Rhode Island

The top returning girls wrestlers? Here are 10 to watch this season

Published

4 months ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

The top returning girls wrestlers? Here are 10 to watch this season

Girls wrestling took off last winter in its second year of state championships.

Exactly 50 participants, across a dozen weight classes, competed in the March extravaganza at the Providence Career and Technical Academy. Each weight class was contested, unlike the first year of the tournaments, and new title winners were crowned.

Pilgrim’s Allison Patten was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for her win at 107. The Patriots’ star also finished runner-up at the New England Championships and is among this year’s returnees. But who else should we be keeping an eye on this winter?

Here are 10 standouts who we think might shine this year.

Enjoy!

Athletes listed in alphabetical order.

Yasmin Bido, Hope

Senior

Bido snagged her first individual crown with a 16-0 decision at 152 pounds. The Blue Wave grappler also finished runner-up at 165 in Year 1 of the tournament.

Irie Byers, North Kingstown

Sophomore

Byers stormed onto the scene with a title in her first year on the mat. She captured the 120-pound championship with an 11-1 win in the finals. The Skipper returnee is one of a few wrestlers who could repeat.

Jolene Cole, Scituate

Sophomore

Cole helped Scituate to the team title in the first year that the award was handed out. Scituate is a bit of a girls wrestling factory, and Cole added to that lineage with her pin at 114 pounds.

Alei Fautua, North Providence

Sophomore

Fautua breezed to the title at 235 pounds with a pin in just 25 seconds. She led the Cougars to a runner-up finish as a team as Scituate edged the Cougars by just seven points. Fautua then finished fourth at the New England championships.

Kamie Hawkins, Exeter-West Greenwich

Junior

This year is all about redemption for Hawkins. She was one of the first state champions and came back last year looking to defend her 120-pound title. It wasn’t meant to be, but make no mistake, Hawkins is one of the state’s best.

Abigail Otte, Exeter-West Greenwich

Junior

Otte was a repeat champion at 138 pounds as she seized the title with a pin in 24 seconds. It’s likely a safe bet that Otte might capture her third crown in three years.

Allison Patten, Pilgrim

Junior

A repeat season isn’t out of the question for Patten. She won the 107 pound title with a pin in 49 seconds. What’s next for the junior? End the season with a New England title, too.

Chloe Ross, Scituate

Sophomore

It was quite the debut for Ross. The state crown was a breeze as the freshman won via pin in 1:16. But then came the New England tournament where the Spartan star snagged second place. Might there be a different ending to her season this year?

Meili Shao, La Salle

Senior

Shao was one of the first wrestling champions when she captured the 132 title two seasons ago. A repeat crown wasn’t in the cards as she finished runner-up in the class. But the Ram has returned and could be out to avenge last year’s finish.

Emily Youboty, Hope

Senior

The Blue Wave wrestler is the returning 100-pound winner after she captured the crown with a 19-3 technical fall victory in last season’s title meet.

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Rhode Island

Rhode Island Drivers Most Attentive In Nation: Study

Published

8 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

Rhode Island Drivers Most Attentive In Nation: Study

Rhode Island drivers are the most attentive in America, a recent study revealed.

The study, conducted by personal injury law firm Easton & Easton, examined National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System data and Federal Highway Administration licensed driver statistics from 2019 to 2023 and determined Rhode Islanders died in distracted driving crashes less than the residents of any other state, according to a media release accompanying the results.

See also: As Iran Conflict Continues, Here’s What Gas Could Cost In Rhode Island

“That gamble has cost thousands of American families a loved one in the past five years,” according to the release. “Now, with Google rolling out its voice-interactive ‘Ask Maps’ feature, the question is which parts of the country can least afford one more distraction.”

See also: Rhode Island’s Truck Traffic Densest In Nation: Study

A mere 2.6 Rhode Islanders were killed in distracted driving crashes per year from 2019 to 2023, compared to 639.8 Texans.

But the rate per 100,000 drivers was also impressively the lowest in the nation at 0.34. The state with the highest number per 100,000 drivers was New Mexico with 16.95

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Rhode Island

Hate self-checkout at the grocery store? A RI bill to limit it is back.

Published

20 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

Hate self-checkout at the grocery store? A RI bill to limit it is back.

Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill to limit grocery stores to eight self-checkout kiosks.
The proposed legislation would also require one employee for every two self-checkout stations.
The bill specifically targets grocery stores, which has drawn criticism from business associations.

PROVIDENCE – As lawmakers debate raising Rhode Island’s minimum wage, which would impact many grocery store workers, a bill to limit the number of self-checkout lanes at grocery stores is again stirring conversation.

Rep. Megan Cotter, D-Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond, introduced a version of her initial bill, proposed in 2023, to reduce the number of self-checkout kiosks a grocery store can have open, and mandate the amount of labor required to operate them. Her bill, H 7290, has eight co-sponsors in the House, while Senate President Valarie Lawson, D-East Providence, introduced a companion bill in the Senate, S 2342.

When Cotter’s bill was first introduced, it included a mandate that grocers give a 10% discount to customers who used self-checkout for more than 10 items. The newest iteration scraps that language in favor of a more streamlined approach:

Grocery stores can have no more than eight self-checkout kiosks operating at one time.
One checkout line must be manned for every two self-checkout kiosks.
One worker must be assigned to every two self-checkout stations.

Here’s how the math on the self-checkout proposal works:

For a store operating the maximum number of self-checkout kiosks, eight, this means the store would be running four lines with cashiers at a time. That same store would also need four people monitoring the self-checkout stations, for a total of eight workers across 12 cash registers, both manned and unmanned.

Limiting the number of self-checkout aisles a store can have is all about preserving jobs and hours worked, she previously said.

