With a day to spare, and just 50 words of headroom, I crossed the finish line of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) at 12:05 this morning, certifying my scrambled manuscript for the alternate history novel "Fist of the Ape," written in the past thirty days. I [...]
The lawbreaking vandals who put up their propaganda dispenser on state property have returned to Boyd's Lane, with another round of rabid anti-sewer rhetoric. The flyer — once again, no group has the balls to put their name on it — has a big "Just Say No" [...]
Would this picture look better with a road cutting across the middle?
I'm sure this is an oversimplification, but when Jack and I visited the Glen Ridge Farm on Frank Coelho Drive this afternoon, all I could think about was how beautiful this spot is, how perfect' [...]
photo courtesy PHS
The Portsmouth High School production of "Twelve Angry Jurors" (né "Twelve Angry Men") ends its run this weekend with performances at 7pm tonight and tomorrow at the PHS auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults.
This is a really good show, which you'll know' [...]
There was a meeting last night of about 30 Portsmouth citizens to form an organization called the Island Park Crime Watch Committee, and according to multiple sources who were present, a slate of officers was elected and bylaws were approved.
Full disclosure up front: Members of this group have been involved [...]
If you've been on the northern part of East Main Road in Portsmouth, you've probably noticed new construction going on at the old gas station next to Pizza Hollywood, and according to Director of Business Development Bill Clark, it will be a new gas station.
"The old service station and underground" [...]
Sen. Jack Reed will be hosting his 19th annual college financial aid workshop this coming Monday, Nov 23, at the Lincoln campus of Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), according to an e-mail from his office. The 90-minute workshop will feature Q&A and panelists from the RI Higher Education Authority, [...]
The Glen Ridge (alpaca) farm is on the agenda at the Planning Board tonight, and the Preserve Portsmouth folks will be attending, according to a note sent to supporters this afternoon.
There is a very important meeting this evening in regards to the Glen Ridge Farm decision. Please do your very [...]
photo by Jack McDaid
by Karen McDaid
Scampi Restaurant in Portsmouth had a full house last evening for a "Spirit of New Orleans" dinner to benefit a humanitarian trip by local high school students.
Sylvia Wedge, Cynthia Perotti, and Marilyn King were on hand from the School [...]
Stephen Colbert had big fun tonight at the expense of RI Gov. Donald Carcieri and his veto last week of a bill that would have permitted [...]
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For the first time since absentee tracking began earlier this month, Portsmouth public schools were all below the state average last Thursday and Friday, based on data provided by the RI Department of Education (RIDE). While it's still way too early in [...]
Lcross impact site. Photo courtesy NASA
At a press conference this morning, NASA researchers with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCross) team announced that last month's impact experiment had produced definitive evidence of water in a shadowed crater near the Moon's south pole.
In a statement posted [...]
Newport's Trinity Church will be rocking to the sounds of the 50's and 60's this weekend at the premiere of the "Rydell High & Bandstand Reunion," an interactive revue featuring a couple of Portsmouth's local musical talents, Chris and Diane Myers. From the show's Facebook page:
"Rydell High" [...]
Jeff Jarvis speaks with participants.
More than 150 localbloggers, journalists, media execs, and academics gathered at the City University of New York (CUNY) grad school of journalism today for the third annual conference on new models for news, this year focusing on local news blogging.
"What we're seeing happening'" [...]
Well, Rupert Murdoch has threatened to take all News Corp's content behind a paywall and yank it out of Google, according to a SkyNews interview. If I understand him right, he also thinks that the doctrine of fair use is suspect. No, seriously. Hop on over to YouTube and' [...]
Rep. Patrick Kennedy issued a statement this evening on the occasion of the historic passage (220-215) of health care reform in the US House of Representatives. And he began, appropriately enough, with a quote from his father. If you stayed up tonight watching CSPAN, I was there with you, and [...]
Wanted to pass along this note from Ocean State Action, urging folks to call their congressperson this weekend with action coming up on the robust health care reform bill HR 3962 (OpenCongress, Thomas)
Subject: MAKE A CALL NOW - House bill coming this weekend
Rep. Jim Langevin - 202-225-2735
Rep. Patrick [...]
In search of low-hanging fruit in operational consolidation, the school committees of Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport will be meeting for a joint workshop on Monday, Nov. 9 at 7pm in the Oliphant School in Middletown. On the agenda:
AGENDA
I. Discussion of Areas For Potential Collaboration or Regionalization
Island wide payroll system
[...]
Heard from our state Reps. Ray Gallison and Amy Rice, who passed along a letter they sent to the PUC last week, expressing their concern over the (shelved) plan to close the public access studio and the longer-term threat which new PUC rules continue to pose.
October 28, 2009
Elia Germani, Esq., [...]
Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts has launched a new campaign web site for her re-election bid, according to an e-mail sent to supporters.
Clean, straightforward design with prominent links to social media tools, and Portsmouth residents will get a kick out of seeing one of our Town Councilors behind Roberts on [...]
Sen. Chuck Levesque responded immediately to my e-mail about proposed PUC cable access regulation changes, and followed up with the RI Senate Policy office, passing along this response a few minutes ago from Director Marie Ganim:
"There was such a strong adverse reaction to the proposed closure of the Portsmouth" [...]
There is a hearing tomorrow at the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission that may determine whether the cable TV public access studio in Portsmouth remains open. Their Division of Public Utilities and Carriers has proposed new rules, according to their Web site, which would allow for the reduction in [...]
The RI Department of Education (RIDE) has begun posting daily attendance reports from all schools in the state, Commissioner Deborah Gist's office announced today. The reports, which have been provided to the Dept. of Health for two years to assist in tracking diseases like H1N1, are available on the' [...]
