The Boston Globe

State officials accepted steep prices, downplayed problems with caterer who served raw chicken to homeless families

The lucrative no-bid contract to cater to shelters cost taxpayers $9.4 million, was riddled with complaints from the get-go, and likely drove up the costs of feeding migrant and homeless families.

Sixteen bills sent to Healey as session’s final week arrives

Boxing Day was no holiday in the Massachusetts Legislature, where lawmakers advanced a laundry list of bills that would expire without action in the next six days.

Three-alarm blaze damages multimillion dollar mansion in Brookline, officials say
The 13,000-square-foot home is valued at $13 million, according to town assessing records.

Plane crash investigators focus on Russian air defenses as possible cause
The jet had been flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in Russia’s Chechnya republic, at a time when drone strikes were taking place around Grozny.

‘The brightest soul you ever met’: Family mourns Danvers woman who fell through ice while walking dog on Christmas Eve

The family of Owen Kasozi said she regularly walked her dog at Wenham Lake in Beverly, where authorities found her body after her dog was found alone in Topsfield on Tuesday night.

For some Latinos, ‘prosperity gospel’ led them to Trump

The set of beliefs has overtaken traditional theologies centered on the poor. Some experts say that helps explain a shift among Latino Christians to Trump.

After backing Trump, low-income voters hope he doesn’t slash their benefits

Trump wants federal workers back in the office. It may be a tall task.

'Baby Driver' actor Hudson Meek, 16, dies in a fall from a moving vehicle

Mass. reports 1,774 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths in a week. See the latest data from Mass.

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick share a moment in 2014 as the final seconds tick off the clock, giving them their 6th straight AFC East title.

Bill Belichick selects this touchdown as his favorite Tom Brady Patriots play

For Belichick, the ex-Patriots head coach (and now current UNC football coach), one play stands above the rest as Brady’s finest in his legendary career.

The Championship Duck Boat Parade for the Boston Celtics made its way along Boylston Street en route to TD Garden after Boston captured its record 18th NBA title in June.

State of the Teams: Some are rebuilding, some are searching for identity, and one delivered a duck boat parade

In his annual State of the Teams address, columnist Bob Ryan takes stock of Boston's men's pro teams and where they are headed.

Renderings of the White Stadium renovation proposed by BOS Nation FC and the city of Boston.

Will Wu’s late-in-the-game push on White Stadium win over skeptics?

The push to have a stadium ready for the 2026 kickoff of BOS Nation FC, Boston’s new professional women’s soccer team, is leading some critics to cry foul.

My partner believes conspiracy theories

Can our relationship survive aliens, pyramids, and a simulation?

After 20 years, Miss Conduct announces her final Globe advice column

Robin Abrahams answers readers’ questions for the last time on February 2.

A frolicking Wrigley.

How a three-legged dog taught this old human a new trick

My dog has been schooling me. I just didn’t know it.

A man boards an MBTA commuter rail train at Braintree station in January 2023.

MBTA announces weekend service suspensions to Orange and Red Lines along with commuter rail changes in January

The changes include shutdowns along stretches of the Orange and Red Lines, as well as the Newburyport/Rockport and Haverhill commuter rail lines.

The Battle of Lexington reenactment usually draws a few thousand spectators each year. This coming year, the 250th anniversary, is expected to attract more than 200,000.

Thousands of dollars for 250th anniversary of battles of Lexington and Concord fail to pass Legislature, frustrating organizers

Town officials say shuttles are needed to bring spectators from satellite parking areas, and transport others who simply want to move from location to location.

Linde Jacobs, a nurse from Minnesota who has a rare gene mutation, is seen at a lab at UCSF, in San Francisco. Her mother died due to the same mutation.

Generations of her family have suffered due to a mutant gene. What can be done?

For a Minnesota woman, a diagnosis that she carried the gene for a neurological disorder also meant that her own daughters may fall victim. She vowed to try to do something about it.

