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THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

COVID hospital admissions show Omicron spreading to West Coast

11:30 p.m.
Some COVID patients could spread virus after 10 days, study says
10:10 p.m.
Unvaccinated women with COVID are more likely to lose fetuses and infants, Scottish data shows
10:04 p.m.
Mass. Dept. of Public Health closes 3 unlicensed COVID-19 testing sites

18,721 confirmed cases and 36 deaths. See today’s COVID-19 data from Mass.

Here’s a look at the latest coronavirus numbers in Massachusetts, including case numbers, deaths, demographics, and more.

Mass. reports 41,063 new coronavirus cases among public school students and 7,351 among staff

Town-by-town COVID-19 data in Massachusetts

Hundreds of doctors, scientists sign petition demanding Spotify take action against COVID misinformation, sparked by Joe Rogan podcast

Head of Oath Keepers militia group charged with seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

Ten other people also were charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack.

Prosecutors getting tough with seditious conspiracy indictment filed against Oath Keepers in Jan. 6 probe, legal experts say Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel

Harmony Montgomery’s mother says her calls for help went unheeded by Manchester officials

What kind of prosecutors do Massachusetts voters want? DA races raise profound questions about a powerful position

Bruins 3, Flyers 2

It’s David Pastrnak’s turn for a hat trick as Bruins beat Flyers

The Supreme Court.

Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses, allows mandate for most health care workers

The court’s conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the vaccine-or-test rule on US businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected.

Businesses react to ruling against Biden vaccine mandate

Paul Deuterio, co-owner of Galleria Umberto in the North End, decided to pivot to takeout only until Mayor Michelle Wu's proof-of-vaccination mandate is no longer in effect.

‘Mission impossible’: With Boston’s proof-of-vaccination mandate set to begin, businesses worry

With the rules set to take effect Saturday, some retailers say the mandate is starting to feel like yet another COVID-related burden on the backs of businesses the pandemic has hurt the most.

Dr. Anthony Fauci testified at a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

‘Just about everybody’ will become exposed to Omicron COVID variant, Fauci says

The nation’s top infectious disease expert is warning that almost everyone will become exposed to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and among those who become infected, people who are unvaccinated will have more severe outcomes.

The driest of dry Januarys

There are all these stories about COVID fatigue. I have COVID fatigue fatigue.

Everything you need to know about masks

DAVE EPSTEIN | FORECAST

Temperatures will plunge again before a strong storm hits the region, but the forecast is still uncertain

Over the next few days, we’re going to be watching two weather events: one of them simply a cold blast and the other a strong storm.

An "I Voted" sticker lies on a wet driveway outside the Sunset Lakes Community Center.

A Democrat won a US House seat this week with 79 percent of the vote. Her GOP opponent has not conceded

An election in South Florida this week may serve as a marker for where the Republican Party stands in 2022, and how much American democracy has already changed since Donald Trump lost reelection.

Sirhan Sirhan arrived for a parole hearing on Aug. 27, 2021, in San Diego, Calif.

California governor denies RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan parole

Governor Gavin Newsom rejected a recommendation from a two-person panel of parole commissioners. Newsom said Sirhan, now 77, poses an unreasonable threat to public safety.

Read the statement from RFK’s widow and 6 children on the decision not to release Sirhan Sirhan

US Attorney Rachael Rollins during a media round table Thursday.

US Attorney Rachael Rollins talks of threats, priorities, and the work ahead

Rollins said that while she was unnerved by racist threats she received after becoming the first Black woman appointed and confirmed to the position, she remains focused on the work ahead.

Opinion

Kevin McCarthy accused the Jan. 6 committee of abuse of power, saying it seeks “to interview me about public statements that have been shared with the world ... I have nothing else to add." Certainly, that's not true.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr

When it comes to subpoenas, Congress must use its power or lose it

Jan. 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson must create real consequences for those who flout congressional authority. He can start inside his own chamber by compelling the testimony of minority leader Kevin McCarthy.

Senator Ed Markey, seen here at press conference outside the US Capitol on Oct. 7, has suggested that Joe Manchin, President Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi sit in a room and determine what they can agree upon in regard to Build Back Better.

Democrats need to get real on Build Back Better

Voting rights activists march on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on June 26.

Voting is sacred

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald talks to a reporter in 2019.

Plymouth County jail needs more oversight

Pro-mask and non-mask wearing demonstrators face off at the Cobb County School Board Headquarters in Marietta, Ga., last August.

