WHEN I HEARD that world oil prices had turned negative – that sellers were paying buyers to take it off their hands – primitive but long-dormant instincts kicked in. I jumped into my car and headed out to see if gas stations on Aquidneck Island were going to pay me to fill it up. That’s […]
Columns
A look at What’sUpNewp’s latest columns.
Posted inColumns
Brian C. Jones: When we’re dispirited by coronavirus, can surfers show us how to adapt?
The latest message posted by Suzi and Dave Van Ness on their homegrown coronavirus “billboard” speaks both to the challenges of Newport’s rugged coastline and a mindset that can overcome daunting forces like a pandemic. It’s both optimistic and realistic: YOU CAN’T STOP THE WAVES, BUT YOU CAN LEARN TO SURF OPTIMISM – The third […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: Let’s take the politics out of the cure
So, a column came in the other day trashing President Trump, and an op-ed came in this morning trashing the Democrats. And the pandemic continues, without choosing a political party to attack or support. We are house bound for the most part until this deadly and persistent virus subsides. Politicians and would-be political pundits step […]
Posted inColumns
Rudi Hempe: What’s Gardening?
The coronavirus pandemic has curtailed all sorts of activities this spring but for many homeowners there is one that can be therapeutic, safe and practical right in their backyards– gardening. As a lifelong gardener, I’ll be the first to admit that raising vegetables in a typical backyard setting, whether it be in raised beds or […]
Posted inColumns, Opinion
Just My Opinion: Not the time for a government media bailout
U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both from Rhode Island, and more than a dozen of their colleagues are calling on government to provide a bailout for a beleaguered news media, A news media that has clearly been further decimated by the impact of the coronavirus on the advertisers upon whom they rely. Without […]
Posted inColumns
Brian C. Jones: Difficult choices for those most at risk from COVID-19, candor makes the decisions easier
AS COVID-19 CONTINUES its rampage across America, I’ve joined an exclusive club whose members have just one thing in common – poor odds, if the coronavirus gets its microscopic hooks into us. I’m not complaining. We all die, and I’ve enjoyed a lifetime of close calls, near misses and lucky breaks that put me just […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns, Things To Do
Just My Opinion: What are you reading? The complete list
A couple of weeks ago I posed the question on Facebook asking what people were reading. I expected a few responses, but instead got dozens, with some great suggestions. I planned to eventually put the whole list together, and so that’s what this column is, including the newest entrees. These days, you can’t take the […]
Posted inColumns
Messages of hope – from a window turned billboard
The message is as impossible to miss as it is hopeful: WE CAN DO THIS. It’s posted in a big picture window of a house at 65 Carroll Ave. in Newport’s Fifth Ward neighborhood, not far from Rogers High School. SIGN OF HOPE – David and Suzi Van Ness in front of the sign Suzi, […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
Gerry Goldstein: Giving Elijah a pass on self-quarantine
Governor Raimondo, in her recent and charming press briefing for children, set young minds at ease about the coronavirus when she declared the Easter Bunny an “essential worker” and further pledged, “I would never quarantine the Easter Bunny.” So that takes care of a burning question involving one of the traditional visitors people want to […]
Posted inColumns, News
“Huge Disaster Brewing In All Our Back Yards” – CEO of RI Developmental Disability Group Home Agency
David Reiss, CEO of the Fogarty Center, manages 18 Rhode Island group homes for adults with developmental disabilities, where all but 10 or 12 of the 80 residents have no place to go and no active family support in case of an outbreak of COVID-19 infections. “We may be able to prevent people from getting […]
Posted inColumns, News, Opinion
Just My Opinion: The challenges of COVID-19 on media coverage
When I first started writing for Whats Up Newp, I understood that while my journalism history was virtually all in print, journalism’s future was online. My concern was whether online can replicate the robust newsrooms that we enjoyed at places like the Providence Journal, where I worked for years? This is a new world, and […]
Posted inCity & Government, Columns
Battling COVID-19, Newport and Middletown will block parking at iconic beaches and the Cliff Walk
Following the state’s lead, Newport and Middletown said yesterday, April 1, they will close parking at some of their most iconic natural resources beginning Friday, April 3 – including the Cliff Walk and Easton’s Beach in Newport, and Sachuest Beach in Middletown – to slow the spread of COVID-19. The two communities will not stop […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
Just My Opinion: What are you reading?
