Journal Managing Editor mikemcdermott76 Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I’m Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. The nation now finds itself at the center of two urgent crises, one involving race and the massive protests that have followed the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, in the custody of Minneapolis police last week; and the other the continuing coronavirus menace. TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public...

Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I’m Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. Today is June 16; former Gov. Lincoln Almond turns 84. We begin today with breaking news from Providence, where Public Safety Commissioner Steven Paré announced this afternoon that an investigation determined racial profiling was not a factor in an incident involving two police officers and a firefighter outside the Messer Street fire station on June 5. One of the police officers will be...

Good evening and welcome to This Just In. I’m Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. Today is May 18. On this date in 1652, the first anti-slavery law in the U.S. colonies was passed in Rhode Island. The law, however, applied only to Providence and Warwick, and was never enforced. In the early 18th century it was superseded by a state law that recognized slavery. It would not be until 1784 that the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a law on “gradual emancipation.” We...

Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I’m Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. Today is May 20. On this date in 1927, actor David Hedison, star of “The Fly” and “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” was born in Providence. We begin today with a story that does not have to do with coronavirus. Last summer, The Providence Journal submitted an open records request seeking communications between the city of Providence and Jump bikes about the use of the bikes in crimes....

Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I’m Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. Today is May 21— on this date in 1928, actress Alice Drummond (who played the librarian in the opening scenes of “Ghostbusters”) was born in Pawtucket. This is the time of year that our website and news pages is frequently full of stories of triumph — of students who have overcome difficult circumstances to graduate from high school, or college, and face bright futures that may not have...