Cowan’s path to Senate began in small-town N.C.

Mo Cowan, Governor Deval Patrick’s pick for interim senator, said his upbringing in a largely segregated tobacco town was essential to his rise.

news analysis

Patrick confident in choosing confidant Cowan

Selecting William “Mo” Cowan as a temporary replacement for John F. Kerry is the latest in a growing list of insider appointments made by Governor Deval Patrick.

A BU student was stabbed and robbed at the intersection of Browne and Pleasant streets Tuesday.

Barry Chin/Globe Staff

Spate of armed robberies leaves many at BU on edge

Boston University and local police departments will step up patrols following the latest and most violent attack near the campus.

BlackBerry’s Z10 is expected help reverse a slide in sales.

ANDY RAIN/European Pressphoto Agency

Tech Lab

Long-spurned BlackBerry poised to win affection anew

Using an overhauled operating system, the smart and snappy Z10 touchscreen phone ought to put BlackBerry back at the leading edge of the industry.

Tech sector spurs Mass. growth as US economy contracts

The contrast offered further evidence the state is rebounding from the recession at a more robust pace than the nation as a whole, largely on the strength of its technology industries.

Yvonne Abraham

Digging up support for an official Mass. groundhog

Do you know that Massachusetts has been without an official groundhog for centuries? Outrageous!

Catholic event cancels talk by Islam critic

The Diocese of Worcester rescinded an invitation to Robert Spencer, whose work depicts Islam as an inherently violent religion, to speak at a conference in March.

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a three-sport star in high school and he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.

Dan Shaughnessy

49ers’ mysterious Kaepernick is hardly an open book

Colin Kaepernick is the rarest of rare — a Super Bowl quarterback who is a big mystery to most of America.

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Globe Insiders

From the Archives

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2013/01/30/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/bridge003a-930[2].jpg The (Mystic) Tobin Bridge

The Mystic Bridge opened for traffic on Feb. 26, 1950, and was renamed in honor of former Boston mayor and Massachusetts governor Maurice J. Tobin in 1967.

Globe exclusives

Susan Battista and Fritz Klaetke of Visual Dialogue creative agency.

Fritz Klaetke has designs on a Grammy
1366 Technologies technician Becky Allen handled a solar cell at the company’s pilot plant in Bedford. 1366 was founded in 2007.

1366 Technologies opens $6m Bedford plant

Abby Larson is married to her job, in a good way

Book review

‘The Best of Youth’ by Michael Dahlie

State of the City | Interactive graphic

Inside Menino’s speeches
Michelle Gordon with the chicken dish she often serves for dinner in her Dorchester home.

On the family menu: What’s familiar
Former Red Sox Manager Terry Francona in 2011.

Andrew Zimbalist

Francona’s petty payback to Sox owners
Work stalled on the Filene’s project in 2008 as the economy sputtered, leaving a crater at the construction site.

New deal may restart Filene’s project
Ray Lewis was the center of attention at Super Bowl media day.

Dan Shaughnessy

Ray Lewis will tackle (almost) any subject
Back from his long illness, Mayor Thomas M. Menino received a vigorous welcome at his State of the City address.

Menino makes return to public stage
The Senate voted 94 to 3 to confirm Senator John Kerry as the next secretary of state, succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Kerry sails in Senate voting
Paul S. Grogan, Boston Foundation president.

Donations soar at end of 2012

Sports

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Celtics 99, Kings 81

The Kings’ Aaron Brooks does his best to beat Celtics forward Brandon Bass to the ball in first-half action.

Celtics adjust to life without Rondo, roll over Kings

Six players scored in double figures as the Celtics won their second game without Rajon Rondo, 99-81.

Metro

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Lawyer Scott Bratton said he will ask the judge to grant residency because Obama has lived here for so many years.

Obama uncle faces hearing in fight against deportation

A judge set a Dec. 3 hearing to determine if the president’s uncle Onyango Obama should be deported to Kenya.

Columnists

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino arrives for his annual State of the City address at Faneuil Hall Tuesday.

JOAN VENNOCHI

Menino, the king incumbent

JULIETTE KAYYEM

Immigration commission brings border states to table

NICHOLAS BURNS

Kerry must engage China
William ‘Mo’ Cowan

Yvonne Abraham

Cowan pick is 100 percent Patrick
San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a three-sport star in high school and he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.

Dan Shaughnessy

49ers’ mysterious Kaepernick is hardly an open book

Yvonne Abraham

Digging up support for an official Mass. groundhog
BlackBerry’s Z10 is expected help reverse a slide in sales.

Tech Lab

Long-spurned BlackBerry poised to win affection anew
Former Republican presidential candidate and Massachusetts Governot Mitt Romney.

SCOT LEHIGH

How Romney can stay relevant
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera review an honor guard before a flag return ceremony last week.

JEFF JACOBY

Conservatism in Japan
Mayor Thomas M. Menino gave few clues about whether he will seek reelection.

Adrian Walker

Menino back in action
Ray Lewis was the center of attention at Super Bowl media day.

Dan Shaughnessy

Ray Lewis will tackle (almost) any subject

JOANNA WEISS

Bobby Jindal and the ‘stupid party’

Nation & World

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An opposition fighter gestured near a barricade during fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus Wednesday.

Israeli strike in Syria raises fear of wider war

Israeli warplanes carried out a strike deep inside Syrian territory, possibly on a convoy carrying sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry.

Politics

John Kerry gave his last speech as senator Wednesday on the floor of the Senate.

John Kerry parts with warning on gridlock

In a long and emotional speech in the Senate, Kerry warned that political gridlock threatens America’s reputation abroad.

Business

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“There’s something inside me that feels the need to help others and feel productive at the end of the day,” said Cindy Weiner, a ReServist.

Nonprofit puts seniors to work helping other people

ReServe Inc., which opens its doors in Boston Thursday, matches people with part-time jobs, paying them $10 an hour for their help.

Arts

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Television Review

Steven Pasquale stars as a doctor with an alternate personality in “Do No Harm.”

NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’: a Jekyll-and-Hyde operation

“Do No Harm” isn’t a psychological exploration so much as a medical drama with a gimmick, but it’s pretty darned silly.

Style

Screen Actors Guild wins the fashion award

Screen Actors Guild Awards’ underdog status results in some fun and downright risky fashion extremes.

Magazine

The cover for the January 27 2013 issue

New England traditional, with a twist
The cover for the January 20 2013 issue

My friend Tito
The cover for the January 13 2013 issue

Alfresco fabulous
The cover for the January 6 2013 issue

Best Boston Globe photos of the year, 2012

Opinion

“For people along the Southwest border, immigration enforcement is more than an unpleasant duty that the president has to perform to maintain his public-safety credentials.”

Juliette Kayyem 

Ideas

“Ten years after ‘victory’ in Iraq, we still don’t know what victory means. Without a clearer idea of what winning wars looks like, we risk falling into situations where they could go on forever”

Gal Beckerman on what victory means now 

“This appears to be a slow quarter, but the Massachusetts economy is growing still.”

Alan Clayton-Matthews,  Northeastern University economist