Providence is planning to levy its biggest tax increase on residents in more than a decade, and many of them testified at a public hearing in the city council chambers on Monday night to share how they felt. A binding legal settlement with the state requires Providence to vastly increase school spending this year, which […]
Ben Berke
Based in New Bedford, Ben staffs our South Coast Bureau desk. He covers anything that happens in Fall River, New Bedford, and the surrounding towns, as long as it's a good story. His assignments have taken him to jails, factories, city halls, fishing vessels, bakeries, environmental cleanup sites and the homes of hundreds of interview subjects. Ben joined the bureau in February 2021 after three years in Brockton reporting for The Enterprise. His freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Providence Journal. When he's not working, Ben can often be found near the beach hiking, surfing and collecting the strange things that wash ashore.
Posted inLocal, South Coast Bureau, Transportation
Extreme heat forces closure of New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge
The extreme heat wave this week has forced the New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge to close for a second day in a row, halting marine traffic into the nation’s highest-earning fishing port and forcing cars and trucks to avoid a main artery into the South Coast city. Starting on Tuesday as temperatures creeped above 100 degrees, the […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, South Coast Bureau
Nonprofit plans community process to reimagine New Bedford’s Star Store
The Star Store began as a humble dry goods shop in New Bedford’s whaling era, evolved into a grand downtown department store that died when the malls arrived, and re-emerged as a state arts college, only to close abruptly in 2023 with little notice. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell recalled this winding history as he […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, South Coast Bureau
New Bedford’s Star Store sold for $1 to developer of artists’ housing
The Star Store, a former university arts campus in downtown New Bedford that closed abruptly in 2023, has been sold to a nonprofit that develops housing and workspace for artists. The Arts & Business Council Of Greater Boston purchased the Star Store for $1 on Thursday, according to a deed filed with the Bristol County […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local, South Coast Bureau
Special master to investigate claims of a courthouse romance in New Bedford
A justice from Massachusetts’ highest court has appointed a special master to investigate claims that a New Bedford judge carried on a romance with a prosecutor while ruling on her cases. The allegations were first circulated in anonymous letters that swept through the New Bedford District Court in the fall of 2023, offering salacious details […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local, South Coast Bureau
Fall River pays $100,000 to settle another police brutality case
The City of Fall River has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle an excessive force lawsuit against a former problem police officer, who has now cost the city over $400,000 in settlements to resolve various police brutality cases. The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit filed by David LaFrance, a Fall River resident who accused former […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, South Coast Bureau
Massachusetts communities that bet big on wind face uncertainty
Since taking office in January, President Trump has worked to fulfill a campaign promise to shut down the young offshore wind industry in the U.S. He stopped all federal permitting, and this week, his administration issued a stop-work order to a project under construction off the coast of New York. These actions have sent a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local, South Coast Bureau
Conflict escalates at top of Fall River Police Department
When former police chief Paul Gauvin was clearing out his office this fall, he thought he was coming back in a few months as a captain. But because of the items he left behind, the former chief was fired instead. Along with office junk like paper clips and push pins, Gauvin left a knife and […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, Politics
NOAA employees in R.I. and Mass. fired, rehired, then fired again
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week fired its previously reinstated probationary workers, including many who worked at local facilities in Narragansett and Woods Hole. NOAA employees in Rhode Island and Massachusetts told The Publics Radio that they received a mass email on Thursday informing them their jobs had been terminated – again. The […]
Posted inLocal, Metro Desk, Politics
Thousands of Providence protesters join nationwide day of resistance
Protesters rallied in Providence Saturday as part of a nationwide call to action against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the unelected billionaire turned “special government employee” who is slashing jobs at federal agencies. The activists began at noon with a brief rally at Hope High School in Providence and then began to make their […]
