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EDITORIAL

When zoning is a buzzkill

MARCELA GARCÍA

Why is Question 4 so confusing?

When yes means no and no means yes.
Sandy Lish and Evelyn Murphy

Year of the Woman in Massachusetts? No thanks.

Instead let’s continue to make progress toward gender equity.
NEWSLETTER

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A new weekly Globe Opinion newsletter about the future of transportation in the Boston area and across New England.

Renée Loth
Proxy battles on the Massachusetts ballot
Much of the energy — and the money — that might otherwise have gone to candidates is gravitating to statewide referendums instead

Kimberly Atkins Stohr
Supreme Court wetlands ruling could hit communities of color like a tidal wave
At most risk are the people whose lives, livelihoods, and cultures depend on the very waters federal regulators seek to protect from development, pollution, and destruction.

Kenneth Rogoff
The scandal rocking the chess world
In early September, American upstart Hans Niemann crushed world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. The game itself was shocking not because Carlsen lost but because it is exceedingly rare to have the world’s top player defeated in such a smooth, one-sided fashion.

Kerry Donahue
Focused federal relief fund spending can help avoid long-term harm to BPS students
National data last month revealed two decades of progress in advancing student learning were erased in just two years, most dramatically for Black and Latino students.

letters

Winter is coming, and the power grid strains

Thanks for the donation to BU med school, but did it have to come with a name change?

New era of Boston zoning under Mayor Wu?

Mass. police departments’ progressive efforts not to be overlooked

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Finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing
EDITORIAL

Future-proofing the presidency

Donald Trump brought our democracy to the brink and exposed its weak spots. Here’s how to thwart the next American tyrant.
Read more →

Editor's picks

Joan Vennochi
With Ricardo Arroyo and the women who backed him, the #MeToo fever has broken
From Elizabeth Warren to Michelle Wu, powerful women are inclined to first give the benefit of the doubt to a man accused of sexual misconduct — if that man shares their politics.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr
To help close the wealth gap, put more money into Black and brown wealth managers’ hands
Of the roughly $69 trillion in wealth that is professionally managed in the United States, 98.7 percent is managed by firms owned by white men. You read that right: Firms owned by women and people of color control only 1.3 percent of that pie.

IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.
Soaring housing costs, a broken T, and other existential problems require sweeping fixes that meet the moment.

IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
How the MBTA went off the rails
Nearly everything about Boston has changed in the past few decades, yet the T has the same big problem — a failure to prioritize the rider experience above all.

Cartoons

public health
EDITORIAL

Patients’ rights in the Live Free or Die state

IDEAS | CATESBY HOLMES

The latest COVID booster is recommended for pregnant women, so why don’t more of them know that?

LETTERS

Biden brings cancer fight to the fore

climate crisis
Oliver McPherson-Smith

Empty promises won’t end green slavery

IDEAS | ROBIN CHASE

The joyful and planet-friendly mobility of e-bikes

IDEAS | TONNY ONYULO

Something is wrong with the official definition of famine

education
Kerry Donahue

Focused federal relief fund spending can help avoid long-term harm to BPS students

IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI

A bitter lesson in Dedham schools

Pamela Paresky and Samuel J. Abrams

An ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality on campuses turns potential friends into allies — or enemies

securing democracy
Michael Li

Multiracial democracy is under threat at the US Supreme Court

SCOT LEHIGH

It’s a moment to praise Mitch McConnell

IDEAS | JENNIFER E. RIZZO

My local polling station has become a hostile environment

technology
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER

A warning from China’s surveillance state: It could happen here

Chris Miller

The chip war is reshaping world politics

IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER

Democrats are losing on a key battleground — the meme wars

civil rights
Kimberly Atkins Stohr

Supreme Court wetlands ruling could hit communities of color like a tidal wave

EDITORIAL

Time to get ‘Perla’ before a grand jury

Victor Shi

There is no home for Asian Americans in the Republican Party anymore

Community Voices
LETTERS

Birthday cards about aging: the joke lands with some, not others

LETTERS

‘Give us your huddled masses,’ say Massachusetts residents

LETTERS

A student nurse at MGH in 1950s, she still recalls how Dr. Austen reassured her

Globe Opinion Columnists & Contributors

Newlsetters

Editorials

When zoning is a buzzkill
Boston’s strict beekeeping regulations show how the city’s intricate web of zoning rules can often do more harm than good.

