Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - May 8, 2020

HOT

Nurses

No profession in the world may be more appreciated than nurses.

They have the bravery of firefighters running into burning buildings coupled with the brilliance of rocket scientists planning a trip to Mars.

It's National Nurses Week, but they might deserve the whole year in 2020.

PHOTO: RI Nurses Institute

HOT

Majority Leader Joe "Money" Shekarchi

The guy who represents a legislative district has more money on hand than anyone running for mayor, governor, or any other state office.

Shekarchi is sitting on $1.1 million.

HOT

Housing Prices

Maybe the biggest surprise of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus is the stability of housing prices.

Supply is down, and prices are stable and edging upwards.

Zach Levesque with Northpointe Bank appeared on GoLocal LIVE, where he talked about the recently released April real estate numbers — and how low inventory is contributing to higher median price sales. 

"There’s right around 5200 active listings [right now in Rhode Island]. In April last year, it was a little over 6,400 listings. So the inventory is down which is not a big surprise, because fewer properties are coming to market, although you can list your property safely," he said. 

HOT

Hendricken's Jason Onye Commits to Notre Dame

Rockne, 'The Gipper," Montana, Onye...

Hendricken's Jason Onye is on his way to South Bend. The Hawks' standout football star now takes his athletic and academic talents to the most hallowed grounds.

Notre Dame just added a lot of new fans in Rhode Island.

NOT

Just Disgusting

The Newport Police Department is looking for information on who might be behind putting nails in hot dogs -- and placing them on lawns. 

On Tuesday morning, the department shared the following information. 

"On May 4th 2020 in the Thurston Ave area police responded to a report that a resident, while walking his dog noticed pieces of hot dogs scattered on the lawns, upon further checking it revealed that the hot dogs contained nails. 

The Newport Police are currently investigating this incident 

The department requests that anyone with information contact Detective Patrick Walsh at 401-845-5775."

NOT

Billionaire Slashes

John Henry is slashing away.

Apparently under the belief that "you must be able to take it with you," the owner of the Boston Globe owner is slashing staff and benefits at the newspaper.

According to Forbes, the 70-year-old Henry is worth $2.6 billion.

NOT

Record Penalty by Feds for Sinclair

Sinclair Broadcasting, the parent company of WJAR-10, has agreed to a record $48 million civil penalty to settle federal probes relating to its failed bid to take over Tribune Media Co. and other issues. 

The penalty was announced on Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This penalty is twice the prior record for a broadcaster, which was the $24 million paid by Univision in 2007, according to the FCC.   

“Sinclair’s conduct during its attempt to merge with Tribune was completely unacceptable,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “Today’s penalty, along with the failure of the Sinclair/Tribune transaction, should serve as a cautionary tale to other licensees seeking Commission approval of a transaction in the future.  On the other hand, I disagree with those who, for transparently political reasons, demand that we revoke Sinclair’s licenses.  While they don’t like what they perceive to be the broadcaster’s viewpoints, the First Amendment still applies around here.” 

NOT

Kent Hospital Laying Off Nurses

Seven registered nurses in the dialysis unit at Kent Hospital were laid off and replaced by a "questionable" for-profit company, charges Trish Criner, RN, President of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5008. 

"The nurses who have faithfully and compassionately served in the Kent dialysis unit have been an integral part of the hospital's COVID-19 response efforts. Care New England's decision to fire them at a time when they have been risking their own health and safety is both callous and reckless. Kent Hospital President Robert Haffey should be ashamed,” said Criner.

DaVita, a Denver-based, for-profit company, was chosen by Kent Hospital to manage in-patient dialysis care and replace the union nurses. Over the past decade, DaVita has paid more than a billion dollars in settlements with the U.S. Justice Department and whistleblower payments, according to Justice Department documents and press reports.

According to the United States Justice Department, DaVita settled with the government and was forced to pay $350 million for illegal kickbacks in 2014.

DaVita and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached settlements for hundreds of millions

In a landmark case, DaVita paid a record whistleblower settlement, the Denver Post reported in 2015. "DaVita HealthCare Partners said Monday it will pay up to $495 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit accusing the Denver company of defrauding the federal Medicare program of millions of dollars. The company, which said it does not admit any wrongdoing, has now settled its third whistle-blower lawsuit since 2012, with payouts totaling nearly $1 billion," wrote the Post. 

In 2017 the Justice Department wrote, "HealthCare Partners Holdings LLC, doing business as DaVita Medical Holdings LLC has agreed to pay $270 million to resolve its False Claims Act liability for providing inaccurate information that caused Medicare Advantage Plans to receive inflated Medicare payments, the Justice Department announced today. DaVita is headquartered in El Segundo, California." 

“DaVita has been accused of manipulating lower-income patients into an insurance scheme to drive up their own profits. President Haffey's questionable judgment in this matter will undoubtedly jeopardize patient care for the want of marginal fiscal return, and we will not forget,” added Criner.

According to an article in the Denver Post in 2017, “Dialysis giant DaVita is accused in a federal lawsuit of misleading shareholders in an elaborate effort to inflate its financials by intentionally steering poor patients toward private insurers that paid 10 times more for dialysis treatments than the government.”

NOT

Raimondo's Disappearing Data

GoLocal unveiled this week that the number of positive cases in Central Falls shows a prevalence of infection 50% higher than New York City. 

Now, the Department of Health has refused to provide updated numbers for Central Falls (and all cities and towns) for four consecutive days.

RI & Fraud During Pandemic

Let's see the Federal Trade Commission has taken action against one Rhode Island business, then the Department of Justice's first prosecution for fraud under the stimulus act was in Rhode Island, and the FBI is investigating massive fraud at the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

We're #1.