The Boston Globe

Baker lays out timeline for pandemic-era rollbacks

Governor Charlie Baker

Mask restrictions to be eased Friday; businesses, gatherings in May

Massachusetts’ outdoor mask order will be relaxed effective April 30. The state also released a schedule for loosening gathering limits and reopening bars, amusement parks, and other businesses through summer.

Boston reopening to mostly trail Mass. by three weeks, Janey announces

Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey said Tuesday that the city’s reopening timeline will generally be behind the state’s by three weeks. Here's a look at what happens when.

Here’s when fully vaccinated people can drop their masks — and when they need to keep wearing them — according to the CDC

Fully vaccinated people can drop their masks when they’re doing outdoor activities, the CDC said Tuesday. But there are exceptions.

CDC relaxes outdoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated Americans

The new guidance represents another carefully calibrated step on the road back to normal from the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 570,000 people in the United States.

Boston employers are embarking on a grand experiment, by shifting their offices to a hybrid model

As they plan to bring workers back to the office starting this summer, white-collar employers in the Boston area are entering a world in which remote work becomes more the norm than the exception.

‘There is a general sigh of relief’: Businesses have mixed reactions to Baker’s reopening timeline

Many restaurant owners were hoping to see the relaxed business restrictions go into effect before the end of May, which is one of the industry’s busiest months.

825 confirmed cases, 4 deaths, and 87,133 vaccinations: See today’s new COVID-19 data from Mass.

The state said 28,043 people were estimated to have active cases of the potentially deadly virus, and 628 confirmed coronavirus patients were in the hospital.

Massachusetts orders high schools to resume full-time, in-person learning by May 17

Here are the top Massachusetts high schools, according to the 2021 rankings from US News & World Report

Three Massachusetts high schools ranked in the top 100 nationwide.

NFL Draft

The 15 best Patriots draft picks of the Bill Belichick era

We used three measurements — impact on and off the field, draft value, and intangibles — to figure out which players stand out among all of Belichick's picks since 2000.

The 15 worst Patriots draft picks of the Bill Belichick era

chad finn

Bill Belichick can’t really pull off a huge surprise in this NFL draft, can he?

nfl draft

Your guide to the 2021 NFL Draft: How to watch, what to know, and more

🏈 Join us Wednesday for a subscriber-only event previewing the NFL Draft

obituary

Leo Stapleton, retired Boston fire commissioner and author, dead at 94

During a 40-year career, Leo Stapleton rose from firefighter to the leader of the Boston Fire Department. He fought a number of fires in the 1960s and 1970s, and played a key role in the implementation of breathing apparatuses used by firefighters.

PROJECT TAKEOUT

With patio weather upon us, Project Takeout is a wrap

But first, a final batch of recommendations from Globe staff, because to-go meals are always in season.

Andrew Brown Jr. was shot by deputies 5 times, including in the back of the head, according to autopsy

The details about Brown's wounds emerged amid increasing calls for the public release of body camera footage of last week's shooting. A court hearing on access to the video was scheduled for Wednesday.

SJC rebukes Brookline, rules town was wrong to terminate firefighter who cited racist work environment

The state’s high court Tuesday unanimously sided with Gerald Alston, who has been battling with the town of Brookline since 2010 over what he called a racist work environment that was allowed to flourish in the community’s fire department.

The 10 best places to work in Massachusetts based on diversity and inclusion

Ten Massachusetts companies have been named to the Boston Globe’s first-ever Top Places to Work rankings based on diversity and inclusion.

GETTING SALTY

From a TV job in LA to bagel-making in Boston — a delicious career move any way you slice it

We caught up with Be Okay Bagels founder Sasha Moraski.

Opinion

As he tiptoes toward his goal of becoming the next speaker of the House of Representatives, minority leader Kevin McCarthy is trying to balance the weight of Donald Trump on his shoulders.

Kevin McCarthy’s diverting high wire act

He’s as audacious as the Great Blondin, but nowhere near as skillful.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, as they meet with members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 29, 2020.

To unpack the Supreme Court, expand it

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee voted to uphold a rule that prohibits any kind of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” in Olympic venues and areas.

Black Lives Matter — but not at the Olympics

Edward J. Markey

America needs a Civilian Climate Corps

How far will Biden’s handling of the pandemic take him when it comes to achieving other priorities?

At 100 days, Biden is competent on COVID-19, but otherwise ‘meh’

Recommended reads

These charts show what we learned from the 2020 Census

The United States Census Bureau reported Monday that the country’s population grew at the second-slowest rate in history, and some states gained congressional representation while others lost it.

Are bars open yet? Are dinner parties OK? Here’s where reopening and restrictions stand in Mass.

