HOT

Top Chefs

Rhode Island’s top restaurants are looking pretty good.

Three Rhode Island chefs reached the semifinals for the 2018 James Beard Award, the James Beard Foundation announced on Thursday. 

Champe Speidel of Persimmon and Benjamin Sukle of Oberlin have made the semifinals under the category of Best Chef: Northeast. 

Al Forno's Johanne Killeen has made the semifinals under the category of Outstanding Chef. 

High honors for some of the top chefs.

HOT

Danny Hurley

He started his career at URI as a screaming maniac on the sidelines. He was mocked by the press and was warned by the Atlantic 10 to knock off the antics.

In November of 2016, GoLocal published a column, “Hey Danny, Stop Whining, Start Coaching, and This URI Team Might Matter.”

Over the course of the past 24 months, Hurley has dialed down the antics and turned the Rhode Island program into a national power.

The stats this year are as good as any team in America. A million wins in a row, a gazillion in the conference, and undefeated in the conference.

The Rams have the talent and the coaching to go deep in the NCAA tournament.

"I think in the past, it's had a negative effect on our team, especially down the stretch of important games when there's enough pressure on players to make big free throws, make big shots, make good decisions," Hurley said. "To have a madman running around when that's happening probably doesn't offer them the support they needed,” Hurley told CBS Sports.

Kudos to Hurley and his transformation.

HOT

Tim O’Shea

The definition of a class act. Bryant University men’s basketball head coach O’Shea will retire at the end of the current 2017-18 season.

"I’m really happy I was able to do something I love for 34 years and it has been great. This was my decision which I’m really happy about, and my daughters in college which was a milestone for me so I’m really happy. I'm looking forward to doing other things that I've wanted to do," O'Shea told GoLocalProv on Sunday. 

O’Shea is currently in the midst of his tenth season at Bryant after taking over the program in April of 2008. 

The Bulldogs are currently 3-24 overall and 2-12 in conference, with four games left.But, this year’s record tells you very little about his success as a player at Boston College, Assistant Coach for a number of program, head coach and Ohio University and Bryant, and how he helped your men over his 30-year career.

"I mean, look, if we were undefeated and nationally ranked, I'd probably feel great, the hardest thing for me is dealing with losing. But, I’ve been thinking about this for awhile so it is not just a knee-jerk reaction, it's not just because of this season. I just feel like I had a good run, 10 years is a long time, I just got to a point where I feel like this is not what I want to do anymore, I want to do some other things," O'Shea said. 

Bryant will miss O’Shea. We all look forward to his next challenge.

HOT

GoLocal LIVE at the State House

It is a new way to cover politics and public policy decision-making — GoLocal LIVE is going live at the Rhode Island State House every Thursday. It all starts on March 1, 2018.

News Editor Kate Nagle and a production team will broadcast live 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be viewable on GoLocalProv.com, Facebook live, Twitter, and YouTube live.

“It is a further expansion of GoLocal’s effort to connect into everything Rhode Island. By going live each week for a full hour we will be able to bring real-time interviews with top legislators, backbenchers, lobbyists, and activists,” said Nagle.

“Often, there is a story behind the story in politics. We will bring insights into what is behind the budget, where is the funding on the PawSox going or will legislators support the Governor's effort to put $1 billion into Rhode Island schools, It is the chance to talk to key players as the debate is going on,” said Nagle.

NOT

Women CEOs

Of the 103 largest employers who operate in Rhode Island, just 15.5 percent of those companies are led by women.

The data was provided by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training and includes companies with 400 and more employees.

“Women are half the population and half the world’s brain power. If we’re going to solve our biggest problems, we need everyone at the table. But it’s clear that we have more work to do to empower women. When we invest in diversity, everybody benefits,” said Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island’s first female governor in an email to GoLocalProv.

Recently, Rhode Island lost two of its top women business leaders. Cheryl Snead, the former CEO of Banneker Industries passed away last month and Helena Foulkes, the CVS executive that ran two of the company’s largest business units, is leaving to take the helm of Hudson’s Bay.

NOT

Allan Fung and Patricia Morgan

Fung and Morgan’s claim is that they are better leaders than Governor Gina Raimondo, then they actually have to lead.

While prominent Republicans are coming forward calling for the head of the Young Republicans to step down after allegations of harassment and impropriety. Rob Sullivan, President of the Young Republicans kicked a woman out of the group after their personal relationship was sourced. He alleged that she violated “7-8 of the by-laws.”

But based on tapes received by GoLocal from the woman, Rachel Hussey, most of Sullivan’s claims prove to be false.

Fung and Morgan have refused to take action. An early test of leadership and a failure.

NOT

School Murders

There is no other way to describe the 17 school shootings that have taken place in the first 45 days of 2018. It is an almost incomprehensible number of murders.

There is no one piece of legislation that will solve the issue, but the accessibility of weapons to simply too easy.

The children of America deserves to be able to school without fear of being shot.

In Florida, there was no waiting period for purchasing an AR-15 gun.

NOT

Rob Sullivan

The President of the Young Republicans had a relationship with a woman who was also a member of the organization and the relationship soured. There is nothing wrong with that.

Forcing the woman out of the organization with lies about by-law violations and repeatedly lying about his behavior demonstrated he lacks the skills and maturity to run the organization.

Former Executive Director of the Republican Party Jeff Deckman writes:

“Its time for Robert Sullivan to resign

There are two basic types of leaders.

Those who lead to serve others and those who lead to serve themselves. It is often difficult to know which leader is which type until a situation arises that forces the individual to play cards that reveal their true priorities.

In fact, often times the leader themselves may not truly know which category they fit into until challenged.

The current president of the RI Young Republicans, Mr. Robert Sullivan, is facing such a challenge now and he is beginning to reveal his true motivations for leading every moment that passes in which he doesn’t resign."