The Boston Globe

Four RMV workers fired after 2,100 Mass. drivers got licenses ‘without taking’ road tests, officials say

The state Registry of Motor Vehicles has fired four employees after determining some 2,100 motorists received driver’s licenses in Massachusetts without taking road tests, officials confirmed Tuesday.

‘Incredibly encouraging.’ Coronavirus level in Eastern Mass. wastewater is down 98 percent from peak

The level of coronavirus detected in sewage in Eastern Massachusetts has continued to plummet, suggesting the Omicron-fueled surge is still dwindling.

COVID-19: THE LATEST

Study shows Omicron sub-variant no more severe than first strain; Police ticketing, warning truckers to leave Canada’s capital

12:20 p.m.
Japan isolation period to be cut to 3 days
12:11 p.m.
‘Game-Changer’ Pfizer pill increases in supply as Omicron fades away

Burnt out, she quit her job in the ICU. After a fall off a cliff in Puerto Rico, she’s now a patient herself.

Beth Callahan lies intubated in a San Juan hospital intensive care unit after she slipped atop a waterfall and fell into the pool below during an excursion on the island last Wednesday.

Why Democrats might keep the majority in the Senate next year after all

The bottom line: Democrats are defending fewer seats, and they’re doing so with incumbents.

Man arrested for vandalism at Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, police say

A man claiming to be related to the Kennedy family was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly vandalizing the storied political clan’s compound in Hyannisport.

A worker cleared snow at Faneuil Hall during the snowstorm in downtown Boston on Jan. 29.

CHESTO MEANS BUSINESS

Mayor Wu confronts a big challenge: Bringing people back downtown

When Omicron hit, city officials put the issue of downtown on hold. But the question is resurfacing now that we’re on the back side of the COVID-19 surge.

With Omicron on the wane, consumers are edging back out into the world, but carefully Does this new masking guidance mean Mass. is marching back toward some version of normal?

Union members hold signs during a press conference last month protesting Mayor Michelle Wu's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers.

Unions take victory lap in COVID-19 vaccination tussle with Mayor Michelle Wu

Multiple questions about the future of the mandate linger, but, for the time being at least, members of the three labor groups who are unvaccinated will not face the threat of termination thanks to Tuesday’s appeals court ruling.

Beijing Winter Olympics

dan shaughnessy

Not hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics is the best thing that never happened to Boston

The problems of the Beijing Winter Games only reinforce what a bad idea it would have been for Boston to host an Olympics.

US men’s hockey knocked out of Olympics after losing to Slovakia in penalty shootout See more coverage of the Olympics

Downtown’s Harvard Club will soon be biotech headquarters

The club where Ivy League alumni once mingled over three-martini lunches will soon be the global headquarters of a biotech company.

A man holding a television remote.

Angry that your cable bill went up again? Here’s how to save.

The costs of Internet service, equipment rentals, fees, and taxes can add up. But you can pay less, while possibly getting more, by taking charge of how live TV gets into your house.

From left: Will Noonan, Corey Rodrigues, and Orlando Baxter in a scene from "Salesmen."

In the new indie film ‘Salesmen,’ four Boston comics are knocking at the door

Orlando Baxter, Will Noonan, Corey Rodrigues, and Tooky Kavanagh form an ensemble in the locally shot feature-length movie.

This sturgeon showed up on Revere Beach on Monday.

Strange-looking fish washes up on Revere Beach

Erik Haigh lives in Revere and was walking on the beach when he came across the large fish, which was at least five feet long and completely out of the water.

Opinion

Glasnost on Beacon Hill

The House is scheduled to actually hold a vote on a controversial proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers licenses, after two decades of killing the idea behind closed doors.

IDEAS | JASON PACK

When the US shrinks from the stage, things fall apart

What does immigration status have to do with a driver’s license?

Contemplating curling — and other Winter Olympics observations

Mitch McConnell’s no longer useful idiot

Tonight at 8 p.m.

Join us for a conversation about student mental health on college campuses

The Globe is holding a Twitter Space Wednesday at 8 p.m. to hear from students about how college leaders and society as a whole can better support their mental health needs.

