Focus

CLEAN TEAM: Roger Williams Park Zoo has a new plan to prevent stormwater runoff from contaminating the park’s 100 acres of lakes. Contributors to the project included, from left, Molly Welsh of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Lou Perrotti, director of conservation programs for the zoo; and Brian Kuchar, Horsley Witten Group principal landscape architect who is leading the project. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Horsley Witten completes plan to address stormwater runoff at RWP Zoo 

Focus 07/31/2026

Positioned along the border of Providence and Cranston sits the nation’s third-oldest zoo. Opened in 1872, the Roger Williams Park Zoo has undergone many expansion...

TAKING SHAPE: internationally recognized architect Julian Bonder has worked with the Newport Middle Passage Port Marker Project to refine the design of a memorial between Thames Street and America’s Cup Avenue.  COURTESY NEWPORT MIDDLE PASSAGE PORT MARKER PROJECT

Newport’s slave trade memorial taking years to become reality

Focus 07/31/2026

Nearly a decade after the idea was first proposed, Newport’s Middle Passage Memorial is moving closer to becoming reality. But for those behind the...

UP FOR A FIGHT: Lindsey Althaus and her son, Whitman Althaus, 12, who has autism and a neurological disorder called apraxia, in their home on July 1 in Luckey, Ohio. AP PHOTO/NIC ANTAYA

Disability advocates fear federal policy shift

Focus 07/17/2026

For decades, disabled people have fought for their rights to go to school and live alongside peers without disabilities – rights that some fear...

POOL PARTY: Rubber duckies are dropped into the test tank at the University of Rhode Island’s new Ocean Robotics Laboratory at an underwater ribbon cutting in June.  COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND/MICHAEL SALERNO

URI’s ocean robotics hub feeds wave of innovation

Focus 07/17/2026

Inside a large test tank at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus, a remotely operated vehicle recently sliced through a floating ribbon...

MORE OF THE SAME: Walkers heading south on the Newport Cliff Walk in 2023 are stopped at Narragansett Avenue by fencing because part of the historic walk collapsed in 2022. Little has changed since then. PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

Money isn’t only thing slowing Cliff Walk repairs

Focus 07/17/2026

For generations, Newport’s city officials have had to strike a perilous balance between the public value of one of Rhode Island’s most recognizable tourist...

TOURISM TRACK: Melissa Varao, an associate professor at the Salve Regina University School of Business, crafted a degree track for a tourism, hospitality and event management bachelor’s program, which is now enrolling students for fall classes.  PBN PHOTO/ DAVID HANSEN

Tourism and hospitality now a major focus at Salve Regina University

Focus 07/17/2026

Between the soft sand beaches, Gilded Age mansions and nestled shops of Thames Street, Newport is undeniably one of Rhode Island’s most popular tourist...

HOLDING POTENTIAL: Pawtucket has narrowed down the proposals for the so-called “Downtown Gateway Project,” the 20 acres of property in the downtown area, including the former Apex department store property at the far right.  COURTESY CITY OF PAWTUCKET

Apex redevelopment enters critical new phase

Focus 07/03/2026

After more than six months of review, Pawtucket officials have narrowed six proposals for the former Apex department store property to three finalists, pushing...

ROUGH SHAPE: An empty restaurant on West Main Road in Middletown – located across the street from the planned Middletown Center development – has been unoccupied and boarded up for more than a decade.  PBN PHOTO/CHRISTOPHER ALLEN

Prime Middletown property remains stuck in limbo

Focus 07/03/2026

The Jan Cos., operating under Renaissance Development Corp., professes a commitment to “long-term stewardship,” asserting on its website, “We believe in investing for generations,...

PROGRAM SUCCESS: Amy Grzybowski, vice president of workforce development and community relations at New England Institute of Technology, says the success of its surgical technologist pilot program allowed it to become a registered apprenticeship.  PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM

Surgical technologist pilot turned apprenticeship helping hospitals fill vacancies

Focus 06/19/2026

In the operating rooms of Rhode Island hospitals, the work moves fast. Scalpels are handed off, instrument trays are counted and procedures unfold with...