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Too Many Products Can Stress Out Your Skin. Heres How to Scale Back.

Laura Read, a former beauty influencer from London, didn’t understand why her skin was breaking out. She regularly collaborated with cosmetics companies for her YouTube tutorials and had her pick of lotions, potions and creams to address the issues. But none of them seemed to help. Ms. Read said she struggled with “a bumpy forehead, milia around my eyes and eczema on my cheeks” for years. Eventually, she turned her attention to “the amount of products I was testing and trying.” She limited herself to cleanser and moisturizer — “no serums, no toners, no face masks, nothing” — and her skin issues resolved within weeks. Mary Schook, a celebrity aesthetician based in New York City, has seen the same. She said her clients often come to her inflamed and confused: They have access to the “best” products money can buy — but have the “worst” skin of their lives. “Every appointment is a recon mission,” Ms. Schook said. “People are stressing out their skin by overusing skin care products.”

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Dear Annie: Whats your advice on how I can give people advice like you?

Dear Annie: I truly enjoy reading your column. At times, they are funny and really do make me laugh, and nearly always I can relate to certain situations that people write to you about. I am 28 years old and work at a middle school with children with learning disabilities. I have been at my job for the past three years, and yes, it has been a challenge. But I enjoy helping people and making a difference. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in psychology because I always wanted to help people, and I am a great listener. My friends and family come to me and share their problems as I listen and give them encouragement. I always loved watching TV shows, such as talk shows and reality shows, that allow family members to resolve conflict and eventually get along with one another. It has always been my dream to be able to have a podcast or become a YouTuber. Or to have a column where I can help people as you do, give advice and talk about things that are going on in the world to give others encouragement. I would really love your advice if you can let me know how to make a dream come true. — Your Number One Fan Dear Number One Fan: First off, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for being a teacher! It is one of the most important jobs that exist. If you love to write and give advice, just keep doing what you’re doing. In addition, you might want to start your own YouTube channel. If you make recordings regularly, you might gather a following over time. I would also recommend that you start keeping a journal of your activities and thoughts, which might eventually turn into a book. Dear Annie: I’m not seeking advice. I simply wish to compliment you. I do not know if you hold a license in psychology or as a therapist, but if you do not, you need to know you are a very wise person! Your advice, whether or not I happen to agree with it, is always thought-provoking. Delivering advice on touchy subjects is never easy, but you seem to do it effortlessly. If you do hold a license, you made a good choice for yourself and career. You were born to help people with a conundrum. That is all I wanted to say. Thank you for doing what you do. I’m sure many have been helped in a serious way. At the least, you’ve likely provided an easing of conscience and given hope in familial and friendship issues. — Much Admiration to You Dear Much Admiration: Wow! Thank you so much for your kind words, which mean a great deal to me. But you should know that it is the readers who make this column unique, with their letters and advice for me and others. Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season. “How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?” is out now! Annie Lane’s second anthology — featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation — is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM

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Dancing With The Stars finale: How to stream the new episode for free (Dec. 5)

The finale episode of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” will air on the network on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. EST. The episode can also be streamed on platforms like FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Both platforms offer a free trial for new users who are interested in signing up for an account. You can also watch the series the next day on Hulu, which offers a free first month when you sign up, followed by payments as low as $7.99 per month. In the new episode of the current season, five couples compete for a chance at winning the coveted “Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy”; the finalists perform a redemption dance and an unforgettable freestyle routine. How can I watch “Dancing With The Stars″ on ABC for free without cable? The new episode is available to watch through either FuboTV or DirecTV Stream. Both offer free trials to new users. You can also watch the series the next day on Hulu, which offers a free first month when you sign up, followed by payments as low as $7.99 per month thereafter. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels. What is DirecTV Stream? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. DirecTV also offers a free trial for any package you sign up.

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Red Sox among clubs with interest in free agent slugger (report)

The Red Sox are among the teams who have interest in free agent slugger Jorge Soler, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported. The 31-year-old right-handed hitter, who crushed 36 homers in 137 games (580 plate appearances) for the Marlins in 2023, finished in the 94th among all major league hitters in expected slugging percentage (.532) and expected weighted on-base percentage (.374), per Baseball Savant. Feinsand first mentioned Seattle as a landing spot, then added he “has also drawn interest from the D-backs, Blue Jays and Red Sox, per sources, giving Soler a healthy market.” Soler had a high 27.6% strikeout percentage last year but he also takes plenty of walks. His 11.4% walk percentage ranked in the 83rd percentile while he was in the 72nd percentile in chase rate (25.6%). The Red Sox could use him as a DH and occasional outfielder. He is a below-average defender in right field and left field but he still would give Boston more versatility. Feinsand also reported “the Angels, Dodgers and Red Sox appear to be the frontrunners” for outfielder Teoscar Hernández who has 83 homers over the past three seasons. The Red Sox still are looking to add to their roster but more subtraction may come first. As MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported Sunday, the Red Sox have told at least one free agent target that they need to shed more payroll before pursuing him as aggressively as they want to. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Boston has already made changes to its outfield group this offseason, trading Alex Verdugo to the Yankees and acquiring Tyler O’Neill from the Cardinals. Boston’s 40-man roster also includes outfielders Masataka Yoshida, Rob Refsnyder, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela. Boston could look to trade one of their outfielders in their pursuit of starting pitching.

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Letting Trump Off the Hook Will Change the Shape of History - The New York Times

After the passage of the first Enforcement Acts, written to protect the civil rights of the formerly enslaved, Congress created a bipartisan committee in 1871 to investigate reports of vigilante violence against freed people and their white allies in the states of the former Confederacy. The next year, the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States released its report, a 13-volume collection of testimony from 600 witnesses, totaling more than 8,000 pages. The men and women who spoke to the committee attested to pervasive violence and intimidation. There were innumerable reports of whippings and beatings and killings. “Tom Roundtree, alias Black, a Negro, murdered by a Ku Klux mob of some 50 or 60 persons, who came to his house at night on the third of December last, took him out, shot him and cut his throat,” reads a typical entry in the volume devoted to Klan activity in South Carolina. “James Williams,” reads another entry in the same volume, “taken from his home at night and hung by Ku Klux numbering about 40 or 50.” There were also, as the historian Kidada E. Williams shows in “I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction,” accounts of terrible sexual violence. Williams describes one attack in which a group of vigilantes whipped their victim, Frances Gilmore of Chatham County, N.C., “set fire to her pubic hair and cut her genitals.” Because of these reports and others collected by lawyers, journalists and other investigators, the American public had “access to more information about the Ku Klux than about almost any other person, event, phenomenon or movement in the nation,” the historian Elaine Frantz Parsons observes in “Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan during Reconstruction.” Between government reports, testimony from witnesses, the confessions of Klansmen and the physical evidence of violence and destruction, it would seem impossible to deny the awful scope of Klan terror, much less the existence of the Klan itself.

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Police: 2 arrested, following narcotics drug bust on Pine Street in Holyoke

DEERFIELD — Two Connecticut men were ordered held on $10,000 bail after they were arrested on a variety of charges following a high-speed chase on Interstate 91 on Thursday. Massachusetts State Police troopers from the Shelburne barracks attempted to stop the Acura sedan they were traveling in, after police determined it had been reported stolen in the Bronx, New York, several weeks ago.

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Claudine Gay's resignation is a victory for conservative media

The conservative coverage of Gay was a departure from the usual partisan playbook: While there were plenty of the usual appeals to ideology over Gay’s handling of antisemitism on campus, the most distinguishing content was based on vintage news reporting. Gay resigned this week after a series of plagiarism allegations that emerged from the right. Criticism of Harvard University from conservative quarters would normally find its audience in right-wing echo chambers. But the torrent aimed at president Claudine Gay broke through in a big way, ultimately scoring a rare direct hit against one of the premier institutions in liberal academia. Advertisement “A great scoop can come from anywhere,” said Brian Stelter, a media reporter who previously hosted CNN’s “Reliable Sources” and was a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. “Right wing media historically has talked about others reporting, but done very little reporting on its own.” Gay was just months into her presidency when she faced an acute crisis over her testimony before Congress in December on campus antisemitism triggered by the Israel-Hamas war. Despite calls for her resignation from outside campus, she received the backing of Harvard’s governing board, which issued a statement of support the following week. However, her position became more tenuous when the Washington Free Beacon published additional stories that questioned Gay’s academic writings. The ongoing revelations helped fuel growing discontent among Harvard’s students and faculty — some of whom worried the university was holding its president to a lower academic standard than a typical undergraduate. The outcome points up the complex calculus that an increasingly fragmented media landscape has created for institutions and leaders, who must figure out how to respond to critiques that may raise valid points even when they’re made to advance an agenda. Advertisement Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School who was a former US solicitor general in the Reagan administration, stated the dilemma plainly in an interview on Dec. 20 with The New York Times. “If it came from some other quarter, I might be granting it some credence,” Fried said of the plagiarism accusations against Gay. “But not from these people.” Christopher Brunet, who writes a newsletter on Substack and reported some of the key allegations against Gay, said his indignation over what he saw as hypocrisy at Harvard was intensely personal. “I was angrily blogging about academia, because I got rejected from every PhD program I applied to,” he said in an interview. “That was pretty nakedly my motivation.” Brunet, a former reporter at the Tucker Carlson-founded website the Daily Caller, cowrote a key article on the Gay allegations that was published on Dec. 10. His fellow author was Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who has hailed Gay’s resignation as “the beginning of the end for DEI in America’s institutions,” referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Their article on Rufo’s Substack newsletter alleged Gay plagiarized sections of her PhD dissertation by improperly paraphrasing sections from other works and not using quotation marks around what appeared to be borrowed material. Brunet said he’s been writing about academic misconduct for years. He had previously written pieces critical of Gay, but those articles never gained any traction. So he turned to Rufo. “I needed the platform, I needed firepower,” Brunet said. “I brought the plagiarism to him and I was like, ‘Look, I have this story, would you be interested in working on it together?’ And he said yeah.” Advertisement A pedestrian passes a gate to Harvard Yard in Cambridge on Dec. 12, 2023. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The day after Rufo and Brunet published their article, the Washington Free Beacon — which boasts that it covers “the enemies of freedom the way the mainstream media won’t” — published a story that alleged Gay plagiarized fellow academics in four papers she authored. But many mainstream news outlets did not publish the allegations of plagiarism until after the Harvard Corporation — the university’s highest governing body — acknowledged them in its statement supporting Gay on Dec. 12. The board said it had conducted an independent analysis and “found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.” However, it noted Gay had requested several corrections on attribution to two articles. Interestingly, the impetus for that review had been a media request from the New York Post, which had not yet published any articles about the plagiarism allegations. The matter, though, was not settled. The Free Beacon published two more articles that detailed additional plagiarism allegations in Gay’s writings. That the plagiarism allegations against Gay originated from conservative outlets, rather than from mainstream media, wasn’t a huge shock to Susan Walker, an associate professor of journalism at Boston University. She said she’s not sure that “any major news outlet would be reviewing the citations and footnotes of a Harvard president’s dissertation or published academic journal articles.” Free Beacon reporter Aaron Sibarium said he continued to follow the story in part because “it matters what a massive and heavily publicly subsidized research university is doing.” Advertisement “I think it is relevant what standards it holds its own employees — its own president — to, especially if those standards diverge from the standards to which it holds its own students.” It wasn’t the first time Sibarium broke a big, national story. In addition to his scoop on Gay, he’s broken news on guidance from the Food and Drug Administration that allowed states to apportion COVID drugs based on race. In a November article, Politico reported Sibarium is “providing Old School, shoe-leather reporting from a conservative point of view,” with the caveat that, politically, he’s not conservative. Sibarium said that he believes Gay’s resignation and the plagiarism allegations against her will only increase scrutiny on higher education. “I’m sure there will be more academic scandals that surface, at least partly in response to this,” Sibarium said. “And I am interested in covering those.” Mike Damiano of the Globe staff contributed to this story.

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Vermont shootings: Jason Eaton fired recently, was Boy Scout leader

“We are horrified by the shooting and are cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate,” she said in a statement, which declined further comment. Jason J. Eaton , 48, was a full-time sales assistant for CUSO Financial Services in Williston, Vt., according to his LinkedIn account. He was terminated on Nov. 8 after working there for less than a year, said Elisabeth Rutledge, a company spokeswoman. A Vermont man accused of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent on Saturday was terminated from his job with a financial services firm earlier this month, a company spokesperson said Monday. Eaton allegedly shot the students outside his apartment on Saturday around 6:30 p.m., authorities said. He was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder. Advertisement Relatives have identified the students, all of whom are 20 years old, as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad. Eaton’s LinkedIn page and personal website provide details of his professional and educational history going back nearly three decades. Much of his work history was in New York state. On Monday. Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said investigators believe Eaton moved to Burlington over the summer and had previously lived in the Syracuse area. From 2017 to 2022, he worked as a leader for a Cub Scout troop, according to his LinkedIn page. The Boy Scouts of America said Monday that Eaton had been an assistant scoutmaster in upstate New York and was last registered with the organization in 2021. Eaton is not currently a member of the organization and has not been registered in scouting in Vermont, the Boy Scouts said. Jason J. Eaton, who is accused of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, was arraigned via video call at Chittenden Superior Court. Chittenden Superior Court “Mr. Eaton’s alleged actions do not reflect the values of Scouting. Upon learning of his arrest he was been banned from registering in Scouting any capacity and will be proactively placed in the Volunteer Screening Database, permanently preventing his registration or participation in the future,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. Advertisement Scott Armstrong, a spokesperson for the Boy Scouts, said Eaton left the scouts of his own accord and his membership “voluntarily” expired in 2021. “He was not dismissed and there were no complaints. He was an Assistant Scoutmaster to a Troop (now inactive) in Syracuse, N.Y., at the time he left Scouting in 2021. He did not receive any honors or awards during his tenure,” Armstrong said. In Syracuse, the city’s Department of Community Development lauded Eaton for his “dedication and hard work” as a volunteer community liaison between the city and its Eastside neighborhood in 2009. Brooke Schneider, a city spokesperson, confirmed that Eaton was a volunteer from 2009 to 2011. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, in a separate statement to the Globe, denounced the shooting in Vermont. “The shooting of three Palestinian-American college students in Burlington is tragic. We all must join together in rejecting hatred and intolerance in any form and work toward a nation and world of understanding and peaceful coexistence,” Walsh said. Travis Andersen and John Ellement of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.

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Pat McAfees On-Air Slams of ESPN Executive Show a Network Power Shift

As it morphs from a television company into a streaming company, ESPN is undergoing rapid transformation. But if the extraordinary events of the past week are any indication, the transformation of its corporate culture is just as seismic. For decades, the biggest star at ESPN was ESPN. A long list of its best-known employees — like Keith Olbermann, Bill Simmons and Dan Le Batard — clashed with executives, and the story always ended the same way: Those employees left, and ESPN kept right on rolling. But last week Pat McAfee, the Indianapolis Colts punter turned new-media shock jock and ESPN star, directly criticized a powerful executive at the Disney-owned network by name, calling him a “rat.” Not only was Mr. McAfee not fired, he seemingly was not punished at all, shocking current and former ESPN executives and employees. “We know there is no more offensive crime in the universe of ESPN and Disney than host-on-host crime, or talent-on-talent crime,” Jemele Hill, a former “SportsCenter” host who left ESPN in 2018 after sparring with executives, said last week.

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Springfield has almost fixed water main break-caused washout. But who will pay?

SPRINGFIELD — Work is nearly complete repairing the washout and water main rupture off St. James and Liberty streets. In September, parts of Massachusetts got seven to 10 inches of rain and particularly heavy storms delivered four inches of rain Sept. 11 to 13. The storm washed out a culvert and caused a burst in a 36-inch high-pressure water main in the woods behind the Big Y Plaza on Liberty Street.

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Winning now doesnt have to hurt future Patriots

The Patriots haven’t given up. While that might sound like a “no bleep, Sherlock” type of view after their 21-18 win against the Steelers in Pittsburgh Thursday night, it’s not. Plenty of players/teams have been known to subtly pack it in if the season is over early. And it’s definitely over for the 3-10 Patriots, who were officially eliminated from the playoffs Sunday. Judging by the inspired effort against the Steelers, however, the Patriots are still putting up a fight. While the notion of trying hard should be automatic given all the money the players make, not to mention jobs on the line, it’s still notable given the circumstances. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Watching running back Ezekiel Elliott make a potential touchdown-saving tackle after a Bailey Zappe pick; seeing cornerback Jonathan Jones play one of his best games in helping neutralize the Steelers fleet of receivers; and marveling at David Andrews literally dealing with three oncoming rushers on one play was outstanding. “We ain’t here just to give games up,” defensive tackle Christian Barmore said Monday via video call. “We’re here to play football.” The players aren’t giving games up, and they’re still playing for Bill Belichick, and that shouldn’t get lost in all the speculation about the head coach’s future, along with their draft standing. Belichick, in turn, appreciates their efforts. “I have a lot of respect for what the team has done,” the Patriots coach said during his Monday appearance on WEEI. “They come in every day, prepare, work hard. We’ve lost some close games, and we won one Thursday night, which is great. Hopefully we can stay on that track and keep finding ways to win those close games.” Obviously, the problem with all of this is that winning is at cross purposes for the big picture goal of landing the best possible draft pick in the 2024 draft. But what does that really mean? That they won’t get one of the top two “franchise” quarterbacks if they wind up picking third overall, or below? Not necessarily. What it means is if they target either USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye as the can’t-miss quarterback to take them into the future, they’ll have to hand over some assets and move up the board to land him. While it would be better if they didn’t have to give up anything, that’s still fine. It’s still doable. And the Patriots should be motivated to make that kind of move. Sitting as the worst team in the AFC, the Patriots have reached the point where they have to go get the players they need, whatever the cost. Whether it’s surrendering future draft capital to move up the board, or outbidding others for free agents they covet, that’s where it’s at for the Patriots, who have missed the postseason three of the last four years. Like it or not, they need to be aggressive. They can’t just give up if they perceive the cost to be too high - hello DeAndre Hopkins. If the Patriots want to get back to relevance, that mindset is pretty much non-negotiable whether Belichick is retained or not. So what happens from here on out, whether the players are engaged or not, shouldn’t be an issue. As it is, they’re going to have a tough time trying to take down an angry Chiefs team, losers of two straight, not to mention the Bills in Buffalo, and the resurgent Broncos in Denver. There’s no question the Steelers win was good for morale. As special teams captain Matthew Slater said Monday, the team was “starving for a win” after five straight losses. “Everybody has been working really hard. We just haven’t had the results we’ve been looking for, so it means a lot to win,” he said during his media availability. “After going through this season, we all just appreciate what it means to win in this league a little more ... look, I know everybody feels different about the way our season is going. But for us, as competitors, we want to go out, and we want to perform well regardless of the circumstances. So it gives us some confidence and hopefully it gives us a little spark, and we’re going to need every bit of spark this week against the Chiefs.” Indeed they will. The Patriots going all out to win isn’t likely to change the narrative against more talented teams who need to win to either maintain their playoff standing (Chiefs), or punch a ticket to the postseason (Bills, Broncos). The Jets are another story, but going 1-3 down the stretch certainly won’t be a draft killer no matter which way you slice it. When the time comes, the Patriots are going to have to pull out all the stops to change the narrative regardless of where they end up in the draft order. NFL fans can wager online on Massachusetts sports betting with enticing promo codes from top online sportsbooks. Use the FanDuel Massachusetts promo code and the DraftKings Massachusetts promo code for massive new user bonuses.

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OpenAI Staff Threatens Exodus, Jeopardizing Companys Future

Mr. Sutskever did not respond to a request for comment. In addition to Mr. Altman, several key OpenAI employees have already joined Microsoft’s new A.I. subsidiary. This includes Greg Brockman, the OpenAI president who quit the start-up in solidarity after Mr. Altman was ousted. Early Monday morning in a post to X, Mr. Brockman said that he and Mr. Altman would also be joined at Microsoft by three OpenAI researchers: Jakub Pachocki, Szymon Sidor and Aleksander Madry. Mr. Pachocki led the development of GPT-4, the technology that underpins OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT. He has long worked closely with Mr. Brockman, an engineer who helped found OpenAI in 2015 alongside Mr. Altman and has been deeply involved in almost all aspects of the company’s operations from its earliest days. OpenAI staff was in upheaval in the hours after the board announced Mr. Altman’s ouster, two OpenAI employees told The New York Times. Employees were privately sharing morbid jokes and memes about the power struggles from the HBO show “Succession,” the two said. Many used private group messaging chats and video calls to plan their next steps — and to commiserate with one another. And Mr. Shear’s challenge in winning their loyalty as chief executive quickly became evident. Most OpenAI employees skipped an all-hands video call Sunday night meant to introduce them to Mr. Shear, and some reacted to a message announcing the meeting with vulgar emojis, according to a person familiar with the matter. OpenAI still retains a partnership with Microsoft. Mr. Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in an early Monday post to X that Microsoft would continue to work with the start-up to sell a wide range of products and services based on GPT-4 and other OpenAI technologies.

