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UNDER THE WHEEL

This is the story of Anthony Pledger and his mother, of Anthony’s lives and deaths, of Anthony and me.

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‘In my 32 years of living I noticed something: people hate the truth. The truth is ugly.’

Anthony Pledger

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New England is warming faster than the rest of the planet, new study finds

The region is warming significantly faster than global average temperatures, and that rate is expected to accelerate as more greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere and dangerous feedback loops contribute to climate change.

Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot to be cleared for younger teens

US regulators are planning to clear Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shot for younger adolescents on Monday, expanding access at a time when researchers have found that an additional vaccine dose provides better protection against the widely circulating Omicron variant.
This year's First Night in Boston will have vaccinations, boosters, and COVID-19 tests

hospitalizations forecast
These charts show how much COVID-19 is expected to surge in the US and Mass., according to projection models
COVID-19 cases are surging across the country and the state, largely driven by the rise in the highly transmissible Omicron variant. According to projection models, the situation is only expected to worsen.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

As at-home tests surge, doubts rise about the accuracy of public COVID counts

Opinion
Haitian migrants rest outside a shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sept. 26, where they awaited their immigration resolution.
EDITORIAL

It’s past time for America to do right by Haiti

The Biden administration needs a new policy toward migrants fleeing violence and poverty and to get behind grassroots democratic reform.
Géralde Gabeau, executive director of Immigrant Family Services Institute, Inc., smiles outside of the JFK building in Boston in September to protest the treatment of Haitian migrants by the Biden administration.
Ruthzee Louijeune

Every level of government must do more for Haitian migrants
President Biden delivers opening remarks at the virtual Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9.
IDEAS | FRANK VOGL

Stopping international corruption begins here at home
The human propensity for storytelling makes us particularly receptive to narratives of good vs. evil, as in the "Star Wars" series. LUCASFILM
IDEAS | Jonathan Gottschall

Our fondness for narratives is driving us mad
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick speaks during a news conference in September in Foxboro.
Joan Vennochi

In praise of the reporter who asked Bill Belichick his New Year’s resolutions
Mass. coronavirus at a glance
Vaccinations
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Trend:
1+ dose received:
Fully vaccinated:
Cases and deaths
Total cases:
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Total deaths:
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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
Our Beautiful Resistance
Behind the scenes of A Beautiful Resistance, Season 2 with Jeneé Osterheldt, Chaney Carlson-Bullock, Daymian Mejia, and Katherine Otuechere. ( Created and produced by Jeneé Osterheldt/Globe Staff, Directed and edited by Chaney Carlson-Bullock, First Assistant Director Mikayla Litevich, Supervising Producer Caitlin Healy/Globe Staff, Illustrations by Paula Champagne )
A Beautiful Resistance | Jeneé Osterheldt

Behind the scenes of Season 2

We didn't just feature Black folk in front of the camera. We teamed up with three local visual storytellers to help direct and film every episode.
Watch Season 2 Follow @abeautifulresistance on Instagram
New Year's Eve display arrives in Times Square on Dec. 20.

New Year’s Eve plans canceled? Here are some ways to ring in the New Year

If the resurgence of COVID-19 has scrapped your plans for a large New Year’s Eve party, or you’re opting for a safer way to celebrate, here are some ideas on how to welcome in the New Year.
Spam musabi at Wusong Road.
QUICK BITE

Despite a few bumps, Wusong Road is on the fast track to becoming a local favorite

Jason Doo opens a Hong Kong-style deli and Chinese-American tiki bar in Harvard Square.
More restaurant news: Cafe Sushi planfs a Japanese deli; Toscanini’s original location returns
Jakobi Meyers and the Patriots split their two meetings with the Bills this season.
Chad Finn

What if the Patriots and Bills meet for a third time in the playoffs?

After splitting their first two games this season, the possibility of a rubber match in the playoffs is a very real thing, and we say bring it on.
Ben Volin | On Football: Has Mac Jones hit the dreaded rookie wall?

More recent stories

Author Joan Didion posed for a photograph in her New York apartment in September 2007. Didion, the revered author and essayist whose provocative social commentary and detached, methodical literary voice made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of a uniquely turbulent time, died on Dec. 23 at the age of 87.
‘Nobody wrote sentences like her’: A Didion scholar talks the enduring magic of the late writer’s prose
"She would describe the situations and let you have the feelings," said Kathleen Vandenberg, a Boston University professor whose book on Joan Didion's writing was published earlier this year.

