Fire damages Matunuck Oyster Bar, one of USA TODAY's best places to eat in U.S.
Fire damages Matunuck Oyster Bar, one of USA TODAY's best places to eat in U.S. Early morning fire at Matunuck Oyster Bar in Rhode Island sustained significant damage and may be a total loss.
Just days away from the Memorial Day weekend, a popular New England restaurant caught fire overnight and sustained major damage, officials said.
The fire broke out during the early morning hours of May 20 to Matunuck Oyster Bar in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, local officials confirmed to USA TODAY. The city is about 35 miles south of Providence, the state capital.
A South Kingstown Police Department spokesperson, whose officers assisted with the blaze, said the fire was reported about 3:45 a.m. at the restaurant nestled on a beach road. No injuries were reported, the officer said.
Union Fire District Chief Steve Pinch said firefighters arrived a the establishment just before 4 a.m. and found "a large amount of fire" coming from the 2½-story building, the Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network reported.
The fire was initially fueled by a strong wind, but the wind died down within about half an hour, and a dozen of responding firefighters had the blaze under control within less than two hours, Pinch said.
The building sustained significant damage and may be a total loss, Pinch said.
"I would think they'd probably have to take the building down and start over," the chief added.
What caused the Matunuck Oyster Bar fire?
It was not immediately known what caused the fire or where it started in the building.
The state Fire Marshals Office is investigating the fire, Pinch said.
According to the chief, the restaurant was open Monday night.
Matunuck Oyster Bar named top place to eat by USA TODAY
According to USA Today's 2025 Restaurants of the Year list, Matunuck Oyster Bar is one of the top 44 places to eat in America.
The business opened in 2009 as an extension of a local oyster farming business.
In addition to oysters, the restaurant offers lobster rolls, clear-broth Rhode Island chowder as well as sushi, ceviche, tuna tartare tacos and scallops. It also offers an award-winning win list.
Contributing: Gail Ciampa, The Providence Journal
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealu
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
Nectar Mattress Sale: Save Up To 66% Right Now
There's pretty much always a Nectar mattress sale happening. But the current offers are impressive—right now you can save up to 50% on beds and up to 66% on bundles. The brand's current deals match the lowest prices we've seen for its designs. Our pick for the best memory foam mattress overall, the Nectar Premier, is on sale for under $1,000—a great price for a luxury model. Save up to 50% on a new mattress and up to 66% on bundles during Nectar's mattress sale. All four of Nectar's mattress lines—the Classic, Premier, Luxe and Ultra models—have recently been revamped. The 2025 update contributed to a price increase, but its current sale prices match the ones we saw over Memorial Day weekend. Below, we've outlined the advantages of each model, almost all of which occupy top spots in our mattress shopping guides after being tested firsthand by our editors. For more deals on our top mattress picks of 2025, check out our roundup of the best mattress sales this month. Nectar Nectar's entry-level model provides comfort and support without breaking the bank. The Classic bed offers excellent motion isolation and pressure relief as well as cooling properties, but it costs almost half the price of the brand's Luxe model—which is why it's our editors' pick for the best memory foam mattress under $1,000. If you want a bit more support, consider the hybrid version of this mattress, which is marked down to $799 (formerly $1,531) right now. Nectar The Nectar Premier falls right between Nectar's Classic and Luxe models in terms of design and features—and it's our recommendation for the best memory foam mattress overall. The Premier's quilted cover is designed to help wick away moisture and regulate temperature while still providing bounce and support. The design also delivers solid motion isolation, a major perk for those who share a bed with restless partners. Nectar The Nectar Luxe's 14 inches of layered material is designed to support your joints and relieve pressure, while its cooling copper cover dissipates heat and wicks away moisture. The mattress is ideal for side sleepers, couples and hot sleepers—and you can save hundreds of dollars if you get it during Nectar's current mattress sale. The hybrid model, our current top pick for the best value cooling mattress on the market, offers a combination of memory foam and individually wrapped springs for added breathability and support; just keep in mind that the price tag is slightly higher than the memory foam version. Nectar Sleep The Nectar Ultra is the brand's softest and highest-end model, and you can purchase it as a foam mattress or a hybrid version for an extra $200. When our sleep editors tested the memory foam model, they noted it has a super-cushy, dense feel that's reminiscent of a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Even the hybrid model, which