MBTA riders lament proposed increases during public hearing
Nearly 300 riders wedged into Newton’s War Memorial Hall tonight to express fear and frustration over the steep fare increases and dramatic service cuts proposed by the T.
Mitt Romney gains in national polls
One new poll showed Mitt Romney with twice as much support as his nearest opponent, and another has him running even with President Obama.
Boston Capital
Romney’s private equity challenge
How much risk do private equity investors really take? This is one of the big questions lurking behind the theatrical debate raging on the presidential campaign trail.
Court: Woman can’t be forced to be sterilized
The Massachusetts Appeals Court today reversed a probate judge’s decision to order a 32-year-old schizophrenic woman to undergo an abortion and to then be sterilized.
Captain refused orders to return to ship, help passengers
Divers discovered five more bodies today in the cruise liner that ran aground in Italy, and recordings reveal the ship’s captain ignored orders to help rescue passengers.
Mayor Menino vows to change Boston’s school lottery
Tonight in his annual State of the City address, Mayor Thomas M. Menino pledged to create a plan that will allow more Boston children to attend classes closer to home.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
In Mayor Menino’s State of the City address, he pledged to radically change Boston’s school assignment lottery.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Mayor Menino and his wife, Angela, entered to a round of applause before delivering his annual address at Faneuil Hall.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Menino took aim at a system forged in the racially charged days of busing.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
He decried a system that “ships our kids to schools across our city” and tears at the fabric of communities.
Exclusive Wednesday Preview | CHEAP EATS
Smoky meats and savory sides at Chelsea barbecue spot Larry J’s House of Q
Barbecue around Boston is an increasingly cut-throat competition. Larry J’s House of Q, which opened in September 2010, may be paving new ground, says namesake Larry Jimerson.
Exclusive Wednesday Preview | Food
Confessions of ex-vegetarians
It can be hard to follow a vegetarian diet, but those who give it up found themselves craving meat protein or eating only humanely-raised animals.
“It begs the question: How do you walk out of a prison? It seems someone looked the other way.”
Former war crimes prosecutor David M. Crane, on Charles Taylor
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
Bird-watchers flock to winter Harbor Islands cruise
State and federal officials have teamed up with the owner of a whale-watching boat to offer what many New Englanders might consider to be an oxymoron: a winter cruise.
Nation & World
Opponents to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to submit recall petitions
Organizers of an effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker say they have more than enough signatures to force an election.
Politics
Political Notebook
For Paul, travel to home state has been largely first class
GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has been spending large amounts on airfare as a congressman, flying first class on dozens of taxpayer-funded flights to his home state.
Business
Zappos warns customers about hacker
Online shoe seller Zappos.com says a hacker may have accessed the personal information of up to 24 million customers.
Sports
Lightning 5, Bruins 3
Bruins fall short against Lightning
Tampa Bay’s Dominic Moore blasted the game-winning goal past Tim Thomas late in the third and Steven Stamkos added an empty-netter as the Lightning beat the Bruins, 5-3.
Arts
FRAME BY FRAME
Picabia’s mischievous postcard view of Nice
Francis Picabia’s “Midi (Promenade des Anglais)’’ leapt out at the Globe’s Sebastian Smee while on show at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven.
Lifestyle
G cover
Learning to restore balance
With advancing age come problems of unsteadiness and dizziness. Researchers are looking for ways to stop the falls.
Opinion
“What if we had fewer presidential elections? What if we freed the president from the pressures of politics? What if we had a single six-year presidential term?”
Farah Stockman
Ideas
“The problem, as Shoup and his allies see it, is that parking on the street is simply too desirable. Because spaces are so cheap, drivers have a powerful incentive to spend time hunting for them.”
Leon Neyfakh on the case for the $6 parking meter