Good morning. Gas is over $4.40 a gallon, ICE is sweeping through the South Coast, and the governor just did a political U-turn that has her own legislative leaders raising eyebrows. Let's get into it.

ICE's New Bedford surge is the biggest story in the state right now — and nobody in charge can (or will) explain it.

For a second straight day, federal immigration agents fanned out across New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Fall River, detaining at least two dozen people — many of them, according to advocates, grabbed during ordinary morning routines: driving to work, dropping off groceries, just existing. At least four of Monday's arrests were fish house workers, a detail that lands hard in a city where the seafood industry runs on immigrant labor. One video shows agents tackling and tasing a man near Acushnet Avenue. Another account describes a mother watching agents pull her husband from the driver's seat while their 3- and 9-year-old daughters sat in the back.

What makes this especially combustible is the total information blackout. Mayor Jon Mitchell — a former federal prosecutor, not exactly a bomb-thrower — says ICE never even notified New Bedford police the operation was happening, which he argues puts his own officers at risk if things go sideways on the street. Governor Maura Healey is publicly demanding answers: who was arrested, why, and where are they now. DHS's response so far has been to skip the specifics and send reporters a "worst of the worst" list of five unrelated arrests elsewhere in the state — a deflection, not an answer. Meanwhile, community organizers like Adrian Ventura are telling people to just stay home.

Watch for this to escalate rather than fade. Local advocates are documenting everything, City Hall in New Bedford is furious, and Beacon Hill has every incentive to keep amplifying it heading into a competitive governor's race. The open question is whether increased scrutiny changes ICE's tactics at all, or whether New Bedford is simply the latest test case for how far federal enforcement can go with zero local coordination. Full story at Boston Globe →

Healey's gas tax flip. Facing $4.40-a-gallon gas and a Republican challenger running ads on the issue, Governor Healey — who opposed a gas tax holiday back when she was attorney general — now wants to suspend the state's 24-cent gas tax for two months, at a $120 million cost covered by millionaires tax surplus. House Speaker Ron Mariano already called a suspension "fiscally irresponsible," so this is headed for a Beacon Hill fight, not a done deal. WBUR →

Worcester says no to fining homelessness. The City Council rejected City Manager Eric Batista's proposal to fine unhoused people $25 for sleeping in tents, on sidewalks, or in cars in public lots. Dozens of residents testified against it, arguing it would criminalize poverty and bury people already struggling in debt they can't pay. GBH News →

A 6-foot chunk of Boston bridge is now in the Charles River. A hit-and-run driver sideswiped another car on the River Street Bridge near Soldiers Field Road Tuesday, sending it careening into the bridge wall and knocking a piece into the water below. No injuries, but MassDOT crews had to rig a temporary steel barrier, and the bridge now needs a full inspection. WBZ/CBS Boston →

Boston police used surveillance tech without telling anyone. City Councilor Ben Weber is pushing to close a loophole that let BPD quietly deploy AI-powered license plate readers from Axon and Motorola — plus social media monitoring tools — without the council approval a 2022 ordinance supposedly requires. The department's defense: they were just "switching vendors." Boston Globe →

Providence's school system is a mess, and it matters here too. Since Rhode Island handed control of Providence schools back to the city in July, the district has cycled through a stunning mayoral primary upset, an invalidated teachers union election, three top administrators resigning in five weeks, and now an effort to oust the School Board president. Plenty of South Coast Massachusetts families send kids across the line or watch the ripple effects closely. Boston Globe →

SJC orders new trial in 2014 J'ouvert killing. The state's highest court unanimously ruled that Keith Williams's 2017 murder conviction in the shooting death of youth mentor Dawnn Jaffier was tainted by flawed gunshot residue evidence — testimony a judge should never have let jurors hear. Prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry a case built on weaker evidence than they originally presented. Boston Globe →

• Boston City Council takes up Councilor Weber's surveillance oversight amendment at Wednesday's meeting. Boston Globe →

• Ballot Question 7 on single-family zoning and lot sizes is one of nine measures Massachusetts voters will decide November 3 — worth reading up on now before the ads start flooding your feed. Boston.com →

• The National Urban Rat Summit kicks off today in downtown Boston, a two-day gathering on rodenticides and rat mitigation — genuinely, if you love municipal weirdness, this is your event. WBUR →

Track all bills →

Yesterday's Biggest Contributions

Big Spending This Week

Data from the MA Office of Campaign & Political Finance

Full hearing schedule →

Recent filings with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance:

Candidates

• Marcus Coward (Democratic) — City Councilor, New Bedford — Filed: 9/21/2026

PACs

• Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Political Action Committee — N/A, No office — Filed: 9/17/2026

OCPF →

That's it for today. See you tomorrow morning.

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