HOT

Breeze

The growth of RI International Airport is full speed ahead, and the inaugural flights of Breeze Airlines this week were another boon to the airport's expansion strategy.

Breeze, founded by one of the world's most accomplished airline executives David Neeleman, is a brand that could help transform the airline industry. Neeleman has raised substantial cash and everything he is buying -- airplanes, technology, etc. -- is best in class.

HOT

Saving Lives

Providence Community Health Centers (PCHC) is teaming up with Pods Swimming in East Providence to improve those odds by providing free swimming and water safety classes, courtesy of a grant from USA Swim­ming. The lessons are for PCHC patients ages 6 months to 12 years old.

According to a study issued by USA Swimming Foundation, African American children, depending on their age, are two-to-three times more likely to drown than white children of the same age.   

African-American and Hispanic/Latino, are at a significant disadvantage in swimming ability, primarily because of access to resources like a pool and an instructor. 

HOT

No One Is Hotter

Providence-based Awoken Apparel has done it again. It has launched a new bag with a brilliant throw-back 70s-esque design.

Think Peter Max and the Supremes converge.

“That bag is $60 which includes a slip pocket (zipper pocket also available). I picked that pattern because it represented the motherland or beginning which corresponded with a new beginning for Awoken as the pattern used for the bag was our first attempt at creating our own bag pattern not using by someone else’s [design pattern],” said Anthony Sanders, founder of Awoken Apparel.

In March of 2019, Rhode Island's Sanders announced the launch of his new fashion-driven custom apparel company Awoken Apparel — focused on designing and manufacturing custom bow ties.

During the pandemic, the company expanded its product offerings and began to expand its bag lines. Many of the limited edition lines have sold out and some within just days of launching.

Learn more here.

HOT

McKee's Catching on to This Fundraising Thing

He is getting better.

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee raised in excess of $320,000 in the second quarter, as GoLocal was first to report. 

Second-quarter campaign finance reports are not due for another ten days, but GoLocal has confirmed that the McKee campaign raised $298,681.89  from individuals and another $23,150 from Political Action Committees.

The campaign did return $5,500 in donations.

The boost to the campaign bumps the McKee balance to more than $716,000.

HOT

Providence Rotary 

Founded in 1911, the Rotary Club of Providence is a fellowship and service organization of men and women dedicated to the Rotary motto of Service Above Self. As one of over 35,000 clubs in more than 150 countries with over 1.2 million members, the Providence Rotary serves the local community with active support for literacy and other needs related to children.

This week, GoLocalProv Co-Founder and CEO Josh Fenton joined the Providence Rotary Club this week to discuss the digital media platform’s continued growth — and the future of local journalism. 

“I appreciate having the opportunity to talk about GoLocal with the Providence Rotary, whose members are an integral part of our business and philanthropic communities,” said Fenton. “The role of local journalism in an age of large media corporations and out-of-state interests cannot be understated, and Rotary members understand the vital role a watchdog news organization serves.”

HOT

Kudos to Dr. Fine

While the McKee administration is ducking and diving the realities and dangers of the Delta variant, former RI Director of Health Michael Fine lays out the risks of the now dominant variant.

Last fall Fine repeatedly warned about the surge and the Raimondo administration ignored the warnings -- more than 1,000 RIers died over the winter months.

READ MORE HERE

NOT

Insufferable Space Billionaires

Nothing may demonstrate the arrogance of the billionaire class than their bogus race to space.

"I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer," Jeff Bezos said, "because you paid for all of this." Bezos is worth over $200 billion. 

Sir Richard Branson and Bezos are tone-deaf at best.

Of course, Bezos is also a legal tax dodger too.

NOT

Does RI Department of Health Know Almacs Closed and Amazon Delivers

There are absurd explanations and then absolutely ridiculous ones.

On Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues a recall notice about 'Give and Go' Prepared Foods. The RI Department of Health waited two additional days before warning Rhode Islanders.

When GoLocal asked why the two-day delay,  The RIDOH said, "We sometimes have to do a little digging to see if a product was distributed to Rhode Island (or an area in a neighboring state)."

First, how long could it possibly take to check 3-4 chains websites?

Second, does RIDOH realize that companies like Amazon ship products from all over the world to people's homes?

NOT

Oh, Nellie

A GoLocal Editorial this week read as follows:

Nellie Gorbea has never been shy about media coverage.

She has never met a microphone or a camera she did not love until now.

If a reporter were to stop short she would be sure to crash into the back of them.

At her request and at GoLocal’s, Gorbea has been a regular on GoLocal LIVE over the years.  

But a GoLocal investigation into the 2020 election has found that hundreds or more of out-of-the-country and military ballots were cast via non-secure email.

It does not appear that this has anything to do with partisan politics, but the lack of care, professionalism and coordination between Gorbea's office and the Rhode Island Board of Elections is becoming concerning.

It appears that ballots were cast not by a secure or encrypted system, but simply by making them as an attachment to any email account from Hotmail to Gmail.

These were emailed in from all parts of the world.

The Secretary of State’s office has given so many answers to questions and concerns of these ballots, that the responses are confusing and inconsistent at best.

Add in the letters Gorbea has sent to the Rhode Island General Assembly that are contradictory to her office's responses and there is an emerging lack of credibility emanating out of her office. She has repeatedly opposed email voting for the Rhode Island disabled community.

The affable Gorbea has announced that she is a candidate for Governor and if she is going to be credible then she needs to be able to answer real questions about real issues and there is no bigger an issue than the security of an election. 

Allowing votes from foreign countries via Yahoo email accounts doesn’t pass a laugh test.

Fluff and puff ’n stuff is not going to be sufficient. Nearly every day she issues a press release about the historical napkin ring or some other similar announcement.

Madam Secretary, it is time to schedule an interview with GoLocal and answer questions about these issues.