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University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill listens during a hearing of the House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Local Coverage

Dec 9, 2023

UPenn president resigns after answers to Congress about antisemitism on campus draw sharp criticism

The University of Pennsylvania’s President Liz Magill has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

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U.S. and world news

A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. Amini, who also went by her Kurdish name, Jina, died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country's conservative Islamic theocracy. She was awarded the European Union's top human rights prize on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (Cliff Owen/AP)

Iran blocks Mahsa Amini's family from collecting a human rights prize in...

This image made with the Hubble Space Telescope and released by NASA on Aug. 10, 2020, shows the star Alpha Orionis, or Betelgeuse, a red supergiant that is about 700 million light years from Earth. (AP)

A massive star called Betelgeuse will be briefly obscured by an asteroid...

In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese coast guard ship uses water cannons on Philippine navy-operated supply boat M/L Kalayaan as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard/via AP)

Philippines says the Chinese coast guard attacked its vessels for a second...

Shanta Bai is a "debt bondage" worker in the sugarcane fields of India — accepting payment in advance for a certain number of days. Record heat has made it more difficult to put in hours, and drought has hampered the harvest. Earlier this year, she was held captive in a chicken coop with her husband and several others who were told they had not put in enough time to repay their debts. (Ruchi Kumar for NPR)

Captive in a chicken coop: The plight of debt bondage workers

Goi Chee Kong shows a picture of his son Goi Zhen Feng, who died after falling prey to human trafficking, during a press conference in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Sept. 21, 2022. Goi said he believed his 23-year-old son was forced to work for groups involved in online scams. (Vincent Thian/AP)

Online scamming industry includes more human trafficking victims, Interpol says

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio checks tomato plants growing inside the International Space Station for a space botany study. (Koichi Wakata/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency/NASA)

Houston, we have a tomato: ISS astronauts locate missing fruit (or vegetable)

More Boston Headlines

For the first time, the gender wage gap in Greater Boston shrank. But the racial wage gap continued to grow

According to a report released this week from the Boston Women's Workforce Council, the gender wage gap in Greater Boston shrank, while the racial wage gap grew. We talk about...

Radio Boston

15:36Dec 8, 2023

How one expert believes we can do philanthropy right this season

Makeeba McCreary, president of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund and co-author of a WBUR Cognoscenti piece about equitable and sustainable giving, joins Radio Boston to talk...

Radio Boston

Dec 8, 2023

A conversation with Toni Lynn Washington, Boston's 'Queen of Soul and Blues'

Radio Boston talks with singer Toni Lynn Washington and WBUR arts contributor Noah Schaffer ahead of a celebration of Washington's career at Regent Theatre in Arlington.

Radio Boston

11:41Dec 8, 2023

Kalvin Johnson turns a corner in a hallway at TechBoston Academy during track practice last Friday afternoon, passing by a tribute to former President Barack Obama who visited the school in 2011 and cited its “world-class education” program. (Seth Daniel/Dorchester Reporter)

BPS athletes train in hallways because of inconvenient practice times at Reggie Lewis Center, despite agreement

When the Reggie Lewis Center was built officials said there was an understanding that it would benefit the community of Boston first. But practice times for BPS student athletes has...

Education

Dec 8, 2023

A 140-unit development under construction in 2019 in the Newtonville neighborhood of Newton. The city recently passed scaled-back zoning changes to comply with the state's MBTA Communities Act. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Gov. Healey warns cities and towns against disregarding MBTA Communities Act

During an interview on WBUR's Radio Boston, the Massachusetts governor stressed that her administration will take enforcement of the multifamily housing zoning law “very seriously.”

Local Coverage

Dec 8, 2023

The seven justices’ chairs at the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Healey picks Solicitor Dewar for first open Supreme Judicial Court seat

State Solicitor Elizabeth "Bessie" Dewar is Gov. Maura Healey's nominee for the spot on the Supreme Judicial Court bench that Justice Elspeth Cypher is giving up when she retires on...

Local Coverage

Dec 8, 2023

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flips the coin before the first half of an NCAA college football game between Army and Navy in 2021. (Adam Hunger/AP)

What to know ahead of the Army-Navy game at Gillette on Saturday

Army and Navy will line up at the home of the New England Patriots for a day full of pageantry, tradition and a deeply rooted respect that comes with...

