Brians Beat

It all sounds so easy. Congress votes to give families with children a federal tax credit to offset the rising costs associated with daycare. Let's see how a harmless little pebble morphs into a mountain. A year or two down the road, a suspected molestation occurs in the made-up hamlet of Shankhammer, Minnesota...

I'm shocked to read and comprehend that New Bedford High School is only 1 of 2 area high schools, and one of fifteen schools statewide involved in the AP Capstone program. Dartmouth High is the other local school. I'm not so appalled that successful completion of AP Capstone provides the student with a Capstone diploma...

More than 90 minutes of semi-answers, snipes and interruptions highlighted the so-called biggest debate of the century. It qualifies as the most watched and picked a part show. It's a ratings killer. Of course, when several networks carry the same show, it's hard not to win the ratings war...

I watched a man overdose in downtown New Bedford. First responders were second at the scene. Three others including myself tried helping the victim/suspect/overweight man. One of those assisting told me this guy overdosed a few days prior...

With all the talk about Black Friday 1 AM shopping, here's a friendly reminder. Halloween is more than a month away, Thanksgiving is a full 2 plus months over the horizon. Guess what? There are 94 shopping days before Christmas.

Nothing worse than government in your face, for no apparent reason. Monday evening, the Dartmouth Board of Selectmen voted Yes to allow some of their stores to open on this Black Friday at 1 AM. Yes, that's the Friday after Thanksgiving...

You know it happens. Employers shedding workers only to go out and hire foreigners. This is not a story about illegal immigration. Hundreds of white collar workers have balked to Congress. These trained and skilled employees painfully spilled their guts over losing their career to new educated foreigners, In some instances, the local claimed they felt forced to train their replacement...

Sometimes you can tell when people get hot and bothered. Case in point. San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick has either sat down or kneeled on a knee during the playing of the National Anthem for the past four weeks. He takes the heat, a cascade of boos, he's even jeopardizing his multi-million dollar NFL football contract...

All you have to do is look at the ground in the city of New Bedford to see why needle drop boxes will not work.

The New Bedford City Council will study if they should install locked drop boxes throughout the city where druggies and residents can throw away dirty hypodermic needles. Councilors Gomes and Coehlo told me they don't think these drop boxes will come to light...