Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for June 10
Rise & Shine! I’m Scott Barrett, managing editor for The Daily News, and today is June 10, the 161st day of the year — 204 days remain in 2022. On this day 1752, Benjamin Franklin was said to have flown a kite during a thunderstorm to collect ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity.
Here & Now
• It's been all hands on deck at The Daily News for the better part of this year after the departure of a trio of reporters. Savana Dunning, Steve Rogers, Will Richmond and I have held down the fort while looking for the next great journalist to join our newsroom.
We think we have a pretty good candidate in Zane Wolfang, who was hired earlier this week. A Rhode Island native, Zane comes to The Daily News from the Middle East, where he was working as a reporter.
Zane will serve as our local government reporter, primarily outside of Newport. This means he'll not only have an eye on what's happening inside the town halls in Middletown, Portsmouth and Tiverton, but also bringing a local eye to what's going on at the Statehouse.
I asked him a few questions in an effort to get to know him better, and allow you to do the same. Once all of the administrative details are out of the way, you'll be able to contact him personally at zwolfang@newportri.com.
Where are you from?
I am from Warren, Rhode Island. I have lived in some other places as well — one year aboard a Blount boat, some years in Providence, and some years outside of the United States entirely — but I have always come back to Rhode Island and likely always will.
What is your journalism background?
I have worked as a reporter and editor for several newspapers in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. My two most recent stints were with Rudaw English in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, and Jordan News in Amman, Jordan.
On the Rudaw English desk, I covered an array of geopolitical events in Iraq and the surrounding countries. My focus at Jordan News was more on local events and human interest stories.
In between those experiences, I was back home in Warren, Rhode Island, working as a custodian, landscaper and short-order cook during a good stretch of the COVID lockdown months.
I feel that those jobs prepared me equally well to be a good journalist and, from local barista to foreign correspondent, the full gamut of lived experience is useful for somebody who wishes to understand a community and to fairly and accurately report on its politics.
What made you want to be a journalist?
As a young student and news consuming citizen, I always wanted to go further than reading the news. I wanted to know if the news was true — if the facts were accurate. I wanted to find out about the nature of things for myself. That’s what led me to journalism, by way of the Middle East.
My bachelor’s degree is in political science, and I was always most interested in the intersecting and diverging relationships between the government, the media and the public. The thought of serving the public by writing something that is both true and useful has always been appealing to me, particularly when it comes in the course of holding power to account or enabling the civic action of a well-informed community.
When you're not reporting, what do you do to pass the time?
I love to play ultimate frisbee, travel and study languages. I also like to read, and I am trying to get back into the voracious reading habit that defined my childhood. These days, I tend to read more news than books.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Arabic-speaking countries, and have had the opportunity to play or coach ultimate frisbee in Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and the UAE. When I’m home, I love to take my kayak or my small skiff out on the Kickemuit River and the Mount Hope Bay.
What are you looking forward to the most as a reporter at The Newport Daily News?
I am looking forward to deeply engaging with the communities I report on and bringing my entire focus to the task of effectively covering government and politics for our readers.
I love to talk to people, and to listen to people, so I am hoping to meet many of our readers in the course of covering my beat. It is my goal and my continuous intention to write articles that will consistently be of at least some small use to the local community.
• The Middletown Planning Board recently reviewed 115 proposals on how to spend American Rescue Plan Act funds in town, and only two of them were rejected. Reporter Savana Dunning pored through the document and pulled out some of the highlights. Read her story here.
• Starting tonight, you'll see a new traffic pattern near the base of the Newport Pell Bridge. Find out what you need to know here.
• In his weekly Spare Change column, Jim Gillis writes that sometimes the Newport City Council needs a lesson in common sense. Find out why here.
• "Cancer warrior" Carrigan Nelson will take center stage tonight at 5:30 p.m. for a performance to benefit the Glimmer of Hope Foundation. It's happening at the Thriving Tree Coffee House in Portsmouth. Learn more here.
• The state Department of Health is advising people to avoid contact with Almy Pond in Newport because of a blue-green algae bloom in the pond. Blue-green algae can produce toxins that can harm humans and animals.
Make sure you never miss a story from The Daily News by becoming a digital subscriber today. We have a great deal going on right now — $1 for six months!
Born today
Sasha Obama (presidential daughter), 21
Kate Upton (model), 30
Bill Burr (comedian), 54
Elizabeth Hurley (actress), 57
Gina Gershon (actress), 60
Weather report
Low tides: 10:12 a.m., 11:15 p.m.
High tides: 4:25 a.m., 5:04 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:09 a.m. Sunset: 8:20 p.m.
Water temperature: 62.6 degrees.
Municipal meetings
No meetings scheduled
Local obituaries
Today is …
National Eggroll Day
National Iced Tea Day
National Herbs and Spices Day
Blast from the Past
Got a news tip, story idea or just want to drop me a line? Don't be a stranger. Send an email to sbarrett@newportri.com.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for June 10
