Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - March 26, 2021

HOT

Justin Herron

New England Patriot Justin Herron is being credited with saving a woman from an attempted sexual assault, according to reports.

Herron was in Tempe, Arizona last Saturday when he witnessed a man attempting to assault a 71-year-old woman in a public park — and pulled him off her, reported CNN. 

"I just knew in that moment that I had to go," said Herron, who ordered the man to stop and pulled him off the woman.

Read more here.

HOT

Providence Bagel and Girl Scouts

It’s that time of year — Girl Scout cookie time.

Now, Providence Bagel is giving you a drinkable version — in four flavors — to benefit the organization. 

Starting this week, the popular bagel eatery — which has expanded beyond its original North Main Street location with additional stores on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence and at the University of Rhode Island — will help you with your cookie cravings. 

Cookie Coffees

With cold brew coffee flavors that including S’mores, Peanut Butter Crunch, Peppermint Patty, and Caramel Dream, you can indulge your sweet tooth while indulging in your carbohydrate cravings with their scrumptious bagels, pastries, and more. 

“Our new Coffee Menu launches Wednesday and we are pumped to announce we’re teaming up with the Girl Scouts of Southern New England to bring entire menu inspired by our favorite cookies!” said PB on FB — Providence Bagel on Facebook. 

“A portion of all sales go back to Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England!” they added.

So now, you can drink your cookie favorites for a good cause. 

HOT

Arizona (vs. Rhode Island)

On Tuesday morning, Arizona officials announced that Amazon was building not one but two new facilities — thousands of new jobs.

Later in the day, Arizona officials --  and even U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo -- were trumpeting an even bigger announcement.

Tech giant Intel was announcing 3,000 facility jobs and another 12,000 permanent high-tech, high-paying jobs via the supply chain. The new jobs will be housed at a major facility creating another 3,000 construction jobs.

In total, nearly 30,000 new jobs were announced in one day. The Intel investment is $20 billion.

According to the Phoenix Business Journal in Glendale and Tucson, "The new facilities will be sortation centers, which receive the packages from a fulfillment center or an Air hub and sort them by zip code to be sent to delivery stations."

Amazon will open a new sorting center in Glendale — the city's first Amazon facility — by the end of the year, the company announced Tuesday.

"The Glendale facility will be used to sort Amazon orders by ZIP code before sending them off to delivery stations or drivers. The center will employ "hundreds" of full- and part-time employees with a $15 starting hourly wage, according to the company. Amazon announced a major metro Phoenix expansion in 2020. The Seattle-based company said the expansion would bring 3,000 jobs to metro Phoenix," according to the report.

HOT

URI's Meyerson Elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America 

Laura Meyerson, a resident of Kingston, has been studying invasive species since 1995 and has been a leading advocate for addressing invasive species as a national biosecurity issue since joining the URI faculty in 2005.

According to a statement from the Ecological Society, she was elected for her “leadership in invasion science, including research on the biotic and abiotic underpinnings of biological invasions at multiple scales; for contributions to national and international policy through her publications and extensive service; and for training the next generation of leaders through teaching, mentoring, and action.”

“I’m truly honored to join this esteemed group of ecologists as fellows of the Ecological Society of America,” said Meyerson, URI professor of natural resources science. “The fellows are some of the most amazing people in our field, and I’m quite pleased to be among them.”

She organized the first conference on invasive species in New England as a graduate student at Yale University in 1999, publishing the resulting conference papers in a special issue of the then-new journal Biological Invasions, for which she now serves as associate editor-in-chief. After earning her doctorate, she was an environmental fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a staff scientist with the H. John Heinz Center for Science, Policy and the Environment.

In addition, Meyerson has worked in the national and international policy arena with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Invasive Species Council, the Global Invasive Species Programme, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. She is writing a chapter on trends in invasions for a forthcoming global report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

NOT

Biden's Immigration Policy

President Joe Biden has had a number of successes since taking the oath of office of January, but the emerging disaster at the border is now a constant drumbeat of mixed messages on immigration.

There are currently thousands of children in distress and photos show recent arrivals in cages.

NOT

Early Vaccines for Rich and Famous -- No Penalties for Anyone

So much for the investigation.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Tuesday that Care New England and Lifespan "erred" by letting board members jump the lines for vaccines -- but that he would not be taking any legal action. 

In January, GoLocal reported that wealthy Rhode Islanders were skipping the line to get vaccinated due to their positions as simply board members of the hospital groups and not frontline healthcare workers or first responders. 

Neronha's wife is a physician for Coastal Medical, which is in the process of a merger with Lifespan. He also has regulatory oversight over the proposed CNE-Lifespan merger that has billions of dollars at stake - and has refused to answer questions about whether or not his wife's position constitutes a conflict of interest.

Does Neronha Have Conflict

"Financial conflicts of interest occur when someone, or their relative, or business associate, derives a financial benefit from a decision they make in their official capacity," said Common Cause Executive Director John Marion. "So the question here seems to be whether the Attorney General's wife would be financially impacted by any decision he makes in his statutory oversight of the Lifespan-Care New England merger."

On Tuesday, Neronha said while the hospital groups “erred” in allowing the line jumping to take place, due to the fact that that vaccinating board members were “neither in conformity with nor in violation of RIDOH’s guidance," he could only “offer guiding principles” moving forward, calling for “transparency” and “best practices.”

NOT

Making Them Wait for Hours

The Rhode Island House Finance committee kept hundreds of parents who wanted to testify against charter school moratorium legislation waiting for hours on Tuesday night, and ultimately told them they could not testify until a week from Wednesday.

The moratorium legislation is proposed in the House by Rep. Bill O'Brien. The Senate passed a similar version of the bill -- legislation that would strip away over 5,800 new public charter seats for the fall.

Many of the parents who signed up to testify were organized by a group of mothers who formed the group Stop the Wait RI to support the expansion of publicly funded charter school opportunities.

"About 300 parents took time out of their day to stay at home, sit by the phone and wait for a call to advocate for their kids - a call that never came - that in itself was disgraceful," said Janie Seguí Rodríguez, chair of the board of Stop the Wait RI.

"We are calling on Chairman [Marvin] Abney to bring order to the next hearing. The committee needs to hear our stories and they need to see our faces. We are calling on Chairman Abney to provide a mechanism for us to testify via video just like Governor Mckee did this evening. Denying Black and Latino parents the ability to be heard and the ability to be seen is not a good look for the General Assembly," said Seguí Rodríguez.

NOT

Boston Celtics

QUESTION: How bad are the Celts this year?

ANSWER: They are behind the Knicks. 

The Celtics are the biggest disappointment in the NBA this season.

The team has two of the most talented young stars in the league, but the performance to date has been gruesome.

They are 21-23 on the season.