HOT

Newport Restaurant Group

Newport Restaurant Group issued a message to patrons this week, letting them know that they "have their employees backs" during coronavirus restrictions. 

Paul O'Reilly of the Newport Restaurant Group sent the letter, saying they have while they have the "utmost respect" for guests, that they have been facing an "uptick" of criticism from patrons. 

Moreover, he told guests that while masks are not required at tables -- the restaurant group does require them when walking throughout their restaurants.

O'Reilly's remarks are just the latest by owners addressing issues with customers, from a Rhode Island ice cream shop threatening to close after "disrespectful and abusive behavior" from patrons, and another Newport restaurant calling out a guest for making reservations and not showing up -- and banning him. 

Newport Restaurant Group member Kelly Adams -- who in May urged diners to be "kind, patient, and understanding" when restaurants reopen, shared O'Reilly's note. 

Read his full message here.

HOT

Providence Revolving Fund

Providence's Island House Restaurant was awarded a Providence Commercial Corridor Micro-Business Loan from the Providence Revolving Fund. It is intended to help jump-start the business’ response to the coronavirus.

With their loan, owners Ricky Bernard and Marcia Ricketts plan to get outdoor seating, an app for faster takeout to better cater to their student customers, plexiglass shields and other social distancing measures to keep their employees and customers safe and healthy.

The two opened Island House in 2016 and it has become a favorite of the students who attend the three nearby high schools. On Mother’s Day of 2019, a car crashed into the restaurant, forcing Island House to close for two months.

Carrie Zaslow, Executive Director of the Providence Revolving Fund said, “We just launched this program in June. The loan fund was initiated by the Providence Revolving Fund with a pool of $100,000.  That has been matched by the Providence City Council and includes additional funding by Customers Bank ($205,000)

"We have closed 3 loans for a total of $14,500.  All 3 loans were to women-owned businesses and two loans were to Minority-owned businesses," said Zaslow. 

Read more here. 

HOT

Gen Z Taking Charge

Jaychele Nicole Schenck and Isabella James Indellicati do not spend their weekends like other 15-year-olds.

While girls their age may escape the summer heat at the beach or a shopping center, these two Rhode Island natives embraced it on the hot pavement of Francis Street on a recent Sunday during a protest against the killing of George Floyd and other Black men by white police officers.

Schenck and Indellicati were not simply participating in the protest. They organized it, held a news conference a week in advance, and mobilized more than 1,500 people to rally in front of the statehouse.

“We are Black young women. We mourn, we feel, we are angry, we are upset. And we don’t want to let this pass by as a trend because this is our lives,” Indellicati said.

Read more here. 

HOT

Dr. Stephen Salloway

No one in America may have more initiatives going to combat Alzheimer's than Brown Warren Alpert Medical School physician Dr. Stephen Salloway.

He is at the cutting edge of the most important research in the country and has been a key scientist on the development of Biogen's potentially breakthrough drug that is now going before the FDA.

Read the latest here. 

HOT

T.F. Green Among Tops in U.S.

T.F. Green Airport is among the Top Domestic Airports according to Travel + Leisure 2020 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey. 

This is the second major award of excellence for T.F. Green Airport within the travel industry, coming just months after T.F. Green Airport’s recognition as the 2nd Best Small Airport in the nation in USA Today’s “Ten Best” Readers’ Choice Awards for 2020.

“We are truly humbled and thankful for all the support T.F. Green Airport has received from travelers near and far,” said Iftikhar Ahmad, President and CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. “T.F. Green Airport’s recognition as No. 5 in the Travel + Leisure 2020 World’s Best Awards is a tribute to the collective effort of all who work at T.F. Green Airport, as well as all those who make Rhode Island a welcoming destination as our state moves forward in our recovery.”

“It’s exciting to see the rest of the nation catch on to what Rhode Islanders already know: T.F. Green Airport is one of the best airports in America,” said Governor Gina Raimondo. “T.F. Green keeps Rhode Island families and businesses well connected to the rest of the world, and I look forward to continuing to support the airport as it expands and innovates.”

In ranking T.F. Green Airport No. 5 on the Travel + Leisure 2020 World’s Best Awards list of the Top Domestic Airports, readers affirmed T.F. Green Airport, located in Warwick RI, just south of the capitol city of Providence, as “a terrific alternative to Boston Logan International.”

According to one Travel + Leisure survey respondent, T.F. Green Airport is “Miles better than flying through Boston.” 

HOT

Lt. Governor Dan McKee

Lt. Governor Dan McKee has been relentless in pressing for economic support for Rhode Island small businesses.

Businesses across Rhode Island have been failing. Restaurants closing and local retailers going out of business -- losing jobs permanently.

He is pushing Governor Raimondo to release federal funds to small businesses. The Governor has said she will make an announcement next week -- will it be enough?

HOT

Shark Research

Atlantic Shark Institute Executive Director Jon Dodd appeared on GoLocal LIVE, after announcing that four great whites were detected off the coast of Block Island recently. 

Dodd has put tremendous time and resources into studying and protecting sharks.

"It’s a pretty exciting discovery because last year we began this research," said Dodd. "It’s a shark array basically -- we’ve got ten different acoustic receivers throughout Rhode Island and seven of those are around Block Island. Last year we just had two around Block Island and we picked up a couple of detections of white sharks."

"This year we increased that array from two to seven and we just checked the receivers a couple of days ago, and we had four white sharks on the receivers in the last few weeks," he said. "They ranged in size from a small of eight feet to a large of a little over thirteen feet."

"I suspect [the number of sharks detected] is going to rise significantly probably through July and August, knowing these sharks head south again in September, October, November," Dodd added.

Read why sharks are important -- here. 

