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A small but formidable invasive species, the Asian needle ant (Brachyponera chinensis), has made its way to Massachusetts, marking a significant northward expansion in the United States.

Originally from East Asia, the invasive species of ants have been steadily spreading across the eastern U.S., and their arrival in the Bay State has sparked worry among residents and experts due to their painful sting and ecological impact.

In Massachusetts, sightings of Asian needle ants have been confirmed in both urban and suburban areas, with reports indicating their presence in places like Boston and surrounding regions. The ants, which measure about a quarter-inch long and are dark brown to black, are often found nesting in soil, under rocks, or in decaying wood. Their adaptability to varied environments, including forests and backyards, has fueled their rapid spread. Unlike many native ants, Asian needle ants thrive in cooler climates, which has allowed them to establish colonies as far north as Massachusetts.

Wikipedia photo by April Nobile.

The sting of the Asian needle ant is a major concern. Described as sharp and intense, it can cause significant discomfort and, in rare cases, allergic reactions. For Massachusetts residents, encounters are most likely during outdoor activities like gardening or hiking, as the ants are active from spring through fall. Experts advise caution when disturbing potential nesting sites, such as leaf litter or logs.

Ecologically, the Asian needle ant poses a threat to native ant species in Massachusetts. By outcompeting them for food and nesting space, these invaders disrupt local ecosystems. In areas like New England’s forests, where biodiversity is already under pressure, the ants’ aggressive behavior could have cascading effects on other insects and small animals. Their diet, which includes both dead insects and live prey like termites, further amplifies their impact.

The ants’ journey to Massachusetts began decades ago when they were inadvertently introduced to the southeastern U.S., likely through international trade. From states like Georgia and the Carolinas, they have moved northward, with documented populations now stretching from Florida to New England. In Massachusetts, their spread has been aided by human activity, such as the transport of infested plants or soil, and their ability to form multiple-queen colonies, which boosts their reproductive success.

To manage the growing presence of Asian needle ants in Massachusetts, experts recommend several strategies. Homeowners should inspect outdoor areas for nests and avoid moving soil or mulch from infested regions. If stung, washing the area with soap and water can reduce irritation, though medical attention may be needed for severe reactions. Long-term control efforts may involve targeted baits, but these must be applied carefully to avoid harming native species.

As Massachusetts grapples with this invasive species, awareness is key. Residents are encouraged to report sightings to local agricultural or environmental agencies to help track the ants’ spread. With proactive measures, the state can mitigate the impact of Asian needle ants while protecting its ecosystems and communities from their stinging menace.

NEW BEDFORD — The downtown is getting an exciting new venture in the recently reopened Eggers building with the arrival of its bubbly newcomer: Coastal Bubbles + Wine Bar, officially opening Saturday, June 7.

Owners Tammy and Alan Foshay, with a passion for wine and the SouthCoast community, are ready to pour a fresh kind of hospitality with evenings and events geared toward their love for wine.

“We want to create a space where people will want to come, relax, and have fun with friends, and leave happy,” said Tammy Foshay.

“We want to introduce new wines to people who are curious and those who just want to come or just enjoy a glass with friends.”

The Foshays are no strangers to vibrant city living, having made their home in places such as Philadelphia, Chicago and New York before falling in love with the SouthCoast.

Their journey to New Bedford was sparked during the pandemic, when a quest to live near the ocean led them to Little Compton, Rhode Island, and then to Westport.

“We were really taken with the feel of downtown... it reminded me of Philadelphia’s Society Hill when it started turning into something special,” Alan Foshay said.

“We went to Cisco three years ago and thought that was super cool. We thought that was New Bedford. Then we came downtown, went to Black Whale a few times and thought that was New Bedford. We keep discovering new areas and falling in love with it.”

Foshay said with the positive energy, coupled with encouragement from local winemaker friends, inspired them to put down new roots.

