The Boston Globe

Leighton Harris, 4, in pink, and her classmates learned about shapes in the prekindergarten class at the James Rushton Early Learning Center in Birmingham, Ala. The Alabama program is free and meets more quality benchmarks than Massachusetts' pre-K system, according to national experts.

THE GREAT DIVIDE

Families in Alabama have free, full-day prekindergarten while many Mass. families can only dream of it

Thanks to Alabama’s growing investments in early education, the state’s pre-K system is among the best in the nation in quality — and it’s free for most. Programs like Alabama’s are the envy of families in Massachusetts.

In Brookline, questions abound for the future of its police department

Last week brought more upheaval, with acting chief Mark Morgan going on medical leave and a new acting chief, its fourth top cop in as many years, appointed by the Select Board.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

On MLK Day, Massachusetts remembers, reflects on his legacy

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, most celebrations were held virtually. King’s legacy was remembered in speeches, community service projects, and prayer.

On MLK Day, Martin Luther King III implores Senate to act on voting rights The first time Coretta Scott saw Martin Luther King was in Boston. ‘He looked like a boy,’ she said.

Rendering of “The Embrace,” the memorial monument and plaza dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King on Boston Common. The completed project, created by Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group, will be installed early next year.

‘The Embrace,’ Boston’s long-awaited tribute to the Kings, will be unveiled on MLK Day 2023

Supply chain issues and COVID-19 led King Boston to push the memorial's unveiling back. But the Embrace Festival will take place this year.

For marginalized groups, COVID testing shortages a bigger burden

A lack of reliable transportation, less flexible jobs, and language barriers make the search for tests more grueling in Black, brown, and immigrant communities, advocates and public health specialists say.

Mass. seeks to claw back at least $2.7 billion in jobless benefits it says were incorrectly paid

The Department of Unemployment Assistance made overpayments on about 719,000 claims in 2020-2021. It’s going after recipients even if they weren’t at fault.

For some Mass. businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed changes for the better

The pandemic crushed many small companies, as health concerns, supply chain issues, and labor shortages converged. But some were able to adapt and thrive.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

Fauci says it’s too soon to say Omicron heralds end of the pandemic

11:57 p.m.
Japan ready to expand COVID restrictions as infections surge
11:14 p.m.
Omicron forces more cruise lines to cancel trips
11:12 p.m.
Australia has record COVID-19 deaths, hospitals under stress

Five buildings destroyed after 9-alarm blaze rips through Salisbury seaside

The fire started at Michael’s Oceanfront Motel, located at 40 Central Ave., where fire crews responded around 2 a.m. Monday, officials said.

Steve Belichick (right) is listed as outside linebackers coach on the staff of his father, Bill Belichick (left).

dan shaughnessy

This loss has to be extra awkward for Bill Belichick with his sons on staff as defensive coaches

Having sons on the football staff is not unusual — think of the Phillipses, the Ryans, the Shanahans, etc. — but sometimes it can be uncomfortable.

Who’s in, who’s out: Running through the Patriots’ free agents Ben Volin: Could we see a Tom Brady vs. Jimmy Garoppolo showdown in the NFC title game?

Jayson Tatum (right) and the Celtics battled back from an 18-point hole to win.

CELTICS 104, PELICANS 92 | GARY WASHBURN

There’s still time for the Celtics, who are making the most of a soft schedule

While the Celtics continue to deal with sluggish lapses, they're showing enough resolve to battle back against lesser opposition.

Celtics wipe out 18-point deficit and pull away from Pelicans With trade deadline looming, which way will Celtics choose?

Helmeted players shot foam-tipped arrows at each other in a caged arena at Archery Games Boston in Chelsea.

If you’ve been aching to shoot someone with an arrow, there’s a place

After a long bowhunting season when he saw exactly zero deer, the author was ready to shoot someone.

Opinion

In this March 7, 1965, file photo, state troopers swinging billy clubs to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala.

MLK’s legacy, today’s voting rights challenge

Those who fear the will of voters use bills instead of billy clubs, but the impact remains the same.

Laura Coates, author of "Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness."

A former federal prosecutor interrogates the inequities of the criminal justice system

Second-grade teacher Rachelle Milord helps Schemaeja Paillant learn to tell time at Mozart Elementary School in Boston, June 15, 2021. Principal Michael Baulier says hiring and retaining great teachers of color is one of his top priorities in running the Boston Public School.

With the necessary resources, urban leaders and parents of color can lift up Boston’s schools

A student listens to a teacher as he calls off names for each new classroom in the 7th and 8th grade community meeting on the first day of school at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Hyde Park on Aug. 30, 2021.

Roger Lowenstein

Boston Public Schools should go into receivership

The Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.

In Charlestown, the seed for a new kind of school — in a city failing too many of its kids

More recent stories

Texas rabbi describes how he and two hostages escaped synagogue standoff

The rabbi of a Texas synagogue where a gunman took hostages during livestreamed services said Monday that he threw a chair at his captor before escaping with two others after an hourslong standoff.

