The Boston Globe

Baker spent $100,000 of campaign cash on MassGOP legal fight

Governor Charlie Baker is leaving office next year. His exit from Massachusetts Republican politics may not be so swift.

‘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.

Vaccine mandates for city workers, businesses, not meant to ‘punish’ people, Mayor Wu says Here’s how to prove your COVID-19 vaccine status through the state’s new website

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

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

11:13 a.m.
Conn. House member tests positive for virus a 2nd time
10:30 a.m.
Mayor Wu: vaccine mandates for city workers, businesses, not meant to ‘punish’ people
10:17 a.m.
Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants
9:38 a.m.
Omicron linked to higher hospitalization rate for babies in UK

Students walked out of class at the Boston Latin Academy on Friday.

Boston students walk out this morning, call for remote learning and stronger COVID-19 safety measures

Students across the Boston Public Schools system walked out of class Friday morning in an effort to urge officials to provide remote learning options and stronger COVID-19 safety measures.

‘Nobody wanted to listen to me because of my past’: Harmony Montgomery’s mother says her calls for help went unheeded by officials

A newly released e-mail Crystal Sorey had written in late December was the capstone, she said, of months of unsuccessful pleadings with New Hampshire officials to help locate her daughter, who was last seen more than two years ago and is now at the center of a sprawling investigation.

Former R.I. child welfare advocate reported dead in 2020 turns up alive in Scotland

Nicholas Alahverdian’s arrest nearly two years after he was reported dead is now attracting international notoriety.

Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick greeted supporters as she arrived at an election night party, Tuesday, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cherfilus-McCormick, a health care company CEO, defeated Republican Jason Mariner in the special election to fill Florida's 20th Congressional District seat.

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.

Why is Jonnu Smith one of the most important players to watch this weekend? Because it's his time.

patriots at bills

The 8 most important players in the Patriots-Bills wild-card game

Josh Allen will be the best player on the field when the Bills take on the Patriots Saturday. The Patriots will need big games from the usual suspects, (and one unlikely one) to advance.

It’s going to be cold in Buffalo. Let’s look back at four frigid Patriots games under Bill Belichick

The Lovango Resort & Beach Club, located on a private island, is the first newly built resort in the USVI in more than 30 years.

New resort openings in the Caribbean

From the Bahamas to the US Virgin Islands, and from family-friendly resorts to luxe private-island retreats, here’s a roundup of new Caribbean properties to put on your radar.

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

Opinion

A girl passes a "Welcome Back to School" sign as she arrives for the first day of class at Brooklyn's PS 245 elementary school.

IDEAS | ELIZABETH SCARBORO

Students like mine are being left behind

Even when they’re back in school, they’re still far from being back on track.

A portrait of William Allen hangs on the porch as his father, Thurston Allen (right) listens while attorney Kristine McDonald speaks during a press conference in Brockton on Thursday. At left is Thurston's longtime partner, Frances Bynoe.

Two commutations should be just the beginning

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

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

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

Voting is sacred

Los Angeles police investigate Ye after battery complaint

Police are investigating after a battery report was filed Thursday against Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

BPDA approves part of Government Center Garage overhaul to be used as lab space

The agency OK'd the next phase of Government Center Garage overhaul to be lab space instead of three smaller office and residential buildings.

How COVID-19 and staffing issues took Rhode Island Hospital ‘from bad to terrible’

“I’d be being untruthful if I felt like we had all the resources and tools to take care of every patient that came through the door right now,” the hospital’s director of emergency services said.

PARENTING UNFILTERED

Worried about your kids’ mental health? A Boston Children’s Hospital psychiatrist puts things in perspective.

I asked Dr. Chase Samsel for ideas on how to ride out this wave — and how to support our kids while we’re quietly (or not so quietly) losing it inside.

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.

California governor denies RFK assassin parole

Home of the Week: Wrentham apartments for the pooch and pool devotee

The Point at Wrentham features such amenities as a pool, fitness center, work areas with computers, a dog park, and a game room.

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

Sergeant Shana Cottone (center) shouted a question to Mayor Michelle Wu as she stood across the street from Wu's home.

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.

Everything you need to know about masks: What kind to get, where to buy them, and how often you can reuse them

Shifting guidance and shady online retailers marketing masks that turn out to be counterfeit have left many scratching their heads.

KEVIN CULLEN

The driest of dry Januarys

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

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

Sketch for Ed Emberley's "Drawing Book of Animals."

NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS

A poet’s inviting new collection, drawing lessons, and speaking for the silenced

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in “The Tragedy of Macbeth."

MOVIE REVIEW | ★★★½

Denzel Washington is magnificent in Joel Coen’s ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’

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

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

MATTHEW GILBERT

In ‘Station Eleven,’ the arts outlast an apocalypse

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

Boston students walk out this morning, call for remote learning and stronger COVID-19 safety measures

Students across the Boston Public Schools system walked out of class Friday morning in an effort to urge officials to provide remote learning options and stronger COVID-19 safety measures.

