August 08, 2008
Three days after N4N broke the news that Miriam Inocencio, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, had resigned, PPRI has released an official statement. The move comes after the organization's Connecticut chapter gave an oblique description of what was happening, and after a few key board members either declined to comment or, like Dr. Morton, didn't return a call from me earlier in the week.
What's more, this release comes late on a Friday afternoon -- the characteristic time to try to bury a story.
A Statement by Dr. John Morton, Board Chair
And Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, Medical Director,
Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island
Providence, RI – “We are pleased to announce today that after more than 75 years of excellent service, the Planned Parenthood Rhode Island board of directors begins a new chapter of providing reproductive health care in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Connecticut. The board of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island (PPRI) has voted to enter into a management agreement with Planned Parenthood of Connecticut (PPC), with the intent of exploring a merger.
This decision by the board reflects a growing belief shared by both organizations that by joining forces, we will be able to reach out and serve a larger and more diverse group of people in the community. In today’s precarious health care environment, prioritizing patient care has increasingly meant restructuring and creating new partnerships. Few Planned Parenthood affiliates of our size have survived without this kind of linkage, and for some months the PPRI board of directors has been considering alternative business models. This partnership will bring new resources to the affiliate and allow us to share purchasing power, information technology, training etc., thereby permitting us to use our human and financial capital to serve our clients more efficiently and effectively.
Given the departure of PPRI CEO Miriam Inocencio, Judy Tabar, President & CEO of PPC will serve as Interim President & CEO of PPRI, and will oversee the high quality reproductive health care services at PPRI while merger discussions are underway.”
August 08, 2008
As part of a forthcoming story on US Senator Jack Reed, N4N was in the house at Local 121 this week when Matt and Kim videotaped an interview with Rhode Island's senior senator. Particularly interesting is the Democrat's response to a question about his favorite blogs (in answering, he notes that he reads the ProJo and the Phoenix online).
On a related note, the NYT reported this week on the 500th US combat death in Afghanistan. Reed is among the Democrats who've critcized the White House for not putting sufficient military resources in that country. It should be a greater focus, they say, since it and the tribal areas of Pakistan represent the current base of Al Qaeda.
Press accounts have indicated a reluctance on the part of the Bush administration to strike against Al Qaeda's leadership in that part of the world, because of the political sensitivities of doing so. Reed called it "a hard choice," given the possibility of collateral damage and other consequences. Yet if the US has good intell that could lead to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden and other key Al Qaeda leaders, he says, "we have to take that risk."
August 08, 2008
From Boston.com via Boston Dirt Dogs:
Do you wonder a little about Manny Ramirez's unusual final days in Boston? The commissioner's office apparently wonders as well. We found this tidbit in a Dan Shaughnessy column posted on Boston.com this afternoon very interesting:
Feeling a little duped, Red Sox Nation? Still wondering if this whole thing was on the level?
You are not alone. The commissioner's office is investigating the circumstances of Manny's final hours with the Red Sox. The Globe has learned (from a source with direct knowledge of the inquiry) that Bud Selig directed Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred to contact all parties for an explanation of how things unfolded around last week's trading deadline. According to the source, Manfred has yet to report back to the commissioner.
Here's why Selig's office is looking into the matter:
The Red Sox had an option to retain Ramírez in 2009 for $20 million. They had the same option for 2010. Ramírez, who will turn 37 next season, wanted to be a free agent at the end of this season. His agent wanted the same thing. Boras inherited Ramírez's old contract and stood to earn nothing until Manny signed a new one. It was in the interest of the player and the agent to have the options dropped.
Manny's only leverage was withholding services and playing at half speed. So that's what he did. Sitting out games against Seattle and the Yankees, jogging down the first base line (and maybe even looking at those three strikes against Mariano Rivera), he sent the message that he wanted out. He made sure the Sox knew he could not be trusted to play hard if they kept him until the end of the season with the options intact.
August 08, 2008
Speaking generically, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian says that closing the door to renewed negotiations isn't a good practice and that it has negative consequences.
He made the remark in response to a question I asked this morning during a taping of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers: Does he support Governor Carcieri's stance in his clash with Council 94? Avedisian responded by saying he supports the governor as the leader of the state, but that when it comes to negotiations, it's best to remain open to continued talks.
Avedisian, who has taken himself out of the 2010 gubernatorial race, says his friend Linc Chafee is getting closer to making a decision about whether to run.
Also joining guest host Mike Montecalvo, Arlene Violet, and mysefl were Cranston GOP mayoral candidate Allan Fung and political analyst Joe Fleming. (Fung's Democratic opponent, Cynthia Fogarty, couldn't make today's taping and is supposed to appear on a future show.)
