Jury selection for the corruption trial of former Fall River Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II concluded Monday morning, setting the stage for lawyers to make their opening arguments at a federal courthouse in Boston.
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 inArticle, Business, South Coast Bureau
Steelworkers strike for higher pay in New Bedford, joining 1,300 across northeast
Sixty employees of Allegheny Technologies, Inc. are on strike in New Bedford’s South End, fighting for their first raise in seven years.
Posted inArticle, Politics, South Coast Bureau
Corruption trial for former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia begins this week
The trial of former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia began Tuesday. Judge Douglas Woodlock has blocked out the entire week for jury empanelment, delaying opening statements and any presentation of evidence until next Monday. Woodlock said the court is looking for jury members who will consider only the evidence that’s presented in the courtroom itself. […]
Posted inArticle, South Coast Bureau
Citizen’s group finds high rate of racial profiling in New Bedford police stops
A data analysis of thousands of field reports found New Bedford police stop or surveil Black residents at vastly disproportionate rates compared to other ethnic groups.
Posted inArticle, Business, Environment, South Coast Bureau
New Bedford adapts to China’s ban on U.S. recycling, with lots of added costs
Residents are putting more material in their bins than ever before, but a lawsuit offers an inside look at a city struggling to cover the costs of a recycling program upended by China’s recent trade policies.
Posted inArticle, South Coast Bureau
New Bedford police chief will retire in April
New Bedford’s Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro announced Thursday that he plans to retire within three weeks. New Bedford’s deputy chief, Paul Oliveira, will take over for Cordeiro on April 25. “Under his leadership, New Bedford became a safer city,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell. “The decline in both violent and property crimes during his tenure were […]
Posted inArticle, Education, South Coast Bureau
South Coast elementary schools bringing students back full time
Massachusetts’ school reopening plan begins with the state’s youngest students, requiring school districts to offer five days of in-person learning per week to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The policy took effect on Monday. Middle schools serving sixth, seventh and eighth graders will fully reopen later this month, on April 28. High schools are […]
Posted inArticle, Health, South Coast Bureau
Vaccine site for seafood workers to open next weekend in New Bedford
Fishermen, fish house workers, and others in the seafood industry can get the one-dose J&J vaccine on the waterfront starting Saturday, April 10.
Posted inArticle, South Coast Bureau
An LGBTQ center finds home in New Bedford, 15 years after violent attack rattled community
The city of New Bedford plans to open a new LGBTQ community center. The move comes 15 years after a teenager entered a gay bar shot two men, injuring a third with a hatchet.
Posted inArticle, Business, South Coast Bureau
The price of murder: Lizzie Borden home sells for six times Fall River’s average
In an era when true crime earns fortunes for news and entertainment companies, the unsolved Borden murders are driving real estate prices to new heights in Fall River. Lizzie Borden was 32 years old in 1892, the year police found her estranged father and stepmother hacked to death with a hatchet in the home they […]
