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PROVIDENCE BUDGET

Taveras: Providence could be headed for bankruptcy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Mayor Angel Taveras (tuh-VEHR'-us) has painted a bleak picture of the city's finances, saying Providence could go bankrupt if retiree benefits aren't cut and tax-exempt institutions don't pay more in lieu of taxes.

Taveras says he cut a projected $120 million deficit for the current fiscal year to less than $30 million but says the city is on track to run out of money by June.

He says taxpayers and city workers have already sacrificed during tough economic times and retirees and nonprofit hospitals must do the same.

He says the city can't afford retirees' guaranteed annual cost-of-living increases and that benefits will be cut one way or another, either voluntarily or possibly through court action.

Taveras has scheduled a town hall meeting with city retirees for March 3.

REDISTRICTING-RI

Final vote on RI redistricting plan set

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A Senate vote is all it will take to send a Rhode Island redistricting proposal to the desk of Gov. Lincoln Chafee (CHAY'-fee).

The state Senate is scheduled to cast that vote Thursday, capping months of work on plans to adjust congressional and legislative districts to account for population changes.

During legislative debate Wednesday, several House lawmakers complained that the changes appear politically motivated.

One change would shift some heavily Democratic areas into U.S. Rep. David Cicilline's (sihs-ihl-EE'-nees), district, moving them into the district now represented by Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin (LAN'-jih-vin).

The plan's supporters say it would give minority voters a louder voice by increasing their numbers in Cicilline's district. But Republican critics say the proposal would boost Cicilline's re-election efforts.

Chafee, an independent, hasn't said if he'll support the proposal.

LAWMAKER ARRESTED

RI lawmaker in pot case seeking out-of-state rehab

(Information in the following story is from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com )

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) The arraignment of a Rhode Island lawmaker arrested on marijuana possession charges has been delayed so he can seek drug treatment out of state.

The Providence Journal reports that former House Minority Leader Robert Watson now faces a March 1 arraignment.

Judge Mary McCaffrey agreed to the delay after Watson's attorney said his client is seeking in-patient rehab at an unidentified facility out of state.

Watson, an East Greenwich Republican, was arrested last month in South Kingstown after a snowplow driver called to report an erratic motorist.

Police say they found marijuana and a pipe in Watson's vehicle, along with an opened beer can.

Watson has pleaded not guilty to charges of marijuana possession and driving under the influence stemming from an April arrest in Connecticut.

IMMIGRANT TUITION

RI faces fight over immigrant tuition

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Rhode Island lawmakers are headed for a showdown over a new policy giving some illegal immigrants in-state tuition at state universities.

Legislation to reverse the tuition break has been introduced by critics who say a state education board was wrong to approve the policy last fall.

But supporters of the idea have filed bills to protect the policy by making it state law.

Under the policy children who graduate from a local high school they've attended for at least three years would qualify for in-state college tuition, regardless of their immigration status. They also must agree to seek legal status.

No votes have been scheduled so far on either the bill to rescind the policy or the legislation to protect it.

MORTGAGE FRAUD

Ex-lawyer Levitt pleads guilty to RI bank fraud

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Former lawyer James Levitt has pleaded guilty in a $1.1 million mortgage fraud scheme involving properties in Providence and East Providence.

The 66-year-old Levitt pleaded guilty to multiple counts of bank fraud and filing false federal tax returns Wednesday in federal court in Providence. He faces up to 96 years in prison and up to $3.3 million in fines when he is sentenced April 19.

Federal prosecutors say Levitt obtained three mortgages totaling $1.1 million on two properties in Providence and one in East Providence based on fraudulent loan applications in 2006 and 2007. They say he used money from the mortgages to buy the Providence properties from an acquaintance who was facing foreclosure.

Prosecutors say Levitt also improperly put $270,000 from the property closings into his bank accounts.

OBIT-PANAGGIO

First RI tourism director, columnist dies at 92

(Information in the following story is from: The Newport Daily News.)

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) A longtime columnist for The Newport Daily News who was Rhode Island's first tourism director has died.

The newspaper reports that Leonard Panaggio died Wednesday. He was 92.

Panaggio began writing a history column after retiring as the state's tourism director in 1983. He kept writing toward the end of his life, and his last "Grist Mill" column appeared in the paper on Jan. 23.

The Army Air Corps veteran who served in northern Africa during World War II became the first publicity director for Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts in 1948 and took a job in 1952 with the state of Rhode Island in what became the tourism bureau.

The Newport native was inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009.