was springier than the memory foam, offered a good deal of that 'sinking-in' feeling. Because of this, we recommend the Nectar Ultra for those who prefer or would benefit from a soft mattress, including side sleepers and back sleepers under 250 pounds. During Nectar's early July 4 sale, the memory foam model is 42% off and the hybrid is 27% off. Nectar If you can't decide between a memory foam or innerspring mattress, this hybrid design gives you the best of both worlds: contouring memory foam combined with extra support, airflow and motion isolation from its innerspring coils. The 12-inch design also has a cooling top layer with an antimicrobial treatment that keeps your sleeping surface clean and cool to the touch. This model is currently available for 48% off. Nectar If you're considering upgrading your bed frame to an adjustable one, check out this deal on the Nectar Premier Adjustable Bundle. Not only does it feature the brand's highly rated adjustable bed frame, but it also offers your choice of a memory foam or hybrid mattress. The memory foam option is ideal for back pain relief, while the hybrid is designed to keep hot sleepers comfortable. As for the adjustable base, it provides independent head and foot adjustability, anti-snore presets, a whisper-quiet two-zone massage feature and adjustable height. Nectar This solid bamboo bed frame is a minimalist's dream, thanks to its clean lines and uncluttered silhouette. Bamboo is lightweight yet durable, and the interlocking joints mean you don't need to fuss with screws and nails when putting this together. (The assembly is tool-free and easy to do, even if you live alone.) Choose a walnut or natural wood finish, and complete your bundle with one of Nectar's mattresses. This is one of the only offers that increased in price since Memorial Day, up slightly from $1,348. nectar If you already own a Nectar mattress and want to upgrade your frame to an adjustable one, you don't have to buy a bundle to get a steep discount. The Premier Adjustable Frame is now available for $749, over 50% off its original price. Not only will you get independent head and foot isolation for under $800, but you'll also have app and remote control, one-touch recline and zero-gravity settings (among others), three massage intensities and four built-in USB ports. Plus, the assembly is tool-free. nectar While Nectar is only advertising 4th of July deals on its mattresses and bundles, some of its sturdy, contemporary-style bed frames are also on sale. If the adjustable frame mentioned above has too many frills, you'll appreciate the more simple, timeless design of this upholstered frame, which is 43% off. It features a classic button-tufted headboard and can accommodate up to 700 pounds. It's available in both Grey and Linen and is built with six 8-inch legs, and because it uses sturdy wooden slats, you won't need a box spring. Nectar If you're looking for a sleek, minimalist design, this steel frame comes highly rated with over 3,000 five-star reviews. It has a wood slat foundation, a durable steel frame and includes a two-year warranty. The versatile design can be used alone for a sleek, understated look or paired with a statement piece headboard. You can also remove the legs for a low-profile, platform look or stack it on an existing frame as a supportive boxspring. During the sale, you can grab this simple design for 22% off. The Forbes Vetted editorial team has extensive experience testing, researching and reviewing the best products on the market. Our mattress and sleep buying guides are based on expert medical advice, hundreds of hours of research and extensive firsthand testing.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lowe's Plans New Store Openings in Two States This Year
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is one of the best stocks for a . The company is planning to open between five and ten new stores in 2025, as part of a broader growth strategy that could lead to dozens of new locations in the coming years. This updated outlook differs from the company's December 2024 announcement, when it aimed to open 10 to 15 stores annually. A spokesperson explained that the revised figure reflects the time needed to "ramp up" expansion efforts. So far in 2025, the North Carolina-based retailer has launched two new stores in Texas and reopened one in North Carolina that had been closed due to damage from Hurricane Helene, the spokesperson told USA TODAY. Additional openings are expected later this year in Texas and Arizona. Beginning in 2026, Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) plans to return to its original goal of opening 10 to 15 stores annually. Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is a home improvement retailer that serves both individual customers and professionals, offering a broad selection of products and services. Its offerings include everything from tools and building materials to appliances, furniture, and home decor. In addition, the company provides services such as key cutting, recycling, and price matching. LOW has surged by nearly 1.5% in the past 12 months. While we acknowledge the potential of LOW as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
How much energy and water does ChatGPT consume?
