Purse snatching, laptop thefts reported late last week
Providence Police Department detectives are investigating a purse snatching that occurred Friday evening as well as a wave of laptop thefts in cafes surrounding campus.
At approximately 10 p.m. Friday, an unidentified suspect approached a female student from behind while she was walking near the intersection of Brown and Olive streets. The suspect grabbed her purse and ran toward Thayer Street, according to a campus-wide crime advisory e-mail sent Saturday afternoon.
The student told the Department of Public Safety that the suspect was between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches and was wearing a black, hooded coat.
PPD officers are also investigating a rash of laptop thefts, which occurred in the late afternoon Thursday and Friday. On Thursday at approximately 4:30 p.m. a man attempted to steal a laptop that was "in use" at the Coffee Exchange on Wickenden Street, according to a PPD public posting on display at Spice on 110 Waterman Street. The suspect was chased from the scene and dropped the laptop in the street.
On Friday at approximately 5:45 p.m., a suspect fitting the same description stole a laptop that was in use at Starbucks on Angell and Elmgrove streets.
DPS and PPD officers were unavailable Sunday for comment.
- Debbie Lehmann
Ready, set, recycle
RecycleMania, the friendly competition that pits colleges against one another in an effort to reduce waste, began Sunday and will last ten weeks.
Kevin O'Brien '09, co-coordinator of the eco-rep program, said Brown had placed in the "middle of the pack" in recent years and said he hoped a campaign to promote participation in the competition would improve on previous results.
According to the program's Web site, 201 colleges and universities are slated to participate in RecycleMania 2007, up from 93 in 2006.
Schools will compete to get the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita and the most per capita recycling of paper, corrugated cardboard and bottles and cans, according to the Web site.
Last year's battle was dominated by West Coast schools, as California State University, San Marcos and Oregon State University took home first place in highest recycling rate and largest amount of recyclables per capita, respectively.
Rhode Island School of Design placed first for bottles and cans.
- Michael Bechek
College girlfriend of JFK Jr. to tell all
Actress Christina Haag '82 will receive $1 million to write a tell-all book about her fling with John F. Kennedy Jr. '83 while the two were students at Brown, according to the New York Daily News.
Haag will reportedly reveal details of Kennedy's alleged affair with pop star Madonna, and recount Haag's turbulent relationship with Kennedy's mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the News reported.
Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999.
- Michael Bechek
