The photos that helped us tell the stories of 2025
In Massachusetts, national politics felt particularly local this year, as the Trump administration's rapid-fire policy rollout changed daily life and dominated debates about the values of the nation.
Some residents decried what they saw as rising authoritarianism in "No Kings" protests. Immigrants and their families feared for their futures in the U.S. Researchers and academics, suddenly stripped of grant funds, scrambled to try to salvage projects.
But many other local matters cut through the deafening booms out of Washington.
Boston held an election that ultimately locked in Mayor Michelle Wu for a second term. Art installations popped up to implore the public to stop and think, and the School of Honk broke out the trumpets to herald in a decade of its brass band's bold ambitions. And the state kicked off the commemoration of the revolution that founded the country — reenacting the battles of Lexington and Concord.
WBUR photographers were there to capture it all. See the photos that helped us tell these stories this year:
Jan. 13 | More than 20 public art works popped up in downtown Boston in January as part of the "Winteractive," an effort to draw visitors into the heart of the city during the colder months. This piece called "Alouette," created by Brandon Vickerd, imagines the 1962 Canadian satellite as space waste crashed to Earth on the hood of a car on Washington Street.
Jan. 27 | In January, Massachusetts experienced the largest bird flu outbreak the state had ever seen, according to wildlife officials. Strained supplies led to high prices and empty egg shelves, like this one at the Star Market in Somerville.
Jan. 30 | Olympian Nancy Kerrigan and the Skating Club of Boston chief executive Doug Zeghibe spoke to the press after six members of the club — two teen athletes, two parents and two coaches — died in the American Airlines crash near Washington D.C. on Jan. 29. Zeghibe said, "We have lost family."
Feb. 4 | Josh Kraft, president of the New England Patriots Foundation, and son of the Patriots owner, announced that he would run against Michelle Wu for mayor of Boston.
Feb. 5 | Burning embers flew inside the large-scale wind tunnel at a Worcester Polytechnic Institute fire lab where WPI scientists are seeking to better understand how fire behaves under different conditions and how to stop its spread.
Feb. 14 | Protesters gathered at the Parkman Bandstand for the "Stop the Coup" rally on Boston Common, decrying the Trump administration's policies and affiliation with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.
Feb. 23 | Protesters flooded Commonwealth Avenue in Boston for the "Stand with Ukraine" march. Hundreds rallied to mark three years since Russia invaded Ukraine and called for continued U.S. support for the Ukrainian war effort.
March 13 | Wind turbine components for the Revolution Wind project are pre-assembled at State Pier Terminal in New London, Connecticut. The city is one of many in the Northeast that has invested in the offshore wind industry, hoping it will bring jobs, tax revenue and other economic activity.
March 14 | A red-tailed hawk flew free after spending almost four months recovering from rodenticide poisoning at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth. Advocates pushed for a bill to limit where rat poison could be used in Massachusetts.
March 14 | U.S. skating champions Misha Mitrofanov and Alisa Efimova practice at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood for the World Figure Skating Championships. The pair prepared for their biggest competition as their community mourned the death of six people aboard the American Airlines flight that went down in Washington D.C. in January.
March 19 | Tom Furrier repaired a typewriter, surrounded by the antique machines. The Cambridge Typewriter in Arlington, the last typewriter repair shop in the state, closed this year.
March 19 | After 70 years in business, the Allston institution, Twin Donuts, closed its doors. Blank Street Coffee is planning to take over the space.
March 20 | Diggers ripped up White Stadium in Franklin Park. The stadium is undergoing a major renovation that would allow it to be used for Boston Public School student athletes as well as a home for the city's new professional women's soccer team.
March 25 | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Horticulture Director Erika Rumbley threaded a vine of nasturtiums into the museum's courtyard — an annual tradition started by the museum's founder to enjoy the colorful pops for the few weeks they bloom.
March 26 | More than a thousand people filled Powder House Park in Somerville to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention of Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk.
April 1 | Violist Jocelyn Scully and cellist Adam Mandela Walden rehearse with the Music Inclusion Ensemble at the Berklee College of Music.
April 5 | Protesters gathered on Boston Common, joining a nationwide day of demonstrations dubbed "Hands Off Our Democracy" against President Trump and in support of civil rights.
April 19 | The Concord Minutemen crossed the Old North Bridge for a 250th anniversary commemoration of the start of the American Revolution.
April 21 | Kenyans Thitu Muiruri, Amelia Ngatha, Stephanie Walla and Emmanuel Toroitich celebrated as Sharon Lodeki finished first in the women’s division of the Boston Marathon.
April 30 | Artist Caledonia Curry, also known as the street artist Swoon, sat by the Wee Witch Katarina at the Sibylant House installation at the Boston Public Library. The installation was part of the first Boston Public Art Triennial.
May 6 | Kate Logue, a curator at the Martha's Vineyard Museum, looked at the replica of a one-eyed head of Ben Gardner, a character lost to the shark in "Jaws," in an exhibition of the movie's props. The film turned 50 this year.
May 10 | Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk spoke to reporters at Logan International Airport in Boston after six weeks in federal immigration detention. Plainclothes agents picked her up near her home in Somerville; federal officials later cited an opinion piece critical of Israel she co-wrote in the student newspaper as the reason for the detainment.
May 25 | Ali Boreiko played at a School of Honk performance in Cambridge's Harvard Square. The School of Honk, now 10 years old, was designed as an antidote to traditional music education — more concerned with fostering community than hitting perfect notes.
