NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - A Rhode Island business is closing permanently and the owner is blaming the weeklong natural gas outage that affected the Newport area.
Tim Johnson says he had to close his free-to-use Kid Corner children’s play space in Newport after a burst pipe during the gas outage cased significant damage to the business.
The Newport Daily News reports that Johnson worked in early childhood education for 44 years before moving to the area four years ago.
The play space was free, but survived on donations.
Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo announced $1.45 million emergency loan fund for businesses hurt by the outage that affected about 7,000 National Grid customers in Newport and Middletown.
But Johnson says a loan to restore Kid Corner, given its lack of operational funding, doesn’t make sense.
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Information from: The Newport Daily News.
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