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Malfunctioning electric space heater caused fire that killed 19 people in New York City, fire commissioner says

A malfunctioning space heater sparked a fire that filled a Bronx apartment building with thick smoke, killing 19 people, including nine children, Sunday in New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades.

Manchester Police load strips of insulation into the back of a truck at 77 Gilford Street as part of the investigation into the disappearance of 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery. The home is the last known residence of the child , who hasn't been seen in more than two years.
Police return Sunday to home where missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery once lived
Around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, a pair of officers could be seen removing strips of insulation and large tarps from the small Gilford Street property and loading them into a police truck. They left about 10 minutes later.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

Citing staffing shortages, Mayor Wu advocates for flexibility in remote learning

A health care worker at UMass Memorial Medical Center tended to a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. The virus continues to tax hospitals.
COVID may become endemic — meaning the virus and its mutations may never disappear
Even if the virus is defanged, it will no doubt still pose potentially grave threats to the elderly and medically vulnerable. Still, large institutions and government agencies have quietly begun to grapple with the question of how the country learns to live with COVID-19.

Bridget Everett in HBO's "Somebody Somewhere."
TV CRITIC'S CORNER

What I’m watching this week: the debut of ‘Somebody Somewhere,’ a ‘Ray Donovan’ movie, new family dramas, and a superhero spinoff

Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert tells you which five shows he'll be checking out this week.
Jason Ortiz looked out from his makeshift housing at New Market Square during Friday's snowstorm. Earlier outreach workers from the Boston Public Health Commission and the Pine Street Inn had made a wellness check on Ortiz and his girlfriend.

At Mass. and Cass, word is spreading: The tents are coming down and housing is available

Already, social workers have started to relocate people, including more than a dozen who were set to settle in Friday at the nearby Roundhouse hotel. Another 10 people have been set up at pop-up cabins in Jamaica Plain.
People make their way toward a lift at Saddleback Mountain in Maine earlier this month.

With its ski resort open again, everyone is rooting for Rangeley, Maine

The story of the turnaround at Saddleback Mountain reads like a small-town fairytale.
Opinion
How the filibuster used to be, as depicted in the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
JEFF JACOBY

The filibuster has been bad, but repealing it would be worse

Democrats angling to change the system might soon come to regret it.
More than two dozen countries make voting a civic duty akin to jury duty.
IDEAS | Miles Rapoport and Alex Keyssar

How to boost voter turnout to nearly 100 percent
Activists attend a "Defend Democracy" vigil near the US Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6.
LETTERS

A still-smoldering injustice at the Capitol
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani in Vienna on Dec. 27.
EDITORIAL

If the US can’t hold Iran, it must know when — and how — to fold
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Can Mayor Wu really make the T free?
Mass. coronavirus at a glance
Vaccinations
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Trend:
1+ dose received:
Fully vaccinated:
Cases and deaths
Total cases:
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Total deaths:
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Other resources:
Last updated: . NOTE: Mass DPH releases data Monday-Friday starting July 2021. Mass. population of 6,892,503 is used to calculate vaccination percentages. SOURCE: Mass. Dept. of Public Health
Special Project

UNDER THE WHEEL

This is the story of Anthony Pledger and his mother, of Anthony’s lives and deaths, of Anthony and me.

More recent stories

Omicron whips through the workforce, pushing overstretched staffs to the brink

Restaurants are shutting down. Construction jobs are being delayed. Retailers are limiting hours. And some small business owners are at the breaking point.

27 people are rescued off floating ice chunk in Wisconsin bay
Authorities rescued 27 people Saturday from a floating chunk of ice that broke away from shore in the bay of Green Bay in northeastern Wisconsin.

Springfield police fatally shoot man who allegedly stabbed officer in face

Springfield police were sent to Liberty and Cass streets around 8:30 a.m. Sunday in response to a report of a man who pulled a knife on a victim, police said in a statement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi opens door to virus aid in spending plan as Omicron surge continues
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there’s an “opportunity” to add federal coronavirus relief aid to a package of legislation funding the government as a February deadline looms.

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson will seek reelection
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of former president Trump’s biggest backers, announced Sunday that he will seek reelection in the battleground state, ending months of speculation about whether he would go for a third term.

Michael Lang in a 2019 photo.
Michael Lang, co-creator of the Woodstock music festival in 1969, dies at 77
Woodstock was billed as “three days of peace and music” in the summer of 1969. Michael Lang was one of the people who helped to organize and promote the event, which attracted roughly 400,000 people to the hamlet of Bethel, about 50 miles northwest of New York City.

