As Senate seeks 11th hour deal, partisan skirmishes continue

US Senate leaders on Sunday scrambled to reach a deal that both Congress and the White House could agree on to defuse the deepening crisis -- at least temporarily.

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner attempted to forge a comprehensive budget deal in 2011, a process that ended bitterly.

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images/File

Broken City

Obama’s vision of unity led only to a wider gap

Five years into the Obama presidency, the capital and the country as a whole is far more divided than it was before he was elected.

Anne Morriss played with her son, Alec, 5, on Saturday in Cambridge.

Company seeks to make sperm banks safer

GenePeeks is offering a test aimed at reducing the odds of having an unhealthy child when using a sperm donor.

A courtyard at the UMass honors college complex.

New complex elevates UMass honors program

The university hopes the new $192 million, seven-building complex housing the honors college will lure some of the state’s top students to Amherst.

David Ortiz hit a grand slam in the eighth inning.

Barry Chin/Globe staff

Red Sox 6, Tigers 5

David Ortiz, Red Sox take dramatic win over Tigers

Ortiz’s grand slam in the eighth rallied the Red Sox in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, which is now 1-1.

Dan Shaughnessy

Incredible sports day, from start to finish

Close your eyes and it’s 2004 again. Tom Brady is throwing last-second touchdowns, and David Ortiz is the greatest clutch hitter in baseball history.

Kenbrell Thompkins held onto the ball, scoring the winning touchdown with five seconds remaining in the game.

Patriots 30, Saints 27

Brady’s late TD pass lets Patriots keep faith

In a career full of he-did-it-again moments, Tom Brady’s late-game drive, capped off by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kenbrell Thompkins, may have been the best one.

Ross Levanto of Beacon Hill had volunteered for Mayor Menino’s political organizations starting in 2005. Now the 37-year-old is volunteering for John R. Connolly’s team.

After 20 years, Menino’s political operation scatters

Word filtered through Team Menino that the boss had given the sign that those who wanted to join the mayoral campaigns should follow their hearts.

Opinion

JOHN E. SUNUNU

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2013/10/14/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/jsununu-2877.jpg Obamacare flunks first test

The website disaster is a symptom of a deeply flawed law and the incompetence of the massive bureaucracy needed to carry it out.

Nation & World

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Social Security raise among smallest in history

For the second straight year, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and federal retirees can expect historically small increases in their benefits.

Arts

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Photography Review

Stanley Tretick’s photograph of John F. Kennedy brushing back Jacqueline Kennedy’s hair, from 1961.

All the photographic way with JFK

“Capturing Camelot” has its share of political and historical photographs, but it’s the personal photographs that stand out.