All of the headlines from today's paper.
Friday, December 9, 2022
Today's Headlines
Page one

Retail

O Christmas tree, why do you cost so very much?

Prices are jumping 10 percent this year amid inflation, drought, and a host of other woes. Continue reading →

Politics

How a fight over one Saturday in November shaped the final days of the Georgia Senate campaign

Raphael Warnock's victory has spurred a fresh reckoning among national Republicans over their party’s aversion to early voting. Continue reading →

Health

After dozens of children at local hospital test positive for bacteria, tap water found to be the source

Since Nov. 22, the Brighton hospital has not allowed anyone located in two areas of the pediatric rehab facility to consume tap water, after detecting the presence of the bacteria in two water sources. Continue reading →

Red Sox

Why Xander Bogaerts chose to sign with the Padres over the Red Sox

The team drastically misread the market for Bogaerts repeatedly. The Red Sox weren’t even in the picture at the end. Continue reading →

Politics

Brittney Griner is freed as part of a prisoner swap with Russia

The release of Brittney Griner, who turned 32 while in custody, was a rare bright spot in the confrontation between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Continue reading →

The Nation

Nation

Bill to protect same-sex marriage rights clears Congress

The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favor of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress. Continue reading →

Nation

House passes $858 billion defense bill repealing vaccine mandate for troops

The legislation, negotiated by Republicans and Democrats in both chambers of Congress, would grant a 4.6 percent raise to military personnel and increase the Pentagon’s budget by $45 billion over President Biden’s request, providing $800 million in new security aid to Ukraine, and billions to Taiwan. Continue reading →

Nation

Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case

The request came after months of mounting frustration from the Justice Department with Trump’s team — frustration that spiked in June after the former president’s lawyers provided assurances that a diligent search had been conducted for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Club and residence. Continue reading →

The World

World

Ukraine: Russia put rocket launchers at nuclear power plant

Russian forces have installed multiple rocket launchers at Ukraine’s shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials claimed Thursday, raising fears Europe’s largest atomic power station could be used as a base to fire on Ukrainian territory and heightening radiation dangers. Continue reading →

World

‘Zero COVID,’ once ubiquitous, vanishes in China’s messy pivot

A day after China’s ruling Communist Party announced a broad rollback of the “zero COVID” restrictions that had smothered the economy and transformed life in the country, the propaganda apparatus on Thursday began the daunting task of promoting an audacious revision of history. Continue reading →

News analysis

In the deal to free Griner, Putin used a familiar lever: Pain

President Vladimir Putin of Russia wants to prosecute his war in Ukraine in the same way he secured the freedom on Thursday of a major Russian arms dealer: inflict so much pain on Western governments that, eventually, they make a deal. Continue reading →

Editorial & Opinion

EDITORIAL

Brittney Griner is coming home, but dozens more Americans are being wrongfully jailed overseas

The United States needs to keep pressing for their release. Continue reading →

OPINION

Europe is facing a Russian-imposed energy crisis and US military bases there could be affected

The Biden administration can revisit US agreements with host nations to ensure that the US military supports and participates in the dramatic energy transitions underway across the continent. Continue reading →

OPINION

Why Dynamo Kyiv matters

Soccer is life. Continue reading →

Metro

Metro

Death of a union man

"The right question is, why are companies in the private sector so bent on profits that they don’t want to take care of their workers?” Continue reading →

Politics

Rooting out ‘Rat City’? Lawmakers mull Boston’s pest problems

The war against rats is on in Boston, as some creative, sometimes off-the-wall, solutions were bandied about during a City Council hearing Thursday where officials wrestled with a problem as old as human civilization. Continue reading →

Health

Cardiologist sues Cape Cod Hospital, alleging he was dismissed for raising ethical, safety concerns

Dr. Richard Zelman was medical director of the hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute. Continue reading →

Sports

Tara Sullivan

Brittney Griner is finally coming home. There’s joy and relief right now — but grief remains.

The sincere gratitude of Griner's wife, Cherelle, was obvious at the White House podium on Thursday. But it was tinged with sadness — because of why she was there in the first place, and for those left behind, such as Paul Whelan. Continue reading →

On baseball

How will the Red Sox’ Chaim Bloom be judged? His decision on Xander Bogaerts — and others — will help determine that.

Bloom’s valuation of Xander Bogaerts did not match that of the Padres, Cubs, Twins, and at least one or two other teams. Going back to March, Bloom was firm about that. Continue reading →

On football

The Arizona Cardinals’ season is a mess, but at least it makes for great television

The Cardinals signed up for an in-season edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” with a run of nine episodes airing each Wednesday from November through the end of the regular season. Continue reading →

Business

Technology

Your CharlieCard can be hacked by an Android phone, MBTA admits

For now, the MBTA admits there’s not much they can do about it, other than deactivating fraudulent cards. Continue reading →

Residential

City Council urges Wu to go big on affordable housing requirements

The Mayor’s office is mulling changes to how much affordable housing it will mandate in new construction. Continue reading →

Biotech

Vertex strikes deal with Seaport neighbor to develop therapies for rare muscle disease

The partnership is focused on, but not limited to, an experimental drug that Entrada was already developing for myotonic dystrophy type 1, often called DM1. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Obituaries

George Herring, scholar of US diplomacy and Vietnam War, dies at 86

A scholar of U.S. foreign relations who wrote a seminal history of the Vietnam War, George C. Herring crystallized for generations of readers the reasons the United States entered the conflict and the lessons with which it was left. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Gaddis Smith dies at 89; taught history to generations at Yale

A Yale historian who taught generations of policymakers and politicians the finer points of US foreign policy, Gaddis Smith during the 1970s and ’80s, helped the university navigate between its desire to modernize and the powerful alumni who opposed such change. Continue reading →

Obituaries

Dominique Lapierre, French author and journalist, dies at 91

Celebrated for his historical work on the World War II struggle to liberate Paris, Dominique Lapierre also wrote a popular novel depicting a life of hardship in a Kolkata slum in India. Continue reading →

Arts & Lifestyle

Music

Bowery Presents to open an outdoor concert venue at Suffolk Downs in 2023

With a capacity of 8,500, The Stage at Suffolk Downs will host its first show next spring. Continue reading →

Arts

Celine Dion shares diagnosis of incurable disorder, stiff-person syndrome

Celine Dion announced that she was diagnosed with a rare and incurable neurological condition known as stiff-person syndrome, and that she will cancel or postpone dozens of shows in her "Courage World Tour." Continue reading →

Names

Aerosmith cancels Las Vegas residency shows due to Steven Tyler’s health

“On the advice of doctors, Steven has to sit these out,” the band said Thursday in a social media post. Continue reading →