Jan. 4, 2026, 4:00 a.m. ET
As we head into a new week, let’s take a look at the news from this past week.
A 33-year-old New Bedford woman was killed early New Year’s Day by a hit-and-run driver after exiting church on Acushnet Avenue. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced that the victim was identified as Nicolassa Ventura Colaj, 33, of New Bedford. The crash is under investigation.
Gov. Maura Healey recently launched a new campaign to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units across Massachusetts in an effort to increase housing production and lower costs. Healey’s Affordable Homes Act allows ADUs to be built by right in single-family zoning districts statewide. State law provides New Bedford with the option of capping ADUs at 900 square feet, and the city is allowed, through a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, an ADU of up to 1,200 square feet.
Make sure to keep up with high school sports with scores, game highlights, and Player of the Week voting at https://www.southcoasttoday.com/sports.
And here are the most-read stories of the week on https://www.southcoasttoday.com:
It is a tradition to order Chinese Food on New Year’s Eve, and there is no shortage of Chinese restaurants in the Whaling City.
But as the Chinese calendar usheres in the Year of the Horse, one local favorite rose above the rest when we asked our Standard-Times readers to vote on their favorite place.
For the second year in a row, Jade Garden Lounge and Chinese Restaurant was crowned the top destination for Chinese cuisine in Greater New Bedford.
An arrest has been made in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Jordan Roman of New Bedford on April 29.
Police found Roman in a black Hyundai Sonata parked on the east side of Acushnet Avenue, near Griffin Court, suffering from a gunshot wound on April 29.
Virgil W. Brown III, 26, of New Bedford, was arrested on a charge of accessory after the fact to murder in connection with the shooting. He was arraigned on Dec. 17 in New Bedford District Court.
The Cruz Companies, with strong ties to New Bedford, await funding for affordable housing projects that will result in 83 units of affordable housing across four different sites.
The project received state funding approval in February 2025 for low-income tax credits and subsidies. The developments will repurpose two former schools, a former children’s home, and a vacant lot.
A Fairhaven man and woman were found dead inside a home on Dec. 31 after a welfare check.
Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced that the decedents have been identified as 60-year-old Rafael Pedraza and 51-year-old Brenda Rosario, both of Fairhaven.
There were four murders in New Bedford in 2025. Arrests have been made in each, and charges are pending in the courts.
According to statistics compiled by the New Bedford Police Dept., there were seven homicides in New Bedford last year in 2024. There were four homicides in New Bedford in each of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, according to the NBPD.
Read these stories in their entirety at https://www.southcoasttoday.com.
