Big River bitterness; hot new restaurants; RI's best lobster rolls: Top stories this week
Here are some of The Providence Journal's most-read stories for the week of Aug. 27, supported by your subscriptions.
The music world is mourning the loss of Jimmy Buffett, whose final performance was a surprise 45-minute set in Portsmouth on July 2. Columnist Mark Patinkin says that impromptu show tells us everything we need to know about the man, his music and his Margaritaville philosophy and zest for life.
Tuesday is primary day in the state's 1st Congressional District special election. The Journal's Patrick Anderson provides an inside look at down-to-the-wire campaigning by the bumper crop of candidates as they dance, scoop ice cream and go door to door wooing voters.
How are you spending Labor Day Weekend? If you're short on ideas, we can help. Music lovers will probably be headed to Charlestown for the 25th annual Rhythm & Roots Festival.
Who'll be backing up Patriots quarterback Mac Jones this season? That's an open question after some unexpected moves in Foxboro this week. For the latest roster developments, and news from high school and college sports, go to providencejournal.com/sports.
Did you keep up with the week's events? Take our news quiz.
Here are the week's top reads on providencejournal.com:
'I'm never going away:' In Big River, a decades-old grudge against the state is hereditary
Frank J. Lemaire proved prophetic in death, dying in 2007 in the family farmhouse in West Greenwich he swore he’d never leave after the state took ownership of it – and his 400-plus acres of land – against his will.
By the time he passed on at age 78, his grievance was 40 years old. Yet anger still oozed from him like pitch from a freshly cut pine.
Through eminent domain, the state took Lemaire’s land and 8,100 more acres from 351 property owners in the early 1960s for a reservoir that was never built. But the state kept the land, explaining that the Big River watershed, now a management area enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts, might be needed someday as a water source.
Today, only four or five “originals” or their relatives still live in the Big River Management Area as tenants who pay small monthly rents but suffer, they say, the indignity of regular visits from state safety inspectors.
If they don’t like what they see, “they can evict you with a 30-day notice,” Jo-Ann Lemaire says. “We walk around on eggshells.”
More RI families are going hungry. Will free school meals make a comeback next session?
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank's 2022 status report on hunger in the state showed food insecurity is the highest it's been in years. Low-income families, communities of color and those with children are the most at-risk for food insecurity, meaning they lack reliable access to food and may not know where their next meal will come from.
Among the solutions proposed in the Food Bank's report is the Healthy School Meals for All program, which would use state funds to offer every public school student free breakfast and lunch. Despite support for that initiative, it passed only the state Senate, not the House, with lawmakers saying the state budget could not accommodate the program's $40 million price tag.
But advocates, who cite the link between a full stomach and academic success, say "the fight for healthy school meals for all isn't over by a long shot."
Education: More RI families are going hungry. Will free school meals make a comeback next session?
She's 66 and in the dating wars. Here's what it's like
What's it like to be doing online dating as a woman of 66?
“Oh gosh, frustrating, time-consuming," Smithfield's Mary Hardy tells columnist Mark Patinkin. “Basically, a full-time job if you really want to find somebody. But usually a big waste of time.”
She says she’s got a great family – two kids and five grandchildren. She doesn’t need some guy. But having been divorced a second time four years ago, she feels it might be nice to find someone.
How's it going so far? Not so good, says Mary.
“I’m pretty much breaking my wrist swiping left.”
Mark Patinkin: She's 66 and in the dating wars. Here's what it's like
4 must-try new restaurants around RI. Here's what they are serving up
New restaurants are now serving dinner, sandwiches, pastries and desserts in Warwick, Wakefield, East Greenwich and Narragansett.
They have been opened by people with a wide range of experience. All the restaurants are casual in style. Two offer table service. Two are café-style.
Whether you're in the mood for a raw bar, upscale deli fare, authentic Italian food or charcuterie, these new restaurants will fill the bill.
Dining: 4 must-try new restaurants around RI. Here's what they are serving up
We asked, you told us: 7 reader-favorite lobster roll spots to try in Rhode Island
There's nothing quite like a lobster roll, and Rhode Island is full of excellent options.
But the quest to find the best one can be a long (and expensive) search, so The Providence Journal recently put it to readers in an unscientific poll via nominations on our Instagram page, @ProJoEats, which we then compiled into a true poll asking people to vote for their favorite.
Hundreds of votes later, we have the results. Here are seven reader-favorite lobster roll spots to check out in Rhode Island.
Food: We asked, you told us: 7 reader-favorite lobster roll spots to try in Rhode Island
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Journal top stories: Big River grudges; best lobster rolls
