HOT

Central Falls Police Officers

On Saturday, January 28, Central Falls Police Officer Yomaira Rodriguez spotted a burning home and called in Sergeant Derrick Levasseur and Officer Bari Cameron both of which quickly arrived on the scene and entered the home. The three officers saved 7 people who were living there. The situation shows us that superheroes do, in fact, exist in society today. 

HOT

Raymond Marshall

The Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission won the Elizabeth A. Cutone Leadership Award from the New England Water Environment Association for his leadership of the commission. Marshall received the award for having overseen hundreds of millions of dollars in construction projects that have benefitted the environment tremendously. 

HOT

Judge Frank Caprio

A video of the Providence Municipal Chief Judge in Providence dismissing a ticket of a woman who parked in a parking spot 2 seconds early went viral on youtube this week.

Why can’t every other single department in  Providence be as efficient as parking meter enforcement? 

HOT

Matt Glendinning

The Head of the Moses Brown School could literally begin a career as the star of some kind of a cover band. Two years ago, he released a video announcing the closing of school due to snow to Disney’s “Let it go”. Last year, he announced the school’s closure to the tune of Adele’s “Hello”. And on Wednesday, he used his talents to announce the school’s closure on Thursday to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling”. I love this guy’s creativity. 

HOT

Donald Trump

Norwegian Airlines has selected T.G. Green Airport to to begin service this summer to the United states, featuring international flights from Green with fares as low as $69 to Europe. The other airlines are going to lobby the federal government to block the service, but on Tuesday, Trump’s spokesman indicated that the President views the deal as pro-US Jobs. Good for Trump, as he’s right--not to mention this will be a big win for the state’s economy. 

HOT

Iftikhar Ahmad

The Rhode Island Airport Corporation’s landing of Ahmad is already paying huge dividends, with the announcement that Norwegian Airlines has selected T.G. Green to begin international flights this summer. Expect more success in the future, given his track record. Ahmad, in a similar post in New Orleans, increased passenger growth by 36%. Let’s hope he can do something similar here. 

HOT

Isaiah Thomas

He’s only 5’9, but that hasn’t stopped this Boston Celtics superstar from averaging 30 points a game this season, and leading his team to second place in the eastern conference standings, while breathing down the necks of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thomas is proving what true basketball fans understand, heart, not height is the key to success--and oh yeah, speed.

NOT

Philip Thornton

The Superintendent of the Warwick School System deserves some serious criticism for his decision to allow a student who threatened another student with gun violence to return to school. There should be 0.0 percent tolerance for these types of threats, particularly in a case like this, in which police officers found multiple weapons at the student’s home. We’re living in a post Columbine world. Students have a right to feel safe at school. Threats of violence like this shouldn’t be tolerated. 

NOT

Mayor Jorge Elorza

The Mayor wasn’t exactly who the thousands of folks gathered at the Dunkin Donuts Center for the rally to celebrate the super bowl victory were looking for, as evidenced by the round of boos he received just before speaking. Often times, when politicians seek to capitalize on the success of the local sports teams, there’s blowback. Next time, might be better not to speak at all, and let the fans see their sports heroes sooner rather than later.

NOT

Boston Globe

Oops. The Boston Globe’s early edition paper contained the headline “A Bitter End.” That seemed like a reasonable guess when the paper went to print at half time, with the Falcons up multiple touchdowns. Except the Patriots roared back to win the game in overtime. Ah, the hassles of having to print a paper. 

NOT

Mitch McConnell

The US Senate Majority Leader did nothing to help the GOP by referencing an arcane US Senate rule to silence Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) from reading a letter that Coretta Scott King had written decades ago (1986) to oppose the nomination of Jeff Sessions to become a federal judge over concerns that he had used his powers as a US Attorney to suppress the minority vote. Sessions, later was confirmed to become the US Attorney by a near party line vote in the US Senate. However, Warren raised valid concerns, and preventing her from speaking does help “the world’s greatest deliberative body” live up to its name. What a shame. 

NOT

Municipal Pension Plans

GoLocal MINDSETTER™ Michael Riley points out that the severely underfunded municipal pension plans in Rhode Island have done little to address their deficiencies since the report of the commission formed to address this issue concluded its work almost 5 years ago.

None of this is surprising, of course, because the few who actually attended the meeting (like your’s truly) could see that the folks on the commission (with three mayors, Alan Fung and Joseph Polisena, and Angel Taveras being the exceptions) didn’t take it very seriously to begin with. However, don’t be surprised to see pensions eating into funding for everything else (road repairs, schools, recreation programs) as we move forward.

NOT

Niko

The mega-storm blanketed Southern New England with snow on Thursday, closing down the state government, schools, and multiple businesses. It’s winter in New England, so we’re always going to get a few big snowstorms every year. But that doesn’t make them any less painful or annoying.