“I wanted to play with wine,” Tammy Foshay said, adding that she started out managing tastings at Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery, then became director of events and marketing at Greenville Vineyards.

“I manage the Wine Cheese Chocolate Festival as well as the Massachusetts Cheese Festival and the Boston Wine School Wine Festival,” she added.

Foshay is now preparing for her fourth festival, the Johnny Cake Hill Wine Festival on Oct. 5.

Not just a wine bar, a place to explore and learn

Unlike traditional restaurants or bars, Coastal Bubbles + Wine Bar is about curated discovery. “We’re not here to compete with the dining scene,” Alan Foshay said. “We want to complement it, be the spot for an aperitif, or a glass of Champagne after a great meal, or even a new experience before your night out.”

The bar focuses on sparkling and still wines from small producers and family vineyards around the world, especially ones that people may never have heard of before.

“We’re making space for adventure,” added Tammy Foshay.

“Most of our wines won’t be big-name labels. We want to introduce people to something unexpected, to partner with the kind of winegrowers who care deeply about what they do.”

Foshay said the bar will invite two types of people: the ones who just want to have a glass of wine and others who want to come and try something new.

“We're really about the people who want to try something new,” Foshay said. “We're trying to really educate people and work with those small vineyards and farm growers.”

Something for everyone inside the wine bar

With hours from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Alan Foshay said that visitors can relax with a single glass, sample a rotating flight or sometimes featuring wines from as far afield as Croatia or Champagne, France, as well as join in on unique educational tastings.

The Foshays are planning regular special events such as cheese and wine pairing nights, charcuterie workshops and talks with winemakers and importers.

“The mission is to make learning about wine social, approachable and fun,” Tammy Foshay added.

The first event, a Croatian wine and cheese tasting, is set for June 11.

Community, collaboration and local flavor

Community collaboration is a key feature of Coastal’s philosophy, according to the Foshays, who have also teamed up with Anti Frangiadis, owner of The Drawing Room to launch the Johnny Cake Hill Wine Club.

Club members can taste and pick up curated bottles monthly.

For food, Coastal Bubbles + Wine Bar will offer locally sourced cheese and charcuterie, Northern Italian specialties from local makers such as Great Aunt Louise, snacks by New Bedford’s Mad Good Cookie and other regional treats.

“The only thing we hope people feel is welcome,” Alan Foshay said. “Come alone or with friends, before dinner or after, whether you know wine already or just curious.”

Prices are intentionally approachable, with glasses ranging from $8 to $16, intended to suit every palate and budget.

“You hope the community shows up and supports you,” Foshay said. “We’re excited to see familiar faces and new ones, and find our space in this evolving downtown.”

BOSTON — More than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, have an uphill battle if they’re to succeed in their legal efforts to lift President Donald Trump’s memorandum against offshore wind development.

Attorneys for the states of Massachusetts and New York appeared on Thursday before federal Judge William G. Young, prepared to argue that he should grant a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s effective freeze of offshore wind permitting. But the hearing didn’t happen, with the judge “collapsing” the injunction motion.

Young said he needed more specificity from the states on the harm they’ve incurred and the alleged legal violations by federal agencies. The case will be heard again next week, but instead, with a hearing on a motion to dismiss it. (The judge is treating the Trump administration’s filing opposing a preliminary injunction as a motion to dismiss the case.)

“I’m not clear again… that I understand what the specific harm is,” Young said, noting he understands there have been economic impacts on “an important industry.” “But in the context of litigation, I need, I think, some more specificity as to what are the specific harms to specific projects in specific states.”

“It would appear both from the record and from the president’s public statements that he’s opposed as a matter of policy to offshore wind farm energy generation. I think that’s indisputable,” Young continued.

In that vein, Young asked whether the requisite licenses would be issued by the federal government following a court ruling, given the administration’s position on wind. Experts interpreted “licensing” to regard permitting and permits.

