Greater Newport News

NEWPORT — As planning for the future of the North End advances, one lynch pin to the effort is the former Newport Grand site.

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Consultants with NBBJ, the group hired by the city to develop an urban plan for the area north of the Newport Pell Bridge ramps, heard both sides of the argument from North End business owners during a meeting Friday afternoon at Innovate Newport.

Geremie Callaghan and her husband, Jeff, were on their third date, at LeBistro, on Bannister’s Wharf at Newport Harbor in 1993.

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The cozy restaurant proved to be a pleasant surprise. Tucked away on the second and third floor in a building at the wharf, it was a quiet spot with nice views that felt worlds away from the crowds in Newport.

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“What a fluke to know that we’re in the heart of downtown Newport,” Geremie Callaghan recalled Jeff saying on that date.

In an effort to advance high-speed internet connectivity across Rhode Island, Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown) has introduced legislation calling for the creation of state entities to take charge of spreading broadband access, according to a press release sent by the Rhode Island General Assembly on Tuesday.

Legislation she has introduced calls for the appointment of a statewide broadband coordinator as well as the creation of a Rhode Island Broadband Advisory Council.

For the first time, economic-development officials overseeing Rebuild RI are courting smaller projects. R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said $15 million in tax credits set aside for smaller-scale work can potentially spark revitalization regardless of projects’ size.

Top ocean industry leaders, blue tech startups, government officials and key marine tech associations will set in motion a working agenda for the Blue Economy over the next decade when Salve Regina University hosts the fifth Blue Innovation Symposium on Jan. 14-16. The event is organized by Salve together with the Consulate General of Canada in Boston and TSC Strategic, an ocean industries marketing and media agency whose portfolio of publications includes Ocean News & Technology.