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While surrounded by hundreds of pumpkins, a a group stops to look at the illuminated jack o' lanterns at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I., Oct. 8. Some 5,000 carved pumpkins are on display for this year’s Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, one of the nation’s largest jack-o’-lantern shows. The event ends Nov. 3.
Summer solstice debut sizzles Northeast
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Aney Rodriguez (top), her sister Nena Rodriguez and friend Mariely Rodriguez, not related, all of Gaithersburg, Md., cool off under the fountains at Georgetown Waterfront Park, in Washington, on June 20. Temperatures across the Northeast are expected to approach triple digits.
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Celebrating the warm summer months, as schools let out and the cooling off begins
Record temperatures hit the Northeast on the first day of summer in northern hemisphere.
New June 20 records included: New York City's LaGuardia Airport at 98 degrees (previous record was 96 in 1953); JFK Airport at 94 degrees (topping 93 in 1955); and Newark, N.J., at 98 (topping 97 in 1953).
Temperatures were 10 to 20 degrees above average across the region and the humidity made it feel even hotter. -- msnbc.com
Jonathan Sanger / msnbc.com
William Smalls plays pool and George Williams wipes his head to keep cool at the Kennedy Senior Center in Harlem, N.Y. on June 20. Set up by the Office of Emergency Management in New York, the center serves as one of many air-conditioned cooling centers located throughout the city to help New Yorkers beat the heat as temperatures soar on the first day of summer.
CJ Gunther / EPA
A kayaker make his way along the Mystic River as a sport watercraft approaches in Medford, Mass. on June 20. Temperatures reached 95 degrees in the greater Boston area along with high humidity on this summer solstice.
Brynn Anderson / AP
Steffanie Roberts gets kisses from her dogs Pink and Bear at her home on June 20, in Philadelphia. Temperatures climbed toward the high 90s along the Eastern Seaboard as an unusually early hot spell heralded the official start of summer.
Steven Senne / AP
Four-year-old Solaris Arias, of Providence, R.I. jumps through water spraying from an open fire hydrant in Providence on June 20. Much of the state remained under a heat advisory Tuesday afternoon because of the steamy air mass that has moved into the region resulting in temperatures in the 90s.
Jonathan Sanger / msnbc.com
Manny Valdez, 16 from Arizona, leaps into a sprinkler in Central Park while Marley Henson, 16, also from Arizona, looks on in New York City, June 20, 2012. Valdez and Henson were part of a group of Rio Rico, Arizona students returning from an exchange program in Germany. New Yorkers tried to find ways to cope with the heat as temperatures soared on the first day of summer.
Miss Rhode Island wins Miss USA crown
Julie Jacobson / AP
Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo, center, is surrounded by fellow contestants after being crowned Miss USA during the 2012 Miss USA pageant, June 3, in Las Vegas, Nev.
Olivia Culpo topped a field of 51 beauty queens on Sunday to take the title at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. She strutted across the stage in a purple bikini and a purple evening gown with sparkly belt.
-- Reported by The Associated Press
Julie Jacobson / AP
Fifty-one hopefuls were whittled down to one winner after the swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions.
Rhode Island National Guardsman, killed while saving an Afghan boy, is laid to rest in Providence
Stew Milne / AP
Rhode Island National Guard commander Maj. Gen. Kevin McBride, right, presents a flag to Dennis Weichel , left, father of guardsman National Guard Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr., during funeral services at the state Veterans Cemetery in Exeter, R.I. on April 2, 2012.
Stew Milne / AP
An honor guard carries the remains of Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr. to his burial plot.
Turnto10.com reported on Monday:
The Providence resident was struck and killed by an armored vehicle March 22 after moving an Afghan boy to safety who was trying to retrieve something under the vehicle.
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Stew Milne / AP
Nicholas Weichel, son of Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr., stands next to his father's casket during funeral services.
Historic Rhode Island mill gutted by 8 alarm fire
Bob Thayer / Providence Journal via AP
A firefighter stands by as a mill burns in Woonsocket, R.I. Tuesday night, June 7. The fire reached eight alarms, forcing evacuations and leaving hundreds without power.
The AP reports:
A massive, eight-alarm fire tore through a 112-year-old mill in northern Rhode Island on Tuesday, leaving one firefighter injured, forcing some residents to be evacuated and leaving hundreds without power, officials said late Tuesday.
Firefighters were called to a blaze at the former Alice Mills Rubber Manufacturing Plant in Woonsocket, just miles from the Massachusetts state line at about 7:30 p.m. Alice Mills was once considered the largest rubber goods factory in the world.