Timothy Fox, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said Young’s remarks “strongly suggested that the Trump Administration may prevail.”

“Perhaps most significant,” Fox said by email on Thursday, the judge appeared to declare that ‘the power to license is the power to withhold a license.’”

Young’s points echoed some of those raised by the Trump administration in its May 29 filing opposing the preliminary injunction request.

“Plaintiffs and Intervenor fail to show standing, fail to identify any final agency action on which to base their claims, fail to identify statutory violations on the part of Defendants, disregard the considerable agency discretion and flexibility in the relevant statutory regimes, and otherwise fail to state a claim,” stated the U.S. Department of Justice.

“The challenged agency action must be ‘final,’” the DOJ wrote, final being defined as the “‘consummation’ of the agency’s decisionmaking process.”

Of Trump’s wind memo, the DOJ states “it simply defers the issuance of authorizations until completion of a later substantive assessment and review … An interim decision to merely postpone the permit decisionmaking process is not final agency action.”

If the injunction had been granted, it could immediately undo the permitting freeze, but it could not force federal agencies to immediately issue the outstanding permits or move forward with review at a faster rate sought by the industry (and a rate achieved by the Biden administration).

“Even if the court were to side with the states, we would describe that ‘win’ as more symbolic than significant because BOEM retains substantial discretion regarding the pace at which it fulfills its responsibilities,” Fox, the analyst, said. “In other words, we see little tangible difference between the current declared freeze of offshore wind activities and a potential de facto pause that would likely follow a court-compelled resumption.”

Trump’s memo, issued on day one of his second term, directs the secretary of the interior to “conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President.”

There is no timeline for this review, effectively making the freeze indefinite. Though, as the federal government argued, the review is not “final,” it can have lasting and potentially irreversible impacts on wind projects, which require certainty for financial investment and operate with tight contract windows.

Representatives from Ocean Winds (which is building SouthCoast Wind off Massachusetts) were present in the courtroom, with Ocean Winds CEO Michael Brown taking notes during Young’s remarks.

SouthCoast Wind was potentially within months of receiving final permits, but progress stopped when the wind memo was issued. The federal government’s permitting dashboard has again extended the “completion date” of its agency review of the project’s permits, citing the memo.

In its opposition motion, the DOJ stated the extension of the permitting deadlines, such as that for SouthCoast Wind, is “not the consummation of any permit decisionmaking process” and that the “decisionmaking process continues to play out.”

Acting Associate Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s renewable energy program, Jessica Stromberg, in a May 29 filing, seemed to straddle federal inaction and action regarding project review.

Quoting the presidential memorandum, Stromberg wrote that agencies have been directed to ‘not issue new or renewed approvals, rights of way, permits, leases … pending the completion of a comprehensive assessment and review of Federal wind leasing and permitting practices.’”

But, she also said that BOEM renewable energy staff continue to review wind developer applications and “complete other day-to-day tasks related to the offshore wind program including but not limited to regular communications with lessees, State officials, and cooperating agencies.” (Several BOEM renewable energy staffers have resigned or been affected by federal cuts, according to LinkedIn posts.)

Thursday’s hearing was the first in the multistate lawsuit filed last month in Massachusetts federal court by the commonwealth and 17 other attorneys general in states that already have offshore or land-based wind projects, or plan to develop them.

Turner Smith, deputy attorney general for Massachusetts, sat alongside Michael Myers, an attorney for New York. Smith’s comments were brief, but she said on behalf of the plaintiffs that they would like to confer amongst themselves and may submit an amended complaint in advance of the motion to dismiss hearing, set for next Wednesday.

The Massachusetts AG’s office declined comment, stating it would let Smith’s comments in court “speak for themselves.” The New York State Attorney General’s office did not return requests for comment before publication.

The states argue they stand to lose jobs and hundreds of millions in investment and benefits (and stranded assets) if the industry cannot continue its buildout under the Trump administration.

