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(WJAR) — Multiple bears wandering on yards were caught on camera in Rhode Island.
A Coventry man caught this black bear roaming his front yard Thursday night.
“It was definitely a surprise to see a bear on our front porch,” Josh Dominikoski said.
An unlikely guest was spotted on Dominikoski’s front porch.
“We kind of opened the door a little bit and he ran off,” he said.
A black bear was caught on camera simply minding his own business.
“He triggered our side camera and that kind of spooked him,” Dominikoski said.
The bear slowly creeped around the Coventry home.
At one point, the bear even made direct eye contact with the camera, looking seemingly unfazed.
Dominikoski said after 20 years living at this home, he’s never seen anything like this.
“It was interesting to be able to see it in person up close like that – once in a lifetime experience,” Dominikoski said.
Another bear was sighted in Charlestown on a woman’s backyard overnight.
Robin Cichy in Charlestown shared video with NBC 10 of another bear sighting, this time in her backyard.
“I thought it was very close to the house and it looked like a pretty good size,” Cichy said.
She shared photos of a possible print left behind, and her bird feeder crushed.
Likely left the bear on the prowl for a late-night snack
“We walk our dog out in the yard so it’s a little concerning. When we do go out, we make a lot of noise because we don’t want to surprise him,” Cichy said.
This type of behavior is normal for bears, according to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
The agency encourages homeowners to secure all food or trash, and remove bird feeders when bears are active.
If you see one, back away slowly. Make yourself big and loud if things get grizzly.
“It’s pretty frightening, you don’t expect that to happen so close to your home,” Cichy said.
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.
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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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.
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.
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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