Update by Matt: It's not just Delaware. Maine is revving up its economic engine too!
The port of Portland has a big visitor with a big cargo. A 600 foot Dutch freighter is offloading pieces for huge windmill towers that will be erected in New Hampshire. Portland is hoping it will also mean big things for the city's International Marine Terminal -- which would like to see more business.
The freighter Sampogracht, carrying 52 sections of steel tower made in Spain, was supposed to go to Philadelphia. The windmill turbines and blades are already there. But while the ship was at sea, the owners of the cargo decided to look for a port closer to New Hampshire.
...City officials say docking in Portland saved the shipping company about $1.5 million in fuel and other costs. For the city of Portland this ship could be the start of something. They're hoping it will lead to a lot more regular cargo shipments for the marine terminal. Nicole Clegg, the city spokeswoman, said, "And we see any opportunity like this as another marketing opportunity for us to get the word out that we are experienced, affordable and a great fuel efficient option for people bringing stuff into the Northeast."
But your Governor sent a message loud and clear to renewable companies like Bluewater Wind when he vetoed the renewable energy legislation: Rhode Island doesn't want to grow.
We don't need that kind of high tech job growth here in Rhode Island, because Governor Carcieri has already manipulated the levers of our economy for maximum return: he is going all out to make sure we have enough janitorial positions available (20 or 30 at a time).
And we don't want to have any kind of a regional renewable hub industry here that would build and supply the rest of New England with wind turbine technology. No. Let Massachusetts do that. That way, we can help our neighbors grow their industry and wait for the trickle down effect.
And really, 29% of state electricity needs supplied from renewables is too high--let's not get ambitious here. We only want to do the minimum because our local higher education doesn't need or want an academic boom or scientific laboratories to spring up. Rhode Island's higher education already has all the makings of Governor Carcieri's brand of "fiscal fitness." It would be better to focus our local academia and think tanks on criminal justice education so that we can round up as many illegals as possible. Trust Governor Carcieri on this, he is bringing Hope to Rhode Islanders.
Sen. Barack Obama's New Energy for American plan will be featured at a Rhode Island event on Friday afternoon combining good policy, grassroots support and action!
RI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
This Friday, August 8th at 1215pm, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Mayor David Cicilline will gather with volunteers to speak about the Obama energy plan and help kick off an information and registration drive throughout Providence. Volunteers will gather at 12:15 at in the public fishing area and park next to the Hot Club (575 South Water Street) and hear remarks from the congressman and the mayor detailing how the Obama Energy plan offers help to Rhode Island families.
Immediately following the remarks, volunteers will fan out across the city to speak with people at gas stations who are feeling the pain at the pump. We'll be handing out copies of the Obama energy plan and registering new voters. Can you spare a few hours to help? If so, email the campaign here and tell them you're coming!
Sen. Obama believes we need to provide immediate relief to Americans who are feeling the pain at the pump. That's why his plan calls for a $1,000 energy rebate for families who are struggling with high gas prices.
And while Barack Obama wants to give the American people a rebate paid for by the oil companies, John McCain thinks the oil companies deserve another $4 billion in tax breaks.
Sen. Obama's comprehensive energy plan includes a long-term strategy to break our addiction to oil and revitalize the American economy. The Obama plan calls for investing $150 billion over the next decade in clean, affordable, alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and biofuels. This will create millions of new, green collar jobs that cannot be outsourced, and it will help us increase our energy efficiency.
Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse joined District 2 Congressman Jim Langevin in endorsing Cindy Fogarty for Mayor of Cranston
Senator Jack Reed:
"Cindy has a strong reputation for working to create a better future for Cranston. She has been vocal on issues of finance, education and health care, and knows how to listen and respond to the needs of the community. With Cindy Fogarty as Cranston's next Mayor, the city will have a strong leader who can keep Cranston on a steady and prosperous course."
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:
"Cindy is a smart, tough, experienced leader who will put local government to work for Cranston families. I'm confident that she will work hard to make one of Rhode Island's largest cities a great place to live, work, and raise a family."
Congressman James Langevin:
"Cindy has a great track record as an advocate for the taxpayers and residents of the city of Cranston. As a member of the city council, Cindy demonstrated strong skills as a communicator and a fierce determination to implement real change. I look forward to working with Cindy as the next Mayor of the city of Cranston."
