Ethan Shorey, Author at The Local Insider News

Players on the two teams at this year's charity basketball game gather for a group photo.

Charity basketball game raises nearly $20,000 in North Providence

NORTH PROVIDENCE – The town’s annual charity basketball game between local police officers and teachers raised $19,700, according to organizer and sponsor Justin Conrad. Conrad, of NorthPointe Bank, said that was $1,700 more than last year’s event, which raised $18,000.…

May 2, 2026

Two big hits cause budget damage in North Providence

NORTH PROVIDENCE – A pair of sizable financial hits are to blame for a major tax increase proposed in this town. Mayor Charles Lombardi and Finance Director Maria Vallee said a proposed 7 percent tax increase would exceed the state cap…

May 1, 2026

Empowerment Factory seeks support for its art-based learning

PAWTUCKET – Gail Ahlers and her city-based Empowerment Factory are set to mark 12 years of, as she explains it, inspiring more than 10,000 local youth through art-based social and emotional learning. There’s a lot of chatter about workforce development…

May 1, 2026

Residential projects further squeeze limited Pawtucket Library parking

PAWTUCKET – Parking near the Pawtucket Public Library was already limited before representatives from Nexus Property Management decided to convert the brick building next store into residential units. The library had long paid an annual lease for the Summer Street…

May 1, 2026

Retail building planned at gas station on Cumberland/Woonsocket line

CUMBERLAND – The owners of the Mobil gas station at 3 Pine Swamp Road are proposing to build a new 7,200-square-foot, two-story commercial development there. The applicant, according to a Planning Department memo, will be required to seek a zoning…

May 1, 2026

Our restaurants deserve all the attention

I’ve long believed that if you don’t think there’s much to do or any good places to eat in our area, you just don’t get out enough. This page of The Local Insider, Food and Entertainment, will first and foremost…

May 1, 2026

Sandy Boucher and Marc Berthelette stand outside of Patriots Diner in Woonsocket.

Help this local couple visit every diner in Rhode Island

Rhode Island is widely considered the birthplace of the American diner, with Providence’s Walter Scott converting a horse-drawn freight wagon into the first “night lunch wagon” in 1872. Scott offered up sandwiches, pies, and coffee to late-night newspaper employees and factory…

April 30, 2026

The old train station looming above active train tracks at the Pawtucket/Central Falls city line remains an expensive albatross.

Old Pawtucket-Central Falls Train Station could be removed in chunks

PAWTUCKET/CENTRAL FALLS – The former Pawtucket-Central Falls Train Station next to CVS on Broad Street is breaking down in its old age, but officials say the dilapidated building over the tracks doesn’t pose a threat to trains below. That question of the structure’s…

April 29, 2026

The former Sears store on Diamond Hill Road in Woonsocket is still sitting empty.

Beauchamp: Grocery store in old Woonsocket Sears now more likely by fall

WOONSOCKET – The timeline for a new grocery store to come to the Diamond Hill Road area is still likely a few months long, said Mayor Chris Beauchamp this week. The owners of the proposed Daily Stop Super Market have been…

April 28, 2026

North Smithfield High School sophomore Quinn Crowshaw asks visiting Rhode Island Supreme Court justices on the stage a question about preliminary injunctions on Thursday, April 2, 2026.

Have docket, will travel: RI Supreme Court hears oral arguments at North Smithfield High School

Revived ‘Riding the Circuit’ program brings real-world clarity on law, life to students Note: This story written was originally written for the Rhode Island Current. Find their stories at rhodeislandcurrent.com. NORTH SMITHFIELD – More than 100 North Smithfield High School…

April 28, 2026