As the possibility of more relaxed measures in Massachusetts looms, here’s a look at what’s open right now, what’s still closed, and the latest rules regarding masks and travel.

‘Shakedowns’ are at center of former Fall River mayor’s federal corruption trial, prosecutors say

Former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia betrayed his constituents by extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements Monday in Correia’s federal corruption trial.

Giant ‘Happy Birthday’ letters have been passed around Arlington for months. They’ve become so popular, there’s a waiting list to claim them for a day

A family made the letters back in June. Since then, they’ve been used for dozens of pandemic birthday celebrations in town.

She hasn’t even started work yet, but Stephanie Everett already has one of the toughest jobs at Boston City Hall

The Mattapan lawyer and former state government official was tapped earlier this month to become the executive director of the city’s Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, an office forged amid calls for racial justice after George Floyd’s murder last year by a Minneapolis police officer.

metro

Robert Callaghan showed off his catch while fishing on Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain.

A proposed fee increase for hunting and fishing licenses raises long-term questions about wildlife conservation

With a proposal to nearly double the cost of hunting and fishing licenses, experts are questioning how much longer the state can rely on a dwindling number of outdoorsmen to support an ever-increasing conservation mission.

Firefighter Gerald Alston wins his fight against Brookline — again

RI ARTS

Who painted utility boxes in Providence? The story - and artists - behind them

Sports

Commissioner Rob Manfred said any potential new major league franchises in the future could cost more than $2 billion.

Commissioner Rob Manfred says no expansion plans, but potential new franchises could cost more than $2 billion

During an online discussion with SporticoLive, he estimated the value of any new teams could be equal to the average of current MLB teams.

sports business

Cheers go up among local pro teams as increase in fan capacity is announced

EMass football: Marblehead’s Connor Cronin headlines Players of the Week

business

LEAP jet engines are seen on the factory floor of the General Electric Co. aviation assembly plant in Lafayette, Ind.

GE slips as aviation woes show much remains on Culp’s to-do list

DoorDash offers lower-priced delivery plans amid criticism

Google pressured on racial equity audit after collapse of its AI ethics team

politics

Former US senator Rick Santorum in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 6, 2020.

‘We came here and created a blank slate.’ Rick Santorum, CNN under fire following commentator’s dismissal of Native American culture

Biden to sign $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers

What’s in Biden speech? Lawmakers race to add priorities

Living Arts

Giant Break-Apart Sugar Cookies.

THE CONFIDENT COOK

Recipe: Giant break-apart sugar cookies to celebrate gathering for the first time in a long time in person

Mushroom growing kits are the new sourdough starter

SEASONAL RECIPES

Recipe: Fresh mint shines in this simple dish of angel hair with pecorino

education

A security guard walks the perimeter of the Centner Academy on Tuesday in Miami.

Private Florida school won’t employ vaccinated teachers

Here are the top Massachusetts high schools, according to the 2021 rankings from US News & World Report

Massachusetts orders high schools to resume full-time, in-person learning by May 17

rhode island

Artwork painted on a utility box in an ode to Providence's South Side Broad Street, with a bodega, a Dominican flag, and sneakers walking across a cross walk. Several artists started painting utility boxes in Providence, all under the Avenue Concept, which is an organization that promotes public art throughout the city.

Who painted utility boxes in Providence? The story - and artists - behind them

RI POLITICS

Holding onto two House seats not only helps R.I., it helps Governor McKee

RI BUSINESS

Coastal Medical finalizes agreement to join Lifespan health system

Newton

Volunteers add flower-filled planters at restaurants throughout Newton as outdoor dining returns

Newton-based group showcases women playing jazz from around the world

FROM OUR PARTNERS

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video

Comfort Zone

COMFORT ZONE

On the pages of his dad’s book, ‘The Boy Who Wanted to Rock’ gets his wish

While his scientist wife was working on the rollout of Pfizer's vaccine, keyboard programmer David Weiser of Haverhill wrote a book inspired by the couple's AC/DC-loving 6-year-old.

MUSIC

20 concerts made during quarantine that you can stream right now

Musicians got creative during the pandemic and put on unforgettable performances you can still enjoy without leaving the couch.

YA authors Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka on Harvard and high school love

The real life couple discuss their latest book, filled with hyper-competitive Ivy League longing.

After a lost summer, Jacob’s Pillow will return for a full season in 2021

The June 30-Aug. 29 season will also offer unprecedented online access to most festival programming.

COMFORT ZONE

This musical journey around the globe comes once a month in a box

Berklee grad Safiya Leslie — a singer/songwriter and entrepreneur — is giving world music fans a chance to explore the sounds of a different country each month through her Safiya’s World Music Tour Playlist subscription boxes.

Special Projects

Jeneé Osterheldt

A Beautiful Resistance

Black joy, Black lives, as celebrated by culture columnist Jeneé Osterheldt.

