Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - August 5

HOT

Nellie Gorbea

The Secretary of State launched the state’s new Online Voter Registration portal, which will allow eligible voters to register or update their information. The move helps fulfill her campaign promise to modernize the state’s elections and facilitate the electoral and voting process. This also gives Gorbea another feather in the cap of her promising political career. 

HOT

Nicholas Mattiello

The House Speaker is getting some astute political advice, presumably from his newly hired seasoned and savvy political operative Jeff Britt. And to his credit—he’s taking it. Mattiello was the first major Democrat to call for the release of the documentation from the 38 studio’s investigation. The week prior, Mattiello called on Providence Representative John Carnevale to abandon his reelection efforts. Both moves should help his reelection campaign.

HOT

Rhode Island International Film Festival

The 20th edition of the film festival will kick off on August 9, and feature 273 films over a six day period, with locations in Providence, Newport, Jamestown and Woonsocket. The films will showcase actors such as James Brolin, Melissa McBride of The Walking Dead, Karen Allen, Ciaran Hinds and Danny Clover. Definitely check out some of these movies if you get a chance.

HOT

Providence State legislators

A group of Providence’s state representatives have come forward in opposition to a plan by National Grid to develop a new fracked gas liquefaction facility at Fields Point in South Providence. They oppose the plan because it will not benefit the community, but could pose a dangerous threat due to the possibility of explosion, and will ultimately harm the environment.

The legislators who came out in opposition were Joseph S. Almeida (D-Dist. 12, Providence), Grace Diaz (D-Dist. 11, Providence), Aaron Regunberg (D-Dist. 4, Providence), Chris Blazejewski (D-Dist. 2, Providence) and John J. Lombardi (D-Dist. 8, Providence) Representative Edith Ajello (D-Dist. 3, Providence)  and Senators Juan Pichardo (D-Dist. 2, Providence), Gayle Goldin (D-Dist. 3, Providence) and Sen. Harold M. Metts (D-Dist. 6, Providence) 

HOT

Hillary Clinton

The Democratic nominee for President of the United States has come out of the convention strong, with several polls since then showing her with a healthy lead over controversial Republican nominee Donald Trump. Of course, it’s helped that Trump has repeatedly shot himself in the foot as of late, most strikingly, and inexplicably, by choosing to engage in a back and forth argument through the media with Khizr Khan, whose son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, died in Iraq in 2004 while serving the USA. In any event, at this moment, Clinton appears poised to become the next President of the United States.

HOT

James Develin

The former Brown University star and New England Patriot who broke his leg early in the season last year tells GoLocal that it was a long road back, but through hard work and dedication he is once again doing what he does best, block opposing NFL defenders. Develin has been a full participant in training camp and that’s a good sign for his prospects this year. 

NOT

Peter Kilmartin

RI Attorney General Peter Kilmartin is having his worst week in the news since he won the office in 2010. Kilmartin has come under fire from scores of politicians and good government groups for refusing to release the documentation from the 38 studios investigation. For his part, Kilmartin believes doing so would be unwise, since it would preclude the state from charging anyone with a crime should new information arise--yet few seem to be buying that argument,

NOT

Seth Magaziner

One of the hallmarks of Magaziner’s campaign for General Treasurer in 2014 was him stressing the importance of achieving strong returns in order to keep the fund’s health intact. How true. But Magaziner is failing by his own standards as the previous fiscal year’s return on investment was negative .27 percent. It will be interesting to see how the fund stacks up against all the other major funds across the county as more results are announced in the upcoming weeks.

NOT

Gina Raimondo

The former Governor also deserves a share of the blame for the pension fund’s poor performance since she told us that her hedge fund strategy, which drastically increased the fees paid to Wall Street money managers, would protect the fund in bad markets. So far, all those investments have done is cost the fund money at the expense of taxpayers and retirees. Meanwhile, those same hedge funds are getting hammered on a daily basis by the national press. At what point does she admit that she was wrong?

NOT

Spagnola, Gisness & Associates

As GoLocal architecture critic Will Morgan points out, this is the Boston-based design firm that designed the new jewelry district located garage located near the new Rhode Island Nursing Education Center that looks almost nothing like their initial artistic drawings. “Providence is getting another dark and depressing maze that will do absolutely nothing to nurture our collective civic spirit”, Morgan points out.

NOT

Ricky Caruolo

The General Manager of the Providence Water Supply Board was a bit dismissive of a GoLocal inquiry into why there were open discharge hoses at five East Side locations 24 hours a day for the past 17 days—a clear waste of water. Shortly after the inquiry, the hoses were turned off, and Caruolo refused to respond to any further questions. When you make a mistake, it’s best to own it, apologize and make sure it never happens again—not try to deny it or cover it up.

NOT

Kent County

The county that houses the city’s second largest city (Warwick) is apparently home to the largest portion of the city’s obese folks according to Graphic. Regardless of where in Rhode Island we live, we all need to remember not to neglect our own health despite all of the hustle and bustle in our lives. Check out Matt Espeut’s weekly Golocal columns for advice and inspiration.

NOT

Providence Journal

The Providence Journal has inexplicably re-assigned long-time and well-respected statehouse news bureau chief Kathy Gregg out of the statehouse. If the move is permanent, it’s another misstep by the Providence Journal. The loss of an experienced reporter like Gregg, (after having already lost writers like Bob Kerr and Mike Stanton in the last few years) removes one of the paper’s last real assets— the institutional memory of talented reporters.