Winter storm whips up heavy winds, floods roads in coastal communities in Mass.

Gusts of wind reached nearly 70 miles per hour early Monday morning in some coastal communities like Falmouth, Gloucester, Rockport, and Lynn, where the National Weather Service tweeted photos of roads inundated by coastal flooding. At Boston’s Long Wharf, water spilled onto the sidewalk Monday afternoon.

Storm brings strong winds and coastal flooding — and snow to Western Mass.

MATTHEW GILBERT | YOUR TV GPS

This week’s TV: ‘Ozark’ is back, ‘How I Met Your Father’ arrives, and who should host the Oscars?

The Oscars haven't named a host yet, but we have some ideas, plus a peek at what's new on TV this week, including the first batch of episodes from the final season of "Ozark."

New year, but still no trips to the gym

January is usually a busy month for Boston-area gyms. Not this January.

Amid pandemic, the demand for single-family rentals soars

A real estate finance firm estimates that growth from single-family rental housing in the United States will outpace other commercial sectors like condo and apartments, office, retail, and storage over the next several years.

Iceless curling is just a stone’s throw away in the Seaport

The Seaport has extended free curling — played on sheets of plastic, not ice — through Feb. 27.

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

Clarety Kaseke, research technician at the Ragon Institute, worked on a COVID-19 vaccine-related project in 2020. The effort was funded by the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, including money from China Evergrande Group.

Boston Globe Spotlight Team Follow-up

Evergrande reneges on multimillion-dollar pledge to Harvard-led COVID project, another stumble in its ties to school

The company, which is now officially in default, has been in crisis, laboring to pay creditors as it grapples with more than $300 billion in liabilities.

For new Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, it’s trial by fire

Wu has already made Boston history as the first woman, person of color, millennial, and mother elected mayor. Now, with the fate of her early initiatives, she’ll show whether she can transform the city’s future.

Old North Church, an icon of the past, adds racial justice to its 21st-century mission

Old North Church has struggled along with Boston’s other Revolutionary War sites to weather the pandemic. But the long, stubborn crisis also has meant a fresh start, and a chance to reexamine the mission and message of the iconic church.

Restaurants call for more federal aid as business plummets amid the Omicron surge

They want Congress to replenish the rescue plan’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which blew through its $28.6 billion funding last year after only about a third of eligible restaurants received grants to help cover lost revenue from the pandemic.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Maurice Emmanuel Parent in "Mr. Parent" at Lyric Stage Company.

Lasting lessons in Lyric Stage’s ‘Mr. Parent’

Two lanes are available for iceless curling in the Seaport, and lessons can be booked as well.

Iceless curling is just a stone’s throw away in the Seaport

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’

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

Sunset over the Salar de Uyuni salt flats.

IDEAS | Boštjan Videmšek with photos by Matjaž Krivic

In search of Bolivia’s white gold

Medical workers put new PPE on for each visit to a COVID-19 patients room in the COVID-19 ward at the US Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare system campus and medical center in West Roxbury on Tuesday.

Workers who braved darkest days of COVID-19 deserve extra pay

Research indicates you're substantially more likely to eat this kale salad if you're told it tastes good than if you're told it's healthy.

IDEAS | Ayelet Fishbach and Bradley Turnwald

Feeding two birds with one scone

Flags fly above Boston City Hall on Nov. 11, 2021. The city allows private groups to fly a flag on the pole on the right.

Rachel Laser and Brian Kaylor

Boston was right to refuse to fly Christian flag

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

Green Line service partially suspended after train stops short

None of the seven passengers requested medical attention, a MBTA spokesman said.

Coronavirus Live Updates

Fauci says it’s too soon to say Omicron heralds end of the pandemic

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

Flooding at Hampton Beach causes road closures, ties up first responders

Coastal flooding in this New Hampshire beach town filled neighborhoods with seawater and washed debris across some roads, including Route 1A (Ocean Boulevard), which was closed for several hours on Monday.

On MLK Day, Massachusetts remembers, reflects on his legacy

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, most celebrations were held virtually. King’s legacy was remembered in speeches, community service projects, and prayer.

Sports

Budda Baker was carted off the field and taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

Cardinals safety Budda Baker taken off on a stretcher, evaluated for concussion following collision

He appeared to briefly lose consciousness in a helmet-to-helmet collision in the third quarter.

Matthew Stafford passed for 202 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score.

NFC wild card: Rams 34, Cardinals 11

Matthew Stafford wins first playoff game, propels Rams past Cardinals in playoff rout

Stafford was outstanding in his first playoff game with the Rams, going 13 of 17 without an interception and coolly directing LA's offense.

Mike Loughnane of Boston College High scored 41 points, including 23 in the first half, to lead the No. 1 Eagles to a nonleague win over Mansfield.

MONDAY'S SCHOOL BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

Mike Loughnane proves unstoppable for No. 1 BC High boys in win over No. 5 Mansfield

Loughnane poured in 41 points, including 23 in the first half, as the top-ranked Eagles pulled away in an 87-65 nonleague win over No. 5 Mansfield Monday night in Dorchester.

