NEWPORT – Lila Delman Real Estate and the Newport Historical Society launched “Explore Historic Newport,” a Web-based application that allows visitors to tour Newport’s diverse sites. more

One year after sounding alarms that it was teetering on the brink of insolvency, WaterFire Providence reports that it has surmounted past issues and is looking to resurrect plans to consolidate operations in a single location. more

Rhode Island’s projected 2.3 percent restaurant-sales growth for 2012 is among the worst in the country, besting only Vermont and West Virginia, at 2.2 percent each, and can be at least partially blamed on its slow population growth and high unemployment rate, according to National Restaurant Association research. more

Rhode Island remains second in the New England region for hotel occupancy rates and has seen a 6 percent revenue per room growth for 2012 so far, according to numbers from Smith Travel Research presented at Wednesday’s hospitality industry outlook summit. more

Our local restaurants are the envy of foodies nationwide. Tourism officials have been fielding calls on a daily basis from meeting planners and journalists who are coming to visit our state to scout out upcoming events. One of the initial requests from these out-of-towners is to dine out locally. Our reputation for culinary creativity is such that high on the list of attractions is the state’s restaurant scene. more

Since the world’s first company picnic, corporate outings have walked a fine line between boosting employee morale and sapping it – between fostering teamwork and inviting conflict. more

Among the positives during a busy summer in Newport, a corporate-outing windfall was realized as the City by the Sea played host to several major sailing events, including the America’s Cup World Series, tall ships and the 2012 Newport Bermuda Race. more

He might not be a native Rhode Islander, but Rick Simone is quite the Ocean State loyalist. more

Brickley’s Ice Cream owner Steve Groffi has had, for the last seven years, a front-row seat to a town’s cultural revitalization from his shop’s front door on Wakefield’s Main Street, in South Kingstown. more

“I have to say, it is a phenomenal year here!” says chef Brian Kingsford. He was waxing enthusiastic about a place where he spends almost as much time as he does in his well-regarded Providence restaurant, Bacaro. The chef starts most days out at Confreda Farm in western Cranston. He picks by hand basil and heirloom tomatoes and works closely with farmer Vin Confreda to select corn, peppers and other fresh vegetables. The close relationship Kingsford has with Confreda is readily apparent when the chef says he wants to have an in-depth conversation “with my farmer” about the bounty of this season’s produce and its exceptional quality. more