Dragon Breath ramen from Red White.

PROJECT TAKEOUT

3 places we supported this week

Want to order from local, independent restaurants? Here are some suggestions from Globe staff.

See more from Project Takeout

More recent stories

One person dead, two firefighters injured in Chelmsford mobile home fire

One person died and two firefighters were injured in a mobile home fire in Chelmsford early Wednesday morning.

Foxborough students charged with assaulting transgender North Attleborough student

Two teens were charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, assault and battery to intimidate, and a civil rights violation, authorities said.

Dave Epstein | Forecast

Record-breaking temperatures are possible Thursday as windy weather blows in

High pressure from the Arctic has been keeping us cool the past few days but as this system moves east, the winds will flip and start coming from the south with warmer air.

Prosecutors urge longest prison term in Varsity Blues bribery scandal for Lynnfield parent

Prosecutors recommended a 21-month prison term for John B. Wilson, 62, a real estate and private equity investor to be sentenced Wednesday in US District Court in Boston on charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false tax return.

Love Letters

He’s very into me. He’s also married.

We work together and got along really well. But then I asked about his marital status.

Miss Conduct

My partner went behind my back. Can I trust him?

I asked him not to complain to my friend about the condition of his apartment when he let us stay there, but he did it anyway.

Recommended reads

A section of Long Wharf was flooded during high tide during the snowstorm in downtown Boston on Jan. 29, 2022.

Northeast is likely to experience more than a century’s worth of sea level rise from 2000 to 2050, report finds

By 2050, sea levels in Boston and elsewhere in the Northeast are likely to rise about 16 inches higher than they were in 2000 — significantly more than they have risen over the previous century, according to a new federal report.

DEVRA FIRST

Wanderlust comes to the kitchen

What better way to relive past travels, and fantasize about future ones, than to create the tastes we remember and hope to experience one day?

Waffle war: Attleboro restaurant sues Garrett Harker’s Eastern Standard Provisions over recipe

The Burgundian restaurant, Eastern Standard Provisions, and restauranteur Garrett Harker are in a tussle over Belgian Liège waffles that appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things list.

What does it say about your neighborhood if the supermarket isn’t so super?

A mother-and-daughter team went comparison-shopping at five Boston-area locations of Stop & Shop to see what grocery store shelves revealed about inequity in America.

video

Culture & Lifestyle

Jake Blount, now based in Providence, was awarded the 2020 Steve Martin Banjo Prize.

Jake Blount is bringing old-time music to new audiences

Portuguese-Style Rice With Kale and Plum Tomatoes.

Cooking | Magazine

Recipes: Sturdy and sweet, kale amps up the flavor and texture of 3 dishes

Vintage Lee grew up in Roxbury and she'd like to give back.

Roxbury rapper Vintage Lee considers the possibilities, for herself and her community

Zendaya as Rue in season 2, episode 6 of "Euphoria."

Season 2, episode 6 of ‘Euphoria’ was all about forgiveness. Here are some noteworthy moments.

Special Projects

Into the Red illustration.

Into the Red: How the Globe will cover climate change

To report on the most pressing issue of our time, the Globe’s climate team is expanding and rethinking its coverage.

Under the wheel

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

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.

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Opinion, ideas, and commentary

Members of the Ukrainian State Border Guard patrol along the border fence at the border crossing between Ukraine and Belarus on Feb. 13 in Vilcha, Ukraine.

Senate needs to hurry up on Russia sanctions

A social media post falsely claiming to show Jill Biden with Fidel Castro is displayed on a smartphone in Weston, Fla., on Oct. 15, 2020. Misinformation proliferates first online and is often shared on WhatsApp, which is particularly popular among Latino immigrants.

MARCELA GARCÍA

Taking on the scourge of online Spanish-language misinformation

Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Michelle Wu

While Baker stands up to police, Wu surrenders to unions

Members of the New York City Police Department carry flags, including one with the rainbow colors, during New York's Gay Pride Parade, June 30, 2013, in New York.

Passing the Equality Act will ensure LGBTQ civil rights

Thomas Koonce speaking at his commutation hearing before the Governor's Council on Jan. 26.

