Mount St. Charles Hockey Star Off To The NHL + Outdoor Dining

Morning, people of Woonsocket! Let's get you caught up on what's going on around town.

First, today's weather: Rain overnight. High: 90, low: 64.

Here are the top stories in Woonsocket today:

1. A hockey player with Woonsocket ties has been picked up in the NHL draft by the Minnesota Wild. Nate Benoit, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound defenseman, spent the last two seasons with the Mount St. Charles Academy hockey program. Benoit, from New Hampshire, is committed to the University of North Dakota for the fall of 2022.

2. Paul R. Vallaro Jr., who worked for many years as a Pawtucket firefighter and paramedic, has died at the age of 44. Vallaro also served as a volunteer with the Defiance Hose Company of the Bristol Fire Department. (GoLocalProv)

3. Rhode Island is seeing "substantial" community transmission of the coronavirus, with 57.4 new cases per 100,000 in the past seven days. State health officials say the delta variant of COVID-19 now has a significant presence in the state. (WJAR)

4. If it wasn’t bad enough, Rhode Island is also seeing more cases of Legionnaires’ Disease. “From June 2 to July 26, 30 cases of the illness were reported in Rhode Island.” That's a three-fold increase over recent years past. (Patch)

5. Gov. Dan McKee has signed a bill that allows restaurants to continue with COVID-19 modifications, including outdoor dining and takeout windows. That's regardless of local zoning laws. The legislation places a moratorium on any local rules that would penalize restaurants and bars for outdoor dining and other modifications. (NECN)

Today's Woonsocket Daily is brought to you by our friends at Ring, the home security company. Ring does a lot more than doorbells: check out their full suite of smart home products at Ring.com. And thank you Ring for helping to make local news happen in Woonsocket!

July 27 in Woonsocket

• Woonsocket Farmers Market, 3-6 p.m., Thundermist Health Center, 450 Clinton St.

• Narcotics Anonymous meeting, 3:30 p.m., Senior Services, 84 Social St.

Woonsocket Patch Notebook

• Woonsocket Cat Sanctuary, Inc.: "We never want to reject someone’s application for one of our cats or kittens, but these animals are our responsibility and we take that very seriously." (Facebook)
• RI Hospitality Association: "The expansion of outdoor dining has been one of the silver linings of COVID." (Facebook)

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Job listings:

• Part Time and Full Time Cleaning Positions Available (Details)

You're all caught up for today. See you tomorrow morning for another update! If you like these newsletters, consider bringing some friends and neighbors along for the ride. You can send them this link to subscribe.