While Gov. Don Carcieri is off "boating" and unavailable for comment, these are stories of crisis emerging from middle-class Rhode Island. The George Wiley Center reports:
Demand for a Medical Emergency Restoration of Service
A disabled couple (ages 57 and 54) burn candles to see in the evening. The husband is a man with severe heart disease and cancer. His wife, who is now running out of money for buying candles, called Henry Shelton this morning and asked that he say to the PUC, “please let my husband die in dignity” and restore our electricity.
George Wiley Center community organizers and advocates have questions for the PUC at the Open Meeting, 10 A.M. today:
The couple, with church’s help, paid $850 toward their back bill.
Utility shut-off their service on 10:15 Monday August 4.th Now, 72 hours later, 10:00 AM August 7,th this disabled couple is still without electricity.
They lost $262 worth of food has spoiled since Monday. Who will pay??
How many Rhode Islanders have been shut-off so far through July 31st??
How many of those are still off, like the Ryans??
What medical doctor did Tom Ahern, Administrator, Division of Public Utilities, consult with, in order to give permission to National Grid to shut-off the Ryans?
What doctor did Michael Ryan, President, National Grid, consult in order to shut off the Ryans??
What is the cost of air conditioning for National Grid office in July?
Are any Large Corporation behind on their bills? Any shut-offs among these businesses?
It's only going to get worse, folks.
And, still, Gov. Don Carcieri has done nothing to solve the foreclosure crisis, the unemployment crisis, the energy crisis.
And the media remains complicit in Rhode Island's downward tumble by remaining silent.
This is my piece published in this week's edition of Motif Magazine, available on news stands now.
***
A friend with a sardonic wit took pleasure in reminding me Don Carcieri will be in office for two years after George Bush leaves the White House. The dread of such a realization can be felt outside of everyone but the “two wrongs make a right” crowd. For the majority of us, get ready and hold on.
Is there a chance that John Depetro is going down the Val Forti route? From today:
Bill George, WHJJ’s program director, said he asked Arbitron to investigate after noticing an unusual jump in the ratings for WPRO, specifically in listeners 25 to 34 during the 6-to-10-a.m. slot, when WPRO’s John DePetro is on the air.
George said his station noticed WPRO’s rating for women in that age group went from 0 percent in the fall to 12.1 percent in the spring. The ratings for men in that age group jumped from 1.7 percent to 14.1 percent. The figures are percentages of all the people in that age group who are estimated to be listening to any radio station during that time period.
DePetro’s ratings rose from 11th place to 4th place overall in Rhode Island, George said.
In a letter he is sending to Clear Channel’s advertisers, George said: “The Arbitron crediting department identified six diaries in East Greenwich, RI, in the same household, from six people [three women and three men, ages 27-34], representing over 109 hours of listening during one week to WPRO between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.”
Hey, I know. It must’ve been the “illegal” aliens…
What I think is going to be very interesting is the reaction by advertisers.They are the ones who are really screwed by incorrect ratings numbers because the cost for advertising is based on the numbers. I know Dan Yorke has said that going after advertisers is a “nuclear” option to radio types – but the thing is – what is the response?If I were an advertiser I’d be looking for Depetro’s termination. And my money back.
The date for filing last quarter's RI campaign reports was due last week, and it seems like people have been generous since the last general election. Politicians and political groups have received over $7 million since 01/01/2007 in political contributions, with the top 7 benefactors alone having raked in over $3 million in that time.
Contributions received since 01/01/2007 - 06/30/2008:
The Brett Favre era in Green Bay apparently came to an end late Wednesday as the longtime Packers star quarterback was traded to the New York Jets, Foxsports.com first reported.
I can't wait to see Tom Brady go up against the best quarterback of all time (that from a Pats Fan)
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 graduating, Laurie joined the AmeriCorps VISTA program and worked at Youth in Action in Providence. During these three years, he was active in the local activist and music scene, and attempts at merging the two: All Rise and Wordsmiths Are Revolutionaries.
In 2004, Laurie headed back to his native Denver and began putting Flobots together. In October, the group released its first full-length album, Fight With Tools, a reference to a World War II propaganda poster that urged citizens to work in industry to help the war effort.
Laurie says that the title reflects a recurring theme. “There is a war going on for your mind,” he says.
