HOT

PPAC, Wilbury, Gamm, and Trinity

The backbones of Rhode Island's performing arts are working to develop a financial strategy to stay relevant online and return to live performances as soon as possible -- most looking at early 2021.

The Wilbury's Josh Short (pictured) has been the most innovative taking the show from the stage to the stream - kudos for innovation.

HOT

God Shammgod

Providence College great God Shammgod is getting his own brand of sneaker. Not too many 44-year-olds get a sneaker brand.

The New York Post first reported, “More than 20 years after Harlem hoops legend and former Providence College star God Shammgod wowed the world with his namesake ankle-breaking crossover — where a player changes direction by dropping the basketball with one hand and pulling it back with the other— in the 1997 NCAA tournament, he’s getting his own namesake Puma shoe.”

At Providence, he innovated the point guard position with his unmatched ball handling and that killer-crossover.  And more than 20 years later, he's still in the game. 

“'When I was a kid, having your own sneaker was a fantasy,' Shammgod, 44, and now an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks, tells The Post. 'That’s why it’s so amazing that it’s happening now.'”

HOT

Brown Athletics Restoring Men's Track and Field and Cross Country

The reversal by Brown University to restore the two men's teams showed good judgment and good timing.

The issue was about to get away from them.  Cutting the diverse track program and making sailing varsity was not going to fly.

HOT

Richard McCaffrey

The veteran rock and roll photographer has had an impressive chapter as a news and lifestyle cameraman for GoLocal.

His photography of Friday's Black Lives Matter protest was best in class. We all love video, but his still collection captured the energy and passion of the event like no other.

SEE MORE HERE

HOT

Councilwoman Carmen Castillo

Hey developers, learn the lesson. Talk to the neighborhood.

A GoLocal article on Wednesday about a Providence developer that is proposing to turn a now-vacant historically Black church in the Elmwood section of Providence into “micro lofts” — has drawn the attention of community leaders who have raised concerns about gentrification.

Now, it has infuriated the Council member who represents the area.

According to Councilwoman Carmen Castillo, the developers failed to notify the community of the project of the conversion plan.

Blue Dog Capital Partners, LLC was scheduled to appeard before the Providence Zoning Board of Review — via Zoom — on Wednesday evening, to present their application to rezone what was the Hood Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 126 Adelaide Street, from a “place of worship to a multi-family dwelling with 18 units.”

The plan drew the criticism of a number of Providence leaders and the failure to notify Castillo drew her ire.

In a statement, Castillo said:

"Tonight, the Providence Zoning Board of Review held a meeting to vote on a request for a zoning variance for the building located at 126 Adelaide Avenue. As the City Councilor for Ward Nine, where this property is located, I was not notified of the matter, nor was my community notified. This is unacceptable. "

HOT

John Goncalves - Providence's New Councilman

Goncalves is a Fox Point native and now at 29-years-old has been elected to represent Ward 1.

If you attended Fox Point Elementary aka Vartan Gregorian, then you have a good start to the credentials to represent the area.

NOT

Governor Gina Raimondo and Vice President Mike Pence

Raimondo did not wear a mask at Friday night's protest. She made the error after urging, prodding, and lecturing Rhode Islanders. She issued Executive Orders under emergency powers. The edicts were handed down as businesses were forced to close, workers lost their jobs, and love ones could not say goodbye to the dying.

Pence meet with Trump campaign workers for an internal rally and not one of them, including the VP, could be seen wearing a mask.

Pence is the head of the White House Task Force on the coronavirus.

Maybe the only science we actually know about the virus is that social distancing and wearing a mask limits the spread of the disease.

Raimondo and Pence actions prove that arrogance is a bipartisan trait.

NOT

RI's Secret Government

Want to know why your business was closed, why you lost your job, and or kids had three months of failed education?

Nearly three months after first requesting data on the coronavirus modeling developed by the administration of Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo -- data the administration said drove the Governor's decision-making process -- GoLocal received a bill for $3,900.

Raimondo first discussed the state's modeling and how the modeling data was driving her administration's decision-making in mid-March, but repeatedly refused to release the data to the public

After weeks of delays by Raimondo to release her administration's modeling data, GoLocal filed on April 3 a request for documents under the Access to Public Records Act. GoLocal first sought the modeling data on March 17. The modeling data drove the state's decision when to close businesses and schools. The implications of the decisions was to cause tens of thousands to be laid off.

Raimondo, under her executive powers, issued an Executive Order on March 16 that allowed governmental agencies to delay responses to requests for public information. 

The letter (see below) requires payment of $3,900 to process the request, and ends with, "Thank you for your interest in keeping government open and accountable to the public."

NOT

While Small Business Owners Were Being Looted He Was Vandalizing City Hall

The founder and owner of the downtown Providence wine bar Fortnight was an unlikely individual to be arrested for alleged vandalism during the rioting last Tuesday morning. 
While other businesses in the area were being vandalized, graffitied, windows broken and looted, Michael Da Cruz and an accomplice spray-painted on Providence City Hall, which is just blocks from the bar, "ACAB" --  an abbreviation for All Cops Are Bastards.

According to a police report, Da Cruz and the accomplice, Heather Jackson were followed and arrested at the bar.

According to state business records, DaCruz is the registered agent and he admitted to police that he owned and operated the wine bar. GoLocal has made repeated efforts to reach DaCruz.

NOT

Allie's Donuts

A week of incoherent chaos.

Owners of companies have every right to take a stand - but this saga was a bumbling, faux-apology-ridden bastion of confusion.

Allie's used to be in the class of Rhode Island favorites with Del's and Benny's. No more.