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Mass. reports 3,995 new confirmed coronavirus cases, 47 new deaths

The state reported 81,282 people were estimated to have active cases of the potentially deadly virus, while 1,927 confirmed coronavirus patients were in the hospital.
The latest COVID-19 numbers from Massachusetts

Behind the Shield | Inside the Boston Police Department
An off-duty officer crashed into a disabled grandmother. A year later, she?s still fighting City Hall
?Whatever the police does to you, you cannot do anything,? said Anne-Marie Castor. ?They treat me worse than a dog.?

The Boston Globe dispatched a team of reporters earlier this year to closely examine law enforcement in Massachusetts.

Mike Pompeo points at Russia in cyberattack; Trump attempts to sow doubt

Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Trump on Saturday suggested without evidence that China ? not Russia ? may be behind the cyberattack against the United States and tried to minimized its impact.
US will close last two consulates in Russia
STARTS & STOPS

City removes bike protection, citing safety for drivers

The city quickly removed barriers that were installed to improve dangerous cycling conditions.
THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

US saw another record number of coronavirus infections Friday

Weekend Diversions

MUSIC REVIEW

The Pops puts on a holiday show in your home instead of theirs
HOLIDAYS

9 light displays for oohs and aahs by automobile
TELEVISION

Shondaland?s Netflix series, ?Bridgerton,? offers romance and escapism, delivered on Christmas
IN THE FAMILY WAY

Stressed about your kids? screen time? Don?t be

Opinion

Renée Loth

The problem with protest

Where is the line between lawful dissent and incitement?
EDITORIAL

Boston is setting an example on fair housing. Will other communities follow?
IDEAS | JOSH BERNOFF

Social media broke America. Here?s how to fix it
Kimberly Atkins

The year of fear and the fragility of the white, male myth
Rachelle G. Cohen

DeLeo looks to exit as the sheeple graze toward Mariano

YVONNE ABRAHAM
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
We know who the next Massachusetts House speaker will be. We?ve known it for years.

Henry Haller, longest-serving White House executive chef, dies at 97
A consummate professional who was never known to gossip about what he saw or heard at the White House, Mr. Haller catered to the tastes of the first families, whether asked to prepare deluxe continental cuisine or simple homestyle American meals.

Biden calls climate change ?existential threat of our time?
President-elect Joe Biden introduced on Saturday key members of the team he is assembling to fulfill his pledge to combat climate change, calling them ?brilliant, qualified and barrier-busting.?

Trump discussed naming campaign lawyer as special counsel

President Trump on Friday discussed making Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed a series of conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig US voting machines, a special counsel investigating voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion.

Boston police body camera videos show officers shoving, pepper-spraying protesters
The Boston Police Department and the Suffolk district attorney?s office have opened investigations into police actions during protests earlier this year, following the publication Friday of body camera footage that shows officers shoving and pepper spraying local demonstrators who gathered to decry the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, officials said.

Kevin Paul Dupont | On Second Thought
If Cleveland can say goodbye to the name ?Indians,? why can?t we say goodbye to Fenway Park?
If the Red Sox announced this weekend that a new ballpark in the Back Bay was on the way, say, for the 2025 season, would we be wrecked?

Best of the Arts 2020

Movies
Here are 10 excellent movies (and 25 runners-up) from a not-so-excellent year
In a year in which friends and family were reduced to squares in a Zoom grid, these films illustrated what it will feel like when we put our lives back together in the same room once more.

Music
In a year divided by before and after, pop music became whatever you wanted it to be
The lockdown that hit this spring transformed pop from a communal experience to something infinitely personal.

Television

With clever comedies and transporting dramas, TV offered some great escapes
A Beautiful Resistance
Jeneé Osterheldt

To be Black, Bostonian, and proud

Boston's Black history is often hidden, but a quarter of the city's population is Black. That's nearly double the percentage of the Black population of the US.
The Questions, featuring Justin Levy See more from ?A Beautiful Resistance? Follow on Instagram

Recommended Reads

Crucial Georgia Senate runoffs are shaped by economic pain

The economy has emerged as a key vulnerability for the two Republican incumbents, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. The Democrats? economic message is a sharp contrast with how Loeffler, Perdue, and their allies paint a picture on the campaign trail of an economy in recovery.

?The system is just overwhelmed?: Post office struggles with holiday deluge
The usual holiday crunch has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which long ago sent delivery services into hyperdrive. And the brunt of it is falling on the United States Postal Service.

?When the spotlight found Moderna, they were ready?: How the Cambridge biotech company became a world renowned success story
Moderna was not on anyone?s ?Most Likely to Succeed? list one year ago. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

metro

Ralph K. Winter Jr., a top conservative judicial mind, dies at 85
A conservative legal scholar whose work as a professor at Yale Law School and later as an appellate court judge changed the shape of campaign finance law and corporate governance, Mr. Winter was a libertarian-leaning conservative who counted Thurgood Marshall and Robert Bork among his friends.

