Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - May 21, 2021

HOT

Secret Pizza

There is HOT and then there is HOTLINE Pizza.

Hotline Pizza is so popular, there has been a two-month waitlist for a pie. 

That is when the waitlist is open. There has been so much demand, presently the waitlist is closed. 

If you haven’t heard of Hotline Pizza, it might just be because it's Rhode Island's best-kept secret.

“Hotline Pizza is crazy good, possibly the best pizza I’ve ever had,” said one Reddit user — which sparked over 75 comments about Hotline's waitlist. 

Read more here. 

HOT

RI Has Fast Internet

Tim Wilkerson, President of the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association writes in GoLocal, "Every resident in Rhode Island deserves access to high-speed broadband Internet. That has always been true, but it has been magnified by the COVID-19 crisis. Thankfully, Rhode Island is the fastest and most-connected state in the country, thanks to the billions invested by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Rhode Island infrastructure, products and technology over the years."

"In a recent study relying on consumer speed-test data, Rhode Island ranked first among the fifty states in average residential Internet speed at 129Mbps. Data from several sources, including the FCC, also ranks Rhode Island first for the availability of broadband Internet, which is accessible to more than 99 percent of the state’s residents. Simply put, Rhode Islanders have access to the best Internet infrastructure in the country," Wilkerson wrote.

HOT

Kathleen Connell

The venerable long-time president of RI AARP is stepping down. She has helped raise the profile of the local chapter to be an important advocacy group in RI.

The former RI Secretary of State has been a trailblazer for women in politics.

She even represented The Newport Foundation as a platform speaker at the “Apocalypse Now” conference in Moscow in 1992, an event that also featured the Dali Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev as the keynote speakers.

Her career in public service included three terms as Rhode Island’s Secretary of State, a term in the Rhode Island Senate, and sixteen years of elected service in local town offices. During that time she was a leader in numerous education and health care initiatives and in issues affecting women. 

She served as vice-chair of the Democratic State Committee and was appointed to the Credentials Committee for the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988.

HOT

Digital Dog Nose

Over the past 15 years, Professor Otto Gregory of the College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island has developed drone deployed sensors, aka a digital dog nose, that can identify explosive materials, particles from a potentially deadly virus, and illegal drugs at the part-per-quadrillion level.

"This is potentially life-saving technology," said Gregory. "We have detected things at the part-per-quadrillion level. That's really single-molecule detection."

Gregory appeared on GoLocal LIVE and discussed the flexibility and range of application for the micro-sensors.

"The platform is broad-based, so you can apply it to lots of different venues, with lots of different end-users," said Gregory. 

While his research is largely funded by the Department of Homeland Security, other government agencies have provided funding and taken notice of Gregory's sensors and their potential applications.

"This project started as a DARPA funded project mainly to look at toxic gases -- threats that would be used in gas warfare, and when I say gases, chemical weapons,” said Gregory on GoLocal LIVE. DARPA is Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- the agency that has provided funding to private sector development of some of the country's super military tools.

HOT

Perfect Prom

It was a prom proposal worthy of a social media post. 

After the annual rite of passage for high school students was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cranston East Senior Dylan Needham made sure he was not going to miss out in 2021.

Needham was captured on video this past week asking his good friend Emily Sanita to prom — to which she excitedly, and emotionally, said yes.

And Sanita then shared the video to Instagram. 

“He hit me at 1:30 in the afternoon, I said isn’t he supposed to be in school?” said Sanita, a 19-year-old in the Cranston transition program, of being asked to prom by Needham.

“My teacher Miss Watson texted me and asked could I face time with Dylan,” Sanita told GoLocal of the proposal. “I was was so surprised when he asked. It made my day.”

“He’s a bright, funny kid, and a wonderful person,” said Sanita, who said she had hoped to go with Needham, who she has known for almost five years, to prom last year -- before it was canceled.

Big Date Following Tough Year

Needham told GoLocal he asked Sanita because she is a “good friend," and that he is “super-excited” for prom.

Dylan’s mom Dina Needham said they are going to Carl Anthony Tuxedo in Cranston this week, and that for the two friends, going to prom after a year in which students were unable to see each other for most of the year means so much.

She said yes: Sanita seen accepting Needham's proposal.

“They talk every night,” said Needham. “The whole thing this year, the kids couldn’t see each other. We knew we couldn’t see each other, but kids who are academically challenged missed that connection. But he kept up that friendship up with Emily — that was really important to him.”

“Everything he does is from the heart,” Needham added.

Sanita says she plans right now to wear a purple dress that she wore to a prom in 2019, will possibly do her hair up “in a bun” along with makeup, and is excited for the event this year taking place outside in Cranston Stadium, under a tent.

NOT

Providence Crime

In the past week, 11 wounded, 1 murder, and a serial rapist.

Some have been arrested.

Some arrested were out on bail within hours.

NOT

RI Recovery

A new report outlines that the Rhode Island economy is on an upswing but trails the region and nation in terms of growth.

The report, the Rhode Island Current Economic Indicator Briefing for the first quarter of 2021, was released on Tuesday by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

“We’ve come a long way from our economic freefall last spring,” commented RIPEC President and CEO Michael DiBiase, “but the Briefing reveals stubborn structural weaknesses that are slowing our recovery and make the Ocean State more vulnerable in the future.” “Policymakers should take note of weaknesses in the state’s industry mix and consider what policies may best spur economic development in high growth industries,” he continued.

RI’s GDP is projected to have grown by 3.5 percent (annualized rate) in Q1, but New England’s GDP is projected to have expanded by 5.2 percent and U.S. GDP is forecasted to have grown by 6.4 percent in the same period. Rhode Island’s “growth gap,” which existed before the pandemic, only widened over the last year.   

The report outlines that employment in the construction sector has performed well, but "economic activity in leisure and hospitality is still severely constrained by the pandemic and job growth continues to be slow in this industry. Employment in leisure and hospitality increased 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021 and 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. However, the sector employed 46,700 workers in March 2021, compared to 60,800 workers in February 2020."

NOT

Providence Ranks Poorly for Starting a Career

Unfortunately, new graduates aren’t entering the market at a great time, as the unemployment rate for people ages 20 through 24 was 10.5% in April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says WalletHub in a new report.

Providence ranks #133 out of 180 cities.

And, it is not that New England is trailing the rest of the country, Portland, ME ranks #21.