THE GREAT DIVIDE ⟶

See the latest from our education team focused on race, class, and opportunity in schools.

RHODE ISLAND ⟶

See the latest from Globe Rhode Island.

NEWTON ⟶

See the Globe’s expanded Newton coverage in partnership with Boston University.

Recommended reads

Long COVID testing lines at the Mercantile Center in Worcester.

What if you catch the flu and COVID-19 at the same time? Here’s what we know about ‘flurona’

Recent reports of coinfections of COVID-19 and the flu, known as “flurona,” have people searching for answers.

Hassan Addulle got his first COVID-19 test from nurse Christian Ernst at the Whittier Street Health Center on Jan. 5, 2022.
From skiing to shopping to testing, here’s what you need to know to stay safe during Omicron
Information is proliferating almost as fast as the virus itself, and it can be hard to keep up. So we asked questions and experts offered advice.

Sidney Poitier appeared with Lilia Skala in a scene from the 1963 classic, "Lillies of the Field."
Oscar winner and groundbreaking star Sidney Poitier dies
He was the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw.

Ben Affleck, left, in "The Tender Bar."
Ben Affleck talks about ‘The Tender Bar,’ sobriety, and what it’s like being ‘the guy from Boston’
With “The Tender Bar” starting to stream on Amazon Prime Jan. 7 — it opened in theaters last month — we asked the Cambridge native if he had a few minutes to chat. He said sure.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Steve Aoki (pictured in July 2021 at Lollapalooza in Chicago) performs Jan. 8 at Big Night Live and Jan. 9 at Mémoire.
THE TICKET

Things to do around Boston this weekend and beyond
Aaron LaVigne (left) as Jesus and Tommy Sherlock as Pilate in "Jesus Christ Superstar."
STAGE REVIEW

A ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ with swagger, but imbued with sorrow
Mohammed Al-Kinani's story is included in a new book of Maine immigrant experiences. (Lilit Danielyan)
NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS

A poet’s funny, poignant memories and a new book of Maine immigrant experiences
Khao soi (center), tonkotsu ramen (right), and pho tai at the Soup Shack in Jamaica Plain.
FOOD

January is National Soup Month. Here are 16 must-stop spots for soup in the Boston area

Special Projects

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, then president of Brigham Health, brought a Boston delegation in April 2018 to celebrate the opening of the Boao Evergrande International Hospital in China, constructed in a new medical tourism hub.
Spotlight team report

How Brigham Health helped create a Chinese hospital for elites — and almost nobody came

In a deal worth millions with Chinese developer Evergrande, a Harvard teaching hospital risked its reputation on what would become a near-empty shell.
An older lobsterman passed by Tanner Lazaro as he hauled up his traps in his boat, Used N Abused, on Aug. 24. During the summer Tanner hauled his own traps on whatever days his mentor Frankie Thompson or another lobsterman didn't need his help.

The lobster trap

The plentiful catch that brought wealth to fishing families is at risk, as climate change warms the Gulf of Maine. A way of life is on the line, but lobstermen can't, or won't, imagine another.
Jeneé Osterheldt

A Beautiful Resistance

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

‘On the Street’: The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods

The changing face of Greater Boston neighborhoods.

Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Alex Beam

Omicron gives new meaning to calculated risk
Anna Soto (left) watches her son Lyancer, 8, joke with Joseph Chaparro, 8, before receiving a COVID-19 vaccine during a Thanksgiving party at La Colaborativa, in Chelsea, on Nov. 23.
EDITORIAL

Vaccination rates for Massachusetts children, ages 5-11, are a ‘tale of two states’
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
RENÉE GRAHAM

Confusion is also a COVID-19 variant. The CDC is spreading it.
President Joe Biden speaks in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington on Thursday, marking one year since the deadly assault on the Capitol. President Biden denounced former president Donald Trump for promoting lies and tearing down American democracy because he could not stand the fact that he lost an election, accusing his predecessor of putting his own interests ahead of the country’s.
SCOT LEHIGH

Biden’s powerful warning about democracy
Health care workers put in a dialysis line in a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester on Dec. 2.
Kevin Tabb, Kate Walsh, Anne Klibanski, and Michael Dandorph

Hospitals are doing their part on COVID-19; we ask the public to do theirs
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Can Mayor Wu really make the T free?

Metro

Coronavirus Live Updates

Citing staffing shortages, Mayor Wu advocates for flexibility in remote learning

The latest news and guidance on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in New England and beyond.