At a safe house in Sinaloa state in Mexico, a cartel chemist demonstrated fentanyl production methods, lacing the drug with Xylazine, the animal tranquilizer known on the street as “Tranq.”

How Mexican cartels test fentanyl on vulnerable people and animals

Global efforts to crack down on the synthetic opioid have made it harder for these criminal groups to find the compounds they need to produce the drug. That leads to much experimentation, with deadly results.

The Back Bay skyline and Charles River are seen, Friday, Nov 4, 2022, in Boston.

Celebrating small wins: Positive news from Greater Boston

There are many reasons to love Greater Boston: the intellectual vibrancy, the natural and built beauty, the respect for facts and history, the tolerant spirit. Here are a few local nuggets.

Deferring the dream of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Kimberly Atkins Stohr

Massachusetts stalls on vital facial recognition reform

IDEAS | Christine Mehta

Hateful. Vile. Obscene. Protected.

Zionism label casts a chill through the literary world

A thank you note from Globe Santa
Donations are still coming in, but Globe Santa is thrilled to report a spectacular year, with 7,500 donors to the campaign, so far.

Donate to Globe Santa

BGT

The best (and worst) of 2024

Boston Globe book critics share their 75 favorite titles of 2024.

The 75 best books of 2024

Vince Vaughn in "Bad Monkey."

The top 10 TV shows of 2024, according to Globe critics

Richard Roundtree and June Squibb in "Thelma."

Odie Henderson’s 10 best movies of 2024 (and 10 runners-up)

Chip as Alfie the Cat in "Argylle."

Odie Henderson’s 10 worst movies of the year

More recent News

Bob Menendez, citing ‘emotional toll,’ seeks sentencing delay in wake of wife’s trial
Former senator Bob Menendez's wife, whose trial was postponed after it was learned she would need surgery for treatment of breast cancer, faces much of the same evidence as her husband in Manhattan federal court.

As Ukraine marks Christmas, exhausted soldiers wonder if Trump can end the war
This holiday season marks Ukraine’s third straight since Russia’s invasion, and President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of negotiations to end the war has many questioning if there will be a fourth.

Video: Avalanche hits Mount Washington on Christmas Eve
The Mount Washington Avalanche Center reported that the slide took place in Hillman’s Highway after "several inches of new snow and several hours of significant wind loading.”

Wrong-way driver arrested, charged with OUI after allegedly striking police officer in North End

Police responded after a detail officer was struck by a vehicle just after 8 p.m. at the intersection of Beverly Street and Valenti Way, according to a Boston police incident report.

Fire that left elderly couple dead in Acushnet home was likely accidental, investigators say

Leo Lyonnais, 89, and his wife, Annette Lyonnais, 87, were killed in the blaze that engulfed their home at 34 Garfield St., according to the statement released by the state fire marshal’s office.

6,000 inmates escape from a high-security prison as post-election violence roils Mozambique

Police chief Bernardino Rafael said 33 prisoners died and 15 others were injured during a confrontation with the security forces.

Recommended reads

Michael Burrey, a teacher at North Bennet Street School, recently worked on the restoration of Notre Dame in Paris.

‘The pinnacle of my career’: Meet the North End teacher who helped restore the Notre Dame

His journey included becoming one of just a handful of Americans artisans to work with the French team that completed a stunning reconstruction of one of the world’s great cultural buildings.

A look at what four Boston shoppers spent this holiday season
Their bills ranged from about $200 to more than $2,000. But they all had one thing in common: a desire to make their loved ones feel merry, no matter the price tag.

CHESTO MEANS BUSINESS
Take a look at the wackiest Boston business moments of 2024, from the DunKings debut to a googly-eyed Green Line
It wasn’t all private equity and property taxes in New England this year. So let's revisit some of the weirder memories, shall we?

Money, Power, Inequality
‘This is my way out.’ In Maine, remote work gives prisoners a lifeline.
Remote work has spread far and wide since the pandemic spurred a work-from-home revolution of sorts, but perhaps no place more unexpectedly than behind prison walls.

