Boston Globe Today | January 25, 2024

WATCH: Thursday's episode. Stories include: Medical marijuana shops tout health benefits without evidence and the best Boston activities on a winter weekend. Watch →

Check your Walgreens receipt

WATCH: The company was caught improperly charging sales tax on nontaxable goods. Business columnist Larry Edelman explains how people can get their money back. Watch →

How technology is unmasking academic fraud

WATCH: Plagiarism accusations are rampant, and there's AI software to help. But, as business columnist Hiawatha Gray explains, it's not a perfect solution. Watch →

Nation

Donald Trump testifies in his defense in E. Jean Carroll defamation suit — for less than 3 minutes

Testifying in his own defense in the defamation trial, Trump didn’t look at the jury during his short, heavily negotiated stint on the witness stand. Continue reading →

Nation

Peter Navarro sentenced to 4 months for contempt of Congress in Jan. 6 probe

Navarro was the second Trump aide sentenced for stonewalling Congress’s Jan. 6 investigation. Continue reading →

Political Notebook

Biden returns to deteriorating bridge to tout achievements

Biden used his election-year stop to announce nearly $5 billion in federal money for the bridge and dozens of infrastructure projects nationwide. Continue reading →

World

US is watching North Korea for signs of lethal military action

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, could take some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the coming months after having shifted to a policy of open hostility, US officials say. Continue reading →

World

US, sensing opportunity, makes new push for Gaza cease-fire

CIA Director William Burns plans to travel to Europe to meet with senior Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials, in a sign that the United States is pushing to secure a deal to release the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip and broker a prolonged cease-fire, according to US officials. Continue reading →

World

Britain is lobbying US Republicans on Ukraine. Here’s why.

When David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary and onetime prime minister, visited Washington last month, he took time out to press the case for backing Ukraine with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes further American military aid to the country. Continue reading →

OPINION

A book for our times

In the early days of 2024, if you are looking for topical reading, you couldn’t do better than to turn or return to Charles Dickens’s massive, panoramic, blistering, delectable 1852 novel "Bleak House." Continue reading →

EDITORIAL

Allow the use of campaign funds for childcare

Parents of small children face daunting obstacles in running for political office. Massachusetts should join 30 other states and the federal government in allowing them to tap their campaign accounts for childcare. Continue reading →

OPINION

Can Donald Trump control his inner caveman?

That question looms as the presidential primary campaign moves to Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina. Continue reading →

K-12

Newton teachers remain on strike. How do students make up the missed school days?

As the Newton strike drags on, what will it mean for students? Families may not welcome the answer. Continue reading →

Maine

‘Canary in the coal mine’: Destruction of beloved fishing shacks in Maine raises alarm about climate change

Set against the backdrop of Casco Bay and Portland Head Light in the distance, the shacks were proud symbols of the maritime heritage of South Portland. Then they were washed away during the Jan. 13 storm. Continue reading →

Money, Power, Inequality

Boston historic preservation director wants to spotlight city’s hidden stories

Murray Miller wants to continue highlighting neglected narratives, from how communities of color were decimated by urban renewal policies to how the queer nightlife in Boston once defined Scollay Square. Continue reading →

on football

If Jerod Mayo means what he says, Patriots fans should be concerned about the future

A couple of statements by the new coach indicated that the Patriots might not have learned anything from recent mistakes. Continue reading →

NFL

Falcons hire Raheem Morris as coach — so where does that leave Bill Belichick?

Belichick had two interviews with the Falcons, but they will go with the Rams defensive coordinator. Continue reading →

Christopher L. Gasper

Why are the Red Sox rebuilding this way, and when might this effort be complete?

Before we can buy into what the Sox are selling, those questions must be answered. Otherwise, they’ll keep striking out with a fed-up fan base. Continue reading →

Business

Steward’s medical devices were repossessed. Weeks later, a new mother died.

Some patients of the nine-hospital system say they have struggled to access care, with doctors blaming Steward's financial problems as the cause. Continue reading →

THE FINE PRINT

‘Home equity theft’ in Massachusetts is the focus of federal lawsuit

A pending lawsuit may go a long way in deciding whether the US constitution prohibits municipalities in Massachusetts from confiscating homeowner equity in tax foreclosure cases. Continue reading →

Biotech

Vaccines save lives and generate profits. Why is investment lagging?

Even with the historic effort to develop COVID-19 vaccines, drug makers developing new vaccines for infectious diseases received 3.4 percent of all venture capital raised for biopharma companies in the past 10 years, according to a BIO report. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Charles Fried, former judge and US solicitor general who changed course on abortion, dies at 88

Decades after trying to persuade the US Supreme Court to overrule the right to abortion in most instances, Mr. Fried wrote in 2021 that overturning Roe v. Wade now "would be an act of constitutional vandalism — not conservative, but reactionary." Continue reading →

Obituaries

Melanie, singer who made a solo splash at Woodstock, dies at 76

Melanie, the husky-voiced singer-songwriter who was one of the surprise stars of the Woodstock music festival in 1969 and two years later had a No. 1 single with the disarmingly childlike “Brand New Key,” died Tuesday. She was 76. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Lance Larson, swimmer who lost Olympic gold in historic dispute, dies at 83

Mr. Larson's "defeat" in the Rome Olympics sparked years of protests and appeals by US swimming officials and helped accelerate the introduction of electronic timing. Continue reading →

STAGE REVIEW

‘Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight’ defies definition, and that’s a very good thing

It’s funny. It’s somber. It’s as baffling as free-association poetry. It’s as direct as a punch in the gut. It’s sweeping to the point of grandiosity. It’s minutely particularized. It’s a one-man show until it isn’t. Continue reading →

TELEVISION REVIEW

A mission (mostly) accomplished in ‘Masters of the Air’

A companion to “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” the nine-part Apple TV+ miniseries effectively conveys the terror and chaos of aerial combat, but it doesn't always tell us enough about the human beings whose lives were at stake. Continue reading →

MOVIE REVIEW | ★★★½

Ava DuVernay and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor are equal allies in ‘Origin’ vision

Ellis-Taylor plays “Caste” author Isabel Wilkerson in this ambitious attempt to imagine the creative process. Continue reading →