It’s great to see city councilors unite. But did it have to be for a pay raise?

So much for squabbling and infighting. The City Council voted unanimously to boost its own pay.

A new home run champion

Yes, it was a Yankee who earned the title. But everyone who loves baseball has reason to celebrate the way Aaron Judge did it.

An early morning phone call, a tragic decision by DOC

Adam Howe’s life ends in an avoidable chain of events that should prompt multiple probes.

Time to get ‘Perla’ before a grand jury

Many questions remain about whether laws were broken in the transfer of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.

Letters

Thanks for the donation to BU med school, but did it have to come with a name change?
Couldn’t the two names — of Dr. Aram Chobanian and donor Edward Avedisian — have been put on one, two, or three buildings? Did they have to rename the entire school?

Winter is coming, and the power grid strains

Demand response programs were successful in California this summer to reduce or prevent blackouts during heat waves. However, they would be almost entirely new to utility customers in our region.

New era of Boston zoning under Mayor Wu?

Residents have the Zoning Board of Appeal to thank for their not having to fight for on-street parking after working a second shift, or not having a tall, out-of-context building shadowing theirs.

Mass. police departments’ progressive efforts not to be overlooked

Massachusetts has been, and remains, at the forefront of police reform. For example, the Cambridge Police Department has been at the vanguard of developing critical programs that have become integral to policing around the country.

Induction cooktops are getting our attention

A recent article touched on many of the benefits of using induction cooking as opposed to fossil fuels. I want to add one of the most important benefits: health and safety.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

How do we memorialize the pandemic?

As the United States neared its one millionth COVID-19 related death, artists, architects, and community leaders are calling for a permanent memorial to honor all those touched by COVID. Globe Opinion asked several artists for their vision of what a COVID memorial could look like.
Explore the rest of the project →
Letters
An archive of conversations with the experts writing thought-provoking Globe Opinion op-eds and Ideas features.
The Boston Globe Opinion section and MIT's AgeLab present The Longevity Hub, an ongoing series seeking to spark Greater Boston's transformation into the Silicon Valley of aging.
Finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing
EDITORIAL

Future-proofing the presidency

Donald Trump brought our democracy to the brink and exposed its weak spots. Here’s how to thwart the next American tyrant.
Read more →
Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing

EDITORIAL
A battle for affordable housing in Massachusetts
The Globe editorial board's 2020 series on the need for inclusive housing reform in Newton and across the Commonwealth.

Brave New Planet is a podcast that delves deep into the most exciting and challenging scientific frontiers, helping us understand them and grapple with their implications. Dr. Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, is host.
Political coverage often focuses on voters who oscillate between political parties in a few key swing states. Here we feature perspectives and opinions from and about demographics of Americans — young voters and Black and brown voters —who swing between voting and not voting.
From voter suppression to gerrymandering to foreign interference, the integrity of US elections is under attack. In a three-part weekly series, Globe Opinion examines how the nation arrived at this moment and what needs to be done to protect voting rights.

Trapped: Why the GOP's death is imminent

The Republican Party is destroying itself. Thomas Patterson of the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center explains the five traps the party has set for itself and warns that the party's future is in peril without reform.

Black voices now

Globe Opinion seeks to amplify the perspectives and the voices of Black community members, scholars, activists, doctors, teachers, business leaders, students, and parents as op-ed and letter writers, and as innovators and provocateurs featured in Globe Ideas. Here we feature Black voices from the community amid the historic protests following the killing of George Floyd. We aim to amplify yet more Black voices going forward.

Legal Lens documentaries

Law and documentary film may seem far apart, but they actually share many connections. With the guidance of filmmaker and producer Joseph Tovares and support from the Hewlett Foundation, 12 Harvard Law School students from eight countries have worked since January on the Legal Lens project. You can view the films here on BostonGlobe.com.

Choosing, using, and losing your health care: A policy first-aid kit

In a four-part weekly series, Globe Opinion offers a baseline assessment of health care as well as prescriptions for fixing the industry.

Journalists are not the enemy

A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.”
National Student Essay Competition winners announced