Latest news with #ProvidenceCollege
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
RI native's new film premiering at Tribeca Festival backed by Spike Lee
EAST PROVIDENCE, RI. (The Rhode Show) – Rhode Native and Providence College graduate, Manya Glassman has a lot to celebrate. The filmmaker's new short film, 'How I learned to Die,' will have its world premiere this June at the Tribeca Film Festival. Melissa Sardelli sat down with Manya to learn more about the exciting debut of the film, what it's like to work with Spike Lee and what's next for the bright young star. Rhode Show Content Disclaimer: The information, advice, and answers displayed in The Rhode Show section of are those of individual sponsors and guests and not WPRI-TV/Nexstar Media Group, Inc. presents this content on behalf of each participating Rhode Show sponsor. Sponsored content is copyrighted to its respective sponsor unless otherwise indicated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Judge Caprio gives Providence College's commencement speech
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Graduates from Providence College got to hear words of wisdom from 'America's Nicest Judge' Sunday afternoon. 'I approached each case with an open mind and treated everyone equally, with kindness, compassion and most of all, common sense,' Retired Rhode Island judge Frank Caprio told the crowd during his speech. 'This is not a judicial philosophy that I learned in law school, this is a moral philosophy that was taught to me by my parents at home and right here at Providence College.' Caprio, 88, earned a bachelor's degree from the college in 1958 and a Honorary Doctorate of Law in 2008. In February, Caprio released a book titled 'Compassion in the Court: Life-Changing Stories from America's Nicest Judge.' READ MORE: Judge Frank Caprio releasing book next month The book explains how Caprio became the compassionate judge his fans know him as. PC's 107th commencement took place at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence. Sunday also saw commencement festivities for the University of Rhode Island and Salve Regina University. NEXT: RIC, URI, BCC hold commencement ceremonies on Saturday Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City leaders in the spotlight: What to know about Providence Mayor Brett Smiley
PROVIDENCE – When Brett Smiley talks about the city, he frames it as a business. The city departments are the operations, and as mayor he's the manager whose job is to make Providence run better. Unsurprisingly, he went to college for business. While he was living in his native Chicago and enrolled in graduate school, a friend of his made a run for local office. Smiley took a gig helping with the campaign, and what started as a favor for a friend altered the trajectory of his career. 'I ended up moving around the country, working on campaigns and helping who I thought were good people get elected to office,' he said. 'I landed in Rhode Island in 2006 to manage the governor's race that year. I met and subsequently married a Rhode Islander, and Rhode Island became home.' Smiley's résumé includes working for two former mayors of Providence – David Cicilline and Jorge Elorza – along with former Gov. Gina Raimondo. Fifteen years ago, he was wholeheartedly devoted to working behind the scenes, but in 2014 he made his first bid for mayor because he believed he had something different and better to offer than the other candidates. He eventually dropped out of that race but made a comeback in 2022 when he was elected mayor. Smiley has been a polarizing character for the city, and his proposal to raise taxes later this year by nearly double the usual yearly increase is his latest action to draw ire from unhappy constituents. Although many of Providence's fragilities predate the Smiley administration, his retro potholes-and-police dialogues may lack the popularity needed to get him reelected next year. Smiley said he works every day, and the lines between his personal and professional worlds are blurred. It's not uncommon for people to flag him down when he goes to watch a Providence College basketball game or on early-morning runs with his husband. It was jarring the first time someone knocked on the front door of their house with a constituent concern, but Smiley said he's become accustomed to those interactions. 'You're always on. Always mayor. So, it is in fact a 24-hour job,' he said. 'I'm very cognizant of the fact that I only get to do this for a certain amount of time, and I want to make the most of it, so it has significantly overshadowed any personal goals I might have.' Smiley is married to one of the state's most successful real estate agents, Jim DeRentis. Eighteen years older than his husband, DeRentis grew up in Warwick and is a regular at selling multimillion-dollar properties. He's one of the Rhode Islanders in his field to exceed $100 million worth of sales in a single year. Along with their East Side brownstone, the couple own an apartment in New York City. Despite those points, Smiley thinks people make untrue assumptions about him and DeRentis. 