Lawsuit over new R.I. shore access law dismissed

PROVIDENCE — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by coastal property owners that challenged Rhode Island’s new shoreline access law, saying that they lacked standing to sue the heads of three state bodies. The Rhode Island Association of Coastal Taxpayers filed the suit July 7, alleging the law takes private property from every coastal property owner in the state and gives it to the public for beach use. Historically, the “mean high tide line” served as the boundary between the public beach area and private property in Rhode Island....