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Patriot Front lawsuit: Black musician sues group over alleged Boston attack

The complaint filed Tuesday by Charles M. Murrell III , 36, in US District Court in Boston seeks to expose Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization , to the same kind of financial penalties imposed on organizers of the 2017 gathering in Charlottesville, advisers for the litigation team said. A Black musician who alleges he was attacked last summer in Boston by masked Patriot Front members armed with shields sued the group Tuesday in federal court, setting up a legal battle that his advisers say was modeled after a successful lawsuit against organizers of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. Advertisement Murrell, an educator and classically trained musician who plays several instruments, said his physical injuries have impacted his saxophone playing and he has “lost the ability to feel safe.” He is bringing the lawsuit, he said, to pursue accountability for the “violent white supremacist attack.” “I don’t feel like Black and brown young people should be walking around cities with hate organizations being able to attack them for no reason,” Murrell told the Globe. Charles Murrell III said his physical injuries have impacted his saxophone playing. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Licha M. Nyiendo, chief legal officer at Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization that is advising the lawyers handling Murrell’s case, said there’s a model for using litigation to “bankrupt and decimate these neo-Nazi groups.” “That’s what we hope to accomplish by suing Patriot Front,” she said. Another adviser from Human Rights First is Amy Spitalnick, who served as executive director of Integrity First for America, the nonprofit group that organized the lawsuit in Virginia against the people and organizations behind the Charlottesville rally that killed Heather Heyer, 32, a counterprotester. Civil litigation, she said, can target the “finances and operations of these extremist groups.” “When it comes to what happened in Boston a year ago, it’s so crucial that we make clear there will be consequences for this sort of violent hate,” said Spitalnick, who is also chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Advertisement A message sent Tuesday morning to Patriot Front through its website wasn’t immediately returned. Murrell was walking through the Back Bay on July 2, 2022, when he encountered Patriot Front members marching through the city in a demonstration that caught police by surprise. Murrell has said the group attacked him. News photographs of the clash show a Patriot Front marcher pressing a shield against Murrell’s head, forcing it into a light post. No charges have been filed. Police have said the case remains open. The complaint asserts that Patriot Front’s alleged attack on Murrell was a “coordinated, brutal, and racially motivated” offensive that was emblematic of the group’s strategy of using violence to achieve “white supremacist goals.” As examples, the lawsuit includes screenshots and photographs of masked Patriot Front members in confrontations with Black people, including an incident in Philadelphia on July 3, 2021, and what Murrell’s lawyers described as a post on the social media site Telegram showing the group practicing drills with shields. In the Charlottesville case, a federal jury in 2021 ordered a dozen organizers and five groups to pay about $26 million in damages. Among those penalized were James Alex Fields Jr., an avowed admirer of Adolf Hitler who is serving a life sentence for killing Heyer; Christopher Cantwell, a white nationalist from New Hampshire; and Richard Spencer, who gained national notoriety for headlining neo-Nazi rallies. Advertisement While most of the jury award was slashed in January under a Virginia law capping punitive damages at $350,000, the defendants remain on the hook for about $7.5 million in legal fees and penalties, court records show. Spencer has called the case “financially crippling.” “This guy was the leader of the neo-Nazi movement in America six years ago and he has been effectively marginalized because of this case,” Spitalnick said. The 46-page complaint accuses Patriot Front of conspiracy to violate Murrell’s civil rights, civil assault and battery, and other misconduct. The suit names the organization and its leader, Thomas R. Rousseau, of Grapevine, Texas, as defendants. Also listed as defendants are masked marchers who paraded through Boston but remain unidentified. The lawsuit refers to them as “John Does 1-99,” and says Murrell will seek their identities during the litigation and amend his complaint “should one or more responsible individuals be identified.” Rousseau was photographed with Fields at the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, which they attended as members of Vanguard America, the complaint said. The Anti-Defamation League describes Vanguard America as a neo-Nazi group. Shortly after the event, Rousseau broke off from the group and established Patriot Front, the lawsuit said. The Boston law firm Foley Hoag LLP is representing Murrell pro bono. Advertisement The complaint alleges Patriot Front began planning its march on Boston as early as December 2021 and offers new details from Murrell’s account of his encounter with the group. On the day of the Patriot Front march, Murrell was walking from Back Bay Station to Copley Square, where he planned to perform music by Bach on his saxophone outside the Boston Public Library, and didn’t know about the demonstration in advance, the lawsuit said. When he saw masked marchers walking toward him with shields and flags, Murrell reached for his phone to record, the complaint says. But before Murrell could record, he heard one of the masked men say what he believes was the word “tar” and understood it to be a reference to his race. “The masked and shield-wielding mob then yelled together, ‘DO NOT BREAK OUR RANKS,’ and quickly surrounded Mr. Murrell,” the lawsuit said. Rousseau then allegedly yelled, “RIGHT SCREEN,” which the complaint described as an order to Patriot Front members to use their shields in a “violent manner.” Murrell’s lawsuit alleges Patriot Front members pressed him against a light post and knocked him to the ground, where they hit and kicked him until law enforcement intervened. An ambulance took Murrell to Tufts Medical Center, where he received stitches and treatment for lacerations to the head, hand, and face, the complaint said. After the march, Patriot Front members loaded their equipment into a U-Haul box truck that was driven out of the city. State Police stopped the vehicle in Stoneham and issued a criminal citation to the driver, Colton M. Brown, 24, for allegedly attaching an unregistered Arizona license plate to the truck. Advertisement Brown so far is the only person linked to the July 2, 2022, demonstration to face criminal prosecution. The case was dismissed in April after he paid $150 court costs, records show. Murrell said he doesn’t believe white supremacist groups are being held accountable for their actions. “White supremacist organizations like this that are planning and organizing around violence should be taken seriously and need to be held accountable,” he said. Patriot Front and its members have faced civil litigation and criminal prosecution tied to their alleged activities in other parts of the country. Last month, five Patriot Front members were convicted in Idaho of criminal conspiracy to riot after police accused them of planning to disrupt a Pride event last year in Coeur d’Alene. More trials in the case are set for this month. In Richmond, Va., Patriot Front, Rousseau, and other members of the organization were named as defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing them of vandalizing in 2021 a mural there honoring tennis player Arthur Ashe, the first Black man to win the US Open and Wimbledon. The case is pending. Last month, the court entered defaults against Patriot Front and Rousseau because they hadn’t responded to the lawsuit, court records show. Murrell’s lawsuit said that since his encounter with Patriot Front, he has suffered nightmares and flashbacks about the confrontation. Even the music composition book he had with him when he crossed paths with Patriot Front carries a “gruesome reminder,” the complaint said. “Residue of his own blood spattered on the cover.” Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.

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Joe ODonnell, entrepreneur and transformative philanthropist for cystic fibrosis, dies at 79

Instead, he worked endless hours beyond the glare of headlines, never more so than while raising money for cystic fibrosis research. Little could be done in 1974 when his son, Joey, was born with the genetic disorder and died 12 years later. Leaving no potential donor’s hand unshaken, Mr. O’Donnell spent nearly 40 years helping to raise more than $500 million — principally through founding The Joey Fund — to develop treatments that have extended the lives of those with the condition. “As a kid, I was taught not to shine a spotlight on yourself, and I always thought people who did that were kind of jerks,” he told the Globe in 2001, when he was trying to purchase the Red Sox. “And even today, I still think that’s true.” In his decades as one of Boston’s most successful and influential entrepreneurs, Joe O’Donnell kept as low a profile as possible for someone who came close at different points to buying the local football and baseball teams. Get Today's Headlines The day's top stories delivered every morning. Enter Email Sign Up “It is by far the most important thing that I do,” he said for a Phillips Exeter Academy alumni profile a few years ago. “It is Joey’s legacy.” Advertisement Mr. O’Donnell, whose expansive holdings included stadium concessions, a venture capital firm, a marketing agency, and ski areas, was 79 when he died of cancer Sunday in his Boston home. His fund-raising propelled scientific advances and “led to the breakthrough medicines that are transforming the lives of tens of thousands of people with cystic fibrosis around the world today,” said Dr. Michael Boyle, chief executive of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “We would not have these transformative medicines without Joe.” Mr. O'Donnell with his wife, Kathy, and students from the Winn Brook Elementary School in Belmont looked over blueprints for the playground the children helped design in Joey's honor in 2013. Joey O'Donnell attended Winn Brook Elementary. JohnTlumacki Initially building a business empire with the Boston Culinary Group, which provided concessions to stadiums and other venues across the country, Mr. O’Donnell branched into a multitude of other ventures. When pressed, though, he would often smile, shrug, and say he sold popcorn and candy. Advertisement A friend once joked that he “owns 4 percent of everything,” Boston Magazine noted when it placed Mr. O’Donnell atop its 2006 list of “The 100 People Who Run This Town.” High on the roster of his other full and part ownerships were the private equity group Belmont Capital, Allied Global Marketing, and the Suffolk Downs racetrack. “He could digest the most complex spreadsheet in minutes,” said Mike Sheehan, a friend and former Globe chief executive who was a partner in some of Mr. O’Donnell’s ventures. “But his real gift was his X-ray vision: He could see through the numbers to the people behind them. And if he sensed the slightest character flaw, there’d be no deal.” Mr. O’Donnell was also an informal adviser to mayors, governors, and former president George W. Bush, a friend since their Harvard Business School days. “Joe O’Donnell was a great man and loyal friend. He had a big heart and a big laugh,” Bush said in an email. “His love for Boston was eclipsed only by his love for his family and his friends.” Rising to success from a modest childhood, Mr. O’Donnell was the son of a police officer and a school secretary in Everett, a formative hometown that still loomed large in his thoughts when he was spending most of his time in boardrooms and executive suites. Advertisement “In Everett, you could blindfold me and I could smell my way home,” he recalled warmly in a 2003 Globe interview. “I love that city.” By that year, Mr. O’Donnell had led separate groups of partners who tried, without success, to buy the New England Patriots in the late 1980s, and then the Red Sox, before the team was sold to a group led by principal owner John Henry, who also owns the Globe. “Joe had tremendous charisma,” said Steve Karp, a prominent real estate developer and Mr. O’Donnell’s key partner in the Red Sox bid. “He could walk into a room and not know anybody and leave with half the people thinking he was their best friend.” Among those newfound pals were some who might later find themselves on the opposing side of a conference table from Mr. O’Donnell, negotiating hard-wrought deals. Ultimately, though, his reputation rested largely on an “unassuming demeanor” and unending generosity, said Karp, who added that Mr. O’Donnell was “doing something for someone all the time” behind the scenes. “He didn’t believe in emails or texts,” Karp said. “He believed in picking up the phone and calling. He was interested in how your family was doing, which made him unique. He wanted to know about you personally, as well as the business situation.” And when Mr. O’Donnell met those who, like him, had lost loved ones, he gave them his favorite book on grieving, “The Bereaved Parent,” along with a hug and an offer to simply listen. Advertisement “In business he was a tough guy, everybody knows that. But there was this incredibly humane, soft, caring, empathetic side of Joe,” said Lawrence Bacow, a former Harvard president who had served with him on the Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing board. “You didn’t know what it was like to have a friend until you had Joe O’Donnell as a friend.” Born on April 19, 1944, Joseph James O’Donnell grew up in Everett, the son of Teresa Rose Cavicchi O’Donnell and Joseph I. O’Donnell. An honors graduate at Malden Catholic High School — a significant recipient of his philanthropy — Mr. O’Donnell was the captain of the football and baseball teams. He then spent a post-graduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy before a scholarship allowed him to attend Harvard, where he also played football and baseball. “He believed that he achieved great success not despite his blue-collar roots, but because of his blue-collar roots,” said US Senator Ed Markey, who was two years behind Mr. O’Donnell at Malden Catholic. “That’s what made him the quintessential man to connect all the various parts of Boston.” After graduating from Harvard with a bachelor’s degree and receiving a master’s from Harvard Business School, Mr. O’Donnell was associate dean of students at the business school. In the mid-1970s, he began running what became the Boston Culinary Group, which he sold more than a dozen years ago. Advertisement In addition to the Harvard Corporation board, he served on the university’s Board of Overseers and as a Harvard Alumni Association director. A Harvard Medal recipient, he was “one of Harvard’s most devoted and inspiring alumni leaders,” Drew Faust, a former Harvard president, once told the Harvard Gazette. In 2012, Mr. O’Donnell and his wife, Kathy, donated $30 million to Harvard as a way of giving thanks for his good fortune to attend as a scholarship student. A six-time varsity letter winner and Harvard baseball’s team captain as a senior, Mr. O’Donnell donated $2.5 million to the baseball program. The team’s ballpark is named for him. He had in 1970 married Katherine Kelliher, who worked for Action for Boston Community Development until their son, Joey, was born. Soon after, Joey was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. “He never asked us if he was going to die,” Mr. O’Donnell said just after his son’s death, in 1986. “That was the beauty of him,” he told the Globe. “He kept telling us not to worry; that the doctors would come up with a cure; that he was just a normal kid, and that’s how we should treat him.” Joey O'Donnell Family handout/Globe staff In their long, widely admired marriage, the O’Donnells became extensively involved with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fund-raising, and they brought up two daughters who were born after Joey died — Kate O’Donnell of Boston and Casey Buckley, who lives in the Brookline part of Chestnut Hill. “My parents had a beautiful marriage. I’ve always been in awe of their relationship,” Kate said. “She always let him think that he was right, and she was always in charge in the background. They had a beautiful respect for each other.” A service will be announced for Mr. O’Donnell, who in recent years spent as much time as possible with his granddaughter, Blair, and grandson, J.D., who both called him Go-Go — a nickname that evolved from how his granddaughter used to say Joe-Joe. “His whole life was people,” Casey said. “People meant family and friends and community, and he created community wherever he went. Whatever group he was a part of, he made it better, and he made it fun, and he made it successful.” Mr. O’Donnell had launched his successful career as an entrepreneur in the 1970s in part to help pay the medical bills when Joey was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as a baby. During Joey’s 12 years “he taught me a lot,” Mr. O’Donnell told the Globe in 1986. “I think he taught a lot to everyone who knew him.” And a few days before Joey died, “all of a sudden he told me he knew what heaven was,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “He told me heaven was different, that a long time down here was like a blink of an eye in heaven.” Bryan Marquard can be reached at bryan.marquard@globe.com.

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Princess of Wales to Be Hospitalized for 10 Days After Abdominal Surgery

Two of the most senior members of Britain’s royal family have been hit by health concerns, with Catherine, the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, undergoing abdominal surgery in London on Tuesday, while King Charles III will receive treatment for an enlarged prostate next week. Catherine will be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days, according to the couple’s office in Kensington Palace, and will convalesce for two to three months after that. The king’s recovery is expected to be swifter, according to Buckingham Palace, which described his treatment as a “corrective procedure” for a common, benign condition. Kensington Palace did not offer details on Catherine’s diagnosis or prognosis, other than to say that the surgery had been planned and was successful, and that her condition was “not cancerous.” It said the princess, who is 42, would recuperate at home after she left the hospital and would not return to public duties until after Easter. “Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales was admitted to the London Clinic yesterday for planned abdominal surgery,” Kensington Palace said in a four-paragraph news release. It added: “She hopes the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

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21 Injured in Explosion at Fort Worth Hotel

At least 21 people were injured in an explosion that was most likely caused by a gas leak and substantially damaged a hotel in downtown Fort Worth on Monday afternoon, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition and four were seriously injured, the police said in an evening update. Fourteen people were transported to a hospital, and one person went to a hospital on their own, the police said. Earlier, the authorities had said that one person was missing, but they noted later that the person had been found.

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Man arrested in woman's death at Worcester spa

A man has been arrested a day after a woman was found dead at a massage parlor in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving, as newly-released court documents reveal that the woman was shot in the head. Worcester police announced Friday that 31-year-old Marcel Santos-Padgett, of Leicester, was taken into custody on Friday at Columbia Park in Haverhill. The state police violent fugitive apprehension squad and the Haverhill Police Department assisted Worcester police with the arrest. Santos-Padgett was arrested on an outstanding warrant for armed assault to murder in connection to the investigation into a woman's suspicious death at Angie's Body Work Spa on Thursday, police said. Worcester Police responded to Angie’s Body Work Spa on Pleasant St. for a report of a woman experiencing a medical issue. Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters. Investigators have not revealed many details of the circumstances leading up to the shooting, but say they got a call about a woman experiencing a possible medical issue at the Pleasant Street business around 11:37 a.m. Thursday. When officers arrived at the spa, a man flagged them down and brought them to the woman who was unconscious. First responders were not able to revive her and she was pronounced dead on scene. Police initially called the woman's death suspicious but they now say this is a homicide. According to investigators, Santos-Padgett allegedly pulled a gun on the woman inside the massage parlor and shot her in the head. Police were able to identify him from license plate reader data that placed his vehicle in the area of the crime scene. Santos-Padgett lives in Leicester but was arrested at a home in Haverhill on Friday. Court records indicate that investigators have not yet been able to identify the victim. A tenant who rents a room inside the spa told NBC10 Boston he didn’t know much about the incident, and placed a sign on the door referring all questions to police. “When this place opened I said this is bad news for the neighborhood,” said David Balyan who lives on Pleasant Street. Santos-Padgett is expected to be arraigned on Monday. Attorney information was not immediately available.

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Ask Amy: How do I tell my friend I just need her ear, not endless advice?

Dear Amy: “Carol” and I are extremely good friends. I know she cares deeply about me. However, whenever she asks about my life, instead of sympathizing with my problems and my feelings, she clings to an issue I’ve mentioned and immediately brainstorms solutions to my problem -- as though I or my family members were incompetent at solving our own problems. She asks me about how my life is, and I respond honestly. In these situations, I have not asked her for any advice. I believe that Carol cares deeply for me and my family. She does not want to see us have struggles, but I find her unsolicited reactions very hurtful. I know she thinks she’s helping, but her drive to fix everything implies that if I did things her way I wouldn’t have problems or negative feelings. I can’t share about my life without getting some sort of “stop the pity party and get solving this” response. It is affecting our friendship. I find myself selecting specific, insignificant issues to tell her about. I’ve stopped telling her about important issues in my life until they are resolved. How do I get her to lay off the condescending solution-seeking sessions? Am I unreasonable to want to share my feelings with someone and just have them empathize with me? Is it wrong to have some validation, instead of streams of constant unsolicited advice? – No Messy Feelings Allowed Dear No Messy Feelings: I have a little sticky note on my desk with this sentence written on it: “All unsolicited advice is self-serving.” I heard this once on a call-in radio show and immediately wrote it down. Most people loathe unsolicited advice; hearing instant “solutions” can make a person feel oddly defensive about one’s own problems. So think about that quote. “Carol” is serving her own needs by leaping onto your problems. She is self-serving when she offers her instant solutions (“I’m Carol, the problem-solver!”) and self-soothing, too – tamping down the anxiety that arises when she believes someone she loves is making a mistake or in trouble. Plus – leaping in like this is annoying, plain and simple! You should pull back the curtain a little and tell her honestly about how this habit affects you: “I know you’re smart. I trust your instincts. But you may not realize that when I open up about problems or issues in my own life, I’m not asking for solutions. I’m just expressing how I feel about things. I’m hoping that you can listen without problem-solving. This might seem frustrating for you, but it helps me the most when I feel heard and understood.” You can also preface a narrative by saying, “I’m not looking for answers here; I just feel the need to vent about some things that are going on. Can you offer me your sympathetic ear?” Dear Amy: My daughter is a single mother of two children, ages 7 and 5. She and the children have lived with me for all but a few months of the eldest child’s life. We have a nice little household and get along very well. My daughter is the primary parent and I’ve always respected that. I’m here to help. We talk things through, but she makes ultimate decisions regarding her children. She has been dating “Brian,” for about a year, and they are talking about marriage. The problem is that he is pushing back regarding the children. He believes he should have the power to make parenting decisions and to discipline him. I disagree with this approach, but I have not weighed in at all. I’m wondering what you think. – Gram Dear Gram: Stepparents integrate best into a new family by taking it slowly and developing trusting and affectionate friendships with the children. The stepparent role (certainly at the beginning) is to support the primary parent. In my own life as a stepparent, I think of this as “holding hands” with my spouse through challenges. (This sounds very much like the role you’ve assumed in your household.) In my opinion, it is a red flag for a prospective spouse to approach the stepparent role with discipline on his mind – and on the table. Dear Amy: “Wondering Employee” didn’t know how to respond to her employer’s statement that he went without a pay raise in order to give the staff a raise. I’m wondering if he neglected to mention a year-end bonus that he gave himself. I had a boss who did that: a six-figure bonus! – Empty-pocket Employee Dear Employee: Crafty! (You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.) ©2023 Amy Dickinson. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Single-family home in Bolton sells for $1.2 million

A 3,598-square-foot house built in 1993 has changed hands. The spacious property located at 72 Golden Run Road in Bolton was sold on Nov. 15, 2023 for $1,235,000, or $343 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, three baths, an attached garage, and two parking spaces. It sits on a 4.5-acre lot. Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:

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A Cannoli Recipe Thatll Bring Sicily to You

The dough here is relatively simple and comes together easily by hand. Because it must be rolled out very thinly — more on why below — it’s kneaded for several minutes to develop the gluten it requires to extend without breaking. However, you don’t want too much gluten, which can make the resulting shells tough. To create the necessary balance, cannoli dough contains two important ingredients: lard and wine. The lard (or another saturated fat, such as refined coconut oil) is worked into the dry ingredients so it coats some of the flour, which inhibits gluten formation and staves off toughness. The wine (red, white and Marsala are all common) contains alcohol, which hydrates the dough without developing gluten so it’s workable but not too strong. In my research, I came across multiple theories about what produces cannoli’s bubbly exterior. Some sources said it was the result of the alcohol in the wine evaporating quickly on contact with the frying oil, others said it was prolonged kneading of the dough, which traps air bubbles. While there’s truth to both, all of my testing indicated quite simply that bubbles form when a well-hydrated dough is rolled very thinly and fried.

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Tessa R. Murphy-Romboletti, primera mujer elegida presidenta del Concejo Municipal de Holyoke

Tessa Murphy-Romboletti is the executive director for Holyoke’s EforAll program. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

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Patriots vs. Giants picks against the spread (Matt vs. Jim)

MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour and sports director Jim Pignatiello have been friends for decades. This year, they are picking NFL games against each other with nothing but bragging rights on the line. Beware, they both aren’t very good at this. Is this the saddest Boston-New York matchup ever? There’s no playoff implications. No real bragging rights. Should either team even want to win? This game only matters for draft order and of course gambling. New England Patriots at New York Giants When/Where: Sunday, 1 p.m. EST MetLife Stadium Watch/ Stream: FOX fuboTV (free trial and NFL RedZone); Sling; DirecTV Stream; NFL+ The Line: Patriots -3.5 (from Sports Betting Dime). Wager: NFL fans can wager online on Massachusetts sports betting with enticing promo codes from top online sportsbooks. Use the FanDuel Massachusetts promo code and the DraftKings Massachusetts promo code for massive new user bonuses. Wear: Shop for jerseys, shirts, hats, hoodies and more at Fanatics.com Tickets: StubHub and *VividSeats - *New customers who purchase tickets through VividSeats can get $20 off a $200+ ticket order by using the promo code MassLive20 at checkout.* Jim Pignatiello Record after Week 11: 17-10 — I have a rule. Any time I’m picking a game where one of the QBs shares a name with a character from my favorite movie, I have to pick that team to win. Now I just have to hope someone tells Tommy to go home and get his shinebox. Pick: Giants Matt Vautour Record after Week 11: 16-11 — I remain flabbergasted that there isn’t more conversation about the fact that Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito has same name as Joe Pesci’s unforgettable character in “Goodfellas.” After playing like a funny guy early, he looked good last week. Unlike his movie namesake (spoiler alert), I don’t think he’ll get whacked on Sunday. Pick: Giants More From the Associated Press: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (2-8) AT N.Y. GIANTS (3-8) Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox AGAINST THE SPREAD: Patriots 2-8; Giants 3-7-1. SERIES RECORD: Patriots lead 7-6. LAST MEETING: Patriots beat the Giants 35-14 on Oct. 10, 2019, at Foxborough, Massachusetts. LAST WEEK: Patriots had a bye; Giants beat the Commanders 31-19. PATRIOTS OFFENSE: OVERALL (26), RUSH (27), PASS (22), SCORING (31) PATRIOTS DEFENSE: OVERALL (16), RUSH (9), PASS (T18), SCORING (T23) GIANTS OFFENSE: OVERALL (32), RUSH (13), PASS (32), SCORING (32) GIANTS DEFENSE: OVERALL (28), RUSH (29), PASS (22), SCORING (28) TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Patriots minus-6; Giants plus-3. PATRIOTS PLAYER TO WATCH: Whoever starts at quarterback. Mac Jones has started every game this season, but Bailey Zappe has relieved him three times — in two blowouts and again at the end of a 10-6 loss to the Colts on Nov. 12. Zappe was 3 of 7 for 25 yards and finished by throwing an interception on a fake-spike play to seal the game. Will Grier also is on the roster, and Malik Cunningham is on the practice squad. GIANTS PLAYER TO WATCH: Micah McFadden. With leading tackle and fellow inside linebacker Bobby Okereke dealing with hip and rib injuries, McFadden may have to do more. The second-year player has taken a major jump this season. His three fumbles recoveries are tied for the league lead. He had eight tackles, a tackle for a loss and a pass defensed to go along with a recovery last week. He has career highs with 65 tackles and 10 tackles for loss. KEY MATCHUP: What can Patriots coach Bill Belichick do to get Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito off his game? Belichick remains one of the NFL’s top defensive minds and he will come up with something. The Washington Commanders used every gimmick defense last week in sacking DeVito nine times and getting 11 quarterback hits. Despite it all, DeVito completed 7 of 8 passes for 113 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on third down for a perfect rating of 158.3. DeVito completed 18 of 26 passes for 246 yards and did not throw an interception against Washington. KEY INJURIES: The Patriots are relatively healthy coming off their bye week. OL Trent Brown has ankle and knee injuries; he didn’t travel to Germany for the Indianapolis game because of a death in the family, but said he wouldn’t have played anyway. ... WR DeVante Parker missed the past two games with a concussion. Giants OT Evan Neal (ankle) will miss his third straight game. ... DT Dexter Lawrence (hamstring) did not practice all week and is doubtful along with WR Darius Slayton (neck) . .... CB Adoree Jackson (concussion) is back at practice after missing two games. SERIES NOTES: New England has won the past two games in the series and holds a 7-4 edge in regular-season games. The Giants and Eli Manning won the only two playoff games, denying Belichick and Tom Brady Super Bowl titles on Feb. 3, 2008, in Glendale, Arizona, and Feb. 5, 2012, in Indianapolis. STATS AND STUFF: It will be Bill Belichick’s 423rd game with the Patriots, the same as Don Shula with Miami. Only George Halas (506 with the Bears) and Tom Landry (454, Dallas) lasted longer in one place. ... TE Pharaoh Brown is averaging 24.3 yards per reception. ... DL Davon Godchaux has eight total tackles in each of his past two games. ... RB Rhamondre Stevenson needs one more rushing touchdown to move into the top 20 in franchise history. He has 13. With 43 rushing yards, he would pass Steve Grogan (2,176) for 19th on the team’s career list. ... The Patriots had a season-high 167 rushing yards against the Colts. ... New York’s offense scored its first, first-quarter touchdown last week. ... Saquon Barkley has rushed for at least 50 yards in 11 consecutive games, the longest active streak in NFL. ... He caught two TDs against the Commanders. He needs 118 yards from scrimmage to reach 7,000. ... Okereke had a season-high 14 tackles Sunday and has 105 for the season. .... OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux had two sacks and has 10 1/2 for the season. ... S Xavier McKinney has at least 10 tackles in three straight games. ... CB Darnay Holmes has interceptions in the past two games. ... CB Nick McCloud got his first career interception last week. ... OLB Isaiah Simmons had a 54-yard pick-6 to ice the win over Washington. FANTASY TIP: DeVito threw three touchdown passes and did not have a turnover last week despite all the pressure. He has five touchdowns and one interception overall in his two starts. He can become first undrafted rookie and third undrafted player since 1967 to have two or more TD passes in each of his first three starts.