Culture & Lifestyle

Matthew McConaughey in July.

When one man’s blitz is another man’s blintz

Briana DeVincenzo and Shane Adams, who met at CrossFit class in Woburn in 2021, had their wedding reception at the House of Blues on Lansdowne Street in Fenway in November.

Billerica couple says ‘I do’ at the House of Blues

Helen J. Shen and Darren Criss in "Maybe Happy Ending."

What to see on Broadway if you’re heading to New York

Sarah Hyland attends the Baby2Baby gala at Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif., Nov. 9, 2024.

Sarah Hyland is the latest TV star going from screen to stage

Special Projects

Seventh-graders at the Curley School on the first day of school in 1975. (Ulrike Welsch/Globe staff)

Broken Promises, Unfulfilled Hope

The Boston Globe explores the legacy of Boston’s busing era.

An Ambulance passed Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, La.

A Globe Spotlight Team report on Steward Health Care

A Boston Globe Spotlight Team review found the Steward Health Care hospital system plagued by staggering neglect at the hands of executives.

best of best social share image

The Boston Globe’s Best of the Best

Our ultimate guide to more than 200 winners for Boston's best food, drinks, and fun things to do.

stuart landing page illustration

Nightmare in Mission Hill

The story of how a murder in Mission Hill — the Carol Stuart shooting — terrorized and wounded a community of innocent people.

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Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, seen here at a hearing on Dec. 10, 2024, was among the members more intent on smearing Mangi than fulfilling their obligation to advise and consent to his nomination.

The smearing of Adeel Mangi was the perfect storm of hate and cowardice

Officials stood at a press conference about the explosion at the Suffolk Courthouse in Boston on April 22, 1976. The bomb injured 19 people. The officials are, from left, (front row) Boston Mayor Kevin White, Governor Michael Dukakis, Massachusetts Attorney General Frank Bellotti, (back row) US Attorney General James Gabriel, Secretary of Public Safety Charles Barry, and Speaker of the House Thomas McGee.

Andrea Joy Campbell

Frank Bellotti gave us a blueprint for the next generation

Few citizens carry their documents around with them — democracies typically do not mandate identity cards.

How a US citizen nearly faced deportation

President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Vice President-elect JD Vance attended the 125th Army-Navy football game at Northwest Stadium on Dec. 14 in Landover, Md.

Who voted for Elon Musk?

Elba Portillo, 61, was last seen Dec. 13 leaving for work about 9:30 a.m. She is described in a missing person alert issued by the Boston Police Department as 5 feet, 3 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes.

MARCELA GARCÍA

Another Latina has gone missing in East Boston. Will police do better this time?

The photos on these banners in a Beirut suburb say a lot about the governance of Lebanon. On the left is the speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri. On the right is Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli strike on Sept. 27. Lebanon hasn’t had a president for two years because Hezbollah keeps blocking candidates.

IDEAS | CARINE HAJJAR

Lebanon’s biggest problem is not Israel

Metro

Dorthy Moxley, who pursued justice in her daughter’s murder, dies at 92

For more than four decades after the gruesome death of her daughter, Ms. Moxley remained a compelling figure in the sprawling story of a classic mystery that captured world attention with its wealth and celebrity, its idyllic setting, its endless wrong turns and dead-end investigations, and its connection to the Kennedy family.

‘The brightest soul you ever met’: Family mourns Danvers woman who fell through ice while walking dog on Christmas Eve

The family of Owen Kasozi said she regularly walked her dog at Wenham Lake in Beverly, where authorities found her body after her dog was found alone in Topsfield on Tuesday night.

MBTA announces weekend service suspensions to Orange and Red Lines along with commuter rail changes in January

The changes include shutdowns along stretches of the Orange and Red Lines, as well as the Newburyport/Rockport and Haverhill commuter rail lines.

New combo tests let you check for COVID and flu at home. How well do they work?

Differentiating between COVID and flu is important for seeking the right treatment, experts said.

Sports

Stacey Dales interviewed Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce as part of Netflix's broadcast on Wednesday.