Fung is among the relatively few bright spots for the RI GOP, so I asked how he expects the tradition divide between conservative and moderate elements to play out if Steve Laffey and Chafee are among the gubernatorial combatants in 2010. Fung, who was a Laffey ally when the latter was mayor of Cranston, says he hopes the divisions could be minimized.
Fleming, for his part, believes that a Democrat will be the one most advantaged if the three-way gubernatorial scenario comes to fruition in 2010. While Laffey and Chafee could be credible contenders, Fleming says, a Democrat starts with about 40 percent of the vote.
Given the wild card of Rhode Island's budget and economic fortunes, however, the outlook could be more unpredictable. We'll have to wait and see.
August 07, 2008
Since we've been heavy on Obama news today, here's one more tidbit.
Kim Ahern, who won election as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention, has been selected as editor-in-chief for the Roger Williams University Law Review for the 2008-2009 academic year. Congrats, Kim.
August 07, 2008
From the Obama campaign:
PROVIDENCE –Obama supporters in Rhode Island will talk to motorists tomorrow (Friday) at more than a dozen gas stations across Providence about Senator Obama’s New Energy for America plan that will lessen our dependence on foreign oil, give American families an immediate energy rebate of $1000 to deal with soaring gas prices, and create five million new green jobs. Congressmen Patrick Kennedy and Mayor David Cicilline will speak to supporters about the Obama energy plan and the real relief it means to Rhode Island families.
On Monday in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama delivered a speech on his New Energy in America plan. Campaign volunteers will hand out copies of Obama’s New Energy for America plan to Rhode Islanders who are paying nearly $4 per gallon to fill up their gas tank. Please see details of the plan and Senator Obama’s speech at: http://www.NewEnergyforAmerica.com.
Congressman Kennedy and Mayor Cicilline will also highlight Senator John McCain’s failure to do anything to address the energy crisis during his 26 years in Washington. McCain has consistently chosen profits for oil companies over energy relief for American families, including voting against fuel mileage standards, opposing renewable sources of energy, and refusing to back the bipartisan energy compromise in the Senate because it would take away tax breaks from oil companies like Exxon-Mobil.
WHO: Congressman Kennedy and Mayor Cicilline speak about the
Obama energy plan
WHAT: Obama supporters reach out to motorists feeling the pain at the pump
WHEN: Friday, August 8, 2008. 12:30 PM
WHERE: On the waterfront public area at 575 South Water St, Providence
August 07, 2008
Halperin's take:
Things we would prefer to see banned through Election Day:
– Media coverage driven by horse-race polling data.
–John McCain’s use of his signature phrase, my friends.
–Barack Obama’s referring to himself as a symbol.
–Members of Congress trying to out-outrage the other party.
–Superfluous use of the phrase the race card.
–The Hilton family injected into the campaign.
–McCain’s repetition of any joke he first told in the ’80s.
–Obama complaints about negative press attention.
–Both campaigns’ going on the attack reflexively when the opposing candidate misspeaks on the trail.
–Coverage of Internet campaign videos as if they were paid television ads.
–The focus on the trivial and superficial while the nation remains at war and teeters on the edge of an economic recession.
August 07, 2008
As previously reported by Matt, LG staffer Eli Zupnick, who worked on Obama's primary campaign, is the latest Roberts's staffer, following Larkin Barker, to join the Democratic candidate's push for November. From the LG's office:
PROVIDENCE— Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts announced today that Eli Zupnick will be leaving her staff to join Senator Barack Obama’s press team in the state of Washington. Zupnick, a senior policy analyst, has worked in the office since Roberts’ inauguration in January 2007.
“Eli has played an important role in my office, especially in my work on health care reform, and he will be greatly missed,” said Roberts. “However, I am proud that he will be working to elect a candidate who will bring real change to our country, and who will make health care reform a national priority once again.”
Zupnick came to work for Roberts’ campaign for Lt. Governor in December of 2005, serving as her deputy campaign manager. In February 2008, he took a leave of absence from the Lt. Governor’s office to serve as deputy press secretary for Obama’s primary campaign in Rhode Island.
“Lt. Governor Roberts has done great work for the people of Rhode Island over the past year and a half, and I am proud to have been a part of that,” said Zupnick. “Although it is with sadness that I leave Lt. Governor Roberts' office and Rhode Island, I am honored to have been offered this opportunity to be a part of Senator Obama's team in Washington state, and I am excited to spend the final months of the campaign working hard for real change in our country.”
August 07, 2008
UPDATE: Here's the official word:
PROVIDENCE– The Obama Campaign today announced Ray Sullivan will serve as Senator Obama’s Rhode Island State Director. Sullivan will work with Senator Obama’s grassroots supporters on the ground and reach out to Rhode Island voters about Obama’s commitment to changing politics in Washington, D.C.
