The Boston Globe

The Senate side of the Capitol early Thursday.

Senate passes $1.7 trillion bill to avert government shutdown, aid Ukraine

The bill passed by a vote of 68-29 and now goes to the House for a final vote before it can be sent to President Biden to be signed into law.

Cassidy Hutchinson, key Jan. 6 witness, says lawyer sought to influence testimony
Hutchinson told the House Jan. 6 committee that her first lawyer advised her against being fully forthcoming with the panel and that “the less you remember, the better,” according to a transcript of one of her interviews released Thursday.

9,216 confirmed cases and 96 deaths in a week. See the latest COVID-19 data from Mass.

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

Coronavirus waste water numbers continue to creep up ahead of holidays Town-by-town COVID-19 data in Massachusetts

Massachusetts to launch in-person sports betting on Jan. 31

Encore Boston Harbor, Plainridge Park Casino, and MGM Springfield received the three initial licenses for retail sportsbooks.

Sam Bankman-Fried released on $250 million bail bond
Bankman-Fried, 30, did not enter a plea, which will take place later before the judge presiding over his case.

Here’s what you need to know about Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang agreeing to plead guilty to FTX charges

A pedestrian sheltered under an umbrella while passing the Cleveland Circle Reservoir in the rain.

Storm bringing ‘torrential rains’ and ‘strong to damaging winds’ closing in on Massachusetts

The massive weather system now delivering dangerous cold and wind-whipped snow across the Midwest will still be ferocious when it arrives in Massachusetts Thursday night.

Rhode Island readies for storm ahead of holiday weekend

Frigid wind chill is expected across Massachusetts.

Maps: Where the storm will hit the hardest

A pedestrian protected himself from the early morning rain in Post Office Square in Boston on Dec. 7.

Timeline: When to expect the big storm

Cold arctic air is forecast to spread east over the next couple of days.

Forecast | Dave Epstein

Winter storm will bring strong gusts to New England Friday. Power outages are expected.

Our region won’t see the depth of cold or the amount of snow other areas in the US will. But wind will cause problems on Friday and travel will be impacted.

Ben Volin I On football

Some Patriots players have been showing a surprising lack of respect for their coaches
It seems to be happening a lot this season, with most of the disrespect aimed at Matt Patricia, and by extension Bill Belichick, who hired Patricia.

After a Raiders fan lost her cool on him, one Patriots fan is getting a special Christmas gift Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon looks forward to the Bengals after not getting to the quarterback ‘like I wanted to’ against the Raiders

Special Report

Boston doesn’t work if the T doesn’t work
With the MBTA engulfed by delays, staffing shortages, and service interruptions, a city recovering from a pandemic struggles to bounce back. And everyday riders are feeling the pain.

homepage gif for mbta project

An in-depth look at MBTA performance: How long did trips take? How busy was your station? And more.

The year 2022 saw service cuts, ridership recovery, and plenty of delays.

Tell us about your commute and your experience with the MBTA

Warren Seavey (left) and some of the World War II veterans he admitted to Harvard Law.

A Harvard Law professor broke the rules to let in WWII vets. They made ‘the best class there ever was.’

Refusing to reduce veterans to their test scores, Warren Seavey accepted some with questionable academic credentials— and others who hadn’t even applied.

An image released by the Department of Justice showed Dr. Jacquelyn Starer at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

The doctor who joined an insurrection

The path from seemingly functioning member of society to democracy-smashing Trump cultist is well-worn by now.

Ashland doctor charged with punching police officer at Jan. 6 insurrection caught on police bodycam video, authorities say Publix heiress was willing to spend $3 million on Jan. 6 rally, documents show

The Darwin's Ltd. location at 1629 Cambridge Street in Cambridge. The three remaining Darwin's locations closed on Thursday.

Customers, baristas poured one out for Darwin’s as Cambridge coffee shop chain closed for good

Ownership announced last month that all four locations would be closing amid union negotiations.

Opinion

At 80, President Biden is already the oldest person elected as US president and the oldest to serve in the post. If successful in a quest for a second term, he would be president into his mid-80s, leaving office two months after his 86th birthday.

Should Joe Biden run again?

I asked and you answered. Readers weigh in with strong opinions.

James McHugh and Dennis Aftergut

Does releasing Trump’s tax returns risk more harm than good?

Philip J. Hanlon and Sian Leah Beilock

How to open the STEM pipeline

The IRS didn’t audit Trump like it was supposed to. We need to know why.

IDEAS | TOM SHEEHAN

By the warmth of my pellet stove, a lament

Now that Ramses Ja and Q Ward own the White Lives Matter trademark, what do these long-time social justice supporters plan to do with the power that comes with ownership?

