Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for Sept. 20
Rise & Shine! I’m Scott Barrett, managing editor for The Daily News, and today is Sept. 20, the 263rd day of the year — 102 days remain in 2022. On this day in 1973, some 50 million television viewers watched Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the highly publicized “Battle of the Sexes” match at the Houston Astrodome.
Here & Now
• Graffiti, especially in the eyes of younger generations, can be seen as an art form, a cool and modern style of painting and even something that beautifies harsh urban settings such as highway underpasses or abandoned buildings.
People tend to take less kindly to it when it's scrawled across their own private property in red paint. Just ask Mellissa Gosset, who woke up on the morning of Sept. 15 to discover somebody had painted several crudely formed graffiti designs across her backyard fence in the Common Fence Point neighborhood.
This area in Portsmouth seemingly has a graffiti problem, but what's being done about it? Reporter Zane Wolfang explores the issue here.
• As you'll see below, today is National Pepperoni Pizza Day, but you won't be able to get any pies at a once-popular Middletown pizza parlor because it's now closed for good. Read my story here.
• After Martha’s Vineyard unexpectedly was greeted by two planeloads of migrants last week, officials in the city of Newport — mentioned previously as a possible destination — have been keeping an eye on the situation. Reporter Savana Dunning has the story.
• Nominees for The Newport Daily News Athlete of the Week have been decided, and voting has commenced. Cast your ballot here.
• Speaking of local sports, we wrap up our preseason coverage with a dozen girls volleyball players to watch during the 2022 season. See who they are here.
• Members of the Newport and Middletown school committees will meet jointly tonight at CCRI for a workshop on the proposed school district regionalization. Find the agenda below.
• The Middletown Public Library is hosting a trio of in-person community forums to give residents a chance to sound off on what's working and what might need tweaking. The first one is scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. Learn more here.
• Rhode Island’s average gas price slipped another 13 cents from last week to $3.56 per gallon. That's 55 cents lower than a month ago, 48 cents higher than a year ago and 11 cents lower than the current national average.
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Born today
Kristen Johnston (actress), 55
Gary Cold (actor), 66
George R.R. Martin (author), 74
Sophia Loren (actress), 88
Weather report
Low tides: 9:48 a.m., 11:21 p.m.
High tides: 4:19 a.m., 4:57 p.m.
Sunrise: 6:29 a.m. Sunset: 6:47 p.m.
Water temperature: 68.9 degrees.
Municipal meetings
Newport
Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory, 9 a.m.
School Committee, 5:30 p.m.
Middletown
Beach Commission, 4:30 p.m.
School Committee, 5:30 p.m.
Local obituaries
Today is …
National Voter Registration Day
National Pepperoni Pizza Day
National Care for Kids Day
Trivia Tuesday
Husband and wife Pete and Peg opened a business in the basement of their Portsmouth home in 1954, and it remains a blooming operation under their daughter and grandson, who now oversee the shop. What is the name of this business? Send guesses to sbarrett@newportri.com.
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This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for Sept. 20, 2022
