Woonsocket Radio News Room

Office of the Mayor

WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND

 

 

Mayor Beauchamp Announces Planning Director Debroisse Retires After 35 Years of Service

WOONSOCKET, R.I.: Mayor Christopher Beauchamp announced today a vacancy in the Planning Department with the retirement of Mike Debroisse who retired as Planning Director effective August 4th, 2024. Debroisse served as an employee of the city for 35 years and previously served as the Superintendent of Solid Waste/Engineering.

Beauchamp added that although he is currently evaluating the future leadership structure of the Planning Department, the city is committed to ensuring the continuity of all planning operations through a team of highly skilled individuals which includes the hard working and dedicated city employees who work in various capacities in the department.

President Trump is touting the "great meeting" he had with New York Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House. It was all smiles as the two spoke to reporters from the Oval Office, with Trump saying he feels very confident Mamdani will do a effective job. He added that the better Mamdani does, the happier he is because he loves New York. Both men brushed off questions about trading insults when Mamdani was running for office.        President Trump says he wants a group of Democrats to be punished, but not put to death. Trump was asked by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade about his post saying a group of Democrats should be tried for "seditious behavior, punishable by death" for a video they made, telling military members to ignore orders issued by Trump if they're illegal. Trump said those Democrats did a "horrible" thing.        The Coast Guard is clarifying its policy regarding hate symbols. In a policy released late Thursday, the Coast Guard said, "divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited" and added that includes nooses, swastikas "and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups." This comes after multiple reports said the Coast Guard was moving to label such symbols as "potentially divisive." A policy that was put in place in 2019 had called the display of symbols like swastikas and nooses "a potential hate incident."        Wall Street is closing higher to end the week. Stocks rebounded from Thursday's sell-off after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said he expects the central bank has more room to lower interest rates. Even with Friday's gains, the three major averages chalked up weekly losses of one percent or more. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones gained 493 points to 46-245.        Millions of Amazon Prime customers will get refunds as a result of the company's two-point-five-billion-dollar settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. You should get an email from Amazon asking you to claim the money through Paypal or Venmo if you're entitled to an automatic refund. Or you can choose to get a check in the mail. This applies to people who enrolled in Prime between June 2019 and June 2025, and didn't use the service more than three times in a year.        "Wicked: For Good" is already going gangbusters at the box office. The sequel to last year's smash hit earned 30-point-eight-million dollars from preview screenings. That surpasses "Superman" for the biggest pre-opening total this year. "Wicked: For Good" is expected to challenge April's "A Minecraft Movie" for the biggest opening of the year by bringing in somewhere between 150-and-180-million dollars this weekend.       

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