Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - June 25, 2021

HOT

Bipartisan Deal on Infrastructure

President Biden and a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal on Thursday for $1.2 trillion in investments to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

The agreement was reached on traditional infrastructure projects — roads, bridges, tunnels, rail, and broadband.

This is a win for President Biden, Senator Joe Manchin and both congressional Democrats and Republicans.

HOT

Kyra is Coming

A few weeks ago GoLocal reported that one of Hollywood's power couples was spotted dining in Rhode Island. Sophie’s Brewhouse in Exeter shared the photos of Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick, who stopped in for lunch. 

Now, we know the whole story of why they were in RI.

The Rhode Island Film & TV Office has announced the Sedgwick, who is an Emmy-Award-winning actress will be directing Rebecca Banner’s acclaimed 2016 Black List screenplay Space Oddity in RI.  

The independent production stars Kyle Allen (West Side Story), Alexandra Shipp (X-Men franchise), and Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale)  This is the second feature film for director Sedgwick after Story of a Girl for which she received a Director’s Guild of America nomination. Principal photography commences this week in the historic towns of Wickford and North Kingston, Rhode Island.

Space Oddity tells the tale of Alex (Allen) who, after giving up on Earth and deciding to leave it all behind for a one-way mission to Mars, develops an unexpected romance with Daisy (Shipp), the enigmatic town newcomer, which forces him to choose between an uncertain journey to the stars and an even more uncertain journey of the heart.

This is the first feature Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler will be producing under their banner Big Swing Productions.

PHOTO: Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/ CC:2.0

HOT

Gina Raimondo's Real Estate

If you want to get a sense of how hot the real estate market is look no further than the sale of now U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo's home. 

As GoLocal first reported, the house sold this week. Raimondo and her husband Andy Moffit purchased the home in 2013 when she served as Rhode Island's General Treasurer for $471,500.

The property has an assessed value of $913,200 according to Providence tax records.

The property sold for $1,155,000 -- the couple netted nearly $700,000 in eight years.

Cha-ching.

HOT

Former Newport Gull Goes to the Big Leagues

With the PawSox gone to Worcester, the best baseball in RI is the Gulls who play at historic Cardines Field in Newport.

Former Newport Gull Jake Cousins, a now Milwaukee Brewer, made his Major League Debut on Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cousins entered the game for the Brewers in the sixth inning pitching two scoreless innings and striking out five batters while walking one.

Cousins played one season for the Gulls in 2016 where he made the All-Star Roster for the South Division as a reliever. He appeared in eight games for the Gulls, starting in six of them and finished with a 2-1 record, a 4.26 ERA, and 31 strikeouts. Cousins recorded two games with seven K’s.

In his four years at the University of Pennsylvania, Cousins pitched 197.2 innings with a 20-7 record in 38 appearances and 31 games started. After his last collegiate season in 2017, Cousins was named Unanimous First-Team All-Ivy Selection and drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 20th round.

Cousins becomes the 27th Gull to reach Major League Baseball continuing the streak for the most out of the NECBL franchises.

HOT

Wildly Interesting History

Author Ed Renehan's piece this week "RI’s Albert Hicks, and the Most Spectacular Execution in American History" is an amazing read.

My historical true crime narrative DELIBERATE EVIL: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, DANIEL WEBSTER, AND THE 1830 MURDER OF A SALEM SLAVE TRADER is scheduled to be published by Chicago Review Press this December. While waiting for that month to roll around, I’ve been probing other crime and criminals from New England’s past, looking for a topic that might serve as fodder for a follow-up book.

In so doing, I’ve unearthed Albert W. Hicks, born circa 1820 in Foster, Rhode Island – a man who became infamous as America’s “last pirate,” and whose 1860 public hanging in New York was as great a spectacle as could be imagined: the very best sideshow that P.T. Barnum, who played an intimate role, could have ever wished for. Upon consideration, Mr. Hicks will not wind up at the center of my next book. Nevertheless, his story is certainly worth a short mention.

The farm-born Hicks was one of eleven children. Two of these became criminals. The eldest, Simon, wound up a convicted murderer who escaped and remained a fugitive for the rest of his life, just as lost to the family as to law enforcement.  And then there was Albert. READ THE REST HERE

HOT

Harrison Tuttle

BLM RI PAC Director Harrison Tuttle called out Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's hypocrisy on issues of institutional racism.

