HOT

Carolyn Rafaelian

The visionary who founded Alex and Ani lands herself on the hot list for the second consecutive week after being featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine. Forbes estimates Rafaelian’s self-made fortune to be worth $1 billion and refers to her as Rhode Island’s “Bangle Billionaire”.

In addition to her stellar business career, Rafaelian is also known for her charitable endeavors--she was recently honored alongside supermodel Gisele Bündchen, and co-anchor of Good Morning America Robin Roberts, by the David Lynch Foundation for her work to address trauma toxic stress among at-risk populations. Make no mistake: Rafaelian is hot.

HOT

Michael McCaffrey

The Senate Majority Leader (Democrat - Warwick) sponsored a bill that passed the state senate that would require city and town councils throughout Rhode Island to post their meetings minutes to the Secretary of State’s Website. It’s a common sense bill that would improve the state’s open government laws and therefore benefit us all. Let’s hope the House of Representatives passes it.

HOT

Julie Motta

The 6th grade English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher at Gilbert Stuart Middle School was selected as the Providence School System’s Teacher of the Year. She attributes her success to building a community in the classroom and focusing on relationships. Motta is a tremendous asset to the Providence School Department.

HOT

Helena Foulkes and Jeff Grybowski:

Foulkes, The Executive Vice President of CVS, and Grybowski, the CEO of Deepwater Wind, were both selected as two of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Foulkes is credited with decisions to make CVS focus on making the company focus on helping people lead more healthy lives and Grybowski helped make Rhode Island become the first state to feature an offshore windfarm in the country. Both leaders are assets to the state’s business community.

HOT

Robert Capron

The young Rhode Island native and star of Diary of a Wimpy Kid who has also had a recurring role on CBS' Elementary, and has voiced roles in animated feature films such as Frankenweenie and Tarzan, is currently wrapping up his first year at Brown University in the school’s film program. Appearing on GoLocal Live this week, Capron talked about his desire to one day become a lead show writer.

We should expect more great things from Capron moving forward.

HOT

Art at the Courthouse

The J. Howard McGrath Judicial Complex (Washington County Courthouse), located behind the Department of Motor Vehicles, located on Route 1 in Wakefield, will be home to an art exhibit featuring over 50 paintings done by local artists. The exhibit opens tomorrow, from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm. The exhibit will run weekdays from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm until September 22nd.  

HOT

The Preakness Stakes

This Saturday gives us the second crown jewel of horse racing’s triple crown and Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming is the deserving clear favorite. However, here’s a fun fact: according to “America’s Best Racing” horses breaking from post 6 have won the race a record 16 times. Roughly 15 percent of the horses starting in that post have won, most recently Oxbow in 2013. This year’s horse in the 6 post is a very fast colt named Gunnevera, and he’s piloted by the best jockey in the world, Mike Smith--food for thought.

NOT

Robert Nardolillo

The Republican state legislator who announced his challenge this week for the US Senate seat currently held by Sheldon Whitehouse didn’t get off to a great start this week. GoLocal reported that Nardolillo, who purports himself to be an anti-bullying champion (he wears a bow tie to symbol his opposition to it) has done little to prevent his own daughter from bullying one of her former classmates. Shockingly, when asked about it, Nardolillo even remarked, “I can’t get involved.”

NOT

Stefan Pryor

The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation doled out a $2.2 million dollar grant to Vistaprint to lure the company to locate its national sales office here. The problem, however, is that one of Vistaprint’s main competitors, Moo.com, is a Rhode Island-based company that’s been located in Rhode Island since its inception.

To make matters worse, Pryor admitted to GoLocal that he had never heard of the company.

The folly shows the danger of an economic development strategy that’s fueled by a “let’s make a deal” mentality.

NOT

Luis Aponte

Dylan Thomas, the famous 20th Century Poet, famously wrote “do not go gentle into that good night”.

Providence City Council President Luis Aponte has seemingly taken that advice to heart, refusing to step down as president, despite calls from 12 other council members, Mayor Jorge Elorza, and Governor Gina Raimondo to do just that. Aponte is right to point out that he’s innocent until proven guilty, but sometimes discretion is the greater part of valor.

It’s hard to see how Aponte can lead the body effectively with the indictment hanging over his head like a dark cloud.

NOT

Pawtucket Red Sox Ownership

So let’s get this straight: the owners of the Pawsox bought the franchise for $30 million a couple years ago. Now, they’re coming to the taxpayers asking for $38 million to subsidize their new stadium they’ve envisioned over at the old Apex property. That’s a great deal for them--but what about the taxpayers?

For those forgotten folks, this would-be deal is not hot.

NOT

Donald Trump

The President continues to suffer week after week of negative news headlines. This week, it was unveiled that Trump pressured former FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into former Secretary of Defense General Michael Flynn’s (a Rhode Islander) contact with Russia. Along the same lines, Trump also reportedly revealed classified information to Russian diplomats.

Didn’t Trump have a lot of criticism for how Hillary Clinton handled classified info during last year’s election?

NOT

5th Largest

We’re the smallest state, but according to Wallethub, the state of Rhode Island has the 5th largest drug problem in the country. That’s a very sad fact and it suggests that the state needs to spend more resources on drug use prevention and cessation.

NOT

WJAR - Channel 10

A recent article in the New York Times reported that Sinclair Broadcasting, the parent company of Channel 10, is requiring its stations to air pre-packaged daily news segments that are right-wing leaning.

It goes without saying that those are not solid journalistic ethics, and sooner than later, the station’s viewers are going to realize that fact and react accordingly.