Posts by Sona Mkrttchian

The Ocean State had its ups and downs in 2012. Here are some standout stories from across RI.

Deficit Distress: 

Providence has a lot to be thankful for in the new year. For a few months last year, it didn’t seem that the city would make it to 2013. In March Mayor Angel Taveras first announced the city faced the possibility of bankruptcy and suggested that a “category five” fiscal crisis was imminent. Taveras battled a $110 million deficit throughout the year, calling on the city’s non-profit institutions to increase their PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes) contributions. The University felt the pressure — as students, faculty and city residents called on former president Simmons to step up to the Mayor’s demands — to finalize negotiations with Taveras and in May, Simmons and Taveras jointly announced an agreement under which the University promised to contribute an additional $31.5 million to the city over the next eleven years. The city’s other universities, colleges, and hospitals have also stepped up to help close the deficit and facilitate some fiscal stability. Taveras is set to present the city’s budget for the next fiscal year on Jan. 29 during the annual “State of the City” address.

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In preparation for tomorrow’s long-awaited Democratic Congressional Primary, here’s a quick profile of the Democratic candidates in Rhode Island’s first district:

Anthony Gemma – 2012 marks Gemma’s second run for Congress. Last time around, he lost to David Cicilline, the current incumbent, by a landslide. This year, polls show that Gemma is doing much better, only trailing by five percent in the latest WPRI poll. Most recently, Gemma made headlines for announcing evidence proving voter fraud in the Cicilline camp. Gemma’s highly publicized announcement did not result in the jump he had obviously hoped it would inspire. Judging from his performance in last weeks debate, Gemma’s new strategy is just aimlessly walking around Providence convincing people that he can bring “JOBS” — hopefully referring to more than this sign.

David Cicilline – In January, very few believed that Cicilline was going to be able to pull off a win in this election. While Cicilline may be leading against his Democratic brethren, he’s certainly still straggling behind the Republican candidate Brendan Doherty in the polls. These past few months, Cicilline has been called everything from “corrupt” to a “liar” to “fake.” In last week’s debate, Gemma remarked “I’ve never heard someone talk so much, but says so little.” Oh.  [Read more →]

What the Quahog? While you were stumbling around this weekend and enjoying the wonderful music of Sepalcure, Rhode Island was dealing with bigger problems (than the line outside Fratty at the Ratty). According to WPRI, in an attempt to “replenish [the] local shellfish population,” the state is going to transport 150,000 pounds of “adult quahogs” to a “shellfish management” zone. Don’t know what a quahog is? Neither did we… but a quick google search resulted in the following probable definition: a quahog is a hard-shelled clam, native to the New England area. Here’s hoping that this will work! #riproblems

Providence: leading the nation in something? Providence was recently named one of the 25 most porn-friendly cities in Men’s Health. Coming in at number 21, it beat out notable cities in Ohio and everyone’s favorite, New Jersey. Apparently, the rankings were determined by analyzing the numbers of DVDs bought or watched online and number of “adult entertainment stores per city.”

Election roundup, cont. GoLocalProv crowned Rhode Island’s newest congressional candidate with a “Who’s Not [Hot]“ rating to this week, calling Anthony Gemma’s entrance into the race for the 1st district’s seat “bizarre.” Gemma has been very reluctant to speak to the press about, well, anything and won’t acknowledge Cicilline. Snubbing just isn’t cool. Ever.

Threatening the police is never a good idea… Though Senator Dominick Ruggerio faced drunk driving charges last week, the bigger news had to do with Senator Frank Ciccone. At the time of his friend’s arrest, Ciccone went up to police officers and threatened them. Ciccone’s following statement was released alongside the police report:

“You think you got pension problems now, wait ’til this [expletive] is all done. This guy voted against you the last time, it ain’t gonna get any better now.” Ciccone was referring to the state’s municipal pension problem, which has some police departments facing wholly unfunded pension funds.

