Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - April 15, 2022

HOT

Nabsys' Rebound

Providence-based Nabsys announced this week it closed on $25 million in funding with strategic partner Hitachi High-Tech Corporation. 

This company's direct predecessor went bankrupt.

The funding will reportedly be used to complete development and commercialization of the second-generation of its High-Definition Mapping (HDM) platform. 

According to the company --  a pioneer in electronic whole-genome mapping -- it will increase headcount in R&D, manufacturing, and global commercial operations. The deal also provides for an additional $13 million upon achieving certain milestones.

About Funding

“Hitachi High-Tech has had a long-standing interest in the analysis of human structural variation and has been in search of a technology to meet the significant market need,” said Tsuyoshi Ogino, general manager, Molecular Research & Diagnostics Division at Hitachi High-Tech America, Inc., and Nabsys board member. “We believe the Nabsys HDM platform is the ideal solution for that important unmet need.”

Barrett Bready, M.D., Nabsys founder and CEO, said Hitachi High-Tech’s investment will help enable Nabsys to make the analysis of genome-wide human structural variation widely available, accurate, and cost-effective.

“Our first-generation HDM instruments have been in customers’ hands for over a year now and have been very well-received,” said Bready. “We are excited to capitalize on the highly scalable nature of our high-speed, single-molecule, electronic detection to increase throughput and expand the application space.”

HOT

Mackubin Owens, Foreign Relations Expert

This week it was announced that Mackubin Owens joins GoLocal as a regular MINDSETTER™ columnist. 

Owens joins a growing list of top thinkers on GoLocal including Robert Whitcomb, Ray Two Hawks Watson, Rob Horowitz, Will Morgan and a host of others.

“We are excited to add Mac to the team. GoLocal has by far and away the most talented group of opinion writers in Rhode Island and rivals any publication in New England,” said Josh Fenton, GoLocal CEO and Co-Founder.

"While we focus on local, we believe that Mac's insights on global issues are of tremendous value," added Fenton.

Owens is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He previously served as editor of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs. From 2015 until March of 2018, he was Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. From 1987 until 2014, he was Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. 

He is also a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam, where as an infantry platoon and company commander in 1968-1969, he was wounded twice and awarded the Silver Star medal. He retired as a Colonel in 1994.

Owens is the author of the FPRI monograph Abraham Lincoln: Leadership and Democratic Statesmanship in Wartime (2009) and US Civil-Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain (Continuum Press, January 2011) and coauthor of US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: The Rise of an Incidental Superpower (Georgetown University Press, spring 2015). He is also completing another book for the University Press of Kentucky tentatively titled Sword of Republican Empire: A History of US Civil-Military Relations. He is co-editor of the textbook, Strategy and Force Planning, now in its fourth edition, for which he also wrote several chapters, including “The Political Economy of National Security,” “Thinking About Strategy,” and “The Logic of Strategy and Force Planning.”

Owens is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal. In addition, his articles on national security issues have appeared in International Security, Orbis, Joint Force Quarterly, The Public Interest, The Weekly Standard, The St. Louis Lawyer. Defence Analysis, US Naval Institute Proceedings, Marine Corps Gazette, Comparative Strategy, National Review, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor; The Los Angeles Times, the Jerusalem Post, The Washington Times, and The New York Post. And, he formerly wrote for the Providence Journal.

HOT

This One is SCORCHING -- Pizza Week is Almost Here

Get your appetite ready -- Providence Pizza Week begins April 17, and participating restaurants will offer limited one-of-a-kind pizza specials.

More than 40 restaurants will take part in the week plus of pizza specials, just in time for school vacation week.

And it's not just Providence -- pizzerias in other Rhode Island cities and towns are taking part. 

SEE PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS -- AND DEALS -- HERE

According to the Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau (PWCVB), participating restaurants will be serving up one-of-a-kind specials with some creative topping combinations. You might even be surprised by some restaurants that don’t traditionally serve pies getting in on the pizza party.

“After another successful Providence Restaurant Weeks this January it’s exciting to unveil a new culinary week,” said Kristen Adamo, PWCVB President and CEO. "The Providence area is home to dozens of nationally-recognized restaurants and we’re proud that Providence Pizza Week offers locals and visitors alike the opportunity to sample some unique pizzas from all different types of establishments.”

Guests are encouraged to sample a variety of these special pies and cast their votes for the pizza that’s the most delicious, most creative, and most Instagrammable at ProvidencePizzaWeek.com, with one lucky voter will also be selected to win a $200 prize pack of restaurant gift cards.

"We'd actually planned on launching Providence Pizza Week in April of 2020 -- right when the pandemic hit," Adamo told GoLocal. "Two years later, the restaurants are packed again, and there's a real buzz in the air. We're excited especially to feature this at a price-point right now that's family-friendly." 

HOT

The Fish Are Coming

It’s official — seafood retailer “Fearless Fish” is now opening a location on Providence’s East Side. 

On Wednesday, the business made the announcement that its now second location (the first being in the West End) is opening up across the city. 

The new store is where Davis Dairy used to be, across from the Rochambeau Library on Hope Street.

Davis Dairy had suffered a fire in May of 2020 and never reopened; the building was rehabbed following the incident. 

About New Seafood on Hope

GoLocal welcomed Fearless Fish on GoLocal LIVE in 2019, reporting the following at the time:

“Providence's newest fish market, Fearless Fish Market, is a delight and is a true example of what is old can be new again.

Stuart Meltzer, a former fish industry expert and business school grad, has brought back the old local fish market model with a lot of new twists and unique selections.

