Update release-items.md
Update release-items.md
release 3.8.0
now working on 3.8.1
Update version number in README
Update README.md
Fix some grammatical issues in the documentation
Improve the grammar where "lets us" was used
fixed; mishandling of Dates with minimize/getters

closes #1764
style
refactor
release 3.8.1
website; regen 3.8.1