Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - April 30, 2021

HOT

Kwity Paye

Bishop Hendricken graduate and Michigan edge rusher Kwity Paye was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 21st pick in the first round of Thursday night's NFL draft.

His life story -- he was born in a refugee camp in Guinea as his family was escaping war in Liberia -- to the NFL is a RI and an American success story. The Colts write, "The Paye family scrapped and clawed while on welfare in a rough neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island, as Agnes at times worked three jobs at a time to take care of Kwity and his older brother, Komotay Koffie."

HOT

Narragansett

Narragansett is one of the premier hot-spot destinations, says one travel site. 

“Three World-Class Road Trips for When You’re Ready to Leave New York,” writes InsideHook.com this week. 

“New Yorkers have been largely confined to the indoors for going on 14 months,” they write. “Now that vaccines are rolling out and temps are rising, it’s time to reconsider — starting with a good old-fashioned American road trip.”

Why Narragansett 

“The perfect location for a low-key beach getaway, Narragansett is known as Newport’s less pretentious counterpart,” InsideHook writes. 

Read more here. 

HOT

Dr. Stephen Salloway 

Brown University has launched a new Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research to accelerate the pace of development for novel treatment and cures.

Stephen Salloway, MD, MS, director of the Memory and Aging Program and of Neurology at Butler Hospital, and Martin M. Zucker Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neurology at Brown University, has been named Associate Director of the Center.

Established with $30 million in gifts from two anonymous donors, the Center brings together biomedical research and discovery with world-class physician-scientists advancing care for patients with Alzheimer’s.

Salloway said, "I would like to see Brown help to open the modern era of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, where patients can receive an early and accurate diagnosis and start on treatments that preserve memory and quality of life. We are also entering a time where older people can safely learn about their risk for Alzheimer’s and take steps to keep their brain healthy — this center can help them do that, and the fluid biomarker facility will be an essential tool in enabling our success.”
 

HOT

Ørsted and CVS

Two Rhode Island companies have made TIME Magazine’s newest list of the 100 Most Influential Companies.

One — once a local retailer and now a healthcare giant; the other, now the owner of Deepwater Wind, the homegrown first-in-America builder of offshore wind.

Beyond these companies, TIME names the NBA, GM, and Hello Sunshine as influential and changing the corporate world.

TIME writes about the Rhode Island corporate stars:

Ørsted: Many energy companies say they plan to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable-energy sources; Ørsted is often held up as an example of a company actually doing it. Founded as the Danish Oil and Natural Gas company in 1973, Ørsted sold off its oil-and-gas assets in 2017 and reoriented itself around renewable energy—particularly offshore wind. The bet paid off, and today Ørsted is the world’s leading offshore wind operator. Perhaps more important, says CEO Mads Nipper, its success in the sector helped drive a global move toward a technology that could prove critical in fighting climate change.

CVS: Pre-pandemic, stopping into CVS was often just another errand on a to-do list. But these days, that trip could be the most anticipated event of the year. The pharmacy chain, led by CEO Karen Lynch, has become one of the top U.S. COVID-19 vaccine administrators, with more than 10 million doses given as of April 1, topping the total number of vaccines given by all but four states as of April 19. Shots are available in nearly 2,000 CVS locations across the country, and the pharmacy has also brought vaccines into long-term-care facilities nationwide.

HOT

Interesting Idea

Senator Meghan E. Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, North Providence) and Rep. Leonela “Leo” Felix (D-Dist. 61, Pawtucket) have introduced legislation that would provide free transportation on Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) buses.

Commuting is time-consuming and expensive for workers -- a major household cost.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American spends 25.9 minutes a day traveling to work one way — that adds up to just over four hours every week spent in transit for work.

The average commuter spends nearly 15.9% of their budgets on transportation costs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  These numbers have been impacted by the pandemic, but are now returning to normal. 

It is certainly worth a discussion.

HOT

LIVE UNITED - $4.5 Million in Grants to the Community

Three months after unveiling its LIVE UNITED 2025 strategic plan, United Way of Rhode Island is announcing the first of the grants —  $4.5 million.

The funding, representing the first of a two-year grant cycle, was awarded to  72 organizations in support of programs targeting the root causes of the racial inequities that have held back Rhode Island’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities for generations.

The grants are part of United Way’s commitment to invest $100 million over the next five years to build racial equity in Rhode Island and to create justice and opportunities for all.

HOT

RI Retains Two Congressional Seats

It was a surprise and it will pay off in billions of dollars in additional federal funding to RI over the next decade.

And, if you don't like the two now in office -- you get to vote every two years and you can always run for office.

NOT

Children Brides in RI

An estimated 176 children were married in Rhode Island between 2000 and 2019. Of those for whom gender and spousal data were available, 88 percent were girls wed to adult men an average of 4.1 years older.

Representative Julie Casimiro, a state legislator, and Fraidy Reiss, a forced marriage survivor and executive director of Unchained At Last, a nonprofit that works to end forced and child marriage in the U.S. through direct services and advocacy are bringing attention to the horrifically outdated legal gap. 

NOT

Middle-Class Getting Frozen Out

Rhode Island’s middle-class families are getting priced out of the housing market.

More and more RI is running the risk of being just a bedroom community to Boston and a vacation spot for New Yorkers to conduct zoom meetings -- a place with service jobs but an ever-shrinking middle class.

This has a profound impact on these family's ability to build wealth and stabilize the state's economic base.

Read more here. 

NOT

RI's Healthcare System

Mergers, potential closures, and uncertainty are all hitting nearly every aspect of Rhode Island's hospital and healthcare structure.

Even the fate of the state's Eleanor Slater Hospital is in chaos.