Brown’s efforts add to moderate credentials
With a potential showdown against Democrat Elizabeth Warren looming, Senator Brown appears to be branding himself as a moderate.
Opera Boston to close
The city’s second-largest opera company said this morning it will close on Jan. 1 because of an “insurmountable budget deficit.”
House, Senate approve payroll tax cut plan
The two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts for 160 million workers gives President Obama a convincing victory over Republicans who control the House.
Mass. must vie with Asia for casino investors
Explosive casino growth in Asia has left the state competing for limited investment dollars not only in the Northeast, but across the world.
PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF
Recess brings little joy to some urban students
Educators say students from unstable homes or those struggling financially become anxious and act out as the holiday season approaches.
Educating the poor comes at a price for Pine Manor
Pine Manor, one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse small colleges, is trying to figure out how to financially survive while maintaining its commitment to low-income students.
brian McGrory
Readers making a difference
Sunday’s Christmas in the City event was a success thanks to Boston Globe readers.
“A lot of the high-rollers that used to come to Vegas are now going to Macau or Singapore.”
Mark Nichols, economics professor
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
$1m to build new Milton animal shelter
The Milton Animal League received an early Christmas present when a local charity gave it a $1 million grant.
Business
WHDH-TV, union reach three-year agreement
The union that represents the on-air personalities at Boston’s WHDH-TV has reached a contract agreement with the station after more than two years of contentious negotiations.
Politics
Romney will not reveal tax data, at least for now
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney refused to make his income tax returns public or discuss any tax code advantages, ‘‘but never say never,’’ he said.
Nation & World
Syrian troops tighten grip as Arab League team arrives
As an advance team from the Arab League arrived yesterday, activists said the regime would prevent them from seeing any of the protesters arrested in the latest crackdown.
Sports
Aaron Hernandez’s path could have gone off course
The Patriots tight end credits a strong bond with his brother, D.J., with helping him overcome a series of bad decisions after his father died when he was 16.
Movies
Movie Review
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.
Arts
Art Review
‘Jedediah Caesar: Soft Structures’ at the MFA
Caesar’s work is in many ways promising, but the show is an underwhelming affair - a little overthought, a little underdone.
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
“Wouldn’t it be something if a Republican or Democratic candidate emerged in 2012 to sign a pledge for peace?”
Nicholas Burns
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