East Greenwich Pendulum

NORTH KINGSTOWN — The North Kingstown Community Chorus plans to bring a clearer sound to the North Kingstown High School stage through a $27,000 acoustic panel system, years in the making, to serve both the school and community performers. Six new acoustic panels now stand ready behind the risers at North Kingstown High School. Their purpose is practical.

NARRAGANSETT --— If you’ve ever wanted to feel like you’ve gone way past the towers without actually leaving, the work of a local first-time author might be of interest to you. Johnette Rodriguez has spent years researching, drafting, and searching for a way to publish her novel, “Alma of Rag Town,” but her efforts have finally come to fruition. She writes about a different place and time: the northwestern Louisiana oil fields in the 1910s against the distant backdrop of World War I.

Even as two of its closest neighboring towns — South Kingstown and Narragansett — make news for ending use of Flock cameras that snap pictures of license plates on public roads, at least one official in North Kingstown is standing up for the system, saying it aids law enforcement in the solving of crimes. The North Kingstown Police Department last week took a public stand against the anti-Flock trend, making its case for why the cameras are an important tool to keep communities safe.

North Kingstown Town Manager Ralph Mollis said that he is still awaiting word from the town’s legal counsel on whether Quonset Development Corporation is following set rules for new housing it wants to build. The QDC recently announced plans to build 140 housing units, including one- and two-bedroom apartments, in its Gateway District.

RI native Richard Hatch, the first winner of ‘Survivor,’ talks perception and reality If you’re a current or past fan of Survivor, you might want to show up at Audrey’s Coffee House in South Kingstown on Saturday for a chance to meet native Rhode Islander Richard Hatch, the first-ever winner of the show, and have him sign a copy of his new book, “Reality Matters: What You Owe Yourself.” Audrey’s is located on South Commons Way, and the book launch will take place on Saturday, from 5-7 p.m....

EXETER -— The distinctive beating of double-bladed Chinook military helicopters could be heard traveling across South County every several minutes for about six hours on Saturday. Their destination was a remote farm in Exeter, where thousands gathered to watch hundreds of people from around the world slowly fall from the sky. This popular event was none other than Leapfest, an international paratrooper competition that got its start right here in Rhode Island. Lt. Col.

I was hoping that the grand opening of the panicled hydrangea show I talked about in the last edition of the Journal would keep a burgeoning raft of intrusive and, sadly enough, bleak news at bay, but it turned out that my flowering shrub display was itself a manifestation of unsettlement. Where has all the pollinator diversity gone? In the past, this particular hydrangea’s output of aromatic, small blossoms would have been magnets to a wide variety of pollen-dusted insects.

Fireworks brighten the ominous sky over North Kingstown Town Beach before heavy rain fell on…

If you’ve ever attempted to write or publish a book, you know that it’s a rewarding but tough line of work. That’s why one local author has set out to bring together an entire community of independent authors like herself. Sheryl Gomes is a realtor by day, but she recently felt a call to share her life experiences with the world through the lens of faith and mental wellness.

Fireworks brighten the ominous sky over North Kingstown Town Beach before heavy rain fell on the town’s Fourth of July celebration on Saturday.