Ryan hits hard on Obama, economy in speech

By Matt Viser and Brian MacQuarrie

The first vice presidential candidate from the post-baby-boomer generation called for changes he believes will put federal programs on sounder footing for future generations.

Can Mitt Romney win over middle-of-the-road voters?

By Scott Helman

While tonight’s anointing indeed represents a political triumph for Mitt Romney, it is also fraught with challenge and risk.

Medicare arguments key for both parties

By Michael Kranish

President Obama lost the senior vote by eight points in 2008, and a crucial part of the Romney strategy is to try to win an even larger percentage of seniors.

Syria’s Assad acknowledges struggles in civil war

By Bassem Mroue

President Bashar Assad said in an interview that his armed forces will need time to defeat the rebels, acknowledging the civil war could be prolonged.

By Martin Fackler

The talks came amid hopes that the North’s new leader could be trying to reduce tensions with Japan and by extension, the United States.

By Maggie Michael

Egyptian authorities charged one of Hosni Mubarak’s most trusted men, joining a list of other former cronies of the deposed leader to face trial over alleged corruption.

Peter S. Canellos

Romney is the man to deliver

By Peter S. Canellos

Republicans have hired Mitt Romney, with his chiseled features and air of competence, to bring what they want: A win on Nov. 6.

Nicholas Burns

By Nicholas Burns

Mitt Romney can make a compelling foreign-policy argument by tying a moribund domestic economy to the possibility of the US as a diminished world leader.

editorial

Semon is well-versed on the issues and emphasizes the need to reform entitlement programs in a responsible way.

By Sean P. Murphy

The move was the first step in replacing the powerful panel with a larger board in a plan approved by lawmakers last month.

Yvonne Abraham

A final goodbye to a longtime refuge

By Yvonne Abraham

Today, the Knight Children’s Center on South Huntington Avenue sends the last of its charges to a sparkling new facility in Walpole.

By Milton J. Valencia

A Dorchester man is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting four women, aged 18 to 22, in a brazen form of human trafficking.

By Jenifer B. McKim

About 5,000 homes were sold statewide in July, spurred by increased confidence in the local housing market and continued low interest rates.

Whole Foods in talks to buy six Johnnie’s Foodmasters in Boston area

By Jenn Abelson and Casey Ross

Negotiations are still in the early stages, but Whole Foods wants to move into six of the 10 Johnnie’s Foodmaster sites.

By Casey Ross

AvalonBay Communities Inc. is proposing to significantly increase the number of residences in a 40-story complex it wants to build next to the TD Garden.

Robert Kotlowitz, 87; spearheaded growth of public television

By Paul Vitello

Robert Kotlowitz, a novelist and editor who reluctantly became a public television executive in 1971, went on to help shape a lineup of homegrown and imported shows.

By William Yardley

Fogle, a thief and addict, committed real crimes then turned them into fiction in his novel ‘‘Drugstore Cowboy.”

Charles Kenney, 25, ‘a natural leader’ in sports and in the Marines

By Bryan Marquard

While at Brown University, Charles Kenney joined the Marines and was an officer awaiting deployment to Afghanistan. He died after suffering a seizure.

Angels 10, Red Sox 3

Red Sox lose as Zach Stewart pounded

By Peter Abraham

Stewart, acquired in the Kevin Youkilis trade, gave up nine runs in three innings. It was the worst Sox debut in 110 years.

dan shaughnessy

Theo Epstein’s clean getaway irks Red Sox owners

By Dan Shaughnessy

With the Red Sox in disarray, Sox owners are wondering why their former GM seems to escape blame for this disastrous season.

Red Sox notebook

By Peter Abraham

The statistics do not reflect it, but Bard believes he is ready to return to the major leagues.

‘Le Pants King and the Traveling Spectacular’ hits Boston

By Stephanie Steinberg

The Pants King is really Justin Pomerleau — a 24-year-old from Allston who created his character and start-up mobile clothing shop last August.

4 trends for a stylish first semester

By Rachel Raczka

Want to be the coolest kid in school? Here are our product picks for four of the biggest back-to-school trends for 2012.

Meet Brian Billotte, Boston Harbor Hotel bartender since Day One

By Liza Weisstuch

Brian Billotte has tended bar at the Boston Harbor Hotel’s Rowes Wharf Bar since the day the hotel opened, in 1987.

Rents north of Boston rise nearly 9 percent in five years

By Katheleen Conti

Communities north of Boston are experiencing record high rent rates as a slow economic recovery and stricter lending criteria have stopped would-be homebuyers.

Rents north of Boston have increased by almost 9 percent since 2007. Here is a sampling of what one-bedrooms cost in some recent apartment developments in the region.

By David Rattigan

Each community has its own management plan for mosquitoes, and they are revised annually.

New Plymouth North High set to open

By Christine Legere

With its red-brick exterior, soon to be capped by a steeple, the new Plymouth North High School reflects the Federal architectural style of the town’s original high school.

Country fest traffic paralyzes Walpole

By Michele Morgan Bolton

Tens of thousands of fans who arrived early to the Foxborough concert venue — despite warnings not to do so — forced traffic to a standstill and just started drinking in their cars.

By Sarah Coffey

A 14-year ownership dispute over who has rights to part of Marshfield’s Rexhame Beach may go to trial in February.

By Lisa Kocian

The rising awareness of concussions is transforming the way children play sports in Massachusetts.

Advances in equipment may avert some head injuries

By Lisa Kocian

No equipment is guaranteed to prevent a concussion, but manufacturers say innovative gear can reduce the severity of a head injury.

High schools cutting sports practice contact to reduce head injuries

By Lisa Kocian

When Pop Warner announced in June it would limit head-to-head contact in football practices, local high schools took notice.