Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - September 23, 2022

HOT

The Return of Newport

The Newport International Boat Show announced that attendance for the 2022 show was exceptional. 

The four-day event, held along the downtown waterfront, opened on Thursday, September 15 and continued through Sunday, September 18.

This year’s event included a wide array of boats in the water of every type and style from 15- to 90-feet, and a wide variety of accessories, equipment, electronics, gear and services for boaters.

According to event organizers, the 2021 show had the greatest increase in the number of visitors from pre-pandemic levels in over a decade at 10% and this year’s show proved that Newport continued to retain new attendees and maintain their interest.
 

HOT

Carpenters Union

Will Morgan took a look at the newest addition to the Rhode Island landscape:

Unions are a big deal in Rhode Island, but their presence rarely reflects a focus on architecture. Yet, the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters Local Union 330 has a handsome new headquarters overlooking Interstate 95 in Warwick that deserves recognition.

With the striking exception of the starkly modern Viessmann building (that looks like it belongs in Zurich or Rotterdam), most of the businesses lining the route into our city from the south are nothing to write home about.

A makeover of a distinctly undistinguished 1970s office block, the union hall is an ugly duckling transformed into a swan. Retaining the foundation, floor structure, and roof, Paul Hauser of the Providence firm of Vision 3 Architects totally redesigned the 13,000-square-feet block into a handsome and appropriate corporate identity symbol–one that stands out from the industrial landscape of the highway.

READ MORE

HOT

Kara McKee

Kara McKee has earned a spot on The Voice Season 22.

She confirmed the rumor that has been swirling for weeks with a post on social media.

Idol Chatter, a website devoted to covering The Voice and American Idol, has lots to say about Kara this season.

The Voice has featured a number of Rhode Islanders, including Johnny Gates, Sarah Potenza and Billy Gilman.

There is no truth to the rumor that if Helena Foulkes had won the Democratic primary for governor, then one of her four children would have scored a slot on the show. 

HOT

Years in the Making - New Market Downtown

Downtown Providence will officially have a new grocery store on Friday. 

Rory’s Market + Kitchen, a woman-owned and operated family business, opens to the public at 9 AM on Friday.

The store -- located at 113 Washington Street -- will be open daily from 7 AM to 8 PM Monday through Saturday, and 8 AM through 7 PM on Sundays. 

Throughout the grand opening weekend on September 24-25, the store will offer menu samples, organic produce sales, and samples of products from local vendors.

HOT

Kelly Bates - One Year Later

It has been a full year since meteorologist Kelly Bates left WJAR-10 — and in doing so, turned the media world on its head. 

When GoLocal broke that Bates was out at the Sinclair-owned station in September of 2021, few could have predicted the attention it would garner.

Bates, a seasoned professional with a loyal following, found out just how ardent her supporters were when she tearfully took to video to express it was not her wish to leave the station, but she felt she was left with no choice. 

Thousands petitioned to have her reinstated at her former job. 

WJAR-10 maintained that Bates had “turned down” a new contract. But the news of her seemingly sudden departure then began to gain steam. 

Bates told Newsweek that TV news is ‘unequivocally unfair' to women following her exit. 

"We're held to standards that men aren't. Period. I believe this is the case in all kinds of industries of course, but TV news is the one I've worked in so I can speak to it,” said Bates. “Maybe it's our culture, or a relic from an outdated era.”

WJAR-10 clearly had their reasons for offering her a much-different contract — but Rhode Islanders overwhelmingly responded that it was the wrong decision. 

NOT

Gina's Legacy

When Gina Raimondo became governor in 2015, she promised to improve Rhode Island's last-place infrastructure ranking -- then the worst in the U.S.

Her funding scheme has now been ruled unconstitutional. The financial impact may total hundreds of millions. And, depending on the ranking, RI is 47th or 48th presently.

Under RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Rhode Island could be ranked 45th in the next 10-20 years.

NOT

Pension Politics

The City of Cranston has reached a settlement with its former pension advisor, GoLocalProv has learned. 

The dispute was filed by Cranston in November 2020 against Janney Montgomery Scott, the city's then-pension advisor.

Cranston complained that the fees associated with their accounts were not fully disclosed and were higher than stated between 2009 and 2020 — and that investments made in a hedge fund and an annuity were not suitable.

The complaint was filed under former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung’s administration, after top SEC whistleblower Edward Siedle’s fiduciary review of the City of Cranston Fire and Police pension plans found “consistent and dramatic underperformance” of investments. 

Siedle recommended that the pension fund go with a “new pension advisor…[one] without a myriad of conflicts.”