“We have to use our tools to fight and free our minds. We need to find and use tools in the war against militarism and consumerism.”
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.
Flobots will then continue a six-week tour before heading back to Denver for the Democratic National Convention and then to Europe for a fall tour. Humble and self-effacing, Laurie calls his current work “a dream come true. There are moments when you feel in line with your purpose and this is what it feels like.”
(4) As first reported here at RIFuture.org, the City Council has re-funded the Providence civilian review board and has put some strings on the money in order to make the agency more efficient. Kudos to Council members John Igliozzi and Terry Hassett for getting this done.
(6) Kudos to Fountain St. for their sternly worded editorial against the Conley shenanigans going on along the Allens Ave. waterfront. With the Providence River now fully dredged and our city primed to be a deepwater port, city officials should be focused on using the waterfront as an economic engine for job creation and not more gluttonous and vacant condos.
(7) A big WELCOME BACK is owed longtime latino political leader Victor Capellan who has returned to Providence after a lengthy stint in New York City as a high school principal. Capellan, the former director of CHisPA and president of the Dominican American National Roundtable, narrowly lost a bid for the House in 1998 and served as the campaign manager for Sen. Juan Pichardo's successful campaign in 2002. I wrote about Capellan's role in Latino politics in Rhode Island in this 2006 Phoenix article.
“The risks and unknowns of this global waiver as presented are too great for our state to bear at this crucial financial crossroads,” said Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, who led the chorus of opposition yesterday at a special joint session of the House and Senate finance committees dedicated to the governor’s sweeping “global Medicaid waiver” plan.
Original Post: I hope so, because it looks like he is taking his fair share of them...and those things are friggin' expensive! (I wonder if they are available at the compassion centers?)
As you may remember, the Governor planned on saving $67 million dollars in this year's state budget by applying for a "Global Medicaid Waiver" from the federal government - basically a deal where he gets to exempt our state from federal oversight about how federal Medicaid dollars are spent over the next five years, in exchange for capping the amount of total money that we get from the Feds during that time.
No other state has ever done a Global Medicaid Waiver - and with good reason.
What happens if - after we cap the amount of money we're getting from the Feds - there is a spike in the number of people needing long-term or acute care in the next five years, or a dramatic increase in the cost of care and services? The state either has to carry the cost itself or leave people out in the cold. Sorry, grandma and grandpa - you just got "waived."
Today - just over a week after Steve Peoples called him out on it - the Governor submitted a 168-page plan to the General Assembly. The ProJo blog had this to say (emphasis mine):
The Carcieri administration will ask the federal government to cap spending on Rhode Island's health programs for the low-income, elderly and disabled at $12.4 billion over the next five years...
Changes, for example, would affect seniors' ability to access nursing homes, community-based services, group homes for the disabled, and health insurance programs for the low-income. But the waiver released today doesn't include many specifics...
The Carcieri administration acknowledges that the waiver concept, which has never been done before in any state, carries an inherent risk.
Critics fear the state could run out of its Medicaid allotment before five years is up, forcing the state to slash Medicaid programs or to bear the full costs on its own.
How is it possible to submit a 168-page plan that doesn't include many specifics? I'm going to check it out over the next couple of days and get back to you on that. You can find a PDF of the plan here, and join me in attempting to get a better grasp on the horror show that awaits us.
M. Charles Bakst is taking a buyout that was recently offered to a number of Journal employees. For the past 40 years, Bakst has written weekly and Sunday columns for the newspaper. He also served as State House bureau chief. He is known for skewering high-ranking politicians from both parties. Bakst's last day at The Providence Journal will be Sept. 12.
I hope that the BeloJo continues the Tues/Thurs/Sun political column. Insiders like Scott MacKay or Kathy Gregg or outsiders like Ian Donnis or Jim Hummel would be logical choices to takeover the political opinion-making.
Senator Jack Reed: 
The Segal for Rep re-election effort will be having an fundraiser and meet-and-greet at Nick-a-Nee's Thursday, August 7th.
(7) A big WELCOME BACK is owed longtime latino political leader Victor Capellan who has returned to Providence after a lengthy stint in New York City as a high school principal. Capellan, the former director of CHisPA and president of the Dominican American National Roundtable, narrowly lost 
