This Just In

Spare Us the Early Onslaught of Christmas!!

PHILIP EIL — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:29:13 GMT

Rant
On the night of Saturday, November 1, I went to a house party in the Fox Point section of Providence. Standing in the beer line, flanked by Cruella DeVille and Catwoman, I was both confused and underdressed.

On the night of Saturday, November 1, I went to a house party in the Fox Point section of Providence. Standing in the beer line, flanked by Cruella DeVille and Catwoman, I was both confused and underdressed.

"Isn't Halloween over?" I asked the guy, wearing a cow suit, who was pumping the keg.

"Halloween?" he snorted. "It's HalloWEEK, bro!"

The next morning, I went to Providence Place. Standing in line at Borders, I heard what sounded like "Silent Night" playing from the store's speakers.

"Are you guys playing holiday music?" I asked the cashier, handing over my Visa.

"It's Aretha Franklin's new holiday album," he proudly confirmed. "We're selling it exclusively at Borders."

At first, these two events — Halloween on November 1 and Christmas on November 2 — were merely a weird coincidence: back-to-back encounters with a few deviants and a peppy Borders employee. Over the course of the following week, a more disturbing reality made itself known: Yuletide creep was suddenly omnipresent.

CVS rolled out its "holiday centers" and B101 morphed into Christmas 101 ("Southern New England's new home for the holidays!"), relentlessly piping "Jingle Bell Rock," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and more obscure jingles (Barry Manilow, "Because It's Christmas") onto an unsuspecting public.

One could speculate on the reasons behind this very premature decking of the halls, but anyone who's worked in corporate marketing need not. The simpering economy be damned, this is a mindless force-feed of consumerism, and obviously not a genuine swelling of Christmas cheer.

It's true that some holidays, under some circumstances, merit a two-day pre/post grace period. Who can't see the fun of a few firecrackers on July 2 (America!) and drinking green beer after St. Patty's ($2 pitchers!). Our country's descent into perpetual holiday-dom, however, makes me see red.

Take November, for example. The eleventh month, long appreciated as a brisk time to enjoy autumn, elections, and Thanksgiving, has regressed into a tawdry free-for-all. Seriously, if this boardroom-conceived monster, HalloThanksMas (ChristGivingWeen?), isn't Exhibit A for "Free Market" regulation, what is?

By trick-or-treating, giving thanks, and dreaming of a white Christmas virtually all at once, we've traded warm apple cider for one of those syrupy Dr. Pepper/Mountain Dew/Hi-C cocktails that kids make at Burger King. Gross.

Sociologist would say that young adults who prolong a holiday ought to reassess their mores. Similarly, psychologists might say that a culture that collectively responds to bad news — global warming, two wars, a recession — by cranking holiday jingles two months in advance is showing signs of massive denial.

Bicyclists to spell support for Obama

GREG COOK — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:20:59 GMT

Election cycle
There are the usual ways of spelling out your support for a candidate, and then there’s this weekend’s “Bike Write for Obama.”

Sexual Politics

MARY ANN SORRENTINO — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:30:59 GMT

Everybody wants some, but women don’t call it an illness
Duchovny, now 48 and with a nearly complete doctorate from Yale in English lit, says he is back in rehab for sex addiction.

HOOKED: Duchovny.

David Duchovny didn’t seem interested in being cured of his alleged sex addiction when he looked ahead to his rehab this way in the mid-’90s: “Either these meetings will help me deal with my addiction, or I’ll meet lots of women. Either way, I can’t lose . . . ”

When Duchovny left rehab that time, he said he still liked sex a lot, “but only with my wife.” Such a ringing endorsement of fidelity doubtless thrilled Tea Leoni, his spouse since 1997 (and the mother of their two children).

Duchovny, now 48 and with a nearly complete doctorate from Yale in English lit, says he is back in rehab for sex addiction. His Showtime series Californication — in which he conveniently plays a writer named Hank Moody, who, in midlife crisis, can’t get enough either — is perfect typecasting.

Hollywood peers Michael Douglas and Billy Bob Thornton can relate: they are recovering sex addicts, too. So are musician Eric Benet and comedian Russell Brand. Douglas is married to Catherine Zeta-Jones. Benet was Halle Berry’s husband: Thornton was with Angelina Jolie. And Brand dated Australian hottie Teresa Palmer — so much for blaming obsessive sex on an unattractive bedmate.

