A US House budget bill would eliminate federal financial aid for part-time students, which could have major repercussions at community colleges, although a Senate version of the bill walks back those limits.
Riley Board
Staff Writer
Riley covers education for the Press Herald. Before moving to Portland, she spent two years in Kenai, Alaska, reporting on local government, schools and natural resources for the public radio station KDLL as part of the Report for America program. Riley originally hails from Sarasota, Florida, and is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the college’s student newspaper, The Campus. She has interned at the Burlington Free Press, and at the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Magazine in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, Riley is passionate about roller skating, cooking and her cat, Edgar.
South Paris man pleads guilty to 2020 Boston hotel killing
Aaron Parsons, 47, was sentenced to up to 16 years in Massachusetts state prison for the death of 29-year-old Sarah Dorany, prosecutors said.
UNE professor suspended for violating live animal research protocols
Multiple instances of noncompliance in live animal research led to the suspension of a shark and fish researcher at the university, who a spokesperson said no longer works at the school.
Despite fears, most Maine districts OK school budgets
Voters in at least 6 districts, including Kennebunk-based RSU 21 and Gray-New Gloucester, rejected their school budgets, while a long-debated Cape Elizabeth bond project and a contested Gorham budget passed.
Bill to support later high school start times passes in House, Senate
The measure, which originally mandated a statewide 8:30 a.m. or later high school start time, was amended to create funding for districts to pilot a later start time.
In the push for a statewide school cellphone ban in Maine, local control could stand in the way
Many teachers, parents and school leaders in Maine support bell-to-bell school phone bans, but lawmakers this month scaled back on a bill, citing overreach of local control.
UMaine history professor puts knowledge to the test in ‘Jeopardy!’ win
Kara Peruccio, a professor of history and gender studies at the University of Maine, won $12,400 on the show Friday.
Portland charter school would serve multilingual, disabled students — if lawmakers don’t intervene
The Legislature’s education committee has unanimously approved lowering Maine’s cap on the number of charter schools. It could spell trouble for a new middle and high school specializing in vulnerable populations.
Under federal pressure, some of Maine’s colleges are renaming DEI offices
Maine colleges are joining a national trend or scrubbing words like ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ from department websites in favor of more neutral terms like ‘community’ and ‘belonging.’
Mainers worry about repaying student loans as Education Department resumes collection
Nearly 190,000 borrowers in Maine hold a collective $6.5 billion in student loan debt that the federal government is now taking steps to collect by garnishing tax returns and Social Security benefits, among other possible moves.