By Rob Smith — The state’s coastal regulating agency is already starting the new year on the wrong foot. The Coastal Resources Management Council quietly announced last month that longtime council member and Little Compton resident Donald Gomez was resigning. Gomez, who prior to his professional retirement worked as an electric engineer for the Navy in Newport, had been serving in some capacity on CRMC’s executive panel since 2007.

By Brian Amaral — The legendary Block Island bar had a tumultuous season last year, culminating in a chaotic music festival last August.

By Wheeler Cowperthwaite — Want to go to the beach, but you're not sure where to go or what is open before the official opening of the beach season? Then this guide is for you.

By Frank Carini — For years the board that oversees the Ocean State’s coastal regulations has been operating with vacancies, and last month it lost a long-serving member.

By Jonathan Stone OPINION — The R.I. Supreme Court’s rejection of the “settlement” between Champlin’s Marina and the Coastal Resources Management Council should serve as a wake-up call to all Rhode Islanders. The decision makes it clear that the agency’s structure is fundamentally flawed and in need of immediate correction by the governor and General Assembly. Rhode Island’s coastal environment and Rhode Islanders themselves deserve nothing less.

By Renee Meyer — Following on the heels of the incidents that fell on Victory Day in August, with the throngs of concertgoers packed onto Ballard’s Beach and the ensuing fights at Ballard’s and on the Block Island Ferry in the evening, residents and officials on Block Island started asking questions about just how Ballard’s Resort came to grow under the radar over the past few years.

Interceding in a case raising significant issues involving government transparency in environmental disputes, four organizations recently filed a “friend of the court” brief in Rhode Island Supreme Court in a long-standing controversy involving the proposed expansion of Champlin’s Marina & Resort on Block Island.

Interceding in a case raising significant issues involving government transparency in environmental disputes, Save The Bay, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association and Foundation, and Common Cause Rhode Island today filed a “friend of the court” (amicus curiae) brief in the Rhode Island Supreme Court in a long-standing controversy involving the proposed expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island.

By Sofie Rudin — Rhode Island’s coastal agency followed the law when it went into mediation with a Block Island marina owner. That’s the decision released Thursday by Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Lanphear.

By Jim Hummel — The mediated settlement of a controversial marina expansion on Block Island was a common-sense solution to nearly two decades of litigation. Or, it was a secret backroom deal that violated state law and excluded opponents who had fought the proposal every step of the way.