The Emancipator

What’s next for the White Lives Matter trademark?

Now that podcasters Ramses Ja and Q Ward own the White Lives Matter trademark, what do these long-time social justice supporters plan to do with the power that comes with ownership?

High Med. Low

Select a county:

Special reports

Members of the 2001 Patriots team that won the franchise’s first title.

Darkness on the edge of the Patriots dynasty

The 2022 Top Places to Work in Massachusetts

Two Weeks in America

Two Weeks in America

More recent News

House passes bill on IRS audits of presidents after revelation Donald Trump skirted review

The Democrat-led measure provides a capstone to a yearslong investigation of Donald Trump's tenure as the first president in recent history not to disclose his tax returns to the public.

Shirley Leung

All I want for Christmas is for Michelle Wu and the business community to get along
While Wu believes in empowering her cabinet members, business honchos don’t want proximity to power. They want a direct line.

GOP incumbent challenges one-vote loss in Mass. House race, contends officials made ‘critical errors’
Democrat Kristin Kassner, a first-time candidate, emerged as the winner by the slimmest of margins over state Representative Lenny Mirra, a five-term Republican incumbent, after local clerks recounted ballots in the Second Essex district earlier this month.

MUSIC REVIEW

20 years in, ‘Christmas Celtic Sojourn’ is beautiful and bittersweet
Founder Brian O'Donovan, facing terminal cancer, listened to the performance along with us. And he sang for us, and with us, and gave us poetry.

Meet the Milford businessman at the heart of a vast network of sports power brokers

George Pyne comes from a family of NFL players. Now CEO of Bruin Capital, he was called “one of the most influential figures in global sports and entertainment” by Roger Goodell.

‘It’s pretty rampant across the state’: Thieves continue to target Postal Service mailboxes

Police in Mattapoisett noticed a troubling trend this summer, as checks began disappearing from the mail.

Globe Santa

Mothers’ work is never done
Working mothers, hit hard by the pandemic, struggle to retrace steps back to employment.

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

Best of the Arts 2022

The 50 best albums of the year

Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise in "Top Gun: Maverick" from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. (Paramount Pictures)

10 great movie performances to mark 2022

The 10 best TV shows of 2022

Recommended reads

Felicia King, formerly homeless and living with her two grandchildren at the Baymont Hotel in Kingston, took a break in her new apartment she just moved into.

From a homeless hotel to a Taunton apartment, one grandmother starts a new chapter

After spending weeks at homeless facilities for families with the two grandchildren she is raising, Felicia King now has a place to call her own just in time for the holidays, a modest 3-bedroom third-floor apartment not far from Taunton Green.

DEVRA FIRST

The 2022 Boston-area restaurant awards
Swank New England seafood, dishes from Yemen and Yunnan, a motorcycle cafe, and so many exciting new spots to try. Here’s a look back at the moments, places, and tastes that made the year memorable.

Confessions of a would-be ‘Jeopardy!’ champion
Seeing women become super-champions convinced classical music critic A.Z. Madonna to try out for the game show.

BETH TEITELL

The most time-efficient exercise you’ve never heard of? It’s called VILPA. I tried it at home.
A study recently published in the journal Nature Medicine reported that short, vigorous bursts of movement not associated with traditional exercise — the kind you’d get from hustling for the bus — confer significant health benefits.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

A great big batch of mysteries to get you through the trials of winter weather

Scenes from tea at the Four Seasons.

At the Four Seasons, teatime is glorious, transportive, and sadly fleeting

Unpacking year-old fermented fish in Japan.

Japan aims to lure adventurous foodies with unique ‘fermentourism’

Novara's Jordan Knight poses with North Pole visitors.

NKOTB’s Jordan Knight on his newly reopened Novara restaurant, very manageable backstage food requests, and favorite band

Special Projects

Photo illustration

A celebrated surgeon, a trail of secrets and death

Dr. Yvon Baribeau set a record for malpractice settlements, and many colleagues tried desperately to stop him. But hospital executives let him go on and on.

Top Spots to Live in Greater Boston in 2022

A guide to 36 Greater Boston communities where demand — and prices — are surging.

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

Enjoy the incipient Year of the Sheep, and don’t get fleeced!

The Joyes’ ever merry Christmas

A commuter boarded an Orange Line train inbound into Boston from Oak Grove on the MBTA Orange Line on Sept. 19.

The T needs to rebuild trust

"As a country, we remain in strange and uncharted waters," US Representative Bennie Thompson said at the Jan. 6 select committee hearing in Washington on Monday.

A sigh of relief, then an odd sorrow about Jan. 6

Father Ward in 1955.

