All Pawtucket All The Time

Attention New England sports fans, 

Southwest Airlines has added special service between Providence and Indianapolis to its flight lineup just in time for the big game!  These flights will occur on Friday, February 3rd and Monday, February 6th only.  

Flights depart Green Airport in Providence at 5:00pm and arrive in Indianapolis at 8:00pm.  Return flights will depart Indianapolis at 8:35pm and arrive in Providence at 11:00pm.  

Travelers in the Boston area can also take advantage of these flight opportunities by taking MBTA commuter rail service to get to the airport.  Since these flights are in demand, we encourage booking soon. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.southwest.com

5th Annual Torch Run Plunge

*  NEW LOCATION: Goddard Memorial State Park, Warwick  

*  Registration begins at 10:00am

*  Games on the beach begin at 11:15am

*  Heated men’s and ladies changing tents  

*  Post Plunge Party at The Carousel at Goddard Park
*  Create your own Firstgiving fundraising page at: 
    www.firstgiving.com/soriTR
 *  Donation: $50 minimum donation to plunge! 

*  Incentives, the more you raise the more you get!   
*  All non-plungers can join the party for a $15.00 donation   

*  Great food from Eddie’s BBQ and music by 3D DJ Service

*  PLUNGE at 12:00pm

2012 Fact/Incentive Sheet

Please call Special Olympics Rhode Island for additional information or email    Tracy Garabedian at tracy@specialolympicsri.org. 

Citizens Bank Foundation and the Audubon Society of Rhode Island

Admission to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Environmental Education Center will be free on the first Saturday of every month, courtesy of a grant from the Citizens Bank Foundation.  

Families can explore environmental exhibits representing Rhode Island’s diverse habitats, from upland meadow and cornfields to wetlands, salt marshes and the Narragansett Bay shoreline. 

Situated on the beautiful 28-acre McIntosh Wildlife Refuge, visitors can enjoy beautiful nature trails. The Environmental Education Center offers a wide variety of education programs as well as outreach to schools throughout the state. 

The following programs are free:

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Environmental Education Center is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• Spot the Valentine Hearts: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Can you spot all 10 Valentine Hearts in our exhibit hall? Spot them all and get a special sticker to take home.  

• Nature Craft: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Nature Story: 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Environmental Education Center 

1401 Hope Street (Route 114)

Bristol, R.I.

The Rhode Island Post Card Club holds its next meeting on Sunday January 29th from 9 AM to 2 PM at the Knights of Columbus, 1 Volturno Street in North Providence.

The hall is easily accessible from Route 95 by taking the Branch Ave. exit and heading west. Turn right at the third traffic light onto Charles St. and then left onto Volturno.

Post cards of all descriptions including town views and holiday greetings will be available including antique Valentine’s Day cards, which you can send to someone special for about the same cost as a new card. There is no admission charge.

Pell Grants Helped Providence Resident Afford College

In the past year, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has been fighting hard to protect the Pell Grant program from harmful budget cuts.  As he prepares to continue that fight in the New Year, Whitehouse today announced that Travis Escobar, a Rhode Island College student who relies on Pell Grants to afford college, will be his guest at President Obama’s State of the Union address this Tuesday.

“As the cost of higher education continues to skryrocket in our country, Pell Grants are now more vital than ever to Rhode Island families, and I’m committed to protecting this program from any attacks in Congress,” said Whitehouse.  “Travis’ story is a great example of how Pell Grants can help our kids achieve their dreams, and I’m glad he’ll be joining me to help send a message to Washington: don’t cut Pell Grants.”

Travis Escobar is the first member of his family to attend college.  He is now in his junior year at Rhode Island College, where he majors in political science, and is serving his second term as president of the student government.

“I love this country because any hard working individual can achieve the ‘American Dream,’” said Escobar.  “I would not be able to work toward my dream of becoming a congressman if it wasn’t for Pell Grants.  I would like to thank Senator Whitehouse for inviting me to help promote this message that Pell Grants give young Americans a chance to chase their dream.  I look forward to hearing what the President has to say as he, along with my family, inspired me to pursue a life in public service.”

