Today's column:

Breaking news: Barney Frank, who was a decades-long fixture in Massachusetts Democratic politics and became the first member of Congress to publicly come out as gay voluntarily, has died. trib.al/WdEzmjw

As Dallas pulls out the stops for the World Cup this summer, one makeover is causing an uproar: the sudden disappearance of a beloved, giant mural downtown of swimming whales.

SoFi Stadium workers threaten to strike if ICE isn't banned from World Cup games

@bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/19/s...

The MBTA letter suggests that the state is moving forward with the plan to close down that stretch of Summer Street with or without the city’s buy-in. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/18/m...

If hostilities continue beyond June, those confronting acute hunger will swell beyond 363 million people worldwide, an increase of 45 million compared with before the war, the World Food Program warned. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/b...

My latest @theguardian.com on how FIFA is a shameless purveyor of greenwashing. The 2026 World Cup is not only the most politically combustible tournament in modern history, but it is also on track to be the “most polluting” World Cup ever.

Boots Riley’s zany movies combine pop aesthetics with radical politics. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Video surveillance released by the MBTA shows Steven McCluskey, 40 lay at the bottom of the escalator for about 20 minutes before someone called for help, with several patrons doing little to nothing to help and no one hitting an emergency button. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/15/m...

They were shackled and sent to Congo by the Trump administration. Now they face a dangerous choice: Go back to Latin America or stay in Africa.

Cities and states are covering a lot of the costs of this summer’s World Cup, and have few options for bringing in much revenue. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Boston Police, the Suffolk District Attorney, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have all looked the other way. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/14/o...

Unions helped Maura Healey become governor. Some worry they are no longer a priority. I spoke to more than a dozen union leaders, who described behind-the-scenes tension and a lack of enthusiasm. My temperature check on the governor’s race: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/14/m...

Lexington is among the municipalities and organizations still waiting for FIFA to issue the licenses needed to host 2026 World Cup watch parties this summer.

NEW: Federal officers and agents who arrest immigrants as part of their work with ICE may be at FIFA World Cup matches when the tournament gets underway in the U.S. next month, according to two DHS officials.

FIFA — already accused of squeezing millions from soccer fans — is facing a new charge: acting like a party crasher, spoiling the festivities the World Cup is supposed to inspire. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/13/m...

Harvard University's top leaders likely enslaved thousands of people between the founding of the school in 1636 and the defeat of the Confederacy, according to new research.

The regional water authority wants to continue dumping sewage into the Charles River, Mystic River, and Alewife Brook for decades to come.

A Single Infusion Could Suppress HIV for Years, Study Suggests. A study of a few patients, to be presented this week, showed promise for a type of gene therapy that has already cured some blood cancers, by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/h... via @nytimes.com

In Hungary, jubilation marks Péter Magyar's inauguration as prime minister

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/08/m... Massachusetts schools are not required to tell parents when children are placed in a timeout. Advocates contend that the use of flowery language to describe these spaces only makes it even harder for parents to find out they exist.

NEW: ProPublica identified at least 79 children who’ve been left screaming, unable to breathe, or otherwise hurt by tear gas and pepper spray during Trump’s historic immigration crackdown.

It is the first documented coyote on Alcatraz since the island was transferred to the National Park Service in 1972. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...

If preparing for a World Cup were itself a soccer match, with host cities competing on the pitch, then the City of Brotherly Love would be trouncing much of the field — including its rival 300 miles to the north. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/06/m...

Have you experienced a long wait at an emergency department in Massachusetts? We want to hear from you.

The Minnesota Star Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of a shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church last summer.

In survey of NIH-funded researchers, 14% said immigration changes had forced scientists, students, postdocs to turn down jobs in their labs. www.statnews.com/2026/05/04/t...

Cuba's pocket-size government ration book has been circulating for more than six decades. It once offered a bounty of products that have dwindled as the island's economic crises deepen. A growing number of Cubans depend on state grocery stores in the socialist country of nearly 10 million people.

SNAP has 645 case workers to answer 20,000 calls per day. One woman called FIFTY times. This is a travesty. WTF are we doing here? By @ktkjohnston.bsky.social

At least 16 American military sites have been damaged in Iranian strikes, making up the majority of US positions in the Middle East. www.cnn.com/2026/05/01/w...

May 1 was established as a national holiday in Poland in 1950 and became a centerpiece of communist propaganda, defined by mass parades and staged displays, before gradually turning into a symbol of resistance as anti-government protests grew in later decades.

Modern randomized controlled trials often rely on marginalized populations abroad. www.statnews.com/2026/04/27/m...

From August 2022 through August 2025, state officials identified 20 instances of workers engaging in sexual misconduct with children and young adults who were or had been in their care, according to a Globe review of state records.

This is a good way to make a bad situation worse

A Lebanese journalist wounded in an Israeli airstrike that killed her colleague describes hours of agony as they waited for help.

When DOGE arrived at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the operatives had no real background in nuclear issues. They boxed out experienced hands, forcing resignations and massive exodus of talent. Over 400 people have since left or been forced out. Our full story: https://propub.li/3OBQMwk

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, a Globe photographer has uncovered never before seen frames of life in the final days of the Soviet Union and East bloc. Here's what she saw.

Removing all four hydroelectric dams became the largest project of its kind in U.S. history. Within just 10 days of the deconstruction, 6,000 salmon were seen migrating upstream into their historic habitat. thestoryexchange.org/this-earth-m...

The #WPPh2026 Photo of the Year is ‘Separated by ICE’ by Carol Guzy, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald. It documents the human cost of family separations by ICE in the United States. Read more: worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo-contest/2026/Carol-Guzy/2

Exclusive: Over 120 leading U.S. civil rights groups warn that potential World Cup visitors are "vulnerable to serious harm" due to the Trump gvt's policies. WH officials call claims "absurd" and "left-wing scare tactics". www.nytimes.com/athletic/721...

From Boston Globe Magazine: It’s been more than four years since Jan Hogan and her husband, Chris, saw their son. He's one of many people who seem to have disappeared into the chaos of Mass Ave. They wonder if he can be found. trib.al/aaqWJnC

“The FBI’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” said Joseph Kahn, the newspaper’s executive editor. apnews.com/article/kash...

In Boston’s crowded Chinatown, buses arrive every 20 minutes to cart locals to somewhere they’re treated like royalty.... They’re headed to the casinos. Once there, visitors are offered access to tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in gambling credit wamu.org/story/26/04/...

Globe photojournalist Stan Grossfeld explores how photography has become a blessing for a functionally blind photojournalist and disability advocate who is hell-bent on making a difference.

In more than two dozen interviews, veterans from Greater Boston to the hill towns of Western Massachusetts said it has become increasingly difficult to access treatment through the Veterans Health Administration. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/21/m...

A Polish Warning for Post-Orbán Hungary: ‘We’ve Been Here Before.’ www.occrp.org/en/feature/a...

“There’s a demarcation line with George Floyd’s murder and the protests that followed; it’s extraordinarily clear that something happened… this is not something that is limited to Minneapolis. It’s happening all over the country.” www.startribune.com/law-enforcem...

Polish communism was also defeated, in the end, by an election. www.thefp.com/p/orbans-ous...

Ojalá estadios vacíos en USA. Es lo que merece el Mundial más infame de la historia (y eso que ha habido un puñado en marcos lamentables).