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"The National Political Scene Now"

The 94th Annual Winter Speaker Series at the Newport Art Museum launches with Darrell West, whose position at the Brookings Institute affords him access to the national political scene from the inside.

The event will be at 2 pm on Saturday, January 29.

West will discuss the current political climate with an eye towards the 2022 midterm elections.

What are the issues, candidates, and prospects? How will Trump’s influence impact the campaigns? How will the Biden administration’s record with regards to the many domestic and international challenges hold up under scrutiny, and how should voters prepare themselves for the coming year?

The lecture will be followed by audience Q&A and continued conversation in the galleries over tea, coffee, and light fare.

About West

West is the Vice President and Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He holds the Douglas Dillon Chair in Governance Studies. 

Previously, he was the John Hazen White Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University.  His current research focuses on American politics, technology policy, and artificial intelligence.

West is the author of 25 books including Turning Point:  Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (Brookings, 2020; with John Allen),  Divided Politics, Divided Nation:  Hyperconflict in the Trump Era (Brookings, 2019), The Future of Work:  Robots, AI, and Automation (Brookings, 2018); Megachange: Economic Disruption, Political Upheaval, and Social Strife in the 21st Century (Brookings, 2016), Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust (Brookings, 2014), Digital Schools (Brookings, 2012), The Next Wave:  Using Digital Technology to Further Social and Political Innovation (Brookings, 2011), Brain Gain:  Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy (Brookings, 2010), Digital Medicine:  Health Care in the Internet Era (Brookings, 2009), Digital Government: Technology and Public Sector Performance, (Princeton University Press, 2005), and Air Wars: Television Advertising in Election Campaigns (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2013).

HOT

Joe Bruce

He might just be the coolest performer in the Rhode Island music scene today -- and now, Joe Bruce is now getting airplay in France, and attention around the world. 

“This past week, my first international record is a collaboration with a French artist named “Bloom Bat” ( Baba Le Singe). The dude is so dope, played all the instruments and sang the first verse,’ said Bruce. “I’m grateful for his professionalism. The track ‘Red Light’ is registered with the French PRO and playing on the radio out there right now.”

Learn more about his international collaboration on GoLocal. 

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Jim Langevin

The Congressman from Rhode Island's second congressional district represented the state with dignity. 

Most importantly -- and wildly underappreciated in Rhode Island -- he was a role model for Americans with disabilities.

He worked harder every day than any of us will know to be able to serve.

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McKee's Housing Proposal

It is sure to be tweaked, but Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee in his State of the State address on Tuesday rolled out a $250 million housing proposal.

It would be the largest segment of the state's $1.1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

“It’s time to come together to make a once-in-a-generation investment in housing in Rhode Island,” said McKee. “For Rhode Island to be an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family, we must address the availability and quality of housing – that means everything from providing supports to those experiencing homelessness, to increasing affordable housing, to ensuring we build more workforce housing for our middle-class families. The moment of opportunity is there – let’s make it happen.”

The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island is now $375,000.

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Providence Place Mall

In the past ten days, episodes of violence and a robbery are just the latest incidents raising concerns about the safety of Providence Place Mall.

The mall used to house top-tier retailers like Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, and Tiffany & Co.

A 1996 New York Times article reviewing the yet-to-be-built mall reported, “[Providence Place Mall] will bring retail back to southeast New England and jobs to Providence -- 3,000 construction jobs and 2,800 permanent jobs," said Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. ‘This is the linchpin in the downtown redevelopment we started 15 years ago.’”

Those days are long gone.

Since its construction, the mall’s ownership has flipped from original developers to Rouse Company to General Growth and now, Brookfield Properties.

Crime at Providence Place - Weapons, Larceny, and Assault Incidents in a Week

The most recent Incident was Friday night when a fourteen-year-old boy reported being robbed by a group of men at Providence Place Mall on Friday night.

It marks the latest in mall-related crime — as GoLocal reported, multiple juveniles were banned from the mall following incidents the weekend prior which included a fight on an escalator captured on video. 