Hours of research failed, however, to identify many famous women “suffering” from this Mayo Clinic-recognized affliction. Catherine the Great’s name pops up repeatedly in searches for “famous female sex addicts” and the like, as does Roman Emperor Claudius’ wife Messalina (who challenged whores to public contests to see who could do the most men.)

This doesn’t mean that women — and famous Hollywood women in particular — aren’t also screwing their brains out outside of marriage, but it may mean they don’t consider such behavior an illness. Maybe they like screwing around and see “variety” as a personal, private, and even healthy sexual option.

As far as their husbands are concerned, either they accept the “arrangement,” or the marriage comes to an end.

“Tant pis,” as they say in Burbank, or, “Tough darts.”

Since the 1960s, women have taken their so-called sexual “liberation” seriously. “Do Me” members of the Sex and the City generation seem unlikely to justify the sexual freedom so long in coming by claiming to be “sick” when they are caught in the sack with any partner of their choice. If the goose is playing the field, the gander feels entitled as well.

Faithful wives, however, are less likely to be understanding when he fesses up to extracurricular sex, especially of a serial nature. This may explain why the “sex addict” defense is so popular — in Tinseltown and beyond.

Barbarisi assigned to the Sox; more changes coming

IAN DONNIS — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:25:57 GMT

As The ProJo Turns
In a locally unorthodox move, the Providence Journal is reassigning Dan Barbarisi, its well-regarded Providence City Hall reporter, to cover the Red Sox.

He was a man in full

MARY ANN SORRENTINO — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:55:34 GMT

R.I.P., Paul Newman
For some of us who admired Paul Newman, what we most appreciated was humanity that transcended his physical appeal and made him the man we’d love to have known better.

It wasn’t just the Aegean-blue eyes you could drown in, or the perfect torso that made women swoon. It wasn’t even the crooked little smile or the cynical, sexy voice saying things like, “Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?” (as he once commented when asked about the possibility of his cheating on wife of a half-century, Joanne Woodward.)

For some of us who admired Paul Newman, what we most appreciated was humanity that transcended his physical appeal and made him the man we’d love to have known bet-ter.

When Newman mourned his son Scott, who died tragically of a drug overdose, and when he donned overalls to work on his beloved racing cars and speed around the track, we fell in love all over again with the same Hud who had captured our hearts long ago.

Men joined us in admiring his business skills. He turned out millions of dollars in profits from his Newman’s Own brand of salad dressings, cookies, popcorn and other products, giving the
money to children’s camps and other good causes.

Newman was beautiful inside and out, as they say. News outlets around the world honored him with obituaries recalling his life well lived. His glow reached beyond the lights of Hollywood, a town he avoided in favor of the rolling hills and quiet farms of his beloved Connecticut.

Newman made the right choices in life, and he seemed to make them effortlessly. Those gift-shoppy phrases stamped onto souvenir ashtrays — family first, doing unto others, making lemonade from the lemons, stop to smell the roses, tell it like it is, and so forth — define how Newman lived and why we love him.

Newman hated being thought of as a sex symbol, and why wouldn’t he? He was so much more than the ultimately attractive man. He embraced his work, often choosing roles designed to flatten the vapid “pretty boy” label. He funneled his personal grief and rage into constructive works to help others and right what he saw as wrong. He worked hard and played harder. He kept his private life private when doing that is nearly impossible.

He had the perfect life partner in Woodward. She was his professional peer and personal colleague. The walked the same walk and talked the same talk — in a barely audible, highly effective, chiaroscuro way.

Kennedy Plaza shows fresh signs of life

PHILIP EIL — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:53:20 GMT

Citywatch
For a long time, Kennedy Plaza in Providence was in the news for all the wrong reasons.

For a long time, Kennedy Plaza in Providence was in the news for all the wrong reasons: Drug busts. Robberies. UIP (Urinating In Public) citations. In recent years, however, with new programming (R&B, roller derby, and more) stringent loitering ordinances, and a new police substation, an effort has been afoot to return the area to its more pleasant roots

In February, the city pushed its efforts further, inviting Project for Public Spaces, an urban design nonprofit, to run a “Placemaking Workshop,” a brainstorm to revitalize the area. The meeting resulted in the June launch of the Greater Kennedy Plaza Working Group, a campaign “focused on transforming Kennedy Plaza into a lively public square, rich with activity.”

