Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - August 6, 2021

HOT

Bristol is Hot

Michael Rose has this week's big art review:

"At the Bristol Art Museum, a new exhibition explores themes of displacement with such power and poignancy that it can rightly be called a must-see show. On view through October 3 in the museum’s sundrenched galleries, (re)location includes a tight collection of work curated by Rhode Island artist and Bridgewater State University Professor Mary Dondero. All the featured pieces probe notions of place, movement, and belonging from intensely personal perspectives of five art makers working in a range of media. It is a deeply moving show," writes Rose. 

"The centerpiece of the exhibition is an expansive installation, titled Strand, conceptualized by Nafis M. White and García Sinclair which fills the main gallery of the museum. Its scale encourages visitors to circumambulate, while considering a 400-year history that begins with the enslavement of Africans in the United States in 1619. The piece is made up of items ranging from hair and rope to beads, shells, and cotton. Alongside these physical elements, White lists 'embodied knowledge, ancestral recall, and audacity of survival' among the media included. This moving linguistic detail is not to be overlooked and adds to the experience of this remarkable work of performative sculpture," he continues. 

READ MORE

HOT

Jim Bennett and Tom Ryan -- Big Cannabis Exit

Two of Rhode Island's most experienced and successful businessmen hit paydirt this week with the first big cannabis industry exit to a public out-of-state corporation when Summit sold to Green Thumb Industries.

For Ryan, the former CEO of CVS and Bennett it is another success for two men who have consistently been successful throughout their careers. 

HOT

Former Providence Mayor on Current Administration

EF Hutton, Rhode Island style.

John Lombardi is a State Representative, a Providence Judge, the former City Council President -- as well as the former Mayor of Providence.

This week Lombardi called for Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare to resign.

When Lombardi says something about Providence, people listen. Will Pare?

HOT

Helena Foulkes

As GoLocal reported this week, former top-tier CVS executive Helena Foulkes is looking at a run for Governor in Rhode Island in 2022.

She is a formidable candidate on day one.

Stay tuned.

NOT

Speaker Joe Shekarchi

The new Speaker is standing by his women.

After Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee raised "serious concerns," Joe Shekarchi has refused to take action against Lynn Urbani, his Director of Policy. who with her husband has an interest in property that served as a landlord to a prostitution ring and potentially sex trafficking ring. Shekarchi stands by her.

This week, despite calls for her ouster, he accepted the apology of top Democratic political consultant Kate Coyne-McCoy, who on social media said she hoped that Republican United States Senator Lindsey Graham would die of COVID. 

Then, it was unveiled that she had previously Tweeted she hoped that Republicans would die and also had also unleashed expletive-laced Tweets toward fellow Democrats on social media. 

What exactly are the standards to work on Shekarchi's team?

NOT

Traffic Chaos Coming

Anyone who works in the downtown Providence area knows that afternoon traffic backs up daily, as commuters try to meander their way to on-ramps for I-195 and I-95.

The backups on Providence streets can, on some days, take as long as the highway portion of the commute home.

Now, due to Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s new traffic configuration under his new Great Streets initiative, the crowded South Water Street on-ramp from downtown to I-195 east is going to get a lot more complicated.

Documents from Elorza's Providence Planning Department write in one document, "At the south end of the corridor, the urban trail would connect to the existing asphalt path at the Wickenden intersection. At the north end, the urban trail would connect to the accessible access to Memorial Park, just east of the existing crosswalk. The existing crosswalk across South Water St near the Crawford Street Bridge may need to move slightly or change in some other way to improve access to this accessible route."

READ MORE HERE

NOT

Kate Coyne-McCoy

The talented Democratic consultant should shut down her social media accounts. Soon.

Then, if we are trying to heal the country then maybe, just maybe the messaging could be improved.

NOT

Gorbea Can't Answer Questions

A GoLocal editorial published two 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

Jorge Elorza's Providence

This week in Elorza's Providence:

- 5 people were stabbed in separate incidents

- 5 people were shot in one incident

- 24-year-old woman was gunned down by drive-by shooters

- Pedestrian was run down and killed on Broad Street by a speeding pickup truck

- Woman surrounded and then beaten by ATV riders. Her child was in the car.

Did we mention the Mayor is reportedly on vacation?

NOT

Andrew Cuomo

Not a good week for the New York Governor.

He is about to be impeached after the comprehensive review by AG Letitia James and her investigators found he had sexually harrassed 11 women.