Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - April 8

Friday, April 08, 2016

Russ Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

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Russ Moore

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 8

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HOT

Lauren Carson

The Democratic State Representative (D-Newport) pulled no punches in a MINDSETTER column for GoLocalProv this week pointing out that the House Commission studying the potential for tourism growth through a coordinated marketing efforts (which she leads) raised concerns with the administration and was assured that they would be addressed. That didn't happen. Carson assures voters that the commission will be demanding accountability and results going forward, and that's a good sign for Rhode Islanders. The state cannot withstand more of the folly we saw last week. 

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HOT

Teresa Paiva Weed

The Senate President received the Clean Energy Champion Award in recognition of her work on the Senate’s Grow Green Jobs RI legislative action plan this week. The action plan included three bills passed recently that increase the renewable energy standard and the renewable energy fund, and expand the renewable energy growth program. It's nice to see the Senate President has made renewable energy a legislative priority. 

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HOT

Joe Picozzi

The Rhode Island native who graduated from The University of Miami last year has written and directed a hilarious new short flick called "I Want To Beat Up Clark Peters", about a neurotic college student who frets over unrequited love. Scores of film festivals from Orlando to Sacremento, and many others in between, nominated the film for various awards--and with good reason. The film is much more funny than the vast majority of films coming out of Hollywood these days. 

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HOT

T.F. Green Airport

The state's highly convenient and centrally located airport has added two daily flights to Chicago, via American Airlines. This represents the airport's third major addition as of late. Condor Airlines has added international flights to Europe and SATA recently announced that flights to the Azores will be added in July.

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HOT

4th in US

The Providence Metro Area has the fourth largest "sweet tooth" in the country according to a study from Infogroup. Unsurprisingly, donuts are the area's favorite sweet snack, with 2.3 donut shops per every 10 kilometers, on average.  (I would have guessed we had even more than that.)

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HOT

Diane Lipscombe

Brown University has named Lipscombe the Director of Brown Institute for Brain Science (BIBS). The institute is multidisciplinary and includes psychiatrists, neuroscientists, neurologists and psychologists as well as faculty members in engineering, biology, mathematics and even the humanities. The importance of the institute will only increase as the science community discovers more about the brain and its impact on overall health. 

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NOT

Gina Raimondo

While the Governor began to clean up the mess from the fall-out of the state's calamitous tourism and marketing campaign, by firing RI Commerce Corporation Marketing Directly Betsy Wall and abandoning the slogan last week, the hits continued to come. GoLocal reported this week that the state spends about 48 percent of its revenue on out-of-state companies. That's disappointing considering the money would better help the economy if it stayed here. This must be addressed sooner than later.

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NOT

Stefan Pryor

The head of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation was--to put it mildly--underwhelming in both media interviews as well as during his testimony before the General Assembly this week. Pryor told state legislators that he accepts full responsibility for the mistakes that were part of the tourism campaign, but it's hard to see what he means by that since it wasn't him, but former Commerce Corporation Marketing Director Betsy Wall who was fired. Pryor also struggled to explain the origin of the failed "cooler and warmer" slogan to media outlets. Another bad week for Pryor. 

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NOT

Jorge Elorza

Golocal reported that as of Tuesday morning the mayor had not visited the firefighters who were injured after two separate fires on Thursday--one on Eaton Street followed by another on Laurel Hill Avenue--the week prior. Multiple fighters were being treated for cyanide exposure, and another was treated for cardiac issues. It's a bit disconcerting that Elorza didn't find the time to check in on the firefighters injured in the line of duty at some point last weekend.

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NOT

Rhode Island GOP

Anthony Spiratos, a former Rhode Island General Assembly candidate, has left the party and insinuated that there are "power hungry egomaniac sociopaths" in its upper echelon. Those are harsh words indeed. The problem is that several others have made similar complaints in the not so distant past.

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NOT

Front-runners

Both Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton were soundly beaten in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary on Tuesday evening. Both victories make it all but certain that the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz will continue on, perhaps even until the conventions. That's not good news for either party or their front-runners as they'd much rather be turning their attention to the general election at this point.

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NOT

Pablo Sandoval

The overweight Boston Red Sox third baseman signed a 5-year $95 million contract last year, and all the money is guaranteed. When the season started earlier this week, however, Sandoval was relegated to the bench. Former Red Sox General Manager Ben Cherington's memoir's might one day be titled "how to waste $95 million" because It's looking like Sandoval may very well turn out to be the worst signing in Red Sox history.

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NOT

Parking Meters

As a candidate for Mayor, Jorge Elorza repeatedly said that the city cannot tax its way out of its budget problems. Instead, the city needs to grow its way out of its budget issues through economic expansion. It's a fair point. But that message is contradicted by the expansion of parking meters throughout the city, which discourages shoppers and diners from coming to the city. 

 

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