If you want a last cup of chowda to hold you over the long winter, today is your last shot at Flo's clam shack in Island Park. I know where I'm having lunch...
Update: Okay, make that dinner. Thick, Sunday chowder, perfect for a brisk afternoon. See you in the spring.
[...]
PHS spring 2010 New Orleans participants (photo courtesy Kim Cunningham)
Portsmouth High teacher Kim Cunningham led a group of students on a trip to the Dominican Republic last year to build a preschool; this year, she's setting her sights no lower, but closer to home: Next April, she' [...]
The Providence Journal has the story on the 12-year-old Bristol girl, Victoria Sousa, who, according to RI Health Director David Gifford, passed away on Monday and tested positive for H1H1. She attended school here in Portsmouth at St. Philomena's.
Our thoughts are with the Sousa family at this tragic time.' [...]
According to an e-mail from Portsmouth Supt. Susan Lusi distributed to parents via listserv last night, there are "a small number" of cases of the H1N1 flu in Portsmouth schools. Students (and parents) are being reminded to observe steps to prevent any spread. From Lusi's note:
I know that all of [...]
There is a lot in play around health care reform right now, and if we want to keep the public option on the table, it's important to speak out.
MoveOn PAC is mobilizing Obama supporters to urge the President to continue to push for a robust public [...]
Guestblogger Terri Cortvriend provides an overview of the past week's activities at Portsmouth High School (PHS).
PHS Vocal Ensemble singing National Anthem. Photo by Terri CortvriendSpirit Week activities at PHS this past week included many games and challenges:
During the school day there was Pajama Day, Mix and Match [...]
Boy Scouts at work on Bristol Ferry Common. Photo courtesy Alex Cournoyer, Sr.
Received this letter from Doug Smith of the Bristol Ferry Town Common Committee
To the Editor,
On behalf of Portsmouth's Bristol Ferry Town Common Committee, I'd like to thank Boy Scout Alex Cournoyer and his fellow [...]
Nearly 100 people packed the Portsmouth Historical society this morning for a ceremony remembering the 241 service members killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. Families of several of the nine Rhode Islanders lost were on hand to see memorial founder [...]
More than 80 people attended the 7th annual Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) annual Fall showcase last night, hearing about great projects from the grant-winning teachers, mingling with other fans of public education, bidding on donated auction items to support the PPEF, and enjoying delicious hors [...]
War. The annual Beirut Memorial ceremony is today, October 23, 10am at the Portsmouth Historical Society Building (corner of East Main and Union). See last year's coverage here. This moving annual ceremony honors those who gave their lives in our 1983 peacekeeping operation in Beirut. As USMC Colonel William' [...]
Commissioner Deborah Gist with students in Bob Rutkiewicz's physics class
For four hours yesterday, Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist went to school in Portsmouth.
Gist, appointed earlier this year, spent the morning at Portsmouth high school with Supt. Susan Lusi and principal Bob Littlefield as her [...]
Wyatt Square, the little shopping plaza just off Wyatt and EMR in Middletown (map) is having their second annual open house this Thursday, Oct 22, from 5-7pm, according to an announcement on Facebook. A post by indie local bookstore Island Books says there will be "wine, cider, and" [...]
The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) will have almost a quarter-million dollars of support to put together a grant application for Federal "Race to the Top" funding, Commission Deborah Gist announced today. According to RIDE, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation will provide $95,000 in support, with the Nellie [...]
In his debut Publisher's Weekly column, sf writer Cory Doctorow talks about his latest digital publishing experiment: A short story collection with a variety of formats at differing price points, from free all the way up to a version with your own specially commissioned short story. He'll be publishing' [...]
CUNY professor Jeff Jarvis offers a crisp rebuttal to today's Washington Post story by Leonard Downie and Columbia's Michael Schudson which essentially proposes socialized journalism. In a story released in advance of a Columbia Journalism Review study of the news business, "The Reconstruction of American Journalism." Here's' [...]
Click to visit NaNoWriMo
At 12:01am on November first, hundreds of thousands of fingers will start pounding keyboards in a frenzied effort to crank out a novel in just 30 days.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a gonzo word spree whose goal is to coax a 50K-word-novel [...]
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The Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) is hosting their 7th annual Fall Showcase next Thursday, October 22 from 6-8pm at the Green Valley Country club on Union Street. Portsmouth teachers who received the PPEF's Educational Excellence grants last year will be on [...]
Friday night is the perfect news lull to test out a new feature — if you're reading this on a BlackBerry®, iPhone®, or other mobile device, you should be seeing a lower-bandwidth version of the site. It's a first step in an ongoing redesign effort occupying my copious free time' [...]
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Over 800 pumpkins were delivered last night to the lawn at Trinity Church on Queen Anne's Square in Newport, in preparation for the first annual Pumpkin Patch, running from today through October 31. Tonight's opening event is a free showing of the (70-year-old, can [...]
A makeshift dispenser full of anti-sewer scare-tactic fliers recently appeared duct-taped to road sign on Boyd's Lane in Portsmouth. No person or organization was brave enough to put their name on the fliers, which are full of big scary numbers and all-caps sentences that claim "powerful groups" [...]
Map from 2007 Step It Up rally in Newport
At a Step It Up rally in 2007, I saw the future of Island Park, and it scared the hell out of me. One of the maps Senator Whitehouse referred to in his talk showed the northern [...]
In a nearly 3-hour session tonight, the Portsmouth School Committee approved by a 4-3 vote a strategic plan for the district reflecting broad community input gathered and refined in a 10-month process. The final vote was a bipartisan 4-3, as Republican Mike Buddemeyer joined Democrats Dick Carpender, Sylvia Wedge, and [...]
