Grocery store

The Oregon Department of Justice says it has been directed by the White House to prioritize prosecuting SNAP fraud cases, following the theft of more than $3 million in food assistance funds since October 2024. More than 700,000 Oregonians, about 18% of the state's population, rely on SNAP benefits. Officials say skimming devices placed at convenience and grocery stores have let criminals steal EBT card data, draining accounts to zero; Oregon's cards lack chips, making them easier targets. In the past two months, prosecutors filed 11 new indictments over $143,000 in stolen funds, part of a broader crackdown that has already charged or sentenced more than two dozen people. Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed legislation requiring chipped SNAP cards nationwide.

Preservationist Glenn Hinchey is restoring a brick building at 401 Hawley Ave. in Syracuse's Hawley-Green neighborhood that operated as a grocery store from roughly 1850 until 1983, when it was abandoned amid the area's economic decline. Hinchey, who has spent 40 years on restoration projects including Syracuse's Hamilton White House and the Landmark Theatre lobby, bought the derelict building 11 years ago after doing structural repair work there. He has since worked steadily to rebuild rotted floors and joists while researching the building's 1850s-era storefront appearance.

Over the decades the store passed through several owners, including German immigrant William Helmstetter, who ran it for 25 years, and Vahram Agababian, an Armenian Genocide survivor who operated it as Babian's Market until repeated robberies and vandalism forced its closure in 1983. While replacing a sidewalk this past Labor Day, Hinchey and volunteers uncovered a 1850s-era community well containing antique marbles, a pocketknife, a key and clay tobacco pipes. Hinchey plans to finish exterior work this year and hopes the space becomes a coffee shop, bakery or ice cream parlor rather than a bar.

Incumbent Democratic Lt. Governor Sabina Matos and Republican challenger John Loughlin met Friday for their first televised debate ahead of Rhode Island's lieutenant governor race, hosted in the WPRI 12 studios in East Providence. The candidates disagreed on most major issues facing the state, including immigration enforcement and cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, electric rates and energy policy, and grocery store affordability.

A recent University of New Hampshire poll shows the contest is close, with only about four points separating the two candidates. The tight polling and sharp policy contrasts make this race one to watch as it heads toward the general election, with immigration and cost-of-living issues shaping up as central themes for voters.