Today's Paper 01/11/2013 - The Boston Globe

The Nation

For Obama’s second inaugural, fund-raising limits lifted

Officials expect 600,000 to 800,000 people to attend President Obama’s Jan. 21 inauguration ceremony.

By David Uberti

Four years ago, $50,000 was the maximum donation for the president’s gala. Now, individuals can give up to $1 million, and the ban on corporate donations is gone.

Assault weapons ban seen as hard to enact

Vice President Joe Biden, second from right, during a meeting with Sportsmen and Women and Wildlife Interest Groups and member of his cabinet, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013.

By Michael D. Shear and Peter Baker

The White House has calculated that a ban on military-style assault weapons will be exceedingly difficult to pass through Congress and is focusing on other measures.

Shotgun-wielding student shoots one

Paramedics assisted a student following a shooting on Thursday at a rural high school in Taft, Calif. A teacher and a school official talked the gunman into surrendering.

By Tracie Cone

A 16-year-old student armed with a shotgun walked into class in a rural California high school, shot one student and fired at another.

The World

Chavez misses his inauguration

Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cheered at his inauguration on Thursday despite his absence from the event. Chavez has been out of the public eye for more than a month since a fourth cancer surgery. It was the first time in Venezuela’s history that a president has missed his inauguration.

By Ian James and Christopher Toothaker

Nothing shows the extent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s grip on power quite as clearly as his absence from his own inauguration Thursday.

Three Kurdish activists are found slain in Paris

Kurds staged a demonstration in Diyarbakir, Turkey, to protest the killing of three activists in Paris on Thursday.

By Dan Bilefsky and Alan Cowell

One of the dead women was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged a guerrilla war against Turkey since 1984.

Google leader chides North Korea

By Andrew Jacobs

Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, returned from a visit to North Korea with a message for the nation’s new leader: Embrace the Web or else.

Editorial & Opinion

SCOT LEHIGH

Gun safety: Put a price on it

By Scot Lehigh

An intriguing idea to curb gun violence: Require gun owners to carry liability insurance for the firearms they own.

Joshua Green

How the House wrecked the ceiling

Dick Gephardt’s 1979 “Gephardt rule” enabled the House to raise the debt ceiling without a vote on it.

By Joshua Green

As the next budget crisis unfolds, keep in mind that the true outrage stems from Congressional antics, not the deficit.

Joan Wickersham

Hillary Clinton’s cookies

By Joan Wickersham

An old cookie recipe brings back memories of a candidate’s wife who proved homemaker-in-chief was not her only career choice.

Metro

MBTA may halt $190m order for commuter rail cars

fThe Framingham MBTA commuter rail stop.

By Eric Moskowitz

Chronic delays and concerns about shoddy workmanship have prompted executives to threaten cancellation of the contract and possibly seek a new firm.

Kevin Cullen

A list far too long

By Kevin Cullen

If the mother of a 7-year-old boy with behavioral issues wanted to find a Glock instead of a therapist, she wouldn’t have to go to 66 gun stores.

Close quarters send a shudder in flu season

MBTA riders are thinking twice before they touch potentially germ-covered poles on trains.

By Billy Baker

With an outbreak stoking fears, people in Boston are swimming in hand sanitizer and flocking for flu shots. But on MBTA trains, germs bring a special kind of dread.

Business

Cambridge cancer diagnosticians strike a chord

By Robert Weisman

A start-up that uses genomics data and DNA sequencing to help doctors pinpoint treatments for cancer has drawn high-profile backers such as Bill Gates.

Shaw’s, StarMarket part of $3.3 billion sale

By Chris Reidy and Jenn Abelson

The stores will be sold to a group that includes Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Boston’s Steward Health Care System.

Patriots games a boon or bust for local businesses

Even for preseason Patriots games, traffic turns roads leading to Gillette Stadium into virtual parking lots.

By Callum Borchers

Businesses around Gillette Stadium are split about the Patriots and the playoffs: Traffic creates a parking windfall for some and revenue headaches for others.

Obituaries

Rex Trailer, Boston’s cowboy, dies

For 18 years, Rex Trailer’s “Boomtown” taught children rope tricks, riding, respect, and other lessons of the West.

By Bryan Marquard

The television cowboy, 84, reached millions of children with songs, sketches, horse riding, and rope tricks during the 18-year run of “Boomtown” on WBZ-TV.