This Just In: Bad coronavirus trend accelerates; questions over hires at CCRI

Also, Governor Raimondo launches a new effort to help out-of-work Rhode Islanders [View email with images]( [Providence Journal] Tuesday July 28, 2020 [Subscribe Now]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Providence Journal]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I'm Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. It's yet another[remarkable day for heat]( in Rhode Island, as Providence hit 99 degrees to shatter a 71-year-old record. Some rainstorms are moving in now, which will be good for those in parts of South Kingstown and Narragansett, where watering the lawn [is going to be out of the question]( for a while. The state's coronavirus numbers have been going in the wrong direction for the last couple of weeks, and that trend accelerated [with the news that 119 people tested positive on Monday](. That's the highest single-day number since late May. In addition, the state added 91 positive cases to its previous counts, pushing the seven-day average of new cases to 97. Total hospitalizations, which have been mostly flat throughout the month, stayed that way, but the number of patients in intensive care is on the way back up. A spokesman for the state Health Department said private gatherings, rather than "structured, organized events" seemed to be driving the increase in cases. A spokeswoman for Gov. Gina Raimondo declined to say whether the governor planned to scale back the state's reopening, saying that would be addressed at Raimondo's Wednesday news conference. In the meantime, Raimondo has enlisted some of the state's biggest companies. and committed a chunk of the state's federal stimulus money, to help out-of-work Rhode Islanders [get into the workforce of the future](. Recent high-level hires at the Community College of Rhode Island [have raised questions]( among members of the House Finance Committee, including whether college president Meghan Hughes was truthful during a recent budget hearing. As the discussion, and debate, over safely reopening schools in Rhode Island continues, Massachusetts education and teachers union officials [agreed to delay the start of classes up to 10 days]( to give schools more time to plan. [Subscribe to The Providence Journal]( The state police [have charged three teenagers and a 27-year-old man]( with damaging or torching DCYF vehicles during a riot in Providence in early June. In its attempt to beat back the effort to ease voting by mail in Rhode Island, the Republican Party is quoting former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr., [who wrote in his memoir]( about how easy it was for his mail ballot guru to manipulate votes. A lot of questions still surround the coming of the NFL season, but we now know that at least six members of the New England Patriots, by their own choice, [won't be playing](. Among them: stalwart defenders Dont'a Hightower and Patrick Chung, and offensive line mainstay Marcus Cannon. Celtics veteran Marcus Smart [had an intelligent message]( today, while on a conference call with former First Lady Michelle Obama and other NBA and WNBA players: Get out and vote. If you've watched the Red Sox at all this year, [you've seen some bad pitching](. I hope you see only good things tonight. And if you think This Just In is one of those, please [encourage a friend to sign up](. providencejournal.com [Facebook]( [Twitter]( You are receiving this communication as a member of the Providence Journal. Providence Journal values your online privacy. For more information, view our [privacy policy]( now. Please do not reply to this message. [Manage Preferences or Unsubscribe]( Providence Journal 75 Fountain Street Providence, RI 02902 © 2020 Providence Journal. All rights reserved.