City Council’s ballot questions raise a bigger question: Why?

There has literally been no citywide conversation as to whether these questions are even advisable, not to mention any consultation with the mayor’s office over whether they are in the correct format to be legally placed on the ballot.

March 15, 2023March 16, 2023

Watch The Chat with New Bedford High’s LGBTQ+ protesters

Jack Spillane sits down with four of these students, as well as one of their mothers, to talk about LGBTQ+ life at the high school and concerns as to whether the city’s school resource officers will keep these kids safe, given the police union’s endorsement of the newly elected Ward 3 councilor, Shawn Oliver.

March 14, 2023March 19, 2023

The Light on Radio: Jack Spillane on the student protest of Ward 3 councilor Shawn Oliver

Jack Spillane joins WBSM’s Town Square Sunday to talk about a recent New Bedford High student protest of newly elected Ward 3 councilor Shawn Oliver, the reaction from local politicians and his future in office.

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023

Student protest exposes misguided loyalties of local politicians

The students called out the local elected officials for not doing what they should have done, standing up for the city’s transgender community as soon as the Oliver Facebook story broke.

March 8, 2023March 9, 2023

What? We live here but we can’t vote here?

The collapse of voting at a New Bedford senior and disabled building points out inequities in the redistricting process.

March 2, 2023March 3, 2023

The Light on Radio: Jack Spillane discusses concerns about city council gatherings

Watch Jack Spillane discuss the latest news in New Bedford, including a recent gathering with some members of the city council that raised questions about open meeting laws and Tuesday’s Ward 3 city council special election, during a recent appearance on WBSM’s TownSquare Sunday.

February 27, 2023February 27, 2023

Endorsements might speak louder than candidates in New Bedford’s Ward 3 race

The two city councilor finalists in New Bedford may be new to politics, but they’ve learned the game very quickly. They’ve both taken cautious, middle-of-the-road positions on nearly everything.

February 22, 2023February 22, 2023

Video: The Chat with Ward 3 city council finalists Shawn Oliver and Carmen Amaral

Ward 3 Councilor special election finalists Shawn Oliver and Carmen Amaral sat down with Jack Spillane to talk about constituent services and communication with the public.

February 16, 2023February 17, 2023

When is a City Council gathering public, and who should be able to see and hear it?

“It would be very hard to argue that this is not a public meeting when they are giving public notice of the meeting … It seems like an effort to skirt the open meeting law.” — Justin Silverman, the NEFAC executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition

February 14, 2023February 15, 2023

Video: Chancellor Mark Fuller talks about the next chapter for UMass Dartmouth

At the start of his second full year as chancellor of UMass Dartmouth, Mark Fuller has some big challenges in front of him. Among his tasks are to turn around declining enrollment and retention numbers.

February 6, 2023February 22, 2023

Ward 3 councilor finalists are fresh faces for voters to choose between

Shawn Oliver and Carmen Amaral will now face off in a Feb. 28 special final election that looks like it could bring as much attention to Ward 3 as has anything in years.

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023

City Council rejects one of New Bedford’s finest for Voc-Tech School Committee

It was not her good qualifications that defeated Carol Pimentel. Rather it was the determination of the City Council not to follow the state’s 2021 directive to vocational technical schools to change their admission policies so that more English learners and disabled students can attend. Pimentel and the mayor support the reforms.

January 19, 2023January 25, 2023

Walking the walk and talking the talk with Ward 3 candidates

In the past month or so, I’ve had a chance to walk with all of these candidates in their home neighborhoods within the ward. I’ve learned a whole lot about both them and the different enclaves — some of them quite out of the way — that they call home.

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

Jacob Ventura: Ward 3 newcomer brings legal acumen, listening skills to the race

Ventura is running perhaps the most traditional of the campaigns. He has issued a spate of press releases outlining his positions on issues, even criticizing certain actions of the current council.

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

Bob Bromley: Budget analyst for R.I. state Senate says he’ll bring his financial acumen to the Ward 3 job

“I’m just mad about what’s going on. I want to get in and basically right the ship, get it in place, and then be able to move on and pass it on to somebody else.”

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

Carmen Amaral: As a lifelong advocate, ‘I have the skills’ to represent Ward 3

Her advocacy is hard-won and emblematic of an immigrant’s success story. Amaral came to the U.S. when she was 4 years old, with parents who spoke no English. She grew up in the Portuguese enclave of triple-deckers around Madeira Field.

January 17, 2023January 18, 2023

Bob Cabral: He sees his local government, sees its problems, and wants to fix it

He’s taking a chance to see if he can knock on enough doors, leaflet enough cars, to possibly win this seat and perhaps shake this city government up a bit.

January 17, 2023January 27, 2023

Kathy Dehner: People of Ward 3 need somebody to listen, and to do something about their problems

“No one person is going to solve all the problems in the city. You have to listen to other voices. I know we do that in my own family. There’s people out there that probably have the greatest ideas that I never thought of.”

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

Shawn Oliver: A candidate who can properly represent its diversity will give Ward 3 a chance to establish a true identity

Oliver talks like a guy who’s interested in building consensus, almost like a Team New Bedford. “We’re all trying to fight for the same goal, to live well in a city and a place that we enjoy,” he said.

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

John Robinson: Trash, traffic, streetlights … neighbors’ concerns should be what drives a ward councilor

He’s just one of those guys who remembers when things worked better and wonders why they can’t work better again.

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

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