Brian MacQuarrie

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Brian MacQuarrie

BROOKLINE — Late-winter sunlight slanted through the second-floor windows of the set-back home where former governor Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, have lived for 60 years. He apologized for not rising to meet a guest, extending a hand and flashing a warm, broad smile beneath a full head of thick, gray hair. “I’m sorry for not being a little more welcoming,” Dukakis said in a strong, genial voice. But at 91 years old, some days are better than others, he added with a what-can-you-do shrug.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Brian MacQuarrie

President Trump’s blunt-force attempts to shrink the federal government could soon be tested on the battlefields and historic sites in Massachusetts that are expecting millions of visitors this year for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Already, national parks in the state are said to be reeling from a rapid flurry of staffing cuts, a halt in critical seasonal hiring, and plummeting morale among workers as a result of the administration’s actions.

2 months ago | bostonglobe.com | Brian MacQuarrie

SALEM -- Four days shy of its 250th anniversary, the important but little-known Revolutionary standoff called Leslie’s Retreat played out with similar results Saturday morning on the cold, ice-caked streets of Salem. Nearly 100 smart-stepping British regulars, bayonets fixed to their muskets, marched up North Street and onto a downtown concrete overpass, fifes and drums playing as 21st-century traffic whizzed by underneath.

2 months ago | bostonglobe.com | Brian MacQuarrie |Emily Spatz

It’s on the sidewalks, in the streets, coating doorsteps, and glistening in ubiquitous menace atop what once was snow, then slush, and then a high-alert peril for even the most prudent pedestrian. It’s ice, and it seems to be everywhere, making even a run-of-the-mill stroll to the corner or the parking lot a challenge to remain upright.

2 months ago | bostonglobe.com | Brian MacQuarrie

The pounding pace of change, both rhetorical and real, has been relentless since President Trump assumed office less than a month ago. There have been government firings and layoffs, funding freezes, tariff battles, talk of “owning” Gaza, attacks on diversity programs, and the budget-razing blitz directed by Elon Musk. “Do I like what I’ve seen in the first few weeks? Actually, I’m going to be happy for the next four years,” said David Farias, an unenrolled voter in his 50s from New Bedford.