Thomas Koonce and William Allen have earned their redemption. Others deserve a second chance.

IDEAS | ELIZABETH SVOBODA

Loving sports can make you a better person

Metro

Coronavirus Live Updates

Study shows Omicron sub-variant no more severe than first strain; Police ticketing, warning truckers to leave Canada’s capital

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

The fate of Rhode Island’s health care industry is about to be decided

A merger decision between Lifespan and Care New England could be coming within weeks as other hospital groups shift priorities

Rhode Island political news: February 2022

Regular updates about Rhode Island politics and political leaders.

Unions take victory lap in COVID-19 vaccination tussle with Mayor Michelle Wu

Multiple questions about the future of the mandate linger, but, for the time being at least, members of the three labor groups who are unvaccinated will not face the threat of termination thanks to Tuesday’s appeals court ruling

Sports

The TD Garden has been a destination site for the MIAA semifinals for the TechBoston boys' basketball team and many other programs over the years.

MIAA BASKETBALL

No state basketball semifinals at TD Garden in March, but MIAA will continue to eye future options

Citing inequities, and logistics, of a 20-game semifinal slate for boys’ and girls’ basketball in the new statewide tournament — in contrast to the eight North/South semifinals previously held on the Garden’s parquet floor — the state association is pursuing alternate venues.

Zu Yhi (left) and Eileen Gu both grew up in California and are competing for China in the Winter Olympics. But the reaction to their success — or their failures — is drastically different.

Two Chinese-American stars competing in Beijing. Two opposite reactions.

Both Zhu Yi and Eileen Gu grew up in California and are competing for China in the Winter Olympics. But the praise heaped on Gu, and the scorn directed at Zhu, highlight how hard it can be to have a complicated identity.

Governor Charlie Baker (at the podium) and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (right) at a press conference in January 2015, after Boston was picked by the USOC as its bid city for the 2024 Summer Games.

dan shaughnessy

Not hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics is the best thing that never happened to Boston

The problems of the Beijing Winter Games only reinforce what a bad idea it would have been for Boston to host an Olympics.

2022 WINTER OLYMPICS

2022 Winter Olympics: See tonight’s primetime schedule

Olympics: See the men’s hockey schedule

Dunkin’ signs its first college athletes to endorsement deals

Business

The fate of Rhode Island’s health care industry is about to be decided

A merger decision between Lifespan and Care New England could be coming within weeks as other hospital groups shift priorities

‘Game-Changer’ Pfizer pill increases in supply as Omicron fades away

As the Omicron wave peaked in the US last month, the first-line treatment for high-risk patients with early COVID dangled out of reach for most. Only a trickle of the new Paxlovid pill from Pfizer was reaching hospitals and pharmacies.

Wall Street is back in office while its DC regulators stay home

States loosen COVID rules despite scientific uncertainty

STAT

Listen to our "First Opinion" podcast

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Listen to our "Readout LOUD" podcast

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Subscribe to STAT Plus

‘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.

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.

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.

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

A copy of the discarded note the author found.

I found a love note meant for someone else

A photo illustration of smoke coming from a gas stove.

There’s an invisible air quality threat lurking inside our homes

I caught COVID from my boyfriend’s sister. And now she’s mad at me!

Mustard-Braised Chicken With
Tarragon served on egg noodles.

Recipes: A Valentine’s Day menu with French inspiration

metro

A view of the Kennedy Compound from Eugenia Fortes Beach.

Man arrested for vandalism at Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, police say

Rhode Island crime news: February 2022

Four RMV workers fired after 2,100 Mass. drivers got licenses ‘without taking’ road tests, officials say

sports

Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, competed in the women's short program during the figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, in Beijing.

Kamila Valieva has two legal boosters on Olympic forms, undercutting claim that she accidentally injested banned substance

A former Bruin sent Team USA home without a men’s hockey medal

Josh McDaniels bids farewell to Patriots, calls fans ‘the epitome of resilience and the definition of support’

business

Airbnb beats the pandemic with ‘best year’ yet; shares jump

Toast stock plunges as tech firm’s profitability declines

Downtown’s Harvard Club will soon be biotech headquarters

politics

A pedestrian walks past a San Francisco Unified School District office building in San Francisco.