Biogen headquarters in Cambridge.
Biogen shares slide as Samsung denies report of takeover talks
An article from the Korea Economic Daily said the Cambridge-based biotech had approached Samsung about a takeover.

A Tesla Model 3 vehicle on an auto carrier in front of a store in Rocklin, California.
Tesla recalls over 475,000 US cars on camera, trunk issues
The cable harness for the rear-view camera may be damaged by opening and closing the trunk and prevent the image from displaying, it told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Bishop’s 4th Street Diner in Newport is a mainstay of the area, but after 54 years in the same spot, they have to move because of local development in the area. Owners Steve and Vickie Bishop share a laugh with a customer.
After 54 years, Bishop’s 4th Street Diner, a Newport mainstay, is looking to move
The modular dining room at Bishop’s 4th Street Diner has served tourists, locals, and Navy men in Newport since the 1960s. But come Jan. 31, 2022, that streak might end.

MISS CONDUCT
Advice: My friend billed me after I attended her birthday party
Plus, is it appropriate to wish someone a “happy” birthday when they’re seriously ill?

Forecast | Dave Epstein
A woman and her dog walked down the Neponset trail in Ashmont in February during a snow storm.
Where is winter?
The lack of cold and snow so far is not what people in Southern New Englanders are used to.

THE GREAT DIVIDE ⟶

See the latest from our education team focused on race, class, and opportunity in schools.

RHODE ISLAND ⟶

See the latest from Globe Rhode Island.

NEWTON ⟶

See the Globe’s expanded Newton coverage in partnership with Boston University.

Recommended reads

Clockwise from top left: Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, President Biden, former hockey player Jimmy Hayes, people waiting in line at a COVID-19 testing site, and former Globe reporter Jack Thomas.

The Globe’s 10 most read stories of 2021

As the year comes to a close and we prepare to enter 2022, we’re taking a look back at the stories that resonated most with our readers.

A corrections officer performed a routine head count inside a special treatment unit at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. A prison-wide lockdown in early 2020 in response to a prisoner riot generated a record number of grievances, almost all of which were rejected.
‘Rubber stamp’ justice? In Mass., prison officials almost always deny prisoners’ claims of abuse behind bars
A Globe review of more than 1,500 prisoner grievances filed at the state’s six largest prisons found that incarcerated men seldom prevail when they allege they've been abused.

Globe Magazine
The best photos of 2021 from Boston Globe photographers.
The 24 best photos of the year by Boston Globe photographers
Staff photographers share how and why they captured some of the most memorable images of 2021.

Pharmacist intern Kevin Kim of VaxinateRx administered a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children age 5-11 to Cameron Godsoe, 6, as his sister Isabella, 8, and mother, Kristen, watched during a vaccination clinic at A. W. Coolidge Middle School in Reading.
Hospitals prepare for more children, but so far, few are getting very sick from Omicron
Boston Children’s Hospital, which cares for the region’s sickest children, had 17 children with COVID-19 in the hospital this week, up from six on Nov. 23.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Fela Kuti, shown in the 2014 documentary "Finding Fela."

Artists past and present, podcasts, rarities, and songs that hit the spot: Our favorite music discoveries of the year
Getting fresh air is one way to stay sane during quarantine.

Found yourself in quarantine? We asked public health experts for suggestions on how to spend the time
A room with a fireplace? Yes, please. The Rose Room at Castle Hill Inn, shown here, is one option.
TRAVEL

The snuggle is real: These are the five coziest inns for a winter getaway
What will travel look like this year?
CHRISTOPHER MUTHER

What experts say about planning your 2022 vacation as Omicron surges

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

Shoes worn on court by Enes Kanter Freedom of the Boston Celtics.
Enes Kanter Freedom

The Boston Celtics, my political activism, and a call for greater freedom
A restaurant in San Francisco.
IDEAS | Lakshmi Ganapathi and Ramnath Subbaraman

The equity-enhancing power of mandates
In America, sheep have long been prized for their wool. Their meat? Not so much.
IDEAS | IKER SAITUA

The long history of Americans’ sheepishness about lamb
Richard Sackler, the former president of Purdue Pharma, appears in a 2015 deposition video.
EDITORIAL

Throwing out the $4.5 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma is the right call
OPINION

Words of the Year
"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

Metro

Coronavirus Live Updates

As at-home tests surge, doubts rise about the accuracy of public COVID counts

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

Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot to be cleared for younger teens

US regulators are planning to clear Pfizer's COVID-19 booster shot for younger adolescents on Monday, expanding access at a time when researchers have found that an additional vaccine dose provides better protection against the widely circulating Omicron variant.

