Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - May 29, 2020

HOT

Tom Sweeney

Sweeney is the recipient of the Boys & Girls Club of America 2020 Roy McBean Memorial State Alliance Board Member of the Year Award.

Sweeney, who is owner of Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal, is being recognized for the honor at BGCA’s National Conference being held virtually this year on May 27.  

“We are so proud, but not surprised, that Tom was selected from a nation-wide group of remarkable competitors,” declared Boys and Girls Club of Warwick Executive Director Lara D’Antuono.

“Tom’s efforts on behalf of Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Rhode Island resulted in targeted planning for financial growth, which in turn generates greater opportunity for thousands of children. With opportunity,” she continued. “Kids get real chances to improve skills, explore life-enhancing interests and receive positive mentoring that stimulates greater individual achievements while guiding development toward becoming contributing, productive citizens.”

Beginning in 2017, Sweeney led the Rhode Island alliance through a three-year strategic planning process that produced a 27% increase in funding and saw every Club across the state increase their year-round advocacy engagement from 2018 to 2019.

“This is a great honor,” said Sweeney. “But more important than being recognized for my efforts, I‘m truly grateful for being in a position that helps Rhode Island’s Boys & Girls Clubs increase support that is essential for continuous growth. The Clubs must always be expanding resources to ensure every child is able to access meaningful activities outside of school where they can learn, explore, and develop interests and skills that will not only improve their own lives, but contribute to the advancement of their community and our state.” 

HOT

Andy Moffit

The first gentleman scores a new gig. Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo’s husband is departing global consulting giant McKinsey & Company for a Boston-based artificial intelligence technology firm.

“PathAI is thrilled to announce our first Chief People Officer, Andy Moffit. Andy joins our team from McKinsey & Company, where he spent nearly 20 years serving clients in the education and financial services sectors on strategic and organizational issues, and in internal leadership roles focused on talent, capability-building and learning development. Most recently, he served as Global Head of Capabilities of McKinsey Accelerate," said the company in a statement.

The company has raised approximately $90 million in venture capital funding according to Crunchbase.

"It's an incredible opportunity to bring Andy's breadth of experience and expertise in organizational development to PathAI. I can't think of a better person to join us now as we rapidly grow our team and continue to build our capabilities focused on the goal of improving patient outcomes with AI-Powered pathology,” said Andrew Beck CEO of the company.

PathAI dubs itself as developing cutting-edge technology that promises to better diagnose—and treat—some of today's most challenging diseases, according to the company’s website

Moffit posted on social media Wednesday night, “Thanks for the warm welcome and all the kind notes. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be part of the PathAI team. I'm excited to help build & scale a very special organization, comprised of a diverse set of talented colleagues with a shared goal of improving patient outcomes with AI-powered pathology.”

HOT

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Charles Barkley

Sunday's "The Match" was a great distraction, raised $20 million for charities, and showed why sports matter.

Tom Brady had the shot of the day, but he and Phil Mickelson lost by a stroke, proving once again that Brady is nothing without Coach Bill Belichick.

NOT

Minneapolis

A disaster. An African-American man George Floyd in police custody dies while handcuffed.

Riots.

A police station burned.

Stores looted and torched.

A CNN reporter - a man of color - arrested live on TV.

NOT

RIPTA

A RIPTA bus driver is raising concerns that there are no plans for direct beach service this summer on weekends — with more Rhode Island beaches expected to be reopened starting June 1.

“This means families in Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, North Providence, Cranston, Johnston, and Providence will have no express bus to beaches, going or return trip,” said Joe Cole, a veteran RIPTA driver. “They would have to take regular service, which leaves only Providence — and it takes an hour and half on a good day.”

“The Governor should reinstate the service, especially when people have no other travel plans, and especially in the low-income areas,” said Cole.

NOT

PPAC Closure

Heartbreaking.

The Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) has announced it is not planning on reopening until 2021.

