A North Providence man who claims a Newport police officer shot him with a stun gun has filed a notice of intent to sue the city.

National Grid said spent Thursday cutting off power to 5,000 customers so it could replace copper ground wire stolen from its Smithfield substation, just off Route 44.

Providence crews were called to a church on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence around 10 this morning for reports of a fire.

A fire in a collection box filled a church with smoke Tuesday morning, but caused no structural damage, according to Battalion Chief Gerald R. Capaldi of the North Providence Fire Department.

State labor officials have rejected an unfair labor practice complaint that challenged the town's use of GPS tracking devices on public works vehicles and also brought attention to a police probe of criminal vandalism at the town garage in late 2008 and through the first half of 2009.

Governor Carcieri and six gay-rights advocates began a closed-door meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday to talk about the governor's veto of a bill giving "domestic partners" the right to make funeral decisions for each other.

The owner of a North Providence computer store has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he sold illegal generic Viagra and pirated movies in 2008.

House Democrats convened at the State House for a closed-door discussion of an issue that was not even on their special-session agenda last week: the state's financial crisis.

A man was taken to a hospital after he was shot somewhere in Lincoln Woods State Park early Friday afternoon.

When a stranger chatted up a 19-year-old woman on the street in Centredale Saturday, the police say, he mentioned that he was from South Carolina.

A dog from Iraq has been placed in temporary foster care in North Providence. Barbara Lakeberg was working for a nonprofit in Iraq when she found Lucy in bad shape and pregnant.

Lucy, the dog from Iraq that was up for adoption because her owner must return to Iraq, has been placed in foster care in North Providence temporarily, Linda Monahan of ADOPT, or Animals Depend on People Too, said Thursday night.

Taking the news pulse of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, by Providence Journal and projo.com staff, from 7 to 7, every business day Monahan said a Cranston family adopted Lucy but returned her for snapping when anyone came near while she was eating.

The Rhode Island Bar Association is hosting legal clinics to help guide senior citizens in authorizing someone to make health-care decisions on their behalf should they become unable make choices themselves.

A water main break Saturday left hundreds of households without water for much of the afternoon.