“We really find it important to make what is the heart of the city a more welcome place,” says Deb Dormody, program manager for Greater Kennedy Plaza (kennedyplaza.org), a public-private partnership.

The goal of the initiative, she explains, is to take the Greater Kennedy Plaza area — consisting of Burnside Park, the Bank of America Skating Center, Biltmore Park, and Kennedy Plaza — and, “generally, making it more exciting — make people less scared to go in there.”

Since June, Greater Kennedy Plaza has made an effort to have something going on nearly every day of the week. In addition to an IndieArts Fest and a championship roller derby bout, there have been Public Square Tuesdays (where local nonprofits showcase their work), Market Bazaar Thursdays (where local vendors peddle food, crafts, and antiques), Farmers’ Market Fridays, and Rhythm and Soul Sundays (with performances from Providence’s Black Repertory Company and local DJs). Farmers’ Market Fridays will run until the end of October.

Additionally, Kennedy Plaza has received a mini-makeover. New flowers have been planted near the central fountain, five eco-friendly “Big Belly” trash receptacles have been installed (they use solar power to compact garbage, requiring fewer collection trips), and brand-new tables and chairs have been brought in to infuse Burnside Park with a hip, Manhattan-y vibe. (In June, Mayor David Cicilline remarked, “I envision a public space as vibrant as New York’s Washington Square Park, with the unique character of Providence.”)

On a recent Friday afternoon at a rain-drenched Farmers’ Market, the optimistic spirit — if not a swarming crowd — was on full display.

Under a tent facing the RIPTA bus depot, Juan Carlos Beteta, from Hill Orchard in Johnston, stood proudly behind wooden crates of brightly colored fruits and vegetables. “A lot of people are forgetting where their food is coming from,” he says, pointing out freshly picked peaches, pears, apples, and tomatoes. “It’s great to see people excited about local food.”

Journal job cuts: Practical or self-destructive?

IAN DONNIS — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:47:47 GMT

As The ProJo Turns
When John Hill sought his first mortgage as a young reporter, his banker told him, “Oh, you’ll be fine — you work at the Journal .”

When John Hill sought his first mortgage as a young reporter, his banker told him, “Oh, you’ll be fine — you work at the Journal.”

But job security isn’t what it once was — as anyone familiar with the newspaper industry knows — so Hill, now the president of the Providence Newspaper Guild, is among those watching and waiting as the ProJo prepares to implement what are thought to the first-ever economic layoffs in its lengthy history.

The cuts, which have not yet been reported in the Journal, were revealed September 24 by the Guild, and will claim roughly 30 news-related jobs (none in advertising), including three fulltime reporters. The layoffs are due to be implemented on October 10.

Those losing their jobs include Cranston reporter David Scharfenberg; East Bay reporter Meaghan Wims; online reporter Brandie Jefferson, news librarian Linda Henderson; experienced part-timers, such as Laura Meade Kirk, who has been with the Journal for more than 20 years; as well as at least two management employees, section editors Karen Maguire of the North edition and Jean Plunkett of the West Bay. Most of the cuts are based on lack of seniority.

Another reporter was due to be cut, but her job was saved when Sean McAdam, the ProJo’s nationally respected baseball writer, left for a job with the Boston Herald, reportedly frustrated by how he had been prohibited over the summer from appearing on sports radio station WEEI and espn.com.

Asked about the impact of the cuts, Hill says they can’t help taking a toll. Union officials are waiting until management shares its plans for reconfiguring the paper’s resources before offering a more detailed judgment.

The layoffs come after a recent company-wide buyout in the parent Belo Corporation, which was taken by 22 ProJo employees, failed to hit management’s minimum target of 35. “That was based on figuring that it was fulltime people going,” says Guild administrator Tim Schick, “and because our seniority system requires that they take part-timers first, they had to reach in deeper to reach the number they were looking for.”

Although it is not thought to be intentional, Schick says, the layoffs include a disproportionate ratio of women — by about a three-to-one margin.

Meanwhile, the ProJo’s “In Her Shoes” women’s initiative, conceived as an effort to draw more readers to the paper’s Web site, is reportedly on hold, in part because of the difficulty of pursuing the project with diminished staffing.

Activists pitch green jobs as a win-win for Rhode Island

IAN DONNIS — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:36:49 GMT

Clean Energy
With global warming looming and the US economy in a mess, environmentalists have a simple answer for promoting environmental protection and economic development.

