Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - August 14, 2015
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - August 14, 2015
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - August 14, 2015
HOT
Paul Doughty
The Providence Firefighters Union President had a good week in the news after the Elorza administration agreed to enter into arbitration with the union over their opposition to the city's reduction platoon shifts and the resulting 14 additional hours added to their workweeks that coincided with it. Further, the city dropped their argument that the contract in place between the city and the union is void and unenforceable because it covered too long of a time period. Both were wins for the firefighters and the developments give them leverage in the ongoing dispute.
HOT
Peter Kilmartin
The state's attorney general deserves credit for standing up for the state's "Direct Pay" Blue Cross insurance rate payers and against the state's Health Insurance Commissioner, Kathleen Hittner. Direct Pay insurance is for people who pay for their insurance without the help of their employers. The RI Health Insurance Commissioner approved a 10 percent rate hike, but wasn't transparent about the reasoning for the increase in the letter explaining her decision.
HOT
Rhode Island Economy
URI Economics Professor Len Lardaro reports that his "current conditions index" data (which looks at factors in the labor market, retail sales, and other important factors that depict the condition of the economy) showed excellent improvement for the state of Rhode Island in the month of June. Most encouraging is the fact that virtually all of the trends in the state's labor market were positive. Hopefully the state can capitalize on its forward momentum in the upcoming months.
HOT
Memory of Sgt. Peter Andrew McKenna:
The Bristol native was killed by a cowardly terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan last Friday. McKenna was a member of the Army Special forces (the toughest of the tough) and a decorated war hero with scores of medals and commendations. McKenna was a credit to the Army, the United States, and the state of Rhode Island, and his tragic death is being mourned by so many. Let's never forget the sacrifices of our soldiers, like McKenna, who gave their lives to defend our freedoms.
HOT
Mike Mota
The CEO of the Atom Media Group, who previously served as the Vice President of Sales for Mediapeel Marketing, is not waiting around. The Atom Media Group, which hopes to secure a tourism contract from the state of Rhode Island, has come up with its own slogan and logo for the tourism campaign it plans to lead called "whatever you do". Mota and his company are showing initiative, and that's something we need more of in Rhode Island.
HOT
Tom Henderson
The URI graduate has been named the PGA "Golf Professional of the Year". Henderson, the 62nd annual recipient of the award, was selected for th honor due to his "qualities of leadership, strong moral character and a substantial record of service to both the PGA and the game of golf."
NOT
Sheldon Whitehouse
The Junior Senator doesn't get to have it both ways. He can't make weekly speeches on the Senate floor about the dangerous of climate change and the fossil fuels that, for lack of a better word, fuel climate change and then support the creation of a new power plant in Rhode Island that will operate on natural gas (a fossil fuel). That's inconsistent, and inconsistency destroys credibility.
NOT
Comic Con
One would expect that the artists behind Comic Con would be staunch advocates of the spirit of the first amendment, and the artistic freedom within it, and that they'd respect the freedom of the press. So it was as disappointing as it was shocking to learn that the promoters of the convention are attempting to censor the freedom of the press by insisting on its application for press credentials that the press not say anything that would give "a bad image" to the convention. It was nice to see they walked back on the policy later in the week.
NOT
Jorge Elorza
The Mayor has walked back on his statement that the contract agreed to by the previous administration and the firefighters union isn't valid because it covered a period of too many years. John Updike once wrote that "... “once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it." By making a big statement and then backing off of it, the mayor looks weak, and that's not a trait of a strong leader.
NOT
Obamacare
When President Obama, and the people who supported his health insurance overhaul, argued in favor of it, they said it would put a downward pressure on the cost of health insurance. So why are we seeing incessant increases in the cost of health insurance, almost 3 years after the overhaul was passed?
NOT
Providence Journal
GoLocalProv reported this week that the Providence Journal will stay in the Fountain Street building, but with 82-percent less of the space that it previously used. That's not a good sign, especially symbolically, for a newspaper that's shrinking in circulation.
NOT
CVS
The pharmacy giant was fined $450,000 by the U.S Department of Justice for allegations that several of its Rhode Island stores violated the federal Controlled Substances Act by filling invalid prescriptions and maintaining deficient records. In the grand scheme of things, that's a tiny fine for the fortune 100 company, but the organization needs to do better handling controlled substances.