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Trump Turns on Ramaswamy Just Days Before the Iowa Caucuses

Former President Donald J. Trump attacked Vivek Ramaswamy, who is most closely aligned with him in the race for the Republican nomination, accusing the wealthy entrepreneur of engaging in “deceitful campaign tricks.” "A vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ — don’t get duped by this,” Mr. Trump said on social media, adding that “Vivek is not MAGA.” An hour earlier, a senior adviser for Mr. Trump, Chris LaCivita, also attacked Mr. Ramaswamy on social media as a “fraud” in response to a photo showing supporters of Mr. Ramaswamy wearing shirts displaying Mr. Trump’s mug shot that said “Save Trump, vote Vivek.” The attacks from Mr. Trump and one of his top aides in quick succession suggest that the Trump campaign has deliberately shifted toward attacking Mr. Ramaswamy in the final days before Monday’s Iowa caucuses.

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Single family residence in Belmont sells for $6.8 million

A 5,660-square-foot house built in 2005 has changed hands. The spacious property located at 275 Somerset Street in Belmont was sold on Dec. 20, 2023, for $6,750,000, or $1,193 per square foot. This two-story house provides a generous living space with its six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The home’s outer structure has a gable roof frame, composed of asphalt. Inside, a fireplace adds character to the home. In addition, the house is equipped with a one-car garage. Additional houses that have recently changed hands close by include:

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Hearing aids and dementia: New study may get people to wear aids

A few quick finger snaps next to each of my ears, and he was recommending an audiologist. I slunk out of his office, deflated. True, 65 percent of people my age — that is, over 60 — have age-related hearing loss, the kind that often could benefit from a hearing aid. And yet 80 percent of older adults who need hearing aids don’t actually get or use them. Then came one I’d imagined was still years away: How’s your hearing? It was my first appointment with a new doctor, and out came the typical getting-to-know-you questions. How often do you exercise? Do you smoke? How well do you sleep? Advertisement I get it. To me, an age-related hearing aid has always screamed You are old, even though I know that’s not always true. We live in an ageist society, where advanced age gets conflated with disability and irrelevance. But the more I read and spoke to people, the more I realized the serious costs of not using them when they could help. Get Globe Magazine An engaging blend of award-winning narrative journalism, opinion, lifestyle, travel, recipes, and advice. Enter Email Sign Up For people with hearing loss, it’s exhausting trying to piece together meaning when you can’t hear all the words, explained popular blogger Shari Eberts in a recent post, “My Least Favorite Things About Living With Hearing Loss.” “It’s like playing a game of Wheel of Fortune. Some of the letters are filled in while others are blank.” It’s somehow still OK for friends and family to make fun of you, or people assume you’re rude if you don’t respond to them. They assume a lot of other things are wrong with you, too. (Eberts, whose eyesight is fine, was once offered braille information cards on a plane so she could “follow the announcements.”) Sometimes, people treat you dismissively or just give up on trying to communicate with you. “The two words I hate the most are: ‘Never mind,’” says Sue Schy of Waltham, who has hearing loss and leads the Boston chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. Advertisement What’s more, hearing loss is more than just a sensory disorder. It’s associated with a torrent of health problems including depression, injuries from falls, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. And here’s something to keep you up at night: If left untreated, hearing loss can be linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. Put even more starkly, as Dr. Frank Lin of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has explained, studies suggest “hearing loss may be the largest contributor to dementia out of all known risk factors.” But some encouraging news arrived this summer out of an ambitious research study co-led by Lin, which found that hearing aids can significantly reduce this risk. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, Lin’s research team studied nearly 1,000 adults, ages 70 to 84, to see if hearing aids could reduce the risk of cognitive decline, and eventually delay or prevent dementia. It concluded that those at higher risk of dementia who used hearing aids for three years cut cognitive decline — loss of thinking and memory abilities — by an incredible 48 percent, compared with those who didn’t use hearing aids. The findings were published in The Lancet, which underscored the point in a commentary: “Hearing aids could really make a difference for populations at risk of dementia.” Advertisement I called Frank Lin to learn more, especially: What does hearing loss have to do with dementia anyway? He suggested three possible explanations. With hearing loss, speech and sounds are garbled by the time they reach the brain, he says, so the brain “has less resources to devote to thinking and memory.” Second, the parts of the brain that are stimulated by speech and sound are under-stimulated in people with hearing loss, which exacerbates brain atrophy. “You can imagine,” Lin says, “that a shrinking brain is not a good thing.” And third, hearing loss can make communicating with others more difficult, which can lead to social isolation — and that’s another risk factor of dementia. “It’s really a landmark study,” says Dr. Maura Cosetti, director of the Ear Institute of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. “Nothing like this has been done before. There has never been a randomized controlled study of that magnitude which allowed understanding of the specific impact of hearing amplification [or] treatment of hearing loss on cognitive decline.” But has it triggered a stampede to audiologists’ offices (if only to fend off visits to neurologists’ offices)? Predictably, no, say those in the hearing loss community. Resistance to hearing aid use is high. A national 2022 survey of 1,250 older adults found they were more than twice as likely to take their pet to a veterinarian than have their own hearing checked. Advertisement “I see [hearing loss] as the 800-pound gorilla in the room everyone is so desperately trying to ignore, even though they are all worried about it,” says Geoff Plant, executive director of the Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation in Woburn, a nonprofit organization that promotes speech communication skills for people with hearing loss. There have been plenty of reasons for this, starting with cost. A pair of prescription hearing aids can cost more than $5,000. High-end hearing aids go for upward of $8,000, Plant says. And Medicare, inexplicably, still doesn’t pick up the tab. Cosetti adds that hearing loss is an invisible problem and it’s misunderstood, so that people who have it might not even know it. “Most people wait an average of 10 years before getting treatment,” she says. “They wait until it becomes un-ignorable.” And even then, many people hesitate to use the aids, says Schy, whose 91-year-old father-in-law owns six pairs of hearing aids — all of them tucked away in a drawer, mingling with his socks. I asked her why that is. “Stubbornness, denial, he doesn’t want to be bothered.” Plus, he finds that everything gets uncomfortably amplified. Unlike with glasses, “You don’t just put on a hearing aid and hear,” she says. They take time and patience to adjust, and often the assistance of an expert. It also takes a medical professional to take the issue of hearing loss seriously. “A kid can have the same test as an 80-year-old, with the same hearing loss,” Lin says. “But with the kid, it’s seen as critically important to manage it. With the 80-year-old it’s, ‘OK, you don’t need to worry about your mild hearing loss.’” Advertisement With the stakes so high — reminder: dementia — Lin thinks a lot about how to get more people to use hearing aids. “How do we rejigger all the market assumptions to actually make hearing-aid use work for the public and drive adoption?” he asks. “Why are these devices so bloody expensive and the technologies not appealing to use?” But the situation is improving. After years of delay — thanks in part to objections by hearing aid manufacturers and other stakeholders — the Food and Drug Administration recently finalized guidelines that make over-the-counter hearing aids available to those with mild to moderate hearing loss, as an alternative to prescription-only versions. This move is already promoting competition and lower prices. The National Council on Aging reports the average cost of over-the-counter hearing aids is now at $1,600. One manufacturer on the organization’s September 2023 list of recommended hearing aids is Audien Hearing, which was offering models ranging from $99 to $249. Other models — like those made in a partnership between Sony and a hearing-aid manufacturer — reduce the stigma of wearing hearing aids, since the work they do is seamlessly integrated into wireless earbuds. “Is that an [earbud], or is it a hearing aid? You might not be able to tell the difference,” Lin says. Eventually, I dragged myself to an audiologist. He told me I do have mild hearing loss, but I don’t have to worry about it just yet. Still, those earbud versions do sound, if not exactly cool, then something I can live with. And as grim as I once found the prospect of hearing aids, I find the prospect of dementia even worse. Linda Matchan is a frequent contributor to the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com. Linda Matchan can be reached at linda.matchan@globe.com

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4 takeaways as Celtics beat Hawks behind Jayson Tatum

The Celtics cruised to a 113-103 win over the Hawks on Sunday night at TD Garden behind 34 points from Jayson Tatum. The hosts were down a pair of starters with Jrue Holiday (ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (calf) sidelined but managed to lock down defensively against a high-powered Hawks offense, limiting Atlanta to just 40.9 percent shooting from the field. Tatum led the way for Boston with 34 points and 9 rebounds while Jaylen Brown 21 points and 7 rebounds to keep the Celtics undefeated at TD Garden with a 7-0 record. Derrick White also added a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists while Trae Young had a team-high 33 points for the Hawks in the setback. The Celtics did not shoot well from the field (44 percent) and 3-point range (27 percent) in the win but won largely on the strength of their rebounding with a 58-43 edge on the glass that led to 17 second chance points. Boston improved to an NBA-best 13-4 record with the victory and will next host the Bulls on Tuesday night in their final in-season tournament game for pool play. Here are four takeaways from the Celtics win on Sunday night. $200 INSTANT BONUS DRAFTKINGS MASS CLAIM OFFER BET $5, GET $200 BONUS BET FANDUEL MASS CLAIM OFFER BET $50, GET $250 BONUS CAESARS MASS CLAIM OFFER $1,000 FIRST-BET BONUS BETMGM MASS CLAIM OFFER MA only. 21+. Gambling Problem? If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with gambling, please call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org for 24/7 support. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234 MA Gambling Helpline. MA only. 21+. Gambling Problem? If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with gambling, please call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org for 24/7 support. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234 MA Gambling Helpline. Dalano Banton gets a surprise start: With Boston down two starters, Joe Mazzulla got creative with his starting lineup look against the Hawks, turning to the rarely-used Banton. The move helped create some bench continuity with a second unit that has been performing well of late and also added some defensive versatility to the starting five thanks to Banton’s 6-foot-9 size. The 24-year-old didn’t make much of an impact in the first half but helped the hosts turn the game into a comfortable win with a couple of layups early in the second half and finished with eight points. More importantly, Boston’s bench rotation remained intact while allowing Brown and Tatum to carry more of the scoring load with the starters. Neemias Queta sparks a monster night on offensive glass for Boston: The two-way center hasn’t gotten many opportunities so far this season after a strong preseason campaign due to a foot injury. That changed on Sunday night with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined and Boston struggling on the offensive glass. Joe Mazzulla turned to the athletic big man for some energy and he delivered, piling up double-digit rebounds in his first 10 minutes of action including six on the offensive glass. His extra effort on the glass translated into more opportunities for the Celtics as Boston piled up 17 second chance points to help make up for a lackluster shooting night from beyond the arc. In a season where Mazzulla has not gotten much from his deep bench contributors, Queta rose to the occasion in a shorthanded frontcourt. The Celtics didn’t have anyone who could stick with Trae Young: This has been a problem for several years at the point but with Jrue Holiday sidelined and Boston’s bigs in drop coverage for much of the night, Young feasted from the perimeter, knocking down six 3s. Ultimately, Joe Mazzulla elected to switch later in the second half with his bigs rather than giving up uncontested looks coming around screens. Young cooled off enough for the Celtics to survive a late push from Atlanta but Boston clearly benefitted from a tough shooting night from Young’s supporting cast beyond Bogdan Bogdanovic. Celtics All-Stars have their way with Hawks defense: With Boston’s big name additions on the bench, the Celtics All-Stars got their chance to carry Boston’s offense yet again with minimal firepower around them. The duo was up to the task against a subpar Hawks defense for much of the evening with Tatum feasting on Hawks players in isolation spots for much of the night to score a game-high 34 points. He did pile up six turnovers but made up for it with smart attacks against weaker defenders and playing a savvy two-man game with Derrick White. Brown also excelled inside the arc against the Hawks’ defense and the extra attention both All-Stars drew opened up easy looks for the rest of the Celtics’ offense for much of the night.

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Wu announces free museum admission for BPS students and families

Twice a month, Boston Public School students and their families will be able to visit multiple museums and attractions without paying a dime. “Starting in February, on the first and second Sundays of each month, BPS students and their families will get free admission at the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Science, The Boston Children's Museum, the New England Aquarium, and the Franklin Park Zoo,” said Mayor Michelle Wu in her State of the City address on Tuesday. The announcement follows a trend of increased accessibility at Boston-area institutions. Last year the Harvard Art Museums announced free admission for all visitors year-round, joining other museums with free admission such as Fuller Craft Museum, the McMullen Museum at Boston College and the Mass Art Art Museum. Currently general admission costs a family of four (two adults and two teenagers) $74 at the Museum of Fine Arts, $63 at the Franklin Park Zoo and $136 at the New England Aquarium. Vikki N. Spruill, president and CEO of the New England Aquarium, is proud to partner in this program that she says will help inspire more young people. She wrote to WBUR in an email following the announcement, “We applaud Mayor Wu and her team for creating a program that prioritizes increased accessibility and inclusivity for students and families throughout Boston." "We are thrilled to partner with the city and our colleagues to bring free cultural experiences to BPS students and their families,” wrote Museum of Science president Tim Ritchie in an email. “One of our highest priorities as an institution is creating a learning space that is inclusive, equitable, and accessible for all. The beauty of scientific discovery should not be a privilege, but rather a birthright for every child in the city. We cannot wait to welcome even more BPS families through our doors and to help spark their lifelong love of science.” In her speech, Mayor Wu recounted the role that free museum admission played in her own life. Wu’s immigrant mother often didn’t have enough money to spend on things like museum admission. “But on this day, none of that matters, because itʼs a Tuesday—and on Tuesdays, the big art museum downtown has free admission,” she said in her speech. “So sheʼs there with her little girl, in a little pink stroller, staring up at a painting of a cliff full of wildflowers. And, in this moment, this mom with no money and no words in this language feels like the best mom on earth because she has given her daughter the world for a day.” Mayor Wu has continued to demonstrate a strong tie to the arts. She’s continued to play piano in adulthood and last year she joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a performance at Symphony Hall.

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Celtics achieve unique milestone in blowout win over Kings

The Celtics knew they were going to need some scoring reinforcements on Wednesday night against an uptempo Kings squad with Jayson Tatum and Al Horford sidelined. Boston’s roster responded by achieving a feat that hadn’t been done in over 25 years by a Celtics squad. The Celtics put together their most efficient scoring performance of the year in the 144-119 blowout win over the Kings. Most of their damage came via a balanced scoring attack as five separate players finished with 20 or more points in the win. Derrick White and Jaylen Brown led the way with 28 points each. Kristaps Porzingis chipped in with 24 points in his return to the floor while Jrue Holiday added a season-high 21 points. Payton Pritchard also posted 20 points off the bench, providing the team with tremendous balance. According to Celtics numbers guru Dick Lipe, it was the first time that Boston had five players score 20 or more points in a game since 1987. Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish achieved the feat that night in a win over the Nets. Wednesday’s win over the Kings marked just the fifth time that had occurred in franchise history. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. “I think we know what this road trip means to us,” Jrue Holiday said of the dominant outing. “Last game we felt like we should have won. This game was a good opportunity to bounce back. But we’ve got a lot of players who are really, really good and step up in that way. But I think for a team that runs a lot like Sacramento, we also know that in transition we can get out on them, too. So I think a couple times we got some transition points just taking it out and pushing it because they didn’t get back on defense. So, kind of playing at their pace, but at the same time being able to control it.” Porzingis hinted that the team tried to take some more ownership individually with Tatum sidelined, which led to the balanced scoring performance. “I think it’s just a bit more attention on everybody else,” Porzingis added of Tatum’s absence. “He’s the focal point whenever he’s playing every night. Tonight’s a bit more on - you have to take that responsibility a little bit. I think we did a good job with that. We shared the ball well and we had five guys that scored over 20, and pretty much everybody that stepped in gave good minutes. Svi, Oshae, those guys were great in the minutes that they had. I thought it was a great team victory.” The Celtics will look to build upon that offensive momentum starting again on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.

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Captain America Star Chris Evans Marries Girlfriend Alba Baptista In An Intimate Ceremony

Boston: Marvel superhero and Captain America actor, Chris Evans, has reportedly tied the knot with his girlfriend, Alba Baptista, in a private wedding ceremony. The 42-year-old actor and his 26-year-old Portuguese actress partner kept their special day under wraps, with the wedding allegedly followed by a close-knit celebration which included Evans’ Marvel co-stars, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth. A source confirmed the nuptials to Page Six and revealed that the wedding was organized at the duo’s Boston home with only the closest family members and friends in attendance. To preserve the privacy of the event, guests were reportedly asked to sign non-disclosure agreements and to surrender their phones, though official confirmation from the happy couple has yet to appear. Chris Evans’ wedding leaked pics

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Struggling Bruins lose at Wild, 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored for the third straight game, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno added goals, and the Minnesota Wild held off struggling Boston 3-2 on Saturday night. Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for career win No. 550, one shy of tying Patrick Roy for the second-most in NHL history. David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie scored, and Linus Ullmark made 33 saves for the Bruins, who are 0-2-2 in their past four. Boston has not lost four in a row since an 0-4-1 skid Dec. 5-12, 2019. “It was one of our better games defensively. We played a very good team out there and didn’t give them much,” Fleury said. Boston captain Brad Marchand said the Bruins made it too easy for Minnesota. “Will and compete is what it comes down to,: he said. “Seems like we’re losing a lot of battles that we should be winning.” BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Kaprizov has four goals and two assists in his past three games. In addition to Tuesday’s overtime winner against Boston, Kaprizov scored with 4.9 seconds left in overtime in Thursday’s 4-3 win against Montreal. “Since I’ve been here, I haven’t seen a difference in his game. For me, I would just say that he’s getting rewarded for it,” said Wild coach John Hynes, who took over Nov. 27. “When you’re an elite player like him, and you play the game the right way, and play the style of game that he has, it’s kind of what I said, it wasn’t if, it was going to be when.” Minnesota, 10-3-0 under Hynes and winners of six straight at home, took over in the middle stanza, outshooting Boston 19-6 and turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in 85 seconds. Eriksson Ek netted his team-leading seventh power-play goal of the season almost six minutes into the second period, scoring off a rebound of a one-timer by Matt Boldy. Then, Kaprizov, from the top of the slot, passed to Alex Goligoski near the left dot, continued cutting down the slot, and buried a perfect return feed for a 2-1 Wild lead. Foligno converted a pass from Pat Maroon early in the third period for his first goal in nine games. “To be going into the break with another win is huge, and the consistency we’ve been getting has been nice,” Foligno said. “It makes the egg nog taste a little bit better come the Christmas holidays, and we’ve just got to keep it rolling when we come back.” Geekie, stopped twice by Fleury on breakaways, buried a pass from Danton Heinen with 6:07 to play to get the Bruins within 3-2. “I liked the first 15 minutes of our game, and I liked the last 10 minutes of our game,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “We just need a more concerted effort.” Pastrnak, who scored twice on Tuesday against Minnesota, scored on the power play early in the first with a one-timer from the left dot for his 20th tally of the season. He is the sixth player in franchise history to reach the 20-goal mark in eight consecutive seasons. Wild captain Jared Spurgeon missed his sixth straight game because of a lower-body injury and forward Ryan Hartman missed his second straight with an upper-body injury. UP NEXT Bruins: At Buffalo on Wednesday. Wild: Host Detroit on Wednesday.

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Mixtapes, T-Shirts and Even a Typeface Measure the Rise of Hip-Hop

For the last year, celebrations of hip-hop’s first five decades have attempted to capture the genre in full, but some early stars and scenes all but disappeared long before anyone came looking to fete them. Three excellent books published in recent months take up the task of cataloging hip-hop’s relics, the objects that embody its history, before they slip away. In the lovingly assembled, thoughtfully arranged “Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes,” Evan Auerbach and Daniel Isenberg wisely taxonomize the medium into distinct micro-eras, tracking innovations in form and also content — beginning with live recordings of party performances and D.J. sets and ending with artists using the format to self-distribute and self-promote. For over a decade, cassettes were the coin of the realm in mixtapes, even after CDs usurped them in popularity: They were mobile, durable and easily duplicated. (More than one D.J. rhapsodizes over the Telex cassette duplicator.) Each new influential D.J. found a way to push the medium forward — Brucie B talks about personalizing tapes for drug dealers in Harlem; Doo Wop recalls gathering a boatload of exclusive freestyles for his “95 Live” and in one memorable section; Harlem’s DJ S&S details how he secured some of his most coveted unreleased songs, sometimes angering the artists in the process.