San Francisco recalls 3 members of city’s school board

Why Democrats might keep the majority in the Senate next year after all

Biden orders release of Trump White House logs to Congress

Nation

Sewage arriving at the Deer Island treatment plant on Boston Harbor is tested for traces of coronavirus. The results have been very encouraging.

‘Incredibly encouraging.’ Coronavirus level in Eastern Mass. wastewater is down 98 percent from peak

Study shows Omicron sub-variant no more severe than first strain; Police ticketing, warning truckers to leave Canada’s capital

States loosen COVID rules despite scientific uncertainty

World

People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walked on the street in Tokyo on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022.

Japan isolation period to be cut to 3 days

‘Game-Changer’ Pfizer pill increases in supply as Omicron fades away

Europe heads toward a new normal as final COVID curbs unwind

opinion

Eric Lander listens as President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event on Jan. 16, 2021, in Wilmington, Del.

How do you solve a problem like Eric Lander?

Mitch McConnell stuck his neck out, but leave his spine out of it

Thomas Koonce and William Allen have earned their redemption. Others deserve a second chance.

lifestyle

The creative team at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel, Maine, is busy planning for a 2022 season of live music, outdoor movies, and special events.

More accessible travel, better lighting for travel, and more adventurous travel

He’s very into me. He’s also married.

San Francisco recalls 3 members of city’s school board

food & dining

Fried smelts at Kava.

5 restaurants to visit when you want to get away

Wanderlust comes to the kitchen

A zest for limoncello and other Italian inspired treats

travel

The creative team at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel, Maine, is busy planning for a 2022 season of live music, outdoor movies, and special events.

More accessible travel, better lighting for travel, and more adventurous travel

Going to Disney over February break? Here are the mask rules.

Hadar Busia-Singleton on fresh pasta, her Nintendo Switch, and memories of Miffy

Arts

Ms. Herrera, shown in 2009, painted abstract geometric shapes in Paris and New York all but unnoticed for most of her long life.

Carmen Herrera, Cuban-born artist who won fame at 89, dies at 106

‘Frida,’ the latest immersive show to land in Boston, is a spectacle — but is it art?

Remembering Todd McKie, a painter known for his bright palette, dark humor, and friendship

Books

‘Moon Witch, Spider King’ turns African fantasy on its head

She follows her hunches for what to read next

The creation and the critique in ‘Pure Colour’

Movies

From left: Will Noonan, Corey Rodrigues, and Orlando Baxter in a scene from "Salesmen."

In the new indie film ‘Salesmen,’ four Boston comics are knocking at the door

If these pink walls could talk . . .

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes tapped to host the Oscars

Television

Von Miller and the Rams were victorious on Sunday night.

Rams’ Super Bowl win hauls in largest viewing audience since Patriots beat Falcons in 2017

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes tapped to host the Oscars

Season 2, episode 6 of ‘Euphoria’ was all about forgiveness. Here are some noteworthy moments.

music

Mr. McDonald, performing with Foreigner at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1978.

Ian McDonald, of the bands King Crimson and Foreigner, dies at 75

Jake Blount is bringing old-time music to new audiences

Violinist Randall Goosby brings top-tier talents to Boston

Theater/Dance

Loretta Greco was formerly artistic director of San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

Loretta Greco named artistic director at the Huntington Theatre Company

Marianna Bassham’s brilliant disguises in ‘People, Places & Things’

Elma Lewis brought Boston’s thriving Black arts scene to the national stage

globe local

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden.

Newly appointed Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden will run to permanently succeed Rachael Rollins

Newton to lift mask mandate for indoor public places Friday, Feb. 18

3-alarm fire damages roof, solar panels at Newburyport printing company

Obituaries

P. J. O'Rourke.

P.J. O’Rourke, outspoken political satirist, dies at 74

Ian McDonald, of the bands King Crimson and Foreigner, dies at 75

Carmen Herrera, Cuban-born artist who won fame at 89, dies at 106