Last year, House Republicans attempted to slash funding for Pell Grants, passing a budget resolution that would have cut grant funding for over a million students by an average of $1,775.  Then, near the end of the debt ceiling debate in July, The Hill newspaper reported that some Republican House Members were opposing funding for Pell Grants – with some even calling the program “welfare” for our kids.  At the same time, the number of students receiving Pell Grants increased by 16 percent between school years 2009-10 and 2010-11, and the purchasing power of these grants has declined.  Today, the maximum Pell grant covers 32 percent of the cost of four year public university tuition – down from 72 percent in 1976.

Last fall, Whitehouse led a colloquy on the Senate floor with his colleagues to urge Congress to protect the Pell Grant program, and introduced a resolution to make it clear that the program should not be cut in any deficit reduction package.  He also published a piece in the Huffington Post about the importance of preserving the program.

The Museum of Work & Culture to present the second Ranger Day Lecture Talk featuring Rhea Bouchard Powers’ “Rhea’s Random Reflections”

On Sunday, January 29, the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, in cooperation with the Museum of Work and Culture and the Rhode Island Historical Society, will present the second in a series of Ranger Day Talks at 1:30 pm. 

Rhea Bouchard Powers, the very popular columnist of the weekly Valley Breeze feature titled “My Life” will speak about her experiences and her memories of growing up in a French Canadian home in Manville, RI.  Her sense of humor transforms everyday activities into unforgettable adventures. 

Rhea began writing a weekly column for the Woonsocket Call.  Her column quickly became very popular.  She eventually moved on to the Valley Breeze.  Around the same time that Rhea started writing her weekly column, she began volunteering at Adopt-A-Family, where she is a member of the Board of Directors, and is a past president and vice president.  

In 2008 Rhea was inducted into the American French Genealogical French Canadian Hall of Fame. 

The remainder of the Ranger Talks schedule is as follows:

Feb. 12  Paul Bourget presents “Civil War Sanitary Commission.”

Feb. 26  Sarah Zuier presents “Green Zones:  Rhode Islanders’ Gardens in War Time.”

March 11  National Park Ranger Kevin Klyberg presents “R.I. and the War of 1812.”

April 1:  Former Woonsocket resident Chip Bishop presents a talk on his newly released book “The Lion and the Journalist.”

Hop to the Call of Conservation

Roger Williams Park Zoo is seeking volunteer “citizen scientists” to participate in the fourth season of its state-wide FrogWatch USA program.  Program volunteers attend a training that discusses the importance of amphibians in the environment, how to tell the frog species apart by their calls and how monitoring our local population helps to protect them.   Volunteers commit to monitoring a local amphibian habitat (such as a pond or lake) and collecting data on what they hear, approximately once a week for about 15 minutes.   

Amphibian species are disappearing at an alarming rate across the globe due to a number of factors such as habitat loss, pollution, and disease.  This has led to what many conservationists call a global amphibian crisis, with one third to one half of all amphibian species facing possible extinction. 

Though there don’t appear to be any immediate threats to the species found locally in New England, the monitoring and data collected through the FrogWatch program will help conservationists to keep tabs on these populations and react to any decline much more quickly.

 
“Amphibians act as an important indicator species for healthy environments and are a vital part of the food chain, making up the diet of many other species; some that rely on amphibians as a sole source of food,” said Lou Perrotti, Director of Conservation Programs at the Zoo. 

“Without amphibians, insect populations could grow out of control and potentially spread disease that could threaten human populations and agriculture. The loss of the entire class of amphibians would have a catastrophic effect on the ecosystem.  FrogWatch is an easy, enjoyable way for people who have an interest in amphibians and the environment to help.”

The Zoo is holding volunteer training sessions for the program on February 11 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., March 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., March 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and April 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  To help defray the cost of running this important project, a $10 materials fee will be charged per participating household to cover training materials.  Registration can be done online at https://www.rwpzoo.org/352/be-frogwatcher.

Data collected in Rhode Island will be added to a national FrogWatch USA database, and will also be shared with the Rhode Island Natural History Survey.   In 2010 Roger Williams Park Zoo trained over  136 volunteers who monitored 31 sites across all 5 counties in Rhode Island.  In 2011, 143 volunteers were trained by RWP Zoo.  Data submissions for this team are still being compiled.

For more information about the FrogWatch USA program at Roger Williams Park Zoo, and about the global amphibian crisis, visit the Zoo’s website, www.rwpzoo.org, and click on “conservation.”