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What supporters and detractors said of Claudine Gays resignation

Gov. Maura Healey’s new chair of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, who just engineered the ouster of executive director David Gibbons, faced accusations of being a “stumbling block” to diversity while she was a top official in Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s administration. Emme Handy, former Chief Financial Officer under Walsh, came under fire after a long-awaited 703-page city report found that few city contracts went to businesses owned by people of color. The findings were so bad that the head of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts called on Handy and another top Walsh official to be fired and called them “stumbling blocks” to diversity. “Bold leadership is required to immediately correct this systemic problem,” the council said in a statement reported by the Bay State Banner. Despite that, Handy, who has since left city government, was picked by Healey to chair the MCCA in a board shakeup that eventually led to Gibbons – who made $316,000 in 2022 – agreeing to a “mutual” parting of the ways on Tuesday even though he has a year left on his contract. The Herald first reported that the shake-up was pending and that Healey would likely replace Gibbons with someone of her choosing. “During this transition to new leadership, the Board will continue its critical work to foster diversity, equity and inclusion at the MCCA,” Handy said in a statement. “The Board has an expansive and positive vision for the Authority and is committed to launching a transparent and inclusive search to identify the next Executive Director who will share that vision and bring it to life.” The big question now is will Healey and the board lead a real nationwide search for someone with convention experience or pick a politically-connected candidate like City Councilor Michael Flaherty, who is on the MCCA board and is angling to get the plum executive director job. The MCCA is one of the crown jewels of the Massachusetts hackerama and has long been known as a patronage haven. But the board will now be under pressure to pick someone of color to replace Gibbons, who actually wasn’t politically connected and was a hospitality executive when he took over the top job eight years ago. But he earned the ire of Flaherty and state Sen. Nick Collins with some of his development decisions and has had a target on his back for the last year. Gibbons and Handy tangled earlier this year over the executive director’s plan to develop a chunk of land owned by the MCCA in South Boston. That plan was nixed by the newly appointed board just last week, in an at times tense meeting during which Handy said the process for choosing a project developer was not transparent and would need to begin again. Gibbons’s fate was also sealed by a report commissioned by the MCCA earlier this year that found that Black and Hispanic employees were stuck in the lower echelon of the MCCA organization and “tend to feel isolated or marginalized.” The report commissioned by the MCCA to address allegations of racism also found that under Gibbons the authority was “much more focused on financial bottom line” than on racial inclusion. But the report found that some explosive allegations, like the MCCA discriminating against Black vendors, were unfounded.

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Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, wants license back after deadly crash

A commercial truck driver from Ukraine who faces a deportation order is trying to get his driving privileges back now that he’s been acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire. “I would like to request a hearing to get my license back,” Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 28, of West Springfield, wrote to the New Hampshire Department of Safety in September, according to records obtained by The Associated Press under the state’s open records law.

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Reports: Bradley Rein, driver in Hingham Apple Store crash, in custody for GPS issue

The Hingham man accused of crashing a car through an Apple Store last November and killing a person in the crowd he ran over is being held pending a mental health evaluation after officials said he again did not charge his court-ordered GPS monitor, according to reports from multiple outlets. Bradley Rein, 53, was called to Plymouth District Court on Dec. 27, where prosecutors said the GPS device he’s required to wear died on Dec. 22, CBS Boston reported.

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PWHL Boston opener gives players and coaches pinch-me moments

LOWELL– The pinch-me moment for PWHL Boston came in many different forms. For Boston head coach Courtney Kessel, it was the puck drop of the inaugural game between New York and Toronto on New Year’s day. For some players, it was skating out on the ice for warmups. Or seeing young girls with signs like “PWHL 2035 Draft class.” Or coming in for their first shift. Or scoring their first goal. Theresa Schafzahl scored that first goal, and the puck is headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame. When asked to describe it, she said she blacked out. “It was special today,” Schafzahl said. “I know it’s a historic moment, it’s the first game we’re ever playing, and it just felt unreal honestly.” Boston fell behind 2-0 early and lost its first-ever game to Minnesota 3-2 Wednesday night, but you would have never known if you were listening to the crowd when they scored. The entire Tsongas Center crowd gave a standing ovation after Boston’s first-ever goal. Both times Boston put the puck in the back of the net, the “Let’s go Boston” chant drowned out the public address announcement of the goal scorer. “Personally, that’s something I’ve never experienced,” Schafzahl said. “It’s just incredible to feel all the support – you could actually feel the energy in the crowd and they were chanting every time we scored. It was just amazing, something I’ve never been a part of.” A crowd of 4,012 – with hundreds of young girls in attendance – gave a rousing ovation when the lineups were announced before the game and when Patrice Bergeron dropped the puck. Four months after the announcement that Boston would receive an original six franchise, the moment was finally here. Hilary Knight, the captain now on her third professional women’s hockey team in Boston, was announced last, to the loudest cheer of all. Hilary Knight's introduction. "It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck," Knight said. pic.twitter.com/r9K88DPMSd — Connor Pignatello (@c_pignatello) January 4, 2024 “It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck,” Knight said. “Gives you chills, it’s a really surreal moment to actually have hometown fans, to get us out of our countries. You play anywhere in the U.S., you play in the U.S. team, that’s your home. But to be a part of the Boston legacy and to build something substantial here is an incredible opportunity and one none of us take lightly.” Kessel admitted some of her players did have some butterflies when they went in the game for the first time. For Schafzahl, it was hard not to notice the people in the stands when she skated out for her first shift. “It was nerve wracking honestly,” Schafzahl said. “So just getting the jitters out of the way and then also taking a moment and looking up and seeing all those people, it’s hard to not ignore or block out. You’re just playing hockey but I think it’s important to realize, wow, this is actually happening now and being grateful for it and making the most of it.” When the Boston and Minnesota players were kids, playing professionally wasn’t an option. For even the very best players in the world, making a living solely on hockey is still difficult and no one knows what the future of the PWHL holds. But the gravity of the moment on Wednesday night, when players actually did step on the ice for the first time, was not lost on Knight. “It feels magical, surreal at the same time,” Knight said. “Understanding how important visibility is, just the growth of the game and the speed and how it’s evolved. It’s a fantastic time to have a professional league, and to be a part of the first few shifts, you can’t really put it into words.”

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Police investigate multiple overnight Christmas stabbings in Boston

A multi-agency operation has lead to the arrests of two people after a month-long narcotics investigation.

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Bailey Zappe, Patriots can't find end zone as New England is shut out at home on rainy Sunday

You may have felt the tremor: A jacked-up beast of a guy has wandered into TV Land, and his name is Reacher. Season 1 of the Amazon series that bears his name was a monster hit when it dropped in early 2022, and Season 2, which concludes on Jan. 19, appears to be even bigger, becoming Prime Video’s No. 1 title globally on its debut weekend. And the series is crushing it critically the way Reacher crushes a villain’s skull. As of early January, the new season had a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 84 percent audience score — when do critics ever rate a brawny action show higher than the audience? Everybody loves this “Reacher.” And by everybody, the reviews seem to suggest, that mostly means every man. A review in Paste Magazine offered this pithy summation: “I’m not saying it’s only for dudes, but I think we’re in safe territory saying it’s mostly for dudes.” And what dudes appear to like is minimal emoting and maximal fisticuffs, delivered by a mountain of muscle — a former Army investigator turned peripatetic crime-solver, who doesn’t waste time wringing his enormous, meaty hands over petty details like having a fixed abode or even a change of clothes. But here’s the thing about “Reacher”: Women watch it, too. Sure, 58 percent of the viewers for Season 1 were male, according to Nielsen. Still, that leaves a rather large number of people who are not. Common wisdom when it comes to Jack Reacher’s popularity is that men want to be him and women want to be with him. But I’ll venture that some women want to be him, too. Or at least, they want some of his freedom.

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Some areas of northern New England got up to a foot of snow overnight

Most of Greater Boston saw heavy rain and strong winds overnight. But in parts of northern New England, it was a serious snow event. The highest snowfall totals in the region were in Vermont, which saw as much as a foot in some areas. Happy Monday!🤠 We picked up over 10 inches of snow at mid mountain overnight - not a bad way to start the week! pic.twitter.com/2XuF7tHXiB — Sugarbush, Vermont (@Sugarbush_VT) November 27, 2023 Here's a look at snowfall totals across New England, according to the National Weather Service. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. Maine Madrid: 5.3" Rangeley: 4.7" Dallas: 2.3" Sinclair: 2" Castle Hill: 1.6" Caribou: 1.5" North Brighton: 1" New Hampshire Mount Washington: 8" Littleton: 4.5" Carroll: 2.5" Pittsburg: 2" Lyme: 1.5" Jefferson: 1.3" Whitefield: 1" Lancaster: 1" Vermont Hyde Park: 12" Duxbury: 9.5" North Calais: 9.5" East Warren: 9.5" Stannard: 9" Cabot: 9" Waterbury Center: 8" Smugglers Notch: 8" Worcester: 7.5" East Barre: 7.3" Sutton: 6.5" Stowe: 6.5" South Ludlow: 5.8" Topsham: 5.5" North Waitsfield: 5" Morrisville: 5" Landgrove: 5" Waterbury: 4.8" West Hartford: 4.3" Montpelier: 4.2" West Norwich: 4" Orleans: 3.8" West Burke: 3.5" Countryside Estates: 2.8" Manchester: 2.7" West Arlington: 1.5" South Essex Center: 1"

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Boston residents watching Squares + Streets housing plan closely

I have attended three presentations of Boston’s proposed Squares + Streets initiative where the objectives and structure of the plan to standardize the zoning process for neighborhood business districts have been clearly presented ( “Growth squared,” Business, Jan. 9). This plan will benefit not only the businesses in these areas but also the many thousands of Boston residents who desperately need relief from the continued escalation of rental costs. The city is to be commended for moving this project along quickly despite the resistance of some of the usual suspects who continue to oppose necessary change. Advertisement Roslindale I am all in on the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s proposal to modernize the city’s zoning code with its trendy Squares + Streets project. But I question whether the housing activist who characterized opposition as coming from “wealthy homeowners” is being fair to the community organizations that have held their neighborhoods together for years at their own expense and on their own time. Democracy works when we do things together, not when we vilify others. Susan W. Morris Boston

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Worcester State shooting: Kevin Rodriguez indicted on murder charge

A Worcester County grand jury has indicted three people in connection with the Oct. 28 fatal shooting at Worcester State University, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office announced. The indictments, which were handed down Wednesday, indicate that 18-year-old Lawrence resident Kevin Rodriguez, who authorities have accused of killing 19-year-old Randy Melendez Jr. during the incident, was not responsible for injuring a second victim. That victim, an unidentified 21-year-old man who survived but is now paralyzed at the waist down, was shot by 19-year-old Spencer resident Richard Nieves, the district attorney’s office said in a press release Thursday. Nieves is also accused of having robbed the second victim, with the help of 20-year-old Southbridge resident Kenneth Doelter, before shooting him. Read more: Teen fatally shot at Worcester State days after 19th birthday, GoFundMe says The grand jury also indicted Rodriguez on a murder charge in connection with Melendez’s death, as well as on firearms charges, the district attorney’s office said. Previously, Rodriguez was only facing a charge of armed assault with intent to murder and firearms charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Doelter and Nieves were both indicted on charges of armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping, the district attorney’s office said. Nieves is facing additional charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and other firearms charges. Rodriguez is to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on Jan. 12, 2024, the district attorney’s office said. Nieves and Doelter will also be arraigned there in the future. What happened the night of the shootings It is unclear exactly what led to the shootings, but authorities have repeatedly said they were sparked by a confrontation between two groups, and that none of the people involved were Worcester State students. Video confirmed to be of part of the confrontation shows several males running around a parking lot before shots are heard and a man can be seen stumbling over, apparently injured. It is unclear who the man is. Assistant District Attorney Lina Pashou also gave an account of the shootings at a dangerousness hearing for Rodriguez last month. She said two groups — a group of four from Southbridge and a group of six from Lawrence — attended a party at a Worcester pub on Oct. 27, but then went to Worcester State for a party afterwards. What started with the groups doing burnouts in a campus parking lot escalated into physical fights, Pashou said. One unnamed member of the Southbridge group fired a gun in the air, after which Rodriguez fired three shots at Melendez and Nieves shot a person from the Lawrence group, who has now been identified as the 21-year-old victim, she said. Rodriguez’s lawyer claimed at the hearing that his client was trying to protect his friends, and said his client has no criminal record. Worcester State police responded to the shooting near Wasylean Hall and Sheehan Hall, two student dormitories, on Oct. 28 around 2:30 a.m. At the scene, officers found Melendez and the second victim with gunshot wounds, and they were soon rushed to a hospital where Melendez died. Nieves was arrested at the scene and was soon charged with trespassing and carrying a firearm without a license, while Rodriguez went on the run from police for several days following the shooting, authorities said previously. He was eventually arrested in New York and brought back to Massachusetts.

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Former Harvard President Claudine Gay: This Is About More Than My Mistakes - The New York Times

On Tuesday, I made the wrenching but necessary decision to resign as Harvard’s president. For weeks, both I and the institution to which I’ve devoted my professional life have been under attack. My character and intelligence have been impugned. My commitment to fighting antisemitism has been questioned. My inbox has been flooded with invective, including death threats. I’ve been called the N-word more times than I care to count. My hope is that by stepping down I will deny demagogues the opportunity to further weaponize my presidency in their campaign to undermine the ideals animating Harvard since its founding: excellence, openness, independence, truth. As I depart, I must offer a few words of warning. The campaign against me was about more than one university and one leader. This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society. Campaigns of this kind often start with attacks on education and expertise, because these are the tools that best equip communities to see through propaganda. But such campaigns don’t end there. Trusted institutions of all types — from public health agencies to news organizations — will continue to fall victim to coordinated attempts to undermine their legitimacy and ruin their leaders’ credibility. For the opportunists driving cynicism about our institutions, no single victory or toppled leader exhausts their zeal. Yes, I made mistakes. In my initial response to the atrocities of Oct. 7, I should have stated more forcefully what all people of good conscience know: Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks to eradicate the Jewish state. And at a congressional hearing last month, I fell into a well-laid trap. I neglected to clearly articulate that calls for the genocide of Jewish people are abhorrent and unacceptable and that I would use every tool at my disposal to protect students from that kind of hate.

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Watch the new episode of Southern Charm, stream for free

The newest episode of “Southern Charm” will premiere on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. ET. on Bravo. Viewers without cable looking to stream the new episode can watch it online using DirecTV Stream, Sling, and fuboTV. DirecTV and fuboTV both offer free trials. “Southern Charm” reveals a world of exclusivity, money and scandal dating back through generations of families in Charleston, S.C. The docuseries follows several Charleston singles as they pursue their personal and professional lives while trying to preserve their family names, because just one social faux pas can taint a family’s name for generations,” fuboTV wrote. “Members of the notoriously closed society unlock the gates of their centuries-old homes for a real-life look at how modern-day Southern aristocracy lives. Viewers get a peek at a social scene which is bound by tradition and ostentation unlike any other culture in America, through a group of the city’s most charismatic gentlemen and their Southern-belle equals.” In the new episode of season 9, “the crew spends a day partying on a yacht; despite their fun in the sun, Austen and Shep finally come to blows.” How can I watch the newest episode of ‘Southern Charm’? Viewers looking to stream can do so by using FuboTV, Sling or DirecTV Stream. Both FuboTV and DirecTV offer free trials when you sign up and Sling offers 50% off your first month. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels. What is DirecTV? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. DirecTV also offers a free trial for any package you sign up.

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Detached house sells in Westborough for $1.2 million

A spacious house located at 2 Nauset Drive in Westborough has new owners. The 3,132-square-foot property, built in 1998, was sold on Nov. 15, 2023. The $1,192,000 purchase price works out to $381 per square foot. This two-story home boasts a generous living space with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. On the exterior, the house is characterized by a gable roof design, featuring roofing made of asphalt. Inside, a fireplace adds character to the home. The property is equipped with forced air heating and a cooling system. The property's backyard also boasts a pool. These nearby houses have also recently been purchased: A 3,029-square-foot home at 9 Nipmuck Drive in Westborough sold in June 2023, for $1,106,000, a price per square foot of $365. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. In October 2021, a 2,197-square-foot home on Davis Street in Northborough sold for $750,000, a price per square foot of $341. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. On Davis Street, Northborough, in November 2023, a 2,880-square-foot home was sold for $795,000, a price per square foot of $276. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data. See more Real Estate News

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Oprah Says She Is on a Weight Loss Drug and Done With the Shaming

In 1988, Oprah Winfrey tugged a red wagon filled with fat across the stage of her television show to represent the 67 pounds she said she had lost on a liquid diet. Just a few years later she renounced dieting, but her fluctuating weight and the bias she has experienced because of it have remained frequent topics of discussion for both Ms. Winfrey and the media in the decades since. Now, Ms. Winfrey, 69, has once again joined the discourse around diet, revealing on Wednesday that she had started taking a medication to manage her weight. Her announcement comes as demand has soared for new drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound that can help people lose weight, in part by suppressing appetite. “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she told People Magazine. Ms. Winfrey said she had decided to start taking a weight loss medicine after hosting a panel discussion, which she said had disabused her of the myth that weight hinges solely on a person’s self-control. “I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control,” said Ms. Winfrey, who did not name the drug she was taking. A representative for Ms. Winfrey did not respond to a request for comment.

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New head of JCC has eye on expansion

With the help of chief development officer Jillian Kohl , Rabinoff-Goldman got to work. Many donors stepped up, led by three seven-figure gifts from developer Arthur Winn and his family, the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation (cofounded by former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman ), and the Chleck Family Foundation . That was in the summer of 2022, and Rabinoff-Goldman was recruited from her administrative job at the Gann Academy to take over for the Newton-based organization following the retirement of longtime chief executive Mark Sokoll . One of the first items on her to-do list: raise $5 million to renovate and update the lobby areas of the JCC’s complex in Newton. Lily Rabinoff-Goldman had barely settled into her then-new job as CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston when she had to start raising money. Such is the life of a nonprofit executive. Advertisement They pulled it off, and construction finally is set to begin this week on the 11,000-square-foot project. The remodeling of the 1980s-era lobby includes a new “J-Cafe” and teen lounge as well as new communal seating areas. Rabinoff-Goldman hopes contractor Elaine Construction Co. will have the bulk of the work done in time for a gala honoring former JCC chair Lou Grossman in April. The project represents the last phase of a series of upgrades to the facility that began in 2015 but were put on hold early in the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has felt really exciting that people wanted to be part of the next phase,” Rabinoff-Goldman said. “It gives people a sense of community. That’s the thing that we emerged from COVID wanting filled. ... Essentially, we are creating new ways to gather for informal and more formal programming within the building.” She also has had to help the JCC navigate a much larger project next door, the construction of a 174-unit senior living complex by 2Life Communities, a project that required the JCC to use its emergency back entrance as its main front gate. Advertisement Remodeling aside, it’s been “an amazing learning curve” getting up to speed on the organization and its various services, including its fitness center and summer camps, she said. The JCC employs about 450 people year-round (and many more in the summer), brings in about $26 million a year in revenue, and has about 2,500 members. “This is a JCC that’s not afraid to try new things,” Rabinoff-Goldman said. “This is a super-creative and innovative organization.” Jim Rooney, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Chamber chief has an eye on crime During her State of the City speech last Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu highlighted the drop in gun violence under her watch. But she didn’t mention another crime stat that Jim Rooney, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, brought up two days later in a video address to chamber members, in which he conveyed “growing concerns” about personal safety in downtown Boston, among many of the issues he cited that the chamber will be watching in 2024. “Shootings are down,” Rooney noted, “but overall crime in the city increased 2 percent from the year before.” Rooney also cited a busted-up transit system and lack of affordable child care as obstacles to bringing more workers back downtown after the office towers emptied out early in the pandemic. In a subsequent interview, Rooney said he regularly hears from people who live or work downtown and feel it has become less safe since before the pandemic. Yes, Boston is safe when compared to many other cities of its size, Rooney said, but he doesn’t want civic leaders to be lulled into complacency. Rooney says he has expressed these concerns to Wu, and believes she takes them seriously. Advertisement “It’s tricky for a chamber president and for a mayor to say things out loud that might dissuade people from coming downtown,” Rooney said. “I don’t want to be the person painting the picture that downtown isn’t a safe place. It is. [But] I don’t want to be the Amityville sheriff either, [saying] ‘go in the water while the shark swims by.’” Marketing maven Colette Phillips, pictured on April 5, 2021. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff With new book, Phillips highlights allies who promote diversity In 2014, marketing maven Colette Phillips did something unexpected for a Black woman known for highlighting people of color: She shone the spotlight on white guys instead. Phillips came up with a list of diversity supporters, dubbed “White Men Who Could Jump,” to highlight white executives who are working to make their companies more inclusive. Now, Phillips has taken it a big step further, by writing a book about the topic, called “The Includers.” She’s scheduled to talk about the book on Tuesday, its publication date, at the ‘Quin House, alongside one of her “includers,” Eastern Bank chief executive Bob Rivers. Other prominent local executives who get shout-outs in her book include State Street’s Ron O’Hanley, Liberty Mutual’s Tim Sweeney, and Tim Ryan at PwC. The book is jam-packed with strategies for improving an organization’s diversity, examples of how it’s done, and descriptions of the tangible benefits. Advertisement The book arrives at a time when corporate diversity efforts, known collectively as “DEI,” are under fire. The new wave of criticism — Phillips calls it “anti-woke rhetoric” — makes her book, published by BenBella Books, even more timely. “I got pushback from people of color: ‘You’re Miss Diversity in Boston, I can’t believe you’re going to honor all white men,’” Phillips said. “My contention is, you have to amplify and spotlight the white guys who get it ... so that others will emulate them.” North Carolina-based Honeywell has hired Interise to run its “StreetWise MBA” program for potential city contractors, to help diversify Honeywell’s Boston-area roster of suppliers as it proceeds with various upgrades to city buildings. Justin Sullivan/Getty Honeywell teams up to boost minority contracting While the city of Boston has been criticized for awarding relatively few city contracts to Black- or Latino-led businesses, a partnership between a giant industrial conglomerate and a Boston-based nonprofit is trying out a new approach to change that. North Carolina-based Honeywell has hired Interise to run the nonprofit’s “StreetWise MBA” program for potential city contractors, to help diversify Honeywell’s Boston-area roster of suppliers as it proceeds with various upgrades to city buildings. The StreetWise MBA program, usually taught over the course of a dozen or so classes, teaches management, procurement, and business development skills. “They want to bid on more city contracts, and retain the one they have when it comes up for renewal,” Interise chief executive Darrell Byers said, in reference to Honeywell. Representatives from 15 contractors are set to begin Interise classes at UMass Boston on Jan. 25. If this pilot program proves successful, Byers said, Honeywell may try it in other cities, and it could be a model for other Boston companies to replicate. He added: “We’re taking away that stigma that we can’t find minority businesses.” Advertisement In November, Kate Haranis left her role as a senior manager in corporate public relations at Boston Scientific to launch Haranis & Co., which aims to help local life sciences tell their unique stories. The Boston Globe/Boston Globe Haranis pursues a dream she didn’t know she had When she was young, Kate Haranis didn’t dream about becoming a med-tech PR consultant. But then, as she would be quick to point out, what kid does? However, as her career progressed, at PR shops Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications and Denterlein, and then as a senior manager in corporate public relations at Boston Scientific, Haranis realized she did have that dream, after all. In November, she left Boston Scientific to pursue it. She is launching Haranis & Co. to help local life sciences companies tell their unique stories. For now, she’ll work out of her Southborough home, which may or may not come in handy while raising two young children. Haranis got her start at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, with the help of Levi Garraway, now chief medical officer at Roche, and also learned from mentors such as Geri Denterlein and the late Larry Rasky. While Haranis doesn’t have an M.D. or Ph.D. after her name, she does have something important to offer the region’s med-tech cluster. “I’m not scientifically gifted [but] what I am good at is storytelling,” Haranis said. “Better storytelling isn’t just helpful to a company’s reputation and bottom line. It can actually make connections that accelerate innovation.” Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.