New Year’s Eve plans canceled? Here are some ways to ring in the New Year

If the resurgence of COVID-19 has scrapped your plans for a large New Year’s Eve party, or you’re opting for a safer way to celebrate, here are some ideas on how to welcome in the New Year.

A First Night in Boston with vaccinations, boosters, and COVID tests

City officials on Thursday urged First Night Boston revelers to take precautions amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and said vaccinations, boosters, and rapid tests will be available at Friday’s annual downtown bash.

Sports

Jakobi Meyers and the Patriots split their two meetings with the Bills this season.
Chad Finn

What if the Patriots and Bills meet for a third time in the playoffs?

After splitting their first two games this season, the possibility of a rubber match in the playoffs is a very real thing, and we say bring it on.
Players from the Slovakian team pose for a team photo after the IIHF junior world hockey championship was cancelled in Red Deer, Alberta on Wednesday.
live updates

COVID-19 sports updates: 2022 World Junior Hockey championship canceled

We’ll be tracking the latest news, including postponements, positive tests, and other adjustments.
Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown was on the turf after he was sacked by Oklahoma in the first half.
Alamo Bowl: Oklahoma 47, Oregon 32

Oklahoma rushes past Anthony Brown, Oregon in Alamo Bowl

Brown, the former Boston College quarterback, had 306 yards passing in a losing effort.
Gary Washburn | On Basketball

It’s not just 3-pointers — something is clearly missing on the Celtics
WEDNESDAY'S SCHOOLS BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

Newton North offense finds the zone, tops Catholic Memorial for Garden City Classic title
Clippers 91, Celtics 82

Air-balls, rim-robbers, and wide-open misses doom Celtics in loss to Clippers

Business

US weekly unemployment claims drop to 198,000

The numbers suggest that the fast-spreading omicron variant has yet to trigger a wave of layoffs.

From a giant pot brownie to a Dunkin’ duck, 2021 marked another weird year for Boston businesses

You don’t need to look far to see the wackier side of the Boston business world emerge from hibernation as we wrap up year two of a seemingly interminable pandemic, even if many of us remain stuck in WFH mode.

Tesla recalls over 475,000 US cars on camera, trunk issues

Biogen shares slide as Samsung denies report of takeover talks

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
The best photos of 2021 from Boston Globe photographers.
2021

The 24 best photos of the year by Globe photographers
best features

The top 12 most popular Globe Magazine stories of 2021
Dave Barry looks back at the newsmakers of 2021.
GLOBE MAGAZINE

Dave Barry’s 2021 Year in Review: A variant of 2020, so to speak
Jonathan Way plays with two coyotes he helped raise at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham in 2004.
GLOBE MAGAZINE

This scientist bottle-fed and bayed with coyotes. Was he sidelined for loving them too much?

metro

There's still time to skate at the BankNewport City Center rink in downtown Providence.

The best things to do in Rhode Island right now: Jan. 1-7

US children hospitalized with COVID in near-record numbers

Watch live: Mayor Wu holds a press conference on First Night

sports

FILE - The Nets decided their point guard would practice with them and play road games, even though he remains unable to play at home because he doesn’t meet New York City’s vaccine mandate.

Kyrie Irving returns to Nets practice, moves step closer to playing

Has Patriots quarterback Mac Jones hit the dreaded rookie wall?

What happened to the Patriots’ defense? Can they fix it?

business

A healthcare worker administers the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to a woman outside a polling station in South Africa.

Study finds positive results for J&J vaccine against Omicron in South Africa

Left behind in pandemic, Africa aims for vaccine self-reliance

Denver shootings suspect wrote books previewing attacks

politics

President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden, Putin to hold call as Russia-Ukraine tension smolders

Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to speak Thursday as Russia steps up security demands

Biden, Putin to hold call over stepped up security demands

Nation

Fans take a COVID-19 test in the parking lot of the Honda Center before an NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Vancouver Canucks, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, in Anaheim, Calif.

