HOT

Perfect

The #3 ranked Rhode Island College women’s basketball team capped the first undefeated regular season in program history with a convincing, 91-51, win at Keene State in the Little East women’s basketball action played at Spaulding Gymnasium last Saturday afternoon.

Then, Rhode Island College defeated fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut, 67-40, in the semifinals of the 2024 Little East Women’s Basketball Championship at The Murray Center on Thursday night.

Now, they are 26-0.

Brilliant

Michael Rose's column this week unveils the power and talent of the Nancy Elizabeth Prophet exhibit  - a must-see:

Rhode Island has been home to many significant artists. For some, it was the place they were born and bred, and for others, it was a stopover while they studied at area universities. For Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, it was both. Born here in 1890, Prophet lived a remarkable life, studying and living in Europe and teaching art in the South before returning to Rhode Island, where she died in 1960.

A newly opened exhibition at RISD, titled I Will Not Bend an Inch, compellingly explores the work and legacy of this multi-talented artist.

READ MORE

HOT

Civic Center's Media Room Dedicated in Memory of Bill Reynolds

Last Friday, the media room at the Providence Civic Center was dedicated in honor of Bill Reynolds - athlete, author, and sports writer.

Read the GoLocal tribute to Reynolds' impact HERE. It was written two years before his death.

NOT

City's Response to Violence in Chad Brown Area Is Unacceptable

There are three hot spots for crime in Providence.

Federal Hill is a constant for property crime and violence.

Kennedy Plaza appears too often to be an open-air drug-dealing mecca.

No area of the city suffers from more violence however than the Chad Brown area. It is past time for the Smiley administration to protect the residents. READ MORE

NOT

McKee-Enomics

A GoLocal Editorial looks at the McKee administration's funding of the Pawtucket minor league soccer stadium:

It seems impossible, but Governor Dan McKee found what may be the most expensive way to fund the state’s share of the minor league soccer stadium.

It is a project that is 100% privately owned by California resident Brett Johnson and a group of investors who have never been made public. The public has no idea who is going to own this project.

That is right. Rhode Island taxpayers investing $27 million will own zero, nothing, and nada.

It is called Mckee-Enomics.

Then there is the cost to put the money in. Despite Rhode Island having $1 billion of federal funds, McKee went for a bond via the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency.

To finance the $27 million, the state decided to use bonds that cost $54,285,000. Then, paying off the bonds will cost taxpayers $140 million over 30 years.

It is called McKee-Enomics.

Then, there were the red flags raised by news organizations like GoLocal, investment advisors, and researchers. (GoLocal loves a good soccer match but hates a financial boondoggle.)

McKee ignored it all. The City of Pawtucket’s financial advisor resigned over the deal. Financial advisors rarely resign; they feast on fees. But Hilltop stepped down over concerns about this project.

By the way, Hilltop is the successor firm that advised the state of 38 Studios.

And the firm was forced to pay millions to the state for its role.

Under the McKee scheme, the state has few protections. If the team shuts down, there is no protection.

Now, we are making global business news on the project.

This week, Bloomberg wrote about McKee’s financing scheme: "Taxpayers are paying dearly to bring a pro-sports team back to the faded industrial city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.”

Wow, little Rhode Island makes the big time. It's too bad it was not a good story.

“There will be little benefit for the surrounding community, according to J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University. ‘These are people who are already spending their money in the community, and when they’re going to a minor league soccer match, they’re not going to local restaurants, going to movies and engaging in other types of local purchases,’ he said,” reports Bloomberg.

Despite all the warnings, the Governor moved forward.

It is called McKee-Enomics.

We will all be paying for it for the next 30 years. And, we will own none of it other than the debt.

NOT

Print Circulation of ProJo Falls Under 20,000 a Day During the Week

Now, less than 2% of Rhode Island's population has a subscription to the Providence Journal.

READ MORE

NOT

Voters Got Zero Say on the $132M Soccer Stadium Debt - Ken Block

Ken Block is right. Voters got cut out of the decision in what is a violation of the spirit of not the letter of the State's Constitution.

Block is hot, but the political end-around is not.

Here is what Block wrote:

The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation is again at the center of a dubious taxpayer-funded deal. History has already repeated itself – the deal for the Pawtucket soccer stadium should never have been done, just like the 38 Studios deal should never have been done. Both of these projects had the strong backing of the governor. But the similarities don’t end there.

Both projects represented Hail Mary attempts to juice up a stagnant economy. 38 Studios was an attempt to rejuvenate Providence, and the soccer stadium was an effort to repair the economic and spiritual damage done to Pawtucket by the departure of the Pawsox. But here is the thing – something that sounds too good to be true all too often is.

Plenty of informed dissent existed before both deals got done. It was known in the industry that the model 38 Studios used for its game was the wrong one and that the leader of the effort knew a lot about baseball but little about managing a large technical business, let alone one that built video games. Remember that the Massachusetts legislature took a hard pass on 38 Studios.

Experts nationwide have proven that expensive stadium deals like the one in Pawtucket seldom deliver the promised economic benefits. And yet, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation plowed ahead with a deal.

READ MORE

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Things Coming Into Focus

Let's see if we can boil this down.

Peter Alviti has been the Director of the RI Department of Transportation since 2015.

The Washington Bridge has been under his stewardship over the past 9 years.

He has repeatedly lied to the public.

The bridge has failed, and he is still the Director.

This investigation is starting to tell the story of how he keeps his job.