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Storm brings mix of rain and snow to New England ahead of Thanksgiving - Boston News, Weather, Sports

A storm moving across the region is expected to continue sending rain across southern New England through Wednesday morning, potentially having an impact on Thanksgiving travel after already bringing snow in some spots Tuesday night. Snowflakes started to fly in western Massachusetts around 9 p.m. while rain moved in elsewhere. By 10 p.m., snow was creeping into some communities further east including Shrewsbury and Leominster. The rain/snow line was expected to push out of Massachusetts into New Hampshire early Wednesday morning. Even so, preparations were underway in Leominster Tuesday. “We’re prepping some trucks up in case we have to go out,” said Leominster Department of Public Works Dispatcher Luke Beaulac. Snowfall forecasts from 7NEWS meteorologists as of Tuesday night projected one to two inches of snow through part of Worcester County and western Massachusetts, with higher snow totals further north. Even where snow piles up though, accumulation was expected to be brief, with rain and warming temperatures Wednesday likely washing away snow in Massachusetts. Rain across Massachusetts and wind in coastal communities is set to persist through the morning before tapering off near 12 p.m. Wednesday. ‘It’s New England. We deal with it’ In Leominster, Beaulac was taking forecasts for a messy night and morning commute in stride Tuesday afternoon. “It’s New England,” he said. “We deal with it.” Traffic on I-495 was steady for most of the day Tuesday, getting heavier through the afternoon. As the day continued and the evening’s wintery mix approached, traffic backed up throughout the region. Speaking with 7NEWS, one driver from Pennsylvania was aware weather conditions were expected to deteriorate into Wednesday. The driver, Larry Spencer, said he was thankful he got ahead of the storm as he made his way toward his destination in Maine. “Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re not,” he said. “The last time we came up it rained the whole way there so, it is what it is.” “Thanksgiving combined with weather, it’s always worse,” said Sanjusha Kolli. Even with the potential for winter weather, many holiday travelers on Tuesday were not concerned. “It doesn’t bother me,” said Joe Mazerolle in Leominster. “Be flexible,” said Amy Caputi at Logan Airport in Boston. “Just expect the worst and then you’ll probably get the best.” Storm prompts ferry disruptions Wind advisories on the North Shore and the Cape and Islands region are set to take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday and remain in place through 4 p.m. In western Massachusetts, winter weather advisories took effect at 7 p.m. Tuesday, scheduled to lapse on Wednesday morning. With gale warnings and gusty winds also expected at sea around New England, the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce took to social media Tuesday afternoon to urge anyone traveling to or from Nantucket to adjust their schedules. “Make sure you are set to receive alerts from your ferry or airline, and please be patient as they work to rebook passengers,” the chamber said. Around the same time, the Steamship Authority, which runs ferry service to and from Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, announced it was making changes to its Nantucket service, canceling some trips on Wednesday while adding trips on Friday. “Anyone booked for travel on a canceled trip on either route will be accommodated as space is available when service resumes,” the Steamship Authority said. Officials said change and cancellation fees will be waived for all travel booked for Wednesday and directed travelers to the Steamship Authority website for more information. Storm impacts expected across many states Storm impacts are expected to extend far outside New England, with more than four inches of rain possible in part of Virginia, according to CNN. While northern states faced a wintery mix, CNN said some communities in Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia could encounter thunderstorms Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. This year’s Thanksgiving season is expected to be the busiest in several years, according to AAA projections, with 55.4 million people expected to travel 50 miles or more from home between Wednesday and Sunday. Though many people are driving, CNN earlier this month reported the Transportation Security Administration is also preparing for a potentially record-setting number of passengers at airports during the Thanksgiving rush. While bad weather could snarl some travel, clearer skies are expected to prevail in New England through the weekend, with high temperatures climbing to 50 degrees in some spots on Thursday. Read more on the 7WEATHER blog. (Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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How Cave Canem Has Nurtured Generations of Black Poets

The poet Cornelius Eady took out his phone the other day and clicked to a black-and-white group photo that was taken 43 summers ago when he was a fellow at Bread Loaf, the famous writers’ retreat held each year in Vermont. Eady is easy to spot — he is the only Black person in the picture. This was not at all unusual for a writers’ retreat in 1980. In fact, it’s not all that unusual at many writers’ retreats 43 years later. But the fact didn’t sit well with him. It was a little over a decade later, when Eady was invited to teach at a different retreat, that he met Toi Derricotte, a fellow teacher. She, too, had often been the only Black poet in the room at such gatherings. When they began talking, they discovered that they both shared the same wish: to create a program specifically for Black poets. “It started as a conversation,” Derricotte said. “We both had a —” “A recognition,” Eady finished. “I thought, ‘My partner in crime has arrived.’”

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Westfield council votes local funds for traffic light at new elementary school

WESTFIELD — Though some expressed disappointment it wasn’t being funded by the construction project, Westfield city councilors agreed on Thursday to spend $1.66 million in local funds to install a traffic light near the new elementary school. The light will be at Franklin and Smith streets. The money will come from free cash, which is funds left over from previous years’ budgets. The traffic light was originally priced at $2.06 million, but Councilor Richard Sullivan Jr. said the council’s Finance Committee, on which he sits, had recommended the reduction in the amount. He said the city Engineering Department’s original estimate for the work was $1.2 million, with a large $800,000 contingency in case bids came in over budget. All eight bids were around $1.2 million, however, and the engineer agreed $400,000 would be a sufficient contingency fund to meet unexpected costs during the construction.

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Possible Ways to Ease Drug Shortages

At several congressional hearings this year, ideas to fix drug shortages were as numerous as the number of scarce drugs. The rationing of key chemotherapies added urgency to the crisis. Two of these drugs, carboplatin and cisplatin, are inexpensive and are used to treat up to 20 percent of cancer patients, according to the National Institutes of Health. Momentum to shore up supplies of such crucial generic drugs grew this year after lawmakers returned from town hall meetings in their districts and reported on somber visits to their local hospitals. “People are dying because of this,” Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat of Michigan, said at one hearing. President Biden announced a plan in November to use his executive authority to expand federal authorities’ ability to invest in domestic manufacturing to ease some drug shortages, including those of morphine, insulin and flu vaccines. He also created a cabinet-level council focused on shortages and set aside $35 million to help prevent shortages of sterile injectable drugs like propofol or fentanyl, which are used in surgery.

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Michigan Supreme Court Decides Trump Can Stay on Ballot

The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday gave Donald J. Trump an important victory in the legal battle over his eligibility to return to the White House by allowing the former president to appear on the state’s primary ballot in February. But in a narrow ruling, the court left the door open for a new challenge to bar Mr. Trump from the general election ballot in the key battleground state over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The decision was the latest in the high-stakes efforts to block Mr. Trump from returning to power. It follows the bombshell ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which on Dec. 19 determined in a 4-to-3 opinion that Mr. Trump should be removed from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Colorado Republican Party said it had asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear an appeal of the decision. Lawyers across the country are venturing into largely unexplored legal terrain that could have far-reaching implications for future elections as they argue over a constitutional amendment passed after the Civil War.

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Daily Boys Basketball Stats Leaders: Sam Bringham, Taylor Melver break 30-point mark & more

Note: Stats Leaders is based on results sent to MassLive. If a player is missing, coaches should email sports@masslive.com. Take a look at Friday’s top boys basketball scorers below:

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Live Wire: Steve Forbert, Freedy Johnston to play Amherst

Steve Forbert and Freedy Johnston will provide a one-two musical punch at The Drake in Amherst on Feb. 7. Forbert, who bore the mantle of the “new Dylan” when he first hit the scene in the 1970s, forged his own sound throughout the years, starting with 1978′s critically acclaimed “Alive on Arrival.” But it was the following year’s “Jackrabbit Slim,” which included the breakout top-20 single “Romeo’s Tune,” that brought Forbert into the national spotlight. While a contractual dispute with his record company stalled his recording career for a few years in 1984, Forbert didn’t let the snag keep him from touring, which he has done relentlessly over his career. He has released more than 20 studio albums over his four-decade career, with the most recent being 2022′s Moving Through America. His 2004 album, “Any Old Time,” received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album In 2018, he published a memoir, “Big City Cat: My Life in Folk-Rock.” Likewise, Johnston received lauds for his debut album, but didn’t make a splash on the charts until his second release, which featured the single “Bad Reputation, which reached No. 54 on the charts. The album led Rolling Stone to call Johnston the “songwriter of the year.” Tickets range from $25 to $35 and the show starts at 8 p.m. The Drake is at 44 North Pleasant St.

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The Best Metropolitan Diary of 2023: The Readers Speak

The Winner Image Valuable Tips Dear Diary: I was taking a walk in the Wall Street area a few years ago when I decided to pop into a deli. I ordered a sandwich and began chatting with the proprietor as he made it. Our conversation eventually turned to the shop’s location. I asked whether being in the financial district ever caused him to play the stock market or led to his getting valuable tips from informed customers. He paused his sandwich-making, put down his knife and looked at me with a perplexed expression. “Every day, those brokers come in here,” he said. “They get their bagels, sandwiches, doughnuts, coffee, cigarettes … ” He paused again and pointed toward the door of his shop. “ … and every day, they’re out there on the sidewalk, pushing and shoving on a door that is clearly marked ‘pull.’” — Steven Scharff

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Survey: Children in state struggling to access behavioral health care

It’s the perfect post-pandemic storm: an increase of children needing behavioral health care and a decrease in available clinicians. A survey conducted by the Association for Behavioral Healthcare found that children in the state are waiting longer for behavioral health services. For instance, there is an average wait of 20.5 weeks for families seeking in-home therapy with MassHealth (the state’s Medicaid program), and those with private health insurance must wait even longer with an average of 26.5 weeks for those types of services. The survey said clinician shortages are hampering children’s ability to receive behavioral health help. “Massachusetts has an impressive system of home- and community-based mental health services for families with public and commercial health coverage, but that system is on paper only,” said the report released in December describing the survey results. “Children are suffering because we are failing to invest in services and in the workforce.” Association for Behavioral Healthcare is an organization that represents over 80 community-based mental health and addiction treatment organizations. Its survey, which it conducted in July, was answered by 30 organizations that run 208 sites across Massachusetts and found that “as many as 3,300 families were waiting to receive services at the end of Fiscal Year 2022.” Lydia Conley, president and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare, explained that if children are not given the resources when they initially need them, the children’s needs can become acute while waiting for care. In response to the federal litigation Rosie D. v. Romney, the state created the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative for children with MassHealth to provide services such as in-home therapy and behavioral health services. In 2019, a similar standard of services was required for those with private insurance, called Behavioral Health for Children and Adolescents. The Association for Behavioral Healthcare survey notes that due to unclear guidelines from private insurance companies, “There is less incentive to accept families with commercial insurance, creating a two-tier system as to who accesses and receives CBHI services within the Commonwealth.” Meanwhile, the number of children the system is treating has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, the survey found. “To date, utilization of these services has not rebounded, due to diminished provider capacity. ... By the end of May 2023, respondents reported approximately 32% fewer children and families than pre-pandemic levels received these same services,” the report says. Wages for clinicians are a factor, the survey noted. Many of the services provided by Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative are based in an in-home setting to involve family members and caretakers. These appointments are often conducted on nights and weekends and present more complexities than in-office appointments, yet the wages paid are significantly lower than those for in-office or remote clinicians. As of August 2023, state officials have invested $70 million into the initiative, but Conley said, “it is not sufficient to elevate salaries to attract and keep staff.” As a result, about 756 staff positions are sitting vacant, and difficulties finding financing and staff have caused program closures. Between the 2019 to the 2023 fiscal years, the report said, six in-home behavioral services programs, 15 therapeutic mentoring programs and 17 in-home therapy programs have closed. In addition to the state’s Roadmap for Behavioral Health Reform, the Association for Behavioral Healthcare provided specific recommendations in order to meet the needs of families in the communities. It suggested providing sustainable rates for clinicians, paying a rate differential for non-English services, eliminating provider referrals, investing in outpatient services, implementing loan repayment awards and scholarships to attract and retain clinicians and reducing unnecessary administrative work for clinicians. Katherine Mague, senior vice president of Behavioral Health Network, confirmed that as one of the organizations that reported to the Association for Behavioral Healthcare’s survey and provides services to youths in both Hampden and Hampshire counties, the findings are spot on. “There was an exodus of staff during the pandemic and hiring back has been hard,” Mague said. “Kids come in with much more acute conditions now than before. This is a real mental health crisis and it’s now harder to do the work with many more needing it.” If you or someone you know is looking for help, call or text the Behavioral Health Help Line at 833-773-2445.

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Gearing up for the 250th Boston Tea Party anniversary

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Willa Cather and Yehudi Menuhin: An Unlikely, Unwavering Friendship

When Menuhin was navigating young love, Cather was a font of advice — “I always have your future very much at heart,” she told him in one letter — and gushed over his marriage to Nola Nicholas. “No artist ever made such a fortunate marriage,” Cather wrote to her friend Zoë Akins. “Yehudi loves goodness more than anything, (I mean beautiful goodness) and she has it.” When Cather was homebound for four weeks with bronchitis, Yehudi and Nola Menuhin visited her nearly every day; he tended to the fire, and she made tea. He was even more of a solace as Cather experienced loss: the deaths of her brothers and of her old friend Isabelle McClung Hambourg, who had introduced Cather and Menuhin. Little, however, could lift her from the depressive isolation that followed her surgery for breast cancer in early 1946. She wasn’t seeing any friends, “not even Yehudi,” and wasn’t even listening to music, she wrote to her sister-in-law Meta Cather. “I have simply had, for the present, to cut out all the things I loved most.” Cather would make it out again; her last night on the town was to see Menuhin play at Carnegie Hall. Then, in March 1947, he visited her at home with his two children. Hephzibah was there, too, with her husband and two boys. “Here we all were (the children only were new), the rest of us were sitting in these rooms just as we used to meet here every week 10 and 12 years ago,” Cather recounted in a letter the next day. The Menuhins were stopping by on their way to board the Queen Elizabeth. About an hour and a half before it was to set sail, they “quietly rose,” Cather recalled, then “without any flurry, dropped in the elevator to the street floor.” Seemingly understood but unspoken was that this would be the last time they saw one another. Cather died in April. In the letter about that final visit, Cather said that this friendship had been “one of the chief interests and joys of my life.” She went as far as to say that she would rather have almost any other chapter of her life left out than that of her time with Menuhin and his sisters. Even then, as adults, they felt like dear children to her, Aunt Willa. “Today,” she said at the end of the letter, “these rooms seem actually full of their presence and their faithful, loving friendship.”

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Body found in Lawrence apartment apparent homicide, officials say

Authorities have identified the man found dead near a high school in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon and said he was killed. The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office had previously said only that it was investigating the death in the vicinity of Central High School and that it was considered suspicious. The investigation prompted a stay-in-place order at the school Thursday. But on Friday, prosecutors and Manchester police announced that the man was 46-year-old Te-Jay Thomas and he died by homicide, from blunt-force trauma to his head and neck. There is not believed to be a threat to the public, and all parties who investigators suspect were involved have been identified, prosecutors said, though no arrests were announced as of Friday. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. The investigation was still continuing on Friday afternoon. The incident on Lowell Street near Beach Street was reported to police around 12:30 p.m. as an assault. Police said Thursday that it was not related to the school and didn't involve either students or guns.

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Attaching EV chargers to utility poles is cheap, easy and illegal in Massachusetts

The law required that EV charging equipment and many other kinds of appliances and gear meet efficiency standards cataloged by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership, a nonprofit that works across 12 states and the District of Columbia on sustainability programs. While 172 different pieces of equipment related to EV charging meet the energy efficiency standards, the pole-mounted EV chargers do not. But now that more cities and towns want to sign up, they’re hitting a huge roadblock: It’s no longer legal to purchase or install the chargers in Massachusetts because of an unintended consequence of the state’s 2022 climate law. (Previously installed chargers are not affected.) They’ve been a game-changer for city-dwellers who want to buy electric vehicles: curbside chargers attached to utility poles. In Melrose and Wilmington, where the first were installed, they provide the driveway-less with a way to fuel up without the cost and inconvenience of digging up sidewalks. Get Innovation Beat Boston Globe tech reporters tell the story of the region's technology and innovation industry, highlighting key players, trends, and why they matter. Enter Email Sign Up As of Jan. 1, 2023, products in categories mentioned in the climate law, including electric vehicle supply equipment, “may only be sold or installed in Massachusetts if they are certified by their manufacturer as compliant,” the state’s Department of Energy Resource said in an email. “DOER is aware that there are currently no pole-mounted electric vehicle chargers certified with the [appliance standards database].” Advertisement The cheaper EV charger option. Source: National Grid; Pole photo provided by National Grid; Ground charger provided by Kelsey McClellan/The New York Times That wasn’t the intention of the climate bill’s authors, Senator Mike Barrett, one of those authors, said in an interview. Although the pole-mounted chargers are less energy efficient than other kinds of chargers, greenhouse gas emissions can still be reduced if they encourage people to switch to EVs, Barrett noted. “There’s a lesson here,” Barrett said. “Technology is moving very quickly. There’s a golden balance to be struck between writing a law that is precise and writing one that still has enough play in the joints to accommodate tomorrow’s change.” Advertisement A correction is in the works, he said. “Let’s hope we get the right legislative fix. I think we will.” The fix, which would entail allowing the pole-mounted chargers despite their energy efficiency ratings, could be included in a new climate and energy bill. Barrett said he is working on passing a bill by the end of the legislative session in July. That would please many communities around the state, including Boston and Cambridge, that have made adding chargers a priority to encourage EV adoption and reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector accounts for 39 percent of the state’s emissions, and convincing almost 1 million drivers to go electric by 2030 is a key part of the plan to slow climate change. But drivers thinking of switching cite a lack of charging as one of their major concerns, along with the relatively high price of EVs. The pole-mounted chargers “are well-used in Melrose and people like them,” said Eric Bourassa, transportation director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which represents 101 cities and towns in the area. “More would like to do this, lots more.” Cambridge, for example, is installing 100 EV charging ports around the city and wanted some on poles for cost savings and convenience. The chargers are attached to poles in a metal box about the size of a microwave oven. Drivers use an app on their phone to activate the charger, which rolls down a retractable cable. Typically, pole-mounted chargers are on 240-volt circuits, known as Level 2 charging, and add about 15 to 30 miles of range to an EV’s battery per hour. Advertisement But Eversource, the city’s electric utility, said it could not install pole-mounted chargers because of the climate law ban — an explanation the company repeated when asked by the Globe about the situation. “We have tried to get Eversource to give us pole-mounted chargers like Melrose has, so far without success,” Cambridge City Councilor Patty Nolan said. Cambridge’s alternate program to allow residents who live more than one-eighth of a mile away from a city-owned charger to drape electrical cords over the sidewalk hasn’t caught on much. Only five residents have obtained permits for over-the-sidewalk charging, Kristen Kelleher, community relations manager for the city’s Department of Public Works, said. Russell Keziere was the first person in Cambridge to be granted a permit to allow him to charge his EV by stringing a cord across the sidewalk, as long as he covers it with a ramp or strings it at least 9 feet overhead. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff The pole-mounted chargers have additional benefits beyond the lower installation cost, according to Bill Bullock, director of integrated resources at the Reading Municipal Light Department. The municipal utility installed two pole-mounted chargers in Wilmington in 2022. “They stay up out of the way, which is handy when they’re out of the snow and above the snow banks,” he said. “We want to put in more.” An additional complication is a ruling by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in December 2022, under the administration of Governor Charlie Baker. With the success of its Melrose pilot program, National Grid asked to be able to install, own, and operate 200 more pole-mounted chargers across 10 communities using funds collected from its customers (part of a statewide $400 million utility program to improve charging). Advertisement But the DPU decided not to allow the expanded program, citing concerns about competition, as National Grid proposed owning the chargers and setting prices for EV drivers. “The company has failed to demonstrate that its proposal ... would not hinder the development of the competitive EV charging market,” the ruling stated. Absent the climate law ban, the order still allowed utilities to install pole-mounted chargers owned by others and paid for with other funding sources, a National Grid spokesperson noted. “We’re happy to work with customers who are interested, as long as they’re up for owning and operating the chargers themselves,” he said. DPU, now overseen by the Healey administration, said the 2022 decision shouldn’t be seen as opposing pole-mounted charger programs. The order “is not reflective of its position on pole mounted charging infrastructure, but rather rooted in its longstanding precedent that utilities should not own infrastructure that the private market can deploy on its own,” the department said in an email. With various charger-related grant programs, communities will be able to find ways to pay for pole-mounted chargers despite the DPU not approving commercial utilities to own the chargers, according to Matt Bloom, director of partnerships at EV charging software company AmpUp, which worked with Melrose and Wilmington. They just need the climate law to be fixed, he said. “In our more population-dense cities and towns, utility pole charging is a pretty good solution to fill in gaps,” Bloom said. Advertisement Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.

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Completely different world: Watertown man works to bring ferry service to Charles River

BOSTON — Imagine trading the honking and the stopping and starting of a stressful commute for a relaxing ride down the Charles River. It might be a great way to start the day. That’s the vision of a Watertown man who wants to launch regular ferry service from his hometown to downtown Boston. “It’s just such a completely different world getting back and forth on the water,” said Drew Rollert, a software engineer who launched Wada Hoppah in his spare time. Wada Hoppah is a water hopper with a Boston accent. “The vision is to create a comfortable, relaxing, and reliable way to get from Watertown to Boston and back, either to commute, to go see a Sox game or to go dine.” Rollert’s company would feature environmentally friendly electric boats that can navigate the Charles’ shallow waters. They’ll also include features not available on the T. “When you get on it, you’ll have your own seat. There’ll be a table and you can put a laptop, a phone or Starbucks on it. And then plug in the heated seats. A bathroom, you can use a bathroom during your commute!” There is some precedent for boat service on the Charles. Photos from the Watertown Free Library show companies that took passengers out on the Charles back in the mid-20th century. Rollert’s main motivation is to get cars off the road. He says “the old adage is 90% of most cars only have one person in them.” He knows the ferry isn’t a panacea for Boston’s traffic woes but believes it’s a piece of a larger puzzle. “I would hope that we could be like the Lynn Ferry, the Hull Ferry, that says hey, you know what, they may run north and south, we’re going east to west and we’re just adding on to the options.” The target fare is in the range of $25 which Rollert says is less than taking an Uber. He hopes they might be able to get some governmental agencies to subsidize the service. The Department of Conservation and Recreation manages the Charles River. Officials there tell Boston 25 News commercial operations on the river require a permit. They say they’ve been in touch with Rollert and are waiting to get his completed application. Rollert had hoped to get service going this fall but now says that next spring is more likely. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group

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What Investors and the Fed Will Look For in the Jobs Report

Jobs report: the numbers to watch Wall Street, the White House and the Fed will all be watching Friday’s jobs report for signs of how the labor market is holding up. The numbers may also deliver clues on the central bank’s next move on interest rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the nonfarm payrolls number at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Here are the data points to watch: 160,000. Economists polled by FactSet expect the report to show that employers added roughly 160,000 jobs last month, a drop from the 199,000 positions created in November. They also forecast that the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8 percent in December, from 3.7 percent the previous month. 2.7 million. If those predictions are correct, it would bring total hiring in 2023 to about 2.7 million, a strong showing in a year marked by strikes and layoffs by large firms across multiple sectors. Heading into an election year, it’s a data point that President Biden is expected to trumpet to voters still unconvinced about his handling of the economy. 3.9 percent. The big number investors will be watching is wage growth. The consensus estimate is that average hourly wages grew by 3.9 percent on an annualized basis last month, roughly in line with figures from November.

