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A Rhode Island Success Is Back

Rhode Island jeweler Carolyn Rafaelian has a way to celebrate the powerful women in your life. 

As GoLocal was first to report in 2020, Rafaelian, arguably the most successful woman in Rhode Island business history, launched her newest endeavor, Metal Alchemist. 

"With Galentine’s Day it really is the thought that counts, right?" says the company. "That’s why Metal Alchemist’s posy wire bracelets are the perfect gift for all the friend groups that want to celebrate the women that kept them sane this year."

From the founder of Alex and Ani Rafaelian and inspired by posy (or "posie") rings of medieval times, the expressions of love, friendship, inspiration, and intention are forged in metal, creating a beautiful and delicate lifetime keepsake.

Alex and Ani, after a decade of rocketing success, ultimately floundered, and Rafaelian left the company. Her departure led to the launch of Metal Alchemist in 2020.

Rafaelian, who grew up in the jewelry industry, is focused on continuing manufacturing and design in Rhode Island. She has built a new headquarters in Wickford. Her first store is located in Tribeca in New York City.

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Speaking of Comebacks

As GoLocal editorialized this week:

No one person is going to solve Rhode Island’s housing crisis, but putting an accomplished professional in charge of getting $250 million deployed is a critical step.

Governor Dan McKee’s appointment of Stefan Pryor as Secretary of Housing is a good start.

Pryor is a proven pro. He has had successes at the highest level in New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

GoLocal has not always agreed with his strategies when he served as Commerce Secretary in Rhode Island, but he is one of the state’s most adept public servants.

To give a sense of how inept Rhode Island’s elected officials — primarily former Governor Gina Raimondo and Mayor Jorge Elorza — were in dealing with the housing crisis, in Boston in the past decade, 45,000 new condos, homes, and apartments were built, not to mention the 140,000 new jobs and the billions in tax revenue generated by new development, according to the Boston Contrarian.

Those numbers are just for the City of Boston. In most years, Rhode Island builds a little more than 1,000 housing units.

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Three RI Chefs Named James Beard Award Semifinalists

The James Beard Foundation on Wednesday announced its 2023 Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists for the James Beard Awards — and three Rhode Island chefs are on the list. 

The local mentions in “Best Chef Northeast” are Robert Andreozzi at Pizza Marvin in Providence; Milena Pagán at Little Sister, in Providence, and Sherry Pocknett at Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown. 

In total, 20 chefs made the semifinal list for New England. 

According to the Foundation, nominees will be announced on Wednesday, March 29, and winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on June 5 in Chicago. 

The James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards — established in 1990 and first awarded in 1991 - are one of five separate recognition programs of the Awards. 

The 2023 Restaurant and Chef Semifinalists are recognized across 23 categories, including the new Award for Outstanding Bakery.

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Crowley Calls Foul

Top labor official Patrick Crowley, who serves as a member of the Board of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), is criticizing the $84,000 lobbying contract given to former GOP congressional candidate Allan Fung’s firm.

Crowley is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the Government Relations Director at NEARI.

“As a member of the @RIPTA_RI board this decision could have had a much better reception if the entire board was consulted & we discussed the pros & cons. We were not. We should have been,” Crowley Tweeted.

On Thursday, GoLocal unveiled that RIPTA, which is headed by Scott Avedisian, the former Republican Mayor of Warwick, had signed an $84,000 no-bid contract with the firm of the former GOP Mayor of Cranston Allan Fung.

Fung is a partner in Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O'Gara. The contract was awarded to the firm's lobbying company PLDO Strategies.

Avedisian and Fung are long-time close political allies and friends.

RIPTA had not previously employed a lobbying firm.

Crowley said in an email to GoLocal that the contract should be terminated and that there should be an open process to select a firm

“Given the way this has unfolded and the lack of board involvement and transparency I think we should start over,” said Crowley.

The contract, which GoLocal secured through an Access to Public Records Act request, took effect on January 1, 2023.

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Hasbro Slashing

Hasbro, Inc. announced on Thursday leadership and organizational changes, including the elimination of approximately 15% of its global workforce this year. The reductions will start to take effect within the next several weeks.

The cuts will impact about 1,000 employees. It is unknown how many Rhode Islanders will lose their jobs.

With these actions, along with ongoing systems and supply chain investments, the Company is on track to achieve its goal of $250-300M in annual run-rate cost savings by year-end 2025 to drive profitability and reinvestment in core brand growth.

The stock has plummeted. The stock closed Thursday at $63.78, down 39% from its 52-week high of $105.13.

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NOT

ExxonMobile Knew

GoLocal MINDSETTER™ Rob Horowitz breaks down the ExxonMobile corporate manuever:

ExxonMobil knew just how much the continuing use of carbon-producing fossil fuels was likely to heat up the planet at the same time it was funding a comprehensive public relations campaign, denying the reality of global warming as well as the role of human activity in spurring it, according to a new study published in the journal Science.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the new study finds that ExxonMobil’s own scientists’ internal modeling accurately predicted the level of global temperature increases and that this information was shared with the company’s executives in a series of reports.  

“Our results show that in private and academic circles since the late 1970s and early 1980s, ExxonMobil predicted global warming correctly and skillfully,” wrote the study’s authors. “Using established statistical techniques, we find that 63 to 83% of the climate projections reported by ExxonMobil scientists were accurate in predicting subsequent global warming.”

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Smiley Silliness

Late last Friday afternoon, a small group of recipients received a survey regarding who should be the next Providence Police Chief.

The survey was sent out by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley’s office.

The eight-question online survey was sent to 600 — those that Smiley’s chief of staff Emily Crowell said have interacted with the city. The city of Providence has a population of more than  189,000.

“The email that went out tonight was specifically distributed to folks who have interacted with community relation team members in the city in the past and includes roughly 600 folks,” said Crowell.

Crowell said Smiley is also planning to have a community meeting.

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“Concerning Gonorrhea Strain” Detected in MA

Ugh. Isn't COVID, the flu and RSV enough?

The Department of Public Health (DPH) has announced it has detected a novel strain of gonorrhea in a Massachusetts resident that showed reduced response to multiple antibiotics and another case with genetic markers that indicate a similar drug response. This is the first time that resistance or reduced response to five classes of antibiotics has been identified in gonorrhea in the United States.

“The discovery of this strain of gonorrhea is a serious public health concern which DPH, the CDC, and other health departments have been vigilant about detecting in the US,” said Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke. “We urge all sexually active people to be regularly tested for sexually transmitted infections and to consider reducing the number of their sexual partners and increasing their use of condoms when having sex. Clinicians are advised to review the clinical alert and assist with our expanded surveillance efforts.”