Tuesday, March 25, 2025

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IN PROGRESS: The nonprofit SWAP Inc. (Stop Wasting Abandoned Property) is building this two-family house at Burnside and Arnold streets in East Providence to sell to a family that meets income limits. Supporters of Question 3 on the ballot say similar affordable housing programs will be funded with a $120 million bond issue. 
PBN PHOTO/WILLIAM HAMILTON

BUILDING BONDS: New housing, higher ed facilities top $343M in bond...

In Rhode Island, $107,452 won’t get residents very far in the housing market. That figure – the state’s median household income – doesn’t support an...
QUESTION 1 on Rhode Island's statewide ballot is asking voters whether a constitutional convention should be convened to consider amendments to the state constitution. / PBN FILE PHOTO/WILLIAM HAMILTON

Constitutional convention? Clashing views

Rhode Island’s first statewide ballot question is an outlier in more than one way, observers say. When Rhode Islanders vote in the general election, Question...
LASTING MARK: ­Providence Place has changed significantly, but the urban mall has continued to play an important role in Providence over the 25 years since it opened with the promise of propelling the city's renaissance. 
PBN PHOTO/­WILLIAM HAMILTON

Casting a MALL PALL: Despite uncertain future, Providence Place remains key...

Decades ago, city and state leaders eagerly jumped on a cross-country flight to secure Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom Inc. as an anchor tenant for Providence...

PBN SURVEY: Economy, election putting business on edge

Rhode Islanders aren’t throwing parties like they used to just a year ago. At least, that’s the way Ines Gentile sees it. Gentile is a...
GETTING STARTED: State Sen. Pamela J. Lauria, left, convenes the first meeting of a 21-member legislative commission examining the feasibility of creating a public medical school in Rhode Island. Lauria is co-chair with University of Rhode Island President Marc B. Parlange, second from left.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

A CURE FOR THE ILLS? Not everybody is convinced R.I. would...

(Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series exploring issues surrounding the training of physicians in Rhode Island and its impact on...
ONBOARD YET? Mark Parsons, center, founder of the nonprofit New Bedford Research and Robotics, and Ian Estaphan Owen, left, co-founder and CEO of Bristol-based Jaia Robotics Inc., talk with Annie Colarusso, Economic Development Administration tech hubs deputy director, about the regional blue economy during a boat cruise in Bristol Harbor in early August. 
PBN PHOTO/
JACQUELYN VOGHEL

HUB SNUB: Can R.I.’s effort to build blue economy weather missing...

With a team of researchers spread coast to coast, Nereid ­Biomaterials had a few options when looking for a place to set up a...
STUCK IN NEUTRAL: Woonsocket City Council Vice President Valerie Gonzalez, left, and Michelle Taylor, an official at the nonprofit Community Care Alliance, stand with the “Dignity Bus.” The city used $150,000 of its American Rescue Plan Act aid to purchase the 20-bed emergency shelter for the homeless last year, and the alliance operated it. But funding for ongoing costs ran out and the bus has been dormant since May 31. Gonzalez says more funding is coming. 
PBN PHOTO/
PAUL J. SPETRINI

WINDFALL WOES: Some R.I. communities slow to deploy ARPA millions before...

When Rhode Island cities and towns were awarded more than $500 million in COVID-19 relief money three years ago, it was a welcome infusion...
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Michelle Wilcox, 
CEO and president of Crossroads Rhode Island, stands in front of the Summer Street Apartments project in Providence, a five-story development by Crossroads that will feature 176 single-bed residences for those who were previously homeless.
PBN PHOTO/
MICHAEL SALERNO

Tapping the private sector: Could R.I. businesses provide more affordable housing...

As Martha L. Wofford stood at a construction site in ­Providence’s West End in August 2022, the scaffolding at the site caught her eye...
CO-BOT CONVERSATION: Mike Rielly, head of public relations at igus Bearings Inc. in East Providence, discusses one of the robots that the company produces, which are known as collaborative robots, or co-bots, along with other automation technology that it sells to manufacturers.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

ROBOTS RISING? Manufacturers mull employing tech as it gets smarter, cheaper

Enter igus Bearings Inc.’s newly opened facility in East Providence, and you’ll be met with the sounds of whirring and clangs typical of a...
HAPPY HOMEOWNERS: Max and Connie Silvia stand in front of their new home in Portsmouth. The couple, who recently moved from Pawtucket where they owned a triple-decker since 2018, found what they were looking for on Aquidneck Island after being unable to find something with the space and in the style they wanted at a reasonable price in Providence.
PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

PRICE POINTS: Where in R.I. have home sale prices soared the...

Max and Connie Silvia had been on the hunt for a house in the Providence area for several years while living in a triple-decker...
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