Boston Globe Today | October 17, 2023

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Biden to Israel, GOP candidates lose steam, race for speaker

WATCH: Political reporter James Pindell weighs in on President Biden’s Middle East trip. He also shares which GOP presidential candidates should drop out. Watch →

Walking robots are coming

WATCH: Technology reporter Hiawatha Bray explains the latest development in walking robots and why one Boston company is falling behind. Watch →

Nation

Army, Navy, and Air Force struggle for recruits. The Marines have plenty.

Military leaders say there are so few Americans who are willing and able to serve, and so many civilian employers competing for them, that getting enough people into a uniform other than the Marines is nearly impossible. Continue reading →

Nation

Black voters fuel Democratic hopes in deep-red Mississippi

Now that Mississippi is holding its first election for governor since Jim Crow-era laws fell, the contest is improbably competitive in this deep-red state, and Black voters are poised to play a critical role. Continue reading →

Nation

Wisconsin Republicans withhold university pay raises in fight over school diversity funding

Senate Republicans also voted to fire eight state board appointees from Governor Tony Evers’s administration, including a majority of the panel that sets the state’s environmental and wildlife policies. Continue reading →

World

Ukraine uses powerful American-supplied missiles for first time

The decision to send the missiles represented a shift by the Biden administration at a time when the Ukrainian military is struggling in a counteroffensive in the country’s south and east. Continue reading →

World

Electric grids are a hidden weak spot in world’s climate plans, report warns

The report estimated that nations around the world will need to build or upgrade roughly 50 million miles of power lines by 2040 if they want to meet the goals they have set for adding vast amounts of renewable power. Continue reading →

World

A severe drought pushes an imperiled Amazon to the brink

The planet’s biggest freshwater tank is in trouble. Continue reading →

EDITORIAL

Why the state’s right-to-shelter law needs to change

Massachusetts has found shelter for 23,000 people. But as migrants continue to stream into the state, the state can’t be expected to conjure up beds indefinitely. Continue reading →

OPINION

In the battle between Israel and Hamas, another potent weapon — propaganda

From news reports to the White House, an unverified story about Hamas atrocities made truth another casualty of war. Continue reading →

LETTERS

Big plan for Andrew Square is a design downer

This is yet another cookie-cutter development with dull, boxy buildings that in their layout are not much different from what one might expect in the 1950s. Continue reading →

As I See It | Stan Grossfeld

Conquering fear in the saddle

“As I See It,” a weekly photo column by Pulitzer Prize winner Stan Grossfeld, brings the stories of New England to Globe readers. This week Grossfeld takes us to the The Cumberland County Fair Rodeo in Maine. Continue reading →

Crime & Courts

Newly released documents give inside look into the attack by, and takedown of, deadly Winthrop shooter

The vivid accounts of eyewitnesses and a Winthrop police sergeant are detailed in investigative files released Tuesday by Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden as he announced his finding that the fatal shooting of Allen was legally justified. Continue reading →

Crime & Courts

Injured police officers forced to retire seek faster track to full benefits

Several former officers testified at the State House in support of a bill that would make it easier for officers who are critically injured in the line of duty to collect 100 percent of their salary, tax-free, as a pension. Continue reading →

bruins

There’s something Charlie McAvoy can do to be more like Bruins great Ray Bourque

"I think we’d all like to see him shoot the puck more," said team president Cam Neely, "because he does have a good shot." Continue reading →

celtics 123, knicks 110

Kristaps Porzingis continues encouraging play, and other observations from Celtics’ preseason win over Knicks

Jayson Tatum led the way with 28 points, while Porzingis added 20 and impressed at both ends of the floor. Continue reading →

Patriots

Do the Patriots have a master plan regarding Malik Cunningham?

Cunningham’s skill set makes him an intriguing developmental prospect. Still, the way the Patriots handled this situation has generated questions. Continue reading →

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

Trump returns to his civil fraud trial, hears an employee and an appraiser testify against him

Donald Trump returned Tuesday to the civil fraud trial that imperils his real estate empire, watching as an employee and an outside appraiser testified that his company essentially put a thumb on the scale when sizing up his properties’ value. Continue reading →

Trendlines

Frustrated that online payments can take days to clear? The wait might be over.

FedNow is a behind-the-scenes system that any bank can plug into to build instant payments into their online and app-based banking services. Continue reading →

Jobs

The median Uber and Lyft driver in Mass. makes $12.82 an hour, report finds

The union-backed study comes amid extended fight over whether gig drivers are contractors or employees of ride-hailing giants, and what they should be owed. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Margot Polivy, champion of women in college sports, dies at 85

Ms. Polivy helped transform the ambiguous wording of congressional antidiscrimination mandates, including Title IX, into a Hail Mary pass that profoundly expanded the resources available to female athletes in high school and college. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Carla Bley, jazz composer, arranger, and provocateur, dies at 87

Ms. Bley’s influential body of work included delicate chamber miniatures and rugged, blaring fanfares, with a lot of varied terrain in between. Continue reading →

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BOOKS

New comic anthology ‘Let Her Be Evil’ celebrates the unredeemable female villain in all her unrepentant glory

The Massachusetts-based editor says the crowdfunded project was born out of frustration with Marvel. Continue reading →

BOOKS

Writing ‘Black Friend,’ a new book of essays, forced comedian Ziwe into ‘terrifying’ position

The host of Showtime’s now-canceled “Ziwe” talks about perspective, cancel culture, and Megyn Kelly’s tweet. Continue reading →

Books

For Tony Todd, star of ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2,’ New England ties run deep

The horror icon talks voicing the villainous Venom in the video game sequel. Continue reading →