City to conduct efficiency studies to improve services, cut costs Will include first-ever joint effort with city schools

PAWTUCKET – Mayor Donald R. Grebien announced the city is undertaking two efficiency studies, including one jointly with the Pawtucket School Department believed to be the first of its kind in the city, to look at ways to improve services and cut costs. The separate studies will focus on human resources management and on delivery of fire services.

“We cannot keep doing things the same old way and expect to get the greater efficiencies we need to improve services for our residents and taxpayers while also working hard to limit or reduce our costs,” said Grebien, who recently reinstituted a freeze on all expenditures.

“At a time when we continue to leave job vacancies unfilled as we address ongoing budget shortfalls, and work to keep the city out of state bankruptcy oversight, these studies will give us an outside, objective look at our operations. They will help us determine if we can combine some functions such as personnel operations on a citywide basis, and give us a better handle on possible ways to improve our delivery of fire services.”

One study, originated from the School Department in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office, will examine human resources services for potential efficiencies such as cost sharing or partnering on personnel services performed on a centralized basis for the schools and city sides of those functions. The study is being done by management consultant Dr. Robert Schiller, who previously performed an efficiency study of school buildings and related operations. According to Schools Supt. Deborah Cylke, an organizational audit she did previously ranked human resources reorganization as the top priority for her department. The consultant’s final report will include a series of recommendations.

The other study, called a Fire and Rescue Performance Review and Audit, will be done by Public Safety Solutions, Inc. of Chester, Md. The study will include interviews of Fire Department and EMS staff, data collection, and assessments of equipment, mutual aid, response times, fire station locations, facilities training and dispatch, among other areas.

Linden Place will host a children’s arts & crafts class to celebrate Black History Month on Saturday, February 4, 2012.

Linden Place Mansion will host an arts & crafts class for children in grades 1 to 5 celebrating Black History Month and the arts of African culture.  Africans brought to the New World a host of valuable skills and talents that we have as a record of their life and expression of their human experience. The projects covered in this class will celebrate the history of the African creativity and practical design of their artwork. 

 Students will complete four arts and crafts projects during the two hour class. The projects will be made of a variety of materials and techniques; paper, pencils, weaving, printing, markers, paint and textiles will be included.

 Students will learn the history of Ghanaian Kente Cloths and create their own cloths. Students will also make conga drums, an African drum used to express their native identity, and create African paper masks using raffia, construction paper and decorative patterned paper.  Additionally, students will use yarn and straw to weave an African belt. 

 The class will take place Saturday, February 4th from 10am to 12pm.  The fee is $20, $15 for Linden Place members and includes all class materials.  Class size is limited to 12 students so reservations must be made by calling the Linden Place office at 401-253-0390 or by e-mailing info@lindenplace.org.

  FRIENDS OF LINDEN PLACE is a nonprofit corporation responsible for the preservation, restoration, and promotion of Linden Place, an 1810 Federal period mansion located in the center of downtown Bristol, RI.  The Linden Place organization offers cultural and educational programs to the RI community.  

Silva asks feds to intervene in possible closing of Central Falls Post Office 

STATE HOUSE – Rep. Agostinho F. Silva (D-Dist. 56, Central Falls) is introducing a resolution asking the federal delegation to intervene in the possible closing of the Central Falls Post Office.

The mail service, located at 575 Dexter St., is the only post office in the financially troubled city. Further, the move comes after U.S. Postal Service officials told Valley Falls residents they could utilize the Central Falls location after the Cumberland village’s own post office closed last summer.

“This is unacceptable,” Representative Silva said. “This is the only post office in Central Falls. Where are my constituents supposed to go for their mail services? Where are the Valley Falls residents going to go now? Someone needs to take action, which is why I’m asking for support from our friends in the federal delegation to help do what’s best for a community that has already gone through so much.”

The representative said he is extremely upset that the U.S. Postal Service would consider shutting down such a vital facility. He encourages members of the public to join their fellow citizens in a protest march on Thursday, Jan. 19, which will begin at the post office and end at Central Falls High School, 24 Summer St. Marchers will organize at about 4:30 p.m.

Following the march will be a hearing on the status of the post office. Although the meeting was originally scheduled to take place inside City Hall, city officials moved it to Central Falls High School with the expectation of a large crowd. The hearing will run from 6 to 8 p.m. inside the high school.

“The representatives from the U.S. Postal Service need to hear from the residents,” he said. “They need to know how much this is going to affect the community if this is allowed to happen.”