Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - Jan. 13, 2017

HOT

Molly O’Brien

The highly popular television journalist, who previously worked at WJAR Channel 10, as the traffic, technology, and social media reporter, is joining GoLocal to lead the organization’s lifestyle coverage. O’Brien adds a fantastic new dynamic to GoLocal’s reporting and will help shape new media in Rhode Island moving forward. 

HOT

Ann Cano Morales

The Central Falls native, who has served on the RI Board of Education, the URI Foundation Executive Board of Directors, and the RI Latino Political Action Committee, has been named the school’s Associate Vice President for Community, Equity, and Diversity. The current Chairwoman of the Central Falls School Board of Trustees, Morales is the perfect choice to lead the school’s programs intended to encourage and support diversity at the college. 

HOT

“Little Italy”

Gianfranco Marrocco has an excellent, forward thinking idea to rebrand Federal Hill. He makes an excellent point in saying that by calling Federal Hill “Little Italy”, and putting up some attention-grabbing signage, we could attract more out-of-state travelers, who aren’t familiar with Providence but are traveling down route 95 to stop on The Hill and try some of our awesome restaurants.

HOT

Newport

The City by the Sea has been named one of the 12 best places to visit in 2017, according to Money Magazine. All Rhode Islanders know how great Newport is in the summer, but what’s most surprising about this ranking is the fact that the magazine states that Newport is the best place to visit during the month of December! 

HOT

RWU Lego Robotics Competition

Roughly 500 students ages 9-14 years-old from across Rhode Island will compete in the annual LEGO robotics tournament at Roger Williams University. The students will design robots built by lego toys, and judges will determine which 10-member team built the best robot. Each member of the winning team will receive a scholarship worth $20,000 (over a four-year period) to Roger Williams University. The event will run from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. this Saturday at the University’s field house, and is free and open to the public. 

NOT

Sheldon Whitehouse

The Junior US Senator from Rhode Island portrays himself a stalwart of liberal causes, such as climate change and public education. For instance, the senator hasn’t taken a positive in opposition to the power plant that’s slated to be built in Burrillville. Further, GoLocal reported this week that Whitehouse, who opposes Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, in large part because she advocates school choice, has had substantial financial interests in for-profit charter school outfit Edison Schools dating back to 2000. Whitehouse talks a good game, but do all of his actions back up the rhetoric?

NOT

Stefan Pryor

The Secretary of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation needs to get his facts straight. The Commerce Corporation sent out numerous emails making claims that the 195 Wexford project would create 1,000 jobs. But when GoLocal pressed Pryor for the data to back up those claims, the only supporting evidence they offered showed that about 90 jobs would be created. The public deserves better than to have hyper-inflated numbers thrown at them since roughly $32 million in public subsidies will be spent on this project.

NOT

Violence in Providence

This week there was a shooting that took place in broad daylight after a melee took place in the Providence Superior Courthouse. Later, the hotel Dolce Villa, located on Providence’s Federal Hill, was robbed at gunpoint. High profile, frightening acts of violence like these do nothing to make people feel safe moving about in the capital city. Hopefully, they’re aberrations as we move forward in 2017 and not the beginning of a new, disturbing trend. 

NOT

Providence Journal

How out of touch is the Providence Journal these days? The newspaper sponsored a poll on its website asking readers to select who they think is the “best local band” in the state and one of the options to vote for was Great White.

That’s the band that was playing when pyrotechnics were set off at the Station Club in West Warwick in 2003, which started a fire that killed 100 people. Don’t ask me what the paper was thinking. Your guess is as good as mine. 

NOT

Rhode Island College Basketball

Something so many of us look forward to all year long is quickly into the winter of our discontent for college basketball fans here in Little Rhody. The more frustrating case is URI, which entered the season with great expectations, but simply hasn’t lived up to the team’s potential, blowing second-half leads and lacking a signature win.

Providence College, though to be fair, is in a rebuilding year, showed promise in the non-conference schedule, only to go on to frustrating losses to Boston College and more recently DePaul. Let’s hope the programs can turn it around before winter becomes spring. 

NOT

DMX

GoLocal reports this week that the rapper, who became a household name in the nineties, has left his pit bull dog at Four Paws, a Rhode Island-based animal hospital and boarding facility. The rapper’s pit bull has been at the facility since the summer, and he hasn’t paid his vet bill since October. Abandoning your pet and refusing to acknowledge the bill isn’t cool.