HOT

RI Designer Kent Stetson’s Creative Handbags Are Now Being Tapped by National Brands

Rhode Island handbag designer Kent Stetson just unveiled his latest line of coveted creations — for Jersey Mike’s.

For Stetson, as he celebrates his twentieth anniversary making his creative clutches this year, how he came to land the order for 1,500 bags from the owners of the popular food chain is the story of how he has worked now for decades to establish himself as one the top names in fashion. 

“Fierce and severe has had its moment in the industry. I’m more...charming,” said the self-effacing Stetson, a self-described introvert.

“This didn’t happen overnight. It has been a long time coming,” he added. 

With Jersey MIke’s — and other big brands waiting in the wings — Stetson and his team in his Pawtucket production facility are maxed out on orders. 

“This is the first time I haven’t had to hustle,” said Stetson. “I truly believe this is the start of a new chapter.”

READ MORE

HOT

The Name to Know: Cosgrove

On Friday, the Rhode Island College women's basketball team plays in the Sweet 16 against the University of Chicago.

See the GoLocal LIVE interview HERE.

Head coach Jenna Cosgrove led RIC to a 26-3 record and a 60-9 record in the past three seasons.

Cosgrove is a name to know. 

HOT

HGTV Star

Residential Properties Limited (RPL) Sales Associate Jim DeRentis will be appearing on a new episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters” on Tuesday, March 14 at 10 PM. 

According to RPL, in the episode, a San Francisco couple looks to move back to Rhode Island to a larger home in Providence. Though they both like the charm of historic homes, he wants a place with a renovated interior while she prefers something with quirks. DeRentis filmed the show recently, taking the couple to three of RPL’s Providence listings, Ardmore Avenue,  Rhode Island Avenue, and Fosdyke Street.

“The entire experience was a lot of fun, and I have a new appreciation for what happens behind the scenes filming a television show,” DeRentis said. “I was very happy to be able to show off my hometown for the country to see. We know it’s special and now the HGTV viewers who didn’t know about Providence will too.”

DeRentis is married to Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. 

HOT

Sabina Matos is First

Give Lt. Governor Sabina Matos credit.

She is first to jump into the race for the soon-to-be vacated first congressional seat.

READ MORE

HOT

Cumberland's Biggest Star

Sorry, Governor. There's a bigger Cumberland star now.

Cumberland native and Marquette Junior Tyler Kolek has been named Big East Player of the Year. 

Kolek attended St. George’s and was the 2019 RI Gatorade Player of the Year.

According to the Big East: 

Kolek is MU’s maestro point guard, averaging 12.7 points and a league-leading 7.9 assists, which ranks second nationally.  The 6-3 junior from Cumberland, R.I., ranks first in assist/turnover ratio at 3.3., which places him sixth in the nation. He is fifth in the Big East in steals at 1.8 and ninth in free throw shooting, making 81.4 percent. Kolek is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard.

Smart’s squad made the biggest leap in league history, jumping from ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll to outright regular-season champion. The Golden Eagles are expected to receive a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. In his second season at Marquette, Smart has directed the Golden Eagles to a 44-19 overall record and a 28-11 Big East mark. He owns a career record of 316-161 (.662) in 14 seasons as a head coach.

NOT

Yikes

It appears the General Assembly has given up.

Site Selection magazine ranks Rhode Island as one of the worst places in which corporations build new facilities.

Overall, Rhode Island was the site for just six new projects in 2022 — in comparison, Massachusetts was the site of 155 new projects.

And, Massachusetts was far behind other northeastern states. Pennsylvania had 230 respective projects, and New York, 309. 

Rhode Island produced a third of the projects of Maine, which had 18.

Site Selection magazine describes itself as the leading publication covering global corporate real estate strategy and economic development. The magazine highlights many of the national successes including recent successes in Kansas.

"On February 2nd, the 2023 recipient of the APEX incentives package was named. Kansas-based Integra Technologies announced plans to invest $1.8 billion in a large-scale semiconductor facility in Wichita, the second-largest private investment in Kansas history after Panasonic Energy. Employee-owned Integra is a fully integrated provider of semiconductor packaging, testing, qualification and other services. The 1 million-square-foot plant and headquarters facility will create nearly 2,000 high-paying jobs averaging $51,000 in wages. A Wichita State University, economic impact study, estimates an additional 3,161 jobs will be generated by suppliers, construction labor and other service positions," reports the magazine.

Much of the economic strategy in the past year under the McKee administration has been focused on supporting the proposed minor league soccer stadium in Pawtucket and the rehab of the Superman building into apartments.

McKee's office did not respond to questions about the Site Selection report.

Rhode Island Is Consistently Ranked Among the Worst in the U.S. for Business 

The poor ranking is another blow to Rhode Island’s reputation to do business.

