And here’s my top 10 to watch, top 10 stories of 2024, top 10 … Nope, not this year.
It’s a nice exercise, but not much more than filler, and only the perception of the writer, or editor.
Really, the top 10’s are yours. They differ for everybody. Those that most influenced your life over the last year are rarely the politicians that inhabit the top offices of the land, the state or your local government.
Your top stories are rarely about government decisions at any level. Sure, they have some impact on you, but what impacts you the most are the people with whom you surround yourself.
To me, the top people of 2024 are those we rarely see. They are the ones who selflessly work behind the scenes, in soup kitchens and homeless shelters; bring companionship and cheer to the lonely, often elderly; provide aid and often comfort to those battling medical conditions or are physically or mentally challenged.
They are the people who on Christmas eve, a Hanukkah night, or Kwanzaa celebration, invite someone who’s alone to their celebration, rather than have an empty chair at their table, or make a phone call to let people know that they mean something to someone.
These are the people that really matter.
Events? What are the ones you remember most during the year? Is it a birthday celebration? The birth of a child? A wedding? Success at work, or financially? Winning a difficult battle with an illness, recovery from an accident? Perhaps it’s the loss of a loved one or a close friend? Important events? They are personal to each one of us.
Sure, elections matter, but more so it’s what the people who win office do with that victory to try and solve the most vexing problems of our community, city or town, state or nation.
But I am curious about the future, short-term. What are the things we suspect will become headlines in 2025, issues left unfinished as we conclude 2024? Here are a few:
- We look with anticipation of the opening of a new Rogers High School in the fall, but still wonder about an outcome for two important programs – cosmetology and automotive.
- We’ll watch closely as merger talks apparently resume between Middletown and Newport public schools.
- How will schools across the state address the continuing mental health crisis, where the CDC says perhaps 10 percent of high school students have seriously considered suicide.
- Newport’s North End development, and when and if there is any progress on Carpionato Group’s plan for the former casino.
- The outcome of new hotel proposals in Newport.
- Water quality and water supply in Jamestown.
- Progress in Middletown’s $190 million school building project.
- The state’s reassessment of the safety and 21st century readiness of every school in the state, as it did in the Jacobs report a few years ago.
- The impact of climate change on all coastal communities – and whether cities, towns and the state will put in place plans to mitigate the impact of rising and warming seas.
- In Westerly, will a new town council bring closure to longstanding issues, including the future of the Potter Hill Dam, Route 1 corridor development, the proposal to turn a popular public golf course into a 2,300-unit housing complex?
- How the state and its cities and towns address the critical need for affordable and workforce housing?
- Will Rhode Island have a plan to address the physicians’ shortage, and will that mean development of a new medical school at the University of Rhode Island?
- The future of Care New England, which includes Kent, Butler and Women and Infants Hospitals. And also, the future of Rhode Island’s only independent hospital, South County Health.
- And 2025 will be the runup to a robust statewide election in 2026, when every general office, legislative position and many local town and city positions are on the ballot. Count among them, what promises to be a very competitive primary race for governor, and replacement of the only term limited statewide office, Attorney General.
