Schartner greenhouse; Trinity Brewhouse sale; best pizza in RI: Top stories this week
Schartner greenhouse; Trinity Brewhouse sale; best pizza in RI: Top stories this week
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RI protesters join 50 Protests, 50 States movement against President Donald Trump
Hundreds of Rhode Islanders joined a movement of 50 protests across all 50 states on Wednesday demonstrating against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
What was most popular with Providence Journal readers during the week of Feb. 2? Here are 5 stories that got people talking.
ICYMI: Catch up on where things stand with the redevelopment of former I-195 land; and how fears of deportation are rippling through RI's immigrant community.
The Patriots aren't in the Super Bowl, but there are some local connections to the big game.
Here are some of The Providence Journal's most-read stories for the week of Feb. 2,supported by your subscriptions.
Here are the week's top reads on providencejournal.com:
Farmer Tim Schartner and his gargantuan, 25-acre greenhouse project in Exeter averted disaster last week when his financial backers agreed to assume the existing debt on several parcels of property owned by his father, he said, heading off a foreclosure auction set for Friday.
Under the arrangement, the project's banks and private investors will absorb about $6 million in debt that Schartner's father, Richard, owes on several pieces of property, including the landmark farm on the Exeter/North Kingstown line where the greenhouse is being built.
The plan not only stops Friday's auction but frees up a $25.8-million loan in private investment money through the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank.
Read the full story to see what's next for this eye-popping project that has been in the planning stages since 2019.
Business: Schartner's mall-sized tomato greenhouse was on the brink of disaster. Here's what happened next.
PROVIDENCE – Former state Sen. Josh Miller has listed the iconic Trinity Brewhouse for sale for $2.25 million.
Miller has no plans to sell the hugely popular Hot Club he co-owns along the Providence waterfront. But he told The Journal that, as the sole owner of the Trinity Brewhouse, he felt the time was right to pull out of the daily demands of owning a restaurant.
"The main reason is I'm 70 and I'm a very active owner where I show up and work every day and I want to be free of that day-to-day activity. I've had a business downtown since 1975. I'm still very positive about downtown. I've just gotten old enough to want to be less active," he said.
Business: Trinity Brewhouse listed for sale at $2.25 million. Why it's on the market.
PROVIDENCE — In the search for its new football coach, La Salle wasn't trying to win a press conference. They were searching for someone who could win games and, more importantly, help their athletes grow on and off the field.
The school managed to do both.
After winning two Super Bowls – the NFL kind – with the New England Patriots, Dan Koppen is a name people in Rhode Island know.
Read the full story to see how and why a Patriots pro was drawn to coach a high school team, and what La Salle's program stands to gain from his experience at the sport's highest level.
High school sports: This former New England Patriot will lead La Salle football. Who is it?
Craving pizza? No problem. Rhode Island's offerings abound, with both the old and the new. Longtime favorites are popular as ever even as newcomers are staking their claim, too.
What's on the menu? Neapolitan, Sicilian or New York-style? Wood-fired, grilled or baked? Sourdough crust or gluten-free? Artisanal? Always.
You can have it all from Providence to Westerly.
The National Day calendar has declared Feb. 9 as National Pizza Day. Food editor Gail Ciampa helps you get started with the best pies the Ocean State has to offer, and what better day to sample them than Super Bowl Sunday?
Dining: Pizza comes in many styles. To get the best in RI start with these gems
Twenty-two years after a horse reunited with its trainer during a break in the Super Bowl action and took the top spot in the 2013 USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings, the NFL's grand finale arrives back on the doorstep of New Orleans and the Superdome.
With that, a lineup of mini blockbusters will look to grab the attention of a massive audience that topped 123 million in 2024 (re: The Taylor Swift Bowl) and become the latest marketing maestro among the competitive and creative crowd.
Super Bowl commercial fans — welcome to the 2025 USA TODAY Ad Meter!
We're kicking off the 37th edition of the commercial ratings that have been the benchmark for gauging consumers' opinions about the game's most prominent ads since 1989. And we're excited you're here to lend a viewpoint about the Super Bowl 59 national block of commercials.
Check out the full story to see how you can rate your favorite commercials during the big game.
Super Bowl LIX: Let the Super Bowl commercial rush begin: Welcome to USA TODAY Ad Meter 2025
To read the full stories, go to providencejournal.com. Find out how to subscribe here.
