Jack Spillane
Columnist covering all things New Bedford
Register for The Chat: Abortion rights in Greater New Bedford
The New Bedford Light’s Jack Spillane will be joined by women leaders from across South Coast for a special episode of The Chat this Wednesday at 7 p.m. to talk about abortion rights in Greater New Bedford after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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.
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
The Light on Radio: Jack Spillane talks PCB pollution, housing issues, city employee health care and more on WBSM
Jack Spillane joins Jim Phillips on WBSM’s Townsquare Sunday on June 12, 2022, to discuss the Light’s one-year anniversary, as well as Jack’s columns on PCB pollution in the Acushnet River, housing issues in New Bedford which have left one grandmother living out of her car, city employee health care costs and more.
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.
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.”
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
The Light on Radio: Jack Spillane talks elementary school playgrounds, the plight of the Pocasset tribe and more on WBSM
Jack Spillane joins Jim Phillips on WBSM’s TownSquare Sunday to discuss the efforts to improve elementary school playgrounds across New Bedford, as well as the struggles of the Pocasset Tribe to access its native lands, the New Bedford Light Fine Arts Club and our InPerson series.
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.
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.
Let’s bring marginal shop owners into New Bedford’s storefront program
The initial 11 applicants seem more established, financially stable businesses — not the seat-of-the-pants shop owners in low-income Census tracts who were supposed to be helped by the ARPA funds.
Audio: Jack Spillane discusses the most important New Bedford issues on WBSM on May 1
New Bedford Light columnist Jack Spillane joined Jim Phillips on WBSM’s Townsquare Sunday show to break down the Dartmouth Indians controversy following a vote by the school committee to keep the logo and nickname, curriculum issues in New Bedford middle schools, Mayor Jon Mitchell’s State of the City address and the debut of the New…
New Bedford needs new courthouses, but state takes its time
The district court is just one of four aging and overburdened courthouses in New Bedford that are so outdated their facilities, or lack thereof, pose a danger to public safety, according to many who work in the buildings.
The Light on Radio: Jack Spillane discusses the Dartmouth Indians controversy, playground parking and more on WBSM
Jack Spillane appears on WBSM Radio’s Townsquare Sunday on April 24 to discuss the controversial Dartmouth High logo and nickname, parking controversy at Noah’s Place Playground on Pope’s Island, the UMass Dartmouth fine arts program struggling to attract students, the city’s Facade Improvement Program and the discovery of a Westport-built whaling ship at the bottom…
State of the City is bragging time for New Bedford mayors
Perhaps the areas where the Mayor Mitchell’s accomplishments best live up to his rhetoric is in the scope of the economic development that is taking place on the waterfront, and the upgrades to the city’s parks, streets and sidewalks.
Threatened over Indian logo vote, one Dartmouth School Committee member refused to blink
In the end, the School Committee narrowly followed the Defend Dartmouth demand to keep the logo, giving the nod by just a 3-1-1 vote with Shannon Jenkins the only member with the courage to stand up against the recall threat.
New Bedford’s new middle school curriculum sparks worries about diversity
Changes have made it more difficult, if not impossible, for some 8th grade teachers to use educational material centered around a play based on the Diary of Anne Frank and materials used in connection with Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
Should Dartmouth students who object be forced to wear uniforms with an Indian logo they find offensive?
The real issue for the town of Dartmouth going forward is this: You can’t force minorities in the United States of America to do things or take actions that they would rather not, as long as those actions are legal.
Wake up, New Bedford. If UMD’s traditional fine arts succumb to the practical, the city will lose.
Talk to anyone who has been involved in the renewal of downtown New Bedford over the last 20 years and they will tell you the arrival of UMass Dartmouth artists has been an integral part of the city’s revival.
New Bedford looks to boost its commercial neighborhoods with $1.5M in pandemic relief funds
Mitchell’s idea to make the Avenue more attractive is a good one. The mayor, like his predecessors before him, has stressed the importance of good planning like this in moving the city forward.
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