Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - August 13, 2021

HOT

Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements

It sometimes seems like Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements is the person holding the City of Providence together.

At a time of failed leadership, missing leadership (where is the business community?) and flawed leadership, Clements is a pragmatist looking to keep people safe. 

What a strange concept.

HOT

Duke's Summer Season So Far

Former PC star and Providence native David Duke has officially signed with the Brooklyn Nets, but none of the details have been released.

The Nets roster is loaded with superstar talent including Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Blake Griffin.

Duke did post 10 points and 9 rebounds in his second summer league game.

Much of the Brooklyn summer league hype was about the performance of the Nets’ first round pick Day’Ron Sharpe.

“You could feel him,” said Brooklyn’s Summer League head coach, Jordan Ott, after Monday’s opener of Sharpe. “You could feel him from the bench. I’m sure you could feel him on the court on both ends of the ball.”

There was more to come from the 6-foot-11, 265-pound center drafted 29th overall a few weeks ago. This time, Ott described Sharpe as “a monster” after Brooklyn’s 97-91 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday afternoon.

Duke was the Nets' fourth-leading scorer in the win.

According to Hoop Rumors, "The terms of Duke’s contract aren’t yet known, but it seems likely to be a training camp deal that includes Exhibit 10 language. Exhibit 10 contracts, which can be converted into standard or two-way deals, give players the opportunity to earn bonuses worth up to $50K if they end up joining the club’s G League affiliate after being cut."

HOT

New Organic Market Downtown

For the folks who live downtown, the announcement of a new grocer is big news. No more jumping in the car just to do some quick shopping.

Rory’s Market and Kitchen will be opening at 113 Washington Street.

The independently-owned organic grocery store, which currently has locations in Massachusetts, is a woman-owned and operated company and has been in business for over 40 years.

The Providence location will occupy 6,000+ square feet of retail space.

Read more here.

HOT

New Co-Leader at AS220

AS220 has announced Anjel Newmann as the organization's new Co-Executive Director in partnership with Shauna Duffy. 

According to AS220, the appointment "recognizes the impact [Newmann] has made since she became part of AS220’s Leadership Team, particularly her vision for the organization’s Racial Justice Initiative and anti-racist work, and her tireless efforts to keep an equity focus front and center in AS220’s artistic programming and operations."

“I never left AS220 because it’s always been the place that seems to grow along with me. It's like a magical orb that transforms into the right shape and right size for my ever-growing wings," said Newmann. "To serve alongside Shauna at this critical juncture in AS220’s evolution is an honor and responsibility I am ready to hold. My vision for AS220 -- and the Rhode Island arts and culture sector more broadly -- is to shape a future rooted in justice, joy and possibility by committing to the following: 

Read more here. 

NOT

For Defunding Police, Then For Funding a Police Class and Then...Votes Against Funding.

Huh?

Providence City Councilor Helen Anthony is a bastion of inconsistent, politically expedient, and dangerous political blithering.

She is right up there with those passing false information on the vaccine or lying about election results. The difference might be that they are consistent in their false information, but Anthony is a faux truthteller with a message that she thinks her audience wants to hear and it changes with the audience.

Anthony — represents Ward 2 on Providence's East Side -- which has seen multiple shootings and a recent murder.

Two of the shootings took place right in front of a Providence park with a playground. The shootings took place at the Billy Taylor Park in the Mount Hope section of the East Side -- three men were wounded in those two shootings.

Anthony is a constant critic of the Providence Police budget and has repeatedly called for defunding the Department, at a time when the Department has its lowest staffing level in 50 years — lowest since the 1970s.

And her calls for defunding have taken place at a time when Providence is facing a wave of violent crime.

Other members of the City Council have the same position of “defunding,” but where Anthony has the distinction is that her positions are so remarkably inconsistent and her narrative and votes are so dishonest that the outcome is a hobgoblin of public policy chaos.

Let’s try to recap her positions and statement and if you get confused as to her actual stance, well, then you are following along perfectly because her positions are a head-on collision of inconsistency and manipulation of facts.

READ HER COMMENTS HERE

NOT

GOP Wannabe

Governor Dan McKee's policies on the management of the Delta variant are looking more like a southern GOP Governor than a science-based decision-maker.

Do his consultants know that he is running in a left-leaning Democratic primary in 13 months?

No requirement for state workers to be vaccinated.

No requirement for teachers.

No requirement for masking in schools.

Hospitalization is up 300% in three weeks.

NOT

Nothing More Ironic

As the murders and shootings have piled up in Providence, Jorge Elorza this past week did a media press call from vacation in New Hampshire.