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Politico
11 minutes ago
- Politico
George Floyd unrest informs Trump's response to Los Angeles protests
President Donald Trump's response to the Los Angeles protests isn't just an opportunity to battle with a Democratic governor over his signature issue. The president sees it as a chance to redo his first-term response to a wave of civil unrest. As protests broke out after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Trump's instincts were to deploy thousands of active-duty troops across U.S. cities. But some administration officials resisted the idea and reportedly urged the president against invoking the Insurrection Act to do so. Five years later, Trump sees something familiar as protests rage across Los Angeles in response to the administration's immigration raids. He moved quickly to deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to support law enforcement, a decision he credited on Tuesday with preventing a 'great City' from 'burning to the ground.' And he repeatedly signaled his willingness to invoke the Insurrection Act if protests continue to escalate. There's a chief motivating factor driving Trump's aggressive response: The president is eager to avoid a repeat of the summer of protest that followed a Minneapolis police officer's killing of Floyd. The civil unrest added another layer to the turmoil facing Trump, as the country reeled from the Covid pandemic and voters prepared to return to the ballot box. And this time, he has stacked his Cabinet with loyalists and is less restrained by officials such as those in his first administration who feared deploying active-duty military troops would further inflame tensions and be viewed as a step toward martial law. 'The president is trusting his gut here,' said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss the president's response, reflecting back to former Chair of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper breaking with Trump's desire to send troops. 'He thinks the Milleys and the Espers of the world, five years ago, they gave him bad advice on that stuff.' Administration officials and allies say the president's hardline approach also sends a warning to other city and state leaders as anti-ICE protests spread beyond Los Angeles. 'In 2020, I was a governor of a neighboring state to Tim Walz and watched him let his city burn,' Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. 'The president and I have talked about this in the past: He was not going to let that happen to another city and to another community, where a bad governor made a bad decision.' It's yet another example of the president acting on his belief that he has a governing mandate from his 2024 comeback, which aides and allies attribute in large part to immigration and, specifically, the president's vow to deport undocumented immigrants. 'Is the left going to be able to take this over and turn rules-based immigration into yet another fight about how America is racist?' said Matt Schlapp, a Trump confidant and chair of the American Conservative Union. 'The No. 1 reason Donald Trump got reelected was the border. He's implementing exactly what he said he would do, and out of nowhere, there's violence in the streets, there's fire bombs, there's attacks on cops.' A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the administration's thinking, said immigration enforcement has continued across the country despite the protests: 'Individuals in other cities should realize that rioting will not prevent immigration enforcement operations in their cities as well.' Trump has repeatedly referred to the protesters as 'insurrectionists' and 'violent insurrectionist mobs,' and his rhetoric intensified on Tuesday as he said the protests amount to an 'invasion' that threatens U.S. 'sovereignty' and that he will now allow 'an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.' He condemned what he called 'lawlessness' and the burning of the American flag, suggesting it should be punished with a year in prison — echoing his rhetoric from June 2020. But he also said the Los Angeles protests are not yet an insurrection — and that he will only invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, if it escalates to that point. The president on Sunday directed Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi to take 'all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles' and 'put an end to these Migrant riots.' 'Mark Esper fought like the dickens to avoid the Insurrection Act. He wasn't the only one. So did Attorney General [Bill] Barr, and so forth,' said Ken Cuccinelli, who served as Trump's deputy of Homeland Security during the first term. 'Whereas, Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth are more along the lines of just giving advice, and 'if it's the route you want to go, Mr. President, we'll salute and we'll move right down that path.' And that speaks to a unity in government that didn't exist in the first term.' The Trump administration's response has alarmed California Democrats, who warn that what's happening in their state paves the way for the president to deploy the military nationwide to enact his immigration agenda. The president has already militarized the border to an unprecedented degree, with military, immigration and legal experts questioning the legality of the approach and warning of potential violations to the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that generally prohibits active-duty troops from being used in domestic law enforcement. Trump's decision to deploy troops has also set off a legal firestorm: California sued the administration for deploying the National Guard without consultation, arguing that using the military to quell the immigration protests is illegal and unconstitutional. Gov. Gavin Newsom filed another suit on Tuesday, asking a federal judge for a restraining order to block Hegseth from ordering troops to support immigration raids in the city 'immediately.' 'There is no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles; there is civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country, and that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together,' California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other lawyers wrote in the new motion. Rallies protesting the administration's ICE raids and immigration agenda spread across U.S. cities this week. And so-called 'No Kings' rallies, coinciding with the president's military parade in Washington on Saturday, are planned in more than 1,800 cities across the country, including the nation's capital. Trump warned on Tuesday that any protests during this weekend's parade will be met with 'very heavy force.' 'If there's any protester who wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,' the president said in the Oval Office. 'I haven't even heard about a protest, but [there are] people that hate our country.' Dasha Burns contributed to this report.