IDEAS | NATE TINNER-WILLIAMS

The priest from Boston who could be one of the first African American saints

"What ideas will students miss if they only react to machine-generated drafts rather than creating their own?"

IDEAS | JANE ROSENZWEIG

The questions we ought to be asking about ChatGPT

IDEAS | ADRIANA BARTON

The ‘Mozart effect’ is bunk. But your brain on music is still a wondrous thing.

Metro

The gratitude of Globe Santa graduates

Their last letters to Globe Santa are thank you notes

Elayne Jones, pioneering percussionist, is dead at 94

A timpanist who was said to be the first Black principal player in a major American orchestra, Elayne Jones joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1972, and mounted a legal battle over racial and sexual discrimination when she was denied tenure two years later.

Storm bringing ‘torrential rains’ and ‘strong to damaging winds’ closing in on Massachusetts

The massive weather system now delivering dangerous cold and wind-whipped snow across the Midwest will still be ferocious when it arrives in Massachusetts Thursday night.

Meet Brett Luy, Rhode Island FC’s president

Rhode Island FC will play its home games in a to-be-built stadium at Tidewater Landing, a formerly polluted site on the banks of the Seekonk River in Pawtucket.

Sports

The Bruins signed Mitch Miller in November, then cut ties with him within 72 hours.

Bruins notebook

In wake of Mitch Miller signing, Bruins put stringent new vetting process in place

An independent review revealed gaps in the Bruins' procedures.

Huddles won't be reserved for play calls Saturday at Cleveland.

Browns, Saints set to battle a ‘bomb cyclone’ weather event Saturday at Cleveland

The temperature is expected to drop into single digits at kickoff, with gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour.

Kenny Pickett was slammed to the ground and suffered a concussion Dec. 11, his second this season.

Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett ready to play — wearing a larger helmet — after his second concussion

Both of Pickett's head injuries came on plays in which the back of his helmet smacked against the turf.

Patriots long snapper Joe Cardona (ankle) ruled out of Saturday’s game against the BengaIs

After 13 months on the sideline, Commanders DE Chase Young will play vs. 49ers

Patriots notebook

Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon looks forward to the Bengals after not getting to the quarterback ‘like I wanted to’ against the Raiders

Business

Have a safe trip: Oregon trains magic mushroom facilitators

At a woodsy retreat center in Oregon, some 30 men and women are seated or lying down, masks covering their eyes and listening to serene music. They are among the first crop of students being trained how to accompany patients tripping on psilocybin, as Oregon prepares to become the first US state to offer controlled use of the psychedelic mushroom to the public.

Somerville battery startup’s first factory to be built in West Virginia

Stories you may have missed from the world of business.

Massachusetts to launch in-person sports betting on Jan. 31

Sam Bankman-Fried released on $250 million bail bond

magazine

We take foster kids from their parents. Then we wonder what’s wrong with them.

Foxborough, MA - 11/17/2022: New England Patriots player Devin McCourty (cq) photographed for The Bostonians of the Year issue of the magazine..(Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff)

Bostonian of the Year: Honorable Mention

Patriot Devin McCourty’s on-field performance is matched only by his generosity

Wellesley, MA - 9/13/1965: Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach, left, talks to player Bill Russell during practice at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., on Sept. 13, 1965. (Paul J. Maguire/Globe Staff) --- BGPA Reference: 170202_MJ_001

Bostonian of the Year: Bill Russell, a giant of Celtics basketball and American civil rights

Ethiopian Stewed Collard Greens (Gomen Wat)

Recipes: Cook up collard greens for New Year’s Day in the hopes of good fortune

metro

A holiday wreath adorns the 35-foot tall Newport Harbor Lighthouse on Goat Island in Narragansett Bay, which is dwarfed by the Claiborne Pell suspension bridge's 200 foot tall towers in the distance. Travelers planning to cross the Jamestown, Newport, Mount Hope, or Sakonnet bridges should check with the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority for possible bridge closures because of high winds.

Rhode Island readies for storm ahead of holiday weekend

GOP incumbent challenges one-vote loss in Mass. House race, contends officials made ‘critical errors’

Here’s what to expect — and when — during the big storm

sports

A woman holds a sign in support of boxing at the Olympics Games during the the Executive Board meeting of the International Olympic Committee outside the an IOC building in Lausanne, Switzerland, Dec. 5, 2022.

IOC threatens to drop boxing from the Paris Olympics

Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is out vs. Texans; rookie Malik Willis to start

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to miss third straight game

business

The Darwin's Ltd. location at 1629 Cambridge Street in Cambridge. The three remaining Darwin's locations closed on Thursday.

