BOSTON — The white hot Karen Read retrial is officially underway in Norfolk Superior Court with the start of jury selection this morning.

The Read trial has been anything but quiet since Judge Beverly J. Cannone declared a mistrial last summer. The Herald has guides on what to know and who to know before this second trial gets underway.

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Ukraine’s top diplomat said officials are pressing ahead with the U.S. toward an “acceptable” economic accord hours after President Donald Trump accused Kyiv of trying to renegotiate the deal.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukrainian officials were poring over the latest draft of an infrastructure and natural resources deal sent by ...Read more

WASHINGTON — In a private meeting at a global summit in Buenos Aires in 2018, China's president, Xi Jinping, turned to President Donald Trump and said it was a shame he couldn't stay in power beyond the two-term limit set by the U.S. Constitution. Trump agreed.

It was just one of several instances in which Trump mused over the prospects of an...Read more

Ever since the United States government’s unfulfilled promise of giving every newly freed Black American “40 acres and a mule” after the Civil War, descendants of the enslaved have repeatedly proposed the idea of redistributing land to redress the nation’s legacies of slavery.

Land-based reparations are also a form of redress ...Read more

After climbing for decades, the percentage of Americans with no religion has leveled off. For the past few years, the share of adults who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has stood at about 29%, according to a major study the Pew Research Center released Feb. 26, 2025.

But this hardly means that the “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Samson Tafolo's final count read 119.

For 45 minutes, he had tugged a wagon packed with mini water bottles, hemp cigarettes and miscellaneous hygiene products around Skid Row, handing out the supplies and keeping a tally of everyone he served on his usual route.

Tafolo and other leaders at the Sidewalk Project, a harm reduction...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania teacher vacancies dipped slightly over the last year, but more than a third of all districts in the state still reported at least one vacancy this school year — meaning thousands of kids lacked a permanent teacher, or were placed in larger classes for all or part of the term.

The numbers were starker in schools ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is set to return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to pitch the Trump administration’s take on the next big transportation and infrastructure bill as GOP lawmakers mull topline infrastructure funding levels.

Duffy, who will appear at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is operating ...Read more

Mari Villar was slammed by a car that jumped the curb, breaking her legs and collapsing a lung. Amy Paulo was in pain from a femur surgery that wasn’t healing properly. Katie Kriegshauser suffered organ failure during pregnancy, weakening her so much that she couldn’t lift her baby daughter.

All went to physical therapy, but their health ...Read more

ST. PETER, Minn. — Daria “Dasha” Shyroka is a 19-year-old college student with a naturally bubbly disposition. She’s rarely seen without a smile, even in her precarious predicament: War in the homeland she hasn’t visited since 2021 but could soon see her forced return.

On a recent afternoon the smile was gone and Shyroka sat in a ...Read more

CHICAGO — Monica Mendoza started working on her early childhood education about a decade ago with the dream of opening a day care in her home.

After breaks due to the pandemic and the birth of her third and fourth child, Mendoza, now 38, said she is on track to earn her associate’s degree from Oakton College in May.

She also wants to earn ...Read more

Dr. Fred Levin has been watching with growing alarm the national debate around federal cuts to Medicaid. He’s responsible for the medical care of about 100 older adults at the Community PACE center in rural Newaygo, Michigan. For his patients, Medicaid isn’t just a safety net — it’s a matter of life or death.

“If left to see to their ...Read more

Political campaigns in Georgia would face limits in the kind of personal information they can seek regarding students, particularly minors, under a bill that passed the House on Monday.

The legislation was spurred by a contentious state Senate race last fall between incumbent Shawn Still and challenger Ashwin Ramaswami in a district that covers...Read more

The Georgia Senate passed two bills Monday that would restrict land purchases by citizens of countries considered a threat to the United States and require more transparency about universities that get funding from those nations.

Both bills target China, which Republican senators described as a looming threat the state needed to counter. But ...Read more

A $20 million grant meant to strengthen a Nevada tribe’s poor access to electric power and clean water has been suspended, delaying construction timelines.

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded the money to the Nevada Clean Energy Fund in December — one of 84 projects in that round of so-called Community Change Grants. With the money,...Read more