Brians Beat

Brian Thomas is the host of Brian’s Beat on 1420 WBSM New Bedford.  He can be heard weekdays from 10am-Noon and Saturdays from 6am-9am.  The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. There's a lot going on today in Washington...

I consistently beat this drum. Usually with little to no response. For whatever the total package brings, the incoming Trump administration plans to push for real school choice. The Education Secretary nominee is hinting as much, by stating the one size fits all strategy doesn't work for every child ...

It's called to the 287(g) program. It allows Sheriff's Deputies who volunteer, become certificated agents that can interview inmates about whether they are in the U.S. legally or not. Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson is down with 287(g), and will be signing his deputies up for the program Wednesday January 18...

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observance. Approximately half of those years I have waged a battle to claim the day as a civil rights celebration/observance. As important an icon MLK Jr. is in our history, there are so many others, nameless, because Dr...

Like the Yin and Yang. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell finds himself in a police pickle. For months he's boasted that the city is a safer place to live and work. Mitchell often touts police crime statistics to support his notion. The numbers tells us that in many categories crime is down ...

There's no doubt New Bedford streets need a make over. The Mitchell administration plans to allocate millions of tax dollars to put in the fix and keep utility companies from carving up the streets after they've been healed. I'm just curious about the timing...

From the outside looking in, the numbers from the Labor Department reflect a positive trend. Unemployment is down big time in the New Bedford area. The largest drop out of 387 metros. The year ending November 2016, saw unemployment plunge nearly 3 percentage points...

Massachusetts has approximately 8,000 electric vehicles on the road. The Baker administration along with Beacon Hill lawmakers are pushing for a 300,000 quota over the next eight years. It's nice to have lofty goals, but check out some of the mandates and uses of your tax dollars to attain 300,000 electric vehicles...

These numbers will make you stagger more than a drug addict. WBSM had the exclusive. Their numbers come direct from New Bedford Police. When it comes to opiate-related overdoses, the numbers are up, way up in 2016 compared to 2015. Overdoses: 2016-- 679;      2015-- 389 Fatals:         2016--   42;      2015-- 25 I don't want to see people die...

There's a young woman slated to go on trial. Michelle Carter is accused of manslaughter. Her friend Conrad Roy III committed suicide, carbon monoxide poisoning. He inhaled the fumes in his sealed vehicle. Carter isn't the nicest person, but according to Massachusetts law she is no criminal...