HOT

Brian Crandall's Question Was Appropriate and Professional

Governor Dan McKee tried to bully and intimidate WJAR reporter Brian Crandall.

Crandall asked if McKee should fire RI DOT Director, the man who has been overseeing the agency for nearly ten years. 

Crandall was polite and appropriate.

McKee was defensive and strident.

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Demanding Answers

Rhode Island House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale on Wednesday blasted the handling of the closure of the westbound I-195 lanes on the Washington Bridge -- and the devastating impact it has had to date on the state. 

Chippendale said the following: 

"The Administration’s collective response to the I-195 debacle is all too familiar; another colossal failure by those who are supposed to serve the people of Rhode Island.

The Executive Branch in Rhode Island is responsible for maintaining and developing our state’s infrastructure – including the I-195 bridges. The Governor selects department heads and directors and prioritizes the areas where those departments focus. The responsibility for this avoidable disaster is undebatable.

The General Assembly makes appropriations that enable the Executive Branch to pursue these tasks and oversight hearings are the best tool we have to ensure these monies are spent wisely.

In 2016, it was the House Oversight Committee that placed an important emphasis on the failures of the UHIP system and that emphasis led to increased efforts by the Administration to resolve the problems more quickly while hopefully learning how to avoid the same problems in the future. We need Oversight in regard to this event ASAP.

The habit of government leaders ignoring infrastructure maintenance -- in lieu of other programs and initiatives -- has come back to haunt us. We’ve learned that this section of bridge was inspected under the eyes of RI DOT this past summer, and that an inspection from 2020 may have already highlighted this failure but was ignored. We’ve seen the photos of the failed pins in the bridge, and it does not require a professional engineer to observe that those pins had either already sheered, or simply based on their reduced diameter from corrosion, would soon sheer. That a “novice” engineer (who wasn’t even there to inspect the bridge) quickly made the same observations confirms this. 

I urge the Speaker to empower House Oversight to fully explore all interactions between RI DOT and the contractors who constructed, improved and maintained that roadway and determine how this could have happened. We should further investigate the parameters under which routine inspections are done on our infrastructure assets. If we have unqualified people performing these inspections – which I think is the only inference we can draw from what we know at this time, then we need to address that immediately.

This closure is going to prove to be one of the most economically devastating events for our state, particularly for the businesses, schools and restaurants in our municipalities on the other side of the Bay. It will also have a permanent impact on our hospital and healthcare systems as habits, practitioners and patients will all be changing over the next several weeks and months to overcome this geographic isolation.

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There’s Now a Sandwich Named for the Washington Bridge Debacle — “All Jammed Up”

The closure of the westbound I-195 lanes on the Washington Bridge in Providence has had a significant impact on commuters, businesses, and schools.

One downtown Providence sandwich shop — which says sales are down roughly 20% this week with people staying home — is trying to make the best of the situation. 

Ocean State Sandwich on Westminster Street, located just doors down from the Superman Building, announced its new special on Thursday. 

“We gotta special for ya Rhode Island,” announced the deli. “’All Jammed Up’ aka ‘The Washington Brie-dge!’”

And just what is it?  Smoked ham, melted brie, house made onion jam, fresh spinach, on a Buono's Bakery sub roll.

Meeting of the Minds

GoLocal spoke with owner Eric Handwerger about coming up with the idea. 

“I needed to do something special for the situation, “ said Handwerger, who regularly comes up with “timely” named sandwiches. “When comedians come to town, for instance, we’ll name something for them.”

“I came up with the ‘all jammed up’ part, and Katie Latimer, who does our social media, came up with the ‘brie-age’ portion — she’s the co-founder of the Rogue Island Comedy Festival,” said Hendwerger. 

“It’s worth the ride to Providence,” Handwerger promised of the special. 

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Which Version of PC Men’s Basketball Team Will Show Up for the Big East Season?

GoLocal sports columnist Robert McMahon has a great look at the PC Friars' upcoming Big East season.

On December 19th the Friars quintet will kick off its Big East portion of the 2023-24 season by hosting one of the Big East heavyweights, Marquette. Are Friar fans expecting the Friars that dominated a pretty good Wisconsin team (and now ranked in the top 20) to show up for this critical match; or will it be the Friars that recently got spanked by 20 points in a road game by another ranked team, Oklahoma?

Pre-season expectations for the Friars were hopeful but also cautious. Most Big East predictions had the PC five finishing 7th in the conference with a 50-50 chance of grabbing an NCAA bid.  The hopeful side in pre-season: Veterans Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter decided to return; new coach Kim English brought a dynamic coaching style, particularly on defense; English also brought along two of his best players from George Mason, the 6’ 9” forward Josh Odura and shooting guard “Ticket” Gaines.

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NOT

RI’s Shrinking University - Lost Nearly $100 Million in 4 Years While Execs Took Tens of Millions

Johnson & Wales University was a high-flying, fast-growing higher education corporation in the early 2010s.

Headquartered in Providence, it exploded in revenue, the number of campuses, and its top executive officers took mega-salaries.

In more recent years, J&W has faced a mammoth decline. 

Overall revenue fell from more than $529 million in 2014 to $344 million in 2021— an unheard-of 30% decline in seven years.

All the while, the leadership team took millions in salaries and other benefits. 

In a three-year period 2019 to 2021, J&W lost $99,085,047, according to tax records. Some of the University's tax records and audits have only been made public in recent weeks.

J&W claims the economic decline was due to COVID. But those claims don't hold up. 

