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RI judge sides with beachfront homeowner in court fight. What does it mean for public beach access?

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RI judge sides with beachfront homeowner in court fight. What does it mean for public beach access?


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A Superior Court judge has issued an initial decision siding with a beachfront homeowner who argued that Rhode Island’s 2023 shoreline access law amounted to an unconstitutional taking of private property.

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On Friday, Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter denied the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed on behalf of Stilts, LLC, which is owned by David Welch of South Kingstown. A final opinion is expected in the coming weeks, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing Welch in court.

More: Rhode Island’s beaches are public. Here’s a quick guide to what you can and can’t do.

What the decision says

In 2023, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a law establishing that the public has the right to use the shoreline up to 10 feet landward of the recognizable high tide line, also known as the “wrack line.”

Welch sued the state in October, noting that the four parcels of land on Charlestown Beach that belong to Stilts, LLC have varying deeds indicating that he owns out to the “high water mark,” “Atlantic Ocean,” “high water line,” and “mean high water mark.”

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The Rhode Island Attorney General’s office filed a motion to dismiss Stilts, LLC’s lawsuit, which was converted into a motion for summary judgment.

After hearing arguments on both sides, Taft-Carter issued a decision on Friday saying that the 2023 law was “clearly” a taking of private property.

Taft-Carter noted that a controversial Rhode Island Supreme Court case, State v. Ibbison, defined the boundary between public and private at the mean high tide line, which is scientifically calculated and invisible to the eye.

The 2023 law “reset” the division between public and private, and “extended the point of public access over the plaintiff’s private property,” she wrote.

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Breaking down the ruling

Taft-Carter agreed to dismiss one count of Stilts, LLC’s lawsuit, which argued that the shoreline access law translated to an unreasonable seizure of private property and violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

But she rejected the state’s attempt to dismiss the other two counts, which alleged that the law was an unconstitutional taking that violates the Fifth Amendment, and that it amounted to inverse condemnation.

The decision does not spell out how Stilts, LLC, should be compensated, or what happens next.

“Our clients are gratified that the court agreed with what they have said from the start—the beach access law violates their rights,” Pacific Legal Foundation Senior Attorney J. David Breemer said in a statement. “As the court recognized, the beach access law infringed on our client’s property rights by moving the existing public beach boundary line ten feet landward, effectively confiscating our client’s property, which is an unconstitutional taking.” 

The foundation described the decision as “a major victory for those who own coastal property.”

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The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Coastal property owners previously filed a lawsuit challenging the shoreline access law in federal court, but that suit was dismissed in September.



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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick

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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick


WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.

Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.

According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.

The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.

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The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.

A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.

State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information


A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.

Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.

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McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.

“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”

“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”

The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.

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The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.

The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than $500K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than 0K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe


As the two-year anniversary of his wife’s death approaches, widowed single father Scott Naso is sounding an alarm to fellow parents across the country — and especially in Rhode Island, where he lives with his now 4-year-old daughter, Laila.



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