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What It Takes for Snoopy and Friends to Soar in the Macys Parade

It has become Paul Schwartz’s job to help ensure the safety of millions of Thanksgiving parade watchers — as New York City’s “chief balloon officer.” Mr. Schwartz, whose actual job is deputy commissioner of bridges, has earned the unofficial title from his colleagues because he leads a team of city transportation engineers who clear the floating behemoths in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for takeoff. The engineers have gathered detailed calculations on how high each of the 16 giant balloons this year — including the Pillsbury Doughboy and Kung Fu Panda’s Po — can safely go at various wind speeds. Over the course of several hours, they put the newest balloons through test runs at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to try to head off problems. And on parade day, they will spread out along the route with anemometers to monitor weather conditions in real-time.

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Senator spent time with Thanksgiving traditions, judge security bill (Letter)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope that dinner on Thursday was spent with loved ones and that amid all the excitement and stress of preparation and travel, everyone also took some time to reflect on what they are thankful for this year. I know for myself that it’s a long list, but at the top of it is my family. It was a still a busy week in the district ahead of the holiday. Monday morning was the groundbreaking for the Appleton Mills project in Holyoke. This revitalization project will be restoring the currently unused Appleton Mills building to create 88 units of affordable senior housing. As the cost of housing continues to skyrocket, seniors on a fixed income are some of the hardest hit, and this project will go a long way to protecting one of our most vulnerable populations. On Tuesday, I got to take part in of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions: serving dinner down at the Forum House in Westfield. This organization does amazing work and helps those with disabilities enter and stay in the workforce. They are a great group to work alongside, and I thank them for inviting me to serve their holiday meals. I’m already looking forward to next year.

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With perky ears and tails wagging, 'furries' converge in Boston

Take a stroll through Boston’s Seaport this weekend and you might encounter colorful packs of bipedal animals. We’re talking lions and tigers and cheetahs, oh my! That’s because Anthro New England at the Westin Boston Seaport Hotel is welcoming thousands of costumed fans for a three-day celebration of furry culture. What’s furry culture, you ask? Well, if you feel most like yourself in bunny slippers, have a stuffed animal on the dashboard of your car, connect spiritually to cartoon characters like Disney’s foxy Robin Hood, Winnie-the-Pooh, or video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog, you could be — shall we say — furry-inclined. But avid devotees, known as furries, take their affections further by donning ears, tails or full-body “fursuits.” Some adopt "fursonas." To find out more about this community and its fascination with anthropomorphic animals in art, cartoons, comics and literature, we reached out to author and longtime fur Joe Strike. He’ll be attending Anthro New England and brings us into the fold of furry fandom, which he says goes beyond fetish. Interview Highlights Andrea Shea: I love how you joke about the “f” word in your 2023 book, “Furry Planet.” For those who are not familiar with this growing subculture, what exactly is a furry? Joe Strike: My personal definition of a furry is someone who has an above-average interest in anthropomorphic animal characters. Humans taking on animal guises for tribal or cultural reasons have been part of the human imagination since the beginning of civilization. Most of this has been forgotten in modern times, except in our enjoyment of cartoon animals as well as advertising and sports mascots. But furs are people who feel this instinct on a personal, visceral level — it’s an ancient, atavistic instinct we’ve rediscovered and take seriously. We invent animal personalities, alter egos, for ourselves we call “fursonas.” (When I’m not myself, I’m a sinister yet alluring Komodo dragon named Komos.) "When I’m not myself, I’m a sinister yet alluring Komodo dragon named Komos,” says author Joe Strike. (Courtesy Apollo Publishers) Shea: People connect to all manner of anthropomorphic animals — from mainstream cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, to comic book icons including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and literary creatures from books like “Watership Down,” “Paddington,” and “Stewart Little.” Oh, and there’s Kimba the White Lion of manga fame. Who are some other examples? Strike: I’d add Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes characters, Peter Rabbit, Smaug, the “Lord of the Rings” dragon, the “My Little Pony” equines, and the imaginary Pokémon animals that are very popular with younger furs. As a baby boomer, I can go back to my college days when Herman Hesse’s “Steppenwolf” — about a man who sees himself torn between his human identity and the feral wolf he feels he truly is — was a popular read. There are hundreds of other examples I’m sure other furs can add to the list. Shea: The furry community is connected to the science fiction, comic book, anime and cosplay worlds. In your books, you trace it back to the 1980s when like-minded people found each other at sci fi conventions and started organizing “furry parties.” How has the landscape evolved for furries? Strike: Furry has its roots in those areas but has evolved totally into its own thing. Now there are innumerable, specifically-furry conventions like Anthro New England. Major ones like Pittsburgh’s Anthrocon and Chicago’s Midwest FurFest are enormous. These attendance figures keep rising year after year as more people discover furry and/or connect with their own anthropomorphic instincts. Shea: Your first book is titled, “Furry Nation: The True Story of American’s Most Misunderstood Subculture.” How and why has it been misunderstood? Strike: I think the basic misunderstanding comes from an assumption that pretending to be or “dressing up” as animals is something only children should indulge in. If adults do it, it’s simply “wrong,” and people imagine spurious connections to bestiality, pedophilia, or just feel a general discomfort with the idea for no particular reason. (Courtesy Apollo Publishers) Shea: Your latest book, “Furry Planet: A World Gone Wild,” illuminates how fur culture has gone global. One of the furries you spoke with in China said dressing up in costume allows him to release the childlike part of himself that we often suppress as adults with jobs and responsibilities. What are some other reasons why people wear ears, tails and full-blown animal costumes?— Strike: It’s definitely a fun escape from one’s everyday life and personality! It really isn’t different from someone becoming Batman or Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter at a sci-fi convention. There is one major difference between furs and fans of those mainstream genres: (a lot of) furs invent and become their own, original anthropomorphic characters. As far as I know, there isn’t an existing Komodo dragon anywhere in pop culture — but when I become Komos, I can be sinister, domineering, and make-believe “evil” (which a lot of people find quite intriguing and attractive) — which is so not me! For some furs, their “fursona” is who they feel is their true self, the essence of who they are. Most furs don’t get as deeply into it of course; for them, wearing ears or tails at a furry convention is just a way of identifying themselves as part of the community without necessarily creating an alternate personality for themselves. Author Joe Strike, right, and as his "fursona" Komos, left. (Courtesy Apollo Publishers) Shea: You’re a champion for this community — do you feel like you have to defend furry culture’s relevance? Strike: Yes, I do, to the best of my ability, put on the record who we truly are and why we do what we do. I also feel it’s important to explore that deeper connection between the human and non-human animal worlds; anything relating to anthropomorphic animals is an attempt to bridge that gap. Many people think, “I’m so weird for being into this stuff, I can’t talk about it with anyone…” and then they discover, no, there are tens of thousands of people who feel exactly the same way you do! Shea: You wrote about the community being a safe space for people who feel like outsiders, including queer youth. How does the community foster a sense of belonging? Strike: Again, it’s that “I’m not the only one!” feeling — realizing, “these people understand and accept me for who and what I am — I don’t have to hide my secret self any longer.” Whether it’s being gay, bi, queer, non-binary, etc. — or being a dragon. There’s also so much mutual support with/from people who know how you feel, because they’ve felt that way themselves. Conferences for furries are held around the world. (Courtesy Apollo Publishers) Shea: There is an erotic angle to furry culture. In your book you acknowledge, “Yes, there is furry porn.” But there’s also fur-friendly media — including furry community news websites like "Dogpatch Press" and "Global Furry Television" in Singapore. It seems award-winning British comedian and "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver has an affection! What does that say to you about how far furry culture has come? Strike: John Oliver has all but flat out stated he’s a furry. (“The clues are all there,” as he said on his show.) I’d rather not mention his name, but I’ll just call him “X” (as he renamed Twitter), is aware of furry and even called himself “fur-curious.” I’m also seeing more references to furry as just a thing in the culture at large, and not something scandalous, juvenile, or perverse. Stephen Colbert outright brags about being a total Lord of the Rings nerd, and someday I’d like to hear John Oliver come out of the furry closet about his otter fursona. Shea: What are you most looking forward to this weekend? Strike: Komos unfortunately is in the repair shop at the moment to mend a serious tail burn, but I may bring and wear his head at the convention. Most of all though, I’m hoping to spend time with furfriends I otherwise only meet online.

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Seven people hospitalized in serious rollover crash in Berlin Wednesday night

Seven people were brought to the hospital, including two with serious injuries, following a rollover crash in Berlin on Wednesday night, according to local authorities. Berlin firefighters and Berlin Police went to the crash on Interstate 495 North just after 9 p.m. on Dec. 27, according to a press release posted by Berlin Fire & EMS on Facebook. When crews arrived, they found seven people who were injured, including one who was trapped inside the vehicle. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to pull the victim to safety, officials said. Two people were brought to local hospitals while the other five were brought to local trauma centers. Two of those individuals were said to have serious injuries, officials said. The scene was cleared at about 10:30 p.m. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police.

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How a Suspected Indian Murder-for-Hire Plot on U.S. Soil Was Foiled

The trial of a 76-year-old Alabama man accused of the 1988 killing of an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts ended Wednesday with a judge declaring a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. Marvin C. McClendon Jr. had pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in connection with the death of Melissa Ann Tremblay. McClendon was arrested last year, decades after Tremblay disappeared. McClendon was linked to the killing through DNA evidence, according to the prosecutor. McClendon’s lawyer, Henry Fasoldt, said his client appreciated the jury being “deliberate and thoughtful” and looks forward to trying the case again. “Mr. McClendon maintains his innocence and I believe he’s innocent,” Fasoldt said. A spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney’s office said they plan to retry McClendon. No new trial date has been set. Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, was found in a Lawrence trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, the day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed and her body had been run over by a train, authorities said. The victim had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said last year. She was reported missing later that night. Lawrence and Salem are just a few miles apart. McClendon, a former employee of the Massachusetts prisons department, lived near Lawrence in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work at the time of the killing, authorities said. He worked and attended church in Lawrence.

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Why Mister Grouse Is the Friendliest Bird in the Forest

Ridgefield, Conn. | $458,000 A one-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage built in 1950, on a 0.1-acre lot This house is part of a small community of homes with easy access to Mamanasco Lake, where popular activities include kayaking, swimming and bird-watching. It is about a 10-minute drive from small shops and restaurants, a theater and a post office in the center of town. The train station in Danbury is about 20 minutes away; from there, trains make the trip to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan in about two hours. Driving to Manhattan can take a little less than two hours, depending on traffic. Hartford is about 90 minutes away. Size: 560 square feet Price per square foot: $818 Indoors: The house is set back from the street, and the main entrance is to the side, off a gravel courtyard. The front door, sheltered by a small portico with decorative trim, opens into a living area with high ceilings and walls finished in light wood. The sitting area, to the left, is surrounded by windows and has space for a small sofa and a coffee table. The kitchen, to the right, has stainless steel appliances, a stone counter that extends to form a small breakfast bar and glass doors that open to the back of the property.

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Thanks to grant, Springfield Museums are free on first Wednesdays of the month

SPRINGFIELD — When Michelle Murphy, vice president of development and marketing at the Springfield Museums, walked the grounds of the museums Wednesday, she said she observed a wide range of age groups reflected in the visitors. Murphy said the visitors included a group of mothers from Connecticut who planned a field trip with their children and a pair of adults who hadn’t been to the museums in years. When they heard about the museums’ “First Free Wednesdays” program on social media, they marked their calendars to be in attendance. There was also “a lightness of spirit,” Murphy said, which “illustrates the idea of having no barrier to entry” of the museums. Thanks to a $800,000 grant, the Springfield Museums are providing free admission on the first Wednesday of every month through the end of 2026. Both the Springfield Museums and the Smith College Museum of Art are two recipients included on a list of 64 museums partnered with the Art Bridges Foundation Access for All grant. The foundation announced in October it was distributing $40 million to museums with the goal “to increase access to museums across America and foster engagement with local audiences” over the next three years. Murphy said when the Springfield Museums were invited to apply for the grant, they decided that the best way to increase access for people in the local community was by addressing museum admissions. “The gift of this grant removes the barrier for people who may want to join, but can’t because of expense,” Murphy said. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought museum attendance to record lows, with many museums going digital during the height of the shelter-in-place orders, both institutions reported an uptick in attendance and excitement around their new initiatives. While the Springfield Museums have been doing a lot of media outreach since they first received the grant, in mid-October, Murphy said when asking visitors how they heard about the initiative, many noted seeing the news on the museums’ social media outlets. The Smith College Museum of Art has seen a similar resurgence in museum attendance. The museum was able to eliminate all admission fees starting last year as a gift from Smith College alumnae Jan Fullgraf Golann and Jane Timken, but the grant from the Art Bridges Foundation provided an additional $280,000 to help expand museum access through extended hours and additional community engagement. Jessica Nicoll, the museum’s executive director and chief curator, said that beyond being able to extend the museum’s hours of operations, the grant has allowed them to “listen to make sure our exhibits are meeting community needs.” Nicoll said that the return of the previously popular Second Fridays program at the museum — a designated time when museum admissions were waived — has now developed into “cultivating the museum as a social space.” The museum has also initiated a similar model for campus students on the first Thursdays of each month. On both of these days, the museum provides activities, food, art supplies, and even pays for guest speaker fees to engage with both the Smith community and the general public. On average, the Smith College Museum of Art has an average of 32,000 visitors a year. During the height of the pandemic, its numbers dropped to 16,000 visitors. When tracking attendance on the college’s last fiscal year of July 1-June 30, Nicoll saw that numbers increased to 21,015 and is seeing an increase of about 40% since October. This would put attendance back around 30,000 to 40,000 visitors annually, which Nicoll said “feels more normal.” Thanks to the Access for All grant, Nicoll said the museum will have the opportunity to try different things out and really listen and meet what the local community needs. At the Springfield Museums, Murphy agrees and said the grant allows the museums to make an impact on a community level. “It is fulfilling,” she said. “The grant is a great example of how an idea in investing in something that makes it easier for people really comes to fruition.”

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Weekend Recommendations: A Festive Chef Series and a Boozy Holiday Market

Welcome to Eater’s periodic roundup of weekend food and drink events worth checking out around town. Want to let us know about an upcoming Boston-area event? Get in touch at boston@eater.com. December 1 to 3 Seasonal Chefs Much like the bounty of gifts found in the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” chef Will Gilson and the Geppetto team are offering up culinary surprises with the 12 Chefs of Christmas dining series. Starting on December 3 at 6 p.m. — and continuing until December 17 — four guest chefs take over the Cambridge spot each Sunday for a special four-course dinner that showcases their spins on holiday dining. For this first festive feast, Tony Susi of Bar Enza, Erin Miller of Urban Hearth, host chef Will Gilson, and Brian Mercury of Puritan & Co. team up, with beverage pairings offered by Geppetto. Tickets are $120 per person, and you can purchase them here. Further down the line, Dante De Magistris, Colin Lynch, Alexis Babineau, and Rachel Dykes create their holiday magic on December 10, while Jamie Bissonnette, Louis Dibiccari, Dave Bazirgan, and Tracy Chang wrap things up in a bow on December 17. Maker Market As if you need an excuse to head to Bully Boy’s taproom, the distiller is holding a holiday market on Saturday, December 2 from noon to 4 p.m. Besides shopping Bully Boy’s spirits —from ready-to-drink bottles of negronis to Manhattans and distinct rums — check out the baked goods, candles, ceramics, jewelry, and other delights crafted by the mostly women-owned local purveyors. Bully Boy will be feeling festive with a new bourbon, too, and you can enjoy cocktails at their bar. Get Sauced A little while ago, Singh’s Roti Shop quietly moved from its spot at 692 Columbia Road in Dorchester — the current home of Side Chick — to a larger space down the road at 554 Colombia Road. And with a bigger space, including tables for indoor dining, came an expanded menu beyond just delicious meat pies, doubles, and other Trinidadian treats. Dive into new rice bowls for take out or to dine-in, and the hot bar provides a warming and generous meal while you’re on the go. And for holiday gifts (or just to keep handy in the fridge to warm you up on winter nights), you can’t go wrong with a bottle of Signh’s house-made hot sauce. Check out the bottles of Caribbean soft drinks and juices, especially the peanut punch, too.

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Jaylen Brown injury: Celtics star leaves game after LeBron James collision

Sports Betting Dime provides exclusive sports betting content to MassLive.com, including real-time odds, picks, analysis and sportsbook offers to help sports fans get in on the action. Please wager responsibly. Our ESPN BET promo code has the highest value of any guaranteed bonus. Click here to sign up with our promo code MASS and gain $250 in bonus bets for Week 17. The first game of the week is between the Jets and Browns on Thursday night. Register with our ESPN BET promo code MASS and make your first $10 wager on Thursday Night Football. No matter the result, you will be sent a $250 bonus. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. The Browns are 7.5-point favorites against the Jets on Thursday night. Joe Flacco has been just what this team needed. Cleveland has won three-straight games and will be a tough out in the playoffs. Click here to sign up with our ESPN BET promo code MASS. Start with a $10 wager on any game to receive $250 in bonus bets. Use our ESPN BET promo code for Jets vs. Browns ESPN BET promo code MASS Welcome offer Bet $10, get $250 bonus Last confirmed December 28, 2023 Verified by Alex Payton, Sports Betting Dime The Jets couldn’t stay in contention for Aaron Rodgers to debate a return. They are now without Zach Wilson, so Trevor Siemian will be making the start for New York. He had some success last week in a win, but this Cleveland defense is going to be a different challenge. The total is set at 34.5 points. I’m taking the Browns to cover the 7.5-point spread at home. I also like David Njoku to score a touchdown for Cleveland. He’s been one of Flacco’s favorite targets in the red zone. His odds are at +180 to score any anytime touchdown. The odds are at +550 for Njoku to score the first TD of the game. How to enter our ESPN BET promo code MASS for the $250 bonus All new customers of ESPN BET Massachusetts and other eligible states can use this promo code. Take these steps to claim a bonus for Week 17. Since this is the original welcome offer that it released for launch, it may be lower in value soon. Click here to register with our ESPN BET promo code MASS and enter the info needed to confirm your identity. Download the ESPN BET app for your iPhone or Android and enable location services. Deposit $10+ with an accepted banking method, like PayPal or Venmo. Place a $10 wager on Thursday Night Football. Win or lose, you’ll receive a $250 bonus. It will be (5) $50 bonus bets, so you can use it for multiple NFL Week 17 games. More Week 17 games and odds boosts We have a great game set for Saturday between the Lions and Cowboys. Detroit just clinched the NFC North for the first time in 29 years. Dallas is still trying to win the NFC East, but the Eagles have the slight lead. Note that there aren’t any games on Monday this week, so we have a full slate on Sunday. You will find new odds boosts this weekend for certain markets. Sign up here to use our ESPN BET promo code MASS. Start with a $10 wager on the Jets vs. Browns to receive $250 in bonus bets. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Get the latest sports betting news, advice and promos sent straight to your inbox. Enter your email here: Think you know Patriots football? Play the MassLive.com Prop Bet Showdown for a chance to win prizes! If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Massachusetts Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org to speak with a trained specialist to receive support. Specialists are available 24/7. Services are available in multiple languages and are free and confidential. 21+ and present in participating states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.

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Heres only thing Michael Jordan told Julian Edelman before Super Bowl XLIX

Julian Edelman did more than help the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX, he helped an NBA legend get a little bit richer. The former Patriots wide receiver recounted a story about the night before New England’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Edelman took his parents out to dinner when he was “starstruck” by Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan. “I go up and you could tell Jeter’s a very charming guy, welcoming. I go, ‘Mr. Jeter, (I’m) Julian Edelman. I’m playing in the Super Bowl,’” Edelman said on his “Games With Names” podcast. “I saw Jordan. He was kinda, like, standoffish a little bit. As soon as the conversation’s about to end — like five minutes in — I’m about to leave and Jordan comes up to me. He goes, ‘Hey, kid. I got a bunch of money on you, don’t (expletive) it up.’ BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. “That’s the only thing he said to me,” he continued. “I go, ‘Yes, sir, Mr. Jordan.’ I didn’t know what to say.” It’s unclear just how much money Jordan had on Edelman, but it probably paid off due to the wide receiver’s performance. The next day, Edelman caught nine passes from Tom Brady for 109 yards. His lone touchdown proved to be the game-winner with just over two minutes to go. Malcolm Butler sealed Edelman’s first of three Super Bowl championships with a goal-line interception of Russell Wilson in the 28-24 win. Edelman went on to win two more Super Bowls against the Atlanta Falcons and the Los Angeles Rams before retiring in 2021.

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MA Flood Watch, High Wind Warning Issued For Next Winter Storm

Weather MA Flood Watch, High Wind Warning Issued For Next Winter Storm Much like Tuesday night, the storm late Friday night will bring heavy rain, high winds and coastal flooding concerns to Massachusetts. "Another widespread 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected Friday night into early Saturday. This may exacerbate current river and stream flooding and/or result in additional flooding." - National Weather Service Boston (Patch Graphic) MASSACHUSETTS — For the third time in a week a significant winter storm will zero in on Massachusetts this weekend with this one carrying with it a Flood Watch, High Wind Watch and concerns about coastal and river flooding from heavy rain and an astronomically high tide on Saturday morning. The storm is expected to arrive late Friday night around midnight with the chance of a brief period of snow north and west of Boston before the entire state turns to another drenching overnight rain. The National Weather Service is forecasting another inch or more of rain on top of early Wednesday morning's heavy rain and rapid snowmelt. "A widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain fell Tuesday Night into Wednesday morning combined with rapid snowmelt," the National Weather Service said on Thursday. "This resulted in numerous rivers and streams going into flood or expected to go into flood within 24 hours from the residual runoff. In addition, another widespread 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected Friday night into early Saturday. This may exacerbate current river and stream flooding and/or result in additional flooding." The Flood Watch is in place for all of eastern and central Massachusetts until 7 p.m. on Saturday with a continued flood warning in place for streams and rivers that remain at or close to flood stage on Thursday. Temperatures will rise throughout the night and hit a high of 57 degrees on Saturday morning before cooling as the storm departs. A Coastal Flood Watch has been issued for the Saturday morning high tide after roads and neighborhoods near Salisbury, Plum Island and Hampton Beach, NH flooded in the wake of the Tuesday night storm on Wednesday. "Minor coastal flooding occurs along Morrissey Boulevard in Boston," the National Weather Service said. "Coastal flooding is expected along the North Shore from Gloucester to Newburyport. Wave action will likely cause some washover onto coastal roads around the time of high tide. "Expect minor coastal flooding of some low-lying roadways. Minor coastal flooding occurs in Provincetown, in the vicinity of Race Point Road and Provincetown Airport. In Truro, backwater flooding occurs along the Pamet River." Winds are not forecast to be quite as damaging as early this week — with peak gusts of 65 miles per hour reported at Chatham and Dennis — but could approach 60 miles per hour on Cape Cod, 50 miles per hour on the North Shore and South Shore, and 40 miles per hour inland. A High Wind Watch has been issued from 1 a.m. on Saturday until 1 p.m. After a week of unseasonably warm temperatures, it will feel a lot more like winter on Sunday and Monday with sun before the next shot of substantial snow roars into the region on Tuesday.