“Rhode Islanders are ready for real change in Washington, D.C., not more of the same petty politics of the past,” Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe said. “We look forward to organizing our grassroots supporters in Rhode Island as we build Senator Obama’s campaign to turn the page on Bush’s failed policies so we can tackle the tough challenges Rhode Islanders face.”
A two-term member of the Rhode Island General Assembly, Ray Sullivan has served as the communications director for the Rhode Island Democratic Party since May of 2007. Sullivan has also served as project coordinator for the Providence Community Health Centers, director of legislative and government affairs for Lieutenant Governor Charles Fogarty, communications director for the York for Governor Campaign and press secretary for the Rhode Island Secretary of State.
--------------
Developing . . .
State Representative Ray Sullivan (D-Coventry) is getting the nod as Rhode Island director for Barack Obama's campaign.
More details as they become available.
August 07, 2008
The Phoenix this week devotes a special issue to the Beijing games. Here are some of the highlights:
Peter Kadzis talks with Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman.
Not everyone who is critical of China is an unqualified supporter of the Dalai Lama. Some say that he represents a feudal tradition that has seen its day.
Tibet started to work out of its own feudalism in the 17th century. But then, so did a lot of other countries. Russia, after all, did not get rid of its serfs until the 19th century. Feudalism, as understood by Marx and as used in leftist propaganda, is highly inappropriate relating to Tibet. The fundamental reason being that your Tibetan peasant was a freeholder with a land title. His obligation on his land was a tax obligation. It is very similar to the mortgage I pay to my bank and the taxes I pay to my town.
A field guide to oppression in the home of the 2008 summer games.
As it does with other minority areas, Beijing ostensibly treats Xinjiang as an autonomous region. Uighurs can worship in state-approved Mosques and become Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members. But when Uighurs second-guess Beijing, they are quickly reprimanded. Rebiya Kadeer, a former high-ranking party member who questioned the income disparity between Uighurs and Hans, was charged with sharing state secrets for mailing newspaper clips to her exiled husband in the United States. After serving six years, Kadeer was allowed — as a condition of Condoleezza Rice’s 2005 state visit to China — to join her husband in Washington, DC. After her release, however, Beijing locked up two of Kadeer’s sons on trumped-up charges. They are hardly alone. In 2004, Uighur journalist Nurmuhemmet Yasin received a 10-year prison sentence for inciting separatism. His transgression? Writing a short story about a caged bird that yearns for freedom.
Plus, more.
August 07, 2008
Today's Boston Herald offers a sharper edge than the ProJo in describing a flareup in the local talk-radio wars.
Ex-Boston radio gabster John DePetro is in the midst of yet another controversy.
A ratings cheating scandal uncovered in Rhode Island boosted DePetro’s ratings on Providence news talk station WPRO-AM (630), where he hosts a morning-drive show.
The cheating revelations come after the Citadel Broadcasting-owned WPRO jumped to the No. 1 spot among total listeners this spring - its best showing ever.
The ratings for DePetro’s show went through the roof among 25- to 54-year-old listeners - the money-making demographic that advertisers target. ....
Clear Channel Radio Providence - the owner of rival radio stations - took notice and alerted Arbitron.
The ratings research firm launched a probe and found that six survey diaries - which are used to determine ratings - had been returned by a “media affiliated household” in the Providence market.
The average household in that market gets about two diaries. And Arbitron relies on the households to tell them the number of people living at an address.
In a letter to its customers, Arbitron said it plans to release new ratings - that don’t include the six bogus diaries - on Monday. .... More details came out in a letter Clear Channel Vice President Jim Corwin sent to advertisers. Corwin said the six diaries came from a household in East Greenwich.
That’s where DePetro lives.
I've left a message with John and will update this post if he gets back to me. The talk-show host and WPRO officials did not return calls for today's stories in the ProJo and Herald.
(Disclosure: Phoenix contributors, including myself, regularly appear on WPRO's Dan Yorke Show and the Buddy Cianci Show.)
August 06, 2008
The aforementioned Matt has a piece in this week's Phoenix about Flobots and their visit to Providence later this week.
In the wake of such artist-activists as the Coup and Rage Against the Machine, Flobots have attracted a strong following with their politically charged lyrics and their signature American flag bandanas. And their Providence performance this Friday (with Gogol Bordello at Lupo’s, $20, doors at 8 pm) will be a homecoming of sorts for Flobots’ emcee Jonny 5, aka Jamie Laurie, who came here in 1996 to pursue a degree in Africana studies at Brown University. ...
After their anti-war anthem “Handlebars” became a top request on Denver radio stations, Flobots signed with Universal Republic in April. The song shot up the charts, and the band’s profile grew with an appearance on The Tonight Show. Rosa Clemente, vice-presidential candidate of the Green Party, even name-checked the band during her acceptance speech, saying, “In the words of the Flobots, my new favorite band, ‘We can lead a nation with a microphone.’ ”
Flobots subsequently launched a nonprofit organization, Flobots.org, to create street teams that link music with action for social change. They also launched a social network-ing site — FightWithTools.org — to further provide tools for their listening audience to build a movement for change. One additional Web site, AmericaWillBe.org, uses a collage of literary and activist heroes to define the purpose of their American flag bandanas.