With global warming looming and the US economy in a mess, environmentalists have a simple answer — green jobs — for simultaneously promoting environmental protection and economic development.

And as part of a national day of action this Saturday, September 27, local activists plan to stage a community discussion about “Greening the Rhode Island economy,” at the New England Institute of Technology in Warwick, from 9:30 to 11:30 am.

“As Rhode Islanders struggle to make ends meet amidst a declining job market, a turbulent economy, stagnant wages, and record high gas prices, our green economy presents an opportunity to dig ourselves out of the ditch,” US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who will offer the keynote address, says in a news release. “Investing in clean renewable energy production and improving the efficiency of our cars, homes and businesses will stem the tide of global warming, break our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and create entire industries of new ‘green collar’ jobs to sustain American workers.”

A panel discussion featuring local environmentalists and activists will follow Whitehouse’s address. Those interested in attending the free event can show up at the door, register at greeningrieconomy.com, send an e-mail info@greeningrieconomy.com, or call Greg Gerritt at 401.621.8048. For details about the national event, see greenjobsnow.com.

Denise Parrillo of Clean Water Action says the local green jobs’ event grew out of a desire among local environmental activists to capitalize on the national day of action. “As we started to plan, people got really excited,” she says. “Hopefully, this will just be the start of something” to promote the expansion of green jobs in Rhode Island.

As the Conservation Law Foundation noted this week, as part of a “cap and trade” emissions auction set to begin this Thursday, a price will be put for the first time on carbon dioxide emissions from US power plants. Rhode Island is among the states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which will use the savings from this program in some of its member states to support energy efficiency.

Given the US’s traditional dependence on fossil fuels, however, building greater support for green jobs often remains an uphill fight.

Parrillo hopes that the events across the country this weekend help to build support for federal incentives and other steps that would promote the expansion of green jobs. Like other proponents, she points to Rhode Island’s job shortage and the need for clean energy in underscoring the practicality of green jobs.

Volunteers power Habitat for Humanity

AMY LITTLEFIELD — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:35:51 GMT

Good deeds
On Wednesday mornings, retirees George Issa and Gene Jolie, each 61, can be found at the ReStore on Route 2 in Charleston, one of dozens Habitat for Humanity ReStores.

On Wednesday mornings, retirees George Issa and Gene Jolie, each 61, can be found at the ReStore on Route 2 in Charleston, one of dozens Habitat for Humanity ReStores across the US and Canada. The ReStore sells donated building materials, appliances, and furniture to raise tens of thousands of dollars for Habitat’s building projects.

With state and federal funding streams especially thin lately, Issa says, the ReStore has kept South County Habitat (southcountyhabitat.org) going strong. On top of providing funding, the store keeps items that developers or homeowners might otherwise throw away from ending up in landfills.

“For a 60-something-year-old, this is a pretty good place to end up,” laughs Jolie. He says working part-time as manager of Habitat’s ReStore has allowed him to give back to the community. The local Habitat, meanwhile, has built or renovated 42 affordable homes in South County since it was established in 1990.

Appliances fill up one of the rooms at the ReStore — refrigerators, ranges, sinks, and even a gas fireplace, complete with fake logs. Couches, chairs, and three tables, set with glasses and placemats, overload the second room. At the far end of the room is a bundle of shining light fixtures, a faded stool covered in blue plaid fabric, and a framed poster of a man in Renaissance-era garb.

Among the objects donated recently was a $2000 couch, sold to a volunteer for $150. Donations following a home renovation in Jamestown yielded cherry mantels, French doors, granite sinks, and custom windows.

With donations streaming in, the ReStore depends on a force of volunteers who Issa calls the organization’s “lifeblood.” Among them is Marie Tedeschi, who has volunteered at the Re-Store for several months. Tedeschi gives tours to customers, washes and polishes the furniture, and unpacks donations.

“I’m getting good at moving things,” says Tedeschi. “I am 81 years old. I have to have things to do. I’ve always been a doer. It’s just that I have to keep moving.”

Gene Jolie shakes his head in amazement at Tedeschi’s dedication. “Sometimes I’ll see her out in the parking lot carrying a couch,” he says.

Linda Hull, 68, a retired administrative assistant, volunteers in the office at South County Habitat for Humanity, as well as for soup kitchens and other local charities. Hull says she was motivated to volunteer partly by seeing the beautiful homes that Habitat for Humanity had helped construct in Westerly, near her home in South Kingstown.

