MBTA to offer free fare day in April, discount in May

The discounts come after the transit system?s persistent problems stranded commuters across the region in February.

Cyclist, pedestrian die in crashes in Cambridge, Boston

Both collisions, which happened separately Wednesday, involved commercial vehicles, authorities said.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/03/11/BostonGlobe.com/National/Images/04657697.jpg Kerry blasts Senate GOP letter to Iran

Secretary of State John Kerry said he was in ?utter disbelief? when he read the letter, calling it a threat to US foreign policy.

Boston Marathon bombing trial

MIT Officer Sean Collier.

Testimony turns to MIT officer?s death in bombing trial

Jurors heard testimony from MIT?s police chief about the murder of Officer Sean Collier.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/03/11/BostonGlobe.com/National/Images/738258d1a4214767b0ef49fb75e2792f-738258d1a4214767b0ef49fb75e2792f-0.jpg Ferguson police chief resigns after scathing federal report

Thomas Jackson had previously resisted calls to step down over his handling of the Michael Brown shooting.

Several people ran along the Charles River Wednesday as temperatures reached into the 50s.

David L Ryan/Globe staff

Mass. sees brief glimpse of spring

Temperatures broke 60 degrees in several Massachusetts towns Wednesday, but winter will return this weekend.

Court officer faces intimidation charge in rape case

A state court officer was arraigned on a charge that he attempted to intimidate a witness who was going to testify against him.

A Glock 21 handgun was shown during the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez Wednesday.

Hernandez held Glock pistol after Lloyd death, gun expert says

Aaron Hernandez held a Glock pistol as he walked through his home minutes after Odin Lloyd was shot, an expert on the guns testified.

The Patriots will likely need to find two new starting cornerbacks to replace Brandon Browner and Darrelle Revis. (Globe Staff Photo/Jim Davis) section:sports topic:Patriots-Colts

Jim Davis/Globe Staff

Patriots have needs, but plenty of free agent options as well

Here?s a position-by-position look at the status of the Patriots in the NFL free agency period.

Janice Sage is offering the Center Lovell Inn to the winner of an essay contest.

Maine innkeeper inundated with inquiries about giveaway contest

Janice Sage is hopeful that entry fees will raise enough money to cover the cost of the 210-year-old Center Lovell Inn.

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Tech lab

Everyone is entitled to personal e-mail, but e-mail isn?t secret

Most e-mail resides not on our own computers, but on somebody else?s.

The FBI searched the shed in Robert Gentile?s Connecticut backyard, believing artwork stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was kept there. // no credit

Does a Conn. shed hold the secrets of the Gardner heist?

On the theft?s 25th anniversary come never-before-revealed details of an aging con man and the FBI?s search of his property.

The L.L. Bean retail store in Freeport, Maine.

Maine retailer L.L. Bean plans to triple its stores

Fresh off a banner year, L.L. Bean says it plans to triple the number of stores it operates in the United States by 2020.

The species, Aegirocassis benmoulae, is named for its appearance and its discoverer.

Marianne Collins/ArtofFact

Does this bizarre creature hold the key to origin of legs?

Scientists have discovered a strange-looking fossil from a creature with flaps instead of fins, a helmet-like head, and a bizarre set of spiny appendages.

brainiac

How to look at the sky and predict the weather

A new book promises to teach interested readers the same prognosticating skills as a retired meteorology professor.

Magazine

Recipes for Irish soda bread with oatmeal

A healthy dose of chewy steel-cut oats makes classic Irish soda bread so satisfying that it?s a meal in itself.

Evan Horowitz

It?s not an opiate crisis, it?s a heroin crisis

While prescription-type opioids still lead to more overall deaths, heroin-related deaths have increased by 172 percent between 2010 and 2013.

Marathon trial podcast

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/02/28/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Advance/Images/podcast.jpg Day 4: A look at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?s writings

This interactive timeline highlights trial coverage and a podcast featuring Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and WBUR reporter David Boeri.

Opinion

alex beam

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/03/11/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/Alex_Beam_150px-1100.png The Marathon bombing show trial

Maybe the millions spent on this pointless prosecution might be better spent on spell-checking names.

The Big Picture

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Big Picture

Return to Selma

A contingent from Boston made their way to Selma, Ala., on a 25-hour bus ride to retrace the steps of those who marched over the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago.