Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - August 30, 2024

HOT

Anonymous Generosity 

CCRI announced this week that it received a historic $2 million anonymous gift, the largest individual private gift in the college’s 60-year history.

The donation will fund a free, three-year pilot of the newly-launched CCRI Advantage initiative, a pioneering program designed to boost student success and accelerate pathways to graduation.

“I could not be more thrilled to announce this historic gift. For too long, gifts of this magnitude were limited to four-year institutions, but this donor saw the potential for an outsized impact in expanding equity and access to higher education,” said Dr. Rosemary Costigan. “This donor firmly believes in the powerful role community colleges play in transforming individual lives, families, and communities.”

Inspired by the City University of New York’s “CUNY Start” program, CCRI Advantage is a seven-week, immersive college success program that provides students with personalized academic coaching, targeted tutoring, and comprehensive support services.

The program is uniquely designed to help students seamlessly transition into credit-bearing coursework in the second half of their first semester. By focusing on these critical first weeks, CCRI Advantage aims to increase student retention, boost academic achievement, and shorten the time to graduation.

HOT

PVD Has More Florida Direct Destinations Than BOS

Who would have ever thought?

Rhode Island International Airport (PVD) now offers travelers a selection of ten nonstop Florida destinations, more than Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

Florida destinations at PVD include Daytona Beach, Punta Gorda, and Vero Beach, three nonstop routes not currently available from BOS.

HOT

Providence Fire Department Does It Again

In July, a man was rescued on an I-95 overpass, due to a highly-coordinated response. 

On Wednesday morning, it happened again, when a man was located outside the fencing on an overpass on I-95. 

Public safety was on site in minutes, and the Providence Fire Department helped to bring the man down using a ladder truck from I-95. 

"It’s another example, as was with the other recent unfortunate situation. Firefighters responded quickly and teamed up with a mental health clinician; firefighters were able to bring a male adult down from the overpass to 95 by Eddy Street and rescued him via a tower ladder, bringing him to safety," Providence Fire Chief Derek Silva told GoLocal.

HOT

The 12 Most Beautiful Restaurants In The United States

We've got a winner in Providence.

According to Delish, Bellini at The Beatrice Hotel is one of the "12 most beautiful" restaurants in America.

“A Cipriani family restaurant will always be well designed and Bellini in Downtown Providence is no exception. You can expect to eat fine Italian cuisine in the warmly lit space—with the original Bellini cocktail in hand, obviously," writes the publication.

HOT

Congrats

This weekend, Rhode Island native and The Voice alum Billy Gilman wed his partner Anthony Carbone here in the state. 

According to People Magazine, who have the exclusive photos, country music star Gilman and Carbone, who first met in 2022, "got engaged on a rainy night in September 2023 after attending a Pam Tillis concert."

Gilman, 36, told People “The couple chose their venue, a 45-acre horse farm, because it fondly reminds him of his childhood spent visiting his grandparents on their own sprawling horse farm.” The magazine did not identify the location apart from being located in the state. 

For Gilman, who was born in Westerly, the Rhode Island ties are strong.

According to People, Gilman and Carbone first met through mutual friends at a Providence bar the night before Thanksgiving in 2022.

"Carbone recalls that they immediately 'hit it off' and started talking. After that night, he says, 'we just kind of stayed in touch and life just kept bringing us together again and again,'"

HOT

Artist Karen Roarke

Michael Rose, GoLocal's art columnist, has a great take on one of Rhode Island's most talented artists:

Few artists can boast a home studio as impressive as Middletown-based painter Karen Roarke. In a bright and gallery-like space that takes up the entire second floor of her house, Roarke makes paintings that combine a sensitivity for atmosphere with an immersive and magnetic quality that is enviable.

On September 15, Roarke will open her studio to visitors during Design Week RI, welcoming neighbors from across the state into her remarkable creative space to see her equally intriguing paintings.

A born Rhode Islander, Roarke was raised in Cranston but spent a great deal of time away from her home state. She completed her BA in Studio Art from Boston College and then relocated to California, where she earned an MA in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Fullerton and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University.

After being out west she spent several years living in a loft in New York City before she and her young family moved back to the Ocean State in the late 90’s. In her time living in Middletown, she and her husband have transformed a modest ranch house into a stunning art-focused home.

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NOT

Raimondo's Friends Really "Care" - About Money 

Just weeks after COVID broke out in Rhode Island, then-Governor Gina Raimondo began pushing the services of Care.com.

GoLocal unveiled a series of ties between high-profile donors Raimondo and other top Democrats' financial interests in Care.com. The company had been fined and there were growing concerns and regulatory actions against the company.

This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Monday it is taking action against Care.com ("Care") alleging that the child and older adult care gig platform has systematically deceived caregivers who were looking for jobs while failing to give families seeking care a simple way to cancel their paid memberships.

In a federal court complaint, the FTC alleges that Care’s marketing messages about both the number of jobs available on their site and the amount workers could expect to be paid were deceptive.

According to the FTC, Care has agreed to a settlement that will require it to turn over $8.5 million to be used to refund consumers harmed by their practices, as well as requiring the company to be able to back up the earnings claims it makes and be honest about the number of jobs available on their site.

“Care.com used inflated job numbers and baseless earnings claims to lure caregivers onto its platform, and used deceptive design practices to trap consumers in subscriptions,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection “The order announced today puts a stop to these unlawful practices, returns millions of dollars to consumers, and helps ensure an honest marketplace for families looking for care and caregivers looking for work.”

Raimondo Pitching Care.com to RI

On March 24, 2020, at a press conference, Raimondo and then-Department of Human Services Director Courtney Hawkins announced that the state of Rhode Island had "partnered with Care.com to increase child care access for frontline workers responding to the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to providing 90 days of ‘free, premium access’ to their services, Care.com has created portals specifically for frontline workers and caregivers in Rhode Island.”

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NOT

Smiley and His Bag of Stats

The Mayor likes to dish numbers, but an ongoing GoLocal investigation is uncovering flaws in Providence's crime data.

Questions are emerging about whether crimes are being intentionally underreported and undercharged. This week, one number could not be tweaked, when an 18-year-old man was killed on his birthday. On Thursday, two were shot in Providence including a 7-year-old.

On Monday, Lisa Pina-Warren, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Nonviolence Institute in Providence, shared the following to social media:

An 18-year-old was shot and killed in broad daylight in his driveway on his birthday.

He was excited and just got dressed to celebrate this milestone birthday. 

Remember turning 18 and how excited you were? 

He hugged and kissed his mother and told her that he loved her before he went outside. 

She was in the house when she heard the gunshots and ran outside to find her baby boy laying in the driveway.

Every loss of life impacts everyone of us, but when it’s a loss of this nature, the impact feels as though it hits us a bit harder and we are all deeply saddened and some even outraged. 

But in a few days most of our lives go back to “normal” until the next time.

I always seem to come back to the same question.

What are we going to do?

No pointing fingers. It’s on all of us.

The entire community. 

Our Community.

Our elected officials.

Then, two people were shot in Providence on Thursday, including a seven-year-old

Can't exactly make those misdemeanors now, can you.