First Run News

DATA: Twitter Daniel McLaughlin / Globe Staff © 2017 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

For pols who shunned Donald Trump’s candidacy, 2017 has been an annus horribilis. Except, of course, for Governor Baker.   Some Boston residents received a poll in recent days asking questions about a hypothetical matchup between Ayanna Pressley and Michael Capuano.  capital source The endorsement comes at a critical time for candidate Jay Gonzalez.  One of the City Council’s most high-profile acts of the year still sits in the hands of Mayor Martin Walsh.  capital source Wednesday’s meeting was the council’s last of the year, before a new council is sworn in on Jan. 1.

For pols who shunned Donald Trump’s candidacy, 2017 has been an annus horribilis. Except, of course, for Governor Baker.   Language put into the tax bill late in the process clearly benefits President Trump’s vast real estate empire, and gives him a large tax break.  With a shutdown clock ticking toward a midnight Friday deadline, congressional Republicans scrambled on Wednesday to finalize a must-pass spending bill.

For pols who shunned Donald Trump’s candidacy, 2017 has been an annus horribilis. Except, of course, for Governor Baker.   Language put into the tax bill late in the process clearly benefits President Trump’s vast real estate empire, and gives him a large tax break.  With a shutdown clock ticking toward a midnight Friday deadline, congressional Republicans scrambled on Wednesday to finalize a must-pass spending bill.

A new fight over abortion has thrown a late obstacle into negotiations on the year-end stopgap spending deal days before a possible government shutdown. House Republicans say two ObamaCare measures that Senate GOP leaders are expected to attach to the stopgap as part of a deal with Sen.

Senate Majority Leader MORE (R-Ky.) is hailing 2017 as a year of major Republican accomplishments, dismissing the unpopularity of the Republican tax bill as the influence of “left of center” press coverage. The anticipated passage of tax reform gives McConnell and his party a much-needed triumph at the end of  a year in which the GOP has at times struggled to govern.

When you slice into a salami, you are enjoying the fruits of some very small organisms’ labor. Like other dried sausages, salami is a fermented food. Its production involves a period where manufacturers allow microbes to work on the ground meat filling to create a bouquet of pungent, savory molecules. Traditionally, the bugs find their way to the sausage from the surrounding environment.

Uber lost a major legal battle on Wednesday, when the European Union’s highest court declared that the ride hailing app must comply with tough rules governing traditional taxi associations, a significant setback for a company already grappling with a string of scandals. The decision by the European Court of Justice, that Uber is a transportation company rather than an online platform that simply matches passengers with drivers, could thwart Uber’s expansion plans in the region, by making it pay costly licensing fees and employee benefits. Uber will have to start treating drivers more like taxi

The Democratic wave that rose on Election Day in Virginia last month delivered a final crash on the sand Tuesday when a Democratic challenger defeated a Republican incumbent by a single vote, leaving the Virginia House of Delegates evenly split between the two parties. The victory by Shelly Simonds, a school board member in Newport News, was a civics lesson in every-vote-counts as she won 11,608 to 11,607 in a recount conducted by local election officials. Ms.

Mile for mile, rail travel is much safer than road travel, but it depends crucially on keeping the trains on the tracks — and on keeping those tracks clear and in good repair. Amtrak is not always great at that. Federal Railroad Administration statistics show that in recent years Amtrak has had an average of about two derailments a month, accounting for about one-quarter of all the accidents it reports.