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#1 NBA Analyst on the Earth

Former Providence College women's basketball great Doris Burke is now the top NBA analyst on ESPN.

She was an All-American at PC.

Pow!

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RI Is the Best, Just Ask Olivia

In announcing that her wedding would be held in Rhode Island, model and actress and former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo said in a TikTok video:

“I have to say there is a lot of pride from our little state,” she said. “This is the smallest state in the country, for those of you who are maybe from the country and don’t know that.” Culpo said. “It's the best state in the entire world and…I’m getting married here! Aaaah!”

PHOTO: Courtesy of Imperial Pearl

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Creative Innovation 

WaterFire Providence announces the launch of ArtLab@WaterFire: Creative Labs, a new and free workshop series for families of all ages to ignite their creativity and make art together.

Hosted on weekends at the WaterFire Arts Center (WFAC), these workshops are available to kids and families of all ages and will be taught by local artists in the Rhode Island community, including artists from WaterFire Accelerate. Space is limited for each workshop. 

“WaterFire is proud to announce the second phase of ArtLab@WaterFire with Creative Labs, free artmaking workshops for families of all ages. We are grateful for the support from the Papitto Opportunity Connection, as well as the dedication of our local artists. At WaterFire, we believe in the power of art to bring families together, and we're excited to provide a platform for creativity and collaboration at the WaterFire Arts Center,” says Peter A. Mello, Managing Director + coCEO of WaterFire Providence. 

PHOTO: Michael Rose

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Peralta's Vision

GoLocal's art columnist, Michael Rose, takes a look at the talented artist Adolfo Peralta.

Rhode Island enjoys a vibrant community of artists, but certain individuals stand out. At just twenty-seven years old, local artist Adolfo Peralta is an extremely talented painter with a unique skill for abstracted figuration. With a bright career ahead of him, he is an artist to know.

Peralta earned a BA in Digital Media and a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island College, where he graduated in 2019. Although he started by studying digital media, he quickly discovered a love for painting and worked diligently to complete a degree program in that area of study too. He earned the Rhode Island College Art Talent Award in 2017 and 2018 and exhibited his work at RIC as well as at CCRI and URI. He is currently a student in RISD’s Animation Certificate program.

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The Republicans Finally Elect a Speaker - Now Government Can Function 

After more than three weeks of vacancy, the House of Representatives has elected a speaker.

The House voted 220-209 Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as speaker.

Now, with a speaker now in place, the House will get back to work, with strong support to pass aid to Israel and address a looming government-funding deadline next month.

The House and the White House are expected to battle over a new Ukraine aid package.

Johnson is a big Donald Trump supporter and was an election denier.

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It Is Ridiculous that ACLU and GoLocalProv Are Forced to Sue Providence Schools Over Failure to Disclose Public Contract Bids

Cooperating attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island have filed a lawsuit against the Providence Public School District (PPSD) and the City of Providence on behalf of GoLocalProv for providing late and inappropriately redacted public records information about a controversial bidding process for a multimillion-dollar “integrated facilities services” for the school district.  

The suit comes after months of controversy around the bidding process for the $72 million-a-year contract.

The winner of the contract, ABM Industries, allegedly received a chance to enter an extra bid after its competitors, providing an unfair advantage. However, documentation of each proposal and the awarding of the contract was not released by PPSD or the City for residents to review.

New Lawsuit Filed

GoLocalProv has been investigating the story and made an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request to PPSD for the bids made by the three prospective contractors.

The documents that PPSD eventually provided were heavily redacted, and appeared to completely remove financial information from the bids — the very information that GoLocal wanted to review and report on to taxpayers.

The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island Superior Court by ACLU cooperating attorneys Fausto Anguilla and Lynette Labinger, argues that GoLocal “has a legal right to obtain the requested documents withheld and the requested documents redacted without redactions, and no legal basis exists for Defendants’ failure to disclose them in full.” 

The complaint notes that the Request For Proposals for the bid specifically stated that “all material submitted” by vendors in response to the RFP “shall be considered to be public records…without exception.”

The complaint further alleges that the city’s "Home Rule Charter" requires sealed bids to be opened at a public meeting. Page after page of some of the documents provided to GoLocal are completely blacked out. 

The suit also places PPSD at fault for not responding to GoLocal’s APRA request within the statute’s required ten-day response time without requesting an extension. The suit seeks a court order requiring that all the records be turned over immediately and the imposition of a fine and award of attorneys’ fees.

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The Headline From Smiley's Office Reads:

"Mayor Brett Smiley Invests $13 Million Across 39 Parks and Greenspaces throughout the City."

Just one problem: it is not true.

$6 million of the $13 million was money assigned under Jorge Elorza.

Please, Mayor, don't be that guy. The bar is pretty low to be better than your predecessor.

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Will the Mass Murder in Maine Spark Democrats to Pass a Ban on Assault Rifles?

The following officeholders in Rhode Island are Democrats:

Governor

Lt. Governor 

Secretary of State

General Treasurer

Attorney General

Speaker of the House

Senate President 

But, yet, there is no ban of assault weapons.

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Former President Donald Trump

Multiple lawyers and top staffers turned against the former President this week.

And, he got fined $10,000 for violating a gag order.