Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - December 20, 2024

HOT

Ken Block

Businessman Ken Block, in conjunction with GoLocal, has unveiled major failures by Rhode Island's government. 

Kudos to Block, who serves as a watchdog.

HOT

They Named the Room After Him

Jim Martin served as a top newsman for WJAR-10 back in the glory days.

Then, Martin took a career shift and has served as a spokesperson for both the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney’s offices.

Well, they appreciate his work so much at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Providence that they named the media room in his honor.

He is not retiring from his job at the U.S. Attorney's office.

But, in 2019, the multi-talented Martin retired after 26 seasons as the Boston Bruins’ PA announcer.

Martin, a Coventry resident, started his career in 1993 with the Providence Bruins before moving up to Boston.

In his career, Martin had seen three Stanley Cup Finals, a Stanley Cup victory, two Winter Classics, an NHL All-Star Game and more.

“In April 1993 the Boston Bruins called and asked if I was available to finish out the season as PA announcer at the old Boston Garden. It was the second round of playoffs against the New Jersey Devils. A few hours later, I was sitting center ice in a building I often snuck into as a kid. The first in-game announcement - a penalty to Ray Bourque,” Martin writes.

Martin concludes, “With that, I say thank you to my family, particularly my wife and biggest fan Lisa Kilby, who supported me every step of this incredible journey. My 26-season run has been a privilege for which I will be forever grateful.”

HOT

GoLocal All-Star Mark Curtis Retires From TV

Mark Curtis, one of America's most talented political reporters, is stepping away from his day job. On Wednesday, he announced:

Dear Friends:

Today is my final day at WOWK 13 NEWS after nearly 10 years! It has been an honor to serve as Chief Political Reporter for the Nexstar station group in West Virginia, including WTRF, WBOY, WVNS, WDVM., WDCW and WFXR.

West Virginia is the most beautiful state in the nation, with the friendliest people!
I am moving to South Florida, but plan to visit "Almost Heaven" often in the coming years! This is only semi-retirement, as I will keep working some side jobs, including movies and TV work, and I'll keep writing the syndicated "Sunday Political Brunch" every week at GoLocalProv.

Thanks to all my co-workers and the many friends I've met in "The Mountain State!" This has been the BEST decade of my 48-year broadcasting career!

This is NOT good-bye, just "'til we meet again!"

God Bless you all!!!!

 

HOT

The Independent Man

The Rhode Island Independent Man was returned to the top of the Rhode Island State House on Wednesday morning.

At least we did not drop him.

HOT

Smart

Rob Horowitz offered a smart column on a simple step to improve the lives of America's children and their education:

The advent and ubiquity of the smartphone is wreaking havoc on American children and teenagers, a mounting body of research confirms.  The combination of text messaging and social media at our kids’ fingertips 24/7 has led to a significant increase in depression and anxiety, facilitated and worsened bullying, and stunted emotional growth.

As Jonathan Haidt persuasively argues in “The Anxious Generation,” we have transitioned from a play-based to a phone-based childhood and the consequences have been nothing short of disastrous.  As parents and a society, we now overprotect our kids in the real world, denying them the unsupervised experience they need to make their own mistakes and develop emotionally, and under-protect them online where they are spending hours each day.

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PHOTO: Jason Goodman, Unsplash

NOT

Embarrassing

The number of errors and failures of Rhode Island's technology infrastructure has been a constant embarrassment for the past decade. 

Deloitte has been Rhode Island's consultant and has been paid upwards of $1 billion.

Both Governors - Gina Raimondo and Dan McKee - have signed extensions.

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NOT

Amazon’s Obsession With Speed Creates "Uniquely Dangerous Warehouses”

Amazon’s warehouse workers have raised the alarm for years about unsafe working conditions and a corporate culture that prioritizes speed and profit over worker health and safety, according to a report released on Monday by the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

In Rhode Island, Amazon opened a 3.8 million-square-foot facility in Johnston this year.

According to the Senate report, “Many of these workers live with severe injuries and permanent disabilities because of the company’s insistence on enforcing grueling productivity quotas and its refusal to adequately care for injured workers.”

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NOT

More and More Questions About CVS

This week, two major events took place that raised even more questions about the core decency of CVS as a corporate citizen.

1) It was unveiled that CVS is one of the companies implicated in taking “secret” payments from Purdue Pharma in exchange for removing safety restrictions, according to a major investigation released on Tuesday by the New York Times.

According to the Times, as the opioid crisis got worse and the number of Americans who died skyrocketed, Purdue Pharma increased the payments to companies like CVS.

“For years, the benefit managers, or P.B.M.s, took payments from opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, in return for not restricting the flow of pills. As tens of thousands of Americans overdosed and died from prescription painkillers, the middlemen collected billions of dollars in payments,” wrote the Times. 

2} Then, on Thursday, the United States Justice Department, in a federal lawsuit filed in Rhode Island on Wednesday has alleged that CVS Pharmacy, Inc., and various subsidiaries (collectively, CVS) filled unlawful prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs for some of the unlawful prescriptions in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA). CVS is the country’s largest pharmacy chain, with more than 9,000 pharmacies across the United States.

“Opioid deaths remain a scourge on communities across Rhode Island and the nation, robbing families of loved ones and leaving a path of devastation in their wake,” said Zachary A. Cunha, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island. “This lawsuit alleges that CVS failed to exercise its critical role as gatekeeper of dangerous prescription opioids and, instead, facilitated the illegal distribution of these highly addictive drugs, including by pill mill prescribers."

"When corporations such as CVS prize profits over patient safety and overburden their pharmacy staff so that they cannot carry out the basic responsibility of ensuring that prescriptions are legitimate, we will use every tool at our disposal to see that they answer for it," he added.