New Bedford

If you’re planning a visit soon to New Bedford’s Buttonwood Park Zoo, expect to be greeted by some new faces when you enter. Five female Panamanian golden frogs are now calling Buttonwood Park’s admission building home, in one of the terrarium habitats in the lobby. They’re right next to another terrarium with four different species of poison dart frogs....

A woman was hit and killed by a truck early Saturday morning while standing outside her car by the side of Route 140 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, according authorities. The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when the victim pulled over her Toyota Avalon by the side of Route 140 North, and was apparently outside her car, according to the…

A large mill fire in New Bedford, Massachusetts, sent plumes of heavy smoke into the sky on Thursday. The fire broke out at Bob’s Tire Company on Brook Street around noon, according to WJAR-TV. Neighbors said they heard multiple explosions around that time, and when they came down to see what had happened they saw thick black smoke rising...

A “violent fugitive” wanted on child rape and sexual abuse charges who fled New Bedford, Massachusetts, with his children this month has been captured in Connecticut, authorities said Friday. Leon Mejia-Vicente’s children, 17 and 5, were with him and placed into the custody of Connecticut youth services, according to the New Bedford Police Department and Bristol County District Attorney’s Office….

Investigators are describing a Massachusetts man wanted on child rape charges as a “violent fugitive” and believe he has fled from the New Bedford area with his two children, who are considered endangered. According to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, 46-year-old Leon Mejia-Vicente fled after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He faces multiple counts of rape...

A man wanted on child rape charges is believed to have fled with his two children from the area of New Bedford, Massachusetts, authorities said Wednesday. According to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, investigators believe 46-year-old Leon Mejia-Vicente fled after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Mejia, a citizen of Guatemala, lived until recently in New Bedford...

A pair of men have been arrested in the early morning shooting that left a man dead in a car on April 29 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, prosecutors said Monday. Around 1 a.m. that morning, New Bedford police officers found a man fatally shot in a Chrysler Sebring on Weld Street, authorities said. Luis Miranda, a 36-year-old from the city,…

A former employee of the Massachusetts agency that oversees unemployment insurance benefits has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years behind bars for using her job to fraudulently apply for federal COVID-19 relief funds through stolen identities and manipulated records. Tiffany Pacheco, 36, who had previously spent time behind bars on an identity theft conviction, was also ordered by a federal…

Authorities say they are investigating a homicide that occurred overnight in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Authorities are investigating a homicide that occurred overnight in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Around 1 a.m. Friday, New Bedford police responded to a report of shots fired on Weld Street, the Bristol District Attorney’s Office said. When they arrived, officers found a man inside a Chrysler Sebring who had been shot. The victim, Luis Miranda, 36, of New Bedford, was declared…

A former Massachusetts resident serving time in Texas has been charged with a string of sexual assaults that happened nine years ago in New Bedford. The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges Wednesday against Orlando Robles, formerly of Dartmouth, in connection with attacks that occurred in June and July of 2013. A grand jury in Bristol County indicted…

The robbery of an estimated $59,000 worth of weed products from a Maine marijuana business in October is just one of a string of weed-related burglaries in New England that police suspect are being organized by the same group. The group cut through the wall of a warehouse in Gorham and ran away with nearly 30 pounds of marijuana and…

A homicide investigation is underway in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said a man was shot and killed in the area of Hillman and Summer Streets on Monday night. Police said they received a 911 call shortly after 6 p.m. Monday about a male shooting victim outside of 117 Hillman St. When they arrived, they found…

Police responded to a serious crash on Route 18 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Tuesday morning. The crash was reported shortly before 5:30 a.m. New Bedford police said it occurred on Route 18 at the “S” curve near Walnut Street. Photos from the scene showed a single vehicle on its roof in the median. There was no immediate word on…

DNA recovered from the interior of a conch shell thought to have been used as a weapon in the 2001 killing of a Massachusetts woman has led to the indictment on a murder charge of the victim’s half-brother, prosecutors said.

While it might feel like the big push is over, in some Massachusetts communities, there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to vaccinating teenagers against COVID-19. One coalition is putting out new data on vaccine inequities in the state in hopes of getting them addressed. In Lawrence, only 66% of young people ages 12 to…

Some cities and towns have lower vaccination rates among young people.

Fall River, Massachusetts’ 10th most populous city, would no longer be divided between two congressional districts under a draft map lawmakers released Monday that fell short of winning over voting rights advocates. Top House and Senate Democrats rolled out their plan for redrawing the state’s nine Congressional districts and eight Governor’s Council districts late Monday afternoon, proposing new political...

A Massachusetts man is under arrest following a string of armed robberies that occurred over the span of months in New Bedford, police said Sunday. Christopher Daponte, 43, of Acushnet, is accused of five armed robberies in New Bedford, a majority of which were committed at banks, according to a statement from city police. They say one person is involved…

A man wanted on a murder charge in a Texas nightclub killing earlier this week was arrested Thursday morning in New Bedford, Massachusetts, police said. Denis Alexis Ocampo-Maldonado, 23, was found and arrested in an apartment building on Felton Street after being tracked down by state and local police, as well as U.S. Marshals and Massachusetts Parole Department officers, according…