The ballot proposal may have limited impact on New Bedford. But it would significantly change zoning in parts of Dartmouth and Fairhaven.

Eighteen people testified at the Legislature’s Public Health Committee hearing on Tuesday in support of a bill to expand access to perimenopause and menopause care. 

At the sound of the sliding glass doors, I looked up to see a man in his 50s walk in, sporting a full suit. In his hands lay a small plastic box with a purple lid. He strode up to the front desk with all the confidence of an accomplished businessman and checked in his pet, Turtle Bob the turtle.

Less than four miles north of where a similar battle unfolded just a few months ago in Bournedale, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is again fighting against a proposed development on their ancestral lands.