On Friday, police responded to the mall shortly after 7 PM for a report of a robbery.

According to the victim, he had been sitting on the sky bridge between Providence Place Mall and the Omni Hotel with a female friend when they were approached by three men.

The boy told police that one of the men stood over him and demanded his sneakers. The victim said he tried to resist, but that the suspect overpowered him and literally took his shoes off his feet. The victim told police another suspect then took the chain off his neck.  According to the victim and the female witness, the suspects then fled. The crime was just one of many that have occurred at the mall.

Providence police logs show eight incidents over the past seven days including weapons, larceny, and assault incidents.

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RI's COVID Response

Rhode Island continues to struggle.

For two weeks, the state has had the highest infection rate in the country.

January will be one of the most deadly months of the pandemic in Rhode Island's 22-month battle.

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WooSox

The Worcester Red Sox are facing financial issues and the City of Worcester is behind in making payments on the stadium, according to reports. 

The $160 million stadium is the most expensive in minor league baseball history. The team moved to Worcester from Pawtucket after the 2020 season.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that minor league teams are seeking a new round of federal COVID relief.

“Jason Freier, the owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts Double-A baseball team in Tennessee, said the cancellation of the 2020 season forced him to bench roughly 300 seasonal and part-time employees who worked as ticket takers, groundskeepers and ushers…'The team also furloughed all front-office employees except its president. The Lookouts returned to the diamond last year, but with a shortened schedule and attendance restrictions. Revenue was down nearly 20% in 2021, compared with 2019,’ Mr. Freier said. Revenue dropped more than 90% from 2019 to 2020," reports the WSJ.

Owners of minor league teams in baseball and other sports are among the businesses lobbying Congress for $60 billion in additional relief money. Other leisure sectors are pushing for more taxpayer dollars.

The WooSox is owned by a collection of millionaires and billionaires.

As GoLocal was first to report in 2020, the Woo Sox received taxpayer funds under the Payroll Protection Program.

The team confirmed in a statement to GoLocal, “The loan facility is being used by minor league teams all over America, and it enables us to avoid furloughs and/or payroll reductions, as is intended by the legislation."

The COVID hit for the WooSox was just part of the problem.

The Worcester Business Journal reports, "The City of Worcester’s effort to pay off the $160-million cost of the Polar Park baseball stadium over 30 years is off to a rocky start. Yet, despite a revenue shortfall in the Worcester Red Sox’s first season at the ballpark, city officials so far avoided breaking the promise they made in 2018 when the team announced it was moving from Rhode Island to the Canal District: The stadium will pay for itself.”

“With a project of this size, you are constantly course correcting,” [Worcester] City Manager Edward Augustus told WBJ. “You just have to keep your eye on the ball, which is getting the project functional.”

“I had hoped those accounts would have been set up when I started with the city,” said Tim McGourthy, the City of Worcester chief financial officer, who started his job on June 22, 2020.

Augustus has repeatedly said that the stadium would pay for itself.

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Former Brown Provost Schlissel

A former Brown University Provost who went on to serve as the President of the University of Michigan was fired by Michigan's Board of Regents for an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.

Michigan released more than 100 pages of emails sent by President Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D. to a staffer. 

History in RI

Brown University announced in April of 2011 that Schlissel was to succeed David I. Kertzer as the 11th provost of Brown University. The appointment was made by then-Brown President Ruth Simmons.

Prior to coming to Brown, Schlissel was the dean of biological sciences in the College of Letters and Science at the University of California-Berkeley. At Brown he also assumed the duties as Brown’s chief academic officer.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with President Simmons and the entire Brown community,” Schlissel said at time of his appointment. “I can’t imagine a more exciting academic leadership position and I am anxious to get started.”

He left Brown in 2014 for the Michigan presidency.

He is a graduate of Princeton University (BA) and Johns Hopkins University (MD-PhD).