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Mass. House, Senate say they have reached a deal on supplemental budget

The Massachusetts House and Senate say they have reached a deal on a supplemental budget that is expected to provide additional funding for the state's overtaxed shelter system, among other things. Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, announced the agreement in a joint statement Thursday morning. “On behalf of our fellow conferees, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve reached an agreement on the supplemental budget to close the books on Fiscal Year 2023," they said. "Our respective staffs are actively working to finalize remaining details and complete the work required to file a Conference Committee report. We anticipate a report being filed in the coming hours to ensure that the House and Senate can act on the report promptly and send it to the Governor.” More to come.

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ESPN BET promo code MASS: $250 bonus for Patriots-Broncos

Sports Betting Dime provides exclusive sports betting content to MassLive.com, including real-time odds, picks, analysis and sportsbook offers to help sports fans get in on the action. Please wager responsibly. The Patriots will visit the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve, and the ESPN BET promo code MASS will unlock $250 in bonus bets for this Sunday Night Football matchup. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. While New England’s postseason hopes have been long dashed, this is a critical game for the Denver Broncos and the rest of the AFC postseason picture. The Broncos are coming off a disappointing blowout loss in Detroit last weekend, and if they wish to keep their hopes alive, they need a win in the worst way tonight. No matter how you wish to bet Patriots-Broncos, the ESPN BET promo code MASS will get you $250 in bonus bets for Sunday Night Football. So, if you’re looking to back Russell Wilson to throw 2+ touchdown passes, Courtland Sutton to record an anytime touchdown or are just looking to play the point spread or over/under, this is a great way to do it. ESPN BET promo code MASS: $250 bonus for Patriots-Broncos ESPN BET promo code MASS figures to be a popular Christmas Eve play in both Colorado and Massachusetts tonight, but with families gathered around celebrating holidays everywhere, this bonus figures to get plenty of play in all 17 markets in which it is live. That said, the offer is available in the following states: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Get started by clicking here Click the sign up button and enter ESPN BET promo code MASS. Using options like PayPal, Skrill, online banking and more, make a first deposit. Make any wager on Patriots-Broncos and receive $250 in bonus bets. How to use the ESPN BET promo code this weekend While players will want to check out the Sunday Night Football matchup, these bonus bets are valid for seven days and can be used on Christmas Day games like Eagles-Giants and 49ers-Ravens. In terms of how to make a wager on the Patriots-Broncos game, let’s take a look at the total. Quite frankly, it’s hard to imagine the Patriots making a ton of offensive noise in a tough environment against a Broncos defense that has performed admirably at home this season. Oddsmakers feel that way, too, given the total is set at just 35.5 points. While the Patriots went over the total in a game with just 30.5 points set against the Steelers a few weeks back, we don’t think lightning will strike twice. Bank on this one to stay under the total after using the ESPN BET promo code. Get the latest sports betting news, advice and promos sent straight to your inbox. Enter your email here: Think you know Patriots football? Play the MassLive.com Prop Bet Showdown for a chance to win prizes! If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Massachusetts Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org to speak with a trained specialist to receive support. Specialists are available 24/7. Services are available in multiple languages and are free and confidential.

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Loren Gabel, Alina Mller lead PWHL Boston to win over Toronto

Loren Gabel and Alina Müller played a role in each of their team’s goals Wednesday as PWHL Boston defeated Toronto, 3-2, on the road. Toronto took the early lead when Hannah Miller found the back of the net nine minutes into the first period. Boston battled back in the second period, as Gabel scored her first goal on a Müller assist. Gabel and Alina Müller then assisted Megan Keller with less than two minutes remaining in the frame. Miller scored a second time roughly halfway through the third to even up the score at 2-2. With 1:50 left on the clock in regulation, Emily Brown sent the puck over to Müller, who sent a pass behind her back to Gabel. Gabel then buried the shot in what became the game-winning goal. Boston stands at 2-1 and returns to the Tsongas Center on a two-game winning streak. Boston will host New York on Jan. 20.

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Blizzard Warning in Iowa Slows Campaigns as Race Barrels to a Close

Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina canceled her town-hall events in Iowa that had been scheduled for Friday, citing what forecasters for the National Weather Service called “life-threatening winter weather.” Ms. Haley’s in-person events will be turned into “telephone town halls” instead. But Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy entrepreneur, said they would press forward with campaign events scheduled for Friday, for now. A Thursday evening forecast from the National Weather Service office in Des Moines said that widespread heavy snowfalls would begin Thursday and last through Friday night, accompanied by wind gusts of up to 45 miles an hour. The agency added that “travel may become impossible in rural areas by Friday afternoon into Friday night across central Iowa.”

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Explaining the South on Instagram, One Custom at a Time

Since February, Landon Bryant’s posts have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, many from around the world. Credit... Bryan Tarnowski for The New York Times

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Downtown Boston Holiday Market

Get your holiday shopping done right in the heart of Downtown Crossing! We have curated a fantastic lineup of artisan vendors to offer their handcrafted products outside on Summer Street. You can expect a rotation of diverse vendors and a fantastic selection of gifts for friends, family, coworkers, and more! The market is held each Friday & Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm from November 24th to December 23th. Please note this event is weather dependent.

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Huge Turbines Will Soon Bring First Offshore Wind Power to New Yorkers

The pier on the Connecticut coast is filled with so many massive oddities that it could be mistaken for the set of a sci-fi movie. Sword-shaped blades as long as a football field lie stacked along one edge, while towering yellow and green cranes hoist giant steel cylinders to stand like rockets on a launchpad. It is a launching point, not for spacecraft, but for the first wind turbines being built to turn ocean wind into electricity for New Yorkers. Crews of union workers in New London, Conn., are preparing parts of 12 of the gargantuan fans before shipping them out for final assembly 15 miles offshore. “They’re sort of space-stationesque,” said Christine Cohen, a Democratic state senator who toured the assembly site last week. “Seeing the components up close, it’s just breathtaking how immense they are.” The turbines will make up South Fork Wind, a wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean whose completion is pivotal to Northeastern states’ hopes of switching to renewable sources of energy. Recent setbacks to several other offshore projects in the region have raised concerns about whether and when they all will be built.

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10-Year-Old Arrested for Public Urination Was Treated Like an Adult Criminal, Lawyer Says

The mother of a 10-year-old Mississippi boy who was arrested after urinating behind her car is refusing to sign a probation agreement because the terms that were set are of a severity typically reserved for adults, the family’s lawyer said Thursday. The 90-day probation agreement stipulated that the boy, Quantavious Eason, who is Black, would have to submit to random drug tests, observe an 8 p.m. curfew and meet with a probation officer once a month, among other requirements, according to Carlos Moore, the lawyer. The boy would also be required to write a two-page report on Kobe Bryant, Mr. Moore said. Latonya Eason, the boy’s mother, had initially agreed to the probation during a hearing in Tate County Chancery Court on Dec. 12, but upon reading the full terms and consulting with Mr. Moore this week, she decided not to sign and instead to fight for the charge to be dismissed, he said. NBC News reported on the case this week. “This boy is not a criminal,” Mr. Moore said. “He should not have to go through all of this.” The legal battle stems from an encounter that Quantavious and his mother had with the police on Aug. 10 in Senatobia, Miss., a small city 40 miles south of Memphis, Tenn. The family, which lives in a neighboring county, believes the manner in which the police treated the boy stemmed from racism.

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Doja the cat has enough pet material for any Mass. home looking to adopt

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling and provides news, depth and serendipity. It is available to Times news subscribers on iOS. If you haven’t already, download the app and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Our new audio app is home to “This American Life,” the award-winning program hosted by Ira Glass. New episodes debut in our app a day earlier than in the regular podcast feed, and we also have an archive of the show. The app includes a “Best of ‘This American Life’” section with some of our favorite bite-size clips, so you can enjoy the show even if you don’t have a lot of time.

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To Bolster Russias Army, Putin Eases Citizenship Path for Foreign Fighters

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has approved a measure that makes it easier for foreigners to acquire Russian citizenship if they enlist in the army amid the war in Ukraine, part of an effort to increase the military’s ranks while also sparing Russians from being deployed to the battlefield. Under the decree, which the Kremlin published on Thursday, foreigners who sign a one-year contract with the Russian Army or volunteer for “army formations” during what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine can apply for Russian citizenship under a fast-track procedure. The benefits also extend to the recruits’ spouses, children and parents. Unlike those who go through Russia’s regular citizenship process, such foreigners would not need to live in the country for five consecutive years under a residence permit before applying. They would also be spared requirements to speak Russian and be familiar with the country’s history and basic laws. A decision on such applications will take only one month instead of the usual three, according to the decree.

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List of school closings and delays in Mass. after strong storm knocks out power

“When it’s cold like this, cars aren’t functioning well, chargers aren’t functioning well, and people don’t function so well either,” said Javed Spencer, an Uber driver who said he had done little else in the last three days besides charge his rented Chevy Bolt and worry about being stranded with a dead battery — again. Mr. Spencer, 27, said he set out on Sunday for a charging station with 30 miles left on his battery. Within minutes, the battery was dead. He had to have the car towed to the station.

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Bailey Zappes secret to success: Sat behind a computer and just stared at a screen

How did Bailey Zappe and the New England Patriots offense go from getting shut out to scoring three touchdowns in a half in just four days? The quarterback says it may have had something to do with all the film he watched ahead of Thursday night’s win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Zappe was invited on set with Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football Crew to discuss the Patriots’ third win of the season, which featured him throwing three touchdowns in the first half. Analyst (and former All-Pro corner) Richard Sherman asked what had changed between Zappe’s start on Sunday and his start in Pittsburgh. Zappe said it came down to film study on the computer -- since the Patriots had so little onfield practice time with the short week. “We didn’t really get much physical reps. So the only thing I did was sat behind a computer and just stared at a screen the last two days, three days,” Zappe said. “So I might transfer that over to the next few weeks.” Zappe went 19-of-28 through the air for 240 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, good for a 115.2 passer rating. The second-year quarterback was asked what the key was to his strong performance. In true Patriots fashion, Zappe deferred to his teammates, including tight end Hunter Henry, who was also on the Amazon Prime Video set. He also hinted at a key piece of advice he’d gotten from Bill Belichick. “I mean, just give it to my playmakers like this guy,” Zappe said, gesturing to Henry. “Just doing the best I can to give the ball to them. Coach Belichick always says, ‘We can’t make yards until I get rid of the ball.’ So just give it to these guys, give it to them, let them go make plays and that was the mindset of this game.” Zappe’s strong performance helped the Patriots improve to 3-10 on the season. Next up, it’s a Week 15 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs. We’ll find out if Zappe keeping his nose in the computer will keep his strong play going.

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The Musicians We Lost in 2023

4. Dusty Springfield: “(They Long to Be) Close to You” Burt Bacharach, who died on Feb. 8 at age 94, wrote a seemingly infinite number of perfect pop songs, like this one that the Carpenters made a No. 1 smash in 1970. Dusty Springfield’s earlier version, recorded in 1964, isn’t as well known, but it’s every bit as stirring, thanks in large part to the emotional acuity of Bacharach’s timeless composition. (Listen on YouTube) 5. Wayne Shorter: “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” Until his death on March 2 at 89, the saxophonist Wayne Shorter was considered by many to be the greatest living jazz composer. His singular, expressive playing on this highlight from his 1966 album, “Speak No Evil,” is one of many recordings that suggest why. (Listen on YouTube) 6. Yellow Magic Orchestra: “Technopolis” The pioneering Japanese electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra lost two of its three principal members this year: the drummer and vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi on Jan. 11 and, a little over two months later, the keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto. Both had long and varied solo careers as well, but their work in Y.M.O., like on this leadoff track from the 1979 album “Solid State Survivor,” is still enduringly influential and instantly recognizable. (Listen on YouTube) 7. Harry Belafonte: “Jamaica Farewell” “Calypso,” the blockbuster 1956 release by the Jamaican American singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte, helped bring Caribbean sounds to the masses: It is said to be the first LP by a solo artist to sell over a million copies. This wistful West Indian folk tune was the album’s lead single, and it long remained a signature song for Belafonte, who died on April 25 at 96. (Listen on YouTube) 8. Gordon Lightfoot: “Sundown” The Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who died on May 1 at 84, was a familiar presence on AM radio in the early 1970s, when he scored hit after unlikely hit. None charted higher than the infectious “Sundown,” the title track off his 1974 album and his only song to hit No. 1 in the United States. The track’s buoyant rhythm and lush harmonies contrast with its lyrical preoccupation with jealousy, inebriation and mistrust, creating an alluringly dark pop song. (Listen on YouTube) 9. Tina Turner: “What’s Love Got to Do With It” Talk about a comeback. The mighty Tina Turner hadn’t had a Top 10 hit in the U.S. in more than a decade when in 1984 she returned with a vengeance, belting out this anthem and strutting down the streets of New York in its unforgettable music video. “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” released when Turner was 44, was her long-awaited liberation, and the force of her vocal delivery tells you how much life — and rock-star attitude — she had in her. She died May 24 at 83. (Listen on YouTube)

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After-school Satan Club at Connecticut elementary school raises eyebrows in town

There are concerns over a new after-school club in Lebanon, Connecticut. The "Satan Club" is set to meet at Lebanon Elementary School starting next month and that's gotten the attention of parents. Organizers say it's not what you think. “There’s just a lot of people that just don’t want to hear what we’re about. They don’t want to hear what we believe," June Everett said. Everett is the campaign director for the after-school program of the satanic temple. She said they view Satan as a literary figure. “We look at Satan as a symbol of being the ultimate rebel and standing up against tyrannical authority,” she said. Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters. Everett said the club was requested by a parent and got district approval this week to operate. But, it doesn’t involve any religion. “We do not teach about Satan. We do not teach them songs to sing to their friends. There’s no proselytizing that takes place at all with our club,” she said. Everett said instead, kids will be doing activities that focus on science and rationalization while building empathy and tolerance for all creatures, and she wants to push back on misconceptions. “We do not worship the devil. We’re not sacrificing goats or babies. We are simply having equal access to the space that we have a right to,” she said. A right that was given thanks to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling (Good News Club v. Milford Central School) that allowed an evangelical Christian group, the Good News Club, to use school buildings after hours. Lebanon Elementary School has a Good News Club meeting every week at school. "We do not believe any religious organization should be operating out of our public schools but if they have the right to be there, then we would like to be there as well for our members and our families," Everett said. In a statement, Lebanon Public Schools Superintendent Andrew Gonzales said: “The Lebanon Public Schools (LPS) allows outside organizations to use LPS facilities, in accordance with Board Policy 1007. As such, LPS must allow community organizations to access school facilities, without regard to the religious, political or philosophical ideas they express, as long as such organizations comply with the viewpoint-neutral criteria set forth in the policy. Not everyone will agree with, or attend meetings of, every group that is approved to use school facilities. However, prohibiting particular organizations from accessing our school buildings based on the perspectives they offer or express could violate our obligations under the First Amendment and other applicable law and would not align with our commitment to non-discrimination, equal protection and respect for diverse viewpoints.” People in town have mixed feelings. “This is a free country. We’re supposed to have freedom of religion or no religion so I can understand both sides of the story,” said Dori Dougal, who lives in Lebanon. The After School Satan Club is set to begin next month. The temple said five students have signed up to join so far.

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What Happens to My Body During Dry January?

Q: What are the health effects of Dry January? Can cutting back on alcohol for a month have long-term benefits? Champagne, eggnog, mulled wine — for many, the holiday season is a time for celebration, which typically involves copious amounts of alcohol. So it’s no surprise that an estimated 15 to 19 percent of U.S. adults in recent years have pledged to participate in Dry January, or “Drynuary,” in an effort to atone for their December choices and, hopefully, slightly unpickle their livers. There’s been little research into what, exactly, a month off alcohol can do for your health. And the benefits will depend on how much and how frequently you drank before, said Danielle Dick, a professor and director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center.

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U.S. Missiles Strike Targets in Yemen Linked to the Houthi Militia

In a statement, he warned: “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.” But the Houthis have defied earlier American ultimatums, vowing to continue their attacks in what they say is a protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. More than 2,000 ships have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea, causing weeks of delays, Mr. Biden said. On Tuesday, American and British warships intercepted one of the largest barrages of Houthi drone and missile strikes yet, an assault that U.S. and other Western military officials said was the last straw. Biden officials said they had telegraphed what was coming for weeks. But the strikes, they said, were meant more to damage Houthi capability and to hinder the group’s ability to strike Red Sea targets, rather than to kill leaders and Iranian trainers, which could be viewed as more escalatory. The strikes hit radars, missile and drone launch sites, and weapons storage areas, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement. Pentagon officials said late Thursday they were still assessing whether the strikes were successful, and emphasized that they had sought to avoid any civilian casualties.

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Ohio Governor Orders Restrictions on Transgender Care After Vetoing Ban

Background The moves come as the state’s House of Representatives prepares to return early next week in an effort to override the governor’s veto on the bill that would have barred transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries. Mr. DeWine’s veto was a rare rejection of transition care bans from a Republican governor. Though gender-transition surgeries in adolescents are extremely rare, minors are increasingly seeking top surgeries, or breast removal procedures, to better align their bodies with their gender identities. Medical professionals have debated which children should be receiving gender-affirming treatments and at what age. But leading medical groups in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say such care should be available to minors and oppose legislative bans. Under the proposed rules that Mr. DeWine directed health agencies to draft, parents would also need to explicitly give consent for all treatments. On Friday, Mr. DeWine said his executive order would take the thornier question of surgeries “off the table.” But the governor stood by his veto of the broader ban on gender-affirming care. “I believe the parents, not the government, should be making these crucial decisions for their children,” he said. Why It Matters The directives could be Mr. DeWine’s attempts to strike a compromise with Republican lawmakers who pushed for the bill. They also appeared to add new restrictions to adult transition care that weren’t included in the bill. For transgender adults, many studies have shown that transition care can improve psychological well-being and quality of life. But several states have sought to impose adult-care regulations, including requirements that doctors, instead of a nurse practitioner, oversee hormone therapy, and that such care be provided through in-person visits. Under the proposed rules, transgender people must provide “sufficient informed consent” for gender-affirming care after “comprehensive” and “lengthy” mental health counseling. Hospitals and clinics would also be required to report diagnoses of gender dysphoria and treatments to state health officials every six months. The debate over medical care for transgender minors is one strand of a concerted effort by the Republican Party to mobilize cultural conservatives around transgender issues. Just last year, 22 states passed bans on transition care for minors. Some also put in place legislation affecting other facets of transgender people’s lives, including ones on sports participation, bathroom use and drag performances. What’s Next The Ohio House has scheduled a special session for Wednesday, where representatives are expected to vote on whether to override the governor’s veto. The State Senate is expected to vote later in the month. Mr. DeWine said his administration would pursue the new rules regardless of a veto override.

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Why Are Frogs and Other Amphibian Species Disappearing Worldwide? - The New York Times

We met the ecologist Karen Lips in Washington, D.C. One morning, she picked us up from a Metro station and took us to Shenandoah National Park, keen to show us a species of salamander. Dr. Lips describes herself as an amphibian forensic scientist. For decades, she has been researching the disappearance of amphibian species, and what she told us that day was shocking. As filmmakers, we’ve covered the extinction of species and other ecological issues in our work for years. Mammals, reptiles, insects, fish — much of the planet’s wild fauna is threatened with extinction. But no other vertebrate class is as threatened as amphibians. Herpetologists like Dr. Lips don’t just fear for individual species; they fear for the class Amphibia as a whole. No one else we had met and interviewed on this subject seemed to be as affected by it as Dr. Lips. To put it simply: Frogs, salamanders and all amphibians are her life. For her, their increasing disappearance from our planet is a personal drama.

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Patriots make series of moves ahead of Broncos game

With several starters already ruled out, and several more listed as “questionable” the Patriots made a series of roster moves ahead of Sunday night’s game with the Denver Broncos. With tight end and leading receiver Hunter Henry out, missing his first game as a Patriot, the Patriots elevated Matt Sokol from the practice squad. He’ll provide some depth alongside Mike Gesicki and Pharaoh Brown. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Sokol hasn’t appeared in any games this season, save for the preseason. Last year, he spent the entire season on the practice squad, but was elevated in three games. Cornerback Breon Borders was also elevated. With J.C. Jackson’s season over - he was placed on the non-football illness list earlier in the week - and Jonathon Jones nursing a knee injury, the Patriots need some insurance. Myles Bryant, Shaun Wade and Alex Austin are healthy. Borders, who has been with 12 different teams, was signed to the Patriots practice squad in September. In other moves, offensive tackle Conor McDermott was placed on IR. His season is over. He left the Chiefs game early after suffering a head injury. To fill that roster spot, the Patriots signed C/G James Ferentz to the 53-man roster. Starting left tackle Trent Brown (ankle, hand) is listed as questionable for the game. If Brown doesn’t play, Vederian Lowe would be the likely starter in the Christmas Eve game against the Broncos. As for Denver, the Broncos elevated two players to the active roster, including former Patriot Ronnie Perkins, who was signed from New England’s practice squad on Sept. 18. Perkins, a 2021 third round pick of the Patriots, has seen action in five games this season, totaling eight tackles (6 solo), including two tackles for loss. NFL fans can wager online on Massachusetts sports betting with enticing promo codes from top online sportsbooks. Use the FanDuel Massachusetts promo code and the DraftKings Massachusetts promo code for massive new user bonuses.

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Tom Wilkinson, Actor in The Full Monty, Dies at 75

Tom Wilkinson, an admired performer on the British stage who in middle age became a skillful character actor and supporting star in a wide range of movies that gained popularity and acclaim in the United States, including “The Full Monty,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Shakespeare in Love,” died on Saturday. He was 75. A statement by his agent said he died suddenly at home. It did not provide other details. Mr. Wilkinson might not have been known by name to many American moviegoers, but he used that inconspicuousness to his advantage, evading typecasting and inhabiting instead a wide array of roles persuasively. Some of them remain broadly memorable today. He earned Academy Award nominations for his work in the legal thriller “Michael Clayton” (2007) and the drama “In the Bedroom” (2001), an unusual turn for him as a movie’s protagonist. He also delighted audiences in comedies, not only “The Full Monty” (1997) but also “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2011). In addition to “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), his other blockbuster films included “Batman Begins” (2005) and “Rush Hour” (1998), both movies in which he played greedy villains.