Customers, baristas poured one out for Darwin’s as Cambridge coffee shop chain closed for good

Here’s what you need to know about Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang agreeing to plead guilty to FTX charges

All I want for Christmas is for Michelle Wu and the business community to get along

politics

The Senate approved a spending package on Thursday to fund the government before the Friday deadline, averting a shutdown. The bill also includes nearly $50 billion in aid to Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a daring visit to Washington Wednesday and was welcomed on Capitol Hill.

Senate passes $1.7 trillion spending bill before Friday deadline

Trump audit shows depths of IRS funding woes

Senate passes $1.7 trillion bill to avert government shutdown, aid Ukraine

Nation

Town-by-town COVID-19 data in Massachusetts

‘Tripledemic’ rages on: Fever-filled weeks lie ahead

Have a safe trip: Oregon trains magic mushroom facilitators

World

A sheep trimmed grass in an unexcavated section of the archeological site of Pompeii, Italy, on Dec. 19, 2022.

To save a ruin, send in the sheep

In address to Congress, Zelensky says ‘against all odds’ Ukraine still stands

Putin concedes military failings, but insists Russia will fight on

opinion

The potential of Widett Circle and how to achieve it

A pencil, some paper, an eraser — now write!

The T needs to rebuild trust

lifestyle

Get read to peruse the Romance section at Porter Square Books.

Eight cozy, winter romance novels from New England authors to sweep you into the new year

All dressed up but no one approaches me

Suicide is a leading cause of death. And we’re in denial about our pain.

food & dining

The Darwin's Ltd. location at 1629 Cambridge Street in Cambridge. The three remaining Darwin's locations closed on Thursday.

Customers, baristas poured one out for Darwin’s as Cambridge coffee shop chain closed for good

A bustling, all-day brasserie in the heart of Kendall Square

Bondir’s Jason Bond plans a pop-up; pizza and juices come to Time Out Market Boston

travel

A band of street musicians playing outside of Café Du Monde sets a joyous mood for the day.

Go easy on your wallet in the Big Easy

Boarding denied on cruise because of positive COVID test

A Newport update, festive party package, and portable back and neck care

Arts

Pelle Cass, HU Pole Vault (first version), 2019/2022. Inkjet print on heavy matte rag paper.

Bodies of work at the deCordova’s ‘New Formations’

At the Clark, ‘On the Horizon’ and through the haze

Wendy Artin’s ‘Flesh and Stone’ breathes new life into sculptures

Books

‘Tudors In Love’ claims that much of the dynasty’s dramas were shaped by the literary conceit of courtly love

A debut poetry collection, Patterson’s Holiday Bookstore Bonus, and a journey into Sun Records

Local bestsellers for the week ended Dec. 18

Movies

Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

Same script, different cast: ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody’

"Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody" filming at Gillette Stadium

‘EO’: A different kind of jackass movie

Television

From left: Jacqui Parker, Thomika Bridwell, and Inés de la Cruz in the Front Porch Arts Collective's "Chicken & Biscuits."

In sibling dramas, everything is relative

Groucho, Dick Cavett, and a thousand points of delight

An inadvertent topicality in season three of ‘Jack Ryan’

music

"A Christmas Celtic Sojourn" at Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, on Dec. 18, 2022.

20 years in, ‘Christmas Celtic Sojourn’ is beautiful and bittersweet

Elon Musk has been silent since his poll. But Snoop Dogg hasn’t.

Shirley Watts, widow of drummer Charlie Watts, dies at 84

Theater/Dance

From left: Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, composer Jeanine Tesori, and "Kimberly Akimbo" director Jessica Stone at the Booth Theatre in New York, where the musical is being staged.

Southie native David Lindsay-Abaire has fashioned a ‘Kimberly Akimbo’ that sings

A ‘Solstice Celebration’ for everyone

In ART’s ‘Life of Pi,’ a tiger burns brightest

globe local

The existing single-platform Newtonville commuter rail station can only be reached by a long stairway from a nearby bridge over the Mass. Turnpike -- making it inaccessible for many people with mobility issues.

Newton misses out on $136 million in funding for MBTA commuter rail stations’ accessibility upgrades

City Council vote delayed on proposed West Newton 50-unit housing, restaurant development

Coolidge Corner Theatre to host historian Edward J. Larson for Brookline’s MLK Celebration

Obituaries

The timpanist Elayne Jones in 1965.

Elayne Jones, pioneering percussionist, is dead at 94

Transgender rights advocate Henry Berg-Brousseau dies at 24

‘Get Carter,’ ‘Flash Gordon’ director Mike Hodges dies at 90