With the start of Rhode Island’s legislative session just a few days away, we reached out, as we have these past few years, to the area’s legislative delegation with a brief survey looking at their initiatives in the past session and what they hope to accomplish in the 2024 session. We also asked about their […]
Frank Prosnitz
Frank Prosnitz brings to WhatsUpNewp several years in journalism, including 10 as editor of the Providence (RI) Business News and 14 years as a reporter and bureau manager at the Providence (RI) Journal. Prosnitz began his journalism career as a sportswriter at the Asbury Park (NJ) Press, moving to The News Tribune (Woodbridge, NJ), before joining the Providence Journal. Prosnitz hosts the Morning Show on WLBQ radio (Westerly), 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday, and It’s Your Business, also on WBLQ, Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Prosnitz has twice won Best in Business Awards from the national Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW), twice was named Media Advocate of the Year by the Small Business Administration, won an investigative reporter’s award from the New England Press Association, and newswriting award from the Rhode Island Press Association.
Posted inBusiness
Newport Performing Arts Center – waiting for the “fat lady” to sing
More than two decades ago, with the dream of re-opening the historic Newport Opera House, a group of individuals began a sometimes-troubled journey to raise the funds needed to bring the more than 150-year-old building back to life as a significant performing arts center. Some renovations have been done, with much more ahead, and a […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: It’s time the state addresses doctor shortage
It’s no secret that Rhode Island is suffering from a primary care physician shortage, leaving many in the state finding their primary care now left to physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners. While it’s a problem nationwide, a WalletHub report earlier this year, which was quoted extensively, ranks Rhode Island 50th in healthcare. When a longtime […]
Posted inCity & Government
Chariho considers renovating or replacing three elementary schools
Voters in the Chariho Regional School District will likely be asked to consider a significant bond issue as soon as this Spring, to renovate or replace three of its four elementary schools. The fourth would be closed. School Superintendent Gina Picard said the schools were “for a very different time,” and each has considerable infrastructure […]
Posted inNews
Immigrants fuel a New England workforce that is aging
While some politicians in Washington rail against immigration, particularly undocumented immigrants, the reality is that the country, including New England, is becoming more dependent on immigrants to fill job vacancies. More than 17 percent of workers in New England and across the country are foreign born, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Goldman […]
Posted inBusiness
Federal Reserve: New England salaries growing faster than inflation
Salaries in New England are growing faster than inflation for the second consecutive quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s latest report on New England’s economic conditions. Meanwhile, the report also shows a shrinking New England labor force, signaling “a persistent worker shortage in the region.” The report shows a dramatic difference in […]
Posted inNews
Six years later, casino site’s redevelopment remains stalled
When Carpionato Group purchased the former Newport Grand property nearly six years ago, there was excitement at what the developer promised would be an intriguing mixed-use development. Retail, housing, hotels, all meant to anchor a resurgence of Newport’s North End. Six years later, the old casino building sits as a decaying monument to unrealized expectations. […]
Posted inNews
Legislators to re-introduce tough DUI laws; national study ranks RI sixth most dangerous state for drunk driving
With among the most lenient drunk driving laws in the nation, a number of Rhode Island legislators are again planning to introduce legislation to tighten those laws, and hopefully reduce drunk driving deaths. The legislators, however, in promoting their renewed effort said a Forbes Advisor 2022 report ranked Rhode Island as having the second highest […]
Posted inBusiness
Deadline for applications for RI SBA awards approaching
The deadline for submission of applications for the prestigious Small Business Administration 2024 annual awards is less than a month away. Winners compete locally, regionally, and nationally. The deadline to submit applications is December 7. For guidelines and forms, and further information. Email Katie.Charron@sba.gov. Business owners can nominate themselves or be nominate by another individual. […]
Posted inColumns
Just my Opinion: On this Thanksgiving … messages of hope
Each year, a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I typically send out an email and Facebook request for people to tell me for what it is they are thankful. Usually, I receive a good response. But this year, it’s different. This past year has been, at best, chaos — wars in Ukraine/Russia, Sudan, and Israel/Gaza. […]
Posted inCity & Government
As temperatures drop, demand for emergency shelters skyrocket
For Russ Partridge, executive director of Westerly’s WARM Center and Wakefield’s Welcome House, two emergency and transitional housing shelters, the phone rings three to four times a day from individuals and families facing homelessness. It may be a family – like the other day – whose landlord has told them he would be raising the […]
Posted inCity & Government
Fact check: Senate candidate Morgan’s email to potential donors