June 5 | Friends and classmates of Marcelo Gomes Da Silva linked arms in a circle after hearing that he would be released from federal immigration detention. The 18-year-old was arrested by federal agents on his way to a high school volleyball practice. He was detained in ICE's Burlington office facility for six days.
June 6 | An adult piping plover walked along Seagull Beach in Yarmouth. The tiny shorebird has made a remarkable comeback in Massachusetts compared to elsewhere on the Atlantic coast.
June 14 | Motorcycles led the Boston Pride for the People Parade out of Copley Square. This year, the Pride parade converged with "No Kings" protests against President Trump. On this day — the president's birthday — Trump hosted a military parade in celebration of 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
June 25 | City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson sat in her seat for her final meeting on the Boston City Council. The councilor resigned after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
July 15 | Republic Services employees held signs on the picket line in Peabody. Hundreds of union sanitation workers went on strike on July 1 as contract negotiations with their company stalled, halting trash pickup in towns and cities across Greater Boston.
July 18 | As Samath Thoeun was being held in ICE detention, his parents, wife and daughter prayed for him in their home in Lynn. Thoeun came to the U.S. as a baby — a refugee of Cambodia.
July 31 | Flanked by lawyers on the staircase of the Massachusetts State House, bar advocate Sean Delaney addressed reporters. Public defenders in Massachusetts stopped taking cases in May over a pay dispute with the state. The state had to dismiss some criminal cases due to lack of representation.
July 31 | A group of people visiting Boston Common gathered under a tree during a brief summer downpour. Some local tourism leaders, elected officials and people who work in the industry said there are fewer foreigners visiting the city this year because of President Trump's policies and comments directed at other countries.
Aug. 4 | Ecologist Joey Negreann and biologist Liana DiNunzio looked down Duxbury Beach to survey migrating shorebirds as part of the "Shorebird Blitz." The annual survey is important for conservation efforts as shorebird populations decline.
Aug. 6 | Texas state Rep. Armando Walle spoke on the steps of the Massachusetts State House. A handful of Texas Democratic lawmakers were in Massachusetts during their effort to prevent a vote on a bill that would redraw Texas' congressional maps in the Republicans' favor.
Aug. 11 | A man lies on a bench in the sun along Memorial Drive on a very hot day.
Aug. 13 | A man prepared to inject himself with a needle and syringe on Southampton Street in Boston. As the troubled area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard continued to be a hotspot for open drug use this summer, some neighborhood residents and workers called for city leaders to act.
Aug. 20 | Andre Strongbearheart Gaines, cultural steward of the Nipmuc Tribe, tended to the fire while burning a traditional mishoon, or canoe, at the Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales. He was chosen as one of WBUR's Makers — 10 local artists of color centering the environment — this year.
Aug. 21 | Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins walked from Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston after pleading not guilty to two counts of extortion.
Sept. 4 | Filmmaker Homa Sarabi stood in the water at Crystal Lake in Newton to film her latest project. Sarabi was chosen as one of WBUR's Makers this year.
Sept. 9 | Mayor Michelle Wu embraced her family at her preliminary election night event at Adams Park in Boston's Roslindale neighborhood. Wu dominated her closest competitor, Josh Kraft.
Sept. 17 | Early in the morning, giant pumpkin grower Steven Connolly pushed a wheelbarrow near a pumpkin he estimated weighs 1,500 pounds.
Sept. 18 | Vigil attendees walk up the stairs of the Boston Common to gather in front of the State House during a prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old right-wing activist assassinated in September.
Sept. 20 | Gilson Duarte Pereira rides Whiskey Bent during the professional division of the bull riding competition at the New England Rodeo at the Rochester Country Fairgrounds.
Sept. 23 | Marissa Molinar, the founder and director of MIDDAY Movement Series, dances at SomArt Space at The Hive in Somerville. She was chosen as one of WBUR's Makers this year.
Sept. 26 | Reporter Simón Rios spoke to volunteers with the group LUCE in a parking lot in Framingham around dawn. They were monitoring and documenting activity by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
Oct. 4 | A Bay State Brawlers jammer breaks through a line of Boston Roller Derby blockers at a roller derby game in Wilmington.
Oct. 18 | Carol Rose, executive director ACLU of Massachusetts, waved to the crowd of protesters gathered on Boston Common for the "No Kings" rally.
Oct. 19 | Extinction Rebellion's Red Rebel Brigade walked along the end of Boston's Long Wharf at high tide to raise awareness of climate change and sea level rise.
Oct. 24 | Bailey, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's dog, dressed as Stephen Colbert for Halloween this year. Warren said she was inspired as Colbert is out of a job next year. She said she is worried that big media companies are trying to curry favor with President Trump.
Oct. 30 | A robot prepared to throw a tennis ball at MIT's Distributed Robotics Laboratory.
Nov. 20 | Walter Cobb, 48, visited a goat on the property of the Carl R. Dahl House in Gardner. The property is part animal sanctuary, part therapy center. Men in recovery from drug addiction and mental health issues do daily chores around the farm and all of them are assigned an animal to watch over as part of their therapy.
From Dorchester, Cobb said he'd never been on a farm before he arrived two months ago. Now, he said, he visits one goat a couple times a day. "It's gotten to the point where he jumps up and lets me hug him," he said.
Dec. 1 | U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton left the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Boston Field Office in Burlington as two people embrace behind him, relieved after one had just finished a check-in with ICE, not knowing whether he would be detained during his visit.