When Ruggerio’s car pulled over, Ciccone seemed to emerge out of thin air, walking along the street towards the arrest. Who said politicians aren’t humble? And who said they aren’t wizards? [Read more →]

“I totally am 21… It says so right here on my… voter ID card!” Rhode Island’s Secretary of State Ralph Mollis is spearheading a program that is handing out free voter ID cards for residents who don’t have driver licenses or other forms of identification. Residents will be barred from voting if they do not have some type of identification to register. Hey Mollis, I’m sure there are plenty of “21-year-old” voters up here on College Hill who need some of those “voter ID cards,” and I’m sure they’d be willing to ensure the elections went your way… wink, wink… nudge, nudge… cough, cough.

Keeney Quad: the model of cleanliness. The City of Providence will be testing all 3,000 of the city’s fire hydrants in the month of April. According to WPRI.com, “Officials say the testing could agitate main water supply lines and result in discoloration of the water,” and are urging residents “to run the water until it flows clear.” Question: How will students be able to differentiate this specific discoloration from the normal discoloration of the slush that flows through the Keeney pipes?

Stop trying to make “fetch” happen! Video of high-school aged girls fighting each other in Newport, RI, has recently surfaced online. The video has led psychologists to determine that “teen girl violence” is increasing due to social media, which facilitates bullying and extreme emotional responses. This seems like a fairly decent conclusion until you consider that Tina Fey figured out a long time ago that teenage girls are just plain crazy, on and off the computer.

The Luck of the (not really) Irish! The Mayor presided over the city’s “annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration” Saturday, announcing that “Irish heritage and culture are ‘alive and well’ in the capital.” This means that hostilities on both sides of the now infamous University-Providence debate were put down for at least one day this past week as Angel enjoyed his bagpiping and Irish step-dancing and Brown students enjoyed drowning their sorrows (over midterm season) in gallons of Natty Light Guinness.

What happens in Vegas stays in… Newport? Last week, state Senator Harold Metts proposed that “additional revenue earned by adding table games to Newport Grand and Twin River” casinos be used to fund education in the state. The general assembly has not yet passed the legislation that would even allow the table games to exist in the state’s casinos, but the senator has “introduced the legislation just in case.” Should the state continue allocating funds it doesn’t yet have? Isn’t that how the state got into this State of the City mess?

ProJo, please stop. Please? In this week’s edition of “the ProJo doesn’t know how to classify BREAKING NEWS,” everyone’s second favorite Providence publication announced that… wait….wait for it… SPRING POLLEN HAS BEEN DETECTED EARLY THIS YEAR. OMG. Wow. This is the earliest it has ever been reported?! Is Sisqo coming to Spring Weekend? PLEASE TELL US MORE, PROJO!

“This is real bad.” Republican Barry Hinckley is running against Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse for a seat in the Senate this fall, and his new campaign video is making a splash on the national level. Definitely check it out (above) if you enjoy learning about rising unemployment rates from a five-year old who knows less about economics than you did after failing your last Principles exam.

Breaking news: Old people are pissed off. Following multiple public threats to the retiree community, Mayor Angel Taveras sat down to explain how municipal retirees would have to sacrifice benefits and cost of living adjustments under a new plan to cut city spending and reduce the deficit. This is yet another serious financial issue for RI government for Brown students to be indifferent towards.

He’s no Joe. Biden. Members of local labor unions are holding a fundraiser at the Biltmore Hotel this week for Congressman David Cicilline. Apparently these members represent the last .000048% of Rhode Islanders who still support the Congressman. Regardless of Cicilline’s abysmal approval ratings, FDR’s New Deal Coalition still holds strong as organized labor flocks to the Democrat’s event (thanks Professor Schiller!).

A different RI university focuses on quality of athletics. The University of Rhode Island just announced that its men’s basketball coach has been let go. After setting school records at the beginning of his career, Jim Baron is leaving with two years still in his contract. This dismissal is probably in reaction to the Rams’ 7-24 record this past season. On the bright side: URI’s gonna be saving some big bucks (around $500,000). But then again, the record doesn’t bode well for the players’ ability to coach each other… maybe the school should hire another coach. Go Rams!

After 10 seasons, RI gets its big break, sans Simon. Now that the Oscars are over and Rhode Island doesn’t have Viola Davis on the mind, BlogDH was afraid the Ocean State would be left out of the entertainment industry for a bit. Not to worry, there’s a fellow Rhodian on American Idol. This is obviously a really big deal. SO EXCITING.

