Profiles

City Life

Charlie Baker 2.0

Seated in front of me is Charlie Baker, the warmest, nicest, friendliest, most amicable gubernatorial candidate you’ll ever meet. And he will not give a straight answer to a single question that I ask him.

City Life

The Ballad of Buddy Cianci

No one predicted that Providence’s ex-con former mayor would come back for a last shot at his old job. But Buddy Cianci refuses to just fade away.

Restaurants

The Making of a McTopia: Ayr Muir and Clover Food Lab

Armed with a chickpea fritter and mountains of data, Ayr Muir, of Cambridge’s Clover Food Lab, is just a few thousand restaurants short of saving the world.

City Life

Would You Let This Man Go Free?

As a teenager, Greg Diatchenko was convicted of murder and given the mandatory sentence: life without parole. Now science, and the courts, could give him another chance.

City Life

Don’t F*ck with Linda

Linda Dorcena Forry earned the inside track by following a familiar playbook: the one written by the city’s Irish bosses of yore. Already, she’s proving that she’s better at Old Boston politics than many Old Bostonians. And some of them have already learned a hard lesson the old-fashioned way.

City Life

Mayor Marty Walsh Is Cleaning House

New Mayor Marty Walsh has launched a quiet war to fumigate Boston’s most powerful agency—and, in essence, the entire culture of City Hall. As he digs up dirt on city departments, he’s doing more than just taking on a couple of rogue agencies—he’s also taking a blowtorch to the legacy of Tom Menino.

Thomas Hodgson
City Life

Big House, Big Mouth

Ever since Aaron Hernandez arrived at his jail, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has been enjoying the spotlight. But is the lawman’s recent celebrity helping his inmates, his taxpayers, or himself?

City Life

The Krafts Are the Worst Owners in the League

And that league is MLS.

City Life

Will John Henry Save the Globe?

Maybe, but his ambitions are much grander. “I feel my mortality,” he says. So here’s his plan: He’s going to use the time he has left on earth to try to save journalism itself.

Arts & Entertainment

Diane Paulus: Drama Queen

Diane Paulus has saved the American Repertory Theater, for now. But in the process, has she unintentionally corrupted the soul of experimental theater?

City Life

Bob Swartz: Losing Aaron

After his son was arrested for downloading files at MIT, Bob Swartz did everything in his power to save him. He couldn’t. Now he wants the institute to own up to its part in Aaron’s death.

City Life

Anwar Faisal: Lord of the Sties

Anwar Faisal has built an empire renting to the city’s college students, but he hasn’t been so good at making sure his apartments are actually habitable.

City Life

Kelly Ayotte: The Elephant Woman

Can New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte save the national Republican party? Maybe, but first she’ll have to get reelected in her own state.

City Life

Joyce Linehan: The Decider

Joyce Linehan convinced Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate and helped Marty Walsh become mayor. But will the former punk-rock promoter ever take center stage?

Arts & Entertainment

Game Changer: Kevin Levine

Ken Levine wanted to be a screenwriter in Hollywood. Instead he wound up in Quincy doing something much more lucrative—breaking violent new ground in the world’s youngest art form: video games.