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Innovator

A new “adaptive” apparel company has launched in Rhode Island — with the goal of helping people live their lives with “independence, confidence, and style.” 

Fasten Adaptive Apparel is the brainchild of Tony Paolo of Cranston, who has an extensive background in children's products. 

The premium men's dress shirt — the "Fasten Launch Shirt" — is designed to serve individuals of any age with movement, fine motor, neurologic, and dexterity challenges, with discreet Velcro closures.

According to Paolo, the shirt is about simplifying the dressing process without compromising on style or quality, with the trademarked term "GRIP. PRESS. DRESS."

It was an older family member however that prompted him to shift gears — and help folks who might need assistance with a dress shirt — to start. 

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HOT

PC Coach Kim English Blasts “Tampering Head Coaches”

Kim English, the head coach of the Providence College men’s basketball program, took to social media this week and blasted coaches who are “tampering” with Friar players.

On Tuesday, English posted, ”Type shii… To all the tampering Head Coaches and Assistant coaches and flunkies…  just call me and lmk if you want to recruit our players.

Leave them and their families alone. Call me. I’ll see if they want to play for your programs. Yall have my number.”

The post comes after a day of rumors swirling on social media about whether PC star Bryce Hopkins was entering the transfer portal.

The deadline for entering the portal was the end of the day on Wednesday, May 1 -- and Hopkins didn't enter.

Providence has been one of the biggest winners so far this year.

READ Kevin Stacom’s column HERE.

HOT

Foulkes Wins Q1

Pretty hard to outraise an incumbent governor, but Helena Foulkes did it.

Foulkes, the unannounced candidate for the Democratic nomination for Rhode Island Governor in 2026, out-fundraised sitting Democratic Governor Dan McKee in the first quarter of 2024.

McKee defeated Foulkes by just 3,357 votes to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2022, which catapulted him to an overwhelming victory in November’s general election, where he beat Republican Ashley Kalus.

According to campaign finance reports filed by the two campaigns, Foulkes raised $203,700 — all from individual donations.

Many of her donors max-out at $2,000, including former high-ranking CVS executive Chris Bodine, Douglas Cohen from Newport Hotel Group, her uncle and former United States Senator Chris Dodd, Textron’s Julie Duffy (the Rhode Island-headquartered company has been a target of Brown protesters), US Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski, and Donna Paolino of Paolino Properties, to name a few.

McKee's Fundraising

McKee raised $122,325 for the quarter.

He has an ending cash balance of $251,181.51.

McKee tapped donations from State House Lobbyists like Andrew Annaldo and Stephen Alves ($200 each); John Simmons, one of the architects of the Pawtucket soccer stadium deal ($500), and former Senate President and now head of the Rhode Island Hospital Association Teresa Paiva Weed ($250).

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Who Knew Basketball Stars Come from Vanuatu

Kevin Stacom had a great column this week about one of the incoming Friars with the most interesting life story:

Having previously examined the Providence College men’s basketball's recent success in the Portal, there was another addition to the roster acquired this winter, not through the Portal, but through the more traditional method of the junior college transfer route. This is not to imply there is anything conventional about the route that would bring Anton Bonke to his current destination, Providence College.           

As a side note, driving home from getting to meet and interview Anton this afternoon, I thought to myself how much Bill Reynolds would have enjoyed writing this kid’s story. I say that because there were many times, when Bill would like to highlight a particular player’s “Journey”- their “basketball journey”— the personal history of the circumstances that lead to the player’s current destination and development as a person and an athlete. 

History teaches us that the Dutch, since they by necessity clung to the tenuous, fragile, reclaimed lowlands of northwestern Europe, always looked outwards towards the sea as they became some of the original greatest explorers and seafaring merchants in the world, as evidenced by the dominance of the Dutch East Indian Trading Company(1602). 

 Anton Bonke’s Mom might have tapped into that same adventurous spirit when she left the Netherlands with him when he was only 3-years-old, and after a few short sojourns in Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia, his mom had heard some great things about a little known and recently formed independent island nation of Vanuatu (established 1980).

Vanuatu is a South Pacific country comprised of an archipelago of three main islands, 80 minor islands located northeast of Australia, northwest of New Zealand, and west of Fiji. It has a population of about 350,000 people spread throughout this island chain. It is designated as a developing country with limited infrastructure.

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NOT

The Enemy of Your Enemy Is Your Friend

Just think about it: Speaker Mike Johnson called for Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik to resign, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Green is moving to remove Johnson.

Therefore, Minouche and MTG must be besties.

NOT

Brown Protesters Fold

They were protesting against Brown's investment in companies that provided arms, defense supplies, and other goods to Israel.

But then it was time for reading week, exams, senior week, and graduation.

Maybe in the fall. 

NOT

Vegan Guru Matthew Kenney - The More We Learn, The More Bad Mojo

Plant City owner Kim Anderson is distancing herself from the restaurant’s original co-founder, Matthew Kenney.

Investigative stories in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times in recent months have brought to light a near-endless series of allegations about global plant-based food guru Kenney. In 2017, the Miami Herald wrote an investigative report regarding Kenney's financial issues.

In 2019, Kenney announced the opening of Plant City to GoLocal.

Now, more and more allegations are piling up.

The allegations range from financial malfeasance and tax issues to racism and sexism. 

Anderson, who says she has owned Plant City solely for the past three years, told GoLocal in January after the Los Angeles Times story that she defended Kenney, saying, “He’s a brilliant chef and good man."

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NOT

Up and Up

GoLocal has learned that the cost to transform the Superman Building from a vacant office building to apartments has jumped 43% since state leaders and the developer announced the deal in April of 2022 in the Stateroom of the State House.

The increased price of the project is driven by additional construction and financing costs, according to those directly involved in the deal.

The McKee Administration announced at the time, “The $220 million project announced today will convert the long-vacant, yet iconic, tower into 285 residential apartments, 20 percent of which will be affordable to low- and moderate-income Rhode Islanders, 8,000 square feet of commercial office space, and a mix of retail, event, and community uses in the 26,000-square foot banking hall.”

Now, the cost of the project is pegged at $315 million — a 43% increase.

Interest rates are blamed for the biggest cost increase.

The developer and state officials believe they will be able to tap federal financing programs to lower the cost of borrowing for the project.

Specifically, they maintain they will be able to use the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, which provides credit assistance for qualified projects of regional and national significance. 

In addition, the developer High Rock Development is increasing its contribution to the project to $61 million, which is an increase from the $42 million committed in 2022.

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PHOTO: Lydia Whitcomb