Top stories this week: Bank loan fraud scheme; teen dies in foster care; tulips in bloom
Here's a look at some of The Providence Journal's most-read stories for the week of April 9, supported by your subscriptions.
In Narragansett, a controversial proposal to build a house on an undersized lot — that is nearly half wetlands and often floods from the adjacent Narrow River — is pitting questions of property rights against neighborhood compatibility and climate change. Jim Hummel explains why neighbors and a watershed agency are putting up a fight.
Providence Pizza Week begins April 16, and there'll be a pie for every taste, whether you're looking for a classic margherita or more adventurous toppings such as lobster or sushi. Food editor Gail Ciampa has 10 suggestions for a pizza crawl.
Rhode Island is playing a key role in what is shaping up to be a pivotal year for offshore wind in America. The Port of Providence is the staging and construction area for several new wind projects that will soon be generating lots of new power to the New England electric grid.
Did you keep up with the week's events? Take our news quiz.
For the latest on high school and college sports, including players to watch in the spring season, go to providencejournal.com/sports.
Here are the week's top reads on providencejournal.com:
East Greenwich bank executives accused of profiting from illicit loan scheme
The CEO of a little-known East Greenwich bank is accused of taking part in a fraudulent scheme that cost the U.S. Small Business Administration an estimated $8.8 million.
Between 2017 and 2019, most of Independence Bank’s profits came from making government-backed loans to businesses. Independence Bank's default rate on SBA loans was five times higher than the rate for similar banks. The bank's former COO is accused of working for the bank and a company that referred borrowers at the same time.
The key players are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the FDIC, and they deny any wrongdoing.
Crime: East Greenwich bank executives accused of profiting from illicit loan scheme
'He let her die:' Family speaks out about teen who died after being placed in foster care by DCYF
In one week’s time, Steyci Perez, a sometimes-rebellious 15-year-old foster kid, went from a motel room in Warwick to her grave in the family plot in the Dominican Republic.
On Wednesday, her mother, Maria Contreras, still sat among mourners in the Santo Domingo home where the family held the funeral. Speaking through an interpreter, she said the 34-year-old man now charged with giving fentanyl to her daughter and another teenager at the Warwick Motel 6 left Steyci to die afterward at a friend’s house in Providence.
“A grown man like him, he could have at least taken her to the hospital and left her on the sidewalk," Contreras told The Journal. "Instead, he carried her body into a [friend’s] house, and he let her die.”
News: 'He let her die:' Family speaks out about teen who died after being placed in foster care by DCYF
Why a proposed new commercial fishing license has some RI fishermen worried about corporate takeover
Commercial fishermen are warning that potential changes to state rules could pave the way for a scenario like the one playing out in New Bedford, where private equity firms and foreign investors have come to dominate the industry and fishermen earn as little as 7 cents a pound for their catch, pushing out small businesses run by locals.
"In New Bedford, corporations own entire fishing fleets, and they decide who’s going to fish and what they’re getting paid, and the profits are going to the shareholders in New York at the stock exchange," Jason Jarvis, a Westerly commercial fisherman, told the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee at a March hearing.
Fishing: Why a proposed new commercial fishing license has some RI fishermen worried about corporate takeover
Wicked Tulips is open for the season. Here's what to know if you're planning to go
Wicked Tulips, one of Rhode Island's favorite flower farms, is open earlier than ever this year thanks to a trick of covering some of the early-blooming varieties in fabric to speed up the blooms.
Here's what you need to know to visit Wicked Tulips at their locations in Exeter, Johnston and Preston, Connecticut.
Home & Garden: Wicked Tulips is open for the season. Here's what to know if you're planning to go
Finding 11 softball players to watch wasn't hard; narrowing this list to that number was.
Finding talented players to keep an eye on this softball season is maybe the easiest of all the spring sports previews. Narrowing the list to a nice round 10 isn’t, so we'll just make it 11.
There’s returning All-State talent, some promising up-and-comers who are going help their teams win championships and players from lower divisions that are as good as anyone they’ll face — and those are the players who we didn’t have room for.
And there's one big warning: There are going to be a lot more names to learn throughout the spring.
High school sports: Finding 11 softball players to watch wasn't hard; narrowing this list to that number was.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Journal top stories: Bank loan scheme; foster care death
