By Alex Nunez — As rising seas and stronger storms, due at least in part to climate change, are carrying off tons of sand from Rhode Island beaches, a legislative commission tasked with developing ways to slow beach erosion met at the State House for the first time on Monday.

By Alex Nunes — Two lawsuits are challenging a law enacted in 2023 that sets a new definition for the public trust shoreline in Rhode Island

By Alex Nunes — Beachgoers say time-limited parking along the seawall in Narragansett will make it harder to enjoy the town beach and make the coastal community more exclusive. State officials want more time to review the restrictions that have already been approved by the town.

By Alex Nunes — Members of Nope’s Island Conservation Association say the town of Charlestown should change a town ordinance to help prevent drivers from damaging a barrier beach. Shoreline access advocates portray the proposal as a Trojan Horse for blocking public use of the beach.

By Alex Nunes — The summer beach season is here, but the beaches themselves look very different this year. Coastal communities are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair shoreline damage from last winter’s severe storms. The damage is a warning sign to Rhode Island of the tough road ahead as climate-related sea level rise and increasingly heavy storms continue to swallow up the beaches.

By Alex Nunes — Westerly’s Harbor Management Commission is recommending the town council begin addressing “exclusionary” parking policies in shoreline areas. An attorney for Watch Hill property interests calls suggestions of discrimination “absurd.”

By Alex Nunes — The Rhode Island ACLU says the fire district’s lawsuit is targeting a Westerly resident fighting for a public shoreline right-of-way in a move to discourage public participation in the dispute.

By Alex Nunes — The official transfer of the property deed to a private nonprofit comes after months of delays and legal research that didn’t result in public access protections to the historic property and popular fishing grounds.

By Alex Nunes — The increasingly litigious shoreline fire district wants to end a state review that could result in a new beach right-of-way being designated in Westerly.

By Alex Nunes — Advocates for coastal access point to the town’s tepid pursuit of beach rights-of-way, questionable changes to boat mooring policies, and highly restrictive parking rules in exclusive shoreline areas. Now access advocates say the general public faces a newer threat: Westerly’s own town solicitor. They say his past actions in shoreline access matters continue to raise doubts about whose interests he’s serving in critical ongoing legal cases.

By Alex Nunes — The Westerly Town Council could soon consider a proposal to enter into settlement discussions over a lawsuit challenging the public’s right to access a popular beach and conservation area in Watch Hill. But shoreline access advocates are raising conflict of interest questions about the new town councilor who proposed the idea.

By Alex Nunes — The Westerly-based fire district, a taxing entity with government authorities but no fire department, had blocked information on its website from public view.

By Alex Nunes — The U.S. General Services Administration now says the deal to transfer the lighthouse to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association won’t be finalized until Westerly investigates concerns about public access to the land.

By Brittany Bowker — “Our physical location in the theater is more harmful to the Theatre than it is beneficial,” said Torey Malatia, chief executive of The Public’s Radio.

By Alex Nunes — The disclosure contradicts characterizations of an agreement made public in July by Rhode Island U.S. Senator Jack Reed.

By Alex Nunes — Council President Edward Morrone had been under scrutiny for his ties to private interests in the Watch Hill community as disputes over shoreline access became a focal point for the Westerly Town Council.

By Alex Nunes — The Weekapaug Fire District has filed a motion in Rhode Island Superior Court, asking a judge to find the town of Westerly in contempt of a decades-old agreement that covers use of a road known as the Sand Trail that runs down the middle of the Quonochontaug Barrier Beach.

By Alex Nunes — The move comes three weeks after U.S. Sen. Jack Reed announced the property was slated to be transferred to a private non-profit in Watch Hill.

By Alex Nunes — A group of coastal landowners is asking a federal District Court judge to block enforcement of a new state law intended to clarify where beachgoers can be along the state’s shoreline.

By Alex Nunes — A legal fight over a town-designated path to the beach has put the town council president’s connections to the Watch Hill resort community in the spotlight.