The other day, I asked friends on Facebook what they’re reading in these days of “home confinement.” After all, we do have a bit more time to read, and it’s great to get some good recommendations. I heard from a lot of people, including leading journalists who plied their craft at places like the New […]
Posted inCity & Government, Columns
R.I. developmental disability providers seek rate hikes to cope with unprecedented costs and risks to workers
Rhode Island’s providers of developmental disability services can expect help from state coffers as early as this week to compensate for losses resulting from the coronavirus, but they say the level of cash assistance is not enough to cover unprecedented costs.A trade association representing two dozen provider agencies has asked the state for an hourly wage increase […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
Just My Opinion: What are you reading?
These are strange and difficult times – the likes of which have become the subject of numerous science fiction books about pandemics, from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (1722) to Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain (1969) and The Stand by Stephen King (1978). So, I began wondering what people are reading […]
Posted inColumns
Those with developmental disabilities, in group homes, at higher risk warn R.I. advocates
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo announced March 26 that the state will soon release a total of $15.4 million in state and federal Medicaid “retainer payments” to shore up private service providers facing unprecedented challenges in the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came hours after representatives of private service providers and a prominent advocacy group expressed […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
Brian C. Jones: Nobody “likes” reporters. It’s what they do that counts
(NOTE: Please check the late-breaking item at the end of this column if you’re curious about how Americans rate the media’s performance during the COVID-19 crisis) I AM NOT HERE to ask you to love the press, the media, or whatever we call it these days. “Journalism,” another term, seems pretentious, although some of us […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
Gerry Goldstein: Out of the blue, A flash of hope on the wing
Times are strange – terrifying, actually – when amid the promises of spring we suddenly find our lives upside down. Here at Shalom Acres, our five-acre hobby farm in Greenville’s apple orchard country, our thoughts in this season usually turn to waking up the John Deere, getting the gardens manured, and stacking a new delivery of […]
Posted inCity & Government, Columns, News
Judge seeks advice on how to help RI with COVID-19 response
Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island has asked the independent monitor for a 2014 consent decree to advise him on ways the Court can respond to the needs of adults with developmental disabilities and their families and alleviate the burdens on the developmental disability service system in […]
Posted inColumns
A Layman’s View: Coast to Coast…and Here and There
In the past few weeks, the coronavirus–COVID-19–has certainly changed the way we think of traveling–or even being allowed to travel. Hopefully, in the weeks or months ahead, all of us will be able to return to safe, unrestricted, and more carefree travel. This has been a shock to the traveling public. We take travel for granted […]
Posted inColumns
Just My Opinion: Recognizing the threats and our weaknesses, the opportunities and our strengths
Earlier I had written an angry column, berating those politicians who were late to the game, who delayed taking definitive action that would have begun to test people earlier to determine if they had contracted the coronavirus, and those who were timid about shutting down or postponing events, and closing some businesses. I discarded that […]
Posted inColumns
Phoebe: Are dogs really ‘man’s best friend’? Time to expose the myth
Editor’s note: Even though our regular columnist, Brian C. Jones, writes only once every two weeks, he has today off, and we’ve asked Phoebe, a “sweet” Labrador-retriever-husky-hound, originally from Missouri, to fill in. By PHOEBE LET’S GET THIS STRAIGHT: Society gives a lot of lip service to how much we care about our dogs. I’m […]
Posted inColumns
Gerry Goldstein: Where winter doubles down, and then some
Here in Rhode Island’s apple orchard country of Greenville, the honey crisp and macoun trees are bare, but daffodils and tiger lilies are sprouting at our place, thanks to this kindly winter. As recalled recently on this site by news editor Frank Prosnitz, the Blizzard of ’78 is but a distant memory, leaving as it […]
Posted inColumns, People & Profiles
Celebrating Women’s History Month: ‘I learned that women are leaders’
March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the contributions of women in all aspects of our society. WhatsUpNewp reached out to successful women in several professions, asking just a few questions. We will run their responses throughout the month. Rep. Lauren H. Carson, D – District 75 (Newport) WUN: What one, two or three […]
Posted inColumns, People & Profiles
A Bridge to the Future: Irma Valdez – ‘we need love in this world’
When you meet Irma Valdez, you hear in her voice an excitement about the opportunities that her children now have, about a commitment to her country and community, and about appreciation, adulation for a father who more than 20 years ago courageously left the fields of Veracruz, Mexico coming to the United States in search […]