Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - April 22, 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016
Russ Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Every Friday, GoLocalProv's Russ Moore breaks down who is rising and who is falling in RI politics, business, and sports. Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both for newspapers and on political campaigns. Send him email at
[email protected] and follow him on Twitter @russmoore713.
Related Slideshow: Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - April 22, 2016
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HOT
Seth Magaziner: The Rhode Island General Treasurer announced at a press conference this week that the Rhode Island pension fund will vote against the corporate board nominees in companies in which it invests if those nominees are not at least 30 percent female or racial minorities. The announcement signals a commendable commitment to diversity from the Treasurer's office.
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Ray Watson: He was recently chosen as the recipient of the 2016 Rhode Island Innovation Fellowship. The $300,000 grant, funded by Letita and John Carter, is aimed at increasing and fostering cultural tourism. A lifetime resident of Providence's Mt. Hope section, Watson will use the grant to to launch an initiative designed to expand multi-cultural tourism and improve cultural cohesion.
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Newport Tree Society: The Newport Tree Society, along with Arboretum and the Daffodillion Project hosted a public celebration in honor of 2016 Arboretum Week yesterday. This year, Newport officially became the first city in the United States to boast four professionally accredited arboretum--The Newport Arboretum, The Newport Mansions Arboretum, The Arboretum at Salve Regina, and the American Museum of Illustration Arboretum on Bellevue Avenue. It's a cool feature that adds to the allure of "The City By The Sea".
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Laufton Longo: The Vice President of the Young Democrats of Rhode Island wrote an interesting MINDSETTER column this week opposing the use of solitary confinement for prisoners, particularly prisoners under 21. The United Nations has declared that solitary confinement that lasts more than 15 days is the equivalent to torture. Longo is correct to point out that solitary confinement is antithetical to the notion of rehabilitation.
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Kristen Catanzaro: The North Providence Councilwoman has announced that she will take on North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi in this year's mayoral election. Catanzaro is making some big promises, such as stabilizing the town's tax rate and improving its infrastructure, so it should be interesting to hear her plans to make those plans a reality. But it's good to see what will ultimately be a competitive race shaping up in North Providence, as competition brings out the best in everyone.
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Neighborhood Health Plan: The Rhode Island health insurer announced that it will offer heath insurance plans to people displaced by the UnitedHealth decision to not participate in the state health insurance exchanges that have been set up to accommodate Obamacare. “Neighborhood’s primary goals are the same today as they were when we were founded almost a quarter of a century ago. We’re not here to make our shareholders richer, but to make our community stronger," said Brenda Whittle, Neighborhood’s Vice President of External Affairs.
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NOT
Steven Pare: Paul Valletta Jr., the lobbyist for the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters, pointed out this week that the City of Providence's Public Safety Commissioner, Steven Pare, recently (through the Deputy Safety Commissioner) sent a grant proposal to the federal government that states firefighters are overworked to the point of exhaustion. Yet just last year the city administration testified that this wouldn't be the case when a bill to prevent this type of shift change was before the legislature. The administration has yet to reconcile these two facts, as Valletta points out.
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NOT
Don Lally/Gina Raimondo: Former Narragansett State Representative Don Lally submitted his resignation from his state job in Governor's office, GoLocal reported on Thursday. Lally left the state legislature last year and was appointed to the Governor's office and then "loaned out" to the RI Department of Business Regulation at a salary of $87,057, which many criticized as an end-around of the state's revolving door statute. The fact that Lally resigned just a week ahead of his hearing before the Rhode Island Ethics Commission suggests that Raimondo and Lally didn't have much confidence in their position.
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Zika: The first Rhode Island case of the mosquito transmitted illness that is known to cause a fever, rash, joint pain, headache, muscle pain, and conjunctivitis was announced earlier this week. The person who is afflicted with the virus is a 60-year-old male who has recently traveled to Haiti. The Rhode Island Department of Health is claiming to be aggressive on this issue and have identified that the mosquitoes that transmit the disease aren't located in Rhode Island. Zika is a major threat to pregnant women.
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Pawtucket Red Sox: The Pawtucket Red Sox cancelled their "Presidential Primary Day" at the ballgame scheduled for Saturday after, unsurprisingly, they received significant criticism and complaints from fans who didn't want a day at the ballpark politicized. It's surprising that the team management needed fans to point this out. What was next month's plan, having fans sit in sections based on their religious beliefs?
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Cyberbullying: Kathleen Odell, a prospective Trump delegate from Rhode Island, has been called vile names and bullied online for her support of Donald Trump--even by fellow Republicans. It's a sad state of affairs that the political climate has devolved to such an extent that name calling and denigrating people who disagree with us has become commonplace.
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