State to back NStar, Northeast Utilities merger

Massachusetts officials will back the merger, which still needs approval by Connecticut officials, in exchange for the company buying power from Cape Wind.

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/02/15/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/12kennedy_photo1--90x90.jpg Joseph P. Kennedy III to announce run tomorrow

Kennedy, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, will formally declare his candidacy for the seat being vacated by Barney Frank.

Ruling allows major political donors to hide identities

“Dark money” allows anonymous donations, sometimes from corporations that exist on paper only, and the stream of such money is alarming watchdogs.

Santorum leads Romney in Ohio, new poll shows

A Quinnipiac University poll out today shows a surging Rick Santorum with support from 36 percent of Republican primary voters, with Mitt Romney getting 29 percent.

istockphoto/globe staff illustration

Opinion | Jim Stergios

Patrick’s shell game with the budget

Massachusetts addressed its billion-dollar-plus structural deficit by pushing off the repayment date for the state’s $18.6 billion unfunded pension liability.

Scot Lehigh

Raise the high school drop out age

Raising the age at which a high school student can stop going to school from 16 to 18 won't solve the problem of dropouts, but it could yield beneficial results.

Parents, leaders to study school assignment process

Parents, business leaders, and academics will comprise an advisory committee that will make recommendations on changing the way Boston assigns students to schools.

Claude Julien’s Bruins are headed out on a six-game road trip.

Tony Massarotti

Bruins are not as good as they think they are

The Rangers’ commanding victory proved that while the Bruins may be the reigning champions of the league, right now they are not even the best team in the conference.

“No one should be forced by government to do something that violates the teachings of their faith.”

US Senator Scott Brown 

Globe Insiders

Globe Talks | Feb. 15, 6 p.m.

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/02/01/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/greenhouse_movies2_business[1].jpg Talk movies with Ty and Wesley

Join the Boston Globe’s movie critics, Ty Burr and Wesley Morris, for a conversation about this year’s Academy Awards.

Inside The Boston Globe

Drinks Special

The craft of mixing has made a unique Boston bar culture
Senator Scott Brown is co-sponsoring a bill that would allow employers to limit specific coverage, including contraception, based on religious objections.

Brown backs bill limiting health coverage

Home of the housing bust
A counterfeit vial of the cancer drug Avastin is shown.

Counterfeit Avastin found in US

Experiencing Leonardo from cinema seating

Donors from afar buoying Warren

Boston’s coffee pioneer back in the cafe business

Caesars CEO dismisses concerns about casinos

Parents, leaders to study school assignment process

Galleries

At Victoria Munroe, final show spotlights six artists

dINING OUT

Boston is full of new chances to drink and snack

Merrimac girl with rare cancer meets her Bieber

Columnists

Jeremy Lin, right, hit a game-winning shot for the Knicks last night and has become a sensation in the NBA.

Bob Ryan

Lin just latest Ivy Leaguer to shine in NBA

Brian McGrory

A model city councilor
David Ortiz

Christopher L. Gasper

A happy David Ortiz is great for Red Sox

Jeff Jacoby

On birth control, Obama imperiously overreaches
Claude Julien’s Bruins are headed out on a six-game road trip.

Tony Massarotti

Bruins not as good as they think they are

Scot Lehigh

Raise the high school drop out age

kevin cullen

A sweet dish of revenge

Joanna Weiss

A path blocked by Lego toys
Rajon Rondo led the Celtics to a win against the Bulls yesterday.

Dan Shaughnessy

Rajon Rondo proving naysayers wrong

adrian walker

Romney can’t outrun past

Innovation Economy

At top of tech sector, women lead by example

BOSTON CAPITAL | Steven Syre

Brightcove braces for tough IPO market

Metro

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Parents, leaders to study school assignment process

Parents, business leaders, and academics will comprise an advisory committee that will make recommendations on changing the way Boston assigns students to schools.

Business

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Robert Zoellick

World Bank president Zoellick to step down

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said he will leave the institution when his five-year term ends June 30.

Nation & World

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Honduras

More than 300 killed in Honduras prison fire

Some 475 people escaped and 356 are missing and presumed dead, an official said.

Politics

Santorum surge forces Romney to shift focus

Rick Santorum’s rise in polls is prompting Mitt Romney to talk more explicitly about his conservative views, in an effort to blunt Santorum’s appeal to the GOP base.

Sports

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On football: Season review

Tom Brady, right, received an A, while Deion Branch got a B-, in Greg A. Bedard’s season report card.

Report card: Which Patriots scored best?

In his individual analysis, Greg A. Bedard provides details of how each player performed during the run to Super Bowl XLVI.

Food & dining

Drinks Special

FOR Food. Boston, MA 2/9/2012 A mocktail called the Unspirited Esteban. The Clio bar is photographed in the Eliot Hotel in Boston, MA on Thursday, February 9, 2012. This is for a story on cocktails. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff) Section: Food Slug: 15cocktails Reporter: Devra First LOID: 5.0.840952485

Family tree of cocktail creationists

A family tree of the bartenders who began the craft drink movement.

Arts

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STAGE REVIEW

In ‘Photograph 51,’ a picture of complexity

It’s said that history is written by the winners. But sometimes history is rewritten — or recaptured — by the dramatists.

Magazine

The cover for the February 12 2012 issue

Boston wedding venue guide
The cover for the February 5 2012 issue

What if the lights go out?
The cover for the January 29 2012 issue

Reversing a restaurant curse
The cover for the January 22 2012 issue

The man who crushed the Keystone XL pipeline

Opinion

“New Hampshire, which in 2007 upped its dropout age from 16 to 18 as part of a broader anti-dropout effort, has seen impressive results.”

Scot Lehigh 

Ideas

“In the 50 years since the competition, architects have declared Kallmann and McKinnell’s City Hall one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century. Yet its relationship with the people of Boston has remained uneasy, even hostile.”

Leon Neyfakh on Boston’s City Hall