NFL Christmas game viewership on Netflix blows past NBA in latest reminder of football’s dominance

The NBA’s lineup saw an 84 percent rise over 2023. The NFL’s Christmas numbers decreased from last season, but not at the rate that usually happens when something goes from broadcast to streaming.

Captain Ryan Leonard and Team USA defeated Germany, 10-4, on Thursday in Ottawa.

Men's college hockey

Getting a chance to defend US’s World Junior gold medal is one reason Ryan Leonard returned to BC

As a freshman, Leonard appeared in all seven games in the 2024 tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden, scoring three goals and three assists.

Jimmy Butler is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.9 assists this season, but has missed, on average, about one out of every four games in his Heat tenure.

South Beach showdown: Pat Riley says Heat aren’t trading Jimmy Butler

The six-time All-Star has not asked for a trade, but ESPN has reported he wants one by the league’s Feb. 6 deadline.

Gymnast Frederick Richard is already thinking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Chad Finn | Sports Media

98.5 The Sports Hub dominates fall Nielsen Audio ratings

Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey represents one who got away from the Patriots

Business

Former FTX executives Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison get time trimmed off their prison sentences

Stories you may have missed from the world of business

AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it.

Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language, and hearing impairments to execute tasks that come easily to others

How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers

The speed of human thought lags far behind your internet connection, study finds

Mary Stone and her husband Winston, Winston wait for the festivities to begin at City Hall Plaza during the 248th Independence Day celebration in downtown Boston.aI was so happy when I found this couple in City Hall Plaza preparing for the Fourth of July parade. I remember when I was in photography school, some 35-plus years ago, I had an instructor, Tom Hunt, who challenged us when we came across reenactors. He asked us to place them in the real world, and maybe even find some humor in it. I still do that today. I’m usually not a fan of photographing people with their smartphones, but in this case it made the picture.

The 30 best photos of 2024 taken by Boston Globe photographers

In pricey Boston, choosing between your pet and housing is heartbreakingly common

After 20 years, Miss Conduct announces her final Globe advice column

Easy to make Italian flatbreads, called piadine, filled with a ricotta and prosciutto mix.

Start the year off right with recipes for a Mediterranean-inspired brunch

metro

Birds flew past the gold dome of the State House.

Sixteen bills sent to Healey as session’s final week arrives

Three-alarm blaze damages multimillion dollar mansion in Brookline, officials say

Fire that left elderly couple dead in Acushnet home was likely accidental, investigators say

sports

The Fleet have been off since a 3-2 win over Ottawa on Dec. 17.

Boston Fleet return from holiday break to face Toronto in PWHL’s 100th game

Hockey players know that playing through pain is part of the job description

Here’s everything you need to know about the NFL playoff races heading into Week 17

business

A poster and graffiti left over from the 2023 Writer's Guild of America strike, in Los Angeles on Dec. 20.

As Hollywood struggles, the region’s economy feels the pain

Review: Chevy Equinox, one of the cheapest EVs, is one good deal

BioMed scoops up three more buildings in Kendall Square

politics

Attendees cheer as Donald Trump speaks onstage during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 29.

For some Latinos, ‘prosperity gospel’ led them to Trump

Trump wants federal workers back in the office. It may be a tall task.

Bob Menendez, citing ‘emotional toll,’ seeks sentencing delay in wake of wife’s trial

Nation

Sea otters have been battling back from near extinction. One researcher a decade ago witnessed a sea otter consume about 30 green crabs in an hour.

Green crabs have invaded habitats. Sea otters might be the solution.

Mass. reports 1,774 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths in a week. See the latest data from Mass.

A Virginia zoo welcomes newborn pygmy hippopotamus as year ends

World

Mourners attended the funeral Thursday of members of the local news outlet Al-Quds Today. They were killed in an Israeli strike in central Gaza Strip.

Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen’s capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away

Plane crash investigators focus on Russian air defenses as possible cause

Finland seizes ship in probe of undersea cable damage

opinion

Officials stood at a press conference about the explosion at the Suffolk Courthouse in Boston on April 22, 1976. The bomb injured 19 people. The officials are, from left, (front row) Boston Mayor Kevin White, Governor Michael Dukakis, Massachusetts Attorney General Frank Bellotti, (back row) US Attorney General James Gabriel, Secretary of Public Safety Charles Barry, and Speaker of the House Thomas McGee.

Frank Bellotti gave us a blueprint for the next generation

A change that would break baseball

I’m not financially literate. Here’s how I could be.

lifestyle

My partner believes conspiracy theories

11 ways to ring in 2025 in Boston and beyond

Magic and lights draw crowds to an alpine village in Washington state for Christmas

food & dining

Nouvelle Maison in Winchester is a new cafe/bakery/market focusing on French food.

At Nouvelle Maison in Winchester, French finds in a chic setting

Something savory: R.I. Food Club’s favorite dishes from around New England in 2024

Start the year off right with recipes for a Mediterranean-inspired brunch

travel

Rodney Marsalis on Grand Cayman island.

Musician Rodney Marsalis on traveling with his daughter, peanut M&Ms, and booking his own flights

Error message occurs when using Chase points for travel

Do you want to build a snowman? Here’s the best winter apparel for kids.

Arts

Peter Paul Rubens and Paul de Vos, "Diana Hunting with Her Nymphs," 1636-37. Oil on canvas. (The Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp)

Highlights of the Flemish Masterworks exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum

For 93-year-old painter and sculptor Jo Sandman, living the life of an artist ‘my destiny’

Video game designer finds ‘Sweet Spot’ through Boston Public Art Triennial Accelerator program

Books

Abigail Thomas, author of “Still Life at Eighty.”

Life at 80. We should all be so lucky.

New poetry, Maine essays, and (always) ‘Moby-Dick’

In Baxter’s ‘Woo Woo,’ making art while falling apart

Movies

Bob Dylan in "Dont Look Back."

Tangled up in Bob (on the big screen)

Adam Sandler shares ‘Happy Gilmore 2′ teaser with first look at Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny cameos

‘Babygirl’ can’t quite work out its kinks

Television

Adam Sandler speaks onstage during the "Adam Sandler: Love You" Netflix NY special screening at The Paris Theatre on Aug. 20, 2024 in New York City.

Adam Sandler shares ‘Happy Gilmore 2′ teaser with first look at Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny cameos

When one man’s blitz is another man’s blintz

Looking back at ‘Dont Look Back’

music

The cover to “Miles in France 1963 & 1964 — Miles Davis Quintet: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8″ by the Miles Davis Quintet.

Tom Petty, Miles Davis, and more: Ten great album reissues of 2024

First Night returns with some familiar Boston performers

Ring in the New Year with Bernadette Peters and the Pops

Theater/Dance

Parker Jennings interacts with audience members, who are an integral part of Apollinaire Theater's production of "Every Brilliant Thing."

What makes life worth living? ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is making a list.

What to see on Broadway if you’re heading to New York

Ayodele Casel’s ‘Diary of a Tap Dancer’ at the ART writes forgotten women into the art form’s story

Health

Dr. Susan Meschwitz, center, a chemistry professor at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., in her lab with two undergraduate students.

About 30% of women are reinfected with a UTI within a year. This R.I. professor is looking for a way to change that.

Why is Lifespan buying hospitals in Massachusetts instead of saving two in Rhode Island?

R.I. Life Science Hub still in negotiations to develop lab incubator space: ‘In the business world... things moved a lot faster’

Obituaries

Ms. Moxley in 1997, with a portrait of her daughter, Martha, who was bludgeoned to death in the wealthy Greenwich, Conn., enclave of Belle Haven in 1975.

Dorthy Moxley, who pursued justice in her daughter’s murder, dies at 92

India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh, architect of economic reforms, dies at 92

Jacques Roubaud, poetic master of form and whimsy, dies at 92