“If this is true, then why isn’t Sen. Whitehouse practicing in private what he preaches in public? Public rhetoric is one thing, but doing the right thing when no one is watching is the real measure of commitment to your values,” said Tuttle. 

In a follow-up statement to GoLocal, Tuttle said, "Private clubs and organizations like Bailey’s Beach Club have long been a tool of wealthy white people to maintain their power. The members of these clubs get special access to a U.S. Senator by virtue of their wealth, while the average Rhode Islander has to wait in lines, attend town hall meetings, or send emails, after any of which they may never really be heard." 

"Sen. Whitehouse has the power to make change just by using his platform, but has chosen instead to be passive, pretending as though he has no power to change anything. Senator: if you don’t have the courage to either improve or leave a beach club, why should we trust you with the responsibility of bettering the lives of Rhode Islanders?" said Tuttle..

HOT

Dan McKee - Food Truck Solution

Give the Governor a little credit.

When the RI DEM moved to block the food truck events in State Parks, Dan McKee intervened and got the summer events back on track -- old school governing.

Little hype, just solutions.

After GoLocal was first to report that RI DEM had told food truck event organizers — and small business owners, and fans — that events this summer would be canceled at state parks due to DEM’s lack of ability to handle their popularity, the two sides have reached an agreement.

PVD Food Truck Events announced Thursday that they will now be back at Colt State Park three more times this season — August 4, August 18, and September 1 for “On the Water Wednesdays Food Trucks in the Park.”

Moreover a July 7 event has been rescheduled to Brenton Park in Newport, allowing for more food truck fun for aficionados this summer. 

“We want to thank RI DEM and RI State Parks for the time and effort to work this out with us,” said PVD Food Truck Events organizer Eric Weiner. 

NOT

"Long Tradition"

One of the most bizarre statements any politicians in Rhode Island has ever said was uttered by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who made the comments about the exclusionary Bailey's Beach Club that his family is a significant shareholder.

“It's a long tradition in Rhode Island and there are many of them and I think we just need to work our way through the issues, thank you,” said Whitehouse as he was ushered away by a staffer.

NOT

Sheldon Whitehouse

On Monday, Newsweek’s Skylar Baker-Jordan wrote, “The Democrats Have an Elitism Problem. Sheldon Whitehouse is the Latest Example,” writing the following:

"We can and must do better to root out systemic racism in its many forms and meet America's full promise of justice for all," the Senator said in a press release last year.

'The hypocrisy is enraging. But I for one am not surprised by it," Baker Jordan wrote. "Because this episode exposed something much deeper than Whitehouse's own hypocrisy. It exposed a class bias the Democratic Party has more generally, one that's all too often to be found lurking just behind platitudes about equality and justice.

NOT

Eleanor Slater Hospital

The preliminary accreditation report for Eleanor Slater Hospital released Wednesday raises serious issues of patient care, safety and management at the state-run institution. 

“I am deeply disturbed and frankly disgusted with the findings of the Joint Commission’s Preliminary Report," said McKee. "The report is preliminary and highlights issues that have not been adequately addressed over many years."

"My team is doing everything possible to address these deficiencies so that the Joint Commission’s final report will make the recommendation to maintain our accreditation," he added. "Secretary Jones, Director Charest, my staff and I are working to improve operations at Eleanor Slater Hospital for the patients and their families.”

The 46-page report details a disturbing number of care issues. 

- The violations range from an incident in which patients’ wheelchair became stuck in a pathway and four staffers had to assist to free the chair.
- Certified nurse assistants were not properly protected during x-rays in the dental office.
- Everything from gas tanks to electrical boxes were not properly secured.
- Improper staffing and understaffing.

The list goes on and on. Previously, McKee has criticized his predecessor's effort in making corrections to the hospital and called the Raimondo Administration's assessment of the situation a "fairy tale."

“When we went through the budget time frame, there were assumptions that were given to us that were not real,” McKee said at a press briefing on June 9. “It was a fairy tale.”

“Those assumptions really short-changed the budget a significant amount of dollars,” McKee said.