In a newsletter to patrons on Wednesday, PPAC said it plans to reopen in January, with the national tour launch of The Prom.

“The safety and well-being of our audiences and staff eclipse all other concerns — nothing is more important to us,” wrote PPAC.

“In addition to following state and national pandemic guidance, we are taking a very cautious and measured approach to the reopening of PPAC, which is now slated for January 2021,” they continued. 

PPAC's Lynn Singleton was recognized by GoLocalProv as "19 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2019," after a banner year highlighted by landing the hugely successful Hamilton.

NOT

RI Hospital

An organizer of a group of students who have been placing post-it notes of support on essential workers’ cars for weeks says security at Rhode Island Hospital removed them on Wednesday at the direction of the hospital. 

“The Kindness Crew and I have been carrying out community kindness waves at the hospitals and local essential workers job places for the last 8 weeks placing over 3,000 kindness post-its on essential workers cars with great feedback from the essential workers as to how it lifted them up at the end of their workdays,” said Rose Molina. 

Molina, who is a school social worker, leads the “crew” from Juanita Sanchez High School in Providence, who have an Instagram page with over 400 posts and 900 followers.

“Today security at Rhode Island Hospital stopped us from continuing our mission at lot C1 as we placed post-its noting ‘it must be approved by marketing.’ Shortly after, we watched the security guards taking them off all the cars we just placed the post-its on. Thanks. I’m not sure why they felt the need to do that as well,” said Molina. 

NOT

Lack of Consistency 

Cranston father Jonathan Keith took to social media on Sunday to vent his frustration at finding places for his two young kids to play, with restrictions still in place in Rhode Island. 

As GoLocal was first to report:

Keith first took his children to Wilson Park in North Kingstown, where he was told by an officer they couldn’t play on the playground — but the adjacent basketball courts were filled with adults playing. 

“When this is okay but two kids playing here are not…thanks for kicking us out,” wrote Keith, posting the side by side photos, adding, “It’s not about your health.”

Currently, social gatherings in Rhode Island are still restricted to five or fewer people. 

"25-30 grown men were playing a physical contact sport," said Keith. 

“[The] officer in North Kingstown told us state parks are open,” Keith continued, who then went to Goddard State Park. “Pulled in and was told the park was at capacity, turn around and leave….I explained that we were just turned away from a playground down the street and were directed to come to a State Park.”

Keith said they tried another way in, but at that point, it was “too late” for him and his kids. 

“We later found out at another gate the capacity was for cars not people. We parked down the street and walked back. By the time we got back to the gate, they were letting additional cars in,” he said. 

“Then my 5-year-old had to pee. I had to run the half-mile back to the car to drive back pick her up and find a bathroom because public restrooms are closed,” said Keith. 

“We ended up sitting on the grass outside of a restaurant next to the parking lot eating lunch," he said. 

NOT

Coronavirus Spread

Scientists have modeled the spread of infectious coronavirus droplets from coughing, sneezing, and breathing under different atmospheric conditions, and found that the novel coronavirus can spread up to three times further in cold and humid weather.

This new research may change how we should plan against the deadly disease.

According to the researchers, including those from the University of California (UC) Santa Barbara, droplets carrying the virus can travel up to 20 feet, making the current social distancing norms of six-feet insufficient to contain its spread.

IMAGE: JAMA Video

“Our model suggests that the 6 feet of social distance recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be insufficient in certain environmental conditions, as the droplet spreading distance can be as long as 19.7 feet in cold and humid weather,” the scientists wrote in the study.

The researchers report that wearing a face mask can effectively lower the chance of transmission via aerosol particles, according to the researchers.

The researchers said the risk of infection from large droplets can be mitigated by practicing social distancing.

The infection range of large droplets, they said, is limited to a relatively short distance, since they are more sensitive to gravity and can settle on a surface before drying. If these droplets happen to land on the upper body of another person, viruses can easily enter them by face-touching and eye-rubbing.