“I don’t have the money [to give], but I have the time,” she explains.

A tale of two views of America

MARY ANN SORRENTINO — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:42:34 GMT

Letter From Italy
On a hot summer night, at a gala at Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy’s ongoing love affair with America was renewed.

On a hot summer night, at a gala at Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy’s ongoing love affair with America was renewed.

We had retreated to the villa’s garden to wait out a seemingly endless panel discussion, wondering aloud how to get back to our hotel in Rome’s center. Few taxis venture out to these suburbs late at night.

Another refugee from the droning panel accepted an invitation to join us, offering reassurance that he would call us a cab if necessary.

“It’s the Foreign Ministry, after all — they will come for you,” he promised in flawless English accented with charm. He was part of the diplomatic corps.

Introductions slipped into chat and inevitably to the presidential race and W’s departure. The Italian respectfully disagreed with our negative assessment of our president and his legacy. Though realistic about US economic problems reaching Rome and beyond, Umberto was adamant about America’s greatness.

Probably born decades after World War II, he spoke of America’s willingness to “pay the bills” for the rest of the world. He admired our unflinching defense of foreigners’ rights and security. He was sincerely grateful.

No stranger to the US, he works much of each year in New York and travels in a sophisticated global circle. Still, he paints America in the idealistic pastels used by starving peasants, abused partisans, and prisoners liberated from Mussolini’s Italy more than six decades ago.

We became quiet, hesitating to challenge such a pure view of the country we know — which is now so uneasy, so beaten, so unlike the land its admirer described.

During W’s last visit to Rome, our friend was ashamed that no one officially thanked the president on what, coincidentally, marked the anniversary of the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild post-war Europe.

When we finally voiced our concerns about civil liberties, the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the greed that has pushed our nation off its economic footing, Umberto nodded politely, unconvinced. Even his worst day in New York, it seemed, was far better than his best day in Italy.

An early morning departure for Florence the next morning forced us to say good-bye.

Umberto called a taxi and walked us to the gates, making sure we got settled safely and that the driver knew exactly where to take us.

Once home, I e-mailed him to thank him for his kindness, attaching a recent column I had written on my own Palin-inspired rage.

His reply was close to poetry:

Rhode Islanders vie to make difference in NH

MATT JERZYK — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:26:25 GMT

Campaign 2008
With less than 50 days until the presidential contest between Barack Obama and Sarah — whoops — John McCain, there is good news and bad news for Democrats.

With less than 50 days until the presidential contest between Barack Obama and Sarah — whoops, I mean — John McCain, there is good news and bad news for Democrats.

First, the bad news: by picking Palin, McCain hit a trifecta. First, he solidified the conservative base by selecting a pro-creationist hunter who doesn’t believe that women who are raped should have access to an abortion. Second, McCain narrowed the enthusiasm gap, and for the first time, he has thousands of adoring fans and future volunteers at every campaign stop.

Finally, and most importantly, McCain unabashedly acknowledged that the way to the heart of the 10 percent of the American electorate that remains undecided is through American Idol-esque gimmicks targeting women (hockey mom motif) and men (see the hottie carrying a gun and a Bible motif).

Topping it off, the McCain campaign got a substantial polling bounce, nationally and in key battleground states, turning this race into a dead heat.

Here’s the good news: the mainstream media has largely turned on McCain, their onetime hero, because of his campaign’s consistent lying about Palin’s record and the lack of access to both McCain and Palin in recent weeks.

The angry opinion-makers might craft a “comeback kid” narrative that could propel Obama to victory, or at minimum, put a few dents in the ’72 Datsun that carries the McCain banner of “change.”

The Palin selection has also energized the Democratic base, which staked the Obama campaign to its largest fundraising month ever — $66 million in August. Democrats hope to sustain these fundraising figures, because they have built the largest bottom-up grassroots organizations in the key battleground states and money is essential for fueling these get-out-the-vote efforts.

The eight states to be targeted most intensely with resources are the traditional industrial states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan; the Western states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada; and finally, Virginia and New Hampshire.

Rhode Island Democratic activists have “adopted” New Hampshire as their second home, perhaps realizing that those four Electoral College votes gave the 2000 election to George W. Bush.

This past weekend, US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (whose chief of staff, Mindy Myers, is Obama’s New Hampshire state coordinator) led two buses to the Granite State to track down and talk with undecided voters.

