slides: Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - March 3, 2017

Friday, March 03, 2017

Russ Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

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Russ Moore

Every Friday, GoLocalProv's Russ Moore breaks down who is rising and who is falling in RI politics, business, and sports. Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both for newspapers and on political campaigns. 

 

Related Slideshow: Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - March 3, 2017

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HOT

Nicholas Mattiello

A new study by Wallethub.com has found that Rhode Island has the highest car tax rates, on average, in the country. That’s a bad distinction to have and it gives a lot of weight to the House Speaker’s argument that the regressive tax should be completely eliminated in order to benefit all Rhode Islanders. 

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HOT

Viola Davis

The superstar actress who grew up in Central Falls won her first Oscar last Sunday night for her role for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” for the movie “Fences." Her winning speech featured exactly the kind of grace and class that we’ve come to expect from the A-list actress. 

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HOT

Allan Fung

The Mayor of Cranston hasn’t officially declared that he’s going to challenge Governor Gina Raimondo for the state’s top job once again, but he sure sounded like he wants to throw his hat in the ring during an interview on GoLocal LIVE earlier this week. Fung hinted at what will be his strategy during the 2018 election if he does decide to run, namely, contrasting the economic development he’s overseen in Cranston, at Chapel View and Garden City, which were done without taxpayer subsidies, against the heavily subsidized schemes spearheaded by the Raimondo administration.  

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HOT

The Stock Market

Say what you want about the Trump Presidency thus far, but one thing cannot be argued--it’s been tremendous for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrials continue to close at record levels, despite a plethora of economists predicting that a Trump ascension to The White House would have an adverse impact on stock prices. Let’s hope this trend continues as it’s an indicator of a strong economy.  

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HOT

Jo’s American Bistro

The Newport eatery won the inaugural Newport Burger Bender contest thanks to the tastiness of their bacon onion jam burger, which is made of ground beef, topped with Dijon, bacon onion jam, cheddar cheese, and house made special sauce. As someone who loves a great burger more than the average guy, I’ll be sure to put this on my list of burgers to try in the upcoming weeks. 

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HOT

URI Men’s Basketball

It’s been a disappointing season, but the URI men’s basketball team still has a shot at making the NCAA tournament after beating Virginia Commonwealth University last week, and making it to 20 wins with their victory over Saint Joseph's on Wednesday night. With a win on Saturday, and a good run in the Atlantic-10 Tournament, Rhody might very well be dancing on selection Sunday! Let’s keep our fingers crossed as it would be awesome to see both Providence College and URI in. 

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NOT

Gina Raimondo

The Governor rolled out a new tourism campaign this week, and it’s costing taxpayers roughly $4.3 million. The problem is, it’s a result of the botched tourism campaign that made the state of Rhode Island a national joke thanks to a goofy slogan and out-of-state companies making videos with footage from another country. Hopefully the companies selected for this expensive do-over have much more success than their predecessors. 

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NOT

James Langevin

The Congressman sent out a highly critical press release criticizing President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address that took place on Tuesday night, stating that it was long on rhetoric and short on details. Yet most impartial observers thought the President’s speech was largely conciliatory rhetoric and was considered it a nice step forward for Trump after a rocky start to his presidency. Langevin’s criticism hint that he may not be inclined to give Trump a chance to find solutions that both parties can unite behind. 

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NOT

East Providence

Has Townie Pride become shame? GoLocal reports that East Providence, is being plagued by a series of blunders, instability, and chaos. Whether it’s the fact that the city’s HR Director sued the city for sexual harassment in 2016 — and is now being sued for discrimination by a long time African-American employee, or that there’s been a botched fire academy rollout hat forced the city to scrap the process, and the fact that the city has seen five Town Managers in the last six years. 

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NOT

Newspapers

When the Oracle of Omaha speaks (legendary investor Warren Buffet), people listen and for good reason--he’s one of the most successful speculators in history. So it was a bad omen for the newspaper industry this week when Buffet said that there are only 2-3 newspapers that have an “assured future”, given that most haven’t figured out how to survive in an internet dominated world. 

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NOT

Bomb Threat

Providence Police responded to a bomb threat at the Jewish Community Center in Providence’s East Side on Monday morning. Fortunately, the threat was non-credible, and the area was cleared. But this type of hatred and anti-semitism has no place in our society and hopefully this is an isolated incident and not a regular pattern. 

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NOT

Joe Trillo

I personally don’t care much for the opinions of elite celebrities myself, but suggesting that we boycott the concerts and shows of any entertainers who have different opinions than we do doesn’t seem like a realistic or reasonable approach. In fact, it sounds a lot like Trillo is looking to create his own self-imposed “safe spaces” so that he doesn’t have to hear the opinions of anyone whom he disagrees with. And we know this column feels about safe spaces!

 

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