Health care battle focuses on Mass. model

With the Supreme Court set to consider President Obama’s signature health care overhaul, the state’s experience illustrates the problems of a patchwork mandate.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was joined by his daughter Sarah Maria during a news conference in Green Bay, Wis., after he won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary.

Santorum wins Louisiana primary

Rick Santorum got a badly needed win in Louisiana, knocking off Mitt Romney in another conservative Southern state after losing Illinois earlier in the week.

For years, the Menino administration used the nonprofit to collect donations that were akin to rent payments from advertising firms, movie companies, and other commercial entities that used City Hall Plaza and other public land, taking in more than $250,000 in site fees since 2009.

Mayor Menino reveals donors to city charity

While vowing to overhaul the nonprofit, the mayor defended the Fund for Boston Neighborhoods and said donations do not influence decisions made by his administration.

Mass. felons’ DNA test database has gaps

State officials have failed to collect DNA samples of 20,000 convicted felons, leaving a hole in the State Police database.

Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff

For homeless families, hotel is a life in limbo

With shelters overflowing, the state uses hotels to meet the needs of a surge of Mass. families who have become homeless in the past few years.

War of words over Shutesbury library plan

A push to build a new, 5,800-square-foot library, a source of smoldering tension among the town’s 1,700 residents for years, has fed bitter, acrimonious debate in recent months.

In Boston, ‘tonic’ gives way to ‘soda’

For most Bostonians, the carbonated drink is now ‘‘soda,’’ not ‘‘tonic,’’ and the final volume of a new dictionary sheds light on the history of the usage.

As at all Apple Stores, on Boylston Street there are Geniuses (above), customers who return for classes, and those who come to buy.

Apple has become a retailing star

The Globe was given a rare inside look into how the Apple Store works, and how some of its 36,000 employees spread across 363 stores worldwide are helping to change shopping.

“No state can be a health care island.”

Wendy Parmet,  a Northeastern University law professor

Globe Insiders

Video

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/03/02/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/lennyclarke copy-018--90x90.jpg Globe Talk: Boston, a Comedy Capital

Watch the video of this Globe Talk event, featuring local comedians Dave Russo, Anthony Scibelli, Tony V, Jimmy Tingle, and Lenny Clarke sharing stories about the Boston comedy scene. Laughs guaranteed. (Editor’s note: This video contains strong language.)

Inside The Boston Globe

GLOBE MAGAZINE

Spring Travel Special

Madonna sticks to her guns on ‘MDNA’

Glimpses of ‘Lily,’ a vanished opera

ON THE JOB

For ideas, inventor tunes in to other’s frustrations

Explore New England

Spring mud season pleasures abound

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Ideas

The truth about the ‘code of the street’

The Word

How baseball gave us ‘jazz’

City moves to preserve iconic three-deckers

Ex-probation chief, 2 aides indicted in hiring scandal

Movies

Hollywood’s latest love affair with fairy tales

Doctors see ‘cinnamon challenge’ as recipe for disaster
The mistake was due to an unspecified “programming error,” CVS Caremark, pharmacy benefits manager for the Tufts Medicare Preferred Plan, said in a statement.

CVS Caremark letters sent in error

Metro

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Friends, students gather for auction of minister’s treasures

The art and furniture collection of the late Rev. Peter J. Gomes was auctioned, in an event that was part Harvard reunion, part bittersweet memorial service.

Business

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ON THE HOT SEAT

Tom Leighton, chief scientist, Akamai Technology Inc.

Akamai staking new ground in Internet security market

Chief scientist Tom Leighton says the company is now using its technology and expertise to help customers fend off attacks from Internet criminals.

Columnists

Yvonne Abraham

Mattapan verdict shows jury system works
Excited supporters cheer when Mitt Romney arrives for a campaign stop at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Rockford, Ill., in March.

Jeff Jacoby

Young voters should flock to GOP

Joan Vennochi

Romney’s Fehrnstrom problem

Gareth Cook

Inconvenient truth

Joanna Weiss

A calculated risk for at-risk kids

Innovation Economy

Mobile payment app aims to create loyalty

Christopher L. Gasper

Power struggle may weaken Red Sox

BOSTON CAPITAL

Bay State Banner publisher’s two hats in bank-church dispute

LAWRENCE HARMON

The case for orphanages

SCOT LEHIGH

The economy, generically oversimplified

bob ryan

For Wisconsin, depth leads to despair

Brian McGrory

A mystery on the side

Nation & World

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An aide to Dick Cheney, who is 71, said he had been waiting for a transplant for more than 20 months and does not know the identity of the heart donor.

Dick Cheney undergoes heart transplant

The former vice president had a heart transplant Saturday and is recovering at a Virginia hospital, his office said.

Politics

Political Notebook

Rick Santorum sets sights on Wisconsin voters

Santorum told Wisconsin Republicans that Mitt Romney is an inconsistent conservative who should not be trusted with their party’s presidential nomination.

Sports

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Bruins 4, Kings 2

Three-goal third propels Bruins

The Bruins got back some of their shooting and scoring touch, connecting for a pair of third-period goals to pin a 4-2 loss on the Kings at Staples Center.

Arts

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‘‘It is pop music, but I think there’s a whole other ethical level to Grimes,’’ says Claire Boucher (performing as Grimes earlier this month at South by Southwest).

Breakout star Grimes creates pop of a darker hue

As Grimes, Claire Boucher makes music that splits the difference between upbeat pop and darker electronics.

Travel

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Travel

Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

See Chicago with the help of a volunteer Greeter

The free service matches visitors with their own private greeters who have volunteered to tout their hometown.

Books

BOOK REVIEW

‘The New Republic’ by Lionel Shriver

It’s a satiric look at the nature of magnetism.

Magazine

The cover for the March 25 2012 issue

Roar over South Boston’s Pleasure Bay as planes land at Logan Airport
The cover for the March 18 2012 issue

Grover Norquist: Emperor of no
The cover for the March 11 2012 issue

Stoughton’s Lori McKenna is writing her heart out
The cover for the March 4 2012 issue

Putting college degrees to work

Opinion

“This is a cold reality of the child welfare system: It is a matter of calculated risk, built around risk-laden lives.”

Joanna Weiss 

Ideas

“Even people with no direct experience with street life — whose exposure to the criminal underworld comes mainly from “The Wire” — have a sense that it is governed by its own set of rules and ethics.”

Leon Neyfakh