As we head into 2014, the Hummel Report has updates on a handful of investigations from 2013 – and in one case an investigation from 2010.

A Lot of Wind: We were there a year ago when the Narragansett Bay Commission turbines began spinning along the Providence waterfront at Fields Point. The commission says the three turbines are now providing 42 percent of the energy used by the plant, just about what planners estimated. During windy months it has been more than 50 percent.

That translates to about a million dollars saved on electricity costs for the first year. Planners expect to have the cost of the turbines paid off in 12 years. The turbines still are not running at full capacity because of a phased startup. The commission expects that to change early in 2014.

Clear Path: It has taken nearly five years, but a fence blocking a right of way to the water in East Providence has finally come down, despite threats after our story ran to sue us and the people who spoke out against it.

Retired Providence Police Officer Tabitha Glavin bought a two-story house in Riverside in 2009 that has sweeping views of the Providence River. Within months, Glavin put up two fences blocking a city-owned right of way to Crescent Beach below her property.

In our story, two neighbors said they complained to the city for years with no action. Glavin, through her lawyer, claimed there was no proof the city owned the land in question, adding that she had a deal to keep the fences up. Her lawyer repeatedly threatened to sue us – and the two neighbors who spoke with us – after our story ran.

But there was no agreement, and this fall the city forced Glavin to take down the fence near the road. The back fence remains up because of safety concerns over a steep drop to the water.

Shaking it Up:  There was also a shakeup at East Providence City Hall several months after we tried to find out how a resident’s social security number wound up on a city website.

Joann Durfee has been a longtime vocal critic of the Pond View Recycling operation across the water from her home in Rumford. She was shocked to find her social security number wind up on a city website after she complained about Pond View in a police report one weekend in July.

Durfee filed a claim with the city in October asking for $75,000. She also asked for an explanation about how it happened and for a change in Police Department policy on use of social security numbers. The city has not responded, so last month her attorney filed a lawsuit in federal court.

Meanwhile, City Manager Peter Graczykowski, who repeatedly refused to answer our questions about Durfee, found himself out of a job when the city council voted to remove him from his position in November. Our story was one of many issues the embattled city manager faced during his stormy tenure in the corner office at City Hall.

Payback: In summer 2010, we found DEM employee Angela Spadoni living rent free in a state-owned house at Colt State Park. She was ordered to repay nearly $10,000. It’s taken more than three years, but the bill is almost paid off.

DEM Director at the time, Michael Sullivan, ordered Spadoni, whose uncle is a department supervisor, to repay more than $9,500 for back rent and utilities that had accrued over a 15-month span. Five DEM employees and supervisors also were disciplined at the time as a result of our investigation.

Spadoni has been reimbursing the state through payroll deduction and is on track to have the debt fully paid off in late February. Meanwhile, she was transferred last year to a job at DEM headquarters in Providence, sources say, as a result of a new policy prohibiting employees from working directly for relatives.

Staying Put: Finally, we first brought you a gun-registration controversy in Exeter that led to a recall petition of four town council members. A raucous meeting at an elementary school in Exeter last March set in motion the recall effort of four town council members who favored having gun-permitting authority transferred from local officials to the attorney general’s office.

Voters ultimately rejected the effort, as all four council members retained their seats by a 2-to-1 margin. Thirty-seven percent of the town’s eligible voters turned out on a snowy December Saturday to cast their ballots – more than double the usual numbers in an off-year election.

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