slides: Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Jan. 29

Friday, January 29, 2016

Russell J. 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 - Jan. 29

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HOT

Memory of Buddy Cianci

The iconic Mayor of the City of Providence died on Thursday morning. Cianci was a controversial figure in the City, but nobody can deny how many good things the mayor did for the city. Cianci basically modernized the city (think: the Providence Place Mall, the convention center, water fire) and made it known as "The Renaissance City" in the nineties. Cianci will be never be forgotten by Rhode Islanders, and here's hoping he rests in peace.

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HOT

Jorge Elorza

The Mayor of Providence handled the first snowstorm of his second year in office like an expert--a stark contrast to the blunders that took place during last year's massive storms. Granted, the storm wasn't as big as some of last year's storms, but the city's adequate response despite some faulty weather forecasting means the Mayor (and all the other city workers involved in the cleanup) deserves credit for a job well done. 

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HOT

Mario Hilario

The channel 10 anchor has received the Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership's 1st Memorial Peter Koch award. The award, given in honor of the late Koch, a longtime member of the Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership's Board of Directors and CEO of Koch Eye Associates, was given to Hilario for his commitment to the organization since he joined in 2008. The organization brings mentors into the classroom for one on one time with students on a weekly basis. 

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HOT

Housing Market

The Rhode Island housing market is robust once again. The housing market saw the most housing sales totals since 2004 last year and the highest median sale price since the year 2008--the year the market crashed. That's good news for the Rhode Island economy, so let's hope that trend continues as we move forward. 

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HOT

Hugh Clements:

The Providence Police Chief was recently named President of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association. Clements has provided steady, level-headed leadership in the Providence Police Department since his appointment in 2012 and despite Providence's designation as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, which could frustrate some chiefs, Clements should provide the organization with the same strong leadership as he's displayed in the Providence Police Department.

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HOT

Paul Jabour

The state senator from Federal Hill continues to keep the pressure on Governor Gina Raimondo and the issue of using money from state college foundations to fund government expenses. Jabour will ask Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to review the statutory authorities of the URI Foundation and the RIC Foundation to determine whether those two boards have the statutory authority to enter into special arrangements at the Governor's behest. Jabour has also introduced legislation to have the appointment of the state's new "Innovation Officer" be subject to General Assembly approval similar to that of other cabinet members. 

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NOT

Gina Raimondo

As of Thursday afternoon, after the news of Buddy Cianci's passing, the Governor failed to order the flags to fly at half staff, for reasons yet to be explained. You don't have to be a fan of the iconic former Providence Mayor to realize that he's easily the most famous Rhode Islander of the modern age, and arguably our most famous resident of all time. He did a lot for the City of Providence and he deserved to have the flags lowered in his honor. 
 

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NOT

Edward Achorn

The editorial pages editor of the Providence Journal was probably Buddy Cianci's fiercest critic, and that's fine. But Achorn posted a link of the Providence Journal's article about Cianci's passing on Thursday with a caption that read "Twice-convicted felon passes...". It's fine to disagree with someone. It's also fine to strongly dislike someone. But insulting a man on the day of his death by emphasizing only the negative aspect of his legacy is, in a word, classless. 

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NOT

Aaron Regunberg

The state representative from the east side of Providence has introduced a bill that would raise state income taxes, in some cases as much as 7 percent, on the state's high income earners, in order to give struggling cities and towns a financial boost to their coffers. While the intentions are admirable, the state shouldn't be giving high income residents and incentive to live elsewhere (like Massachusetts) as some revenue is better than none. Instead, the cities and towns should rid themselves of waste, inefficiencies, and outdated practices in order to save money and bolster their budgets. We have a spending problem in Rhode Island, Mr. Regunberg, not a revenue problem.  

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NOT

Ken Block

The Republican candidate for Governor is a staunch good government watchdog and very valuable to the state. But Block was a bit over-the-top with his criticism of the new firefighters contract in Cranston agreed to by Mayor Allan Fung (his Republican primary opponent who bested him in 2014) and the Cranston Firefighters Union this week. Block criticized the contract's 6 percent raises, but the raises are over a 3-year period, which equals just a 2 percent raise per year. And Block also drew attention to the 3 percent cost-of-living-adjustment (cola) in the pension system, which are admittedly troubling. But those colas have long been in the contract and aren't a new benefit. 

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NOT

Ava Anderson Non-Toxic

The founder and namesake of the company stepped down from the the organization earlier this week and that it was changing names, citing online bullying as the rationale behind the decision. But GoLocal later reported that the company was carrying products that lacked some of the organic ingredients that were listed on the products. The company blamed their suppliers, but it's hard to believe that the company lacked the capability to test its own products. 

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NOT

St. George's

Despite assurances to be as open and transparent and to get to the bottom of the sex abuse scandal at the school that has allegedly claimed more than 40 students as victims, the school has hired crisis communications consultant Rasky Baerlein as its public relations firm. That's the same firm that helped construct the Diocese of Boston's strategy of declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying restitution to the victims of that organization's sex abuse scandal. (The Boston Diocese did not execute that strategy, but several others did.) There are several key unanswered questions about the abuse case and it's hard to see why the school has hired this communications firm if transparency is really its goal. 

 

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