Guiding lights in a storm, they shepherded New Bedford’s LGBTQ+ community through decades of public rejection and finally found its rainbow in the years following the legalizations of same-sex marriage.
Author Archives: Jack Spillane
Posted inJack Spillane column
Peter Muise was a banker for all seasons and a man for all of New Bedford
Peter left a great example to this city of the proper role for the model citizen, the successful businessman who places his energies and abilities into every effort to make things better for everyone.
Posted inJack Spillane column
Hundreds scramble for new doctors and hospitals after Southcoast Health cancels Medicare/Medicaid insurer
“It wasn’t just an inconvenience, it was a hardship … You develop a comfort level with your primary care physician.” — Justin Lees, CEO of Coastline Elderly Services
Posted inJack Spillane column
New Bedford and America look toward holidays of the future
Something happened over the last few years that has finally resulted in America gaining a holiday to celebrate the freeing of enslaved Africans, which many would say is the country’s original sin.
Posted inJack Spillane column
Ballot question looms, but immigrants who fought for driver’s licenses say they are not going away
“We pay taxes, we do the labor work, we do the hard jobs. If they take our money to build the roads, we should be able to use the roads.” — Alicia Cortez
Posted inJack Spillane column
New Bedford City Council ignores effect of health care costs on city budget
Mitchell as far back as 2018 supplied the council with facts and figures about the alleged benefits of the health care plan, including that in the first few years of accepting the state law, Fall River saved $3.7 million; Dartmouth $511,000; Fairhaven $540,000; and Acushnet $190,000.
Posted inJack Spillane column
New Bedford looks to end its 40-year environmental nightmare
“Both the Aerovox and Cornell-Dubilier plants used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a probable human carcinogen, in the capacitors from approximately 1947 to 1978. … the buildings, structures, and grounds of both plants became contaminated with PCBs from accidental spills and intentional dumping.”
Posted inJack Spillane column
New Bedford sits in the middle of Southeastern Mass. ‘abortion desert’
Nowhere in Greater New Bedford, Fall River or Cape Cod is there a single clinic or hospital that performs abortions
Posted inJack Spillane column
In New Bedford, some public schools are raising private funds to build playgrounds
I can’t help thinking that using private fundraising for public school playgrounds is another example of the trend toward user fees for government services that have previously been thought of as publicly funded by the whole population.
Posted inJack Spillane column
Pocasset Tribe fights to gain control of Fall River land they were given 300-plus years ago
‘You can’t even have right of passage to go on your own burial grounds. You have to ask for a key to open a gate. To go visit your ancestors.” — Donna Page, a medicine woman for the Pocassets.