Located in the West End at 425 West Fountain Street in Providence, Meltzer's shop offers the known, but also a variety of fresh selections.”

HOT

Narragansett Brewery

Narragansett Brewery Company is ranked one of the largest craft brewers and as well as one of the largest overall brewers in America — according to the new rankings of the Brewers Association (BA).

BA is the trade association representing small and independent American craft brewers and last week released its annual production figures for the U.S. craft brewing industry. In 2021, small and independent brewers collectively produced 24.8 million barrels of beer and realized 8% growth, increasing craft’s overall beer market share by volume to 13.1%, up from 12.2% the previous year.

Narragansett Brewery was ranked the 32 largest craft and the 41 largest brewer overall. They are the only Rhode Island brewer to make either list.

HOT

Dealmaker

The devil is in the details and we certainly don't have all of them, but Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor got the framework of a deal done on the Superman building.

GoLocal withholds any endorsement of the deal is better understood, but at least, after nearly ten years, there is some progress.

HOT

Gas Prices Dropping

Rhode Island’s average gas price was down 11 cents from last week ($4.13), averaging $4.02 per gallon, AAA announced Monday. 

Monday's price is 34 cents lower than a month ago ($4.36), and $1.26 higher than April 11, 2021 ($2.76). 

Rhode Island’s average gas price is 9 cents lower than the national average.

NOT

Brown University Board Member and NY Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin Arrested

New York Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin -- who had served as a Brown University board of trustees member -- was arrested this week on campaign finance and bribery charges. 

Some of the charges are linked to trips to Providence supposedly for Brown meetings that were initially paid for by his campaign account and then were reimbursed.

Some of the trips coincided with Brown's meeting schedule and others did not. 

More than $1,000 was spent at the Shell Station on the corner of Wickenden and Benefit Streets according to records.  The charges were between August of 2018 and September of 2020.

About Brown Grad Benjamin

Benjamin, a Brown University graduate, was named to the Lt. Governor's post after Governor Kathy Hochul assumed the Governorship when former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo stepped down. 

Before his tenure as a trustee, he served on the board of the Brown Club of Rhode Island and held leadership roles with the Brown Annual Fund and the Boldly Brown campaign.

According to the New York Times, Benjamin surrendered early Tuesday morning to face a federal bribery conspiracy indictment in connection with a scheme to funnel fraudulent donations to a previous campaign, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

“The indictment, the result of an investigation by the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused Mr. Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller, the people said. The investor was arrested on federal charges in November,” writes the NYT. 

As GoLocal reported in August, Benjamin was a frontrunner early for the Lt. Governor position. 

Benjamin, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public policy from Brown and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, served as the Senior Assistant Majority Leader in the New York Senate. 

NOT

Superman Deal Details

The Providence City Council, legislators, and the public need a lot of questions answered on this deal.

And what are the "details" that need to be answered? READ MORE

NOT

We Are Watching Genocide

As Americans, what are we going to do to stop the genocide of civilians?

If Ukraine loses, it may be American men and women dying in Europe in response to Russia's aggression. 

NOT

COVID

As GoLocal reported this week, it's the news that no one wants to hear.

COVID cases are beginning to climb in Rhode Island. The transmission rate has doubled over the past three weeks from hovering at just under 100 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period to Monday’s rate of 190.6.

The percentage rate of those tested at state facilities has jumped to 7.8%, but on just 1.492 tests. Many Rhode Islanders are using home testing and those would not be reported in the state's numbers.

ABC News reports, "Rhode Island currently has the highest seven-day case rate at 172.4 cases per 100,000 people. This is nearly three times higher than the national rate of 59.4 cases per 100,000 people. As of Friday, the Ocean State has also seen its average daily number of cases increase 53% over a two-week period from 170 per day to 260 per day, CDC data shows."

NOT

30% of RI State Police Recruits Have Already Quit New Academy

The great resignation is hitting law enforcement in Rhode Island.

30% of the new class of recruits who started the State Police Academy in mid-March have already resigned.

The Rhode Island State Police was significantly understaffed and this class of the academy was intended to close some of the gap.

Lt. Colonel Darnell Weaver told GoLocal on Monday that “everyone has their reason for leaving.”

Of the 47 who began the academy on March 14 —  14 have left the class — de facto resigned.

Moreover, the class that only had three women, is now down to just one. 

More concerning is that this academy is only in week four and still has 19 more weeks in the 23-week school.

Weaver said, "We are always evaluating the academy as necessary.

But, the State Police may be facing a societal trend of employees and trainees quitting.

"Falling birth rates, slowed immigration, record retirement, an exploding gig economy, and the workforce as we know it is hungry for talent. In America alone, there are 11 million vacant positions and only 6.5 million people to fill them. Suddenly, we’re in the middle of a talent crisis. Employees have unprecedented leverage, and the Great Resignation as we know it is just beginning," writes Fast Company.

NOT

Inflation

The U.S. Department of Labor released new inflation numbers this week and they are a record high for the past 40-plus years.

Inflation is now at 8.5%, driven most heavily by gas and food prices.

“We’re seeing strong inflation momentum across the board, both for goods and services,” Blerina Uruci, U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price Group Inc., said ahead of the report to the Wall Street Journal. Uruci said supply-chain constraints continue to push prices up, except for an easing of the costs for used cars.

“To me, this is a red flag,” said Uruci. “The other red flag is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rise of Covid in China. Those pose risks that the so-called normalization of supply chains takes longer to materialize.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the Labor Department’s previous report did not include some of the price increases tied to increasing energy costs.

“We expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike,” Psaki told reporters.