IDEAS | ERIKA COHEN

I chair the school board in Derry, N.H., and I’m afraid

More recent stories

Gary Washburn | On basketball

Dennis Schröder leaves Celtics in a quandary

The guard's inconsistency has created problems for a team looking for a reliable third scoring option.

Cambridge man achieves justice as Australian convicted in brother’s 1988 gay hate crime killing

For years, Australian police had insisted the death was suicide, but in 2017 the incident was reclassified as a gay hate killing amid a painful reckoning over the violence endured by gay people in the Sydney area during the 1980s and 1990s and police indifference to such crimes.

Senator Sinema reiterates opposition to eliminating filibuster, likely dooming Democrats’ chances of reformed voting

Democrats’ hopes of passing voting rights legislation - after months of Republican opposition - were crushed on Thursday after Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she would not support changing the Senate rules, which allow a minority of senators to block legislation.

RNC threatens to stop candidate participation in presidential debates

Freedom may be months away, but Brockton family rejoices over William Allen’s commuted life sentence

Relatives gloried in his second chance at life after spending nearly 28 years in prison.

After tent encampments are cleared at Mass. and Cass, need for long-term solution remains clear

Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday’s effort was just one step in a long process of addressing homelessness and addiction.

CHRISTOPHER MUTHER

This Caribbean island is worth the effort, if you’re willing to put in the work

Our travel writer thought he had encountered a Caribbean disaster in San Andrés, until he found a golf cart and attitude adjustment.

Special Project

UNDER THE WHEEL

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

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

Friends and family of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery gathered at Bass Island Park in Manchester to put up fliers and hold a candlelight vigil.

Prior to Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance, a series of police visits and a father’s history of violence

Was Adam Montgomery’s criminal history — which included pleading guilty to armed assault to murder and firearms offenses — scrutinized before he obtained custody of Harmony?

Protests on Michelle Wu’s doorstep over vaccine mandate are the latest example of political demonstrations hitting close to home

Loud protests, some early in the morning, outside the home of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in Roslindale have frustrated neighbors and tested the boundaries of public expression and personal privacy.

YVONNE ABRAHAM

I’m running to be the state’s next lieutenant governor. Why not?

This absolutely spectacular job, a springboard to nowhere, is everything I have been working toward all these years.

What kind of prosecutors do Massachusetts voters want? DA races raise profound questions about a powerful position

Residents in at least three counties will elect new prosecutors this year. The contests — amidst the wave of calls for criminal justice reform — have the potential to push district attorney’s races long considered down-ballot afterthoughts to the political forefront.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Alvin Ailey (pictured in the 1950s with Misaye Kawasaki, Larry Maldonado, and Lelia Goldoni of the Lester Horton Dance Group) in a scene from the documentary "Ailey."

Things to do around Boston this weekend and beyond

"The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a grassy Bench."

Drawing discovered in Concord, and believed to be an original Dürer, to be exhibited during Master Drawings New York

The family behind Pan's Pizza in South Hero Vermont: Sani Pasagic, Justine Zolotas, Anne Zolotas, and Alexander Zolotas

In South Hero, Vt., a pizza place goes pay-what-you-can. Customers’ good will followed.

Actor John Cena as Peacemaker in the upcoming HBO Max Original series of the same name.

John Cena on ‘Peacemaker,’ rocking to ’80s hair metal, and what it means to grow up in New England

Special Projects

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, then president of Brigham Health, brought a Boston delegation in April 2018 to celebrate the opening of the Boao Evergrande International Hospital in China, constructed in a new medical tourism hub.

Spotlight team report

How Brigham Health helped create a Chinese hospital for elites — and almost nobody came

In a deal worth millions with Chinese developer Evergrande, a Harvard teaching hospital risked its reputation on what would become a near-empty shell.

Hanson-11/20/2021- Hingham vs Natick in the MIAA Division1 title game.
The Natick girls soccer team celebrate their Division 1 MIAA win over Hingham at Whitman - Hanson High school. Photo by Debee Tlumacki for the Boston Globe (sports)

Meet the Globe’s Fall 2021 All-Scholastics

The Globe salutes the region's best high school athletes and coaches in the seven fall sports.

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.

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Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald talks to a reporter in 2019.

Plymouth County jail needs more oversight

Pro-mask and non-mask wearing demonstrators face off at the Cobb County School Board Headquarters in Marietta, Ga., last August.

IDEAS | ERIKA COHEN

I chair the school board in Derry, N.H., and I’m afraid

A Boston University staff member helps arrange returned COVID test swabs from students, staff, and others at the university's COVID testing collection kiosk on the campus on Aug. 26, 2021.