See the full project Follow @abeautifulresistance on Instagram

On the Street

A man repacked the food he got from a food pantry on Broadway in Chelsea. Chelsea has been one of the places in Greater Boston hardest hit by the pandemic.

In tackling the pandemic, Chelsea finds new strength

A mural on the side of the Mayor Bill Carpenter Garage in Brockton.

Brockton offers a gateway to a new generation

Evening light sets upon stores and restaurants on Hancock Street in Quincy Center.

This time, Quincy Center’s revival looks legit

See more from our business series ‘On the Street’: The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods

More

PROJECT TAKEOUT | DEVRA FIRST

Get takeout. It’s your civic duty.

Ordering dinner will help small local businesses survive the pandemic. But that’s just the start.

Boston Globe launches ‘Fresh Start’ initiative: People can apply to have past coverage about them reviewed

Similar to “right to forget” programs that have cropped up across the country, the undertaking is meant to address the lasting impact that stories about past embarrassments, mistakes, or minor crimes, forever online, can have on a person’s life.

Boston Globe Spotlight Report

Boston’s hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level

Hospital chiefs and trustees defend this as boosting public-private partnerships, but critics say these board positions — some paying millions of dollars — raise troubling issues of conflict of interest and hospital priorities.

Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Edward J. Markey

America needs a Civilian Climate Corps

How far will Biden’s handling of the pandemic take him when it comes to achieving other priorities?

At 100 days, Biden is competent on COVID-19, but otherwise ‘meh’

A man walks through the Broadway East neighborhood on Oct. 14, 2020, in Baltimore, Md.

Michael Poulson

Biden’s infrastructure plan must curb structural racism

Army Reserves veteran Honoree Mary L. Anderson was honored with an Outstanding Woman Veteran Award during the Women Are Veterans Too! ceremony at the State House in November 2007. Since Massachusetts’ overall veteran population is far more diverse than that at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home, diversifying Holyoke’s population should be an explicit goal for the future.

Who gets to live in a new Holyoke Soldiers’ Home?

A 111 bus heads over the Tobin Bridge from Chelsea to Boston.

Joe Boncore and María Belén Power

By investing in electric Silver Line buses, MBTA would be investing in healthier neighborhoods

Ingrid Zavala, right, with her mother and sister in 1990.

Left behind after my family’s deportations, I still dream of making it in America

STAT

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Subscribe to STAT Plus

We know a lot about Covid-19. Experts have many more questions

More than two dozen virologists, epidemiologists, and others responded to STAT's question about what they still most wanted to know.

Cement Head’s last fight: He was denied parole six times — until he was about to become a Covid-19 statistic

In lawyers' view, the Department of Correction was trying to make it seem like it had fewer Covid-19 deaths on its hands than it really did.

Troubling podcast puts JAMA, the ‘voice of medicine,’ under fire for its mishandling of race

Critics say editors have asked authors to scrub the term racism from their articles even as they publish others that include racist notions.

Despite resistance, researchers investigate the possibility of a new mental health disorder

Many researchers say the study of sluggish cognitive tempo, which is still in its early stages, can’t yet support a formal diagnosis.

magazine

Illustration of a house, key, and outdoor activities to go with a story about how the pandemic has affected the real estate market, causing people to want more space and outdoor space in particular.

Top Spots to Live in Greater Boston in 2021

The Citizens Bank Opera House and Emerson Paramount are among the many performing arts spaces that have been closed because of the COVID pandemic.

Top Spots to Live

City living lost some appeal for condo hunters

Person wearing a "Hello I am ... bored" sticker on their shirt.

Dear Grads: Don’t believe the myth that work has to be a slog

Caramelized pork with orange and sage.

Oranges shine in 4 savory recipes, including a beef stir-fry

sports

Tyrrell Hatton is the No. 8 player in the world ranking.

Tyrrell Hatton fourth golfer to withdraw from Valspar Championship because of COVID

Here are players with local ties who could be selected in the NFL Draft

NHL is preparing contingency plans for the playoffs

metro

Janey announces updates to Boston’s reopening plan

Baker relaxes outdoor mask mandate in Mass., announces timeline for reopening bars, other businesses

Watch live: Janey gives an update on Boston’s reopening plan

Nation

Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., Wayne Kendall, left, and Ben Crump hold a news conference on Tuesday outside the Pasquotank County Public safety building in Elizabeth City, N.C., to announce results of the autopsy they commissioned. The attorneys say an independent autopsy shows that Brown, a Black man, was shot five times, including in the back of the head. Brown was shot Wednesday by deputies serving drug-related search and arrest warrant.

