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CVS to cut 2,900 jobs and is reportedly mulling a breakup

The layoffs will be focused on corporate jobs, not frontline pharmacy, retail, or distribution workers, but more dramatic changes could be coming soon.

Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre sues Senate committee following contempt of Congress charge
The suit, filed Monday in federal court, claims that the lawmakers are violating the hospital executive's constitutional rights.

Sales for six Steward hospitals can close Monday, but state must come up with $5 million more
The development resolves a potential snag in the deals amid last-minute squabbling among Steward’s creditors.

Steward hospital sales set to take effect. Here’s what that means for health care in Massachusetts.
Steward Health Care leaves behind a hospital landscape that has been weakened by the company's meltdown and its closure of five hospitals over the past decade.

Retired Boston employees want an increase to their pension checks. The mayor’s office says no.
The Boston City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously in support of a COLA base increase for retired city employees, after the Boston Retirement Board voted against it last week on the advice of the mayor’s office.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre will resign
The embattled health care executive will resign Oct. 1, the company said.

MGH promises nurse practitioners raises after workers sought unions’ help
The parent organization of Massachusetts General Hospital has now pledged to boost pay for the hospital’s 1,000 nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well.

Beth Israel Lahey Health announces layoffs
A spokesperson for the system, which operates 14 hospitals in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, declined to say which facilities were losing jobs, nor the type of roles they were cutting.

Biotech

Bluebird Bio is laying off 25 percent of its workers to cut costs

The Somerville company has not yet seen the financial payoff from its scientific breakthroughs — and it is continuing to lose money.

‘Skin in the game’: Harvard geneticist George Church launches new stem cell company using his own skin cells

GC Therapeutics unveiled on Thursday its work to create stem cell-based medicines more efficiently to treat gastrointestinal, immunological, and neurological diseases.

Charles River Labs to cut over 600 jobs

The Wilmington-based biotech research firm is seeing drug industry clients pull back on spending.
Lifestyle
Globe Magazine

A tapeworm may have changed the lives of Caesar, RFK Jr., and millions of others

Inside the world-changing history of a tapeworm — and why it matters now.

Severe obesity is on the rise in the US, according to new research

About 4 in 10 Americans have obesity overall and about 1 in 10 have severe obesity.
GLOBE MAGAZINE

Tired? Here’s what science tells us about getting a better night’s sleep.

Experts shed light on the mysteries of shut-eye — and why you may not be getting enough of it.
Spotlight

How Brigham Health helped create a Chinese hospital for elites — and almost nobody came

In a deal worth millions with Chinese developer Evergrande, a Harvard teaching hospital risked its reputation on what would become a near-empty shell.

Boston’s hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level

Hospital chiefs and trustees defend this as boosting public-private partnerships, but critics say these board positions — some paying millions of dollars — raise troubling issues of conflict of interest and hospital priorities.

More biotech and health care stories

State formally seizes St. Elizabeth’s from Steward landlord

While the state can unilaterally take the property, the price tag is expected to result in a lengthy legal battle.

Mass. health officials investigate Tenet hospitals in Framingham, Natick, and Worcester

Nurses alleged that cost-saving measures at Framingham Union Hospital have harmed patients. Complaints at St. Vincent Hospital and Leonard Morse Hospital are also being investigated.

Disability advocacy gained a major foothold in Boston 50 years ago. Activists say the fight for independence isn’t won.

Two advocates for disability rights in Massachusetts discuss the history of the movement, it's future, and how society's ideas of disability evolved over five decades.

FDA approves the first new schizophrenia drug in decades

The new drug was developed by Boston biotech company Karuna Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb.

The US is mailing Americans COVID tests again. Here’s how to get them.

Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.

Facing criminal contempt allegation, Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre blasts Senate

A spokesperson said the health executive is disappointed that lawmakers decided “to continue their violations of Dr. de la Torre’s constitutional rights."

Steward CEO could face prison time after rare Senate vote to punish him for flouting subpoena

Lawmakers unanimously referred the criminal contempt of Congress charge to the Justice Department, which now must decide whether to prosecute Ralph de la Torre.

no stupid questions

Trying to find a therapist in Massachusetts? Here’s where to start.

We put together a guide covering how to navigate the initial search process, how to suss out what kind of therapy might work best for you, and what to expect at your first appointment.