Every day, The Herald News will be serving you some local news highlights. Here are our top stories for Saturday, Jan. 19:

CITY ON THE RISE

The city of Fall River was cleared by a state board to ride on the state’s more favorable interest rates as it borrows $129 million, mostly to pay for the new Durfee High School and infrastructure improvements.

Fall River’s demographics are changing, said City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros, due in part to “aggressive expansion” of market-rate housing production that she said is helping the city lure new residents.

THE HOUSE WINS

After four and a half months in operation, the Twin River Tiverton Casino Hotel has filled the town's coffers to the tune of half a million dollars.

The state Department of Revenue said the town's take is double what it was when the gambling license was at the Newport Grand, suggesting the move to Tiverton has paid off.

FAA EMPLOYEE GROUNDED

Bob Camara of Somerset, a federal employee with the Federal Aviation Administration, has been furloughed due to the federal government shutdown -- but he's not letting it get him down. For one thing, he said his house has never been so organized.

“But, for some folks, federal service is a gold ticket to financial freedom and security. They are the folks who are really taking a hit. To see them going through this is tough.”

TROUBLE OUT OF TOWN

A Fall River man has been arrested in connection to a firearms theft from a Maine State Police cruiser last summer.

James “JayJay” Burns, 23, faces charges of Class B theft of firearms and other charges in the June 18 incident in Norway, Maine.

BABS' BAGS

In her new studio in the Narrows Center for the Arts, Barbara Materna is setting up shop making and selling her Babs line of handbags.

Ranging in price from about $70 to $290, every bag in her collection is handmade from scratch and the durable wool, coated in lanolin, is very easy to keep clean.