🌱 Woonsocket School Fights + No Walnut Hill Compassion Center

Happy Saturday, Woonsocket; today is International Read to Me Day! Here's everything you need to know to get this day started.

Why are the kids fighting? Also, there won’t be a medical marijuana dispensary at Walnut Hill Plaza. Finally, the public safety complex is on the meeting agency for Monday.

First, today's weather:

Cooler with periods of rain. High: 57 Low: 53.

Here are the top five stories today in Woonsocket:

1. Last week, there were seven incidents of students fighting at Woonsocket schools. On Friday, two of them took place at the high school, which led to the arrest of three students. A video “shows about a dozen or so people crowded in a hallway pushing and shoving one another. One person goes down to the ground, getting punched and kicked before the group finally disperses.” The principal declared a medical lockdown at 10:30 a.m. “Police also confirmed that they’re investigating five other incidents that happened this past week in the middle school.” (WJAR)
2. On Monday, the Zoning Board decided not to issue “a special use permit for a medical marijuana compassion center in the Walnut Hill Plaza” with a 4-1 vote opposing it. Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt opposed it because it was close to the trampoline park, which is routinely visited by children. The center had offered to remain closed on Saturdays, which is when children visit the trampoline park most frequently. (The Valley Breeze)
3. The Monday City Council meeting will focus on, among other topics, the public safety complex proposal, the “Board of Library Trustees’ ordered compensation increase for the director and assistant director denied by the Mayor,” and “preparations for the new playground area at Dunn Park.” (City of Woonsocket)
4. In 2011, a 41-year-old Woonsocket man was convicted of “drug trafficking and firearm charges.” He admitted Wednesday that he threatened a probation officer while “serving a term of supervised release related to that conviction.” The man allegedly told the officer that he would “appear at the court in person with the ‘whole gang’ and physically harm the probation officer.” He will be sentenced on June 22. (DOJ)
5. Officials are discussing the possibility of a bird flu outbreak and how to protect local flocks. The State House intends to give the Department of Environmental Management the authority “to set up a quarantine area consistent with state and United States Department of Agriculture emergency plans to prevent the movement of domestic animals or products when there is a suspected case of a contagious animal disease such as bird flu.” This proposal now heads to the Senate. (OnWorldWide)

Today in Woonsocket:

• Eliza Neals at Chan's Fine Oriental Dining (6 PM)
• Providence Pirates vs. Herkimer Originals at the West Warwick Civic Center (7 PM)
• NA Meeting at 1817 Warwick Avenue (7 PM)
• CeCe’s Sip at 951 Park Ave (7:30 PM)
• Ironbound at The Gamm Theatre (7:30 PM)

From my notebook:

• The Friends of the Pawtucket Public Library are hosting the Winter Book Sale today in the Leisure Reading Room from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Events:

• Paint Pottery! (March 19)
• American Diabetes Association Diabetes Alert Day: Understand Your Risk (March 22)
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Thanks for following along and staying informed! I'll see you around.

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.