House agrees to payroll tax cut deal

Backing down under pressure from the president and Senate leaders, House Speaker John Boehner agreed to a two-month extension to the tax cut while lawmakers negotiate a long-term proposal.

Child gets hepatitis C from transplant at Boston hospital

Due to a testing error, a child treated at Children’s Hospital Boston was infected with hepatitis C by a piece of a blood vessel that was transplanted in September.

Murray asks ‘black box’ data from car crash be released

Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray today asked police to release the car’s data from his Nov. 2 crash.

Mark Palermo, 24; kept optimism in face of deadly disease

Palermo, a Medfield native, wrote eloquently on his blog of all things food-related, and of living with his disease.

PETER IOVINO/WEINSTEIN COMPANY

Exclusive Friday Preview | Movie Review

‘The Artist’ is close to perfection

The silent film isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough to make just about anyone who sees it ridiculously happy, says Globe critic Ty Burr.

Movie Review

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2011/12/22/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/23warhorseax--90x90.jpg Classic Hollywood rides again in ‘War Horse’

Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” is full-throated Hollywood classicism that looks back to the craftsmanship and sentimentality of the studio era.

Movie Review

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2011/12/22/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/23method.jpg Trio shines in ‘A Dangerous Method’

David Cronenberg’s sex drama is about repression and release as played by three people who appear to arrive at their theories by practice.

‘‘We don’t have another Ronald Reagan, and I don’t think we’ll find one.’’

Lonnie Bauerly, a Tea Party activist  

Business

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Calif. biotech moving to Mass.

Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc., a California start-up working to bring a pair of hemophilia treatments to market, will be setting up shop at One Kendall Square.

Sports

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Red Sox notebook

Red Sox coaching staff nearly done

The team is expected to announce that ex-Royals pitching coach Bob McClure will be hired to serve Bobby Valentine in the same role.

Lifestyle

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Gift ideas for drinkers of spirits and liquors

In the spirit of the season of giving, here’s a basic roadmap to help navigate the liquor store with suggestions for those who wish to splurge and those who wish to save.

Arts

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BOOK REVIEW

‘Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Yonder’ by Walt Kelly

Years in the making, “Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Yonder’’ collects the daily and Sunday panels of the earliest years of Walt Kelly’s celebrated comic strip.

Best of the new

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Best of the New

Boston’s best people and ideas of 2011

Safer neighborhoods, quieter commutes, and one really brainy historian.