Impacts have been swift and concerning, per state officials and the industry. The multibillion Empire Wind project in New York is a clear example — in the works for eight years, it was on the verge of collapse after just 30 days of a federal freeze on the project’s construction. (The Trump administration last month lifted the ban and construction has resumed.)

According to a declaration filed in the suit by Liz Burdock, who leads the Oceantic Network, a member-based coalition of offshore wind companies and suppliers, U.S. workers have already been laid off (the spate of LinkedIn posts from wind industry sector employees supports this), hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment is at risk, and trained and hired workers are being forced to stand idle.

Burdock stated her organization only identified three new contracts announced or signed after the wind directive on Jan. 20 through May 1, a steep drop compared to a quarterly average of 58 new contracts in 2024.

Erica Fuller, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, which filed an amicus in the case in support of the states, explained Young’s “collapsing” of the injunction motion is a method allowed by procedural rules, and is “one path to resolve the case quickly, also allowing a quick appeal.”

Throughout Thursday’s session, Young acknowledged the importance of resolving the case expeditiously, as sought by the plaintiffs.

Fuller said “the standard of review is favorable” to the states, but agreed Young identified some key challenges for the states, including identifying specific statutory violations, providing specific evidence of harm, and addressing, without being speculative, whether the permits “will even be issued in light of this administration’s position on offshore wind.”

Thursday’s session lasted just under 30 minutes. Arguments on whether to dismiss the case are scheduled for June 11, with the federal government arguing first. Young suggested he could decide the case that same day, and expressed hope that the parties would attempt to come to an agreement ahead of him issuing a ruling.

NEW BEDFORD — For nearly a century, Fiesta Shows has been delighting New England with its traveling carnival — the largest in the area.

This week, amusement rides, classic carnival games, and delicious food are coming to New Bedford.

From Thursday, June 5, to Sunday, June 8, 730 Belleville Ave. will be the place to be for an exciting family-friendly experience. Enjoy fun attractions, try your luck at winning adorable miniature or life-size stuffed animals, and savor delicious fried dough treats.

What attractions will be at the carnival?

You will find fun for all ages at the carnival, featuring rides of all different levels of intensity.

For those who are brave enough to try the maximum intensity, there are 13 rides to encounter. You will be able to walk through a frightening haunted house, soar 60 feet over the carnival in swings, or take the 360 loop roller coaster.

There are 12 classic rides that bring back nostalgia, like the Ferris Wheel, the Zipper, and Zero Gravity.

As a family, there are 17 rides that are sure to bring on the laughs, including the carousel, a fun house, a super slide, and the tilt-a-whirl.

The little ones will have 19 different attractions to keep them busy, from bounce houses, car tracks, flying turtles, and dizzy dragons.

There are prizes to be won at a host of game concessions, with many “play until you win” games which guarantee a prize to every player.

After working up an appetite, you can choose from fried dough, corn dogs, pizza, Italian sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers, cotton candy, candy apples, and funnel cakes.

Minor policy

The carnival has instituted a minor policy that all children 13 to 17 years old must be accompanied by a parent, guardian, or chaperone who is over 21.

For every four minors, there must be a chaperone, and proof of age may be required.

There are no exceptions, and failure to comply will result in denied admission or being asked to leave the event without a refund.

Partial proceeds will benefit the Day of Portugal

Fiesta Shows will be giving a portion of the proceeds from the event to help New Bedford’s Day of Portugal.

Admission to the carnival is $5 per person. The carnival will be open from 5 p.m. until closing on Thursday and Friday, and from 1 p.m. until closing on Saturday and Sunday. Closing time is typically between 10 and 11 p.m.

Megapasses and wristbands are also available for purchase, starting at $30 for unlimited rides. They can be purchased on the website, www.fiestashows.com.

What’s the best part of summer in the SouthCoast? It could be the beautiful beaches or the delicious food, but a major contender is the free summer concerts.

