As we start a new week, let’s take a look back at the week that was.
Top stories from the past week included:
Fall River has opened warming centers ahead of the frigid temperatures forecast this weekend.
The Holiday Harmonies Trolley Tour is spreading Christmas cheer through Fall River today. Here’s how to watch it.
In local sports: Wrestlers to watch in the 2024-25 winter season, high school basketball players to watch this winter season, high school basketball players to watch this winter season, and how college basketball star Joson Sanon is giving back his hometown of Fallrivier.
Need a little help with your Christmas shopping? The Fall River Historical Society Museum Store and Boutique is open!
Westport’s Buzzards Bay Brewery is funding a school in Kenya, and they need help to grow it.
Tuberculosis is rare in Fall River, although rates here are higher than the nation’s average — and the disease was classified as the world’s deadliest disease by the World Health Organization in 2023. Fall River has a TB clinic that is constantly available year-round. , for both adult and pediatric patients.
More than 80 acres of forests in Tiverton are now permanently conserved in a joint effort between the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Bally’s Corporation and the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust, the purchase of which marks further reclamation of native tribal lands.
Northeastern University is expanding to Fall River, with a new nursing campus in 2025.
A Freetown resident’s quick thinking and cry for help led to a holiday miracle for his friend more than 2,000 kilometers away.
Earlier this month, Fall River native and Marine First Class Antonio Marcucci was able to come home for free for the holidays, thanks to a nonprofit organization.
Here were the most-read stories of the week on HeraldNews.com:
A new Portuguese restaurant is set to open on a long-vacant site in Swansea
The former home of Ocean Grove Portuguese Steakhouse on Ocean Grove Avenue in Swansea is about to be given a new lease of life.
Fall River couple Sara and Luis Pagan are starting a new chapter for the Acores Family Restaurant there.
Look what they’re going to dish up.
Acores Family Restaurant: A new Portuguese restaurant is set to open on a long-vacant site in Swansea. What to expect.
Trial of ex-Durfee High teacher ends in not guilty
A jury found former BMC Durfee High School math teacher Tory Meneses not guilty of aggravated rape of a child Thursday, just hours after closing statements.
Meneses was accused of having a months-long sexual relationship with a female student, then 14, that included oral, digital and vaginal intercourse. According to testimonies, the relationship lasted from May to October 2018 and came to light in 2020.
During the six-day trial, jurors heard often lurid testimony from teachers and staff of the Fall River Public School system, the student, and Meneses himself, who took the stand in his defense.
Tony Meneses sits in the courtroom as attorneys make closing arguments in his trial on Thursday, December 19. Meneses, a former Fall River high school teacher, was charged with aggravated rape of a child in 2018. A jury found him not guilty Thursday.
The jury returned after about four hours.
‘Developed real, emotional feelings’: Trial of ex-Durfee High teacher ends in not guilty
New restaurant with a nod to Prohibition and Fall River history will open soon
After a long wait, Counting House, a new restaurant and lounge with a speakeasy theme, a nod to the Prohibition era and a throwback to Fall River’s past, is gearing up to make its Pleasant Street debut in the coming weeks.
Located in the historic Durfee-Union Mills complex, the restaurant has made waves with its creative concept focused on the upscale atmosphere of the turn of the century with a modern twist.
The Counting House restaurant, 405 Pleasant St. in Fall River, will be on display Monday, May 20, 2024.
Well, the wait will soon be over.
Office: New restaurant with a nod to Prohibition and Fall River history will open soon. What you need to know.
Suspect in death of New Bedford woman found near Rt. 88 followed by DNA
Simao Farias of New Bedford pleaded not guilty Thursday to the 2005 assault and fatal strangulation of a New Bedford woman, the first charge in the nearly two-decade-old cold case.
The body of Suzanna Alvarado, 42, was found on October 17, 2005, on the side of the Route 88 exit to Interstate 195 in Westport. Alvarado, originally from Fall River, lived in New Bedford and was known to work as a prostitute.
Farias was ordered held without bail.
Simao Farias, 62, of New Bedford, is scheduled to appear in Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River on Thursday, December 19. He is charged with murder in the 2005 killing of Suzanna Alvarado.
Here’s what we know about the case at the time of writing.
‘Gives you a link’: Suspect in death of New Bedford woman found near Rt. 88 followed by DNA
Highland Urgent Care is opening a rapid health center in Fall River
Highland Urgent Care opened its doors on November 18 and has since been able to serve and refer patients, relieving overburdened emergency departments in Fall River by treating non-emergency cases in a new “boutique” facility.
Herald News reporter Emily Scherny has the story.
‘We do everything’: Highland Urgent Care is opening a rapid health center in Fall River
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Top stories: Portuguese Acores Family Restaurant is coming to Swansea
