Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be at a Game Stop in Bellingham, Massachusetts at midnight tonight for the release of his video game company 38 Studios' highly anticipated first title, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning."

The game has won positive early reviews and, as the Providence Journal reported this weekend, industry analysts are expecting sales of at least 1 million, which would make the game a moderate success.

From Greg Sargent at the Washington Post (I've fixed a coupla typos):

Picture this scenario. The Senate holds a high-profile vote on a proposal focused directly on implementing the Buffett Rule, one that would bring the current tax rate for millionaires paying lower rates on investments up to 30 percent. This, at at exactly the moment when the GOP is picking a nominee who is worth $250 million and is personally benefitting to an enormous degree from the current rate — one that’s lower than many middle class taxpayers pay.

Amid the ever-dreary news about the Rhode Island economy, an intriguing finding from Richard Florida, an urban theorist best known for his book The Rise of the Creative Class, and his colleagues at the Martin Prosperity Institute.

Florida, also senior editor at the Atlantic magazine, and his partners Charlotta Mellander and Karen King find Rhode Island is fifth best among the states and the District of Columbia when it comes to places for women to work.

Congressman David Cicilline, in a letter to President Obama ahead of his highly anticipated jobs speech next week, calls for an investment in manufacturing:

Nationally, the manufacturing sector has been a bright spot even during these trying economic times. If this vital economic engine is to be sustained, we must continue our investments in programs that help manufacturers compete in a global economy, retool to be more efficient and effective businesses, and retrain the workforce so that skill sets utilized in declining sectors can be transferred to those that are expanding.

Congressman David Cicilline, who has faced a firestorm over his handling of the city budget as mayor of Providence, got a chance to change the subject today - holding a press event to formally introduce his "Make it in America" block grant proposal and to tout a broader, six-point plan to boost the state's manufacturing sector.

Government shutdown averted, the next major battle in Washington will be over raising the federal government's debt ceiling. Republicans are threatening to vote against it unless Democrats agree to major spending cuts. The government, they say, cannot continue its free-spending ways.

A failure to raise the debt ceiling would lead to an unprecedented default that could have disastrous effects.

Austerity is all the rage in Washington these days. See President Obama's State of the Union address and the GOP's response. Seemed like a good time to chat with Brown University political science professor Mark Blyth, who suggests the austerity push is not as virtuous as it may sound. So I've got a Q&A with him in this week's Phoenix

Late last week, it was starting to look like Governor Chafee - highly critical of the Economic Development Corporation during the campaign - might re-appoint executive director Keith Stokes. This morning, Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor confirmed the appointment.

This move is sure to play well in a private sector that has a wary view of the new governor.

Governor Chafee's office confirms that the governor met yesterday with Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, to discuss his future and the direction of the agency.

No word, yet, on whether Stokes will remain as EDC chief. But Stokes is telling people the meeting went well.

Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee, who seems bent on an overhaul of the state's Economic Development Corporation, isn't saying whether he'll retain EDC chief Keith Stokes or not.

Chafee sharply criticized the EDC during the campaign over the 38 Studios deal, leading to heavy speculation that he would dump Stokes.

But that could be harder to do if Stokes pulls of the grand coup he has been working round the clock on in recent days: poaching an America's Cup boat race that seemed destined for San Francisco just a few weeks ago.

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post argues that Sheldon Whitehouse and other liberal senators who have backed President Obama's controversial tax deal with the Republicans have made it near impossible for left-leaning members of the House to press for change:

Here's the situation, in a nutshell. Despite their own dislike of the tax cut compromise, House Dem leaders want it to pass the House.

Deepwater Wind gets some good press on its ambitious push to build the largest offshore wind farm in the country. But the official name of the project - the Deepwater Wind Energy Center - could use some tweaking.

Who wants an "energy center" in the middle of the ocean, especially when the "Cape Wind" project promises to dance in the breeze just to the north?

With Washington aflutter about tax cuts for the rich, a sign of Rhode Island's continuing struggles this morning. The Rhode Island Foundation, which generally focuses on long-term, systematic change, is doling out $300,000 in emergency grants to organizations dealing with immediate needs. Rhode Island Meals on Wheels, Amos House, and the Woonsocket Protein Collaborative are among the recipients.

Charlie Pierce of the Globe has a funny line about Linc Chafee in this post on the latest with the 38 Studios deal:

Wait, there, ol' 38. Not so fast.

This whole deal has been tangled in controversy for some time now, and the fact that we are currently in the playoff-beard portion of the political calendar isn't going to make life any easier down in the Ocean State for our favorite entrepreneurial geopolitical pitching genius.

The Boston Globe reports on Massachusetts state officials' efforts to hold onto former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video game company.

Schilling is set to meet with Rhode Island officials on Thursday to discuss up to $75 million in loan guarantees designed to draw his company here. Rhody would seem to have a leg up: it is one of about 20 states that offer financial incentives to lure video game developers.