IYRS School of Technology & Trades is starting a leadership program for women working in maritime industries, with the first cohort beginning in 2027. The Women’s Maritime Leadership Academy runs six months and is the first program from the school’s Maritime Leadership Institute. It’s aimed at emerging and mid-career professionals across boatbuilding and repair, marine […]
News
Posted inCity & Government
Bicycle ordinances up for final vote Sept. 30, with opposition surfacing to the stormwater fee and a Perrotti Park building
The City Council meets Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, with second readings on a package of bicycle and traffic ordinances and two pieces of resident opposition landing on the consent calendar. The ordinance package covers amendments to the city’s bicycle chapter along with definitions, traffic signal rules, flashing signals and parking […]
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Newport Historical Society reports record year, with 1,300 visitors to its new Center for Black History in three months
The Newport Historical Society told members at its annual meeting Tuesday night that 2026 has been its busiest year on record, driven by the opening of the Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History and the nation’s 250th anniversary. The society has run 74 programs and 237 walking tours so far […]
Posted inCity & Government
Naval War College president marks Rhode Island’s role in America 250
Rear Adm. Darryl Walker, president of the U.S. Naval War College, represented the Navy at a series of events in Providence on Sept. 22 and 23 as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration. The Navy Office of Community Outreach is marking each of the original 13 colonies with several days of engagements. Walker visited […]
Posted inCity & Government
Portsmouth suing the state over housing laws, citing home rule
The Portsmouth Town Council is filing suit against the state of Rhode Island over recent housing legislation, arguing the laws intrude on the town’s constitutional home rule authority over zoning, planning and land use. Council members and lead counsel Joseph S. Larisa Jr. will discuss the case at a press conference Thursday, Sept. 24, at […]
Posted inBusiness
Coastal Rhode Island hotels far outperforming Providence, with RevPAR up nearly 13% this year
Coastal Rhode Island hotels are on pace to finish 2026 with revenue per available room up 12.9 percent, while Providence and Warwick are forecast to end the year down slightly, according to data presented at RI Hospitality’s annual economic outlook breakfast. CoStar’s Jason Weinstein put statewide RevPAR growth at 5.9 percent for 2026, driven mostly […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Nine Central Film Festival returns to the Jane Pickens for two nights in October
The Nine Central Film Festival returns to the Jane Pickens Theater on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3, with two nights of short films made by local filmmakers. The festival started eight years ago as a group of friends screening their own movies in a backyard. Each night has a different lineup of roughly […]
Posted inCity & Government
$271 million contract awarded to rebuild Pier 1 at Naval Station Newport for Coast Guard cutters
The Navy has awarded a $271.2 million contract for the second phase of construction on Pier 1 at Naval Station Newport, Sen. Jack Reed announced Tuesday, clearing the way for four Coast Guard cutters to make Newport their homeport. The original pier at Coddington Cove, built in the mid-1950s, ran 1,585 feet and was condemned […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
State launches men’s mental health campaign aimed at working-age Rhode Islanders
The Rhode Island Department of Health is launching Man Therapy, a national campaign aimed at getting working-age men to take their mental health seriously, running through April online, on social media and on gas station ad screens. The campaign centers on a website, mantherapy.org, with resources on depression, divorce and suicide for men and the […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
Newport Hospital is first in Rhode Island with the da Vinci 5 surgical robot
Newport Hospital has become the first in Rhode Island to use the da Vinci 5, the newest version of Intuitive’s robotic-assisted surgical platform, after a year of fundraising that covered the full cost through donations. The system will be used for minimally invasive procedures in urology, gynecology, thoracic surgery and general surgery. It translates a […]
Posted inCity & Government
States file new lawsuits against Trump’s payouts stopping offshore wind
by Alex Brown, Rhode Island Current September 22, 2026 An eight-state coalition filed lawsuits Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s payments to private companies to cancel offshore wind leases, escalating an ongoing legal battle over the government spending billions of dollars to block wind projects. Attorneys general from eight East Coast states are suing the feds over […]
Posted inCity & Government
Reed, Whitehouse and Amo ask EPA for help with Tiverton PFAS contamination
Correction: An earlier version of this story said residents had been advised not to use affected water for brushing teeth or washing dishes. The Rhode Island Department of Health says those are not routes of PFAS exposure and that residents can continue both. Rhode Island’s congressional delegation is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to step […]
Posted inCity & Government
Chip seal resurfacing this week on Kay Street and surrounding roads
The city’s contractor is resurfacing 15 streets this week in the Kay Street and Bliss Mine Road area, with on-street parking restricted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday or until work on a given street is finished. The project uses chip seal over existing pavement, which the city describes as a fast process […]
