N4N tends to agree with those who say the 2003 Station fire disaster caused an overreaction in new laws and regulation. Representatives Joseph Trillo (R-Warwick) and Peter Ginaitt (D-Warwick) discuss this topic during an appearance Sunday on Newsmakers, broadcast at 5:30 AM on Channel 12 and at 10 AM on Fox 64. Also, Providence City Councilman Miguel Luna appears on the show to discuss immigration and his proposal for making Providence a sanctuary city.
-- Congratulations to mystery writer/ProJo reporter Mark Arsenault and Jennifer Levitz, ProJo-turned-Wall Street Journal scribe, who are getting married this Sunday in Las Vegas. Arsenault's latest book, Gravewriter, is an excellent read.
-- Speaking of the ProJo, Bob Kerr has a terrific column today about the last night at the Decatur Lounge:
In its closeness, the Decatur reminds me of the old Met Café, under the highway in Providence’s Jewelry District. It was closed to make way for a few parking spaces.
The Decatur’s closing, like the Met’s, is not good. This is not progress. With so many soulless places claiming space in Providence, a good bar, one that comes by its warmth naturally, is something to preserve and protect.
-- Pro athletes like Curt Schilling aren't the only ones getting into blogging. A top Washington, DC-area chef intends to turn the table on food critics by critiquing their work with his blog. Here the details, from the Washington Post:
Bad reviews are an occupational hazard of the restaurant business, and most chefs just bellyache or cry in their soup. Not award-winning Roberto Donna, who's started a high-profile food fight with Washingtonian magazine dining editor Todd Kliman. Donna is so upset about the review in this month's issue that he's starting a blog to critique local restaurant critics. "If you want to write a bad review, that's fine," he told us. "But write it with the truth."
. . . .
Now Donna is rounding up his fellow chefs for a blog on inaccuracies in local food reviews --much like New York's Kobe Club owner Jeffrey Chodorow, who has vowed to start blogging about New York Times food critic Frank Bruni's reviews. Donna's unnamed blog is slated to begin next month . . . .