Fiscal cliff averted, but not without some GOP dissent

While the bill to reverse scheduled income tax increases passed the House, some prominent Republicans, including majority leader Eric Cantor, voted against it.

Mass. to end placing of homeless in motels

The state government plans to eliminate an emergency shelter program for about 1,700 homeless families.

Latest news

 

Scott Brown

Brown questions Markey’s residency

The jab was directed at Scott Brown’s possible opponent for John Kerry’s Senate seat.

Avis Budget Group Inc. will pay $12.25 per share for Zipcar.

Avis buys Zipcar for $500 million

Cambridge-based Zipcar, which was founded in 2000, went public in 2011 and has more than 760,000 members.

G Cover

Letter from Farm School

A city dweller gets lessons in planting, harvesting, milking — and in the meaning of life.

At The Farm School in Athol, student farmer Sarah Habeck of Middletown, N.J., fed hay to Patience, a Jersey cow, during a morning milking in October.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

At The Farm School in Athol, student farmer Sarah Habeck of Middletown, N.J., fed hay to Patience, a Jersey cow, during a morning milking in October.

Dina Rudick, the wife of Erik Jacobs, squirted milk into the coffee of student farmer Sarah Habeck of Middletown, N.J., while helping out with milking chores.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

Dina Rudick, the wife of Erik Jacobs, squirted milk into the coffee of student farmer Sarah Habeck of Middletown, N.J., while helping out with milking chores.

Erik Jacobs split wood for the farm's wood-fired boiler last month.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

Erik Jacobs split wood for the farm's wood-fired boiler last month.

Farm School staff member Josh Buell demonstrated how to use an angle grinder.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

Farm School staff member Josh Buell demonstrated how to use an angle grinder.

Student farmers cleaned garlic.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

Student farmers cleaned garlic.

In November, a staff member held a slaughtered turkey in a killing cone to let it bleed out.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

In November, a staff member held a slaughtered turkey in a killing cone to let it bleed out.

Tess Morningstar (left), of Hopkinton and Eliza Homes of Orange harvested kale for CSA customers at The Farm School in Athol in October.

Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe

Tess Morningstar (left), of Hopkinton and Eliza Homes of Orange harvested kale for CSA customers at The Farm School in Athol in October.

A classic banh mi at West Roxbury’s Banh Mi Ngon.

Cheap Eats

Sumptuous Vietnamese sandwiches

A quick trip to Chinatown turned into a crawl of six places serving banh mi, a miraculous blend of Vietnamese and French tastes.

JEFF JACOBY

People are truly good at heart? Sadly, no

Human nature has an inherently cruel component, and it’s by controlling ourselves that we can create a better world.

Myra Ameigh and her daughter, Marijke, 16, who had pioneering artery surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Novel artery procedure offers hope

The surgical procedure being pioneered at Children’s Hospital stretches a child’s blood vessels to provide new material to make repairs elsewhere in the body.

Boston Globe ePaper

ePaper

Read the ePaper edition

The complete print edition, in its exact layout. Browse the print edition page by page, including stories and ads.

Globe Insiders

Editorial Event | Jan. 19, 2 p.m.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/27/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/brooklyncastle_onesheet_final_27x40_alt.jpg Exclusive Screening of Brooklyn Castle

See the film and participate in a talk with cast members, moderated by Boston Globe movie editor Janice Page.

Globe exclusives

Christine Richards and a colleague designed Peru’s flag.

More towns creating flags
Cubby Oil’s John Alefantis on a recent delivery. Less than one-third of Massachusetts homes heat with fuel oil, according to census figures.

Fuel oil industry feeling the heat
Senate President Therese Murray is expected to return to the welfare issue in a speech to the Senate Wednesday. It is an issue that made her a force in the chamber in the 1990’s.

Therese Murray planning an ambitious agenda
From the documentary “Hitler’s Children”: Monika Goeth, whose father ran Plaszow Concentration Camp.

Movie Review

‘Hitler’s Children’ documents Nazi descendants
Janice Crean (left) and Lorraine Thomson, founders of WunderSmoothies with a display at Roche Brothers.

This natural fruit juice is really all fruit
A classic banh mi at West Roxbury’s Banh Mi Ngon.

Cheap Eats

Banh mi crawl leads to some great sandwiches
Top row: Kevin White, Helen Gurley Brown, Phyllis Diller, George McGovern. Middle: Mike Wallace, Nora Ephron, Rodney King, Dave Brubeck. Bottom: Chuck Colson, Whitney Houston, John Silber, Don Cornelius.

Remembering those lost in 2012
Jimmy Craig (left) and Justin Parker. The duo behind Fatawesome, who have been friends since high school, had a viral hit with the video “Cat-Friend vs. Dog-Friend,” which spurred some national attention.