Volunteers using the RI.BarackObama.com site are planning almost daily trips to New Hampshire, and the Obama headquarters at 321 South Main Street in Providence is buzzing with phone calls to undecided voters.

Buyout implemented, life continues on Fountain Street

IAN DONNIS — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:23:00 GMT

As The ProJo Turns
Whether by accident or by design, there was little evident fallout of the latest Providence Journal buyout in the days after 22 employees ended their time at the ProJo.

Voter apathy remains a primary staple

IAN DONNIS — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:04:35 GMT

Talking Politics
The big story from Tuesday’s primary election, understandably enough, was the seeming upset by Michael J. Pinga of state Senator Stephen D. Alves.

Could algae be the answer for Rhode Island’s heating needs?

CARROLL ANDREW MORSE — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:29:02 GMT

Weird Science
Scot Comey believes old mills in places like Pawtucket can be turned into incubators for strains of algae that can be grown without sunlight and turned into home heating oil.

Scot Comey believes old mills in places like Pawtucket can be turned into incubators for strains of algae that can be grown without sunlight and turned into home heating oil.

“In six months to a year, if someone started, in earnest, a gigantic algae-producing farm indoors, they could be producing oil by this spring,” says Comey, 46, the holder of a degree in plant and soil science, and founder of the Energy Innovation Group, a Rhode-Island based grassroots effort to develop renewable fuels.

Algae grown without sunlight can be grown year-round, without displacing any conventional agriculture. Comey sees in it potential to bring some truly unconventional “acreage” into bio-fuel development.

“We could put a 1000-gallon tank in your basement seeded with algae,” he says. “A sensor would go off, letting us know when it’s ready for harvest. We send a truck over — we’ve already got two oil companies that are willing to do this with us. They collect the algae, take it to the processing plant, make the oil, and we either store it for you, or bring it back to your house.”

Grown-in-the-dark algae needs to be fed something to replace the energy forgone from sunlight, and the energy required to produce a food source must be included in any projections of the algae’s viability as a source of heating oil.

One hope is that energy-dense “cellulosic” crops, tillable on lands unsuitable for normal agriculture, can be created in conjunction with algaes that will feed on them directly, facilitating a beginning-to-end, non-energy-intensive process for turning dry material into liquid fuel.

Algal oil has yet to be produced on an industrial-scale; a test by Massachusetts-based GreenFuel Technologies was halted last year, reportedly after the algae started growing faster than it could be processed.

But Comey and others believe that oil-producing algae holds too much promise to ignore.

Researchers working with sunlit-grown algae believe that an acre of pond water may be able to produce about 10,000 gallons of algal oil per-acre, per-year. If that’s right, a pond system with a surface area about one-fourth the size of Narragansett Bay could provide the entire 150 to 200 million gallons of heating oil consumed annually in Rhode Island.

And that may be just the beginning; claims of potential oil yields of 100,000 gallons per-acre, per-year have recently been put forth, based on the concept of vertically stacked containers for growing algae.

Comey and his Energy Innovation Group are not wedded to any particular technology. Their philosophy is to do whatever works.

Almost Famous: Joe Bernstein

FRANK MULLIN — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:46:03 GMT

Retired former senior special agent for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service
I’ve been all over the country, and I have to say, the quality of the State Police department here — they’re the best.

Clinton women for Palin? No way

MARY ANN SORRENTINO — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:23:04 GMT

Gender politics
Memo to John McCain: We may be angry, but we haven’t gone completely mad.

Segal and Fierro lead the way for the General Assembly

PHOENIX STAFF — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:25:54 GMT

Endorsements
As Rhode Islanders go to the polls for a primary election next Tuesday, September 9, there are some key votes to be made for progressive legislators.

As Rhode Islanders go to the polls for a primary election next Tuesday, September 9 — mostly to settle the final match-ups for General Assembly elections in November — there are some key votes to be made for progressive legislators, both incumbents and newcomers.

These primaries take on added importance since they will decide, in most cases, the de facto winners of various House and Senate seats.

Yet with political attention focused on the presidential battle between Barack Obama and John McCain, the electoral action closer to home has not gotten a shred of the same attention.

In another sign of our desiccated political culture, too many General Assembly seats will go unchallenged. For some officeholders, this offers a not-so-subtle message that a complacent and disinterested public will do little — even when Rhode Island faces a serious budgetary crisis, underperforming schools, crumbling infrastructure, and other problems — to hold them accountable.

