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Ashley Kalus, candidate for RI governor, seeks mediation with DOH

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Ashley Kalus, candidate for RI governor, seeks mediation with DOH


PROVIDENCE — A lawyer for Republican Ashley Kalus, the Rhode Island newcomer operating for governor, is in search of courtroom mediation of Kalus’s high-profile contract dispute with the McKee administration.

Courts spokesman Craig Berke confirmed on Friday that Stephen Del Sesto, a lawyer representing Kalus’s COVID-19 testing firm, has invoked a contract provision permitting the 2 warring sides to enchantment to the presiding justice of the Superior Court docket for mediation, although there is no such thing as a lawsuit pending at this level.

Berke mentioned Presiding Justice Alice Gibney assigned the matter to retired Decide Michael Silverstein, who has organized a primary convention for subsequent week.

The dispute facilities on the state’s resolution to chop quick the $7.9-million contract it had with Kalus’s firm to do COVID-19 testing at a number of websites, together with within the Westerly police station, and provides the work to different firms already working below state contracts.  

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Days after the dispute reached a boiling level in mid-January, Kalus – who final referred to as Illinois house – registered to vote in Rhode Island for the primary time on the highway to saying her bid to interchange Democrat Dan McKee as governor.

Election 2022:‘Outsider’ Ashley Kalus launches GOP marketing campaign for RI governor

What we knoab:Gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus embroiled in dispute involving Westerly police, DOH

She has alleged unspecified “waste, fraud and abuse” and painted herself and her firm – Docs Check Facilities – because the sufferer of retaliation in opposition to a “whistleblower.”

“Each time I’ve reported noncompliance or high quality issues, you may have retaliated and defamed me,” Kalus wrote Kristine Campagna, the chief working officer for COVID operations on the Division of Well being, at 5:01 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14, in one in all a number of emails obtained by The Journal.

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“This can be a federal contract and what you may have accomplished to me is just not authorized,” Kalus wrote.

“Whistle blowers do have safety when citing problems with waste, fraud and abuse. I might counsel that you just not erase your cellphone in preparation for litigation as you need to have been informed months in the past as we complained,” she wrote in her e-mail.

There’s one other aspect of the story, nevertheless. 

As tensions rose, the Division of Well being requested Westerly police to maintain watch on Jan. 15-16 to verify there have been no end-of-contract disruptions – and in the end to assist get well gadgets faraway from the positioning that belonged to the alternative firm, MedTech.

Then-deputy state Well being Director Thomas McCarthy informed The Journal on Friday that Docs Check Facilities “was an incredible companion” with the state within the COVID vaccination marketing campaign.

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He mentioned the state determined to not renew the stand-alone testing contract when it expired on Jan. 31, at a degree when the extremely transmissible Omicron variant was sweeping by means of the state and the demand for checks was excessive.

“We had been centered on guaranteeing that we had the very best expertise for Rhode Islanders getting examined, with the ability to get out and in shortly at their appointment time. We all know a number of the challenges we had with lengthy strains and doubtless a sub-optimal expertise at a few of our websites,” McCarthy mentioned.

Past that, he mentioned, “I feel you’ll be able to sort of get a way of the connection [between] the contract supervisor of the testing workforce and the seller.”

“That’s not essentially unusual,” he mentioned.”A few of it’s they’re making an attempt to decrease the competitors and we see that amongst totally different distributors.”

Inside RI politics:Cool Moose founder’s legacy stays in authorized limbo six years after his dying

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McCarthy mentioned “what mattered most was efficiency, and that is what we had been utterly centered on.” 

Backside line, the choice to not prolong the six-month contract with Kalus’s firm – and at some websites, to chop it quick – was made “on the peak of the testing [demand] in Rhode Island” McCarthy mentioned. “We wished to make certain we had the very best distributors in place. … so it was seamless for Rhode Islanders. And that is precisely what the workforce did, eradicating all emotion from it.” 

The corporate owned by Kalus and her husband, plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Weizweig, is expressed this fashion within the state contract: “Covid Medical Options Illinois LLC dba Main & Quick Care Options LLV Docs Check Facilities” in Chicago, Illinois.

The mediation clause that Del Sesto invoked in his letter to the Superior Court docket this week says, partly: “The events shall share the mediator’s payment and any submitting charges equally … Agreements reached in mediation shall be enforceable as settlement agreements in any courtroom having jurisdiction thereof.”

It’s not solely clear what Kalus and her husband are in search of from the state.

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Their contract was scheduled to finish on Jan. 31. There was a six-month renewal choice.

This a lot is thought; As a substitute of the $7.9 million anticipated by the contract, the state paid the corporate $6.7 million, in accordance with the Division of Administration.

