Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - September 14, 2018

HOT

Gina Raimondo

The sitting Democrat Governor has approval ratings in under 50 percent. Matt Brown was supposed to be able to channel the energy and frustration of progressive voters and merge them with the ABG types -- anyone but Gina.

But, Raimondo's organization and fundraising advantage fueled a media and GOTV effort that led the Governor to a significant victory. Next up: Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and Independent Joe Walsh. 

HOT

Agriculture in Olneyville

A new initiative between the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) and Southside Community Land Trust to bring community gardening and farming to Olneyville was announced on GoLocal LIVE on Monday.

The effort spearheaded by Councilwoman Sabina Matos and NBC Chairman Vincent Mesolella will help to transform a key parcel into a community farm. The initiative is being developed in conjunction with the Southside Community Land Trust, who provides technical assistance to urban farmers and community gardens across Rhode Island.

The partnership transforms the land — best known in the community as the former George’s Tire location on Valley Street into a significant community farm which is being organized by residents in the community.

HOT

Mary Halsey

Rhode Islander Mary Halsey, who became famous for her rendition of Missy Elliott’s “Work It” appeared with Ellen DeGeneres on "Ellen."

Halsey was joined by Elliott herself, who gave Halsey a "funky white sister" tee, which is what Halsey dubbed herself on the original karaoke video. 

Latest for Halsey

Halsey’s appearance on Ellen comes just over a month after a video of her singing “Work It” went viral on Facebook.

Halsey received support from such celebrities as Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott herself.

The video is currently up to over 13 million views.

HOT

Women in Providence

Next January when the new Providence City Council is sworn in, the majority of the members will be women.

Three of the seats shifted from being held by men to being held by women.

Ward 2 Helen Anthony

Ward 12 Kat Kerwin

Ward 13 Rachel Miller

NOT

Gina Raimondo’s Production Company, Putnam

Is Cranston near Iceland?

The day after the primary should have been a victory lap for Gina Raimondo, but instead, the focus shifted to the new Raimondo negative ad that claimed that Cranston is a city in distress and that Fung is an incompetent leader. 

A few problems. 

1) The ad shows footage of Providence.

2) The failure to properly review the ad reminds voters of the Raimondo administration's blunder in which a Rhode Island tourism video included footage from Iceland.

3) The ad somehow insults both Providence and Cranston.

Reminder to Raimondo's campaign -- the Governor is the leader of both the largest and the second largest cities. If Providence and Cranston are both in distress, then what does that say about Raimondo's leadership.

NOT

Justice Delayed

What looked to be the first sign of good news for the 2,700 members of the failed St. Joseph pension fund just last week turned into another legal joust and delay by the plethora of attorneys representing multiple corporate entities tied to the failed St. Joseph pension fund.

Leading the fight to block the transfer more than $11 million from the CharterCARE Foundation to the receivership was lawyers for the Attorneys for Attorney General Peter Kilmartin and CharterCARE Foundation.

NOT

CVS Customer Satisfaction

According to the quality ranking service J.D. Power, CVS ranks below the industry average for customer satisfaction.

The rankings released last week ranked Good Neighbor Pharmacy, a group of 4,500 independent pharmacies across the country as the best in America. There are none in Rhode Island, but two in nearby Fall River.

Both Health Mart and Rite Aid ranked above the chain drug store average.

CVS did rank above Walgreens.

The U.S. pharmacy industry, historically one of the most customer-centric industries measured by J.D. Power, continues to set a high bar for delivering superior levels of customer satisfaction in both the brick-and-mortar and mail-order segments, according to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Pharmacy Study, SM released today. “Among the key factors driving the highest levels of customer satisfaction are the availability of health and wellness services in brick-and-mortar pharmacies and the timeliness of delivery for mail order pharmacies,” said J.D. Power.

NOT

Oops

Election night races are not limited to political candidates.  

The race among the media to be first to call the winner of a contest before it's official is a gamble -- and sometimes it doesn't pay off.

WPRI-12 called the wrong winner in the Cumberland Democratic mayoral primary on Wednesday, before issuing a correction. 

WPRI initially reported that incumbent Mayor William Murray was the primary victor, only to issue a correction that challenger Jeffrey Mutter was, in fact, the winner. 

The miscue is not the first in Rhode Island history. In the effort to call the race first in the highly contested 1994 Governor's race, WJAR-10 announced that Democratic candidate Myrth York had defeated Republican candidate Lincoln Almond. 

In fact, Almond beat York by nearly 14,000 votes. Almond received 171,194 and York 157,361.

Almond went on to beat York again in 1998 and Republican Don Carcieri beat York in 2002.

When 100% of the vote was in, Mutter garnered 3105 votes -- good for a 53.1% victory, to Murray's 2747 votes (46.9%).