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Matthew Slater plans on making most of his potential final game

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – The curtain might be closing on one of the greatest Patriots in franchise history. Matthew Slater won’t say if next week’s game against the New York Jets will be his last, but the future Patriots Hall of Famer recognized this could be the end of his historic NFL career. Slater, 38, surprised some teammates this past offseason when he opted to return to the Patriots for the 2023 season. A 10-time Pro Bowler, eight-time All-Pro, three-time Super Bowl champion, and Patriots captain since the 2011 season, Slater said he’s going to enjoy every moment of next week’s regular-season finale. Slater said he recently received that advice from Devin McCourty, who retired from the NFL this past offseason. “I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can – take it all in, cherish the moments with the guys,” Slater told MassLive. “The reality is I don’t know what my future holds. I just want to cherish every minute of it. I’ve talked to guys who’ve crossed over, so to speak, D-Mac and (people) like that and they’re just like, ‘Hey, man, enjoy all of it. You know, when it’s gone, it’s gone.’ I’m going to enjoy it and try not to think too much about what lies ahead.” BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Slater has been one of the best stories to come out of the Patriots in franchise history. A fifth-round pick in 2008, Slater was considered a ‘roster bubble’ player for his first three NFL seasons. That changed in 2011. That season, Slater earned captain honors and Pro Bowl honors for the first time in his NFL career. Now, 14 years later, Slater is not only one of the most well-respected players in Patriots history but arguably the greatest coverage special teamer in league history. Slater currently holds the NFL record for special teams Pro Bowl selections (10) and first-time All-Pro honors (five). Slater has also been instrumental in helping the Patriots through a difficult 2023 season. This year’s 4-12 team hasn’t won many games, but the group has shown plenty of fight. That’s a credit to leadership. “We’ve got a lot of high-character guys on this team,” Slater said. “That’s not something you can measure. It’s not something that shows up in the stats column. It’s not something that shows up in the scouting report, but we have a lot of high-character guys. We could’ve easily gotten the doors blown off of us today with the way we played. It says a lot about the character of the guys on this team.” There’s no higher character than that of Slater’s.

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Former Eastfield Mall sign to remain put as new shopping plaza rises in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — Developers creating the new Springfield Crossing out of the rubble of the former Eastfield Mall plan to keep the mall’s entrance sign in place. Onyx Partners Limited purchased the 56-year-old mall for $4.5 million last March to develop the $65 million to $85 million Springfield Crossing and began demolition on the 45-acre site in August, starting at the former Cinemark movie theater. While one giant sign on Boston Road that used to announce Eastfield Mall happenings has been replaced with a giant banner announcing leasing at Springfield Crossing, the entrance sign in front of the former building itself will remain. Other than a bit of touch-up, Onyx will leave the sign in its current form and size, said Brian Kaplan, vice president of development for Onyx Partners. “We have no plans of taking it down or destroying it,” Kaplan said. “It’s been a staple in the community for years, and so we want to make use of it in the new project.” He added, “We don’t have any definitive plans for exactly what we’re going to do to the sign, we just know that we’re going to leave it in its current location and size. I can imagine that (Springfield Crossing’s) name will be on it.” The demolition is on schedule, according to Kaplan, who expects it to be complete within a few weeks. Site work will follow to meet a project deadline to finish construction in summer 2025. The new 360,000-square-foot retail complex, under the direction of leasing agent Atlantic Retail, intends to house Hobby Lobby, PetSmart, Old Navy, Burlington Coat Store, Ulta, Five Below, and Sketchers, several of which have locations nearby. The new site’s largest retailer remains a mystery. The unidentified “Proposed Anchor Tenant” is speculated to be a Target, though neither the developers nor the store will confirm. In a previous report, Anton Melchionda, founder of Onyx Partners Limited, said that the company has reached out to all national tenants, a pool of 300 potential businesses.

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Mass. weather: Beware of flooded roads as the rain ceases Wednesday morning

A storm Tuesday night brought heavy rain and high winds to Massachusetts, leaving many roads flooded as Bay Staters commuted to work Wednesday morning. According to the National Weather Service, the rain should cease by mid-morning, leading into highs in the low 50s across the state amid mostly cloudy skies. Even so, most of the state is under a flood watch until noon Wednesday, and there is a coastal flood advisory in effect for Massachusetts until 1 p.m. Bristol County experienced some of the worst flooding Wednesday morning. The town of North Attleboro reported nearly a dozen areas where roads were impacted by flooding. Its public schools also had a two-hour delayed opening. Freetown police warned of flooding on the Route 140 ramp from Chace Road. Sturbridge police also reported flooding on Main Street near Boardwalk Plaza. The National Weather Service reported coastal flooding on Smith Neck Road in Dartmouth and also in New Bedford on Padanaram Avenue at Rogers Street and on part of East Rodney French Boulevard. MassDOT said around 9:30 a.m. that the Mass. Pike westbound left lane in Charlton would be closed for several hours due to flooding. In Southborough, Willow Street by the intersection of Boston Road and Firmin Avenue was closed as a result of flooding, police said. Willow Street in Southborough was flooded Wednesday morning as a result of a storm Tuesday night.Southborough Police Department In Boston, the MBTA reported flooding on Orange Line tracks near Roxbury Crossing, and said trains were delayed by 15 minutes around 7:30 a.m. Additionally, the transportation authority said service on the Commuter Rail’s Providence Line was suspended between Pawtucket and Providence due to flooding. On Martha’s Vineyard, Edgartown experienced flooding which closed the Chappy Ferry until at least 1:30 p.m., according to police. Atlantic Drive was also closed due to flooding. Flooding in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.Edgartown Police Department The storm also brought high winds to Massachusetts overnight. Many towns on the Cape, including Chatham and Dennis, experienced wind gusts as high as 65 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Coastal cities and towns across Massachusetts, such as New Bedford, Beverly and Hull, saw wind gusts over 55 mph. Lows overnight Wednesday are expected to reach the low 30s across Massachusetts, according to the weather service. Skies are expected to be mostly clear on Thursday and Friday, with temperatures in the low 40s. The next bout of precipitation is expected to hit Massachusetts Friday night, according to the weather service.

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Armed men arrested after storming an Ecuador TV studio during a live broadcast

Ecuador’s national police chief says authorities have arrested all the gunmen who broke into a TV studio during a live broadcast and threatened the staff. Police commander César Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that officers seized the guns and explosives the masked intruders had with them. He didn’t say how many people were arrested. “This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act,” Zapata said. The men with their faces covered entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. The channel broadcast live for at least 15 minutes before the signal was cut off. While the transmission was on, the men could be seen on camera while some employees laid down on the floor and someone was heard yelling “Don’t shoot!” A video of the situation was posted to X by BNO News. Another video, also posted by BNO News, showed panic erupting at the University of Guayaquil in Ecuador amid reports of gunmen on campus. Ecuador’s Police said on X, formerly Twitter, that some units were deployed to the media facilities. Hours earlier, Ecuadorian authorities had confirmed a series of attacks around the country, including explosions and the abduction of several police officers. Police reported four officers were kidnapped on Monday night and remained missing, one in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city. Separately, agents arrested two people for possession of explosives and as suspects in at least one of the attacks in the South American country. The government has not said how many attacks were registered in total, but local media reported several, including some in northern cities, where vehicles were set on fire, and others in Quito, including an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court. Authorities have not said who is thought to be behind the attacks or if the incidents are part an orchestrated action. The government has previously accused members of the main drug gangs for similar strikes. In recent years, Ecuador has been engulfed by a surge of violence tied to drug trafficking, including homicides and kidnappings. Ecuadorian authorities reported Sunday that Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito” and the leader of Los Choneros gang, wasn’t in his cell in a low security prison. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day. His whereabouts were unclear. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with the alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether Macías fled the facility or might be hiding in it. In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later. On Monday, President Daniel Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. The government also imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Monday night. Noboa said in a message on Instagram that he wouldn’t stop until he “brings back peace to all Ecuadorians,” and that his government had decided to confront crime. States of emergency were widely used by Noboa’s predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country. The wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboa’s announcement. Macías, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil. Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities. Experts and authorities have acknowledged that gang members practically rule from inside the prisons, and Macías was believed to have continued controlling his group from within the detention facility.

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Man finds unopened pack of baseball cards from 1952 in Cape Cod house

A man found an unopened 72-year-old pack of baseball cards — potentially worth more than a million dollars — on Cape Cod. Jason West still can't quite believe the discovery he made during a home demolition in Chatham, Massachusetts. "Kind of in a pile of garbage, I saw this, what looked to me like a baseball bat," West said. He says the 1952 Bowman pack had fallen through a crack in the floor, behind the stairs to the second floor. The pack was unreachable until recently, when the stairs and the home were demolished, leading to West's amazing find. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. "This kid in Chatham went to the corner store to buy this pack and was running up the stairs and dropped it in the crack and it disappeared," West said. Like fine wines have their years, 1952 was quite the year for baseball cards. Both baseball legends Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were rookies that year, and their rookie cards are very valuable. "I couldn't believe it," said Ryan Blake of Card Vault in Patriot's Place. "You never find something like this, this is like the grail pack of cards. If you can find one, that is the one you want to find." The rare discovery is all the buzz in the sports collectible world. "This is one of the more incredible finds I have ever seen," said Eric Whiteback, known on social media as "The Collectibles Guru." Whiteback covers the collectibles market and says the unopened pack of cards could be worth upwards of $15,000. Here is where it gets tricky, though: If a Mantle or Mays card is inside, those cards are worth a lot more. If not, the pack isn't as valuable, but no one will know until it is opened. "If you happen to pull one of those key Mays or Mantle cards in really great condition, there is a seven-figure ceiling on this," Whiteback said. West says he is still undecided, but he's excited after his home run of a find. "To a point, yeah, I do want to open it," West said. "But I don't want to kill the value of it, either, depending on what is in it."

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Ski areas in Western Mass. open for night skiing

Now that the cold weather is returning, night skiing is getting in full swing with most Western Massachusetts mountains open. Berkshire East, in Charlemont, announced that its first day of night skiing is today. For the rest of the season, it will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday nights and 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The remaining ski areas opened Christmas week for night skiing. Otis Ridge will operate from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; Jiminy Peak, in Hancock, operates from 3 to 10 p.m. daily; and Catamount, in Egremont, opened on Dec. 27 and operates 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 3 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Wachusett Mountain, in Princeton, also is open for night skiing daily until 9:30 p.m.

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Opinion | The Golden Bachelor Is a Fantasy. Aging in America Isnt.

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions. michelle cottle I am Michelle Cottle, and I cover national politics for Opinion, but I have also done a lot of reporting on the graying of America and what society looks like, as it ages here. So that has led me to become completely obsessed with “The Golden Bachelor.” archived recording 1 I’ll be the first bachelor that’s on Social Security. michelle cottle So I’m not sure that “The Golden Bachelor” is something that I would say that I like, like. But “The Golden Bachelor” is completely mesmerizing because it is the first time they’ve done this format with people in their 60s and 70s. And it is not just a look at reality TV and all of its tropes, but also just kind of this fascinating look at how baby boomers, in particular, see aging and how they want America to see aging. archived recording 2 And I’m your first Golden Bachelor. It’s all starting now. michelle cottle So on the regular Bachelor franchise, the contestants are kind of young and nubile in their 20s and 30s, and the twist on this is that everybody’s in their 60s and 70s. archived recording (leslie) I’m Leslie. I am 64 years old, and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. michelle cottle And they are seriously of the boomer generation. archived recording 3 And I am ready to play some pickleball! Ow, ow, ow! michelle cottle So we’re dealing with this 72-year-old widower named Gary Turner — archived recording (gary turner) I’m Gary. Tonight is the first day of the rest of my life. michelle cottle — who comes from Indiana, and he is just Americana all the way, but with better hair and a spray tan, I think. archived recording (gary turner) I yearn for the second chance in life to fall in love again, the person who can lay down beside you at night, not have to say anything and you feel it. That’s love. That’s what I want. michelle cottle The most telling was the series opener where the women come up and introduce themselves to Gary. It is, from the get-go, kind of hot and heavy. They pull up in the limo, get out, and they are on Gary like a duck on a junebug. archived recording 4 Gary is so handsome. I’ve checked out every last inch of him. michelle cottle These are not your grandma’s boomers, so to speak. They are extremely toned and fit and tan with — I’m pretty sure some have hair extensions. Definitely sure some have had work done. But they are all focused on projecting the most youthful, up for anything — archived recording 5 Yay! michelle cottle — zippy, kind of sexually predatory vibe you can possibly come up with. archived recording 6 You see these heels? archived recording (gary turner) Yeah. archived recording 6 I’m very comfortable with 6 inches. michelle cottle There are only a couple of the women who are not playing the game of “let’s act and look and sound as young as humanly possible.” And they are booted the first night. Those people do not last long. You have a woman who whips in on a motorcycle. archived recording 7 That’s impressive. michelle cottle — flips her hair and tells Gary — archived recording 8 If you leave here with me, it’ll be the ride of your life. michelle cottle One of the finalists is a woman named Theresa who shows up kind of all wrapped up, tells Gary it’s her birthday, and says — archived recording 9 So I thought, why not come in my birthday suit? archived recording (gary turner) Um — [LAUGHS] michelle cottle And I am just like, oh — archived recording (gary turner) Oh, my goodness. michelle cottle Even Gary looks a little frightened. It’s not just a question of, well, how do the producers handle 70-year-old people making out like teenagers? It is, how are we even watching these women handle the reality of aging? archived recording 10 We have power. We are loved. No, there’s always Botox. michelle cottle So it’s clear that these women, in addition to just trying to come across as attractive or personable or smart or charming or whatever, are just so eager to prove they’re not old. archived recording 11 Hi. archived recording (gary turner) Good evening. archived recording 11 We’re all breaking the stereotypical view of what a senior looks like or acts like. michelle cottle And that is definitely the undercurrent of the show. Weird split-personality moments where people are talking about their bad knees or their bad digestion or their cute grandkids or whatever. These people have had a lot of life experience. A lot of them have lost spouses. A lot of them have difficult family situations. But at the same time, they’re supposed to be telegraphing that I’m up for everything, not just young at heart, but kind of young physically, too. They have these women sleep in bunk beds like they are at summer camp. archived recording 12 Do you like top or bottom? archived recording 13 Bottom. archived recording 12 OK. archived recording 13 I can’t climb up. archived recording 12 I’ll go up. archived recording 13 Didn’t want to be on top. I’ve had my knees replaced. That’s a lot of climbing. So I’m going to be underneath. Puts me three steps closer to the bathroom. archived recording 14 How many of you have to get up in the middle of the night to pee? archived recording 13 I do. I have to. Otherwise, it’s going to be an accident. michelle cottle But those pieces are never allowed to interfere with the kind of, “look at how young and perky I’m behaving.” So there’s a huge tension at play. And I think that actually is pretty representative of what you see in society in general. What is completely fascinating about this is that it seems really fake and surreal on one level, but on the other hand, it does reflect this broader tension in society. So one of the things that has been a reporting — I don’t know — almost an epiphany is that you have this kind of understanding that in politics, older voters are consistent, and that’s who the politicians cater to. They’re just the most reliable voting bloc. And as the boomers, which has always been this 800-pound demographic gorilla, has aged, they understandably have wanted their issues looked at. They were not going to go quietly into this good night. But at the same time, the whole idea of American society aging is not getting a lot of policy attention. We are not prepared for this. And it is, in part, because nobody likes to think of themselves as old until it happens. They don’t want to talk about what kind of housing changes they’ll have to make, what kind of caregiving changes they may face, what kind of medical issues may come up. If you talk to people about how they’re going to spend their twilight years, they’re like, I’m just going to stay in my house, and it’s going to be just like it is right now. I’m never getting old. And that’s very boomer-ish in its conception, where 60 is supposed to be the new 40, or in the case of “The Golden Bachelor,” the new 25. archived recording 15 Gary! Gary! archived recording (gary turner) Nobody has fun like we have fun, right? michelle cottle And you just continue to party like it’s 1985 or 1975 for as long as you can, and the rest will take care of itself. Every day, a huge number of baby boomers is entering the senior category. And what is happening is, those who can afford it kind of kick it until it jumps on them, and they have to figure out what to do with their medical issues or housing or care or whatever. And those who can’t are getting completely left behind. So you see a rise in homelessness among seniors. You see a huge affordable housing crunch. You see a housing crunch in general in terms of housing that is accessible to seniors. Eventually, you have to contend with this. Everybody gets older, unless they don’t have that privilege. But nobody wants to pay any attention to it until they absolutely have to. archived recording 16 I may not be as tight-skinned or as good shape, but I’m not dead yet. michelle cottle We all want to think that we’re riding up on that motorcycle, taking off our helmet, flipping our hair, and looking great in short skirts and plunging necklines well into our golden years. One of the things that I think has been hard for boomers is that even though they’re this important demographic and they have all this political clout, as you go through the culture, we still worship youth, and you don’t get a lot of boomer-ish faces on TV. Certainly, reality TV tends to be the province of the young. So a lot of these women talk about how — archived recording 17 As you get older, you become more invisible. People don’t see you anymore. Like you’re not as significant as when you’re young. michelle cottle So I think that they are definitely trying to tap into this feeling that I’ve certainly seen among boomers, where they feel left behind. They feel like they’ve just been forgotten and that everybody’s trying to move so fast past them. archived recording 17 Society makes us feel like we’ve had our chance, and we’ve raised our children. And it’s time now to support the next generation and take a back seat. michelle cottle So as far as the takeaway from this, from a cultural perspective, is it good, is it bad, for one, it’s reality TV and we shouldn’t read too much into it, although I say that and then, suddenly, we have a reality TV president — oh, god. But I think it is instructive because it does show you this weird dichotomy and how ambivalent America is about aging in general. I mean, if you watch this carefully, you’re like, wow, this is weird. [LAUGHS] And so I’m here to sell people on watching “The Golden Bachelor,” which, even if you just want to hate watch it, holds up this kind of funhouse mirror to how Americans and baby boomers, in particular, are approaching aging in all of its weird glory, where you deny certain things and cling to the idea that you’re always going to be young, even as this is creeping up on you. archived recording (gary turner) Here’s to you, ladies. Here’s to you. And I feel hopeful. michelle cottle And when you’re ready for the finale, I will be there, Thursday, November 30. My husband will be forced to watch. archived recording 18 That was precisely as gross as I thought it would be. [LAUGHS] michelle cottle

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Readers: Where is the best barbershop in Greater Boston?

Tell Us Readers: Where is the best barbershop in Greater Boston? Where do you go for the best cut? Latin Shears barbershop on Dudley Street. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff For many people in the Boston area, barbershops are a way of life. They are not only a place to get a haircut or a shave, but a place to socialize with friends and neighbors and a place where there is a sense of community. Barbershops also provide communities with a place of cultural unity — a place where you might find others who speak your language, see familiar faces, and receive services from a barber who knows your hair type and style. For many barbershop customers, building a close relationship with their barber is very important. This relationship helps ensure that the haircuts remain consistent and to their liking, and that the barber understands their hairstyle and remembers the haircut they like. Advertisement: As most people consider their hairstyle to be a central aspect of their image, getting a fresh new haircut can be a boost of positivity and self-esteem. Barbershops are found throughout every neighborhood in Boston and in many towns around the Boston area. Much of these barbershops are small businesses owned by locals, thus contributing to the culture of each community. Some of barbershops have become favorites among locals, such as Razors Barbershop in Somerville, which offers live music and an espresso bar; others are might be longtime businesses like John’s Barber Shop in Cambridge, which has a vintage vibe having served the community since 1910; or FineLinez Barbershop in Taunton, which was named the “best men’s haircut” by Boston magazine in 2023, and was frequented by Celtics star Al Horford and former Celtics Marcus Smart and Robert Williams. We want to know: Where is the barbershop in Greater Boston you visit for the best cut, and what makes it the best overall experience? Fill out the form or e-mail us at [email protected], and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article. What is the best barbershop in Boston? What's the name of your favorite barbershop? (Required) Tell us why you go here, and what you love about the experience. Name Your name may be published. Neighborhood/Town Your neighborhood/town may be published. What are your preferred pronouns? He/Him She/Her They/Them Other Please select your preferred pronoun so we may correctly refer to your response in an article. Email or Phone Please enter an email address and/or phone number that we can easily contact you with. We may reach out for more information. It will NOT be published.

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Lynn Commuter Rail temporary platform opens

The first inbound trains on the Newburyport/Rockport Line stopped in Lynn around 5:30 a.m. on Monday, nine months earlier than initially planned. The T announced the accelerated opening in October. The MBTA opened its temporary Lynn Commuter Rail platform at 11 Ellis St. Monday morning, restoring direct access to Boston and parts north via the Newburyport/Rockport Line. Passengers can board inbound on Ellis Street and outbound via Friend Street, according to the T. LYNN — A handful of passengers braved heavy wind and rain Monday as they waited for the first few trains to stop in Lynn after more than a year without Commuter Rail service . Advertisement Kenny Amara stood on the platform’s wet concrete waiting for the 7:04 a.m. train, studying a neighborhood map and wiping raindrops from his shoulder bag. Last week — and for months before then — the 26-year-old took a bus to Wonderland Station, and then the Blue Line into downtown Boston, a lengthy and sometimes unreliable journey, he said. The return of Commuter Rail service means he can sleep a little longer each morning and worry less about finding a seat. “It’s definitely a lot better,” Amara said. “I’m actually just very excited that this is open. When I heard the news that it was going to open like nine months earlier [than expected], I was like ‘oh my god, finally.’” The city had been without direct rail access to Boston since October 2022 when the the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority closed the stop due to safety concerns and “potential station deterioration.” During that time, commuters had to use buses, a seasonal ferry that closed weeks ago, and shuttles north to Swampscott Station, from where they would then double back south to Boston. Lynn resident Hildreth Curran, who stood on the new platform around 7:30 a.m., said locals “feel that we sort of got shafted” when the permanent station closed. She said the announcement was sudden, and the T was initially vague about when a temporary platform would be available. Advertisement Curran spent the last year navigating “buses that didn’t sync with trains” and shuttling to and from Swampscott. She said the loss of direct service added around 30 minutes to her roughly hour-long commute, each way. But Monday, it was a 12-minute walk from Curran’s home to the platform, followed by a half-hour train ride to North Station. From there, Curran said she could easily walk from to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she works as an administrative assistant. The whole trip would take less than an hour, she estimated. “I’m thrilled, in spite of how lousy the weather is,” she said, gripping the hood of her poncho in the wind. “My commute is a lot easier.” Lynn’s Mayor Jared Nicholson said he was grateful for the accelerated timeline and to see rail service return to downtown. “Our residents want, need and deserve this access,” Nicholson said in a statement Sunday. “Critical work remains to be done, including the station’s garage, but we should also mark moments of genuine progress and this is one of them.” The project timeline was accelerated thanks in part to the Big Dig. MBTA and Keolis crews reused leftover bridge deck sections as platforms, and redesigned the station’s lighting and other systems to utilize more readily available materials than initially planned. Advertisement The platform’s modular design also allows it to be deconstructed and transported to another station if necessary, according to Keolis, operator of Massachusetts’ commuter rail lines. MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said the T was “proud to be a vital partner to Lynn’s bright economic future.” “Through the acceleration of bringing service back to Lynn, we are reconnecting communities and the public we serve,” Eng said in a statement. “By ensuring Lynn is connected to Boston and other major cities, it increases job opportunities, access to essential services, and the vibrancy of its downtown area.” At a meeting of the MBTA’s Board of Directors earlier this month, state Senator Brendan Crighton, whose district includes Lynn, thanked the T for working to speed the project. “I know our commuters are overjoyed” by the return of service, Crighton told the board. The reopening follows a weeks-long communication blitz by the T — handing out fliers on trains and shuttles, and a steady drumbeat of on-board announcements by train conductors, according to the agency. The MBTA has yet to announce a planned timeline or location for a new, permanent station in the city. A T spokesperson said Sunday that “analysis on the permanent station continues.” Trains will stop at the Lynn interim platform about every half hour on weekdays. On the weekends, trains will pass through about once an hour. Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com. Follow him @dekool01.