Here’s a look at The Providence Journal’s most-read stories for the week of Jan. 22, as well as some other news we’ve been covering, supported by your subscriptions.
One in four Rhode Island homes has higher-than-acceptable levels of radon, a radioactive gas that’s the second-leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking. That’s far ahead of the national average of one in 15 homes. Home buyers can test properties and take steps to reduce the gas before they move in, but renters are at the mercy of landlords, who have no legal obligation to test or mitigate. Read about one tenant’s frustrating ordeal in South Kingstown.
Soljane Martinez is on a mission to expand educational horizons for Rhode Island students in underserved communities. Working with Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Martinez, a Latina who grew up attending New York City public schools, opens students’ minds to all kinds of college choices — even Ivy League schools like Brown. Learn about a pilot program she helped launch at Central Falls High School that gave kids a real taste of the college experience.
Opening a Jewish delicatessen has been on restaurateur Jason Sugarman’s mind for more than a decade. Soon, that passion project will come to fruition, with Maven’s Delicatessen in development at 727 East Ave. in Pawtucket. He’s looking at a late May opening for his homage to great Jewish delicatessens past and present.
Keep up with college and high school sports with scores, game highlights and announcements of the Providence Journal All-Star teams at providencejournal.com/sports.
Here are the most-read stories of the week on providencejournal.com:
For a small state, Rhode Island has a lot of grand real estate.
A playground for the rich and the famous during the Gilded Age, the shorelines are dotted with mansions. Some of them are tourist attractions, but others are still functioning vacation homes for today’s elite.
From the mansions of Newport to more casual homes in Watch Hill and Warwick, here are seven homes owned by some well-known celebrities.
Real estate:Some of these you know. Some you won’t. 7 celebrities with homes in Rhode Island
After a week of testimony, a jury took about three hours Thursday to acquit off-duty Pawtucket police officer Daniel Dolan of all charges that he unjustly shot a teenager outside a West Greenwich pizzeria in 2021.
Several of Dolan’s relatives and supporters gasped and cried with joy as the jury foreman declared “not guilty” to the first of four felony charges against the 40-year-old officer. The foreman would repeat the verdict three more times as the court clerk read each separate charge.
Minutes later the family of the shot teen, Dominic Vincent, now 20, angrily stormed out of the courtroom, his mother, Lisa, shouting: “He’s going to kill somebody! He tried to kill my son!”
Courts: Pawtucket cop Daniel Dolan found not guilty in shooting of unarmed teen
Rising prices are pinching everyone, even Joseph Mollicone Jr., the once-fugitive embezzler whose thievery triggered Rhode Island’s banking crisis three decades ago.
With soaring costs in mind, Mollicone, 79, on Tuesday asked to reduce the $270 restitution payment he makes to the state each month.
Mollicone’s looting of Heritage Loan & Investment Co. helped trigger the state’s plunge into the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression, with one out of every three Rhode Islanders hurt by his theft at the time.
He has paid $50,457.50 toward his restitution, according to Lexi Kriss, spokeswoman for the courts. That leaves $12,455,916 remaining as of Monday, court records show.
Courts: He triggered a banking crisis in RI. Now embezzler says he can’t meet restitution payments
Grief filled a Washington County courtroom on Monday.
Grief for the loss of a devoted husband, father, family man and boss. Grief for lives that continue on without a beloved presence, tingeing each milestone and occasion with sadness.
“That one decision changed so many lives forever … ,” Lori Albergaria said Monday in Superior Court. “We will always be a man down.”
Family and friends packed Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg’s courtroom Monday for the sentencing of the woman who hit and killed 54-year-old Alan Albergaria, Lori’s brother-in-law, as he took a walk before dinner near his house on Middlebridge Road on March 27, 2020.
Courts: ‘Our world has been shattered’: S. Kingstown woman to serve 7 years for deadly DUI crash
So you think you want to start raising backyard chickens?
Maybe you started thinking about it while you stood in front of the egg case at the grocery store and couldn’t believe how much egg prices have gone up. Perhaps it happened when you ate a local, freshly laid egg and realized it tasted better. Or maybe, you — like so many other people who keep backyard chickens — just really like them.
With the popularity of backyard chickens growing, The Providence Journal asked hobbyists of various experience levels for their top tips on getting started in the Ocean State. Here’s what they said.
Farming:Thinking about having backyard chicken in Rhode Island? Here’s what you need to know
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