One Square Mile

For the past 30 years, Westerly Republican Dennis Algiere has represented the 38th District in the state Senate. Now that he's retiring, three candidates making three very different pitches to voters are vying to take his place in what's become one of the more closely watched races in South County. As part of our series One Square Mile: Westerly, Joe Tasca reports.

Registered Republicans are a minority in Westerly, but the influence of conservative voters on local politics is hardly insignificant in a town where many residents lean right on hot-button issues. As part of our series One Square Mile: Westerly, reporter Joe Tasca spoke with 33-year-old voter Philip DeBartolo. He owns an excavation business and is campaigning for Republican candidate Westin Place in the state's 38th Senate District. They spoke about gun control, inflation, and political polarization, among other issues.

Voters following the 2022 elections in Westerly are witnessing something they haven't seen in years. Candidates are widely promoting their support for public access to Rhode Island's shoreline.

Religion can have a powerful influence on how voters see the world around them and make decisions at the polls. As part of our ongoing series One Square Mile: Westerly, South County Bureau Reporter Alex Nunes spoke with the Reverend Sunil Chandy of Christ Episcopal Church about how his faith informs his views on overcoming division and improving the political process in America.

Many voters continue to rank political division in America as one of the top issues facing the country today. As part of our ongoing series One Square Mile: Westerly, South County Bureau Reporter Alex Nunes spoke with local peace activists Madeline Labriola and Frank Thacker about their thoughts on political tensions and the 2022 elections, the issues they care about most, and the role of voting in bringing about social change.

Rhode Islanders have many issues on their minds as we get closer to Election Day. As part of our series One Square Mile: Westerly, we hear today from Danielle Beliveau, a 33-year-old Navy veteran who works at a local bookshop. Reporter Joe Tasca spoke with Beliveau about her priorities this year, her thoughts on political polarization, and the importance of voting.

Like many places across the state and country, Westerly is a town where issues of racial justice have come to the forefront since the murder of George Floyd. Now two candidates for town council and school committee are hoping to make equity a bigger priority at Westerly Town Hall.

Elections are about the issues and the voters as much as they are about the candidates. To get a sense of how issues are playing out in one Rhode Island community, The Public's Radio presents our occasional series, One Square Mile. This year, we're going to Westerly.

Joe Hanson is 50 years old.

After 12 years at the helm, Allan Fung is stepping aside as mayor of Cranston because of term limits. Voters are now trying to decide who should be the city's next chief executive. As Joe Tasca reports, uncertainty surrounding the city budget and school financing are issues voters are weighing in the race as they go to the polls.

In our One Square Mile series, we’re looking at the issues framing this election through the stories of voters. In this voter spotlight, we meet 19-year-old, first-time voter Breanni Torres. She’s a Cranston resident, college student, and of Dominican and Cape Verdean descent. She says the movement for Black lives is among her top priorities.

Each year, the Public’s Radio explores in depth a community, its people and the decisions it faces. In this election year, we go to Cranston. The Public’s Radio political analyst Scott MacKay ponders the diverse politics of Rhode Island’s second-largest city.

With Election Day just over a week away, Cranston voters say the stakes in this election feel higher than ever. While there are significant local races for mayor and state representatives, many voters say they see their ballot as a way to shape the future of the country.

The news this morning is dominated by last night’s debate between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. But the story we want to be covering locally at The Public’s Radio has to do with you. Scott MacKay tells us more.

As part of our OSM Pawtucket series, we hosted a Community Conversation on Apr.25th. This is an archive of that discussion.

For more than a century, Pawtucket was a gateway for new immigrants to this country. People came from Ireland, Canada, Portugal and the Azores, to work in the city's factories. Today, the city’s new arrivals come mainly from Central America. The number of Hispanic residents has more than doubled in the last twenty years, as they follow friends and family to the United States. But the city’s economic opportunities have changed drastically.

Our One Square Mile series on Pawtucket continues with a look at the city’s ongoing effort to attract artists and related businesses. The aim is to spark a creative renaissance to help fill the economic void, and the vacant mills, left by the decline of manufacturing over the years.

The Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket is a former textile mill, now home to over a hundred and twenty small businesses.

The textile mills that revolutionized manufacturing in Pawtucket are now giving rise to communities of artists. It’s a new kind of creative growth in the buildings that were once hubs of industry. Ari Leo takes us inside the studio of one local artist at Hope Artiste Village.

The Blackstone River was instrumental in the settlement of Pawtucket. It was the reason people lived there. It helped power at least 100 textile mills that are largely responsible for putting the city on the map. What role does the river have today and in Pawtucket’s future? Around the country, cities have found investing in their waterfronts to be a key component of urban revitalization. Providence, for example, transformed its downtown back in the 90s. Is there a grand plan for Pawtucket’s river? Should there be?

Pawtucket was founded on the Blackstone River, where the water was the lifeblood of the early industrial town. Today the river has more of an understated presence, even though it wends its way right through downtown Pawtucket. But there’s a lot going on, as three members of the Ocean State Bird Club found out one recent morning.

As part of our One Square Mile series on Pawtucket, The Public’s Radio is asking how the city will respond to recent blows, including the loss of the PawSox and Memorial Hospital.

For generations, a robust manufacturing economy in Pawtucket offered newly arrived immigrants a gateway to the American dream.

In our One Square Mile series this week, we bring you a collection of audio postcards, snapshots of life in Pawtucket, our featured city.

In our One Square Mile series, we bring you a collection of audio postcards, snapshots of life in Pawtucket, our featured city.

Our series One Square Mile Pawtucket continues with a look at the city’s mayor, Don Grebien.

Every year, The Public’s Radio produces a series called One Square Mile exploring a community. This year, we look at Pawtucket, Rhode Island’s 4th largest city and one of its oldest. Pawtucket, like many American industrial towns, has both hopes and challenges as it copes with a changing American economy.

The Modern Diner is a Pawtucket institution, and the first diner in the country to be made a national historic landmark.

Carlos "The Codfather" Rafael controlled the largest groundfishing fleet in New Bedford. Now he's plead guilty and faces prison. What's next for the city's biggest industry?

Larry and Loretta are my neighbor’s cats. And they love their canned cat food. To understand why just read the ingredients on the label. Ocean white fish. Fish broth. Tuna. Those ingredients are actually fish by-products. Fish guts. Fish livers. Fish intestines. Fish skins. They’re what fish processors like Bergie’s Seafood in call “trash.”

Darn It! Inc. is a company that has thrived because of -- rather than in spite of -- the overseas manufacturing that has put so many American textile...

Standing on New Bedford’s Acushnet Avenue, René Moreno runs into a man who grew up in the same village he did in Guatemala. They talk for a couple of...

Is the scallop fishery well-managed? Most people, including scallop fishermen, scientists, and environmentalists, had the same answer: yes.

As part of our series One Square Mile: New Bedford, we look at the “Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage Round the World”, painted by New Bedford artists...

Mike Goodman, director of the Public Policy Center at UMass-Dartmouth, joins Bonus Q&A to discuss the popularity of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker...

Mike Goodman, executive director of the Public Policy Center at UMass-Dartmouth, joins Political Roundtable to discuss the evolution of New Bedford, the...

The Port of New Bedford is often touted as the most lucrative in North America. That’s thanks mainly to the popularity, and apparent abundance, of...

(This the second part of a two-part story.) Andrew Dillon has had a front row seat to the opioid epidemic in New Bedford. His diner...

The harbor is one of the largest EPA Superfund sites in the country, and a reminder of the city’s industrial waterfront.

(This is the first part of a two-part story. Read part two here. ) Commercial fishing consistently ranks as one world’s most dangerous jobs, which may...

New Bedford's mayor is a former federal prosecutor whose grandfather was a fisherman. As part of our series One Square Mile: New Bedford, Rhode Island...

As part of RIPR’s One Square Mile: New Bedford series, RIPR’s Chuck Hinman talks with Lee Blake, the president of the New Bedford Historical Society,...

For the past eight years, New Bedford has been advocating for offshore wind and preparing their port to service offshore wind projects. But why is the...