Haley Sullivan and Leah Pierson

With students remote, universities should put COVID-19 testing capacity to good use

At the Eliot K-8 Innovation School in Boston, 5-year-old Aria Marci gets support from school principal Traci Griffith as she prepares to receive her second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 15, 2021.

BPS needs a democratic vision for the future of open-enrollment schools

Governor Baker loves to dwell on numbers that make his case that Massachusetts is doing better than most everyone else. But it takes more than numbers to make people feel better.

Governor Baker, we have a COVID-19 data problem

Kareem Farah, who founded the Modern Classrooms Project, in his classroom in Washington, D.C., in 2017.

IDEAS | THOMAS ARNETT

A better way to do online learning

Metro

Coronavirus Live Updates

COVID hospital admissions show Omicron spreading to West Coast

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

Read the statement from RFK’s widow and 6 children on the decision not to release Sirhan Sirhan

"We are grateful to California Governor Gavin Newsom, and deeply relieved by his decision today to deny parole to the killer of Robert F. Kennedy," the family wrote in a statement released Thursday.

Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of the American Indian Movement, dies at 85

Mr. Bellecourt, whose Ojibwe name translated into “Thunder Before the Storm,” galvanized aggrieved but diffuse Native American dissidents after the publication of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (1970), a scathing chronicle of the government’s historic betrayal of Indian treaties.

After tent encampments are cleared at Mass. and Cass, need for long-term solution remains clear

Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday’s effort was just one step in a long process of addressing homelessness and addiction.

Sports

David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins in the first period.

Bruins 3, Flyers 2

It’s David Pastrnak’s turn for a hat trick as Bruins beat Flyers

It was Boston’s seventh win in its last eight games.

Dennis Schröder has been at his best so far in January, averaging 15 points, 3.8 assists, 1.5 turnovers in the past six games.

Gary Washburn | On basketball

Dennis Schröder leaves Celtics in a quandary

The guard's inconsistency has created problems for a team looking for a reliable third scoring option.

The start of spring training and the regular season hangs in the balance as players and owners attempt to reach a labor agreement.

Players unimpressed by Major League Baseball owners’ proposals

The proposals did not encompass every item on the wish list of the players, which was part of their disappointment.

Brad Marchand not named an All-Star; Patrice Bergeron will represent Bruins

Why the Patriots will likely lean on their running game again when they visit the Bills

Bills lineman Harrison Phillips has patiently and productively become a team leader

Business

Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses, allows mandate for most health care workers

The court’s conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the vaccine-or-test rule on US businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected.

Biden chooses 3 for Fed board, including first Black woman

President Biden will nominate three people for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, including former Fed official Sarah Bloom Raskin for the top regulatory slot and Lisa Cook, who would be the first Black woman to serve as a governor.

Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel

‘Mission impossible’: With Boston’s proof-of-vaccination mandate set to begin, businesses worry

STAT

Listen to our "First Opinion" podcast

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Listen to our "Readout LOUD" podcast

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Subscribe to STAT Plus

‘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.

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.

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.

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

I'm a woman of color often overlooked at work - until people realize I outrank them

The unexpected guest, “Mr. Cluck,” at the writer’s home in the Back Bay.

How rescuing a runaway chicken taught me about accepting others

It's been 50 years since the groundbreaking kids' show "Zoom" debuted on WGBH.

In 1972, the kids took over TV on the first "Zoom" to enter our homes

The roller-skating heroes who fought racism in Boston

metro

Steve Johnson posed for a portrait at his home in Cambridge.

Cambridge man achieves justice as Australian convicted in brother’s 1988 gay hate crime killing

US Attorney Rachael Rollins talks of threats, priorities, and the work ahead

Harmony Montgomery’s mother says her calls for help went unheeded by Manchester officials

sports

University of Michigan center Matty Beniers of Hingham is one of 15 college players named to 25-man roster for the US Olympic team.

US men’s hockey team will send a squad stocked with collegians to Beijing

Patriots’ secondary is hurting leading up to wild-card game against the Bills

Red Sox trailblazer Bianca Smith is heartened by signs of gender-diversity progress in baseball

business

A rendering of Wynn Resort’s proposed concert venue and parking garage across the street from Encore Casino in Everett.

Gaming commission postpones review of Wynn Resorts project

Businesses react to ruling against Biden vaccine mandate

Garrett Harker of Eastern Standard fame coming back to the Fenway with four new restaurants

politics

President Biden spoke to the media after meeting privately with Senate Democrats on Jan. 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Biden all but concedes defeat on voting, election bills

A Democrat won a US House seat this week with 79 percent of the vote. Her GOP opponent has not conceded

McCarthy rejects Jan. 6 committee request

Nation

Amy Mack lit candles at a memorial at Veteran's Park for the victims of a deadly Christmas parade crash in Waukesha, Wis., on Nov. 23, 2021.