'My husband came from very humble means,' he said. 'I was raised by a single mom, and she worked very hard to provide a life for us. We grew up in the suburbs with great public schools. We weren't the richest family on the block, but we weren't the poorest either. I know the privileges that I was raised with.' Smiley feels he does a good job of staying plugged in with communities by hosting events, visiting schools and answering calls on one of the local Spanish-language radio stations every month. The only way to get elected was to knock on thousands of doors, so that's what he said he did. Providence is nothing like sprawling cities in bigger states, he added. 'People know their mayor, and they're not shy about sharing their concerns,' he said. 'It's usually a complaint or a concern. It's rarely a compliment.' Smiley's campaign hinged on quality-of-life issues, from fixing sidewalks to plowing roads and policing noisy neighborhoods. Last year, he helped the city roll out modernized parking meters, and this month he announced plans to replace trash and recycling carts. Those efforts might seem small, but they help people in tangible ways, he said. The mayor unveiled his proposal for the 2026 fiscal year budget in early May. Because of the city's requirement to contribute millions of dollars more to public schools this year than it did in last year, there was a significant budget shortfall. Smiley believes that residents understand the problem, but people have different ideas about how to address it. His solution, he explained, was to propose a little bit of everything. At one community meeting, someone suggested cutting money for the zoos because they aren't essential. Another person chimed in to say that the city definitely shouldn't reduce funding for youth summer jobs, and they should actually increase it. A third voice asked, why not just lay off city employees? Someone else responded, 'I am a city employee. Don't do that.' 'I think the right thing is to do some cuts that don't severely impact services – particularly anything that impacts children and families. I think we should eliminate some jobs but not be callous to the fact that these are real people,' Smiley said. 'Next year, the people of Providence will have a decision on whether they think I got it right or not, and on the ballot, they'll either give me another term or vote me out of office. That's the job.' Along with reducing the city's operating budget, his plan also involves raising property taxes that would affect most residents and looking for alternative revenue sources, such as a commercial parking lot tax that targets visitors in town for events at the Providence Performing Arts Center or the Amica Mutual Pavilion. What Smiley wants most for Providence is a dramatic amount of new construction. He argued that because there is such a high demand for housing, it leads to skyrocketing prices, and the best way to combat that is to increase the housing stock as they did in Austin, Texas, and other cities that developed rapidly. With so much vacant land for sale in Providence, new housing should be under construction 'in every corner of the city,' he said. 'I think that Providence can be that next proof point, but we have to stop squabbling over individual incentive packages for buildings where nothing exists currently,' he added. 'The governor and the Rhode Island Department of Housing have all been asking for shovel-ready projects. We've got a ton of shovel-ready projects, so I hope that the state continues to award its dollars to projects that are actually ready, which are right here.' Smiley took a jab at suburbs where community leaders create barriers to constructing affordable housing, even though those are state-mandated projects. The most notable example is an ongoing dispute in nearby Johnston. 'It is like a new day in Providence. There was a long time where we had a lot of NIMBYism [a not-in-my-backyard attitude] in the city, where our residents fought new development. They don't do that anymore. Everyone seems to agree that we need more housing,' Smiley said. With the reduced stigma against income-restricted housing, he thinks the city now needs to work with the state to get more subsidies, and he hopes the City Council is on board for that. Even though all 15 councilors and every member of the Providence delegation in the General Assembly is also a Democrat, they come in slightly different shades of blue. 'They're doing their job to represent their constituents. My job is to represent the entire city. Sometimes what's good for one neighborhood is maybe not good for, in my opinion, the whole city,' he said. 'That's where conflicts sometimes arise.' However, Smiley feels there's a healthy atmosphere that helps them reach compromises, and he has a lot of respect for City Council President Rachel Miller. As the election gets closer, Smiley knows that this time it'll come down to people evaluating his track record. Because it's his dream job, Smiley hopes to serve one more term and really focus on the school district, but he's not sure what his plans are after that. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Who is Providence Mayor Brett Smiley? Everything to know.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