Neither the Division of Well being nor the Division of Administration has responded to inquiries about how a lot roughly the state is paying the alternative firms – MedTech and Alert Ambulance – given the contract work that was taken away from Docs Check Facilities.

In one in all a collection of the pre-termination emails that got here to mild in latest days, Kalus wrote the RI Division of Well being’s Campagna, saying she wished to go to mediation instantly.

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“Good religion? That’s actually wealthy,” Kalus wrote on Jan. 14, two days earlier than a alternative firm was scheduled to begin in Westerly.

“You barely have any actual expertise in drugs,” she wrote. “Have a doctor [who] understands the issues name us for those who consider it’s protected.” 



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Rhode Island

Four found dead at house in West Greenwich, RI – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Four found dead at house in West Greenwich, RI – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


WEST GREENWICH, R.I. (WHDH) – An investigation is underway after four people were found dead inside a home in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, Friday. 

Officials say a co-worker of someone who lived at the house called police after the person didn’t show up to work for two days. 

Police say all appeared to have gunshot wounds.

(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Among US cities, Providence had fewest homes linger on the real estate market in November, Redfin says – The Boston Globe

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Among US cities, Providence had fewest homes linger on the real estate market in November, Redfin says – The Boston Globe


Nationally, over half, or 54.5 percent of home listings in November, lingered on the market for at least 60 days, up from 49.9 percent from the same time last year, Redfin reported. The total was the highest for any November since 2019.

Milwaukee, Wis., followed Providence at 38.8 percent, with Montgomery County, Penn., in third at 41.4 percent, according to the report released Monday.

Miami saw the highest percentage of “stale” listings, with 63.8 percent remaining on the market after 60 days, followed by Austin, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The only New England city besides Providence included in the top 50 most populated metropolitan areas is Boston, which saw a rate of 44.2 percent.

“A lot of listings on the market are either stale or uninhabitable,” Meme Loggins, a Redfin real estate agent in Oregon, said in the report. “There’s a lot of inventory, but it doesn’t feel like enough.”

So what’s different about Providence?

There are a number of factors in play, including demand for rental properties, according to Alysandra Nemeth, a local Redfin real estate agent.

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Nemeth told the Globe on Friday several multifamily homes she sold in the last few months moved quickly.

“If you have a multifamily [listing] that comes up and you’ve got an investor or someone that’s looking to owner-occupy a property and rent some out … it’s the perfect scenario because there’s no shortage of people that are looking to rent within the area,” Nemeth said.

Nemeth thinks the lack of inventory in the Rhode Island market is also keeping listings fresh.

Data released by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors in December showed there was a less than two months worth of supply of single-family homes across the state — well below the six-month supply level considered indicative of a healthy real estate market.

Driven, in part, by the competition for properties, the median statewide home price soared more than 11 percent year over year to $480,000, according to the association.

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“It just continues to be a battle where, you know, if a good home comes on the market and it’s priced right, it’s probably going to go quicker, and entertain more offers than some other areas,” Nemeth said.

Providence’s location is also desirable for buyers, Nemeth said. There’s easy access to Boston and New York City, all with a considerably lower price point than those metro areas, Nemeth said.

And Providence has plenty of appeal of its own, too.

“There’s just a lot of, like, great culinary experiences in Providence — like the food here is amazing,” Nemeth said. “So that also goes hand in hand with it. There’s a lot going on. This city is probably like the next city to watch out for.”


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Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.





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The 6 biggest business news stories to watch in Rhode Island in 2025 – The Boston Globe

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The 6 biggest business news stories to watch in Rhode Island in 2025 – The Boston Globe


Here are the biggest business news stories to watch in Rhode Island in 2026.

1. Will Hasbro leave Rhode Island for Boston?

Hasbro Inc. has been teasing Rhode Island’s leaders in mulling a move to Boston, and officials are tossing out all sorts of ideas — tax credits, an annual “Rhode Island Hasbro Day,” special access to airport lounges, subsidies for on-site child care — to see what might keep the century-old toy company anchored in its home state.

State leaders pitched Hasbro earlier this winter on six potential locations in three cities where Hasbro could relocate. But in that same meeting, leaders from Rhode Island Commerce and Governor Dan McKee’s office also pitched a series of incentives for the maker of Monopoly, My Little Pony, and Nerf, according to a report and videos released to the Globe on Monday in response to a public records request.

Hasbro spokespeople maintain that they have “no updates” on any potential relocation, but CEO Chris Cocks told employees in late 2024 that they would hear from the company’s leadership team sometime in the first quarter of 2025 about whether they’d be heading for greener pastures beyond Rhode Island.

Antonio Afonso, McKee’s chief of staff and the state’s “point person” on Hasbro, declined to be interviewed.

