fb-pixel Skip to main content
The Boston Globe
TRENDING:

Coronavirus

Omicron forces an upheaval in outpatient treatment

Two types of monoclonal antibodies, which physicians have relied on to keep high-risk patients from falling seriously ill, do not work against Omicron. A third is effective but in short supply.

As coronavirus cases surge and the holiday season approaches, many have found it difficult to find a COVID-19 test, or have had to wait in long lines to get tested.
Inside the Biden administration’s failure to avert a coronavirus testing shortfall
Nearly a full year into President Biden’s term, as the virus has mutated its way through the Greek alphabet to the Omicron variant, testing is in short supply in many places, leaving frustrated Americans waiting in long lines for tests — if they can get them at all.

How to try to distinguish between Omicron symptoms and other respiratory illnesses, like the common cold
COVID-19: THE LATEST

More than 1,500 Christmas Eve flights canceled due to Omicron; CDC shortens COVID isolation period for health care workers

Mass. coronavirus at a glance
Vaccinations
.
Trend:
1+ dose received:
Fully vaccinated:
Cases and deaths
Total cases:
.
Total deaths:
.
Other resources:
Last updated: . NOTE: Mass DPH releases data Monday-Friday starting July 2021. Mass. population of 6,892,503 is used to calculate vaccination percentages. SOURCE: Mass. Dept. of Public Health
A Beautiful Resistance | Jeneé Osterheldt

From bell hooks to Virgil Abloh to your local creatives, the arts contribute to radical change

Activism requires organizers, policy, and protest. But first, there is imagination.
The Questions, featuring Derecka Purnell Follow @abeautifulresistance on Instagram See more from A Beautiful Resistance
Big Lux's Beautiful Resistance: A Veteran's Violin Sings Black Lives Matter
Created and produced by Jeneé Osterheldt/Globe Staff, Directed and edited by Daymian Mejia, Supervising Producer Caitlin Healy/Globe Staff, Illustrations by Paula Champagne, Photo by Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Opinion
Respiratory Therapist Angelika MacClellan (left) talks with nurse Natasha Cacciatore through a patients door in the Special Pathogens Unit ICU at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, on April 27, 2020.
EDITORIAL

The best tribute to health care workers? Follow the guidelines for staying healthy.

This year, the holiday spirit means respecting the burden on those who treat the sick and wounded.
A nurse from Brigham and Women's Hospital watches as demonstrators gather outside the Massachusetts State House in September to protest COVID-19 vaccination and mask mandates
Jeffrey L. Schnipper

Pandemic Christmas at the Brigham
Alex Beam

No, no, nocebo!
A utility crew places a toxic lead water pipe onto the road after extracting it from an apartment building and under the street in Newark, N.J., on Oct. 21. Newark city officials say crews have removed more than 22,000 lead pipes from private residential properties over the last few years and replaced them with new copper pipes.
Katherine Clark

Cleaning up America’s lead water pipes
It was Dec. 17, and I still had no tree.
Mary Ann D'Urso

This year, Christmas at my house got canceled
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at the piano recently installed in her office.

How Michelle Wu plans to transform the arts in Boston

The new mayor, a classically trained pianist, believes everyone in Boston, regardless of income, should have direct access to the arts.
Grace Gagnon and her dog.

A Boston woman posted to TikTok offering to swap homes with a stranger like the movie ‘The Holiday.’ She leaves for England next week

“Anyone in England want to switch places for the holiday?” Grace Gagnon, a 25-year-old Boston woman, wrote in a now-viral video posted to her TikTok account. “I have a studio [apartment] on Boston’s waterfront.”
Quarterback Mac Jones, who led the Patriots on a seven-game win streak, is coming off a loss to the Colts last Saturday night.

Will Patriots quarterback Mac Jones again be able to move past adversity, as he has done during his rookie season?

Jones knows there are ebbs and flows to every season, be it college or pro.

More recent stories

Former BC student pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of her boyfriend

Inyoung You admitted in Suffolk Superior Court that she sent tens of thousands of texts in what prosecutors called months of emotional and psychological abuse in the weeks leading up to the death of her boyfriend, Alexander Urtula.

Gary Lee Sampson, convicted of brutally murdering three men, dies in federal custody at 62

Gary Lee Sampson, an Abington native twice sentenced to death after brutally murdering three men in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in a single week in 2001, died Tuesday at the age of 62 in federal custody while his most recent appeal of his sentence was pending, records show.

Kim Potter guilty of manslaughter in Daunte Wright’s death

Jurors on Thursday convicted a former suburban Minneapolis police officer of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her Taser.

Jan. 6 committee focused on Trump’s silence as it weighs criminal referral

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is focusing intently on Donald Trump’s actions that day as it begins to discuss whether to recommend that the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into the former president.

