Michael Bilow

Heavy Rain, High Winds, Minor Flooding Sun – Mon: 60°F precludes any chance of snow

At Providence, rain beginning Sun afternoon and continuing until Mon mid-day, possibly heavy at times and accompanied by winds gusting to 45MPH, could cause minor street and coastal flooding, especially during high tide Mon morning a few hours before and after sunrise. Wind gusts may cause downed tree limbs and electrical power outages. Thunderstorm activity […]

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Obituary — Megan Marie “Megz” Serafine: “tireless advocate for the creative arts”

Megan Marie “Megz” Serafine, a member of the Motif staff a few years ago, unexpectedly passed away due to a medical event in her sleep on Nov 7, a few weeks before her 37th birthday. In Providence after relocating from her native St. Petersburg, Florida, she was a tireless advocate for the creative arts ranging […]

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Cannabis Case Records Progress Report: 31,158 records expunged, 4,956 (more or less) to go

The RI Cannabis Act signed into law on May 25, 2022, legalized recreational use and provided for automatic expungement of eligible criminal and civil records by no later than July 1, 2024. That process is the responsibility of the state court administrators and is on track to meet the statutory deadline. A person whose records […]

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Opinion — Has the Hamas attack on Israel started World War III?: We’ll soon find out

[Follow-up from “Opinion — When Hamas seeks martyrdom” by Michael Bilow on October 7th, 2023.] Note: This was published two days before Israel began its ground offensive in Gaza on Oct 27. Significance The situation in the Middle East has the United States itself on the brink of war. One critical aspect of World War […]

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Organic Maps is Ideal for Cyclists: Free, open-source, offline maps, fully searchable

Among apps for bicycling, OrganicMaps — organicmaps.app — stands head and shoulders above all others. Its main feature is turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance, optimized for cycling routes although supporting hiking, walking, and even driving. Navigation data is derived from the crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap project, so it includes paths that are often missing from other apps, […]

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