Providence RI

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Aspen Aerogels is planning to reopen its manufacturing facility in East Providence this month, according to an SEC filing. An explosion occurred at the facility last month, which injured 11 employees. Officials said the explosion stemmed from a high-temperature oven. According to the SEC...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — On Friday, the Providence Police Department held its annual wreath-laying ceremony to honor officers who have died. The ceremony coincides with National Police Week and pays tribute to officers who lost their lives in the line of duty, as well as retired members of the department who recently passed away.

A bear was spotted in a Providence neighborhood Friday morning. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said they were in contact with Providence police after a reported bear sighting on Duxbury Street at 3:30 a.m. Police said the bear was no longer in the area when officers responded. DEM...

Community Activist and Lawyer Prohibited From Serving on Providence Police Review Board, Says Ethics Commission. The Rhode Island Ethics Commission has ruled that a lawyer recently appointed to the Providence External Review Authority (PERA) is “prohibited by the Code of Ethics from serving” on the body. Community activist...

FALL RIVER (WBSM) — A Taunton man will spend up to six years in state prison for stabbing another man at an auto body shop in that town. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III said Danyel Battle, 32, pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court on May 6 to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.

Rhode Island banned disposable plastic straws at restaurants four years ago, never strictly enforced the ban and is now on the verge of trashing it. State senators on Tuesday, May 5, unanimously passed a bill that would gut most of the law that prohibited establishments from providing plastic straws with drinks unless a customer asked for one. How would it change the law? If...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Providence Police Department said it arrested a man in connection with an indecent exposure incident that occurred near a West End school. Twenty-year-old Janssye Toucet, Jr. was charged with indecent exposure/disorderly conduct. He was arrested on Peace Street around midnight Friday. Toucet was arraigned...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Kung Fu Tea on Waterman Street in Providence will close on May 14 after 10 years in business due to a building redevelopment. The bubble tea shop off of Thayer Street is the latest longtime business to shut down in the neighborhood. "I got notice...

(WJAR) — A woman was injured in a stabbing incident in Fall River early Friday morning. Police responded just after midnight to the area of Whipple Street and Hamlet Street. Responding officers found a woman had been stabbed. She was transported to a nearby hospital with what was described...

A West Warwick man has claimed the $2 million winning Powerball ticket from the April drawing. The Rhode Island Lottery said the ticket was from the April 29 drawing. The ticket matched five numbers, but not the Powerball number to win the standard payout of $1 million. However, the winner...