How Providence is fighting fire with education

Good morning, I'm Will Richmond at The Providence Journal and this is the Daily Briefing.

Across Rhode Island, the search is on for public safety personnel.

Towns are competing with each other to bring in police, fire and EMT staff to help fill out their ranks and keep their communities safe.

A Providence program now in it's third year is aiming to build a pipeline from high school students to firefighter and EMT positions in order to ensure the ranks remain strong even as other communities face difficulties hiring.

The Journal's Wheeler Cowperthwaite recently spent time with the 110 students working over the summer, and through the coming school year, in a collaborative program with the city and the school district in which students learn year-round in career and technical education courses.

By the end of the program, these students will have the skills needed to start down the path of joining the city's Fire Department.

Here's how it works.

• When North Smithfield residents head to the polls this year they may have a feeling of deja vu. A pair of husband and wife teams are vying for elected positions as Senate minority leader Jessica de la Cruz seeks reelection and her husband David de la Cruz is a candidate for the North Smithfield School Committee. Meanwhile, state Rep. Brian Newberry is also on the ballot again and this time his wife Beth Newberry is and one of two candidates for the town administrator post.

The Journal's Katherine Gregg caught up with the couples to find out more about why they're running.

• Are Rhode Island's Democrats in favor of a virtual roll call to nominate President Joe Biden ahead of next month's Democratic National Convention? Here's what The Journal's Katherine Gregg found out .

• Yächtley Crëw is docking in Providence with its brand of "yacht rock" and a Warwick native on board. Journal contributor Sue McDonald explains how they got started with a little help from Jimmy Buffett.

• Rhode Island's got beaches, fairs and festivals and Newport mansions. But let's face it, the best part of the season just may be the food. Find all of our tasty summer guide food stories right here in one place.

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RHODY RANKS

Every day we receive emails ranking Rhode Island. While the work behind the ranks may be dubious, they can be fun. Each day I'll share where Rhody Ranks from one of the latest emails.

Around 10,500 athletes from 206 different National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with a significant proportion coming from Team USA. But where in the US are these athletes from? LiveSportsOnTV.com , a company that provides schedules for streaming and TV sports, carried out a study to analyze the birth states of US Olympians to identify which states will have the largest representation at the Paris Olympics. To provide a more accurate picture, they weighted each state by population, revealing which states produce the highest proportion of athletes. This study offers fresh insights into the geographic distribution of American athletic talent.

Rhode Island comes in 36th place when looking at number of athletes vs population size.

TODAY'S WEATHER

☀️ Mostly sunny and less humid. Highs in the mid-80s.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: How Providence is fighting fire with education