If you know me, you know I love tennis. I play on two U.S. Tennis Association teams. It’s a stress reliever, and I enjoy the camaraderie that comes with doubles tennis.

But what I’ve never appreciated is the negativity the game sometimes invites. Like what Coco Gauff experienced at the China Open earlier this month.

Or like the racist ...Read more

The fact that Hurricane Isaias didn’t ruin more lives or property is not because Florida got smarter about predicting windstorms. It’s because Florida got lucky.

Isaias is the latest example of rapid intensification. It was a tropical storm Wednesday morning, a hurricane by midnight and 24 hours later, a Category 3 packing 120 mph winds. It...Read more

As voters approach the midterm elections, each party is eager to make the choice seem simple. Democrats point to the cost of living and argue that Republicans have failed to deliver economic relief. Republicans emphasize immigration, public safety and cultural questions, arguing that Democrats have lost touch with the country’s values.

The ...Read more

The rise of “CourtTok” on TikTok and self-appointed “stay-at-home jurors” is amplifying drama and polarization in our justice system — and the Lindsay Clancy mistrial is only the latest firestorm. Social media toxicity surrounding high-profile cases quickly takes on an apocalyptic tone, with many commentators fearing for the future of ...Read more

The Trump administration’s deal to let Russia supply 3 million tons of diesel to the American and global markets is illegal, dangerous and harms U.S. national interests. It undermines our allies, rewards aggression and further cements the position of the United States under Donald Trump as squarely on the side of the bad guys. For all of this,...Read more

There was a moment, around 2015 or 2016, when Tulum was the coolest town on Earth.

Every fashion magazine seemed to billboard the beach retreat on Mexico’s turquoise-water Caribbean coast as a mecca for global trendsetters. “Tulum style” came to describe a distinctive aesthetic — flowing fabrics, linen & crochet, neutral colors, bare ...Read more

It’s election season, and we’re all awash in political ads, some dealing with issues like high grocery prices, others seeking to distract us from those issues. But one topic deserves voters’ attention, whether or not you see it in commercials: the impact that the upcoming elections will have on our health.

When the Trump administration ...Read more

With a month to go until midterm elections, Democrats find themselves in better shape than expected. Odds are, they’ll win the House and perhaps a slim majority in the Senate. Exactly what they’ll do with that power, though, remains a mystery.

On the campaign trail, most of the party’s congressional candidates have been long on rhetoric ...Read more

Next week, we have parent-teacher conferences at school. It’s the end of the quarter, so tensions are high with early deadlines for college applications looming. The stress is palpable. One student let out a sob by my office door because of a missed writing conference for a personal statement.

I could only reschedule it the next week. “But ...Read more

Is “Brad,” the gamer, the new welfare queen?

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently released a video calling for work requirements for those receiving government benefits. To make her point, she featured a young, seemingly able-bodied man at home playing video games. He’s clearly not working — he can’t even be bothered to ...Read more

Here’s something funny. My brother Tom died seven years ago. (That’s not the funny part.)

Tom was a firefighter, like our father and both grandfathers. He was also on the Massachusetts FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force that worked at the World Trade Center during 9/11. He had run into burning buildings. He had saved lives. He had seen...Read more

DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison says it directly at the end of a campaign commercial: “My opponent? He’ll take orders for the biggest fraudster in American history, Donald Trump.”

I was thrilled at last to hear a Minnesota DFLer call out the president’s egregious $2 billion self-enrichment so clearly.

Minnesota Republicans are ...Read more

With not-terrible odds heading into the 2028 Democratic primaries, Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting one shared warning whispered in his ear by roughly 3,729 political consultants right now: Do not mess with the murderers.

Do not, under any circumstance, follow that inner voice that may be telling you to commute the death sentences of the 563 ...Read more

Nearly 40 years have passed since a Californian was president.

Several have pursued the White House in the decades since Ronald Reagan ambled into retirement, in January 1989. But not a one succeeded. Kamala Harris, who was saved from political purgatory when Joe Biden chose her as his running mate, came closest — though not close — in 2024...Read more

Parents dismayed by the sorry state of penmanship, take heart: A decade and a half after most states stopped requiring cursive in public schools, instruction is making a comeback.

More than a dozen states have reintroduced cursive mandates in recent years, New Jersey and Pennsylvania the latest among them. The measures come amid rising ...Read more

The newest trend in tobacco policy is so-called "Nicotine-Free Generation" laws, which ban anyone born on or after a certain date, say, Jan. 1, 2004, from ever buying a commercial nicotine product like a vape, cigarette, cigar or nicotine pouch.

Advocates portray these bans as child protection policies, but it is already illegal to sell any ...Read more

The most fatal, addictive drugs in the world are nicotine and tobacco. Worldwide, nicotine deaths are double the totals from alcohol and illicit drugs combined. In Massachusetts, more than 9,300 people die annually from nicotine use, plus an additional 1,000 from secondhand smoke.

Every day, more than 250 of Massachusetts’ residents turn 21. ...Read more

Recent books and studies have begun to highlight the risks that AI poses to children. This is a good thing. Maybe we’re collectively realizing that we shouldn’t wait a decade after a new technology emerges — as we did with social media — before sounding the alarm.

But kids aren’t the only ones affected by artificial intelligence. ...Read more

Spain's government may become the latest casualty of a housing crisis that policymakers helped create, offering a cautionary tale for America.

This month, Spain's parliament rejected two housing decrees championed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. While the package included some sensible measures aimed at curbing housing speculation, it was ...Read more

A sign of how deeply sports gambling has penetrated the culture is the flock of top athletes and celebrities who have signed on as paid shills for the companies that operate legally in many states, helping to propel the explosive growth of betting platforms. Tom Brady, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Derek Jeter, Sydney Sweeney, Charles ...Read more