READ: Cranston Pension Investigation Finds “Dramatic Underperformance” & Troubling Scaramucci Investment

According to the city, Janney Montgomery Scott paid Cranston $100,000 in the settlement, including lawyers' fees. 

NOT

Up, Up and Away

Coming to your mailbox this winter are electricity bills from RI Energy that will be among the highest in the United States.

Before the filing by RI Energy for the massive rate increase, Rhode Islanders already had the 7th highest residential electricity rates in the United States, according to data released by Choose Energy and updated on September  1, 2022.

Rhode Island only trails Hawaii, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and Alaska for having the highest electricity charges. 

According to Choose Energy, RI’s per kilowatt hour is $23.63 and is now facing a 47% increase.

The U.S. consumer-price index for electricity in August climbed 15.8% over the same month a year ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.  This is the biggest 12-month increase since 1981, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Governor Dan McKee on Friday presented testimony before the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC0 public hearing urging a number of actions — actions proposed that will assist lower-income residents.

McKee urged the PUC, “Distribute $32.5 million in electric ratepayer bill credits from the State's settlement with PPL back to all ratepayers over the time when electric rates will be elevated. Second: Suspend the customer charge on residential electric bills until next summer, when electricity prices are projected to decline significantly. And third: Moderate the impact on all ratepayers by spreading the higher rates over 12 months.”

NOT

A College Degree -- Maybe Not for Everyone

Dylan Field is 30 years old, and on Thursday, it was announced that Adobe was buying his company Figma for $20 billion.

Yes, billion. 

Field was admittedly an unremarkable high school student until he found robotics and then set his sights on the University of California - Berkeley but was rejected and attended Brown University.

While at Brown, according to the Wall Street Journal, “Field applied for a fellowship run by the billionaire financier Peter Thiel. The fellowship, then not particularly well-known, offered applicants $100,000 in no-strings-attached funding if they agreed to drop out of college to pursue entrepreneurial aims. He pitched new software to modify drones to monitor traffic and catch reckless drivers."

Field was accepted for the fellowship and left Brown.

The drone company crashed, but his next idea, Figma, is now a tech legend.

So just what does Filed's brainchild company do?

"Figma connects everyone in the design process so teams can deliver better products, faster," according to the company. 

Field will not be the only winner in this, but he will be insanely wealthy at 30.

"Mr. Field, according to investors and others who know him, still owns a sizable chunk of the company, along with venture-capital heavyweights including Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners. If the deal closes, Mr. Field would be a billionaire," according to the Wall Street Journal.

While Field is most definitely hot, the case for staying four years in college might be in come cases not. 

NOT

Get Ready for More Personal Financial Ruin and Business Embezzlements

Sports betting in Rhode Island was launched by former Governor Gina Raimondo as a way to generate new revenue to help the state’s budget.

The sports betting program in Rhode Island has missed every revenue target. But the biggest problem with the program is emerging now, according to researchers.

Pew Research says, "The portrait of a new problem gambler is emerging: the high school student. Although the legal age for gambling ranges from 18 to 21 depending on the state, between 60% and 80% of high school students report having gambled for money in the past year, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling."

The report says the pandemic and easy access to online gambling have heightened risks for young adults. And 4% to 6% of high schoolers are considered addicted to gambling, the group says.

“We believe that the risks for gambling addiction overall have grown 30% from 2018 to 2021, with the risk concentrated among young males 18 to 24 who are sports bettors,” said Keith Whyte, the council’s executive director, in an interview with Pew.

The council is a nonprofit group that advocates for helping problem gamblers but is neutral on legalized gambling.

According to Pew, "The percentage of high school students with a gambling problem is double that of adults, research has found. About 5% of all young people between 11 and 17 meet at least one of the criteria for a gambling problem, such as liking the rush felt when gambling, writing IOUs to stay in the game and wanting to win 'the big one' so much that they keep playing even when losing a great deal."

The SportsBook Rhode Island is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting its gambling app.

But for a student or parent worried about a gambling addiction, it is nearly impossible to find information about sports addiction treatment programs and there is no specific information regarding teen compulsive gambling.

What is there however pages and pages of information on how to bet. There is information on how to bet on the major sports -- football, baseball, basketball, and hockey -- but there is also info on how to on betting on golf, boxing, and soccer. 

Indications are that the ease of access coupled with the endless promotion of marketing now integrated into every sports broadcast is creating a generation of compulsive gamblers.

In North Carolina, "More than 9% of middle school students who participated in 2020 said their gambling had led to serious psychological, financial and legal consequences and impaired their functioning. The follow-up indicated students’ attitudes changed and they gambled less," according to Pew.