“JWU like many colleges throughout the country had fiscal challenges due to the impact of COVID but we weathered the pandemic and have completed the current fiscal year with a surplus,” said Jennifer E. McGee, the Director of External Communications & Media Relations at Johnson & Wales University. 

The financial decline began years before COVID hit America's shores in 2020, and the University received tens of millions of federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds.

The University, which was founded in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, two women dedicated to providing relevant and practical education, has dramatically transformed over a century and is transforming again.

PHOTO: Bowen (J&W) Cole Keister, Unsplash

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Alviti Is a Proven Liar -- Bad Look for McKee

On Monday night, GoLocal reported that an engineer for a bid on the Westbound Washington Bridge project in 2020 warned the Rhode Island Department of Transportation about a potential design flaw relating to the failure of pin joints in the project.

The warning was ignored by RIDOT officials.

On Tuesday morning, on an appearance on WPRO, Peter Alviti, the Director of RIDOT, claimed that GoLocal’s report was false.

He claimed GoLocal “identified the wrong bridge.”

GoLocal had cited the report by the engineering expert but did not report on a specific portion of 195. 

On Monday, RIDOT announced that a failure in bridge joints forced the shutdown of half of one of Rhode Island's most important highways. The expert's report was part of the Cardi Corporation's bid to do repair work in 2020.

“Alviti is incompetent. He has proven it by his management of 6/10 and the overall condition of Rhode Island’s infrastructure, which continues to be ranked at the bottom of the state rankings. What GoLocal reported was exactly what was submitted to RIDOT regarding the Washington Bridge construction project, that there was a potential failure,” said GoLocalProv CEO and co-founder Josh Fenton.

“Alviti lied about 6/10 and tried to shift the blame when we broke the story, and he is trying to do the same again,” said Fenton. “He even lied on the same radio show. He lied again when GoLocal unveiled cost overruns on 146."

"Rhode Island has amongst the worst roads and bridges in the United States, and every time Alviti's incompetence is unveiled, he blames someone else," added Fenton.

Alviti was appointed by Governor Gina Raimondo in 2015 and was reappointed by Governor Dan McKee.

RIDOT claims the closure directly impacts 90,000 vehicles a day.

Alviti on WPRO on September 2020

Months after RIDOT was warned about the material being dumped in Olneyville in a residential neighborhood, Alviti went on the same talk show and misled listeners in September of 2020.

“So basically we've proven that the fill that was brought in is OK, but we're concerned and I think the investigation is going to continue, because we're concerned that another agenda is going on here. We don't know what it is,” said Alviti on the Gene Valicenti radio show, two days after the first GoLocal investigative story — a series that sparked both state and federal investigations.

Alviti's claim on another agenda was to blame James White, the whistleblower. 

However, just days after Alviti’s denial on the radio, new tests conducted by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) deemed the site contaminated. RIDEM ordered RIDOT and Barletta to remove the soil. The Resource Recovery Facility and another landfill in Rhode Island refused to accept the material.

Alviti’s statements on Gene Valicenti were proven to be lies.

In October of 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice signed a non-prosecution agreement with Barletta Heavy Machine in October of 2022 and the project manager on the 6/10 project Dennis Ferreira pled guilty to multiple charges.

Then, in January, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha indicted Barletta (the company) and the same employee.

Ferreira has pled innocent to state charges.

146 Cost Overruns, Alviti Claimed Illegal Documents

Ten days after a GoLocal investigation in 2022 unveiled that RIDOT awarded a $167 million bid to Skanska and JH Lynch — a bid that was $34 million than the lowest bid and $47 million more than RIDOT staff had estimated —  Alviti took to talk radio and claimed that the information about the bids was "illegally" secured.

On the same WPRO talk radio show hosted by Valicenti, Alviti said regarding RIDOT documents being publicly disclosed, "Well, people who either are obtaining information illegally or obtaining information through back channels [but] it's wrong."

But when Alviti’s office was asked to explain what public documents were “obtained illegally” the agency did not respond.

NOT

Another One Goes -- PBN Sold to Iowa Company

An Iowa company that owns "Forklift" magazine has purchased Providence Business News.

PBN had slashed its staff and only printed twice a month. 

Another local media company gets gobbled up by a chain.

in recent weeks Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call were merged into one newspaper. RI's public radio station merged with the state's public television station.

NOT

Just 6 Years Ago, Hasbro Was Going to Build a New HQ in Providence

It was just six years ago when Hasbro was looking to build a new gleaming global headquarters in Providence.

Multiple locations were discussed, and as GoLocal first reported, there was a plan by former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino and top Gilbane executives to tear down the Superman Building and transform downtown Providence.

Six years ago was a long time ago.

On Monday, in an email to employees. Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks announced another major round of layoffs — this time 1,100. Hasbro had laid off 800 earlier in the year.

In a regulatory filing, Hasbro said the layoffs were expected to save $100 million in costs a year. 

The company also announced that it will close its Providence offices just across from the AMP at the conclusion of its lease in January 2025.

The remaining employees will be moved back to Pawtucket headquarters. The decision leaves a massive vacancy in the commercial real estate market in downtown Providence.

What Happened? A Death, Lack of Strategy, and a Plunging Stock

For more than 80 years, members of the Hassenfeld family led the Pawtucket-based toy company. The business transformed drastically from a pencil manufacturer to the largest toy company in the world, making movies and games.

Cocks is the third CEO for Hasbro in the past 14 months.

In 2017, GoLocal broke a series of stories about Hasbro’s then-emerging plans to consolidate its regional offices into a new corporate campus.

In July of 2019, Hasbro stock hit $123 a share — on Monday, it closed just below $46 a share — a 62% loss in value.