Local Coverage

Dec 8, 2023

Mao Zedong stands in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Oct. 1, 1949. (AP)

Menu signed by Mao Zedong brings a quarter million dollars at Boston auction

An official menu for a state banquet signed by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong has been sold for $275,000 by Boston-based RR Auction.

Local Coverage

Dec 8, 2023

Harvard professor to receive Nobel Prize in economics

Her research showed women still face large gaps in pay and levels of employment.

Local Coverage

04:11Dec 8, 2023

The author in a screen grab from a video she took of herself playing the flute. (Courtesy Theresa Okokon)

I thought re-learning the flute would be fun. It turned out to be much more

Theresa Okokon first learned to play the flute in 7th grade. When she picked it back up this year, she was just having fun — sending videos to family, posting...

Cognoscenti

Dec 8, 2023

Radio Boston

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How to shop locally and sustainably for the holidays

Radio Boston talks with Boston Globe senior opinion writer and fashion designer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, who authored a new series arguing that that the textile...

Radio Boston

10:58Dec 7, 2023

Maura Healey in the WBUR studios in 2018. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Gov. Healey talks about what her new economic development plan means for the state

Radio Boston

35:21Dec 7, 2023

Why we keep sending out holiday letters — no matter how stressful it is

Laura McTaggart, contributor for WBUR's Cognoscenti, and local comedian Bethany Van Delft joined Radio Boston to talk about their traditions of sending holiday cards and...

Radio Boston

10:51Dec 6, 2023

Joan Donovan, then-research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, at the Harvard Kennedy School speaks remotely during a hearing on Capitol Hill. (Al Drago via AP)

Why misinformation expert Joan Donovan filed a whistleblower complaint against Harvard

Radio Boston

10:23Dec 6, 2023

More Boston Headlines

Silhouettes of people in the dark looking at a glowing orb of light.

'Solstice' returns to illuminate dark December nights at Mount Auburn Cemetery

A large-scale, luminescent art installation returns this weekend Mount Auburn Cemetery. Last year, in its debut, it attracted more than 8,000 visitors. Now, what started as an experiment, has been...

Arts & Culture

06:19Dec 8, 2023

Rabbi Elaine Zecher of Temple Israel in Boston (Simon Rios/WBUR)

Boston-area Jews celebrate Hanukkah amid strife abroad and at home

David Litvak says he has no reservations about displaying the family menorah. "I'd say right now it's the opposite. I desperately want to show that I'm Jewish."

Local Coverage

05:16Dec 7, 2023

Harvard Medical School, Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Report on Harvard's morgue finds lack of oversight and no policy on handling of human bodies

Outside experts appointed to review Harvard Medical School's morgue operations in the wake of body parts being stolen and sold found the school lacked formal policies and had little oversight...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Man who allegedly stabbed 2 relatives dies in Dedham police custody

A Dedham man, accused of a double stabbing, died in police custody Wednesday night after police discharged a Taser and pepper sprayed him. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Voters check in to vote at the polling station at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Cambridge. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Mass. voter ID ballot campaign falls short on needed signatures

An effort to put a voter identification requirement proposal on the ballot seems to have missed the cut. Organizers behind the campaign say they fell tens of thousands signatures short...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Boston Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione, left, celebrates with Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr. before a baseball game July 2022, in Boston. (Steven Senne/AP)

Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione wins Hall of Fame’s Frick Award for broadcasting excellence

Boston Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione has won the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting. Castiglione, who has called the four World Series wins...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Utility contractors dig up the road above natural gas lines along Dracut Street in Lawrence, Mass. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Mass. outlines new strategy for getting customers and utilities off of natural gas

After 3 years of debating the "future of gas" in Massachusetts, the Department of Public Utilities issued a sweeping order that rejects a gas utility plan to inject renewable natural...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

A home health care worker helps a woman while walking through a park. (Thianchai Sitthikongsak/Getty Images)

Mass. lawmakers approve measure allowing more home health care workers to unionize

The measure, tucked into the state's $3.1 billion supplemental budget, would allow some 4,000 health care workers not currently covered by the union to join.

Local Coverage

02:12Dec 7, 2023

Joel Mackall leads a group of students from the University of London down Long Wharf during one of his Hidden Black History Tours. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

These tours highlight the hidden history of Black Boston

Joel Mackall says Black history in Boston is often overlooked. He's seeking to change that with his tours that shed light on the lives of past Black Bostonians.

Arts & Culture

04:05Dec 7, 2023