South Coast

On the platform in Fall River, Ollie Couto said he remembers trains in the city during his childhood in the 1950s, and he’s glad they’re back after all these years.

The region hasn’t had a train to Boston since the 1950s, when highways became king. Now, after more than three decades of political promises and $1 billion spent, South Coast Rail is scheduled to open Monday.

An official at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority tells CAI the Federal Railroad Administration gave the OK today.

An official at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said yesterday that the Federal Railroad Administration still needs to greenlight a plan for speed limits along the route.

Once open, South Coast Rail will extend Boston commuter rail from its current terminus in Middleborough to New Bedford and Fall River, fulfilling a decades-old promise by state officials.

“We've arrived at a point where there's a greater need for people to think about the possibility of an evacuation,” he said, due to more volatile weather and rising sea levels.

New Bedford’s Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, a cultural festival with religious roots, is billed as the largest Portuguese feast in the world. It’s more than a century old, but this year, behind the scenes, something very big is changing. For the first time — and under threat of a lawsuit — women have been allowed to join the Feast Committee.

Some commercial property owners in New Bedford are receiving six-figure payouts from settlements with the city's tax assessor's office after appealing their assessments to lower their bills.

According to officials, the closure will impact some recreational shellfishermen, the city of New Bedford, which had hoped to open up an aquaculture industry within the Clark's Cove area, and two quahog harvesters — effective immediately.

The decision has been met with shock and disappointment by artists, downtown business owners, and others in the community.