Worcester street renamed for police officer who drowned during rescue attempt

Skyline Drive, the road that leads to Green Hill Park, was renamed Officer Manny Familia Way, Worcester police said on Facebook Thursday. A street sign is already in place with the new name.

Speed limit reduced on Mass. Pike as icy roads, freezing rain lead to crashes across state

State Police reduced the speed limit on the Massachusetts Turnpike from Westfield to the New York line to 40 miles per hour Sunday, as slick, icy roads caused crashes throughout the state.

Michael Lang, co-creator of the Woodstock music festival in 1969, dies at 77

Woodstock was billed as “three days of peace and music” in the summer of 1969. Michael Lang was one of the people who helped to organize and promote the event, which attracted roughly 400,000 people to the hamlet of Bethel, about 50 miles northwest of New York City.

Sports

The NFL playoffs start with the wild-card weekend.
NFL Playoffs

Patriots playoff scenarios: Where things stand if the Patriots lose to the Dolphins

Three playoff spots are still up for grabs as matchups, dates, and times are set ahead of wild-card weekend.
Mac Jones looks to pass in the early going of Sunday's game against Miami.

Duke Johnson touchdown makes it 24-10 Miami late in the third quarter

Can the Patriots finish the regular season in style with a win in Miami?
Nathan Chen had a fall and a stumble but still won his sixth consecutive US figure skating championship in Nashville.
US MEN'S FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP

Nathan Chen wins sixth straight US figure skating championship

Ilia Malinin of Vienna, Va., was the surprise second-place finisher.
Bruins notebook

Nick Foligno (lower-body injury) unlikely to play against Capitals
Patriots

Patriots Isaiah Wynn, Rhamondre Stevenson injured in first half, but Stevenson returns in second half
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIP

Georgia’s defense looking for redemption in rematch against Alabama

Business

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tests positive for COVID, office says

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democratic congresswoman, has tested positive for Covid-19, her office said in a statement.
TALKING SHOP

Autonomous tech comes to Polar Park, and two salons open in Greater Boston

The Worcester ballpark debuted a retail store that sells snacks and memorabilia without any scanning or checkout lines.

The state wants to redo the Hurley Building. But how?

Pelosi opens door to virus aid in spending plan as Omicron surge continues

STAT

Dr. Monica McLemore, Associate Professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department at UCSF, stands for a portrait at the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on Friday, September 10th, 2021 in Oakland, Calif.
‘Health equity tourists’: How white scholars are colonizing research on health disparities
A STAT investigation shows that researchers with little or no background or training in health equity research are rushing in to scoop up grants and publish papers.

Covid winter illustration
Winter is coming, again: What to expect from Covid-19 as the season looms
STAT spoke with infectious disease experts and others about what to expect from Covid-19 as the seasons change.

Funeral goers sing during a service for Daisy Pace at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in January 2021.
DISTANCED: Pandemic stories of Black life in the rural South
Photographer Bethany Mollenkof spent six months documenting the impact of Covid-19 on residents of rural Black communities in the South.

Boston, MA -- 05/12/21 -- Dr. Matthew Carty examines patient Jerry Majethic at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital on May 12, 2021, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Kayana Szymczak for STAT)
Groundbreaking arm amputation surgery makes a ‘phantom’ hand seem real
The procedure aims to restore proprioception, the ability to sense where our limbs are in space and how fast and forcefully they’re moving.

magazine
It's been 50 years since the groundbreaking kids' show "Zoom" debuted on WGBH.
Television

In 1972, the kids took over TV on the first "Zoom" to enter our homes
Local history

The roller-skating heroes who fought racism in Boston
Love Letters

My fiance thinks my dress is too short for our courthouse wedding
Peruvian Quinoa and Corn Chowder (Chupe de Quinoa)
Cooking

Recipes: Keep that resolution to eat better with 3 quinoa dishes

metro

Manchester Police load strips of insulation into the back of a truck at 77 Gilford Street as part of the investigation into the disappearance of 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery. The home is the last known residence of the child , who hasn't been seen in more than two years.

Police return Sunday to home where missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery once lived

Citing staffing shortages, Mayor Wu advocates for flexibility in remote learning

Yessenia is ready for a family of her own

sports

Bruin Oskar Steen is a smaller guy but he's not afraid to insert himelf into the frenetic action in front of the net.

With powerful legs and willingness to charge to the net, Bruins’ Oskar Steen makes up for short stature

Vic Fangio out as Broncos coach after three straight losing seasons

After last year’s postseason was scrapped by the pandemic, girls’ gymnastics powers are poised to bounce back

business

Notices informing commuters that there are no Southern train services at London Victoria railway station.

