GOP wing remains cool to Romney

 As Mitt Romney met audience members in a campaign stop at Alpha Graphics in Hartford Wednesday, some GOP conservatives shifted their efforts to congressional races.

BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS

Enthusiasm levels among Republicans are low, if not flat-lined, as Mitt Romney begins the general election task of rallying the party and energizing a skeptical conservative base.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/04/12/BostonGlobe.com/National/Images/12headquartersro.jpg Romney seeks to reach America from Boston

The plan to make Mitt Romney the next president is being hatched deep in the heart of a city that conservatives across the country view as enemy territory.

Yvonne Abraham

Big morons on campus

Hazing hits headlines when somebody dies trying to fulfill some alcohol-soaked initiation rite, or when police happen upon humiliated hopefuls in Allston, but it’s everywhere.

Temple Place latest downtown Boston revival

Blocks such as Temple Place that used to go quiet early in the night are now busy with streetlife because of new restaurants, apartments, and condos.

A dash of late-career celebrity will not spoil Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, nor make him abandon his commitment to faith and family.

Thomas a champion of underdogs

Tim Thomas has emerged from leading the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup since the Vietnam War to find himself in celebrity’s golden embrace.

Partners in talks to acquire South Shore Hospital

Partners HealthCare System’s move to acquire South Shore Hospital in Weymouth would reshape the competitive landscape in the region’s health care market.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

New Balance plans Back Bay ‘Experience’

The 2,500-square-foot space at 583 Boylston St. will feature a live video feed from the Boston company’s manufacturing plant during work hours.

Murder charge brought in Trayvon Martin case

The neighborhood watch volunteer who shot 17-year-old Martin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after weeks of mounting tensions.

Body believed to be BC student

The parents of Franco Garcia were overwhelmed by grief after officials said a body had been found Wednesday in the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

Metro

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Fraternity closes BU chapter in hazing

The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity has closed its Boston University chapter in response to allegations that members bound and beat five students in an apparent hazing incident.

Business

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US, publishers settlement may lower e-book prices

Under the settlements, the publishers are required to terminate their e-book contracts with Apple and any other retailer with a “most favored nation clause.”

Politics

Political Notebook

Obama tax plan draws wealthy backers

President Obama said raising the taxes of multimillionaires was popular among the gilded elite from Warren E. Buffett on down.

Sports

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Their lives a race for survival

No two men have battled step for step for so long in the Boston Marathon as Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. The more compelling story, though, is what they have survived since.