Baker spent $100,000 of campaign cash on MassGOP legal fight

Governor Charlie Baker is leaving office next year. His exit from Massachusetts Republican politics may not be so swift.

Conn. House member tests positive for virus a 2nd time

US Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut says she has tested positive for the coronavirus after taking a routine test before traveling. It’s the second time she has contracted the virus.

Coronavirus Live Updates

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

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

Sports

Fans are bundled up as the celebrate with Tedy Bruschi during a playoff game against the Titans in 2004.

It’s going to be cold in Buffalo. Really cold. Let’s look back at four frigid Patriots games under Bill Belichick

If the forecast holds, it would end up being the third-coldest game in Patriots’ history. Of the 12 games the Patriots have played in temperatures 20 degrees or colder since 1970, they are 9-3.

Why is Jonnu Smith one of the most important players to watch this weekend? Because it's his time.

patriots at bills

The 8 most important players in the Patriots-Bills wild-card game

Josh Allen will be the best player on the field when the Bills take on the Patriots Saturday. The Patriots will need big games from the usual suspects, (and one unlikely one) to advance.

Bianca Smith was hired in January 2021 as a Red Sox minor league coach.

There are more women coaching in baseball than ever before, and that makes this Red Sox trailblazer happy

With the hiring of Katie Krall to join Smith, the Sox are the first team to have multiple women on coaching staffs in their organization.

Gary Washburn | On basketball

The Celtics’ Dennis Schröder quandary: His value and potential are good; his inconsistency, not so much

NHL All-Star Game: Brad Marchand snubbed, Patrice Bergeron gets third nod

Novak Djokovic faces deportation after Australia revokes visa again three days before Australian Open

Business

US says Russia is preparing ways to justify Ukraine attack

The Biden administration believes Russian actors are fabricating Ukrainian provocations in social media and preparing potential sabotage operations against Russian forces to justify an intervention and sow divisions in Ukraine, according to a US official who asked not to be identified.

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

US restaurants stayed afloat during the pandemic thanks to outdoor heaters, elaborate patio spaces, and to-go drinks. But the creative workarounds weren't enough to stem the losses from the recent Omicron-fueled surge of COVID cases.

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

Omicron linked to higher hospitalization rate for babies in UK

STAT

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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

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addresses members of the media gathered at a press conference at City Hall on Jan. 10, 2022.

Mayor Wu: vaccine mandates for city workers, businesses, not meant to ‘punish’ people

100 years later, Providence Brewery Company makes its return

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

sports

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

David Pastrnak’s welcome-home present for Tuukka Rask’s return? A hat trick as Bruins beat Flyers

MLB labor dispute: Players unimpressed by owners’ new proposal, making a delay even more possible

Yes, you should expect the Patriots to run it a lot against the Bills. Here’s why.

business

The East Parcel redevelopment at Bulfinch Crossing.

BPDA approves part of Government Center Garage overhaul to be used as lab space

Lawsuit seeks breaks on South Station ad rates due to massive construction project

Biden administration launches program to fix 15,000 bridges

politics

Military personnel of the Netherlands Royal Marine Corps register people for a booster vaccination in a vaccination center located in concert hall Ahoy on Dec. 29, 2021, in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Marine Corps becomes first branch of military to grant religious exemptions to COVID vaccines

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.

Nation

Police say they are investigating after a battery report was filed Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, against Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Los Angeles police investigate Ye after battery complaint

Boston students walk out this morning, call for remote learning and stronger COVID-19 safety measures

Conn. House member tests positive for virus a 2nd time

World

A man cooled down in front of a mist fan for relief from the hot weather on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia.

Australia hits 123 degrees, tying hottest temperature on record in Southern Hemisphere

North Korea defies UN, tests missiles in response to US sanctions

Hackers bring down government websites in Ukraine

opinion

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

Plymouth County jail needs more oversight

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

A better way to do online learning

lifestyle

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addresses members of the media gathered at a press conference at City Hall on Jan. 10, 2022.

Mayor Wu: vaccine mandates for city workers, businesses, not meant to ‘punish’ people

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

food & dining

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addresses members of the media gathered at a press conference at City Hall on Jan. 10, 2022.

Mayor Wu: vaccine mandates for city workers, businesses, not meant to ‘punish’ people

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

Omicron lowers sales and threatens bankruptcy for US restaurants

travel

Church motifs, like stained glass in the gospel gallery, reveal the attention to detail at the National Museum of African American Music.

Sing some gospel, bust a move, and feel the love at Nashville’s African American music museum

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

Exploring James Bond’s Jamaica

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

A history of addiction in ‘The Urge’

‘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