NOT

Gorbea Can't Answer Questions

A GoLocal editorial published three weeks ago "EDITORIAL: Time for Gorbea to Answer Questions About Non-Secure Email Election Voting" read as follows:

Nellie Gorbea has never been shy about media coverage.

She has never met a microphone or a camera she did not love until now.

If a reporter were to stop short she would be sure to crash into the back of them.

At her request and at GoLocal’s, Gorbea has been a regular on GoLocal LIVE over the years.  

But a GoLocal investigation into the 2020 election has found that hundreds or more of out-of-the-country and military ballots were cast via non-secure email.

READ THE FULL EDITORIAL HERE

NOT

Shekarchi's JCLS Excuses

In 2020, Joe Shekarchi —  then the House Majority Leader — said, if asked, he would hold meetings of the controversial Joint Committee on Legislative Services which has not met in more than 10 years.

But, now as Speaker of the House, Shekarchi has reversed course.

GoLocal’s News Editor Kate Nagle on January 23, 2020, had asked if he would hold a meeting of the JCLS — the legislative committee empowered to oversee the General Assembly’s approximately $50 million budget. 

In the interview, Shekarchi said, “If [Rep. Blake Filippi], if he asks for a meeting we'll have a meeting.”

But as Speaker, Shekarchi, like his predecessor Nick Mattiello, has refused to hold meetings of the JCLS. Critics have called the JCLS which is controlled by the Speaker's office a "private fiefdom spending public funds."

House Minority Leader Blake Filippi who has been advocating for a public process for years tells GoLocal that, “All I want to do is follow the law and have JCLS meet in order that it's $46 million per year budget is properly managed. Unfortunately, their refusal to meet perpetuates the continuation of the lawsuit.”

“Speaker Shekarchi obviously is not Speaker Mattiello. I’m happy he’s professionalized the General Assembly, including trimming our bloated payroll. With that said, regrettably little has changed as it relates to the structure of JCLS. Most all decisions are still made on the 3rd floor with no meetings, discussion, or votes. But it’s not just Speaker Shekarchi. President Ruggerio, who claimed for years to want JCLS to meet, has taken the lead in court opposing our lawsuit that seeks to force JCLS to meet. The only thing that makes sense is that they don’t want to meet as public scrutiny of JCLS would reduce their power. In that respect, little has changed,” added Filippi.

READ MORE HERE

NOT

Not a Contest Providence Wants to Win

Over the past few years, Chicago has become the poster child of urban violence. It has been a political football and a national embarrassment, but for the second consecutive weekend, Providence per capita suffered more shootings and fatalities.

Chicago 5 reported in 2015, “‘I live on the South Side of Chicago, so my house is pretty close to some places where shootings take place," then-President Barack Obama said. ‘Because that's real, we have to get on top of it before it becomes an accelerating trend.’ Chicago saw one of the most violent September in years, with two consecutive weekends of more than 50 people shot. In a single day, on Sept. 2, nine people were killed and at least 12 others were wounded in shootings across the city, making it the deadliest day in the city in over a decade.”

Chicago suffered 10 fatalities including the death of a female Chicago police officer this weekend.

In comparison, Chicago has a population 15 times larger than Providence. Chicago has a population of 2.7 million and Providence's is 180,000.

This past weekend Providence had two murders.

Chicago had more shootings — recording 64, while Providence recorded 5 shootings, but per capita, Providence recorded more shootings.

Providence suffered 6 individuals shot last weekend including a 24-year-old woman murdered in a drive-by shooting.

In Chicago, 51 were shot including eight fatally. Providence, per capita, was more deadly.

NOT

Code Red for Humanity

A new report released Monday that the United Nations calls a “code red for humanity" regarding global warming.

“It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. “I don’t see any area that is safe… Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

The report was issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization of 195 governments, the report is drawn from a three-year analysis of 14,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies. It is the first major international assessment of climate-change research since 2013 and the first of four IPCC reports expected in the next 15 months.

“We’ve known for decades that the world is warming, but this report tells us that recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying, unprecedented in thousands of years,” said Ko Barrett, vice-chair of the panel and the senior adviser for climate at the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Further, it is indisputable that human activities are causing climate change.”

The report provides new estimates of the chances of crossing the global warming level of 1.5°C in the next decades and finds that unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.

The report shows that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming since 1850-1900, and finds that averaged over the next 20 years, global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C of warming. This assessment is based on improved observational datasets to assess historical warming, as well progress in scientific understanding of the response of the climate system to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

“This report is a reality check,” said IPCC Working Group Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte. “We now have a much clearer picture of the past, present, and future climate, which is essential for understanding where we are headed, what can be done, and how we can prepare.”