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 […]
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 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 […]
Posted inBusiness
SBA offers workshops to help small businesses
The Small Business Administration has announced a series of workshops for small businesses that will help business owners with everything from their QuickBooks expertise to helping minority and women-owned businesses become certified to qualify for state contracts. To register for any of the sessions, visit the SBA’s website at https://www.sba.gov/district/rhode-island. Many of the SBA’s programs […]
Posted inCity & Government
Westerly Town Council President abruptly resigns
Westerly Town Council President Ed Morrone has abruptly resigned from the council, alleging that most council members have prevented citizens from being heard on specific issues, been divisive, and “callous.” Morrone, who had previously served on the council and in the state House of Representatives and State Senate, was elected last November to the council […]
Posted inCity & Government
Newport Canvassers ask police to investigate questionable signatures
Newport Board of Canvassers this morning asked Newport Police to investigate possible fraudulent signatures submitted on behalf of Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos for her candidacy for the vacant District 1 U.S. House of Representatives seat. An investigation is already underway by Jamestown Police, also questioning the validity of signatures submitted on behalf of Matos. In […]
Posted inCity & Government
Fifteen qualify for House District 1 Primary
Some 15 candidates – 13 Democrats and two Republicans, have qualified to appear on the primary election ballot for the U.S. House District 1 seat. The Secretary of State’s office will hold a lottery for ballot placement tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. for the September 5 primary election. Initially, 35 individuals had declared their candidacies, […]
Posted inCity & Government
More than half of declared candidates for House District 1 apparently fail to acquire adequate signatures to run
With the deadline past for filing papers to run for House District 1, more than half of the 35 that initially declared apparently failed to collect the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot. That leaves some 15 candidates in the race. That’s according to the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office. That […]
Posted inCity & Government
House District 1 candidates begin filing signatures, hopeful of qualifying for the ballot
(This story is an update as of 11 p.m. today, July 14) At what appears to be the close for filing nomination papers, 15 of the 34 candidates who declared for the District 1 House of Representatives race filed papers with a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. The signatures still need […]
Posted inBusiness
Yale New Haven names new CEO at Westerly, Lawrence + Memorial Hospitals
Yale New Haven Health Systems (YNHS) has named Richard Lisitano the new president of Westerly and Lawrence + Memorial Hospital (New London, CT), replacing Patrick Green, who left Yale New Haven to become Chief Executive Officer of UF Health in Jacksonville, Fla. Lisitano, who assumed his new position next Monday, has been senior vice president […]
Posted inCity & Government
House District 1 candidates face important deadlines
The nearly three dozen declared candidates for the now vacant first U.S. House of Representative seat in Rhode Island face a series of deadlines that should substantially reduce the field. The first is picking up nomination papers over the next couple of days and returning them to their local Boards of Canvassers by July 14, […]
Posted inCity & Government
35 file to fill the District 1 Congressional seat
There’s a gaggle plus of people who apparently want to succeed David Cicilline in Congress, at least according to the filings in the Secretary of State’s office by today’s 4 p.m. deadline: 23 Democrats, three Republicans, and nine independents. That’s, of course, just the first step. The next is gathering the 500 signatures to qualify […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: Home fireworks displays sent more than 10,000 to hospital in 2022
You know those sparklers, the ones you love to give to kids to twirl around, to celebrate the Fourth of July and the days before and after … remember them? Well, sparklers burn at about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt some metals, according to the U.S. Commission Product Safety Commission (CPSC). At this […]
Posted inCity & Government
WUN-ON-ONE: Newport School Superintendent joins What’sUpNewp for a review of the past year, look at challenges ahead
Newport School Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain joined WUN’s Ryan Belmore and Frank Prosnitz on the first day of summer school vacation to recap the year that was, talk about the challenges ahead, and more. Watch or listen to our conversation below.
Posted inArts & Culture
WUN-ON-ONE: Salve grad discusses his latest novel, ‘Glass Bottle Season’
“Fletcher Michael’s GLASS BOTTLE SEASON is a closely observed coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of the insular culture of Newport royalty. This boozy, immersive novel will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or has experienced that painful passage between the last gasps of childhood and the beginnings of adulthood. It’s […]
Posted inNews
RI DMV plans to open a mobile DMV office to replace closed offices in Warren and Westerly
The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles expects to roll out a mobile DMV office to replace two permanent part-time branch offices that have been closed for three years, according to the division’s director, Bud Craddock. The office in Warren was closed in March of 2020 supposedly because of Covid, while the office in Westerly […]
Posted inCity & Government
Undocumented immigrants eligible for driver privilege cards, July 1
Undocumented immigrants will be able to apply for the equivalent of a driver’s license in Rhode Island, beginning July 1. The law was enacted last year and is effective July 1. Rhode Island becomes the 20th state, plus the District of Columbia to enact a law that allows undocumented immigrants to receive the driver privilege […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Things To Do
WUN-ON-ONE: Author Will Sofrin joins What’sUpNewp for a live virtual video conversation on June 16
Imagine as a 21-year-old, a wooden boat builder and yacht enthusiast; you sign on with some 30 crew members to sail from Newport to California on a replica yacht that would be the centerpiece of a film. Imagine the adventures, and then imagine that it all gets turned into a book. Will Sofrin, that 21-year-old […]
Posted inBusiness
Just My Opinion: It’s customer service, customer service, customer service
You ever see that Jonathan guy – you know the one on TV touting very reasonably priced life insurance for older people, telling all who would listen that it’s about the price. Well, I’m thinking it’s all about customer service. I haven’t checked in on the life insurance company that Jonathan represents, so I don’t […]
Posted inCity & Government, News
Westerly Council rejects attempt to have it endorse anti-obscenity bill
The Westerly Town Council last night rejected, after more than three hours of public comment, an effort to have it endorse a bill that would have expanded an anti-obscenity bill that could have resulted in banning books in school libraries. The bill was introduced in the state House of Representatives in late April and is […]