Posted inCity & Government
Judge strikes down a Trump policy barring some immigrants from Head Start preschools
By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Rhode Island has struck down a Trump administration directive that would have barred some immigrants from accessing certain federal programs, including Head Start preschools, community health clinics and adult education programs. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, who was appointed by President Donald […]
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Salve Regina climbs to 16th in U.S. News regional ranking
Salve Regina University rose eight places to 16th among regional universities in the North in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report college rankings released Tuesday. The university also appeared on U.S. News lists for best value, social mobility, undergraduate teaching, and undergraduate nursing and psychology programs in the region. In the Princeton Review’s 2027 […]
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On This Day – September 22, 1962: President Kennedy and Jacqueline watch 4th America’s Cup Race off the Coast of Newport
President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy attended the fourth race of the 1962 America’s Cup aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., off the coast of Newport on September 22, 1962. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has a full (incredible) photo gallery from the event here – PRESIDENT KENNEDY […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Elms will reopen this fall with a new multi-sensory experience
The Elms, closed to the public since Aug. 10, will reopen later this fall with a new guest experience built around storytelling, multi-sensory elements and what the Preservation Society of Newport County describes as thoughtfully integrated enhancements. The Preservation Society is developing the experience with Digital Kitchen, a creative studio chosen as its experience design […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
Washington County man is Rhode Island’s third Powassan virus case this year
A Washington County man in his 60s has a confirmed case of Powassan virus, the Rhode Island Department of Health said Monday, the state’s third case of the rare tick-borne disease this year. He began showing symptoms in late August. It is the 11th Rhode Island case since the disease was first reported in the […]
Posted inCity & Government
Hakeem Jeffries visits Pawtucket to celebrate Rhode Island’s Cabo Verdean community
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries came to Pawtucket on Sunday to celebrate Rhode Island’s Cabo Verdean community, hosted by Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner. Jeffries, whose mother’s family comes from the island of Fogo, is the highest-ranking elected official of Cabo Verdean descent in American history. Rhode Island has the largest Cabo Verdean population […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rocky Horror shadow cast returns to the Jane Pickens, 45 years after its first show there
RKO Army, the Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast that played its first show as an established troupe at the Jane Pickens Theater on Halloween night in 1981, returns to that stage Friday, Sept. 25, ahead of a newportFILM screening of “Time Warp.” Doors open at 6 p.m. and the performance and film begin at […]
Posted inSports
Newport Yacht Club wraps evening racing season with 53 teams
Fifty-three teams raced in the Newport Yacht Club’s 2026 Tuesday and Wednesday evening series on the lower end of Narragansett Bay, the club announced. Tuesday nights drew 23 teams across J/7 Ensign and classic S-Boat fleets. The J/7s raced two series, and the second came down to a tiebreaker, with Ryan Davis’s Hull Fliers of […]
Posted inSports
Newport’s Hannah Swett in second heading into the final day of the Women’s International Championship
Newport sailor Hannah Swett goes into the final day of the New York Yacht Club’s inaugural Women’s International Championship in second place, after a Friday on which the wind never filled and the fleet was sent in without racing. The race committee waited into the afternoon before abandoning for the day at 3 p.m. Megan […]
Posted inCity & Government
Final turbine installed at Revolution Wind, 15 miles off Little Compton
Crews have installed the last of 65 turbines at Revolution Wind, the offshore wind project in Rhode Island Sound about 15 miles south of Little Compton, Ørsted confirmed Thursday. “Commissioning activities continue across the project, with safety as the top priority,” the company said. “Revolution Wind continues to progress toward an anticipated commercial operation date […]
Posted inCity & Government
Airbnb-funded grant to train Newport math teachers, with a public film screening Nov. 2
The Newport Public Education Foundation has awarded Newport Public Schools a $20,000 grant, funded by Airbnb, to train middle and high school math teachers in a teaching framework aimed at getting students working problems rather than watching them worked. The initiative, called Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics and Financial Literacy, will support workshops, planning and […]
Posted inCity & Government
Point survey finds widespread flooding but few homeowners insured or protected against it
Homeowners in the Point recognize the risk that flooding poses to their houses but largely have not insured or fortified against it, according to survey results presented to the Point Association last week. Rep. Lauren Carson presented the findings at the association’s fall meeting at St. John’s Hall on Sept. 15. The Historic Point Neighborhood […]