COVID-19 shows it can heat up body temperatures and well as the local real estate market, bringing boom times this past 10 months with home sales and bringing out-of-state buyers to the Ocean State.

Local real estate agents confirm the obvious that many residents have been chatting about for months: Homes are selling like hot cakes and they aren’t on the market long.

Surfers would have more spaces to park in a Point Judith neighborhood under changes put in motion Monday by the Town Council.

The council voted unanimously to prepare an amendment to Narragansett’s parking ordinance to add public parking spaces in the neighborhood around the waterfront public access points at the end of Conant Avenue and Pilgrim Avenue.

Work has started on a project to improve the landscaping at Veterans Memorial Park near the Narragansett Towers, with the town eying a completion by Memorial Day.

The work will provide dedicated pedestrian pathways to all five of the site’s stone monuments. Two of the monuments were installed after the existing paths were created.

The future of the town’s library played a large role in events that took place in Narragansett in 2020, shaping the town’s leadership for the next two years.

The issue of relocating the library to the former Belmont market property has simmered and at times boiled over for two years, and voters were finally heard on the matter in November.

Yes, 2020 intimidated us, but didn’t beat us.

Pandemics don’t come very often – thankfully – but as the world has seen, they bring life to its knees in many ways.  

And so it happened in South County that vast changes invaded everyday life. Even with devastating hurricanes in the last 100 years delivering destruction all around here, COVID-19’s sweep remains broader, stronger and perhaps much longer lasting.

While many people will be glad to see 2020 go and will welcome 2021 with open arms, especially as vaccinations look to be the light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality for now  is that the pandemic will carry over into the new year and, with it, the cancellation and reconfiguration of more annual traditions continues. This year the area’s three main polar plunges, in which divers brave freezing cold water on New Year’s Day for a quick dive to raise money for a variety of charities, are all going digital.

In a bit of political retribution for Narragansett Town Council members Jesse Pugh and Patrick Murray, the council has bypassed a rule put in place by the previous council requiring organizers of for-profit road race events in town to put up a $10,000 minimum donation.

Pugh, the council president, and Murray were in the minority in March when the previous council voted 3-2 to impose the new policy that stipulated that for-profit events such as road races, walk-a-thons and bike rallies must contribute at least $10,000 to a local charity.

A move by the Town Council to transfer $441,103 into the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library to make up for a cut by the previous council must go to a public hearing.

A resident petition the town received Monday before the council meeting was deemed valid and means that the council must advertise to hold a public hearing on the proposed transfer.

With the General Assembly’s approval of a $12.7 billion state budget for the current fiscal year, local leaders are keeping a close eye on the levels of aid their towns can expect to receive.  

The House of Representatives voted 59-6 Dec. 16 to approve a pared down state budget for the 2021 fiscal year that restores funding to cities and towns, uses federal coronavirus relief funds to aid struggling Rhode Islanders and does not raise taxes or fees. The Senate approved it 31-5 Friday and Gov. Gina Raimondo signed it Monday.

In an effort to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, several area congregations are seeking socially-distanced ways to be closer than the online or pre-recorded services allow, said various church leaders.

Several clergy from various denominations are planning some limited gatherings, unlike the complete shutdowns of services that happened at Easter when the COVID-19 pandemic infiltrated the state.

Elisabeth DiBenedetto walks bundled up in a trademark thermal blue jacket and blue weather-protecting pants. A telltale stripe is on both, as well as on the satchel with mail that hangs along her side.

It’s cold — very cold — on a Tuesday morning as she walks her route in Narragansett. It’s a six-hour fast-paced walk, but not so fast during the holiday season that she misses greeting her regular customers.

Beginning next week, Narragansett public schools will institute eight days of full distance learning for all students that will keep them out of classrooms until Jan. 11 because of the holidays.

The distance learning days will buffer the Dec. 24 to Jan. 3 break for Christmas and the New Year, a time when school officials anticipate a rise in COVID-19 cases.

South County Museum Executive Director and longtime member James Crothers has announced he’s retiring from his post at the end of the year.

Crothers became executive director in 2006, and before that served as associate director from 2004.

Eleven local organizations are benefiting this year from the generosity of The Champlin Foundation, which has announced $18 million in grant funding across Rhode Island.

They include museums and libraries, an art gallery and a summer camp.

In total, the foundation awarded 188 grants to meet pressing demands related to social services, education, historic preservation, arts and culture and beyond.

Loss of tradition is becoming another casualty in the coronavirus fight in towns like Narragansett, where longing for them is producing disappointment and frustrations in a pressure cooker of emotions among residents and officials alike coping with change.

Local, state and organizing officials all say that the unpredictable is becoming predictable as they cope with disruptions to routines, planned events and even when approaches to safe precautions are dashed amid rising cases in the state.