News Briefs

Keck to step down as CEO and president of Blue Cross

PROVIDENCE – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island CEO and President Kim A. Keck will be leaving the local health insurer at the end of this year and she will become the CEO and president of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association on Jan. 4, 2021, BCBSRI announced Oct. 6.

Keck has been with BCBSRI since 2016 and she will become Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s first female CEO and president since the association was established 40 years ago.

Among Keck’s achievements with BCBSRI are leading policy efforts to fortify elements of the Affordable Care Act and spearheading the organization’s partnership with the Brown University School of Public Health to create the RI Life Index – a new data resource providing insights into Rhode Islanders’ perceptions about social factors that can create barriers to health and well-being.

Blue Cross said a national search will be conducted by its board of directors for Keck’s successor. n

5% hotel tax revenue drops 37% Y/Y in July

PROVIDENCE – Collection of the 5% hotel tax totaled $2.1 million in July, a 36.5% decline year over year, the R.I. Department of Revenue said on Oct. 6.

Collections from traditional hotels totaled nearly $2 million, while collections from hosting platforms and room resellers totaled $161,044.

Allocations to regional tourism districts totaled $914,028 for the month, a decline of $433,302 year over year. The largest allocation to a regional tourism district was for Aquidneck Island at $430,882.

Allocations to municipalities totaled $534,018, a decline of $278,452 year over year. The largest allocation was to Newport at $164,524. The largest nominal decline year over year was in Providence, where allocations dropped $89,244 to $29,357.

R.I. Commerce Corp. received an allocation of $537,043 from the 5% hotel tax in July, a 38.3% decline year over year.

The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau was allocated $150,984, a 54.9% decline year over year. n

NatGrid, Orsted prep to replace wind farm cables

PROVIDENCE – National Grid and Orsted have begun mobilizing teams that will work this fall and winter to replace limited segments of the Block Island Wind Farm and sea2shore transmission cables to achieve greater burial depths beneath the seafloor, the companies announced Oct. 2.

Approximately 1,700 feet of National Grid’s sea2shore submarine cable that carries electricity between Block Island and mainland Rhode Island and 3,100 feet of Orsted’s submarine cable that carries electricity from the wind farm to the island will be replaced.

The drilling phase of the construction work at Town Beach is scheduled to begin this fall, while the oceanbased cable installation is scheduled to begin in early spring, according to a news release.

Cables will be buried 25 to 50 feet below the seafloor, as compared with the current 4 to 6 feet. Construction is expected to be completed before Memorial Day 2021. n

Court rules vanity plate ban likely violates free speech

PROVIDENCE – A federal judge has ruled that a state law allowing the R.I. Department of Motor Vehicles to reject vanity plates “offensive to good taste” likely violates the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island said on Oct. 4.

In an Oct. 2 ruling, Judge Mary McElroy issued a preliminary injunction in support of an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that gives the DMV administrator the authority to deny vanity plates based on whether he thinks they “carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”

The lawsuit was filed in March on behalf of Tesla owner Sean Carroll after the DMV received an anonymous complaint and ordered Carroll to turn in his “FKGAS” license plate or else have his car registration canceled.

According to McElroy’s ruling, “the revocation of the license plate, which would prohibit Mr. Carroll from expressing his views on fossil fuel propulsion of motor vehicles, would stifle him in an irreparable way.” n

Committee to oversee Memorial charitable funds

PAWTUCKET – Mayor Donald R. Grebien announced the formation of the Memorial Hospital Trust Advisory Committee, which will determine how to use the charitable funds that have accumulated since Memorial Hospital closed and the interest that will be earned from the trusts in the future.

The committee will be composed of medical and legal experts and stakeholders from throughout the city and Blackstone Valley, and will work in an advisory capacity with Bank of America Corp. officials who are serving as trustees of the funds.

A request for proposals process will help the committee decide how best to match the needs of the community and the intent of the donors, according to a news release. The committee will make recommendations on matters such as eligibility requirements to submit a proposal and how much of the funds should be allocated to one or more proposals.

Applications to serve on the committee must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Oct. 16. n

PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS

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