thanksgiving morning.
Carlos Chavez Martinez, 28, of Providence, Rhode Island was killed in the crash that happened on Interstate 95 near North Attleborough on Thursday, Nov. 27, according to the office of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.
At 2:30 a.m., state troopers responded to the crash involving a tractor trailer and a motor vehicle on I-95 south near mile marker 9.2 in North Attleborough, Quinn’s office said.
Officers found a white Audi sedan on the right side of the highway. The sedan had collided with a tractor trailer that was parked in a rest area. The Audi had “catastrophic damage on top of a guardrail and adjacent to the rear wheels of the trailer,” according to Quinn’s office.
The Audi’s driver, later identified as Chavez Martinez, was found unresponsive and still in the driver’s seat. Paramedics pronounced him dead at around 2:40 a.m.
The tractor trailer was driven by a 40-year-old man who did not appear to be injured, according to Quinn’s office.
The crash remains under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office along with the Massachusetts State Police.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency’s alert system down after cybersecurity incident
(WJAR) — Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency said its CodeRED notification system is down after a national cybersecurity incident.
According to officials, the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notification platform was involved in a cybersecurity incident recently.
The platform, which is provided by the vendor Crisis24, remains unavailable.
“Because RIEMA utilizes additional alert and warning systems beyond CodeRED, at no time during this incident did the state lose the capability to alert and warn the public,” RIEMA said in a statement.
RIEMA said CodeRED alert system can store the name, address, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords of users that signed up to receive the alerts.
The company told NBC 10 News’ sister station in Seattle, “We confirm that data potentially associated with the legacy OnSolve CodeRED platform has been published online following a targeted attack by an organized cybercriminal group. The attack also resulted in damage to the OnSolve CodeRED environment.”
Agency officials said state and local communities will use additional messaging platforms to issue emergency alerts.
CodeRED advised users to update their passwords if they’ve reused the same one on other accounts.
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“The vendor is working to expedite the migration of users to their new CodeRED product, which has undergone enhanced security hardening,” RIEMA said in a statement.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island secures 90-75 win against Temple
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jonah Hinton’s 25 points helped Rhode Island defeat Temple 90-75 in a consolation game of the ESPN Events Invitational Adventure Bracket on Wednesday.
Hinton shot 8 for 11, including 7 for 10 from beyond the arc for the Rams (6-2). Tyler Cochran scored 20 points and added nine rebounds and three steals. Jahmere Tripp shot 5 of 7 from the field, including 1 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 3 for 4 from the line to finish with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.
The Owls (4-3) were led in scoring by AJ Smith, who finished with 18 points. Temple also got 11 points and seven rebounds from Derrian Ford. Masiah Gilyard finished with 11 points.
The game was close heading into the half, as Rhode Island held a two-point lead, 41-39. Hinton paced their team in scoring through the first half with 14 points. Rhode Island took a nine-point lead in the second half thanks to a 9-0 scoring run. Hinton led the Rams in second-half scoring with 11 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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