Good morning, Newport.

The Middletown Rotary Club is collecting new and gently used winter coats for children and adults from Nov.

1–Dec. 1; drop hats, gloves, mittens + scarves at collection boxes at Newport County YMCA, Middletown Public Library, Middletown Town Hall, Wickford Appliance, Eye Care for Rhode Island, or BankNewport branches.

After a federal funding cut, the MLK Community Center will absorb Laundry Love Newport's costs so the free program serving about 30 people and families each month can continue.

The program will run at Mid-Island Laundromat (232 West Main Road) and transitions to the center on Thursday, Nov. 12, 3 to 6 p.m.; no registration, last loads by 5:15 p.m.

Polo champion Kareem Rosser visited Aquidneck Island this fall, gave an evening talk, and led an introductory clinic at Newport Polo’s Arena & Training Center in Portsmouth that put invited students and families on horses for the first time.

Dr. Sarah Bruhn will discuss her debut book Holding on to Home on Thursday, Nov.

5 at 6:00 p.m. at Charter Books (8 Broadway) with Yolanda Macías, and admission is free with RSVP requested online.

Lenore Skomal will discuss the updated second edition of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter on Thursday, Nov.

19 at 6:00 p.m. at Charter Books (8 Broadway), where she will talk about Ida Lewis’s rescues and take audience questions; free tickets require RSVP.

The Newport Bridge Warming Center received $25,000 in state winter shelter awards announced Friday, the only Newport County recipient and the smallest of 11 grants totaling about $1.8 million; the awards will add 296 overnight beds and daytime + overnight warming capacity for the 2026-27 winter, and applications will remain open on a rolling basis until funding is committed or Dec. 31.

The Rhode Island Department of Health is urging residents to get the MMR vaccine now before holiday travel because immunity takes about two weeks; for Thanksgiving travel on Nov.

26 get vaccinated by roughly Nov. 12, and clinics or providers can offer shots at low or no cost.

Newsweek’s America’s Best-in-State Hospitals 2027 list ranks Newport Hospital second in Rhode Island, behind Rhode Island Hospital and ahead of South County, The Miriam and Westerly Hospital.

Sixty-four open houses are scheduled this Halloween weekend across Newport County, covering 56 properties priced from $340,000 to $6.5 million (26 are listed at $1 million or more).

Visit listings today for Saturday showings and on Sunday, Nov. 1 for more open houses.

Registration is open for the 2027 Amica Newport Marathon and Half Marathon, which will return Sunday, Oct.

10, 2027. The coastal course runs past mansions and shoreline neighborhoods, and runners can save 15% on either distance through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2.

Middletown will play Johnston in the Division III semifinal on Wednesday, Nov.

4 at North Providence at 6 p.m. after beating Toll Gate 4-3 in a penalty shootout on Friday night.