FBI starts probe into death of Black man killed by deputies

Burning Man cancels 2021 festival in northern Nevada desert

Here’s what the CDC says you can do once you’ve been fully vaccinated for COVID-19

World

Palestinian women waited to cross the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem to attend the first Friday prayers in al-Aqsa mosque, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan earlier this month. One of the world's best-known human rights groups says Israel is guilty of the international crimes of apartheid and persecution. Human Rights Watch cites discriminatory policies toward Palestinians within Israel's own borders and in the occupied territories.

Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, rights group says

Austen museum wants to discuss slavery. Will her fans listen?

Prince Philip’s death adds new urgency to UK monarchy’s transition plans

politics

In this Feb. 25, 2015 file photo, the Homeland Security Department headquarters in northwest Washington.

Homeland Security launches review of extremism within agency

Student’s Snapchat profanity leads to high court speech case

Supreme Court to hear case on carrying guns in public

business

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington, D.C.

Biden seeks $80 billion to beef up IRS audits of high-earners

‘There is a general sigh of relief’: Businesses have mixed reactions to Baker’s reopening timeline

Boston employers are embarking on a grand experiment, by shifting their offices to a hybrid model

lifestyle

Vermont Bean Crafters products.

If you’ve been a big bean fan, try a subscription box

Soluna Garden Farm’s herb, spice, and tea blends will kick you out of a flavor rut

Recipe: Spring is here when rhubarb is in the market and you can bake a cobbler with buttermilk biscuits

marijuana

Former Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh hands a pen to then-City Councilor Kim Janey after signing the new marijuana licensing ordinance she drafted at City Hall in 2019.

On 4/20, Boston’s acting mayor turns to marijuana industry for campaign cash

US House passes marijuana banking bill with bipartisan support

With marijuana legal in New York, and other states close behind, will Mass. dispensaries along state borders survive?

opinion

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee voted to uphold a rule that prohibits any kind of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” in Olympic venues and areas.

Black Lives Matter — but not at the Olympics

Off-the-shelf tech makes space exploration cheaper

Kevin McCarthy’s diverting high wire act

food & dining

Giant Break-Apart Sugar Cookies.

Recipe: Giant break-apart sugar cookies to celebrate gathering for the first time in a long time in person

Mushroom growing kits are the new sourdough starter

Recipe: Fresh mint shines in this simple dish of angel hair with pecorino

travel

Outside the Louvre Museum in Paris on Aug. 2, 2020. American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc’s executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday.

EU finalizing plans to allow US tourists back this summer

These 5 Massachusetts hotels made Travel + Leisure’s worldwide ‘It List’

A major refresh for a Conn. inn can mean a major refresh for its guests

Books

Illustration for review of "Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis" by Sehii Plokhy. 25Nuclear; BOOKS; 4-25-21

‘Nuclear Folly’ recalls when we edged close to the brink

Learning from the tumultuous politics of another century in ‘The Age of Acrimony’

Bill Buford on reading and learning from cookbooks

Movies

Director Chloé Zhao, left, with actress Frances McDormand on the set of "Nomadland."

‘Nomadland’ takes best picture at the Oscars, and director Chloé Zhao makes history

Chloé Zhao makes history with best director Oscar win for ‘Nomadland’

‘Another Round’ wins best international film at the Oscars

Television

From left: Dyllón Burnside as Ricky, Hailie Sahar as Lulu, Mj Rodriguez as Blanca, Indya Moore as Angel, and Angel Bismark Curiel as Lil Papi in "Pose."

‘Pose’ starting its final season with head held high

Why a good TV show can fall between the cracks

This week’s TV: A long look at late night, a new ‘Mosquito Coast,’ and the return of ‘Pose’

music

Conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops rehearse their Mother’s Day celebration, which will include a performance by Pops violinist Ala Jojatu and her 16-year-old daughter, Maria.

Boston Pops announces a virtual spring season with six concert streams

What’s new, Tom Jones? Plenty, it turns out

That faint sound you hear? It’s the eventual return of live music

Theater/Dance

Maiesha McQueen portrays a variety of characters in "Until the Flood" at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.

In ‘Until the Flood,’ a portrait of a town and the ravages of racism

After a lost summer, Jacob’s Pillow will return for a full season in 2021

Theater without theater

globe local

Max Ford-Diamond is Boston's tree warden.

He helps put the emerald in the Emerald Necklace

Sagamore Bridge expected to reopen fully Sunday, a month ahead of schedule

Massachusetts authorizes immediate use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Obituaries

Mr. Kaminsky was a “friend of freedom and embodiment of the true hacker spirit,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation said.

Daniel Kaminsky, Internet savior, dies at 42

Manufacturing CEO Beth Williams, ‘one of our brightest lights in the Black community,’ dies at 57

Thomas Brock, whose discovery paved the way for PCR tests, dies at 94