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Obama, Boehner trade offers to avert ‘fiscal cliff’

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner exchanged partial proposals in the past two days, officials said, yet the two sides blamed each other for the deadlocked talks.

State hits utilities with major fines over 2011 storms

The state has levied $24.8 in fines on National Grid, NStar, and Western Massachusetts Electric Company for their response to two storms in 2011.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/11/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/Campbellmedia-2788--90x90.jpg Cahill co-defendant acquitted of corruption charges

The judge in the corruption trial of former treasurer Timothy Cahill ordered the deadlocked jury to keep deliberating on his charges.

Protesters sat in the rotunda of the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich.

Michigan House approves right-to-work

The bill to limit unions’ strength was met with protests by pro-union demonstrators.

Amazon to collect sales tax in Mass.

The online retail giant will begin collecting Massachusetts sales tax starting next fall, according to the governor’s office.

Denise Jackson, a Salvation Army bell ringer, outside the Stop & Shop at Vinnin Square in Swampscott.

Globe Photo by Kevin Cullen

Opinion | Kevin Cullen

Stop and hear the bells

Keith Lane is a high-powered ad executive. Denise Jackson is a disabled Salvation Army bell ringer. One cold night, their paths crossed outside a supermarket in Swampscott.

Assembly Row developer buying Ikea property

The developer of the $1.5 billion Assembly Row project is buying the former Ikea property on the Somerville site, executives said.

Tips to solve all your holiday shopping problems

Tips on shopping for the Hard to Buy For include: buy small but extravagant items; personalize gift cards; and go practical.

Justice in the shadows | Part 3 — Secret courts

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/07/05/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/wiggs_lumpkin_3met.jpg Courts inside prisons, far from public view

Thousands of immigrants find themselves at the mercy of a legal system that, for many, amounts to an assembly line toward deportation.

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Globe Insiders

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//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/10/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/p.jpg See a pre-screening of Promised Land

Win tickets for you and a guest to see the new Matt Damon movie before it opens to the public.

Globe exclusives

WesWelker cradles the ball as he hits the deck inside the 5-yard line after giving Houston defensive back Kareem Jackson (25) the slip. The play set up the Patriots’ first touchdown.

Dan Shaughnessy | Patriots 42, Texans 14

Patriots look like they’re heading to Super Bowl
“State and local policy matters . . . can have a powerful influence in advancing or slowing educational progress,” US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.

Mass. pupils near top
“L’EMINENCE GRISE”

Frame By Frame

Artfully poking fun at the powerful
Marybeth Mills Muldowney (right) wants the mortgage deduction unaltered.

Mortgage deduction loss would hit hard

Meet the Fall All-Scholastics

Diversity Boston Roundtable

Boston diversity status check
Dean Zulich’s “Mask 1.”

Exhibit celebrates creativity and talent in Bosnia
Dwayne Moore entered Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

Mattapan juror sent home
Among those who have significantly influenced the contemporary television landscape (from top): director Robert Altman, “Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling, author Charles Dickens, mockumentary filmmaker Christopher Guest, “Candid Camera” creator Allen Funt, vaudevillians like Fannie Brice, author Edgar Allan Poe, screenwriter Nora Ephron, “Sherlock Holmes” creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and founding Surrealist, Andre Breton.

The towers of TV
Director Peter Jackson.

‘The Hobbit’ emerges
Marilyn Riseman has rubbed elbows with the connected since her youth.

Marilyn Riseman central to Boston’s chic society

Assembly Row developer buying Ikea property

Sports

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Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has now played more than a season’s worth of games on “Monday Night Football”.

Once again, Tom Brady looks like an MVP

Brady’s four-touchdown performance against the Texans has triggered many to say he’s poised to collect another MVP award.

Metro

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A tollbooth on Interstate 90 in Allston.

Mass. will eliminate toll plazas, collectors

The state plans to switch to a $100 million all-electronic system that would remove toll plazas.

Columnists

Opinion | Farah Stockman

Food aid fattens up lobbyists
Texans quarterback Matt Schaub tries to hide but he can’t escape the sack by Rob Ninkovich (50) in the first quarter.

Christopher L. Gasper

Dominant Patriots defense earned the spotlight

Boston Capital

Mass. biotechs glitter in new golden age

Joanna Weiss

For parents, where to draw the line on risk?
WesWelker cradles the ball as he hits the deck inside the 5-yard line after giving Houston defensive back Kareem Jackson (25) the slip. The play set up the Patriots’ first touchdown.

Dan Shaughnessy | Patriots 42, Texans 14

Patriots look like they’re heading to Super Bowl
Denise Jackson, a Salvation Army bell ringer, outside the Stop & Shop at Vinnin Square in Swampscott.

Opinion | Kevin Cullen

Stop and hear the bells

Juliette Kayyem

Qatar arms deals expose limits of US

Tech Lab Plus

Cheap Nikon Coolpix takes classy shots
Matt Schaub and the Texans enter Monday’s game with an 11-1 record.

Dan Shaughnessy

Texans have no chance

Adrian Walker

Worthy battle ends in victory

John E. Sununu

Best energy policy? None

James Carroll

Israel must not dismiss outrage over settlements

Nation & World

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As the Syrian conflict has spilled into Lebanon, soldiers patrolled in Tripoli after clashes there killed at least 17 people.

Syrian rebels capture part of massive army base

The rebels captured part of a military base near the northern city of Aleppo, strengthening their hold near the Turkish border.

Politics

President Obama brought his pressure-Congress campaign to the heart of industrial America.

In Michigan, President Obama affirms tax stand

Obama warned Monday that he ‘‘won’t compromise’’ on his demands that the wealthiest Americans pay higher tax rates.

Business

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Bank of America gets low customer ratings in survey

The bank’s customer satisfaction level fell to its lowest in more than a decade.

Arts

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Book Review

Some pieces the late John Updike wrote between 1990-2008 have been turned into his third book of art reviews.

‘Always Looking: Essays on Art’ by John Updike

The posthumous volume of art criticism vividly gambols through three centuries.

Lifestyle

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“The message transmitted through these [works] is that you are now a link in a chain that protects maternal and child health in Mexico,” says Neil Leifer, (above) with a bowl made by a Mexican artisan.

Nonprofit helps artisans in Mexico get the lead out

Neil Leifer founded a nonprofit that helps ceramic artisans from rural Mexico convert from lead-based to lead-free glazes.

Magazine

The cover for the December 9 2012 issue

The drug lab scandal: Who’s cleaning it up?
The cover for the December 2 2012 issue

5 inspired rooms
The cover for the November 25 2012 issue

Cambridge’s Bluefin Labs decodes social media chatter
The cover for the November 18 2012 issue

7 holiday styles that shine

Opinion

“The question is where we draw the line between wise precaution and paralyzing fear.”

Joanna Weiss 

Ideas

“Gift-giving has long been a topic of fascination for experts on human behavior...Their work has produced insights that cast an analytical--and helpful--light on the trials of our yearly quest to delight family and friends.”

Leon Neyfakh on the analyzed gift 

“There are a lot of people who have no idea about the possibility of the mortgage deduction going away. This is a serious issue and it’s real money out of their pockets.”

Marybeth Mills Muldowney,  a Norwell real estate agent