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

By Ryan Blessing — Town Council President Edward P. Morrone submitted his letter of resignation Tuesday morning at Town Hall and pointed the finger at the actions at a recent council meeting as one of the reasons he stepped down.

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 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.

By Dale Faulkner — Large crowds attributed to COVID-19, the summer heat, and our local pop mega-star have combined to force visitor limitations at the Watch Hill Lighthouse.

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 Michael DeFusco — The National Park Service is recommending transferring ownership of three historic Rhode Island lighthouses from the federal government to the state government.

By Gino DeAngelis — Sen. Jack Reed said that three historic Rhode Island lighthouses are expected to be turned over to new owners for preservation. The trio of lighthouses are currently owned by the federal government, but were deemed “excess property” and needed to be sold or demolished.

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.

By Frank Carini — … This year, longtime debate about the control of an access path — so-called “Fort Road,” the name locals use to refer to the pathway from Watch Hill to Napatree Point — to the popular Westerly destination finally spilled over

By Ryan Blessing — The Watch Hill Fire District and Watch Hill Conservancy fired a legal salvo Thursday over the Westerly Town Council’s attempts to designate a right of way on Fort Road, the popular access route to public lands on Napatree Point.

By Alex Nunes — The legal action comes in an escalating battle over the Fort Road right-of-way to the undeveloped Napatree Point beach and conservation area.

By Brian Amaral — The Watch Hill Fire District and the Watch Hill Conservancy on Thursday filed a lawsuit naming the town, various town officials, and the state of Rhode Island in Superior Court over the fate of so-called Fort Road. That’s the name people in town use to refer to a path from Watch Hill to Napatree Point — a path that the two entities say is not actually a a public right-of-way.

By Antonia Noori Farzan — The South Kingstown man just wanted some exercise with an ocean view. But seawalls, "no trespassing" signs and other barriers often block the way.

By Alex Nunes — Public records show Town Council President Edward Morrone accepted $30,000 in consulting fees to “monitor issues” for property owners in the Watch Hill vacation community, an area that's become the focal point of ongoing coastal access debates.

By Ryan Blessing — In tackling whether two streets in Watch Hill are considered public rights of way, the Town Council had both an easy and a hard time. After some discussion and a consensus among members Monday, the council first voted unanimously in support of the state Coastal Resources Management Council's designation of Everett Avenue as a right-of-way.