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 Elizabeth Turley, Erica Ricci — Narragansett is home to several of Rhode Island’s most picturesque beaches, but residents say a series of winter storms left their coastal homes severely damaged.

By Nancy Lavin — Country club restoration plans appear ‘incomplete,’ says Save the Bay

By Nancy Lavin — CRMC hearing on proposal to ease water protections pits club members against environmentalists

By Luis Hernandez — Severe storms and rising sea-levels are reshaping Rhode Island’s shoreline in dramatic ways. As part of our ongoing series on coastal erosion, Morning Host Luis Hernandez spoke with J.P. Walsh, a coastal scientist at the University of Rhode Island, who is trying to quantify just how much beach we’ve lost in recent decades.

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 — 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 Catie McNeill, Paige Messier — While the focus seemed to be on inland flooding over the past few weeks of weather, all eyes are now on Rhode Island’s coast, which experts say may not have enough protection to weather future storms.

By Brian Amaral — “This lawsuit is about two things: property rights and abuse of government process for political gain,” Weekapaug Fire District moderator Bob McCann said of the would-be shore access path in Westerly

By Savan Dunning — Conrad Ferla’s love of surfing led him down the path to becoming a shoreline-access advocate.

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

By Antonia Noori Farzan — RIDOT initially said that "fishing accommodations will not be provided" on the new East Bay Bike Path bridges, but now says that it doesn't intend to prohibit fishing.

PODCAST By Colleen Cronin, Joanna Detz, and Rob Smith — Beach season may have ended, but conflicts over shoreline access have not. ecoRI News reporters Colleen Cronin and Rob Smith break down pending and settled lawsuits, and explain recent legislation that determines where the public beach begins and where private property ends.

By James Merolla — When is a public right-of-way to the shore not a right-of-way? When, over time, it has been impeded, overgrown, sits on or near private property, or becomes unsafe.

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 Antonia Noori Farzan — The Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association, which has maintained the property since the 1980s, says it will continue to provide public access once it takes over. But some in Westerly have doubts.