G Cover

Trying to ride viral videos to wider fame
Brenda Van Der Merwe, a real estate agent, says she is not making any resolutions. “You should already be doing it,” she said.

Many not making New Year’s resolutions
Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum in a scene from the 1947 film noir ‘’Out of the Past,’’ directed by Jacques Tourneur.

Critic’s Notebook

Let us now praise (not quite) famous men

Books

The year in books

Hometown Heroes: the best local albums of 2012

Sports

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ON FOOTBALL | Midweek Report

Brandon Lloyd beat Miami’s Bryan McCann here, but his route-running has been sloppy.

Patriots offense still has work to do

The Patriots had two terrific second-quarter drives against the Dolphins, but outside of that, New England’s offense was fairly blah.

Metro

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L Street Brownies

Braving frigid waters a New Year’s rite

Over a century of tradition was honored, as roughly 600 hardy souls rang in 2013 with a plunge into the waters off South Boston.

Columnists

Boston Capital

Economy to grow if politics abate

JEFF JACOBY

People are truly good at heart? Sadly, no
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady could face each other again in the AFC Championship game.

Dan Shaughnessy

Get ready for Brady vs. Manning for AFC title
A dancer performs in a New Year’s Eve celebration in Bali Monday.

James Carroll

A new year of pluralism
Bobo’s device measures heart rate.

Innovation Economy

A heart rate sensor that’s easy to wear

Tech Lab Plus

Meet the scale that talks to your phone
Rob Gronkowski scored a touchdown for the Patriots in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins.

Christopher L. Gasper

Worth the risk to play Rob Gronkowski
President Barack Obama greets Chief Justice John Roberts before delivering his State of the Union Address on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2012.

Joan Vennochi

Bipartisan bright spots, met with derision
Congressman Ed Markey won’t be facing the name power of Ben Affleck—who announced he won’t be running—but he still has the chance to act like a star.

Joanna Weiss

Ed Markey needs to find his inner celebrity
In recent years, Boston has reveled in championships by the Bruins, Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics — but it certainly appears that this widespread “golden era” is over.

Bob Ryan

State of Boston’s sports teams in 2013
The Super Bowl is exactly 11 years after the Pats won their first title.

Christopher L. Gasper

Patriots tough enough to make it back to Super Bowl

JEFF JACOBY

Kerry’s ‘realist’ approach slips into callousness

Nation & World

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Free Syrian Army fighters ran for cover at the front line near Menagh military airport in north Aleppo on Monday.

UN says Syrian death toll at least 60,000

An analysis suggests that the death toll from the 22-month conflict is higher than the 45,000 figure reported by Syrian activists.

Politics

Hillary Rodham Clinton was also treated for a blood clot in 1998, while her husband was still president.

Hillary Clinton still hospitalized for blood clot

The secretary of state continues to recover in a New York hospital where she is being treated for a blood clot in her head.

Business

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A bad year for car recalls due to defects did not slow down sales during 2012.

Sales of vehicles helped save US economy in 2012

Vehicle purchases by consumers alone accounted for roughly 30 percent of all economic growth in the first half of the year.

Arts

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Music Review

Lee Fields and the Expressions covered a broad spectrum of soul Monday night that stretched from the pain of loss to playful joy.

Soulful master marvelously runs the emotional gamut

Lee Fields and the Expressions covered a broad spectrum of soul Monday that stretched from the pain of loss to playful joy.

Food & dining

Culinary chef Jesse LaMontagne, left, with his mom, Michele Holbrook, right, posed for a picture in the 'Poparazzi' popcorn bucket set up for customers to take fun pictures, inside her business, Michele's Sweet Shoppe in Epsom, N.H.

Kernels of gourmet goodness are popping up all over

At least five specialty popcorn stores opened this year in Massachusetts and more are sprouting around the country.

Magazine

The cover for the December 23 2012 issue

Bostonians of the Year: Raisman and Harrison

The cover for the December 16 2012 issue

Best of the New: Diversions
The cover for the December 9 2012 issue

The drug lab scandal: Who’s cleaning it up?
The cover for the December 2 2012 issue

5 inspired rooms

Opinion

“All of us are tugged by conflicting moral impulses, and whether we do the right thing or the wrong thing is up to each of us.”

Jeff Jacoby 

Ideas

“An ending has more life in it, more story in it, and is far more instructive than a beginning.”

James Parker, on the things, phenomena, and ideas that ended in 2012 

“Hopefully in the new year, we can put a package like this together with a little less brinksmanship, a little less drama, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much.”

President Obama