Long Reads

City Life

March Madness: The Northeastern Professor Vs. the Sports Betting App

Even if he didn’t realize it, Richard Daynard had taken a risk. On a warm Friday night, the Northeastern University law professor stood in the […]

City Life

This Bike Lanes Story Isn’t Really About Bike Lanes

For decades on Brighton’s Western Avenue, neighbors and others in the know have flocked to Big Daddy’s Pizza & Sub Shop for massive slices of […]

City Life

The Chilling Case of Nathan Carman’s Deadly Fishing Trip

This story is an excerpt from Casey Sherman’s forthcoming book Blood in the Water, published by Sourcebooks and out April 8.  In the early evening […]

City Life

Massachusetts Has a Massage Problem

Jennifer knew exactly what she needed before starting her new job—a day devoted entirely to herself. A 42-year-old pediatric nurse from Roxbury who had accepted […]

City Life

Our Top 10 Most-Popular Stories of 2024

Below you’ll find the 10 most-popular longform stories we published this year, a handy list of things to (re-)read that includes Boston’s in-depth coverage of […]

City Life

The Greater Boston Eviction Crisis Will Hurt You, Too

Morning light spilled over Boston as Noreli Vasquez unlocked the black front door of her brick walkup near Maverick Square in East Boston. Tired after […]

Life & Style

Inside the New World of Luxury Kids’ Parties, Where Parents Are Plus-Ones

Forget the Met Gala—today’s soirees of the century are where VIPs still raid their parents’ closets for couture. From bubble artists to custom teepees to […]

City Life

The Betrayal of Sandra Birchmore

Growing up in Stoughton, Sandra Birchmore idolized police officers. She dreamed of becoming one herself someday and longed to enroll in the town’s Police Explorers […]

City Life

From Heartbreak to Hope: A Maine Father’s Unlikely Journey, One Year After the Lewiston Massacre

Arthur Barnard sits alone in his car just outside a vacant, low-slung building on the edge of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston, Maine. Not so […]

City Life

How October 7 Galvanized Boston’s Jewish Community

Mia was a high school sophomore living north of Boston when her life changed in an instant on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas militants […]

City Life

Eliza Dushku’s Bold New Journey

It was a bright spring day when Eliza Dushku Palandjian slid an eyeshade on and settled onto some cushions on the floor. She squeezed the […]

City Life

The James Rodwell Case: A Somerville Man Fights for His Innocence

The stark lamplights of East Somerville’s industrial district cast an eerie glow on the gold Buick Electra, its engine still purring in the cold December […]

City Life

A Grilled Cheese Mystery: My Search for a Simple Sandwich

I can’t deny that I’ve got major skills, all of which have zero marketability. I can identify a Springsteen song two seconds in. I can […]

City Life

Charlie Baker’s (Still) Got Game

Once upon a time, Charlie Baker says—before he was governor, before he was in politics, before he was anything, really—he wanted to be, of all […]

City Life

The Fractured, Surprising, and Sobering Truth About Kids and Smartphones

It was a miracle: My seventh grader was at the Burlington Mall with friends. I double-parked in front of Nordstrom for pickup, eagerly awaiting tales […]