Omicron absenteeism could cause $48 billion hit to UK economy

Mexico breaks daily COVID-19 record with over 30,000 new cases

Mexico breaks daily COVID-19 record with over 30,000 new cases

politics

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson will seek reelection

Navy expands boot camp to sharpen focus on character issues

South Dakota Senator John Thune announces he’ll seek 4th term

Nation

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, left, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a meeting with President Joe Biden and governors about the Covid-19 response in the White House in Washington, Dec. 27, 2021.

As Omicron spreads, CDC seeks to clarify message

Malfunctioning electric space heater caused fire that killed 19 people in New York City, fire commissioner says

Citing staffing shortages, Mayor Wu advocates for flexibility in remote learning

World

A motorist passes by row of closed shops at a market area during an ongoing one day curfew in various market areas of Siliguri on Jan. 9, 2022 as per the directive by the West Bengal government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

India bans election rallies for a week, as virus cases soar

Parties say German vaccine mandate may take months to pass

Pope baptizes 16 babies in Sistine Chapel after year’s break

opinion

Omicron gives new meaning to calculated risk

Mayor Wu sounds a resonant note for the place of music in our lives

Vitriol directed at Mayor Wu reflects problems raging across the country

lifestyle

A screenshot of the browser-based game Wordle

What is Wordle and why is everyone on Twitter playing it?

My girlfriend left after I lost custody of my kids

Oscar winner and groundbreaking star Sidney Poitier dies

food & dining

Green tea and mango ice creams at Toscanini's.

The scoop on Main Street: Toscanini’s returns

McGuirk’s Folly pops up at Middlesex Lounge; Salt + Stone comes to Somerville

January is National Soup Month. Here are 16 must-stop spots for soup in the Boston area

travel

Seth Sikes at Fire Island Pines, N.Y.

Seth Sikes on beach massages, Judy and Liza, and his upcoming show at Club Café

Orbitz switched her Aruba vacation — but not her hotel in Tahiti

AutoCamp lands in Joshua Tree, Skyspace debuts in South America, and a new lodge opens in Stowe

Arts

Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940), "Landscapes and Interiors: Through the Fields, 1899." Lithograph on paper.

‘Hue & Cry’ at the Clark explores controversy of color printmaking in 19th-century France

Mass. and Cass, cast in bronze and on canvas

Actress and advocate Taraji P. Henson is part of the Museum of Science’s upcoming programming

Books

Kathryn Schulz’s memoir ‘Lost & Found’ traces life’s gifts and sorrows

Martín Espada: stacks of books, from poetry to photography

Hanya Yanagihara’s new novel ‘To Paradise’ ponders freedom and loneliness

Movies

Sidney Poitier poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 2, 2008.

The power of Sidney Poitier’s stardom

A list of 20 movies, TV shows, and documentaries to stream during the snowstorm

Ben Affleck talks about ‘The Tender Bar,’ sobriety, and what it’s like being ‘the guy from Boston’

Television

Bridget Everett in HBO's "Somebody Somewhere."

What I’m watching this week: the debut of ‘Somebody Somewhere,’ a ‘Ray Donovan’ movie, new family dramas, and a superhero spinoff

Not really missing the Golden Globes ceremony

A list of 20 movies, TV shows, and documentaries to stream during the snowstorm

music

A Far Cry performing at Jordan Hall on Friday.

A Far Cry’s ‘Firefly’ brought comforting night music, perfect for the darkest days of the year

At BSO, the year’s first notes are new

Antonio Oliart Ros brings artistry to sound recording at GBH and beyond

Theater/Dance

Aaron LaVigne (left) as Jesus and Tommy Sherlock as Pilate in "Jesus Christ Superstar."

A ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ with swagger, but imbued with sorrow

The team that put ‘Mr. Parent’ in a class, by himself

Rather than try to explain Lord Buckley, he becomes him onstage

globe local

Auto shop instructor Louis Beckwith talks about brakes with students during an adult education class at the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers.

Vocational schools offer adults a blueprint for success, with classes funded by the state

A runaway goat is apprehended in Norfolk

Jan. 6 arrests included 11 from New England. A look at who they are

Obituaries

Michael Lang in a 2019 photo.

Michael Lang, co-creator of the Woodstock music festival in 1969, dies at 77

‘A towering figure’ in American law, Harvard professor Lani Guinier dies at 71

Lani Guinier, civil rights champion and Harvard law professor, dies at 71