Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

‘Hypermiler’ drivers go extra mile to maximize fuel economy

Hypermilers use techniques that involve no more than common sense and a Zen approach to the road.

Portrait of the activist as a young man

Twenty-five-year-old Sam Vaghar has turned student networking into a potent weapon in the war on global poverty.

Stephanie Knaak

Who’s to blame for making parents paranoid?

In promoting incorrectly skewed messages about risk, parenting experts are conditioning a mindset trained toward paranoia and worry.

Trinity Rep will open its 2011-2012 season TONIGHT in previews, September 9, with His Girl Friday, acclaimed playwright John GuareÕs new Angela Brazil as Hildy Johnson and Fred Sullivan, Jr. as Walter Burns in His Girl Friday, adapted by John Guare from The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and the Columbia Pictures Film, directed by Curt Columbus, on stage at Trinity Rep starting September 9. PLEASE INCLUDE: Set design: Eugene Lee; Costume Design: William Lane; Lighting Design: Michael Gottlieb. Photo by: Mark Turek. 17girlfriday Trinity Rep will open its 2011-2012 season TONIGHT in previews, September 9, with His Girl Friday, acclaimed playwright John GuareÕs new adaptation of The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and the Columbia Pictures film. A side-splitting, Òscintillating battle of the sexesÓ (New York Times) peppered with screwball antics, raucous romance, and delightful danger at every turn, Artistic Director Curt ColumbusÕs production opensruns through October 9 in the Chace Theater. Tickets are now on sale at the Trinity Rep box office, 201 Washington St.; by phone at (401) 351-4242; and online at www.trinityrep.com. 17girlfriday

EXCLUSIVE SUNDAY PREVIEW | CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK

Second acts

On the stage, new versions of classics reveal fresh layers of meaning and show the virtues of theatrical revisions.

Dan Shaughnessy

Ignore the spin: Red Sox fired Francona

The manager and the Red Sox brass tried to make it sound mutual, but Terry Francona turns out to be the first victim of the greatest collapse in baseball history.

What’s up at Friendly’s?

As the parent firm of the Friendly's restaurant chain considers declaring bankruptcy, its biggest challenge is wooing customers whose dining tastes have changed.

Despite protests, St. Jeremiah Catholic Church is sold

Parishioners had conducted vigils after the closing of the Framingham church in 2005, but the archdiocese completed the sale for $2 million in an effort to raise money.

Metro

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Gloucester icon slips into history

After decades of felling hordes of sure-footed men at the Saint Peter’s Fiesta every June, Gloucester’s famed Greasy Pole plunged into the chilly waters off Pavilion Beach Thursday night.

Business

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Smaller banks try to win customers over card fees

Massachusetts community banks are vying to win over Bank of America customers outraged that the bank will charge debit card holders as much as $60 a year to use their card.

World

Anwar al-Awlaki, a leading Al Qaeda figure, was shown this 2008 photo taken in Yemen, where he died in a US attack yesterday.

Drone attack kills US-born cleric linked to Al Qaeda

Many details of the strike were unclear, but one US official said that Anwar al-Awlaki had been identified as the target in advance and was killed with a Hellfire missile.

Arts

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Battles keeps building its success

Battles, performing at Royale, has revealed itself slowly over the years but experimentation and songcraft produce results for the elite new music trio.

Ideas

“Could it be true, Pinker wondered, that humans had actually become less violent with time, as opposed to more? And if so, how had we done it?”

Leon Neyfakh,   on Steven Pinker’s new book about violence in history