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. Artificial intelligence has been the hottest topic in tech since late 2022, when ChatGPT went viral. The AI race started almost immediately, with every big tech company in the US and elsewhere working on new AI systems of their own. We quickly learned that software like ChatGPT requires massive resources. Datacenters packing thousands of expensive GPUs specialized in training and running AI chatbots were needed. The larger the data centers, the more energy the world would need to set aside for AI projects. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 Some people worried about the impact AI infrastructure would have on the world. It wasn't just about the electricity powering the chats, but also the water used to cool some of these data centers. Two and a half years after ChatGPT went viral, we finally know how much energy and power a ChatGPT chat consumes. It comes from Sam Altman's latest blog, titled The Gentle Singularity, which teases what the world could look like in the next five to ten years thanks to superintelligence: People are often curious about how much energy a ChatGPT query uses; the average query uses about 0.34 watt-hours, about what an oven would use in a little over one second, or a high-efficiency lightbulb would use in a couple of minutes. It also uses about 0.000085 gallons of water; roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon. It's unclear where Altman's figure comes from. If accurate, I'll probably consume about a teaspoon of water with AI queries every day. But the figure is also misleading, considering that OpenAI has hundreds of millions of monthly users. Add to that all the energy and water Gemini, Claude, Meta AI, Deep Research, and all the other chatbots out there consume, and you'll rack up quite a bill. It's unclear what prompted the CEO to pen the post, one he describes on X as maybe 'the last one like this I write with no AI help at all.' It likely wasn't to reveal the energy costs associated with ChatGPT chats, though energy is one of the big topics in the blog. On that note, I'll point out that ChatGPT o3 just got dramatically cheaper than before. Unsurprisingly, Altman is quite optimistic about the future of AI. He presents superintelligence as inevitable. It's a foregone conclusion. We'll get to a world where smarter-than-human AI will make our jobs easier than ever, leading to potential massive discoveries to improve daily lives: AI will contribute to the world in many ways, but the gains to quality of life from AI driving faster scientific progress and increased productivity will be enormous; the future can be vastly better than the present. Scientific progress is the biggest driver of overall progress; it's hugely exciting to think about how much more we could have. Altman expects AI to bring novel insights in 2026. A year after that, the world will start getting robots that can do tasks in the wild. Then, 'the 2030s are likely going to be wildly different from any time that has come before,' Altman writes. That's even though we, humans, will continue to enjoy our lives as we did before. The OpenAI CEO also says that intelligence and energy will be 'wildly abundant' in the 2030s. Once that happens, the world will be able to do things that weren't possible before. Speaking of energy, Altman also sees datacenter production becoming automated. AI and robots will power everything: There are other self-reinforcing loops at play. The economic value creation has started a flywheel of compounding infrastructure buildout to run these increasingly-powerful AI systems. And robots that can build other robots (and in some sense, datacenters that can build other datacenters) aren't that far off. AI will help humanity achieve new 'wonders' by 2035. Altman even sees a future where some people will choose to 'plug in' via 'true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces.' It all sounds amazing, and it certainly beats the gloomier pictures others paint about the future of AI. Altman's essay also downplays the downsides, like the massive job revolution we're about to witness. The CEO isn't ready to propose any solution for AI stealing jobs, other than indicating that humans will adapt and some sort of new social contract might emerge: There will be very hard parts like whole classes of jobs going away, but on the other hand, the world will be getting so much richer so quickly that we'll be able to seriously entertain new policy ideas we never could before. We probably won't adopt a new social contract all at once, but when we look back in a few decades, the gradual changes will have amounted to something big. Toward the end of the post, Altman also addresses the obvious challenges. AI has to be aligned to our interests to give us the rosy future he paints in the previous paragraphs. The other challenge is making sure superintelligence is 'cheap, widely available, and not too concentrated with any person, company, or country.' How will OpenAI and every other firm engaged in developing frontier AI ensure it's safe, cheap, and widely available? Altman doesn't say. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next, while we continue to chat with chatbots like ChatGPT, a fifteenth of a teaspoon of water at a time. Don't Miss: Today's deals: Nintendo Switch games, $5 smart plugs, $150 Vizio soundbar, $100 Beats Pill speaker, more More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the