You can’t beat a warm summer night under the stars listening to good tunes without a huge price tag.

We are fortunate that there are a variety of musicians, venues, and organizations all working together to bring free live music to the area.

It's time to grab your blanket, chair, and your friends and family to sit outside and enjoy this summer's free concerts surrounding the SouthCoast. Check out the variety of genres and places pumping the beats all summer long.

Sunday Music Series - Fairhaven

Every Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m., you can experience a different talented musician on the patio at Nasketucket Bay Vineyard. You can bring your children as long as they stay supervised, and dogs are allowed outside. Have a Sunday Funday at 237 New Boston Road.

Freetown’s Summer Sounds – Freetown

It’s a family affair with fun activities, food trucks, and, of course, delightful tunes. From 6 to 8 p.m. every other Tuesday at 5 South Main Street.

June 17: Timmy Brown; July 1: Four in a Row; July 15: Real Weird; July 29: Zachary Guillette; Aug. 12: The David Richard Band; and Aug. 26: The Speakeasies

Summer Sound Series – New Bedford

Every Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., enjoy free concerts in the heart of downtown. These block party-style events will alternate between Lower Union Street and Purchase Street.

June 20: Pearly Baker Band, Union Street; June 27: Melo Green, Purchase Street; July 4: The Jethros, Union Street; July 18: Nb Rude Boys, Purchase Street; July 25: The Groovalottos, Union Street; August 8: Jammin’, Purchase Street; August 15: Neal Mccarthy Electric 6-Piece Band, Union Street; and August 22: Colby James & The Ramblers, Purchase Street.

Summer Concert Series - Acushnet

Acushnet Public Library holds its outdoor Summer Concert Series under the pavilion at 232 Middle Road on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

June 25: 60’s Thunder; July 2: The Pearly Baker Band; July 9: The Cameron Shave Jazz Orchestra; July 16: G & Friends; July 23: Pumpkin Head Ted; July 30: The Whelks; and Aug. 6: Butch McCarthy and the Gentlemen of Leisure with Angel.

Reggae On West Beach – New Bedford

June 29, July 27, and Aug. 31: Reggae on the Beach features live music from 2 to 6 p.m. at the West Beach Pavilion in New Bedford. The events offer an eclectic mix of reggae music, food, art, shopping, and local and community resources.

Center Stage Concerts - Lakeville

Bring a blanket or chair from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Center Stage in front of the Lakeville Public Library, 4 Precinct Street.

July 8: The Moonbellies; July 15: The Wooden Project Band; July 22: Black Vinyl; and July 29: Total Strangers.

Concerts by the Canal - Buzzards Bay

Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m., head to Buzzards Bay Park, Main Street, with your blanket and chair for these free concerts.

July 10: That 80's Band- 80's Cover; July 17: Too Much Fun - 50's, 60's 70's Cover; July 24: The Unholy Mackerels - Rock, Pop & Country; July 31: Track 44 - Blues & Southern Rock; Aug. 7: Thee Midnight Society- Dance, R & R Alternative; Aug. 14: Rock Steady- Bad Company Cover & more; Aug. 21: Indigo Shore/Johnny's Basement and Aug. 28: Band of Brothers - Classic Rock

St. Anne's Credit Union's 30th Annual Free Summer Concert - Fall River

Aug. 16: Joshua Tree, U2 tribute band. Don't miss this fun day of music, food trucks, giveaways, and memories to be made beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Heritage State Park on Davol Street in Fall River.

Take Me to the River Festival - Fall River

Aug. 23: An entertaining night of music, art, food, and community from 4 to 10 p.m. at Norton City Pier, 600 Davol Street. For your listening pleasure, there will be performances by Ryan Montbleau Band, 2025 Grammy Award-winning Ruthie Foster and her incredible band, and Eddie 9V. Food trucks, delicious drinks, craft vendors, and fun will be on the agenda for the night.