As at-home tests surge, doubts rise about the accuracy of public COVID counts

Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot to be cleared for younger teens

US children hospitalized with COVID in near-record numbers

World

Health workers take part in a protest outside the government building in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. As the fast-spreading coronavirus variant omicron rages through Western Europe, officials and experts in low-vaccinated Eastern Europe view it as a forewarning for what much of the region anticipates to be an imminent, post-holiday virus surge.

Low-vaccinated Eastern Europe braces for Omicron surge

Left behind in pandemic, Africa aims for vaccine self-reliance

US Navy seizes $4 million worth of heroin in Arabian Sea

opinion

Richard Sackler, the former president of Purdue Pharma, appears in a 2015 deposition video.

Throwing out the $4.5 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma is the right call

Truth and reconciliation at Mass. and Cass

The long history of Americans’ sheepishness about lamb

lifestyle

Author Joan Didion posed for a photograph in her New York apartment in September 2007. Didion, the revered author and essayist whose provocative social commentary and detached, methodical literary voice made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of a uniquely turbulent time, died on Dec. 23 at the age of 87.

‘Nobody wrote sentences like her’: A Didion scholar talks the enduring magic of the late writer’s prose

Despite a few bumps, Wusong Road is on the fast track to becoming a local favorite

Cafe Sushi plans a Japanese deli; Toscanini’s original location returns

food & dining

Spam musabi at Wusong Road.

Despite a few bumps, Wusong Road is on the fast track to becoming a local favorite

Cafe Sushi plans a Japanese deli; Toscanini’s original location returns

Recipes: Tortilla soup and two more spicy soups to warm a winter night

travel

What will travel look like this year?

What experts say about planning your 2022 vacation as Omicron surges

This Legoland deal included tickets. Where are they?

Ancient works in Vermont, a traveling stand-up desk, and a new hotel in Seattle

Arts

Documentary photographer Henry Horenstein has two exhibitions opening Jan. 7.

Photographer Henry Horenstein elevates the overlooked with shows in Portsmouth and Boston

In Helina Metaferia’s show at the MFA, an ‘army of women’ wear history on their heads

In SoWa Art + Design District, video gallery brings art to the sidewalk 24/7

Books

Novelist Mameve Medwed photographed in the third floor study of her Cambridge home. Medwed, whose seven witty novels included “Mail” and “How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life,” died Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021.

Mameve Medwed, novelist with an ‘irrepressible sense of humor,’ dies at 79

Away in a manger in ‘The First Christmas’

She reads about politics — and everything else

Movies

Delbert Ward, in "Brother's Keeper."

True crime; doubtful solutions

‘Green’ technology of a different sort

They called him ‘The Torso Killer’

Television

From left: Desmond Chiam, Mark Indelicato, and Emeraude Toubia in "With Love."

Happy trumps sappy on Amazon’s ‘With Love’

Seven TV shows that were major disappointments this year

Fans thank Issa Rae, ‘Insecure’ for its portrayal of growth — and its representation of Black women

music

Fela Kuti, shown in the 2014 documentary "Finding Fela."

Artists past and present, podcasts, rarities, and songs that hit the spot: Our favorite music discoveries of the year

Hey, what’s that sound?

Speaking of Shane MacGowan, and for him: ‘I think he’s getting his mojo back. But it’s been a painful process.’

Theater/Dance

Gregg Mozgala and Shannon DeVido in the Huntington's "Teenage Dick."

‘Teenage Dick’ closes early at the Huntington due to COVID cases

Six local New Year’s Eve comedy shows to help you get the last laugh on 2021

On New Year’s Eve, a cautious return to comedy

globe local

Molly Smith, 5, listened during the Young Scientist STEM program event Dec. 8 at the Northborough Free Library.

Local libraries are writing new chapters during the pandemic

The mouse in the muffins

Officer offers a helping hand to a wayward cat

Obituaries

Mameve Medwed, who filled her novels with humor and heartbreak, dies at 79. She posed in Cambridge on April 23, 1997.

Mameve Medwed, who filled her novels with humor and heartbreak, dies at 79

J.D. Crowe, banjo virtuoso and bluegrass innovator, dies at 84

Keri Hulme, New Zealand’s first Booker Prize winner, dies at 74