Just last month, Rhode Island’s roads were ranked last in the country.

This past summer, in CNBC’s 2022 rankings for “Top States for Business” Rhode Island was #45.

Rhode Island received grades of "D+" for workforce -- and an "F" for infrastructure. 

Another recent study released in January finds that Rhode Island is the 5th worst state to start a business.

With around 20% of new businesses failing within one year and inflation making entrepreneurship even more difficult, WalletHub released its report on "2023’s Best & Worst States to Start a Business" in January. 

Utah, Florida, and Texas rank as the best states.

While Rhode Island ranks 46th, Massachusetts ranks 19th.

NOT

Where is Neronha?

The ongoing illegal discharge of partly treated sewage into the Blackstone River has lasted more than a week.

This is the second time in nine months that the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility has failed.

The facility is owned by the City of Woonsocket and is managed by two companies — Synagro and Jacobs.

“These discharges of sewage into the Blackstone are unacceptable. They are an insult to the river and everyone who uses it and depends on it,” said Save the Bay’s Kate McPherson, the Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper.

“They are also a violation of the Clean Water Act. Clearly, something is very wrong with operations at the Woonsocket facility,” said McPherson.

DEM tells GoLocal that the problems at the facility continue.

“The advisory on the Blackstone River is still in effect. The plant’s treatment capability appeared to be stabilizing since the weekend, but yesterday the plant had a washout where cloudy, highly concentrated wastewater was discharged. Typically, fully treated wastewater is clear,” said DEM spokesperson Michael Healey.

NOT

Local Nursing Homes in Peril

Rhode Island nursing homes are facing millions of dollars in penalties as the state prepares to enforce new minimum staffing requirements. 

Now, as nursing home advocates say that the financial impact could potentially close facilities, some industry leaders are calling for a different approach. 

GoLocalProv spoke with small, locally-owned facilities this week, that are concerned about their financial viability. 

The law passed in Rhode Island in 2021 requires nursing home facilities to provide a specific amount of care per resident — or pay a fine. 

Initially, that metric started at 3.58 hours of direct nursing care and 2.44 of direct CNA care. It increased in January 2022 to 3.81 hours of nursing care and 2.60 hours of CNA care, but penalties were waved for the first two quarters of 2022.

“The penalties are the big issue in the industry,” said Jim Nyberg with LeadingAge Rhode Island, an organization of nonprofit providers of aging services, on a Zoom call this week with providers and GoLocalProv. 

Read more here. 

NOT

Rhode Island's New Energy Supplier Is Funding Anti-Consumer Programs

A new report published in The Lever investigates how the new energy provider selected to provide electricity to Providence and six other Rhode Island communities funneled millions to Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans.

The Lever finds that NextEra and other energy companies flooded millions into DeSantis and the GOP to secure a critical policy change.

GoLocal unveiled two weeks ago that the selected energy supplier for the new municipal energy to seven communities in Rhode Island’s program is Florida-based NextEra.

The Rhode Island communities who are opt-ing their business and residential customers into the NextEra offering are Barrington, Central Falls, Narragansett, Newport, Portsmouth, Providence, and South Kingstown are part of the program. 

READ MORE

NOT

Providence Public Schools Leadership - Transparency Challenged

Last Thursday, GoLocalProv broke the story that a Providence public school teacher had been arrested for child molestation. 

Joseph Teno, age 51, had taught at Esek Hopkins Middle School. He was arraigned on Thursday. 

Prior to the story’s publication, Providence Public School District (PPSD) Chief Communications Officer Nick Domings refused multiple requests for comment. 

As GoLocal reported in December, 18 Providence school department executives make on average $157,000. Domings makes $149,000. 

Domings then did not respond to an email with the following additional questions by GoLocal: 

When was PPSD made aware of the allegations?

When was Providence police contacted?

When were families notified?

How long has Joseph Teno taught at Esek Hopkins?

How long has he taught in the Providence school department overall? 

PPSD then issued a statement at 5 PM on Thursday (see below). 

A search of the Rhode Island Department of Education portal shows that Teno had an emergency certification to teach at Esek Hopkins which was issued last September. 

Where he was prior — or what his qualifications were — is unknown. 

PPSD statement:

PPSD has learned that an Esek Hopkins Middle School teacher was arrested and charged with second degree child molestation for alleged improper contact with two students who attend the school. In December, upon learning of the allegations the principal immediately reported the matter to authorities and District leadership. District officials upon being informed promptly placed the individual on administrative leave, pending the outcome of both the PPSD internal Title IX investigation and the criminal proceedings.

We take these allegations and the safety of our students extremely serious and took swift action to ensure the person in question had no further contact with students. Providence Schools ­­will keep the impacted families informed of any further developments.