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.
Brown calls for probe of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Senator Scott Brown urged Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into potential fraud at the home lending giants.
Murray asks for ‘black box’ car data to be released
Under media pressure to reveal more about the Nov. 2 crash, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray today asked police to release the car’s data.
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.
exclusive friday preview | music
The best local albums of 2011
In the interest of saving your time and enhancing your iPods, here are our critics’ picks for the 10 best local albums of the year.
Eli Keszler's “Oxtirn” shattered boundaries and placed him in a new league of post-everything musicians.
The Boston Globe
On "Queen of the Minor Key,” Eilen Jewell and her top-notch band of local musicians cast a wide net.
Matthew Teuten
Big D and the Kids Table's "The Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious" returns with a joyful blast of its patented ska-punk goodness.
Trevor Powers
Quilt's self-titled album features dreamy '60s three-part harmonies, bleary-eyed folk melodies, and sunburned guitar solos.
Jared Graves
Gem Club's "Breakers" is beautiful, personal, and clearly a labor of love.
Bearstronaut's "Satisfied Violence" is a tour through the indie-rock dance club of the decade past.
exclusive friday preview | Movie Review
Lions and tigers and Matt Damon, oh my!
Matt Damon stars in Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo,” a sweet-natured, terribly unthreatening drama about redemption and renewal.
A moment in history with David Cronenberg
The director served as referee between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung on “A Dangerous Method,” his first feature since 2007’s “Eastern Promises.’’
‘‘We don’t have another Ronald Reagan, and I don’t think we’ll find one.’’
Lonnie Bauerly, a Tea Party activist
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
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.
Business
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.
Politics
Voter excitement scarce as Iowa caucus draws near
Interviews with voters this week and recent polls reinforce the sense that Iowans, with less than two weeks until their caucus, are uninspired by the Republican Party’s offerings.
Nation & World
Wave of bombings in Iraq kills at least 63
A series of bombings ripped across Baghdad today in the worst violence in Iraq for months.
Sports
harvard 63, fau 51
Harvard trumps FAU for 10th win
The Crimson improved to 10-1 with a win over Florida Atlantic, 63-51.
Lifestyle
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
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
Best of the New
Boston’s best people and ideas of 2011
Safer neighborhoods, quieter commutes, and one really brainy historian.
Opinion
“A president who let opponents on the right convert ‘hope’ into ‘hopeless’ and ‘change’ into ‘socialism’ could lose.”
Joan Vennochi
Ideas
As tempting as it might be to imagine the Christmas trees we see today in public parks and central plazas as a quaint relic of small town life, it turns out that our modern public trees have politics woven right into their roots.
Leon Neyfakh