LPR News Podcast The Rhode Island Foundation awarded $160,000 in grants to launch the initiative at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. “Our goal is to support this initiative to improve the literacy skills, bilingual capability and academic success of English Learners across the state. Their educational success depends on closing gaps […]readmore
Providence – When Church leaders have to respond to situations involving persons living an openly “gay lifestyle” these days, we’re often scolded and told that we should be “more like Pope Francis,” presumably the “Who-am-I-to judge” Pope Francis. • Perhaps those critics should also remember the Pope Francis who said that same-sex marriage is destructive […]readmore
Iran opened a military theme park this week, designed to educate children as young as eight-years-old on how to fight in a war and fire weapons at its perceived Western enemies. Located in a western suburb of the city of Mashad, the “Park of the Revolution’s Children” marks “Sacred Defense Week,» an annual commemoration of […]readmore
VOA News Syrian and rebel forces continued to clash Saturday in the besieged city of Aleppo, where some 250,000 people, including many children, remain trapped. Syrian forces have been moving to retake parts of Aleppo run by rebels, who fire on government-controlled sections of the city. Casualties continue to mount on both sides. The World […]readmore
Boston, MA – Avoiding what would have been one of the largest strikes in recent memory, the 13,000 janitors who clean and maintain thousands of office buildings in the Greater Boston area secured a tentative, 4-year agreement with the Maintenance Contractors of New England just hours before contract expiration. The deal, subject to ratification by […]readmore
A popular refugee destination it is not, but South America may soon host a fresh wave of refugees under a U.S.-sponsored plan aimed at getting more countries to share in sheltering the world’s growing migrant population. In recent years, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay have all received refugees from Syria, but the numbers have […]readmore
Victor Vladimirov VOA News MOSCOW — The Russian air force’s bombing campaign in Syria marked its first anniversary Friday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying there was no «time frame» for the operation. The Kremlin has officially declared the main objectives of its air campaign in Syria to be eliminating radical Islamic extremists in Syria and […]readmore
VOA News A new U.S. government bureau opens Monday to strengthen the security clearance process that has suffered from backlogs and a security breach that compromised the information of more than 20 million Americans. The National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) will be integrated with the Department of Defense, which will handle network security. The bureau’s […]readmore
VOA News California Governor Jerry Brown has signed two bills to toughen the state’s response to rape crimes, following a high-profile case involving a Stanford University student who received a six-month jail sentence for sexual assault. One of the bills the Democratic governor approved Friday requires mandatory jail sentences in state prisons for defendants convicted […]readmore
WASHINGTON – Led by the four organizers of last June’s sit-in, as well as the chair and vice-chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, 118 members of the U.S. House of Representatives today wrote to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and House Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, requesting that they keep the […]readmore