Every Friday, GoLocalProv takes a look at who is rising and who is falling in Rhode Island politics, business, culture, and sports. This week -- golf heritage, home improvement, and Mattiello v. Fenton Fung make the list.
Now, we are expanding the list, the political perspectives, and we are going to a GoLocal team approach while encouraging readers to suggest nominees for who is "HOT" and who is "NOT."
Email GoLocal by midday on Thursday about anyone you think should be tapped as "HOT" or "NOT." Email us HERE.
If you love Rhode Island politics, then you have to be excited for the showdown in House District 15.
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung -- the former head of the Young Republicans and the wife of Cranston Mayor Allan Fung -- announced her plans this week to take on embattled Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello in his district.
“My CF1 was officially filed at the Board of Elections. In response to a near tsunami of support in Cranston to end what has become the Mattiello horror show, this allows us to legally take the logical next steps to start fundraising and putting a winning team in place prior to formally launching a campaign," said Fenton Fung
“We are extremely excited about what 2020 has in store, including ridding District 15 of the never-ending scandals that surround its state representative,” she added.
Carrie Majewski, the founder and CEO of The Women in Leadership Nexus, joined GoLocal LIVE Business Monday to discuss how women are building leadership skills.,
The startup organization is a professional association that empowers women to reach an amplified level of leadership, fueled to be the agents of change and co-creators of a different leadership paradigm.
The group is growing and taking on critical issues of equity and leadership issues for women.
According to the organization, "Nexus leaders choose to invest in their careers, unequivocally understanding that there is always more to grab: a new level of potential to reach, skill set to acquire, perspective to consider, opportunity to unearth and leadership journey to be activated. They are the individuals creating and subscribing to a new set of leadership ideals to have a greater positive impact on their own careers, and the careers of others."
"The movement to me is bigger than the physical size of the group ...I started it in Rhode Island where there are 130 members. The next question I always get is well ‘when are you coming to my state’ and I don't know that I'm going to go state-based,” said Majewski
Three Rhode Island chefs have been named semi-finalists in this year’s James Beard awards.
The 2020 James Beard Awards will mark the 30th anniversary of America’s “most coveted and comprehensive honors for chefs, restaurants, journalists, authors, and other leaders in the food and beverage industry.”
In Providence, Derek Wagner with Nick’s on Broadway and James Mark with Big King were named among the 21 semi-finalists in the “Best Chef - Northeast” category, which includes chefs from all six New England states.
Maria Gonzalez-Trasvina at Newport’s Bar ‘Cino was nominated in the Rising Star Chef of the Year category, which includes 30 semi-finalists from around the country.
The 2020 James Beard Awards Gala will take place on Monday, May 4, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
SquadLocker, one of Rhode Island’s top startups, announced Tuesday that the company has raised $20 million in a Series C round of funding.
The Warwick-based SquadLocker is a leading provider of “online tools and services for teams and organizations to manage custom apparel and equipment purchasing.” The company has now raised over $40 million since its launch in 2015.
Today, the company employs 130 and with the infusion of capital, it will allow SquadLocker to grow to 175 employees by the end of the year.
This funding round is led by Baltimore-based private equity firm ABS Capital Partners, existing investors Causeway Media Partners, an investment fund focused on sports technology, as well as lead investor Jim Lombardi also participated in the financing round, according to SquadLocker.
Causeway's lead partners include Wyc Grousbeck, the CEO of the Boston Celtics.
The new capital “will be used to further develop growth initiatives, including the expansion of channel partner relationships. As a result of the transaction, ABS Capital general partner Mike Avon will join the board of directors at SquadLocker” said the company in the announcement.
A new study finds that few of the non-profits in Rhode Island are run by men or women of color.
Just 3% of the chief executive officers of RI's more than 4,000 nonprofits are led by minorities according to the report issued by the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Rhode Island Chapter. Rhode Island is ranked as the 21st most diverse state in the country, according to a report by WalletHub issued in 2019.
The number of white women leading non-profits is more than 40%, according to the study.
Governance of the non-profits in Rhode Island was also found to be deeply segregated — just 10% of board members are people of color.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Rhode Island Chapter recently completed a study that looked at the gender and racial diversity of the leaders of Rhode Island’s largest nonprofit organizations by net worth. Rhode Island has 4,140 registered 501(c)3 public charities which together hold assets of $31.7 billion.
The largest 150 nonprofits have total revenue in excess of $11 billion.
“This report provides a baseline for nonprofits to consider what can be done to diversify the leadership of their organizations. From a fundraising perspective, diversity is critical to increasing dollars raised and expanding donor networks,” said Amy Gravell, President of AFP-RI and Managing Director for The Gamm Theatre.
The Rhode Island Attorney General's office announced on Tuesday that seven contractors are facing felony charges and 10 more were arraigned on misdemeanor charges in Providence District Court for failing to comply with a final order from the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CLRB).
Two additional contractors reached agreements with CLRB as a result of this effort.
“The charges here are serious; we’re not talking about cases where folks are dissatisfied with their paint color. These are hardworking Rhode Islanders who paid a lot of money for contractors to make improvements to their homes and were left high and dry,” said Attorney General Peter Neronha. “The defendants were given multiple opportunities to resolve their situations. Some took advantage of that opportunity. Others didn’t. Those who didn’t will now be held accountable, and this Office will pursue restitution to the homeowners and any fines owed.”
East Providence Cinemas is now boarded up — and padlocked.
The shuttering marks the latest in the saga of the second-run, low-cost movie theater.
As GoLocal was first to report in January, the cinema on Newport Avenue was shut down by police with moviegoers escorted out — due to a bounced check to the city.
The city later said the cinema would be allowed to reopen, but as of Saturday there was no sign of operation at the cinema.
The doors were boarded and padlocked, and the Cinemas' website shows no showtimes, but does state, "SHOWTIMES COMING SOON!!! While you're here, please sign up for our FREE weekly newsletter to get all the latest news from East Providence 10." The company has closed its Facebook page.
Some of the most prominent golf courses in Rhode Island have gone into bankruptcy or been sold at auction due to financial distress over the past three years.
The country clubs face a range of challenges all during a so-called boom economy.
As GoLocal first reported in 2017, one of the most prominent clubs whose membership was a who’s who of prominent Rhode Islanders — Agawam Hunt Country Club — declared bankruptcy.
Agawam, which requires a strict dress code and cell phones-on-vibrate-only policy, delineates its history on its website:
'During the 1890s, crusades for physical vigor swept the educated classes in both Europe and America…The cult of the strenuous life,' which culminated in the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt swept Providence as well," according to the club's website at the time of its bankruptcy.
Then, Rhode Island’s premier club and residential property — Carnegie Abbey — was forced into an auction and sold in December of 2018.
Now, it is Metacomet Country Club announcing it has entered into a purchase and sale with Marshall Development.
