Fireworks fizzle due to tight budgets

VARIOUS (AP) - Some Rhode Island communities won't have July Fourth fireworks this year, choosing instead to pay expenses such as city employee salaries or keeping a public pool open.

(For a complete list of cities and towns holding July 4th events, click here.)

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung is using $15,000 in private donations to subsidize costs for the outdoor Budlong Pool for the summer. The pool had been in danger of closing.

Fung says the money will provide a summer of activity for local children, rather than get used up on a one-night event.

North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi has also canceled the town's fireworks display.

Lombardi says the town has struggled to pay employees the last four pay periods. He says it's unfair to workers to spend $20,000 on fireworks when paychecks were up in the air.