By Megan Woolhouse

Spending on new plants and equipment, which led the rebound from the recession, has slowed amid fears Congress will be unable to avoid a fiscal disaster.

Loughner gets life for Arizona rampage

By Fernanda Santos

Jared Loughner, who pleaded guilty to an Arizona shooting spree that wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was sentenced Thursday.

By Michael Kunzelman

BP and attorneys for businesses and people who lost money in the Gulf oil spill urged a federal judge Thursday to give his final approval to a class-action settlement.

By Rick Gladstone and Thom Shanker

Iranian warplanes fired at an unmanned US military surveillance drone in international airspace over the Persian Gulf last week.

By Carley Petesch

Opposition parties submitted a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma, saying that corruption and unemployment have risen, the justice system has been politicized, and the economy has weakened.

By Raphael Tenthani

Going against a trend in Africa, Malawi’s government is moving to suspend laws against homosexuality.

Scot Lehigh

The GOP’s election-denial disorder

By Scot Lehigh

A bad case of political denial is infecting conservatives nationwide.

Carlo Rotella

Should I let my 12-year-old daughter read the ‘Twilight’ books?

By Carlo Rotella

A parental debate on whether to allow a preteen to read Stephenie Meyer’s vampire love stories is a sign of the overprotective times.

Editorial

Writer Jane Holtz Kay chronicled Boston, the ‘joy in city making’

Neighborhood-focused development in Boston, Kay argued, proved that change could be “a creative act.”

Brian McGrory

Elizabeth Warren a woman of few words

By Brian McGrory

The people of Massachusetts want their senator to be open and honest about the issues on everyone’s mind, discretion be damned.

Elizabeth Warren holds back with reporters

By Noah Bierman and Michael Levenson

The senator-­elect brushed aside several questions, including ones about the looming “fiscal cliff,” in her first official press conference after winning.

Medical marijuana law will challenge overseers

By Chelsea Conaboy

Approval of medical use of marijuana is already prompting questions about the readiness of beleaguered state health regulators, local communities, and police.

By Megan Woolhouse

Spending on new plants and equipment, which led the rebound from the recession, has slowed amid fears Congress will be unable to avoid a fiscal disaster.

Priceline makes a $1.8 billion deal for Kayak

By Katie Johnston and Michael B. Farrell

Kayak, the New England company known for its quirky office culture and speedy travel searches, will be acquired by the online travel booking giant.

Marlborough lands new Boston Scientific headquarters

By Casey Ross

Boston Scientific will add a headquarters building and sell its Natick complex to MathWorks Inc. in a deal that will bring new jobs to both communities.

Dave Davis, 80; diversified hiring at Massport

By Bryan Marquard

Among his accomplishments at Massport were tackling the challenge of reducing noise levels for neighborhoods near Logan Airport and increasing ­racial and gender diversity at the agency.

By Eric Asimov

Frank J. ­Prial, whose Wine Talk column in The New York Times introduced many Americans to the world of wine in the 1970s, died on Tuesday.

Theodore Jones, 68; judge on New York’s top court

By Michael Virtanen

Judge Theodore T. Jones Jr., one of seven jurists on New York’s top court, has died.

Notre Dame at BC

Brian Kelly has Notre Dame back in the hunt

By Amalie Benjamin

The No. 4 Irish, once kings of college football, are 9-0 and back in the national title conversation for the first time in a long time.

Julian Edelman’s role not clear now

By Michael Whitmer

The receiver seemed to be ahead of Wes Welker on the depth chart before a September injury. Now, his place is uncertain.

Christopher L. Gasper

Aqib Talib worth the gamble for Patriots

By Christopher L. Gasper

Barren of talent at cornerback, the Patriots’ spending of a fourth-round pick on a troubled player with a high ceiling makes sense.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Lincoln’ carries the weight of history

By Ty Burr

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner — with help from Daniel Day-Lewis — tell one of our country’s greatest stories using dialogue filled with ideas.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on ‘Lincoln,’ the movie and man

By Joseph P. Kahn

An entire wall in Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s home library in Concord is lined with books about Abraham Lincoln.

MOVIE REVIEW

Sean Penn hits right notes in ‘This Must Be the Place’

By Ty Burr

It’s a charmingly oddball fable about a former rock star traveling across America seeking revenge on an ex-Nazi.