Behind the Shield | Inside the Boston Police Department

An off-duty officer crashed into a disabled grandmother. A year later, she?s still fighting City Hall

Police search for man suspected of robbing Melrose bank

Sports

College football notebook
Trey Sermon, Ohio State send a message with record outing in Big Ten title game
Trey Sermon ran for 331 yards, averaging 11.4 yards on 29 carries, breaking Eddie George?s single-game Ohio State record.

Jalen Suggs leads top-ranked Gonzaga over No. 3 Iowa

Chad Finn I Sports Media

?He?ll never be far from our minds?: Mike Gorman prepares for a Celtics season without Tommy Heinsohn

business

The pandemic crushed businesses on Boston?s Water Street. More devastating: The effects ripple around the world
The side effects ripple out far and wide, tracing an arc of financial destruction that runs from a delivery driver in Chelsea to a paper mill in upstate New York to a family in Honduras, exposing the vital but fragile dependencies in the modern business world with every failing link weakening the next in line.

How the pandemic affected a city block downtown

CDC advisory panel votes to recommend Moderna?s COVID-19 vaccine

politics

Congressional leaders work feverishly to finalize a $900 billion stimulus deal before midnight Sunday
Both chambers hastily approved a two-day stopgap bill on Friday, giving negotiators a window to hammer out both a final agreement and legislative text on a relief deal.

Trump discussed naming campaign lawyer as special counsel

Providence City Councilor resigns from leadership over transgender remarks

lifestyle

HOLIDAYS
9 light displays for oohs and aahs by automobile
These festive drive-through destinations serve up holiday magic the safe way.

How is he so sure about me?
IN THE FAMILY WAY

Stressed about your kids? screen time? Don?t be

arts

This virtual ?Christmas Revels? is a virtual triumph
All the ?Christmas Revels? favorites are here in the 50th anniversary show, which meshes archival footage with new performances.

TELEVISION

?L.A. Law,? ?Night Court? sequels reportedly in the works

A director confronts ?glaring statistics? in her museum?s collection

rhode island

CORONAVIRUS
Raimondo: Economic ?pause? lifted, but social gatherings should be limited - even on Christmas
That means that restaurants will be allowed to expand their capacity for indoor dining and gyms can reopen next week, but Raimondo stressed that the state isn?t ready to revert back to its pre-Thanksgiving reopening plan.

RHODE MAP

A month-by-month look at COVID-19 in Rhode Island
CORONAVIRUS

Should Rhode Island cities with the highest COVID-19 rates get the vaccine early?

Newton

Special Projects

A beautiful resistance | JENEÉ OSTERHELDT

Black queer lives are Black lives that matter, too

Adding any other marginalized identity to Blackness is another layer of oppression to fight. Black queer people living their truths is a beautiful resistance.
See more from 'A Beautiful Resistance' Follow on Instagram

On the Street

In tackling the pandemic, Chelsea finds new strength

Brockton offers a gateway to a new generation

This time, Quincy Center?s revival looks legit

Revere was going through a revival before COVID-19. Can it stay on track?

See more from our business series ?On the Street?: The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods

More

2020 Bostonians of the Year: The Front Line
They stood up to fight the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice. Meet the people leading us through a harrowing year.

Last Words: Is death the great equalizer?
Quite the contrary, a Spotlight investigation shows. Death exposes in high relief the layers of inequities, in race and income, care and opportunity, that shape life down to its final hours. It is a truth the pandemic has only underscored ? one hard to see, because it is so much easier to look away.

I knew getting prostate cancer at 48 would change me. I had no idea how much
For the past year, Mark Shanahan has been working on Mr. 80 Percent, a six-episode podcast miniseries about his experience with prostate cancer. It?s a deeply personal, sometimes harrowing, often funny story about a disease that affects millions of men. The heroes are his doctors and family, who put up with some appalling behavior. You?ll hear from both.

Comfort Zone

HOLIDAYS

9 light displays for oohs and aahs by automobile

These festive drive-through destinations serve up holiday magic the safe way.
EVENTS

4 ways to safely celebrate the winter solstice

A few ideas for marking the shortest day of the year.
MUSIC REVIEW

With sleigh bells jingling, the Pops puts on a holiday show in your home instead of theirs

Though the virtual concert can?t compare to experiencing a Holiday Pops show live in Symphony Hall, its mere existence is something to applaud in a season when so many traditions have been disrupted.
COMFORT ZONE

These thoughtful, last-minute gifts arrive in an instant, no mailing required

And many benefit local businesses, to boot.

It?ll still be a (matzo) ball

You can still go to this Jewish singles event ? virtually.
COMFORT ZONE

This time, Ken Burns is the subject of a documentary

Rhode Island filmmaker Dante Bellini turned the camera on the New England documentarian for ?Ken Burns: Here & There,? now airing nationally on PBS.

Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Scot Lehigh

Beware of authoritarianism and conspiratorialism, twin threats to our democracy
EDITORIAL

The system worked ? this time
Mark Erlich

Gig workers deserve employment protections
Joan Vennochi

What?s more sexist than the coverage of Melania Trump?
Steven Hassan

A cult expert?s advice for celebrating with politically divided family over the holidays
IDEAS | JOSH BERNOFF

Social media broke America. Here?s how to fix it

STAT

The Road Ahead: Charting the pandemic over the next 12 months ? and beyond
In this project, STAT describes 30 key moments, possible turning points that could steer the pandemic onto a different course or barometers for how the virus is reshaping our lives.

From a small N.C. town to big-city hospitals, how software infuses racism into U.S. health care
The racial bias can produce huge differences in assessing patients? need for special care to manage conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, or depression, a STAT investigation found.

Covid-19?s wintry mix: Dry indoor air helps the virus spread
The worry is not just that people might mingle more closely inside, but that the air they breathe will make the virus more dangerous.

In the Covid-19 death of a hospital food worker, a microcosm of the pandemic
The hospital's first employee to die of Covid-19 was a kitchen worker named Marie Deus ? and her illness sparked a question. Why weren't bedside clinicians getting sick at the highest rates?

magazine
Cover Story

2020 Bostonians of the Year: The Front Line
Bostonians of the Year

Ashish Jha: Speaking out for science and for public health in the pandemic
Connections

The pandemic has a school nurse missing her 'frequent fliers'

Your Week Ahead

Things to do online and in person, Dec. 14-27

sports

Ryan Fitzpatrick is no journeyman; his is a story of equal parts determination and talent

Time for Kyrie Irving to do his talking on the basketball court

Julian Edelman will be inactive for Sunday?s game vs. Dolphins

metro

State reports 3,995 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, 47 new deaths

Ralph K. Winter Jr., a top conservative judicial mind, dies at 85

An off-duty officer crashed into a disabled grandmother. A year later, she?s still fighting City Hall

Nation

Pre-holiday push for virus tests stresses taxed system

President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris introduce members of their climate and energy team

Warp Speed chief accepts blame for reduced vaccine doses but creates new confusion about quality control

World

In a tough year, a nativity scene ?that has had problems?

Europe is paying less than US for many coronavirus vaccines

UN head stresses need of virus vaccine for all nations

politics

Trump discussed naming campaign lawyer as special counsel

Providence City Councilor resigns from leadership over transgender remarks

Pompeo says Russia was behind cyberattack on US

business

The pandemic crushed businesses on Boston?s Water Street. More devastating: The effects ripple around the world

How the pandemic affected a city block downtown

CDC advisory panel votes to recommend Moderna?s COVID-19 vaccine

lifestyle

9 light displays for oohs and aahs by automobile

How is he so sure about me?

Stressed about your kids? screen time? Don?t be

marijuana

Two new commissioners tapped for Massachusetts marijuana agency

Chief of staff to ex-mayor of Fall River pleads guilty to extortion, bribery charges

Marijuana found concealed in shampoo bottle at Logan Airport Friday

opinion

The climate challenges and opportunities ahead

Write shorter messages

Boston is setting an example on fair housing. Will other communities follow?

food & dining

Restaurants aren?t failing. They are being failed.

5 savory thank-yous for all the cooks tied to the kitchen this year

Recipe: Homemade grainy, nutty digestive biscuits, similar to Graham crackers, make a fine gift

travel

Stressed about your kids? screen time? Don?t be

Author and cult expert talks Fiji, diving, and future grand plans

In the race to lure back travelers, vacations in nature are winning

Books

Caught between Boston and Quincy in ?The Last American Aristocrat?

Celebrating Nora Barnacle in ?Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce?

Robin Wall Kimmerer on reading for ?the richness of the gifts around you?

Movies

Here are 10 excellent movies (and 25 runners-up) from a not-so-excellent year

This time, Ken Burns is the subject of a documentary

?Greenland?: When a comet hits, stay close to Gerard Butler ? and far from Tampa

Television

?L.A. Law,? ?Night Court? sequels reportedly in the works

With clever comedies and transporting dramas, TV offered some great escapes

Matthew Gilbert?s 10 best shows of 2020

music

In a year divided by before and after, pop music became whatever you wanted it to be

With sleigh bells jingling, the Pops puts on a holiday show in your home instead of theirs

The local recordings that helped us through 2020

Theater/Dance

This virtual ?Christmas Revels? is a virtual triumph

Six bright spots in dance this year

These theaters innovated amid a dramatic change of scene

globe local

Will the ?great conjunction? of Jupiter and Saturn even be viewable for us in New England?

Is this the beginning of the end for space savers?

Welcome Home offers curbside pickup for gently used housewares

Obituaries

Ralph K. Winter Jr., a top conservative judicial mind, dies at 85

Takashi Oka, journalist who interpreted Japan for US, dies at 96

Karen Killilea dies; subject of ?Karen? was keystone of family that pushed for disability rights