Mark Arsenault

Jan 29, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Mark Arsenault

A confirmation hearing by the Senate Finance Committee into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services opens today. Here’s a primer on what’s important:It’s hard to keep them all straight – which Kennedy is this? With that familiar toothy smile, RFK Jr. looks the part of a scion of his family’s political dynasty, but this is not your father’s Kennedy. He is the son of former US attorney general Robert F.

Jan 27, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Mark Arsenault

We experience climate change personally and most poignantly when a cascade of events finally catches up with us. Consider this sequence:A changing climate leads to freakier weather – storms that are more destructive and more frequent, rising seas and heavier precipitation that exacerbate flooding, heat waves that dry out vegetation, and longer droughts that make the land more vulnerable to fire. Storms, floods, and wildfires lead to homeowners suffering vast and catastrophic damages.

Jan 24, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Mark Arsenault

It was billed as the largest deportation effort in US history, a massive, sweeping deployment of federal might and resources to identify, hunt down, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants who had come from Mexico. But this wasn’t the mass expulsion plan crafted by President Donald Trump. This purge started 70 years ago, under another Republican president: Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Jan 22, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Mark Arsenault

President Donald Trump campaigned in part on the economy, and one day into his second term he buttressed the pen, ink, and paper industries by signing a historic stack of proclamations, pardons, and 26 executive orders. Those executive orders seek to remake major slices of American life without the input of Congress, while undoing 78 of his predecessor Joe Biden’s executive orders.

Jan 17, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Mark Arsenault

Good morning. I’m Mark Arsenault, filling in as the main Starting Point writer this month. Today we’re looking at the performance of the state’s flagship casino.But first, today’s top news stories:The Supreme Court will release one or more opinions at 10 a.m. today, and one of them could be whether Congress’ TikTok ban is constitutional. The Biden administration said it does not have the authority to delay the ban, but will not fine any companies who violate it.