Education

With the flip of the calendar to September, the lull of late summer will soon give way to a burst of political activity: a special legislative session, an intensifying PawSox debate, and the march to the 2018 campaign season. So thanks for stopping by. Your tips and comments are welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. (A quick program note: I'm taking some time off next week, so TGIF will return on September 15). Here we go.

The country’s largest teacher’s union, the National Education Association, wraps up its 155th annual meeting Wednesday, in Boston.

A slew of bills heads for Gov. Gina Raimondo’s signature as the General Assembly nears the end of the legislative session. Here’s a brief list of what’s on the table.

The Providence City Council is expected to vote on the new city budget tonight. The $376 million proposal includes an increase in spending for the city’s schools.

Over the weekend the city of Warwick celebrated the 245th anniversary of the burning of the British ship, the HMS Gaspee.  Many Rhode Islanders consider it one of the earliest clashes in the American Revolution. The skirmish is often overshadowed by the better known Boston Tea Party, which took place more than a year later.

Now a group of Brown University students is working to raise the profile of the Gaspee Affair. They're creating a virtual reality experience aimed at middle and high school students.

Two Rhode Island women, Ditra Edwards and Donna Childs, are the recipients of $300,000 in grants from the Rhode Island Foundation to help improve civic engagement.

The House Finance Committee is set to hear testimony on Governor Gina Raimondo's free college tuition plan Wednesday.

Rhode Island’s congressional delegation expressed skepticism after President Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress, Tuesday.

The heads of three Rhode Island universities join a growing list of leaders at higher learning institutions opposing President Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.