Shanita Jefferson, pictured with her daughter Crisai and her mother, Angelia Jefferson.
For relatives of the incarcerated, holidays are marked by grief and loss
Thousands of families across the state with incarcerated relatives grapple with the acknowledgment of their loved ones’ mistakes and wrongdoings but nonetheless long to be with them.

KEVIN CULLEN
Tom Romano and his son, Robert, before Robert was deported and Tom severed his spinal cord in a fall.
The best Christmas present ever
The last few Christmases have not been so merry and bright for the Romanos.

Globe Santa

It takes a lot of elves to help Globe Santa

Like an elaborate stage performance, the Globe Santa operation involves lots of dedicated and creative individuals with different skills.

LEARN MORE ABOUT GLOBE SANTA

 Read the latest stories Make a donation. Make a difference.

Best of the holidays

People under the holiday lights on Boston Common.

9 places around Boston where you can get into the holiday spirit (for free)

Every holiday season comes with a gamut of things to do and gifts to buy, and it can take a toll on the old wallet. That got us thinking about some activities in and around the city where you can revel in the holiday spirit for free.
Boston is dressed in its wintery best. Here’s where to see Christmas trees, menorahs, and other decorations 20 family-friendly events to put you in the holiday spirit

Recommended reads

A cutaway rendering of SPARC, a compact, high-field, DT burning tokamak, currently under design by a team from MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Its mission is to create and confine a plasma that produces net fusion energy.

After years of doubts, hopes grow that nuclear fusion is finally for real and could help address climate change

After breakthroughs this year at MIT and elsewhere, scientists — and a growing number of deep-pocketed investors — insist that fusion is for real and could start sending power to electricity grids in about a decade.

Dr. Michael Mina.
Michael Mina can’t stop talking about the need for rapid COVID tests. The country may finally be listening. But is it too late?
“I feel we’ve learned so little despite so much pain,” said the former Brigham and Women’s epidemiologist.

Harvard scientist Charles Lieber leaves the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse midday, after a morning of jury selection in his trial. He is accused of lying to federal investigators about his ties to a Chinese talent program.
Harvard professor’s conviction brings scrutiny of China Initiative
After Harvard Professor Charles Lieber became the first academic convicted at trial under the Justice Department’s China Initiative, the former prosecutor who brought the case said the government should stop targeting researchers and focus on cases involving espionage and the theft of trade secrets.

Rapid tests are a good way to get an immediate answer so you can start quarantining to protect others if you do test positive, said Dr. Brian Hollenbeck, chief of infectious disease at New England Baptist Hospital, but they should be followed up with a PCR test if you have symptoms or have been exposed.
PCR or rapid antigen? Here’s how to use COVID tests to gather safely for the holidays
PCR tests detect the genetic material from the virus, while rapid antigen tests detect specific proteins from the coronavirus. Here is the best time to use each, and how to use them to gather safely with friends and family.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Ellis Paul closes out the year with a run of full-band shows at Club Passim.
THE TICKET

Things to do around Boston this weekend and beyond
Boston Ballet dancer Chyrstyn Fentroy (center) performs in the company's "Bach Cello Suites," at Jacob's Pillow in Becket in 2019.

‘Crying happy tears’: Chyrstyn Fentroy promoted to principal dancer at Boston Ballet
Pages from "Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art * Words and Wisdom," a new book curated by his daughter, Nora Guthrie

In a new book about Woody Guthrie, his daughter tells his story through what he left behind

Billy Conway died at age 65 after battling cancer for several years.
APPRECIATION

It didn’t take a lot for drummer Billy Conway to make a big impression

Special Projects

An older lobsterman passed by Tanner Lazaro as he hauled up his traps in his boat, Used N Abused, on Aug. 24. During the summer Tanner hauled his own traps on whatever days his mentor Frankie Thompson or another lobsterman didn't need his help.

The lobster trap

The plentiful catch that brought wealth to fishing families is at risk, as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine. A way of life is on the line, but lobstermen can't, or won't, imagine another.

The 2021 Top Places to Work in Massachusetts

Is your employer among the 150 companies to make the list?
Jeneé Osterheldt

A Beautiful Resistance

Black joy, Black lives, as celebrated by culture columnist Jeneé Osterheldt.

‘On the Street’: The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods

The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods.

