ARTS
Who could break out in 2012?
There’s no telling who’s going to flourish this year - but we’re willing to make some educated guesses.
Patriots 49, Bills 21
Patriots earn top seed in AFC playoffs
AP
The Bills scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, but the Patriots stormed back to claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
2011 Bostonian of the Year Runners-Up
Bill and Joyce Cummings to give 90 percent to charity
Winchester’s Bill and Joyce Cummings made a fortune in commercial real estate. Now they’ve promised to give away nearly a billion dollars to charity.
CHARLES DHARAPAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Laden with baggage, Newt Gingrich tries to defy odds
As Gingrich seeks the GOP presidential nomination, he is fighting not just for the country’s future, as he often proclaims, but also against his past.
Momentum in Iowa tilting toward Romney
Iowa voters may deliver a caucus plot twist Tuesday that seemed unlikely just a few short weeks ago: propelling Romney toward the Republican presidential nomination.
What’s likely to make news in 2012
From culture to politics, technology, the economy, sports, and casinos — a range of topics could be newsworthy this year.
“Negative advertising is popular among campaign strategists because it works. So what it says about us is that we pay attention to it, even as we decry it.”
Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University political science professor
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
December wraps up as second-warmest on record
There has been no measurable snowfall in the area since late October, a rare stretch making for gleeful golfers and a dramatic change from last winter.
Business
Product Reviews
Getting the credit card you are due
As the economy improves and new credit card rules take effect, now is a good time to look at your choices.
Politics
Obama to escalate assault on Congress
President Obama plans to step up his offensive against Congress, concluding he cannot pass any major legislation in 2012 because of Republican hostility toward his agenda.
Nation & World
With bees dying off, a search for solutions takes on added urgency
Scientists are trying to find the cause of colony collapse disorder, the five-year-old phenomenon of worker bees suddenly disappearing
Sports
Dolphins 19, Jets 17
Dolphins take Jets out of contention
Coach Rex Ryan’s Super Bowl promise went unfulfilled as his New York Jets fell out of the playoff race with today’s loss.
Arts
As Boston museums surge, galleries struggle to keep up
Contemporary art is surging in Boston. So why is the gallery scene here so often overlooked? Commercial galleries are struggling in a weak economy and in a city that has not been viewed as supportive.
Travel
In 2012, the best place to . . .
It’s the little things that matter, so resolve to make the most of them in 2012 - starting with our micro sampler of random hot spots around the world.
Books
‘Pity the Billionaire: The Hard Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right’ by Thomas Frank
It’s a mordant study of how the right deflected blame for economic calamity and turned it to its own advantage.
Opinion
“If New Year’s resolutions are on your mind, today is a good day to reflect on the many ways that you live robotically.”
Gareth Cook
Ideas
“Recent years have seen an explosion of interest and creativity in the realm of data-driven soothsaying, and some in the field predict—well, they think—that they are on the cusp of something big.”
Leon Neyfakh, on the future of prediction