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Lawmakers disagree on whether it was the mayor of Warwick or a former state rep, both of whom have racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

With only minor changes that won’t affect higher taxes for residential or commercial property owners, the City Council approved the mayor’s proposed $353.2 million budget Thursday night …

Karen Bachus appeared Thursday morning in District Court, Warwick, where she faces charges of driving under the influence and simple assault.

"We buy these fire trucks to go on rescue runs and on fire runs, not to go to the dog grooming parlor."

WARWICK — A year after the city’s former mayor sold a new firefighters contract in part on the promise it would save $600,000 the first year, the department has run more than $1 million in the red, largely because of a steep overtime tab that saw the top earner make $316,000 last year. That’s more than four times his base pay, and $219,000 of it was overtime. That translates to his averaging 78 hours of overtime on top of his 42-hour average work week. “The optics of that stink to the public,” said Fire Chief Peter K. McMichael, adding that the department is down 20 firefighters fr...