Social justice will be an integral part of Flobots’ Providence visit this weekend. After Friday’s show, Laurie will host a “Fight With Tools” event on Saturday at 3 pm at the Open Table of Christ church at 520 Broad St., Providence. It will feature a solo performance by Laurie and discussion about Providence activism and the Fight With Tools street teams.
August 06, 2008
It's no secret that Victor Capellan, a former head of CHISPA and a political activist in Rhode Island, has long had an interest in returning to the Ocean State from New York. Matt has the word that he's back. Welcome back, Victor.
August 06, 2008
Some years back, when Jack White joined Mr. and Mrs. N4N for a game at Fenway, Jack's lovely wife, Beth, a vegetarian, was hard-pressed to find appealing menu choices from among the traditional ballpark offerings. Yet the outlook is a lot brighter at McCoy Stadium, according to the creative minds at PETA:
Pawtucket, R.I. — As ballparks across the country continue to expand their menus, there are more healthy, humane, and delicious vegetarian options than ever before. So once again, PETA has picked the top 10 vegetarian-friendly minor league ballparks, and McCoy Stadium—home of the Pawtucket Red Sox—has scored fourth place.
Red Sox fans can choose from an array of delicious meatless options, including veggie dogs, Gardenburgers, veggie trays and wraps, and fruit smoothies.
Placing first this year is the Fisher Cats' MerchantsAuto.com Stadium, with offerings such as veggie burgers and grilled-vegetable sandwiches.
Rounding out the top 10 are the Durham Bulls' Athetic Park, the Tacoma Rainers' Cheney Stadium, the Memphis Redbirds' AutoZone Park, the Aberdeen Ironbirds' Ripken Stadium, the Rochester Red Wings' Frontier Field, the Frederick Keys' Harry Grove Stadium, and West Virginia Power's Appalachian Power Park.
"The food vendors at McCoy Stadium are swinging for the fences when it comes to offering fans great vegetarian options that are kind to their health and to animals," says PETA Assistant Director Dan Shannon. "Cholesterol-packed meaty fare makes fans fat, so if you want to stand up for the seventh inning stretch, give the delicious vegetarian foods a try!"
Each team will receive a framed certificate and a congratulatory letter from PETA. For more information and to view the complete listings of winners, please visit PETA's Web site GoVeg.com.
August 06, 2008
Speaking of the ProJo buyout . . . David Carr, the NYT's excellent media columnist (who, btw, has a new book), had a poignant column Monday about Tony Soprano's favorite newspaper, the Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey.
The Star-Ledger delivery guy hits our block early, before the other newspapers arrive, usually dropping a hefty package jammed with localism writ large: wise-guy arias, street crime novellas and big investigations into the issues facing northern New Jersey. Under the sure hand of its editor, Jim Willse, The Star-Ledger is both modern — big and pretty with strong photos, navigation and graphics — and a throwback to the days when the most important story was the one just down the block.
In short, it’s the kind of newspaper that can get the laziest reader out of bed.
Yet all is not well.
“The owners of The Star-Ledger announced [recently] they will sell the newspaper if they cannot win union concessions and persuade a large number of nonunion, full-time workers to take buyouts in the next two months.
“The owners set a deadline of Oct. 1 for getting 200 of the newspaper’s 756 nonunion full-time employees to take a buyout and for achieving the union concessions,” suggesting that the paper’s non-union reporters and editors might be leaving in droves. In addition, the company wants union mailers and truckers to agree to concessions by the same deadline.
The article went on to quote Donald E. Newhouse, president of Advance Publications, as saying that the cuts are necessary because The Star-Ledger, along with its sister paper, The Times of Trenton, had been losing $30 million to $40 million a year. The causes included a familiar litany of ailments, including the cratering of classifieds, department store consolidation and the flight of ad dollars to the Internet. Mr. Willse was quoted in the article as saying he was still confident he could put out a good paper with the loss of one-quarter of his staff.
Here in RI, it's a good sign that Howard Sutton says the ProJo remains profitable. Yet considering the important watchdog role long played by the newspaper, it's fair to wonder about the fallout from continued cuts. As Carr noted:
Tom Moran, the political columnist of The Star-Ledger who retired earlier this year, shudders when he thinks about New Jersey, with its history of public corruption, without a fully-armed Star-Ledger looking over its shoulder.
“At least we could embarrass them and occasionally, the people would vote the bad guys out,” he said. “It’s a sad story not just for my friends who work at the paper. But for the state of New Jersey, if this continues, the bad guys will have a lot less to worry about.”