Why stores are using self-checkout

In 2023, Cotter said her original bill was partially a function of her frustration with using the Walmart self-checkout kiosks.

Problems with self-checkout kiosks abound as each industry, from groceries to pharmacies to hardware to big box stores like Walmart, sets different parameters and triggers on self-checkout machines.

Clements’ Marketplace Operations Director Charles Anthony IV wrote in testimony against Cotter’s bill that the grocery, with locations in Bristol and Portsmouth, installed the self-checkout kiosks to be their “fast lanes.”

“With smaller orders often causing backups across the Front End, the Fast Lanes have helped to maintain a steady pace and take care of our customers more efficiently,” Anthony wrote.

At Target, self-checkout was meant to be limited to people with 10 items or fewer.

Why limit self-checkout?

Cotter’s bill only targets grocery stores. That caught the attention of Rhode Island Food Dealers Association President Scott Bromberg, who submitted testimony against the proposal.

“This proposal is especially egregious because it specifically targets only grocery stores,” Bromberg wrote. “Big box retailers, along with hardware stores, pharmacies, dollar stores, fast food chains and more utilize self-checkout to allow them to deploy their staff where needed most.”

The bill mostly targets traditional grocery stores, but also hits pharmacies, like CVS and Walgreens, but might not include big box retailers like Walmart and Target.

It defines groceries as:

Raw or processed food or drink
Prescription and over-the-counter drugs
Hygiene items when a store also sells food, drink and “miscellaneous household items” like laundry detergent and dishwasher soap.

A grocery store is defined as a business that gets most of its revenue from selling “groceries.”

Shaw’s and Star Market’s Jim O’Leary wrote that 60% to 65% of its transactions are done via self-checkout systems and 10% are done through its drive-up platform.

“Only approximately 25% of customers utilize traditional staffed registers. This distribution highlights the importance of maintaining adaptive service models to accommodate a broad spectrum of consumer preferences, thereby enhancing the overall shopping experience and most importantly convenience,” O’Leary wrote.

Which RI stores use self-checkout?

Stores in the state offer a wide variety of takes on self-checkout.

At many Five Below stores, self-checkout is the only option. Home Depot has replaced most checkout lanes at the front of many its stores with self-checkout lanes.

At the discount grocer Aldi, many stores have open self-checkout kiosks. Depending on how slow business is, it can sometimes take a few minutes for a cashier to return to a regular checkout lane, as employees do double duty as cashiers and stockers. Customers are also expected to do their own bagging.

Stop & Shops usually have a variety of self-checkout kiosks and cashiers, but the kiosks practically shout at customers and the scales, meant to prevent theft, often wrongly register item weights, forcing a worker to override the machine after an item is bagged too quickly, or not quickly enough.

Many CVS stores also have the self-checkout kiosks.

Self-checkouts have also moved into the world of fast food, for example at Taco Bell and McDonald’s, shifting workers away from being cashiers.

Is low-skill labor worth keeping?

The two-self checkout restriction bills are aimed at preserving jobs often classified as entry level or low skill.

The worth and value of those jobs is increasingly under fire by legislators and the business community, especially as the debate over minimum wage increases rages.

Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket, made the case during a hearing on March 18 that it would be unfair for the minimum wage to be increased because public sector workers don’t make enough, making an argument that low-skilled labor deserves to be paid less.

“So the average fireman in Rhode Island makes $28.06 an hour, so you’re saying that the guy that’s flipping burgers should make $20 an hour?” Casey asked during the hearing.

That argument also appeared during the debate over a bill to give health care workers time-and-a-half on Sundays, as Woonsocket resident Jason Romblad said he was “amazed that people selling us a pack of gum will get time-and-a-half on these days, but a health care worker who takes care of us when we are sick and hurt do not get it.”

A separate bill to strip caterers and commissary workers of time-and-a-half on Sundays and holidays was lauded by businesses groups that called for ending the practice entirely. National Federation of Independent Businesses State Director Christopher Carlozzi wrote in support of ending the benefit, claiming that paying minimum wage workers $24 an hour on Sundays instead of the mandated $16 (a $64 pre-tax difference for an eight-hour shift) means the difference between opening a shop on Sundays or leaving it closed.

According to the state’s latest Occupational Employment And Wage Statistics, published in May 2025, cashiers, an estimated 9,710 of them in the state, make a mean average of $15.90 an hour. That climbs to $16.67 an hour for “experienced wage.” The entry wage was $14 an hour, the minimum wage in 2024.

In January, the minimum wage increased to $16 an hour and it increases to $17 an hour on Jan. 1, 2027.

Other large groups of similarly paid professions are fast food and counter workers, 12,650 of them; dining room and cafeteria attendants, 2,720 of them; and dishwashers, 2,830 of them.

The statistics count an estimated 493,800 employed, making cashiers 2% of the total employment in the state.

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Rhode Island

Mashed Names Rhode Island’s Best Buffet Restaurant

Published

1 day ago

April 6, 2026

Press Room

Mashed Names Rhode Island’s Best Buffet Restaurant

CHARLESTOWN, RI — The food website Mashed named Rhode Island’s best buffet restaurant.

Mashed went with The Nordic in Charlestown, despite its prices.

“The Nordic is one of the most expensive buffets in the country, so don’t expect a cheap meal when you sit down at the popular waterside eatery,” the Mashed story said. “The price for adults is $145 per person, $60 for children aged 8 to 12, and $35 for children aged 3 to 7. That sounds pretty steep, but considering that you can fill up on prime rib, a high-quality and costly cut of steak, it seems worth it for a special occasion.

“One of the main draws of dining at The Nordic is that you can chow down on prime rib,” according to Mashed, but there is much, much more, including lobster, snow crab legs, fried scallops, scallops wrapped in bacon and black angus filet mignon.

See the full Mashed story here.

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