Red Sox minor leaguer Tyler Miller embracing the grind, and the possibilities

Patriots notebook

Patriots leading receiver Jakobi Meyers, set to be a restricted free agent, wants to stay with team

Raiders oust GM Mike Mayock after three seasons

Business

Race to cut carbon emissions splits US states on nuclear

As climate change pushes states in the US to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels, many are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not be enough to keep the lights on.

Mass. seeks to claw back at least $2.7 billion in jobless benefits it says were incorrectly paid

The Department of Unemployment Assistance made overpayments on about 719,000 claims in 2020-2021. It’s going after recipients even if they weren’t at fault.

For some Mass. businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed changes for the better

In his first year, Batra gets results at Waters Corp.

STAT

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‘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

Select Board member Raul Fernandez near the Brookline Police Station.

In Brookline, questions abound for the future of its police department

Five buildings destroyed after 9-alarm blaze rips through Salisbury seaside

The Jackie Robinson of hockey

sports

David Pastrnak (left) and Taylor Hall (right) have formed quite the partnership since Bruce Cassidy shook up the Bruins' line combinations.

On the same wavelength, David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall are clicking for the Bruins

There’s still time for the Celtics, who are making the most of a soft schedule

Is coach Mike McCarthy’s future in Dallas in jeopardy?

business

A health worker prepared to administer a fourth dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Sheba medical center, in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Dec. 31, 2021.

Fourth Pfizer dose is insufficient to ward off Omicron, Israeli trial suggests

Boris Johnson’s ex-aide accuses him of lying to UK Parliament

County’s $7 million in PPE left outside, damaged by California rain

politics

Senator Joe Manchin.

Sinema, Manchin slammed as Senate begins voting bill debate

After Biden’s first year, the virus and disunity rage on

Restaurants call for more federal aid as business plummets amid the Omicron surge

Nation

Senator Joe Manchin.

Sinema, Manchin slammed as Senate begins voting bill debate

Race to cut carbon emissions splits US states on nuclear

Fauci says it’s too soon to say Omicron heralds end of the pandemic

World

A C-17 military transport plane landing at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 22, 2021.

Before pullout, watchdog warned of Afghan air force collapse

Japan ready to expand COVID restrictions as infections surge

Australia has record COVID-19 deaths, hospitals under stress

opinion

Research indicates you're substantially more likely to eat this kale salad if you're told it tastes good than if you're told it's healthy.

Feeding two birds with one scone

The Bay State — a mecca? Or a place to put in your rearview mirror?

Two commutations should be just the beginning

lifestyle

Two lanes are available for iceless curling in the Seaport, and lessons can be booked as well.

Iceless curling is just a stone’s throw away in the Seaport

He set out to make a new pasta shape (and a podcast)

Ordering takeout is helping restaurants survive. Where’s your favorite local spot to order from?

food & dining

A new pasta shape: Cascatelli from Sfoglini Pasta, a Hudson Vally pasta manufacturer. The shape was invented by Dan Pashman, creator and host of the food podcast The Sporkful, where he chronicles his journey to create the shape in a series called "Mission: ImPASTAble."

He set out to make a new pasta shape (and a podcast)

Ordering takeout is helping restaurants survive. Where’s your favorite local spot to order from?

Hey wine lovers, here’s a beer for you

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

Best things to do in RI this week: Jan. 14-21

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

Arts

Rendering of “The Embrace,” the memorial monument and plaza dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King on Boston Common. The completed project, created by Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group, will be installed early next year.

‘The Embrace,’ Boston’s long-awaited tribute to the Kings, will be unveiled on MLK Day 2023

At the MFA, a sleeping giant awakens

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

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

The Oscars haven't yet named a host for this year's March 27 show. Steve Martin (left) and Martin Short could handle the task with aplomb, but so could many others.

This week’s TV: ‘Ozark’ is back, ‘How I Met Your Father’ arrives, and who should host the Oscars?

SNL is back from winter break and Ariana DeBose used her Broadway talents as host

A film, and a filmmaker, transformed in ‘A Reckoning in Boston’

music

Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed Liszt's Second Piano Concerto with the BSO led by music director Andris Nelsons on Jan.13, 2022.

Glimpsing what a new era at the BSO might bring

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

Theater/Dance

Maurice Emmanuel Parent in "Mr. Parent" at Lyric Stage Company.

Lasting lessons in Lyric Stage’s ‘Mr. Parent’

How ‘Pretty Woman’ became a head-turner

This driveway dancing duo is helping to lighten neighbors’ spirits

globe local

On MLK Day, Massachusetts remembers, reflects on his legacy

Storm brings strong winds and coastal flooding — and snow to Western Mass.

Boston port served by the largest-ever cargo ship to visit the city

Obituaries

Charles McGee was awarded an honorary rank of general in 2019.

Famed Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee dies at 102

Charles Willie, an architect of Boston’s ‘controlled-choice’ school desegregation plan, dies at 94

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Malian president deposed in coup, dies at 76