HANNAH PIECUCH
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COVENTRY — As the new year approaches and the budget season starts up again, local elected officials in Coventry want to know what they can expect from the state, said Council President Raymond Spear to a joint meeting between the school committee and the council with special guests from the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Legislators’ levels of optimism varied, but they all agreed that level-funding for the rest of the year and in 2011 was the unlikely best-case scenario.

The state will start the year in January with a hole of roughly $250 million in the current fiscal year budget, Sen. Lou Raptakis (District 33) said; he hopes the state can find the savings by cuts to their own budget, but he doubts it is possible.

HANNAH PIECUCH
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PROVIDENCE — The Coventry man who allegedly murdered a Providence woman and fled with her car to Conn. was arraigned in the Providence District Court yesterday morning, according to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.

Travis Garcia, 18, of Coventry, accused of murdering Jeannine Garcia, 32 (no relation), in Providence on Nov. 7 was ordered held without bail by Providence District Court Judge Mary E. McCaffrey, said Michael J. Healey, spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office.

RACHAEL STAMP
Special to the Times
WEST WARWICK — An annual study shows the negatives and positives found in the struggle with child poverty.

Rhode Island Kids Count presented data from the 2009 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook to an audience of community leaders, educators, police and social workers that showed the child poverty rate in West Warwick on Tuesday at the West Warwick Youth Center.