Opinion, ideas, and commentary

NASA technicians lift the James Webb Space Telescope inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in 2017.
EDITORIAL

Peering into the darkness of the past to see a brighter future
"I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know how I’d pull it off." The author runs along a dilapidated street in Maracaibo.
IDEAS | ANTONIO MATHEUS

The lunacy of the long distance runner
Kerry Higdon gives her son Kol, 10, a math lesson in their home in Edinburg, Va., in September.
IDEAS | AMY CRAWFORD

Do-it-yourself education is on the rise
LETTERS

2021, in Globe readers’ own words
Joan Vennochi

A gift that touches the heart
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD

Editing the Constitution

Metro

RI HEALTH

Inside a R.I. hospital in crisis

The Globe went inside Kent Hospital, where the cafeteria is used as a room for COVID patients, as others are treated in tents outside.
Coronavirus Live Updates

More than 1,500 Christmas Eve flights canceled due to Omicron; CDC shortens COVID isolation period for health care workers

The latest news and guidance on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in New England and beyond.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley to say midnight Mass at Cathedral of the Holy Cross

The midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Christmas Eve will be preceded by a choral prelude at 11:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Catholic TV.

Racist, misogynist vitriol continues against Wu after vaccination policy announcement

Mayor Michelle Wu said hateful messages have been spewed not only at her, but also at workers on the city’s 311 hot line.

Sports

Randy Bullock kicked a 44-yard field goal with four seconds remaining for the Titans.
NFL: Titans 20, 49ers 10

Titans rally from 10 down at half, edge 49ers as Jimmy Garoppolo throws two interceptions

The Titans (10-5) are a win or a Colts' loss away from clinching their second straight AFC South.
Hawaii will not play in Friday's Hawaii bowl because of an outbreak
College football

Hawaii Bowl canceled on eve of game after Hawaii pulls out

About 30 Hawaii players and staff recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Allen Sills said, “We've got our hands full with symptomatic people.”
NFL

NFL chief medical officer: Asymptomatic people are not spreading COVID-19

Dr. Allen Sills said the key to controlling an outbreak is “symptom recognition and prompt testing.”
live updates

COVID-19 sports updates: Enes Kanter Freedom becomes eighth Celtic in protocol
Thursday's schools roundup

Max Jones, Colby LeBlanc lead Natick boys’ basketball past Framingham
Sports Log

Andy Murray gets wild-card entry into Australia Open

Business

Omicron is latest blow to pandemic-weary front-line workers

Staff absences for COVID-19 tripled this month in London’s hospitals, and nearly 10% of the city’s firefighters called out sick.

Israel plan to push ahead with fourth COVID jab may be scuttled

Israel’s plan to administer a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose to older adults and medical personnel may be delayed or abandoned if the country’s top health official fails to sign off on the program.

US consumer spending buffeted by fastest inflation in decades

Sales of new homes were up nationwide in November

STAT

Dr. Monica McLemore, Associate Professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department at UCSF, stands for a portrait at the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on Friday, September 10th, 2021 in Oakland, Calif.
‘Health equity tourists’: How white scholars are colonizing research on health disparities
A STAT investigation shows that researchers with little or no background or training in health equity research are rushing in to scoop up grants and publish papers.

Covid winter illustration
Winter is coming, again: What to expect from Covid-19 as the season looms
STAT spoke with infectious disease experts and others about what to expect from Covid-19 as the seasons change.

Funeral goers sing during a service for Daisy Pace at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in January 2021.
DISTANCED: Pandemic stories of Black life in the rural South
Photographer Bethany Mollenkof spent six months documenting the impact of Covid-19 on residents of rural Black communities in the South.

Boston, MA -- 05/12/21 -- Dr. Matthew Carty examines patient Jerry Majethic at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital on May 12, 2021, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Kayana Szymczak for STAT)
Groundbreaking arm amputation surgery makes a ‘phantom’ hand seem real
The procedure aims to restore proprioception, the ability to sense where our limbs are in space and how fast and forcefully they’re moving.

magazine
Immunlologist Kizzmekia Corbett and Boston's new mayor, Michelle Wu, on the cover of the Globe Magazine's 2021 Bostonians of the Year issue.
2021

Meet this year's Bostonians of the Year
Devin McCourty and Ruben DaSilva.
PERSPECTIVE

Devin McCourty and Tito SantosSilva on ending gang violence now

MISS CONDUCT

I'm heading to QAnon country for Christmas. How do I stay cool?

Salted Peanut and Caramel Tart.
Cooking

3 holiday tarts made with dough that doesn't need to be rolled

metro

Boston Latin School.

State reports record COVID-19 case count in schools as outbreak expands at Boston Latin School

Omicron forces an upheaval in outpatient treatment

Former BC student pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of her boyfriend

sports

James Harden has come off COVID-19 protocols in time to play for Steve Nash's Brooklyn Nets in their national TV meeting with the Lakers on Christmas, but plenty of his teammates weren't so lucky.

