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Taylor Swift in RI; Atlantic Mills sale; rebuilding Republicans: Top stories this week

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Taylor Swift in RI; Atlantic Mills sale; rebuilding Republicans: Top stories this week


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Here are some of The Providence Journal’s most-read stories for the week of Aug. 25, supported by your subscriptions.

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Here are the week’s top reads on providencejournal.com:

WESTERLY – Rhode Island’s most famous part-time resident spent time this week at her Watch Hill home, along with her football star boyfriend, at least according to People magazine and TMZ.

Both outlets report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce – along with pals Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper – were in Rhode Island this week, as the singer takes a break from her Eras tour, which resumes in October, and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end prepares for his Sept. 5 season opener against the Ravens.

Read on for more details on the celebrity sightings around Swift’s Watch Hill mansion, dubbed the “Holiday House.”

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Entertainment: Taylor Swift is in Rhode Island this weekend (and she brought some famous friends with her)

PROVIDENCE − The owner of the Atlantic Mills in Olneyville has put the giant mill building up for sale after backing out of a deal with the city and the Providence Redevelopment Agency to buy the sprawling property.

Those who work in the building say they are worried about being kicked out of one of the cheapest manufacturing, warehouse and office spaces in the city, which could mean the end of business for some of them. 

Unlike downtown Providence, where offices have remained empty since the pandemic, the Atlantic Mills is almost full, with an estimated 88% of its occupiable space leased. Tenant businesses say that alternative spaces elsewhere in the city are far too expensive and lack the sense of community they prize at their current location.

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“We call this a hidden gem,” said tenant Mike McNulty, who runs a woodshop there.

Real estate: ‘Hidden gem’: Pending sale of Atlantic Mills leaves tenants worried about their future

All summer long, American Mussel Harvesters’ 8-acre oyster farm south of the Jamestown Bridge sat idle.

The problem wasn’t the oysters. It was the 90-minute voyage to get there. And Adam Silkes, who oversees the operation, just couldn’t justify burning all that time and fuel.

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Until a few years ago, American Mussel Harvesters kept its boats at a marina near the company’s Quonset headquarters, so shellfish only had a five-minute trip from dock to cooler. Then, according to Silkes, the cost of dock space more than doubled.

“It’s reaching crisis proportions, honestly,” said Bob Rheault, executive director of both the Ocean State Aquaculture Association and East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. If you can’t access your farm, he said, “it’s a death knell.”

Read the full story to learn what’s causing the shortage of affordable dock space, and what solutions are being proposed to protect the state’s aquaculture industry.

Local news: Rising prices leave oyster farmers, quahoggers searching for places to dock their boats

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“It just makes sense to be a Republican in Rhode Island!” proclaims a whiteboard in the unassuming headquarters of the Rhode Island GOP.

GOP chairman Joe Powers, who came up with the slogan, argues that people are “sick and tired” after almost 90 years of Democratic rule. But when asked about the main obstacles that he faces when trying to enlist candidates, he answers bluntly: “Being a Republican in Rhode Island.”

Rhode Island voters have gone nearly two decades without electing a Republican to any of the state’s top offices or to Congress. And GOP members are shut out of many of the positions that typically serve as a pipeline to political advancement.

Political Scene explores how Powers and the state GOP’s new executive director, 22-year-old Aidan Carey, are trying to build the party’s bench and chip away at Democrats’ supermajority.

Political Scene: Is there a path for Republicans in RI? Inside the party’s effort to build its bench.

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Journal columnist Mark Patinkin was scrolling through Instagram one day when he came across a post with stunning aerial nighttime footage of Providence, backed by classical music.

Curious about the person behind the page captured.by.marc, he tracked down Marc Bontemps, a Montreal native now living in Providence who wanted to show off the beauty of his adopted city. Bontemps became a licensed drone pilot, capturing images ranging from WaterFire to tugboats on Narragansett Bay, and he displayed his craft while being interviewed on Providence’s pedestrian bridge.

Mark Patinkin: Drone pilot’s videos hold Providence in the highest regard. How he works his aerial magic

To read the full stories, go to providencejournal.com. Find out how to subscribe here.

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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.

Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.

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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.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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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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