The Vanderbilt hotel in Newport, R.I. was once a mansion built in the early 1900s.Auberge Resorts Collection

2. The company buying up Newport restaurants

In Newport, there’s one man who seems to be everywhere: Nicholas S. Schorsch.

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A wealthy entrepreneur and investor, Schorsch has been on roll with his Heritage Restaurant Group since relocating to Newport from New York City 12 years ago, and has amassed a growing portfolio.

In 2024 alone, the group acquired restaurants Caleb & Broad, Flo’s Clam Shack, The Reef, The Red Parrot, The Brick Alley Pub, and many more. In late December, the group also announced it would acquire the historic Vanderbilt hotel, a Georgian Revival mansion. It’s not yet clear what the Heritage group paid for the hotel, but the transaction is expected to close in early 2025.

The group also operates Newport Craft Brewing, La Forge Casino Restaurant, La Costa Lobster Rolls and Tacos, Cluck Truck, Cluck House, A Mano Pizza & Gelato, Wiener Wagon, and Wally’s Wieners. It also owns Newport Lobster Company, one of the largest seafood wholesalers in the area, and runs concessions at Easton’s Beach.

Many of the restaurants Schorsch has acquired were family-run operations where the owners were nearing retirement age. His purchase, some say, was a lifeline so they could step away from their businesses. But critics are concerned about the powerhouse the group is becoming, saying that much control over businesses on Aquidneck Island could raise prices and stifle competition.

3. The expansion of Brown University Health

Rhode Island’s largest health care system, Brown University Health, previously known as Lifespan Corp., acquired St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and Morton Hospital in Taunton from bankrupt Steward Health Care for $175 million in 2024. This year, the hospital owner plans to expand in Foxborough, Mass., by bolstering two outpatient clinics it purchased from Steward that could generate $43 million annually by fiscal year 2027. The clinics could be an opportunity, officials told investors in December, to expand cancer care and ambulatory surgery into Massachusetts. They also plan to broaden their specialty physician groups.

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Demolition on the Washington Bridge in Providence, R.I.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

4. Continued fallout from the Washington Bridge closure

The Washington Bridge westbound on Interstate 195 abruptly closed more than a year ago, leaving drivers scrambling, and a long list of questions about went went wrong. The bridge — meant to last at least two more decades — needs to be demolished and rebuilt. Demolition is expected to take another year, and there is no timeline currently for when a new span will be completed. Chicago-based Walsh Construction Company will compete with a joint venture of American Bridge Company from Pennsylvania and New York-based MLJ Contracting Corp. to build the new bridge.

The state has sued 13 companies who were previously hired by the state to inspect the bridge, or do construction or design work. Several defendants have already pushed back on the suit, calling it a political “blame game.” A judge is expected to consider their motions to dismiss the lawsuit this month.

5. More shakeups at the state Housing Department

On New Year’s Eve, Tara Booker, the executive director of homelessness response for the R.I. Department of Housing, submitted her resignation. In a phone conversation with the Globe, Booker declined to comment as to why she would leave, and said she would remain at her post “through at least Jan. 31, and potentially longer.”

“I have a transition plan,” said Booker. “I don’t really want to comment on anything right now. I’m still working and want a productive transition.”

Booker also declined to comment on any winter shelter plans, which is a program she has overseen at the department since she was hired in March 2024. She is one of several of the department’s high-ranking leaders who have given their notice in the last year. Over the summer, former secretary Stefan I. Pryor resigned. Under his leadership, the department faced internal struggles and incomplete projects, and was circumventing procurement rules that may have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, the Globe reported. In November, after less than a year on the job, deputy housing secretary Deborah Flannery resigned.

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Leaders in the General Assembly, including Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, said they have been “disappointed” in the department’s former leadership. In late November, agency consultant Deborah Goddard was appointed by Governor Dan McKee as the department’s fourth housing secretary since it was created in 2022. Her appointment will need the Senate’s approval.

Like her predecessors, Goddard will face a housing crisis that has been worsening for more than 30 years, developers who may want to build affordable housing but are facing red tape, and inflation.

Work at the “Superman” building in Downtown Providence has been limited.Lane Turner/Globe Staff

6. A funding request from the ‘Superman’ building developer

It’s been two years since the state unveiled plans to redevelop the long-vacant “Superman” building in downtown Providence ― the tallest building in the state ― into apartments with room for commercial space. It was seen as a major win for the McKee administration, but not much has been done since. When asked if the idea of redeveloping 111 Westminster St. from office space into 285 residential units was dead, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said, “They’re hanging on by their fingernails.”

“They want money,” Ruggerio told the Globe. “The problem is, they never told us how much.”

In August, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told the Globe that the owner of the Industrial National Bank Building is asking for more than $10 million in additional support to convert the 26-story skyscraper into apartments, but wouldn’t say exactly how much.

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Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.





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