Time Magazine
17 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
More Than 1,500 ‘No Kings' Protests Planned Amid Trump Crackdown on L.A. Demonstrations
More than 1,500 ' No Kings Day ' demonstrations are set to take place across the U.S. this weekend to protest the Trump Administration as President Donald Trump holds a military parade in Washington, D.C. The demonstrations will take place all over the country on Saturday, coinciding with the parade Trump has planned to mark the U.S. Army's 250th birthday. Ezra Levin, the co-founder and co-executive director of the progressive organization Indivisible that's behind 'No Kings Day,' told MSNBC on Monday that the protests—originally announced last month—have generated 'overwhelming interest' in the aftermath of the Administration's response to the immigration-related protests in Los Angeles. 'In America, we don't do kings,' reads a website for the events. 'They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too. Far.' The protests will follow days of demonstrations in L.A. over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting undocumented immigrants. In a rare and controversial exercise of presidential power, Trump over the weekend mobilized the National Guard—against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—to quell the protests in the L.A. area, which had been largely peaceful. The move sparked immediate outcry from Democratic politicians, advocacy organizations, and legal experts. Trump has since escalated federal involvement by deploying hundreds of Marines and thousands of additional National Guard troops to the city. 'No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance. From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we're taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like,' the 'No Kings Day' description said. 'On June 14th, we're showing up everywhere [Trump] isn't—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.' The event's organizers aren't holding a protest in D.C. itself, saying they want to make the demonstrations elsewhere the story of the day rather than allowing Saturday's military parade to be 'the center of gravity.' On Tuesday, Trump warned people planning to protest at the parade that they would face 'very big force.' 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force,' Trump said. 'And I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.'
Hamilton Spectator
20 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump says he will ‘liberate' Los Angeles in speech to mark the 250th anniversary of the Army
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump called protesters in Los Angeles 'animals' and 'a foreign enemy' in a speech at Fort Bragg on Tuesday as he defended deploying the military on demonstrators opposed to his immigration enforcement raids. Trump, in his most aggressive language yet regarding the protests in Los Angeles, used a speech ostensibly supposed to be used to recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army to denounce the demonstrators while repeating his false statements about the 2020 election being rigged and attacking the previous commander-in-chief, former President Joe Biden. The Republican president, who sees the military as a critical tool for domestic goals, has used the recent protests in Los Angeles as an opportunity to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines over the objections of California's Democratic governor to quell disturbances that began as protests over immigration raids. While protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend in Los Angeles, the demonstrations in the city of 4 million people have largely been centered in several blocks of downtown. 'We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. That's what they are,' Trump said Tuesday. Trump's heated rhetoric came has he's left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, one of the most extreme emergency powers available to the president. It authorizes him to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. The president also called Los Angeles 'a trash heap' with 'entire neighborhoods under control' of criminals and said the federal government would 'use every asset at our disposal to quell the violence and restore law and order.' 'We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again,' Trump added. Trump also announced his administration was restoring the names of seven military bases that were given the monikers of Confederate leaders until being changed by the Biden administration. Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee will have their names changed back, Trump said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already brought back the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning in Georgia. 'Can you believe they changed that name in the last administration for a little bit?' Trump said. 'We'll forget all about that.' Before he spoke, Trump watched the U.S. Army demonstrate a missile strike, a helicopter assault and a building raid, a preview of the kind of show of American military might he's expected to display in the nation's capital for a massive military parade this weekend . Fort Bragg, which is located near Fayetteville, North Carolina, serves as headquarters for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Highly trained units like the Green Berets and the 82nd Airborne are based there. The atmosphere resembled a state fair with military flair. Inflatable slides and attractions for children were set up in a field, with artillery, trucks and helicopters parked on another section of the lawn. Right outside the security checkpoint — but still on the base — two stands were selling Trump political hats, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll were also at Tuesday's event, along with service members, veterans and their families. Hegseth, who has said he's ridding the military of 'woke,' told the crowd at Fort Bragg that the U.S. is 'restoring the warrior ethos' to its armed forces. 'We're not a college or a university. We're not interested in your woke garbage and political correctness,' Hegseth said, drawing cheers. Driscoll, who spoke to the crowd earlier in the afternoon, called Trump 'the greatest recruiter in our Army's history.' Trump has promoted the Army's anniversary as a reason to hold a military parade in Washington on Saturday, which is also his 79th birthday. Tanks and other vehicles will roll down city streets in a reminder of how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces after returning to the White House this year. Trump has authorized the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers to the city over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. About 700 Marines were deployed to the Los Angeles area, but had not yet been sent to respond to the protests. California sued Trump over the deployment, with the state attorney general arguing that the president had 'trampled' the state's sovereignty. California leaders accused Trump of fanning protesters' anger, leading crowds to block off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire. ___ Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. Follow the AP's coverage of President Donald Trump at . ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the 82nd Airborne Division, not the U.S. Army Rangers, is based at Fort Bragg. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
