Woonsocket Radio News Room

September 5, 2018

MAYOR LISA BALDELLI-HUNT CONTINUES
BLIGHT AND DENSITY REDUCTION MISSION

WOONSOCKET, RI: A city-owned vacant structure that previously housed six residential units and commercial space located at 44-52 Blackstone Street is set for demolition tomorrow morning which will restore another 0.064 acres or 2,787 sq. feet of open space to Woonsocket.
"In continuing to eradicate housing blight and unhealthy density citywide, the removal of 44-52 Blackstone Street will help improve both the quality of daily life as well as the City's physical appearance," said Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt who envisions a blight-free cityscape for her native Woonsocket. "Nobody deserves to live on the side of blight."
The demolition of the 6,125 sq. ft. building will mark the twenty-fifth that the City has completed under its goal of blight remediation which began in the Spring of 2014.
To date, the twenty-four buildings that have been demolished contain a total of 63,598 sq. feet or 1.46 acres of land.
"It is essential for the City to stay on the continued path of eradicating blight which has accumulated over two decades," noted Mayor Baldelli-Hunt. "Vacant, blighted properties attract unhealthy, negative and nuisance behavior. Blight has a negative affect on the quality of life and is very time consuming for our public safety officials."
 

Another seated juror in former President Trump's hush money criminal trial is being dismissed after he was questioned about his arrest record. This comes after a juror was excused earlier today when she expressed concerns about her identity being made public by the media. Trump is accused of falsifying business records in order to cover up payments allegedly made to an adult film star just prior to the 2016 election.        Allman Brothers Band singer-guitarist Dickey Betts has died at the age of 80. His family announced his death on his Instagram account. They said Betts passed away peacefully Thursday at his home in Osprey, Florida surrounded by his family. Betts wrote and sung on the Allman Brothers Band hit "Ramblin' Man" which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.        Republican Mike Johnson is setting up some high-stakes votes that might end his short term as House Speaker. Defying the conservative wing of his party, Johnson plans for House votes on aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and a separate bill for the border. The conservative flank argues the border should be tied to Ukraine to force Democrats to vote for its passage.        911 outages in several states were caused by a light pole installation. In a statement to ABC News, emergency call system service provider Lumen said the installation was done by a third party. Lumen said "some customers in Nevada, South Dakota and Nebraska experienced an outage" and the company installing the pole was unrelated to them. It said all services were restored in under three hours and they apologized for their inconvenience.        The U.S. is hitting Iran with new sanctions. The sanctions target Iranian leaders and entities connected to the country's missile and drone program. The Treasury Department also says it is punishing five companies associated with Iran's steel industry and three subsidiaries of an Iranian automaker.        Basketball superstar Caitlin Clark is set to become Nike's next signature athlete. That's according to The Athletic, which reports the deal is worth eight figures. The deal will include a signature Nike shoe for Clark. The all-time NCAA [[ N-C-Double-A ]] leading scorer and first overall pick in the WNBA Draft also received offers from Adidas and Under Armour.        

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