Drug busts, controversial books, Garron on TV
As we head into the weekend, let’s take a look at the news from this past week.
New Bedford’s City Council selected a new president. Councilor Linda Morad was elected to serve as board president during the coming year in a 9-1 vote Tuesday. Councilor Naomi Carney motioned to nominate her during the board’s annual reorganization meeting, which was seconded by Councilor Shane Burgo. Outgoing council president Ian Abreu cast the lone dissenting vote. There were no other nominations.
A yoga studio geared toward the Hispanic community opened in New Bedford’s Kilburn Mill. “I want to bring the Hispanic community the benefits of doing yoga,” said Tahais Martins, owner of Yoga es Vida located on the second floor of the Kilburn Mill. Classes will include yoga for beginners, kids classes, restorative yoga, classes incorporating Latin music, kick drum class as well as dancing, crafts, painting, and other creative activities.
Keep up with high school sports with scores, game highlights, and player of the week voting at https://www.southcoasttoday.com/sports.
Then there are the most-read stories of the week on https://www.southcoasttoday.com:
The elaborate ceiling in the Elizabethan Renaissance style is a work of art in itself, but it’s the classroom that has been so well preserved that it looks much the same as it did 116 years ago.
The former Room 7 — now Room 107 — draws the attention of all who enter Fairhaven High School, among one of the town’s unique historic landmarks.
Fairhaven High School Alumni Association President Bob Foster, who will resume offering his tours of the “Castle on the Hill” this summer, takes great pride in the history of what Architectural Digest in 2017 deemed the most beautiful high school in Massachusetts.
Schools:At Fairhaven High, ‘the most beautiful classroom’ in America looks just like it did in 1906
Several book titles available at Old Rochester Regional School District libraries are back under scrutiny after a complaint questioning their appropriateness was filed to have them put under official review. This comes after an initial complaint was filed about the same books in September and later rescinded, but not before sparking a divisive public discourse within the district, with some community members defending the selections — many of which deal with issues of sexuality and gender — and others protesting their inclusion in schools, often citing sexual explicitness of content.
Literature:ORR district complaint on controversial library books revived
Seven candidates are vying to represent Ward 3 on the New Bedford City Council heading into the Jan. 24 preliminary election, which will decide who will face off in the final election on Feb. 28.
In alphabetical order, they are Carmen Amaral, Robert C. Bromley, Robert Cabral, Kathy M. Dehner, Shawn Oliver, John F. Robinson Jr., and Jacob J. Ventura.
They bring a wide range of skills and professional and personal backgrounds for voters to consider when they decide who will close out the remaining year in Hugh Dunn’s term. Dunn resigned from the board in early December.
Local government:Meet the seven candidates vying for the vacant Ward 3 City Council post in New Bedford
Starting as an actress in the PBS kid series “Zoom” and “Fetch,” New Bedford’s Taylor Garron is back on the small screen with her recent guest appearance on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.”
The series is about a group of teachers who find themselves thrown together in a tough Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed.
Garron plays the role of Tasha Hoffman, a teacher at Abbott Elementary, who returns to the teacher’s room after learning that Janine (Quinta Brunson), a teacher she finds annoying, was out sick.
Growing up in New Bedford, Garron called herself a “big ham” as a kid. While performing with the New Bedford High School drama club, she saw an audition for PBS’s “Zoom” and begged her parents to take her. After losing out on a role the first time, she was called back the following year and landed a role in the cast.
TV Shows:‘I hope I get to come back’: New Bedford High grad appears on ABC’s ‘Abbott Elementary’
New Bedford police rang out the old year with drug arrests that took 250 grams of fentanyl and 600 grams of cocaine off the streets, making 2022 “one of the most prolific for drug and cash seizure” in department history.
And while the numbers are impressive, Chief Paul Oliveira said the most impressive number, which cannot be quantified as easily, is the number of lives these actions saved.
Detectives assigned to the “Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau” made several arrests on Friday, Dec, 30, that secured 2022 a place in the department’s history as one of its most prolific for drug and cash seizure, according to a press release.
Crime:New Bedford police log ‘historic’ year for drug, cash seizures — here’s how they did it
All of these stories can be found in their entirety at SouthCoastToday.com.