It was north of 90 degrees, but Brenda Holder sat in her parked car under the sun. Looking. Waiting.

Hoping for any sightings.

It was July and her dog, a rescued chihuahua named CeCe, had been missing for days.

The 2022 Murray Family Prize for Community Enrichment at the Rhode Island Foundation has been awarded to Kate Brewster, executive director of the Jonnycake Center for Hope.

“Kate’s remarkable commitment to serving disadvantaged communities is an inspiring standard for others to follow. We take great pride in honoring her for her dedication and achievements,” said Paula McNamara, daughter of Terrence and Suzanne Murray, who along with her family established the Murray Family Prize for Community Enrichment at the Foundation.

The Narragansett Town Council voted 4-1 Tuesday evening to adopt  amended council rules — which includes a new meeting time, a designated time for work sessions,  language amending the agenda preparation process and new rules concerning cellphone use and recusals.

Council Member Susan Cicilline-Buonanno was the lone vote against the new rules, citing “an overreach in government.”

Spain of Narragansett owners have listed their Ocean Road property for $4.5 million and have shuttered the long-time restaurant and laid off staff.

The popular restaurant, on the site of the old beach bar Schiller’s, has been on the property for 26 years.

Theresa Kelly Christy is thankful for being in South County, but has one complaint.

“(It’s) My first year returning to New England (South Kingston) after 40 years in Texas! I thank Texas for bringing me back home! Now, where is the snow?!!!! I love all of the seasons!” she said.

Victoria Hancock, 17, of South Kingstown, finds confidence in music. It’s inspirational.

“For me, music is a major part of who I am. Without it, I don’t really know who I’d be or what I’d be doing,” said the South Kingstown High School viola player and singer.

The Narragansett Town Council last week unanimously approved application and preparation for Stefano Brothers Construction Inc. to install Penntek floor coating at four parks and recreation ladies and mens bathrooms, one concession area and one closet, for the cost of $27,264.

Imagine calling your local police department for an emergency and the dispatcher responds that the arrival of an officer could take a while because of a staff shortage.

Businesses are already uttering those words. Further difficulty recruiting police officers could sound that alarm, say some in law enforcement, if staffing continues to plummet due to officers retiring or leaving, and there’s no one to fill their jobs. 

After re-arranging its spot in the Hunt River Commons, Planet Fitness on Friday reopened at the dawn of New Years’ weekend, with a set goal in 2023 — to help members who suffer from low energy — or Low E.

The new and improved club is located at 56 Frenchtown Road and boasts a workout area with new equipment and 50% more space.

Despite a global pandemic the last two years, East Providence Fire Department Capt. John Potvin and Coventry’s Hopkins Hill Fire Department would always find a way to take part in the Special Olympics of Rhode Island (SORI)’s annual Penguin Plunge.

“Even in the COVID years we still found a way,” said Potvin, who showed up to the 47th installment on Sunday with 11 other firefighters. “One year, we did it in somebody’s hot tub. And then one year we had a fire truck spray us. It was like a big shower.”

Often it’s not the exact moment that counts when something happens, but the aftermath that follows.

And so 2022 brought to South County change and growing pains from the pandemic’s effects. It also unleased pent-up matters hidden by distractions from COVID in the last two years.

Beginning next week a ban starts on the general use of plastic bags for customers to carry their goods or food from local businesses in Narragansett.

The goal is essentially simple — to encourage the use of reusable bags or paper bags.

A laundry list of issues that were front and center in 2021 carried over into 2022 in Narragansett, where a new Town Council took over in November. Among them: a controversial ordinance aimed at college renters, the town’s work on building a new library and efforts to re-develop the former Lighthouse Inn property and provide a boost to the fishing village of Galilee. Whether the new council will be able to make quick work of them or if they will linger into 2023 remains to be seen.

The University of Rhode Island last week held its final presentation on its reconstruction proposal for the Port of Galilee on Point Judith.

The plan calls for a new mixed-use hotel for economic growth, a raised promenade area and open space for vegetation and pedestrian-only walkways.

The objective of the university’s architecture class was to bring balance between pedestrians and the port, while managing an effective stormwater system and facilitating between built and natural environments through a sustainable design.

The North Kingstown, Narragansett and South Kingstown school districts rank at or above average in a wide variety of metrics recently released by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) in its 2022 school accountability and improvement results.

RIDE released a series of report cards for the state as a whole, each school district and each school in the state as part of its Rhode Island Star Rating system, which details school performance data under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).