The perennially anemic Rhode Island Republican Party isn’t faring much better. In an election season when it should be avidly contesting a maximum number of seats on Smith Hill, the RI GOP has mustered a respectable percentage of candidates — but hardly enough. And while we don’t doubt the difficulty of convincing people to run for public office, Republican fumbling over ballot requirements illustrates how the local GOP can be its own worst enemy.

Under normal circumstances, legislative Democrats might see little reason to work cooperatively with Governor Donald L. Carcieri as he approaches the end of his two gubernatorial terms. Clearly, though, these aren’t normal times, and the elected leaders of state government must exhibit more leadership if the state is going to effectively move beyond the budget crises of recent years.

The heightened degree of executive-legislative cooperation in the last year is due mainly to the gravity of the problems facing Rhode Island. As the saying goes, there’s nothing like pain to focus one’s attention. Yet state officials need to do better in dealing with the tasks at hand while simultaneously looking to the future.

With this in mind, the Phoenix makes the following endorsements in selected legislative races.

In District 35, State Senator J. MICHAEL LENIHAN of North Kingstown has a justly deserved reputation as a civic-minded legislator who understands both the big picture and the small details of state government. His Democratic opponent, Steven Campo, a member of the North Kingstown Town Council, touts his business background. Yet considering the high ethical mark set by Lenihan — as evidenced by his plaudits from Operation Clean Government and Common Cause of Rhode Island — he remains both a useful model for other legislators and well-deserving of reelection.

Buyout falls short of goal; questions remain

IAN DONNIS — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:25:47 GMT

As The ProJo Turns
Twenty-two Providence Journal employees, 12 in news and 10 in advertising, have taken the company up on its latest buyout.

Ordinance aims to easy the bite of displacement

AMY LITTLEFIELD — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:21:43 GMT

Citywatch
When Granoff Associates announced plans in May to renovate the Arcade in downtown Providence, tenants in the building got a scant 30 days’ notice.

The ProJo opposes plastic bag use — but it uses plastic bags

STEVEN STYCOS — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:54:59 GMT

Environment
In April, the Providence Journal strongly endorsed reducing use of plastic bags, but the newspaper continues to use more than 100,000 plastic bags a day.

In April, the Providence Journal strongly endorsed reducing use of plastic bags, but the newspaper continues to use more than 100,000 plastic bags a day.

Chemical and grocery lobbyists this year derailed state legislation to discourage plastic bag use, but the push for restrictions is growing nationally. In response, the Journal’s bag supplier is promoting a new biodegradable bag.

Five years ago, the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation estimated that Rhode Islanders use 162 million plastic grocery bags every year. In addition, Journal carriers deliver Rhode Island’s leading newspaper in a plastic bag every day — and two bags when it rains.

With a daily home delivery circulation of 105,000, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the ProJo adds more than 38 million plastic bags a year to Rhode Island’s waste stream. Other newspapers, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, have similar practices, but at least one, the twice-weekly Warwick Beacon, uses bags only when it rains, according to publisher John Howell Jr.

State Representative Amy Rice (D-Portsmouth), who sponsored recent changes in Rhode Island’s plastic bag law, and Resource Recovery’s recycling manager, Sarah Kite, say they have never talked with Journal representatives about the issue.

Barbara Norman, the ProJo’s senior director of consumer marketing, didn’t respond to two phone calls from the Phoenix.

In an April 6 editorial, however, the Journal lamented plastic bag use, calling it, “a big problem.” The paper noted how plastic bags are made from oil, create litter, fill scarce landfill space, endanger wildlife, and “take a thousand years to decompose.” To reduce bag use, the Journal suggested that Rhode Island copy Ireland’s example by implementing a fee for using plastic bags.

Spurred by the Rhode Island chapter of the Sierra Club, Rice and state Senator Dominick Ruggerio (D-Providence) this spring sponsored bills requiring stores to refund customers three cents for using their own shopping bag.

In a meeting with American Chemistry Council lobbyist Dennis Roberts II and Rhode Island Food Dealers Association lobbyist Carolyn Murray, however, Rice says, she and Ruggerio agreed to water down their bills to ensure passage. The new law adds plastic dry cleaning and newspaper bags to the list of bags that stores must collect, and it requires them to report where the bags are recycled.

Sierra Club transportation chair Barry Schiller, who says he is disappointed by the new law, still supports a mandatory incentive to reuse bags. He has no recommendations for newspaper bags.