How this MBTA duo prevented a potential disaster

The lever used to regulate speed on a 01500 series redline car.

MBTA

The supervisor and the dispatcher had 48 years of MBTA experience between them, but neither had game-planned for this. Nobody had.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/11/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/unnamed(61)A.jpg Red Line probe points to MBTA driver mistakes

The unmanned subway train is the latest in a string of controversies for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/12/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/size0[1]-U82428860949onC--90x90@BostonGlobe.com.jpg US Army Ranger from N.H. dies in live fire exercise

Corporal Andrew A. Aimesbury, 21, died from his wounds on Wednesday after he was taken by Medevac to a treatment facility.

Derrick Z. Jackson

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/11/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/Derrick_Z_Jackson_150px-1562.jpg The height of hypocrisy in higher education

Universities bring African-American men to campus at grotesque levels to earn the school millions in sports revenues.

Nicholas Abreau posed for a portrait with the bullet resistant backpack his father Charles bought him in their home in Lowell, MA.

Keith Bedford/Globe staff

Lowell firm that makes bulletproof backpacks sees business grow

As the number of mass shootings mount, a fearful public is increasingly trying to protect itself.

Ideas

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/18/BostonGlobe.com/Ideas/Images/FEDERALIST10.jpeg The Constitution requires inequality

A careful reading of the Federalist Papers shows how the Founding Fathers intended for the system to protect the elite.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/12/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/500446240.jpg Boston?s count of Chipotle norovirus cases rises to 136

The city has not determined exactly how the virus got into food at the restaurant, which was shuttered after inspectors found three serious violations.

Sophie Fellows played violin during a holiday concert at the Boston Children's Hospital in Boston.

Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Holiday concert brings hope and holiday cheer to Children?s Hospital

When Sophie Fellows got out of a hospital bed to play in a Christmas concert last year, she wondered if she would be able to perform again.

Lexington High School basketball player Anna Kelly signed her national letter of intent with Fordham University at a ceremony in the LHS gym last month.

COLLEGE BOUND

The emotional ride to an athletic scholarship

Lexington High senior Anna Kelly finalized a four-year process in April, committing to play basketball at Fordham.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/11/BostonGlobe.com/ReceivedContent/Images/GlobeSantaChillOnCafe_01.jpg Letters pour into Globe Santa, giving thanks for saving Christmas

From the letters bin: ?It is programs such as Globe Santa that make it possible to give my girls a sense of normalcy.?

?Tis the season for a gun-toting Frosty?

An Abington family has an inflatable snowman holding a rifle in its front yard. Appropriate holiday decor?

First Person

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/21/BostonGlobe.com/Magazine/Images/KenOringer1213.jpg Ken Oringer on the reason he?s closing Clio

The chef?s flagship restaurant will give way to its funkier neighbor, Uni.

Chris Pennie of Wakefield spend his New Year?s Eve entertaining comedy lovers at The Cabot in Beverly.

Wakefield comic finds laughs in life

?I was never the class clown growing up. But if I told someone something horrible about my life, the response was ?I?m sorry, but the way you told it was so funny.??

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/12/BostonGlobe.com/Sports/Images/48a58c34bef8451893e35bd019944aa1-48a58c34bef8451893e35bd019944aa1-0.jpg McGregor ready for shot at Aldo and UFC title

The flamboyant Irish featherweight Conor McGregor faces what may be the fight of the year on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Boston, MA - 12/11/15 - (4th quarter) Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4), Boston Celtics guard Evan Turner (11), and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) hit the parquet as they fight for a loose ball in the fourth quarter. The Boston Celtics take on the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden. - (Barry Chin/Globe Staff), Section: Sports, Reporter: Adam Himmelsbach, Topic: 12Celtics-Warriors, LOID: 8.2.752270934.

Barry Chin/Globe Staff

Gary Washburn | On Basketball

Warriors aren?t afraid of making history

With the game on the line, Golden State again had the final say.

East Rutherford, NJ - 11/15/15 - (1st quarter) New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman suffered a broken bone in his foot on this play where he was tackled by New York Giants middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley at the end of the first quarter. The New England Patriots take on the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. - (Barry Chin/Globe Staff), Section: Sports, Reporter: Michael Whitmer, Topic: 17Patriots-Colts, LOID:8.2.379583932.

Julian Edelman practices with Patriots

The receiver joined his team for Friday?s workout, 26 days after he broke his foot in a game against the Giants.

A DraftKings logo was displayed on a board inside of the DFS Players Conference in New York.

Fantasy sports firms get break at last minute

DraftKings and other fantasy sites can temporarily operate in New York until a panel rules on whether to allow the sites? operation while the fight plays out in court.

For Farragher column -- Amid the celebrities and celebration at the rededication of the Lower Mills campus of Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy, Devin Allen, a fourth-grader, reached out to an emotional Jack Sebastian. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

THOMAS FARRAGHER

Two sons find strength after losing their fathers

The exchange lasted barely a few minutes. But a Goldman Sachs executive and a 9-year-old straight-A student won?t soon forget it.

Love Letters

New girlfriend used to practice polyamory

I met a wonderful, free-spirited woman. She?s a 9 or a 10 in every way. But her past lifestyle experience is vastly different from mine.

Ground Game

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/08/BostonGlobe.com/National/Images/trump150-2064.jpg Three scenarios for Trump and the GOP

What happens after Donald Trump, particularly for the Republican Party?

Globe Santa

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/25/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/santa_logo[1]-U80342642589InF--90x90@BostonGlobe.com.jpg Donate to Globe Santa

Globe Santa delivers holiday gifts to local children in need.

Globe investigations

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/18/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/spotlight150x150-165.jpg Globe investigations and Spotlight reports

A look at high-impact investigations from The Boston Globe, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning report on abuse in the Catholic Church.

The story behind 'Spotlight'

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/18/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/spotlight-9497.jpg Boston Globe coverage and the movie ?Spotlight?

?Spotlight? is based on the stories and the reporters behind the investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The Big Picture

Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

The best Boston Globe photos of 2015

Staff photographers share the stories behind the year?s most powerful pictures.