HOT

John Lombardi

The former Acting Mayor of Providence, City Council President, and current state representative (and municipal judge) might not yet be finished adding accolades to his already stellar political resume. Lombardi has been quietly putting together votes within the House of Representatives that could potentially place him atop House Leadership--and perhaps at the very top if current House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello falls short in his reelection bid. Keep your eye on Lombardi.

HOT

Ann Assumpico

The 24-year veteran of the Rhode Island State Police who serves as the Director of Training for the Rhode Island State Police and the Department of Public Safety, will become the 13th Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police in its 91 year history. The honor is well-deserved as Assumpico seems qualified for the job. Best of luck to the first woman to lead our honorable state police!

Photo: YWCA/twitter

HOT

Nellie Gorbea

The Secretary of State received some good press in article in this month’s Governing Magazine, which points out that unlike most states, Rhode Island has recently replaced its decades old voting machines, thanks to Gorbea’s leadership and foresight by lobbying the state legislature to pay for new equipment. That means Rhode Islanders can have more confidence in the accuracy of the vote counting and expect shorter voting lines next Tuesday thanks to more efficient equipment. 

HOT

Scottye Lindsey

The long-time executive from Deutsche Bank was appointed the state’s new Department of Business Regulation Director. Lindsey certainly has the experience to be successful in the position, and thus far, he’s saying the right things--namely, that he wants to focus on improving the state’s business climate so as to make it easier to do business in Rhode Island.  

HOT

Alan Hassenfeld

The former CEO of Hasbro, who is now a Florida resident (he must like that whole no income tax thing), has poured in roughly $59,000 to support the ballot question that will restore the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission over the state legislature. That’s a generous donation that will only serve to make sure that Rhode Island gets at least some of the ethics reform we need going forward. Hassenfeld deserves credit for making these donations that will benefit everyone, not just one particular special interest group. 

HOT

Providence Lady Project

The organization that showcases women doing excellent things in business, nonprofits, and elsewhere is hosting its first annual gala event at Barnaby Castle, located at 299 Broadway in Providence on Saturday, November 12. The event will also be a good networking experience for Rhode Island professionals.

HOT

Frank Williams

The former Supreme Court Chief Justice is one of the busiest retired men you could ever imagine. He worked to help settle the pension lawsuit between the state and retirees, helped hammer out settlements over the 38 Studios lawsuit, and now this week, he’s been appointed to try and help settle a lawsuit between the state and Hewlett Packard over the mishaps with the computers over at the DMV. 

HOT

Luca + Danni

The Cranston company closed a seven figure round of funding from Boston-based PJC (formerly Point Judith Capital). Luca + Danni’s CEO Fred Magnanimi is building a special kind of company tapping Rhode Island’s design and old school manufacturing talent. Keep an eye on this company.

NOT

Gina Raimondo

The Governor of Rhode Island has been noticeably absent from the campaign trail this election season. We haven’t seen her campaign for House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (in fact, he’s taken big steps to distance himself from her) or other members of the state legislature. The Governor needs to start finding ways to win over the people of Rhode Island, or no amount of money will save her from their 2018 election day wrath.

NOT

Newspaper Industry

This week’s announcement that the banks who were planning to finance the acquisition of Tronc Inc., by Gannet Publishing, had backed out of the deal, effectively killed any chance for the publisher of the USA today to acquire the publisher of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times and so many other papers across the country. The idea behind the purchase was to build a large economy of scale so that Gannet could cut costs to maintain profitability. This failure calls into question whether either paper will be able to meet those challenges on their own, and is a bad harbinger for the legacy media as a whole. The recent revenue numbers at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal were equally bleak. If the giants cannot adapt to a changing market, what newspaper can?

NOT

Hillary Clinton

Could the Democratic candidate still somehow snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just last week it seemed like Clinton would easily cruise to victory, but since the revelations that the FBI will review additional emails related to their previously closed case, the polls have appeared to narrow. It still seems like Clinton is a heavy favorite to become the next President of the United States, but the recent turn of events has to be unsettling for the front runner. 

NOT

Sheldon Whitehouse

According to the Wikileaks released emails hacked from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta, Whitehouse apparently urged the Clinton campaign to tie then-Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders to Republican Party strategist Karl Rove, saying that Rove was trying to help the ascent of Sanders. Comparing Sanders to Rove is a tactic that Rove himself would approve of, and that’s not something which Whitehouse should be proud.

NOT

URI Football

At what point is enough, enough? Last weekend’s savage 84-7 thrashing at the hands of James Madison, is really just the exclamation point. The Rams football program has been a bitter disappointment for decades now--so coaching alone cannot take the blame. It’s time that URI followed the likes of schools like Northeastern, Boston University and Hofstra--drop football and invest the money in more successful programs at the school.

NOT

Clinton Foundation

One of the biggest bombshells unveiled by the Wikileaks hacked emails was a leaked memo written by long-time Clinton gopher Doug Band, which outlines a pretty blatant mixing of politics, personal Clinton family business, and charity work all done at The Clinton Foundation--not exactly something that should be taking place at a 501-c3, which is only supposed to be taking part in charity work. That’s just one more piece of evidence as to why Hillary Clinton isn’t as far ahead as she should be in next Tuesday’s election.