Judge to decide if Wisconsin parade suspect will stand trial

COVID hospital admissions show Omicron spreading to West Coast

Some COVID patients could spread virus after 10 days, study says

World

A woman walks past a test center on Nov. 12, 2021, in Berlin, Germany.

Unvaccinated women with COVID are more likely to lose fetuses and infants, Scottish data shows

Russia, at an impasse with the West, warns it is ready to abandon diplomacy

US refines tool to evaluate Havana syndrome cases

opinion

A Boston University staff member helps arrange returned COVID test swabs from students, staff, and others at the university's COVID testing collection kiosk on the campus on Aug. 26, 2021.

With students remote, universities should put COVID-19 testing capacity to good use

Governor Baker, we have a COVID-19 data problem

Qualified progress on qualified immunity

lifestyle

Garrett Harker is locked in a lease dispute with his landlord, Urban Meritage, and the future of his trio of restaurants, Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and the Hawthorne are at risk.

Garrett Harker of Eastern Standard fame coming back to the Fenway with four new restaurants

Vicki Lee’s will become Ovenbird; Eastern Standard’s Garrett Harker plans new restaurants

Hundreds of doctors, scientists sign petition demanding Spotify take action against COVID misinformation, sparked by Joe Rogan podcast

food & dining

Garrett Harker is locked in a lease dispute with his landlord, Urban Meritage, and the future of his trio of restaurants, Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and the Hawthorne are at risk.

Garrett Harker of Eastern Standard fame coming back to the Fenway with four new restaurants

Vicki Lee’s will become Ovenbird; Eastern Standard’s Garrett Harker plans new restaurants

At da LaPosta, former Babbo chef Mario LaPosta switches from Seaport swank to neighborhood comfort

travel

Adam Pascal on a recent hike in Nevada.

Adam Pascal on TSA PreCheck, his crossword app, and ancient megalithic cultures

Exploring James Bond’s Jamaica

She canceled her Iceland trip in time. Where’s her refund?

Arts

The “Gods and Goddesses” gallery for Greek and Roman art at the Museum of Fine Arts, with Juno looming above all and Zeus in the foreground. The galleries reopened recently after a more than two-year renovation closure.

At the MFA, a sleeping giant awakens

Humanity hangs in the balance in Sally B. Moore’s ‘Teetering’

At Peabody Essex Museum, Bernie Krause’s symphony of the wild sounds an alarm

Books

Dangerous intoxications

‘The Hard Sell’ is a vivid tale of opioid firm showcased at Boston trial

Lisa Gardner: She reads for story, not genre

Movies

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi poses with the best screenplay award for "Drive My Car" last July at the Cannes Film Festival.

‘I think acting is an impossibly difficult thing’: Talking with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, director of ‘Drive My Car’

Two films to observe Martin Luther King Day

Doc Talk: garden-fresh ideas; portraits from the artist; prison diary

Television

Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten in "Station Eleven," with the titular graphic novel.

In ‘Station Eleven,’ the arts outlast an apocalypse

Steve Carell provides therapy under duress in ‘The Patient’

Even after finale, Dexter might not be gone for good

music

"I was just looking for something to make me feel normal again," Gregory Porter says about "Still Rising," a collection of new and older recordings he released in November.

After some of the darkest days of Gregory Porter’s life, music lights the way

From Berlin to the BSO: Pianist Igor Levit returns to Boston

Ronnie Spector, ’60s icon who sang ‘Be My Baby,’ dies at 78

Theater/Dance

Adam Pascal (in gray suit) and Olivia Valli in the production of "Pretty Woman: The Musical."

How ‘Pretty Woman’ became a head-turner

This driveway dancing duo is helping to lighten neighbors’ spirits

Comedian Demetri Martin has something he’d like to say, but he’ll keep it short

globe local

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, addressed marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963.

Newton to hold 54th Annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration Jan. 17

Newton limits NewMo rideshare trips to two passengers due to COVID-19 surge

Arbitrator rejects contract that would have required Methuen to pay some police captains $500,000 a year

Obituaries

Mr. Bellecourt worked for a half century to improve Indigenous rights.

Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of the American Indian Movement, dies at 85

Longtime high school hockey coach Bill Belisle dies

Ronnie Spector, ’60s icon who sang ‘Be My Baby,’ dies at 78