Brooklyn Nets will travel west and plan to play Christmas, but without Kevin Durant

Bruins lament another lost Olympic opportunity

After getting gashed by Patriots, Bills’ run defense focusing on one thing in rematch: tackling

business

Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Neutrogena, said it was recalling several Neutrogena and Aveeno aerosol sunscreen products in the US after low levels of benzene, a carcinogen, was found in the products.

FDA tells drugmakers to test for benzene contamination

Tesla to halt games on infotainment screens in moving cars

St. Regis Residences is getting a Seaport address

politics

Then President Donald Trump spoke at a rally with the White House in the background, in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Lawyers for former President Trump on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to block the release of White House records concerning the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, arguing that he had a constitutional right to shield the materials from Congress even though President Biden declined to invoke executive privilege over them.

Trump asks Supreme Court to block release of Jan. 6 records

Trump asks Supreme Court to block release of Jan. 6 records

US delays intelligence center targeting foreign influence

Nation

Delta Air Lines airplanes at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.

More than 1,500 Christmas Eve flights canceled due to Omicron; CDC shortens COVID isolation period for health care workers

Omicron is latest blow to pandemic-weary front-line workers

More than 1,500 Christmas Eve flights canceled globally because of Omicron

World

A woman reads messages on her mobile phone while waiting in a bank queue in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.

COVID-19 spike worsens Africa’s severe poverty, hunger woes

South Africa to stop quarantines as 80 percent have past infection

US effort to combat forced labor targets corporate China ties

opinion

It was Dec. 17, and I still had no tree.

This year, Christmas at my house got canceled

Peering into the darkness of the past to see a brighter future

Health care for formerly incarcerated people helps everyone

lifestyle

Elf on the Shelf figures piled in a box at the company's studio Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Atlanta.

Beware the Elf on the Shelf, privacy watchdogs warn

Top places to ring in the New Year in Rhode Island

Where to find the best whoopie pies around New England

food & dining

Bartender Lillian Ferranti pouring a Manhattan inside Hyde, a new speakeasy in Providence, Rhode Island.

Top places to ring in the New Year in Rhode Island

Where to find the best whoopie pies around New England

Wusong Road softly opens in Harvard Square; Vermont’s Spruce Peak serves comfort food, slope-side

travel

.

New Year’s at the Mystic museum, curling at the Liberty Hotel, and a test lab in the palm of your hand

Jenna Rubaii seeks out parks and the unexpected when traveling

It’s OK to vacation like an adult

Arts

Visitors at "Imagine Van Gogh" at the SoWa Power Station.

‘Imagine Van Gogh’ doesn’t leave much to the imagination

Adria Arch, known for airborne sculptures, grounds herself with ‘The Visitors’

Italy obscura: Photographer Abelardo Morell opens the mind’s eye

Books

Away in a manger in ‘The First Christmas’

She reads about politics — and everything else

Examining truth and consequences in ‘Trust’

Movies

Just another night in 1973, from "Licorice Pizza."

Movies set in the ’70s: Getting beyond disco and double knits

A Boston woman posted to TikTok offering to swap homes with a stranger like the movie ‘The Holiday.’ She leaves for England next week

Doc Talk: Slavery today, the tragic end of a rap legend

Television

From left: Ken Bolden, Sandra Oh, and Mark Philip Stevenson in a scene from "The Chair."

‘The Chair’ got academia right, romance wrong

Natasha Rothwell is ready to be the lead of her own rom-com

‘Summer of Soul,’ ‘Drive My Car’ make Oscars shortlist

music

Billy Conway died at age 65 after battling cancer for several years.

It didn’t take a lot for drummer Billy Conway to make a big impression

A Far Cry makes space for complex grief with ‘Flames to Ashes’

On Christmas Eve, Eric Jackson plans a cool Yule while Oedipus unwraps some radio rarities

Theater/Dance

"The Christmas Revels" canceled its six remaining post-Christmas shows at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge.

Enter, stage left: Omicron

On Boston stages, these three supporting players are showstoppers

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ still strikes a powerful chord

globe local

South Boston12/22/21 A long line formed early Wednesday morning at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library as antigen rapid test kits for COVID-19 were handed out free. The tests give results in15 minutes and four for household were given out. Each kit performs two tests. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff (metro)

Boston is almost out of free rapid COVID tests, officials say, but a few remain available Thursday night

She dances for the two of them, with grace and love

Should Massachusetts require eligible voters to cast ballots in November elections?

Obituaries

Author Joan Didion in her New York apartment in 2005. Didion has died at age 87, her publisher announced.

Joan Didion, peerless prose stylist, dies at 87

Chuck Hunt, the state’s first ‘first husband,’ remembered for his ‘kindness toward the least powerful’

Anne Emerman, champion of disability rights, dies at 84