RI's Manya Glassman to debut ‘How I Learned to Die' at Tribeca Film Festival
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island native Manya Glassman, a filmmaker, appeared on Spotlight New England, the new daily show from WPRI 12. During her segment, Glassman joined hosts Ashley Erling and Audrey McClelland to discuss her upcoming film, 'How I Learned to Die,' which will be featured in the esteemed 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The Providence College graduate wrote and directed the 20-minute short film, with Spike Lee serving as her executive producer. The film is set to debut on June 6. More details can be found here. Spotlight New England airs weekdays on the WPRI 12+ smart TV app and the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
09-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Jon Batiste, Allyson Felix: Here are the people who will get honorary degrees at R.I. colleges and universities this year
Brown University Jon Batiste: The seven-time Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and composer will be receiving an honorary doctorate of music. Allyson Felix: The five-time Olympian who is the most decorated American track and field athlete in history is being honored with a doctorate of humane letters. Eileen Hayes: The longtime president and CEO of Amos House, the Rhode Island organization that offers employment programs and housing for people facing addiction, poverty, hunger, and homelessness, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Suleika Jaouad: The Emmy Award-winning journalist and author of 'Between Two Kingdoms' and 'The Book of Alchemy' will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. William Kentridge: The South African artist known for his writing, drawing, and film work will receive an honorary doctorate of fine arts. Timothy Snyder: The leading historian on Ukraine, Central Europe, the Soviet Union and the Holocaust will receive an honorary doctorate of letters. Kevin Young: The acclaimed poet, essayist, poetry editor, and curator will receive an honorary doctorate of letters. Johnson & Wales University Greg Cook : The executive vice president and president of Institutional Group for Ecolab Inc. will receive a doctorate of business administration. Providence College Christopher K. Reilly: The co-founder of private investment firm, KarpReilly LLC, and the outgoing chair of the Providence College Board of Trustees will receive an honorary doctorate of business administration. The Most Rev. Richard G. Henning: The Catholic Archbishop of Boston will receive an honorary doctorate of sacred theology. Michael Cox: The 44th commissioner of the Boston Police Department will receive an honorary doctorate of public service. Ann Manchester-Molak: The retired executive vice president of Providence College will receive an honorary doctorate of communication. Judge Frank Caprio: The retired Providence Municipal Court judge will receive an honorary degree. Brother Ignatius Perkins: The founding director of the St. Martin de Porres, O.P. Center for Health and Human Dignity and professor of nursing at Providence College will receive an honorary doctorate of nursing. Ronald P. Stride: The retired senior vice president and managing partner-Asia for Booz Allen & Hamilton, a management consulting firm, will receive an honorary doctorate of business administration. Rhode Island College George Nee: The retired RI AFL-CIO labor leader will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Princess Sirleaf Bomba: The social justice and education advocate and director of equity, community, and belonging at The Wheeler School in Providence will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Bette Gallogly: The current shelter coordinator for Community Care Alliance will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Jocelyn Foye: The executive director and co-founder of The Womxn Project, the grassroots organization committed to advancing bodily autonomy, civic engagement, and equity, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Maria Cimini: The director of the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Meghan Grady: The executive director of Meals on Wheels Rhode Island will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Roger Williams University Cole Brauer : The first American woman sailor to race solo nonstop around the world will receive a doctorate of humane letters. Joseph M. Brito Jr.: The entrepreneur, philanthropist, and president and CEO of C.B. Utility Co., Inc. and C. Brito Construction Co., Inc., will receive a doctorate of humane letters. Kevin M. Lynch: The chief of police in Bristol, R.I., will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Judge Clifton B. Newman: The retired South Carolina Circuit Court judge will receive an honorary doctorate of laws. University of Rhode Island Steven Feinberg: The executive director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office will be honored with a doctorate of letters.