Republican State Rep. Patricia L. Morgan, who is running for U.S. Senate trying to unseat three-term Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, this week called on supporters in an email “to help me defeat Sheldon Whitehouse,” calling his “track-record…dismal.” In the sweeping statement, she made several allegations that many upon fact checking were found to be either misrepresentations […]
Posted inCity & Government
Mayor Xay expects strategic plan to be complete in early 2024
“If you don’t know where you are going – you might end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra Perhaps that Yogi Berra quote best describes why the City of Newport, and the School Department are each in the process of developing strategic plans for the first time since 2016. The strategic plan, says Mayor Xay […]
Posted inCity & Government
Voters support most school building projects
Voters in six Rhode Island school districts today approved millions of dollars in school building projects, with only voters in North Kingstown rejecting a $222 million bond that would have funded building a new middle school. In Middletown, voters barely approved a $190 million school bond by a vote of slightly more than 100 votes. […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Theatre Review: Gamm Theatre’s Hangmen challenges, makes you laugh
It’s 1963, two years before England abolishes the death penalty. A condemned man continues to profess his innocence on his way to the gallows. A white hood is draped over his head, the hangman’s noose around his neck, and he drops through an open trapdoor. It is the opening scene of Hangmen, Martin McDonagh’s dark […]
Posted inNews
Voters consider school-building projects of more than a billion dollars
While much of the attention on election day – Tuesday – will be on the first Congressional District race, it’s more than a billion dollars in school-building proposals that are the focus of communities, from Lincoln to Middletown. In the Congressional race, Democrat Greg Amo and Republican Gerry Leonard are vying to replace David Cicilline, […]
Posted inCity & Government
Newport launches nationwide city manager search
Newport, which just began advertising nationally for a new city manager, hopes to fill that position during the first quarter of 2024, says Mayor Xaykham “Xay” Khamsyvoravong. The successful candidate will replace former manager Joseph Nicholson, who retired from public service in September. Finance Director Laura Sitrin was chosen by the City Council to act […]
Posted inNews
VIDEO: A conversation with Newport School Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain
With absenteeism a major concern of schools throughout Rhode Island, Newport School Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain discusses how the school system is trying to improve attendance and turn around a poor showing by pupils in recent statewide testing when she joined What’sUpNewp for a live virtual video conversation o nWednesday. Recent independent reports have identified […]
Posted inCity & Government
Housing affordability becoming more elusive in Rhode Island
While it seems that every few days there’s another announcement of an affordable housing project, those projects are years from completion, and the number of communities that have achieved the state’s affordable housing threshold has dropped to five, from a high of seven a couple of years ago. That threshold, a goal set by the […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: We can make a difference for that one…
Locker room talk. Like Statler and Waldorf, the pair of elderly Muppets, seated in the balcony box in The Muppet Theatre, complaining and heckling … like Statler and Waldorf these two grumpy old men sit on their stationary bikes in a popular gym, day after day critical of the current administration, from Washington to the […]
Posted inBusiness
RI SBA calls for annual award nominees
The Rhode Island district of the Small Business Administration is accepting applications for its 2024 Small Business Awards, recognizing individuals and businesses in several categories. Winners also compete for regional and national awards. The deadline to submit applications is December 7. For guidelines and forms, and further information. Email Katie.Charron@sba.gov. Awards are presented for: Small […]
Posted inCity & Government
Report says Rhode Island schools face numerous challenges
As Rhode Island’s public schools emerge from the pandemic they face “numerous challenges,” from declining enrollment and rising absenteeism to mental health issues and a “tight educator labor market,” according to a report released today: “The State of Recovery: Rhode Island’s Post-Pandemic Public School Landscape.” The report by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute provides a broad […]
Posted inCity & Government
State Board of Elections ‘forgiving’ millions in campaign fines
The State Board of Elections is “forgiving” millions of dollars in fines previously levied against candidates filing late campaign finance reports, or not filing reports at all. Quarterly, the Board of Elections would publicly list those candidates who owed the board fines for failure to file. Those reports stopped being listed publicly two years ago, […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: What’s missing? A robust discussion about campaign finance reform
On this election eve, there’s much to ponder, about what we’ve heard from candidates, and what we haven’t. Tomorrow voters will decide who will end up in November running for the first House of Representatives seat in Rhode Island. The Democratic race, with 11 candidates, has gained the most attention, and has distinguished itself by […]
Posted inNews
Portsmouth ranked among the best Rhode Island high schools
On the eve of school openings across Rhode Island, U.S. News and World Report has released its annual rankings of high schools, with Portsmouth rated fourth best in Rhode Island, Tiverton 20th, and Middletown and Rogers in Newport, ranked 31st and 32nd of the 58 high schools in the rankings. Portsmouth only trailed Classical High […]