NOT

Senator Ruggerio's World

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is claiming that it would be inappropriate for him to advocate for placing a minority on the State Supreme Court due to the Senate’s role in advice and consent, but just two months earlier issued a press release strongly endorsing Senator Erin Lynch Prata for the open seat. Ruggerio had previously named Lynch Prata chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Since the establishment of a high court in Rhode Island more than 350 years ago, no person of color has ever served.

Now, legislators and minority leaders have been calling for the vacancy to be filled by a minority.

From Jim Vincent of the Providence Chapter of the RI NAACP to Raymond “Two Hawks” Watson, the Founder of the Providence Cultural Equity Initiative, to Senator James Sheehan --  a growing number of Rhode Islanders have called for a minority to be named to the vacancy, the first opening on the court in ten years.

Ruggerio told GoLocal that it would be inappropriate for him however to advocate to place a man or woman of color on the Supreme Court as the Senate provides advice and consent. 

The Senate President said in a statement, “The Senate has a constitutional duty to thoroughly review the experience and abilities of every appointment to a state judicial post. The Senate has no role in the selection process, nor should we.”

“The Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) was established by the people of Rhode Island as a selection board separate and distinct from other branches of state government. It would be inappropriate for the Senate to weigh in on a process that has been intentionally established to be separate from the Legislature. That is precisely the kind of interference the JNC was created to avoid,” said Ruggerio.

“Once a judicial selection has been made, the Senate has a solemn obligation to weigh the qualifications of the appointed candidate, and we will undertake that process with all the gravity befitting of a judicial appointment. We will not prejudge the process before it even begins,” added Ruggerio.

However, on April 28, Ruggerio issued a press release extolling Lynch Prata's candidacy to the Supreme Court.  

Ruggerio said, “Erin Lynch Prata is a truly exceptional public servant who has served the state and the Senate with extraordinary integrity and distinction. As Judiciary Committee Chairwoman, she led deliberations on complex and often emotionally charged issues with wisdom, grace and compassion. Her leadership was indispensable and she spent countless hours addressing some of the most daunting challenges our chamber has ever faced. I appreciate how fortunate I have been to have her as a member of the Senate’s leadership team, and I know she would make a similarly invaluable contribution on the bench."

"Should she win the recommendation of the Judicial Nominating Commission and the Governor, our state would be fortunate to have a jurist of such exceptional ability and character. I wish her the best in this pursuit," he continued.

NOT

Whitehouse Draws National Attention and It's Not Good

A Wall Street Journal editorial is calling for the U.S. States Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the relationship between U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Rhode Island-based Utilidata.

The WSJ outlines what they allege was a quid pro quo relationship between Whitehouse intervening on behalf of the company and that his intervention was timed to campaign donations from senior officers of the company.

Whitehouse’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the Wall Street Journal’s claims.

Josh Brumberger, now the CEO of Utilidata, referred questions to the company’s spokesperson. Brumberger was a former policy staffer to then-General Treasurer and now-Governor Gina Raimondo. She named Brumberger to RIPTA's board in 2016.

Utilidata’s spokeswoman Theresa Gilbert told GoLocal in an email, “Utilidata’s response is that the allegation is completely false.”

The then-CEO of Utilidata, Scott DePasquale, now serves as President & CEO, Financial Systemic Analysis & Resilience Center in Washington, D.C.

The Wall Street Journal writes, “Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse makes a habit of accusing his opponents of corruption. So let’s take a look at an example of the Senator’s political mediation that Mr. Whitehouse would surely denounce if the facts involved someone he disliked. The details come courtesy of Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit that has examined the Senator’s relationship with Utilidata, Inc., a Providence-based green energy company. In January 2014, Mr. Whitehouse hosted Utilidata’s then CEO, Scott DePasquale, as his guest at President Obama’s State of the Union Address. He lauded Mr. DePasquale as a 'RI energy efficiency leader' in a press release."

“In 2015, according to Federal Election Commission records, Mr. DePasquale and two other top Utilidata executives, Carl J. Meiser and Josh Brumberger, gave $3,000 combined to the Whitehouse for Senate campaign… that as the federal government prepared “to aggressively ramp up its funding of clean-energy research to help address climate change,” Mr. Whitehouse co-hosted a roundtable with then-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to discuss clean energy. Utilidata’s Mr. Brumberger was among the participants.”

Read the rest of the story.

NOT

Housing Crisis Emerging

A record number of Americans missed making a full rent or mortgage payment in July.

Since April, the real estate company Apartment List team has surveyed renters and homeowners about the impact of the pandemic on their employment and their ability to afford their housing.

In early April, the percentage of Americans unable to make a full on-time housing payment jumped to 24 percent, then rose to 31 percent in May. This missed payment rate has since stabilized, dipping slightly to 30 percent in June before ticking back up to 32 percent in July. During the first week of this month, 19 percent of Americans had made no housing payment, while an additional 13 percent paid only a portion of their monthly bill.

According to Apartment Lists' research:

- 32 percent of Americans did not make a full on-time housing payment in July, up slightly from 30 percent in June.

- Missed payments continue to concentrate among renters, young and low-income households, and residents of dense urban areas.

- Compared to last month more Americans are concerned about evictions and foreclosures, even as federal and certain local displacement protections are extended.

- Coronavirus continues to simultaneously encourage and discourage moving. Many are likely to move because of declining affordability, while others are staying put because of the health risks associated with moving during a pandemic.

- Renters in large multifamily apartment buildings show higher payment rates than those living in smaller buildings and single-family homes.

NOT

H.P. Lovecraft

The Rhode Island native has a horrific legacy as a blatant racist and anti-Semitist.

Can we move away from this guy?

READ MORE