Just to clarify – we didn’t realize American Idol was on anymore, either…

Rankings don’t mean anything, right? Golocalprov.com featured an article on college rankings this past week as a part of its “college admissions” series. While Harvard is supposedly ranked the “#1 College Overall,” (… because that matters…), good ole Providence College also came in at number 1, but in the “Lots of Hard Liquor“ category. We saw you at Spats karaoke last night. It was a solid showing, PC, props. What about us? #1 in the Food Trucks per Square Block category?

Crime Alert: Maple syrup fraud. In (thoroughly pathetic) local crime news, WPRI is reporting that a local man pled guilty to “maple syrup fraud” this past week. Apparently, Bernard Coleman began a legitimate online maple syrup business, but in order to maintain profits after a price increase for syrup, “he decided to make his own out of water, sugar and maple flavoring.” Best part: Coleman was able to keep this up for THREE YEARS. That is, until a pair of maple syrup connoisseurs doubted the authenticity of their $220 order and “had it tested by the state Department of Agriculture Consumer Protection.” So, there you go boys and girls, your hard-earned (by which I mean… your parents’…) tax dollars at work — testing the authenticity of maple syrup.

The Water Cycle. According to a recent poll conducted by Brown University (wait… where?), Congressman David Cicilline ’83′s job approval rate has dropped to an all-time low of 15%. Apparently, even former President Richard Nixon had a higher approval rating after the Watergate scandal was exposed. Damn, Cicilline — it’s time to step up your game.

But, on a serious note… that’s actually really embarrassing. Even after announcing the city of Providence is heading towards bankruptcy, Mayor Angel Taveras’s approval rating is around 60%. BlogDH predicts it’ll jump up to 96.7% this June when Taveras announces that Providence is broke and is set to evaporate into the atmosphere.

Pick a prize: Oscar or Hallmark. When we last checked, there were at least five separate stories about Viola Davis’s Oscar nomination for The Help, billed as breaking news on the ProJo (not to mention the greeting card?). With all due respect, Ms. Davis, The Help is a decent movie and you looked beautiful but there are MUCH, MUCH MORE important events happening in Rhode Island (bankruptcy, defaulting on retiree pensions, failing state education, union strife — just to name a few)…maybe the ProJo should be covering those? Plus, it must be amazing just to be nominated, right?

Update: Sad news for Rhode Island…seems like Jersey (way to rep, Meryl!) has you beat out again…

Rest in Peace, Aunt Sally… After redistricting legislation was introduced and ratified by the General Assembly at the beginning of February, Republicans are (just now?) outraged by the blatant political motives behind the changes that were, according to golocalprov.com, reportedly drafted by the help of a $700,000 consultant. Considering that the state has been singing the financial blues these past few months, I wonder how the GA was able to afford that? Bank heist? Money laundering? Prostitution ring? For the sake of optimism, let’s all just hope that Speaker Fox had a really rich aunt who just passed away…

Chafee hits the jackpot (and doesn’t even have to use taxpayer dollars to fly out to Vegas). The state may be adding around $20 million of tax revenue to its coffers after a Rhode Islander found himself (maybe “herself,” we’re not sure) the owner of a $336 million dollar PowerBall ticket. After taxes, some lucky individual will be $210 million richer. Our spending suggestions:

1. Hire a personal consultant to divide the money up properly along party lines — I hear the General Assembly knows a good one…
2. Loan it to the City of Providence at an interest rate of 45% — word on the street is that they’re pretty desperate for funds…
3. Buy 40,000 Meeting Street cookies and use them to build a retaining wall, thereby separating the Jackpot winner from mere commoners…

This Sh*t Cray. In lighter news, Providence City Councilman Sam Zurier recently sent a letter to an East Side couple chastising them for not contributing to his campaign fund. This correspondence came after he supposedly helped them get their sidewalk fixed by the city — a sidewalk that needed repairing because a member of the couple’s household is quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair. Somewhere in the distance, we can hear Kanye West declaring, “Sam Zurier hates handicapped people,” and for once, Kanye’s not too far off…