Archive - 2010 - News Article
CUMBERLAND – Peter J. Pytka II, the man charged with murdering his wife in their Titus Street home on Dec. 20, was found dead in his jail cell at the Adult Correctional Institutions Thursday, the victim of an apparent suicide.
Corrections spokeswoman Tracey Zeckhausen said his cellmate at the ACI's Intake Service Center found Pytka in the top bunk about 7:50 a.m., as prisoners were getting ready for breakfast. The cellmate alerted prison authorities, telling them Pytka appeared to be dead.
The Burrillville Police Department announced the retirement of Prosecution Officer Maurice Nault after 25 years of service. Officer Nault was the senior officer in the department. Also retiring is Lorraine Cadieux, administrative assistant to the Chief of Police, Col. Bernard Gannon. Both retirements took effect Dec. 27. Mrs. Cadieux worked for the Town of Burrillville for 23 years -- 12 years in Town Hall mostly as the assistant to the building official and the last 11 years as the administrative assistant to the police chief.
December 29th
PROVIDENCE — Asked about his goals and priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session, one of the first things House Speaker Gordon Fox said is “I don’t want to raise taxes.”
CUMBERLAND – There are plenty of good reasons for teaching instrumental music and chorus in secondary schools, and the students enrolled in them are more than happy to share a few.
“Other classes teach independence and therefore cannot compare with band and chorus classes,” says Kristen Rodriguez of Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket. “If someone fails an English test and another person receives a perfect score, the person who aced the test is not affected by the person who failed it. Unlike other classes, band and chorus teach the value of interdependence.”
December 27th
By RUSS OLIVO
WOONSOCKET — Jason Cropley usually gets off work in the morning, but when his graveyard shift ended Monday he had another job to do: free his car from its prison of snow.
Cropley, a security guard at Portola Tech, thought there might be trouble when he heard the rumble of snowplows passing the Fairmount Street mill with increasing frequency during the night. Sure enough, they buried his car, parked just a few feet from the edge of the road, behind a knee-high wall of grayish, lumpy snow.
December 25th
WOONSOCKET – The city firefighters union has unanimously agreed to accept a 2.75 percent, retroactive pay hike for the fiscal year that began on July 1 – now it's up to the City Council to approve the pact.
The proposal would end an arbitration dispute with roots that go back to a multi-year contract ironed out in 2009, during a particularly turbulent period in relations between the city and Local 732 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
PAWTUCKET — “Santa to the Stars” Brady White is now a screen star in his own right with a new music video that is appearing on YouTube.
Called “Santa's Wrap,” the video features the Pawtucket resident performing a rap-style song that he wrote himself. Since it made its debut earlier this month, “Santa's Wrap” has garnered over 31,000 hits on the Internet video site. The easiest way to access the video is by looking up “Santa's Wrap” on Google or by visiting YouTube and searching “Santa's Wrap.”
December 23rd
WOONSOCKET — CVS/Caremark won a round Tuesday as the Zoning Board unanimously rejected an abutter's plea to quash final plans for a new pharmacy proposed for busy Chipman's Corner.
Ron Genereux of 41 Dana St. said the board spurned his argument that the Planning Board should have taken another look at the proposal because it contains new elements that will affect the flow of traffic in the congested intersection.
“It's what we expected I think,” said Genereux. “The zoning board was predisposed to grant CVS permission to move forward.”
December 21st
CUMBERLAND — A 14-year-old boy made a 911 call Monday afternoon after discovering his mother's body lying in a pool of blood in his 29 Titus St. home and later learned police would charge his father in her death.
Peter J. Pytka, 40, was arraigned in District Court, Providence, on a Cumberland Police charge he allegedly murdered his wife, Tracey Pytka, 38, after an apparent domestic incident at the Titus Street residence.
December 20th
WOONSOCKET — More than $1.3 million generated by this summer's CVS/Caremark Charity Classic found its target yesterday as the company handed out checks to dozens of nonprofits in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
CVS/Caremark CEO Tom Ryan, and the co-hosts of the tournament, homegrown golf pros Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade, announced the figure during a ceremony at the pharmacy giant's headquarters.
