Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Nov. 20
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Nov. 20
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Nov. 20
HOT
Aaron Regunberg
The state representative from the East Side of Providence took a courageous stand in support of helping refugees from Syria. "“Too often in times of tragedy, fear leads people toward nationalistic and prejudiced actions, rather than the humanitarianism that is so badly needed in this fractured world. Fanning the flames of xenophobia and bigotry does nothing to increase safety, prevent further tragedy or increase understanding of the complicated problems causing refugees to flee their homelands despite the uncertainty of their futures abroad." The representative is spot on. There is no reason to give in to xenophobia, which is basically letting the terrorists win.
HOT
Seth Magaziner
Let's give the General Treasurer some due credit for replacing First Southwest, whom the state is suing for fraud, among other things, for its role in the 38 Studio's debacle. The move was way overdue, to say the least, as it's unconscionable that we're taking advice from someone we're suing.. Magaziner has also replaced the current managers of the state's College Bound Fund with Invesco, a well respected national firm.
HOT
Giovanni Feroce
The former Alex and Ani CEO and now the owner of BENRUS, the chic men's clothing brand, opened up a store location in Providence yesterday. It's nice to see business investment taking place in Rhode Island. Feroce was also in the news for putting his $12 million Newport home on the market to help him finance BENRUS. Feroce is in it for the long haul and putting his money where his mouth is.
HOT
Bradley Hospital
The East Providence Hospital was recently named "Top Performer on Key Quality Measures" for 2014 by The Joint Commission, the leading accredit or of health organizations in the U.S, for for reaching and maintaining excellence in accountability measure performance for impatient psychiatric services. Having such a high quality institution in our state is a credit to Rhode Island.
HOT
Joseph DeQuattro
It turns out that the owner of Pane e Vino Ristorante, the tremendous Federal Eatery, will be opening a new restaurant at the location where Mediterraneo was for the past two decades, in the same section of the city. It's nice to see that one restaurant with excellent food and service is being replaced by another that will undoubtedly also feature the same.
HOT
LaSalle Cross Country
For the second year in a row, both the boys and the girls cross country teams at LaSalle Academy won the championship at the New England meet, with David Principe winning the race for the boys team. Now both teams are onto the Northeast Region meet Nov. 28 in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Here's hoping both teams will once again make Rhode Island proud!
NOT
Representative Bobby Nardolillo
Nardolillo was one of the first state representatives to come to call on Governor Gina Raimondo to refuse to accept any refugees from Syria simply because one of the attackers in the Paris, France massacre was a refugee. That type of generalization is dangerous, and would inadvertently, and ultimately help ISIS recruit more terrorists as it would fan the flames of radicalization due to increasing desperation in Syria. Knee-jerk reactions that feed the public's most base fears are no way to govern. We're supposed to be better than that. We're Americans.
NOT
Gina Raimondo
It's just one year after her historic election as Governor, and it's clear that Raimondo has plenty of work to do if she's going to have a successful term. She is perceived as a strong leader, but if perception isn't backed up by reality, that's not going to mean anything. The Governor has seen key businesses like TeeSpring leave the state. The PARRC test scores were horrible. And the governor has been awful on transparency. At times, it seems the only place the governor can go is up.
NOT
PARCC Scores
The students of Rhode Island scored woefully on the standardized test that measure's student progress. Two thirds of all the students in grades 3-10 last year did not meet expectations in English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) and math. This is clearly not acceptable and it is evidence that the state needs bold education reform.
NOT
Angel Taveras
The former mayor's legacy was dealt another blow last week when a federal judge dismissed the city's lawsuit against its former pension adviser, Buck Consultants. The former mayor's administration sued the company, claiming that its projections were faulty and cost the city money. But the lawsuit was always a publicity stunt considering that financial consultants just tell city administrations what they'd like to hear anyway.
NOT
URI Men's Basketball
The program suffered a heartbreaking loss when superstar E. C. Matthews was sidelined for the year with an injury in the team's first game. The program was the chic pick by most college basketball analysts to make some noise this year and earn an NCAA tournament bid, but losing Matthews--one of the most dynamic players in the country--certainly puts a damper on that. Here's hoping the Rams can have a great season in any event!
