Monday Five - Rte. 99, A Funeral, Charity And Christmas Lights

Rte. 99 - In case you were busy getting ready for the weekend in the late hours of Friday afternoon, we're here to tell you this morning - Rte. 99's taking on some extra traffic from Lincoln and Cumberland right now. Manville Hill Road Bridge is closed. Until the summer, at least. Local traffic trying to cross the Blackstone River will be diverted via Rte. 99 for the duration  Plan your morning commute accordingly. On the bright side, you didn't find out about the bridge's structural deficiency the hard way.

Genereux funeral -  Andre N. "Andy" Genereux's funeral will be held this morning at 9 a.m. from Cartier's Funeral Home, 151 So. Main St. (Rte 126), Bellingham, MA, with Mass of Christian burial at 10 a.m. at St. Blaise Church, 1158 So. Main St., Bellingham. His obituary is listed here.

Christmas lights: The lights are up on a bunch of local homes, and a lot of them look really nice - why not shoot a photo of yours and enter our Deck the House contest? You  and $500 to pay your electric bills. Enter by uploading your photos at the contest website before Dec. 16 - there are some contenders out there, let's get in the game.

Charity - There are a lot of opportunities to help your fellow man during December. Two of them include making donations to the WPD holiday toy drive and the Because He Lives Ministries food kitchen. Navigant Credit Union is a local drop off spot for Toys for Tots, and the YWCA's Mitten Treeis up and ready. Spare some of your time for them today. 

Polar Express - The Blackstone Valley Polar Express is back in Woonsocket through Dec. 22, departing from Station One Depot Square for a 90-minute holiday excursion and reading of the Chris Van Allsburg’s classic, The Polar Express with appearances by The Chef serving hot chocolate and cookies, The Conductor, punching tickets, and The Engineer calling “All Aboard! Santa and Mrs. Claus appear and kids get a coloring book, crayons, and a very special gift presented personally by Santa.

The Polar Express departs Dec. 14,15, 16, 21, 22 at the following times:

Fridays: 4 and 7 p.m. 
Saturdays and Sundays: 1 and 4 p.m.