Address Newsletter
Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
A building of crushed glass. Dorchester’s “portal to hell.” Carved stone tablets at Millennium Park.
Six years ago, my colleague Heather Hoop-Bruce and a few other journalists had the opportunity to tour a long-abandoned subway tunnel under City Hall Plaza with the head of the city of Boston’s archaeology team, Joe Bagley.
“It was dark and creepy, especially because there are these big alcoves on the side that were dark and seemed to go on,” said Heather, who is the director of visual strategy for the Globe’s Opinion section. “Boston just has a history of weird, weird stuff and of course, there are weird vibes everywhere.”
After the tunnel tour, Bagley showed the group some other cool (read: creepy) locations. And that sparked an idea: One day, she decided, she would do a project that highlighted some of these fascinating findings.
That day arrived earlier this year. Heather asked the city’s archaeology team for a list of all the oddball items and discoveries they had, and she chose the 10 that she found the most interesting.
The project includes broken dolls found at the bottom of an outhouse at a 19th century school for girls, mysterious contraptions from a North End brothel that hint of a sordid past, and a rotten tooth from the days of much more painful tooth extractions.
During the editing process for this project, Heather said that her editors (who she loves!) removed a few creepy details. For example, she wanted to highlight that the abandoned well under Government Center isn’t fully filled.
“From what I can tell, there’s just a chunk of space there,” she told me. So she wrote, “It’s probably just crammed full of ghosts.” But her editors insisted that detail wasn’t necessary. “It is though,” she said with a laugh. “You know it is.”
The project includes a map where you can find the creepy sites for yourself — if you dare.
FOXBOROUGH The Patriots could have quit on their coach, the Globe’s Chris Gasper writes, but they didn’t give up. Instead, they gutted out a victory over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. (The Boston Globe)
PLUM ISLAND, Mass. An anonymous donor will give $1 million to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the maintenance of the iconic Pink House in Newbury, but only if the agency stops its planned demolition of the house this week. (Boston.com)
BOSTON Free, affordable — and spooky — things to do in the city this week include a Halloween bash, a free performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and ghostly trivia. (The Boston Globe)
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY The university is locking some of its restrooms because of reports of “activity in relation to prostitution.” (The Huntington News)
HYANNISPORT The iconic Cape Cod mansion adjacent to the Kennedy compound is for sale. The asking price: $19.8 million. (The Boston Globe)
RHODE ISLAND Speaking of mansions, top R.I. realtors recommended houses that Globe columnist Dan McGowan could buy if he wins Mega Millions. The options include a Newport mansion with two gorgeous libraries and marble fireplaces. (The Boston Globe)
VERMONT Wood turtles could soon be a threatened species, and the population is facing a slew of challenges such as invasive weeds, black market demand, and increased flooding that drowns the turtle eggs. (VTDigger)
NEW ENGLAND Allergy season is getting longer now that the winters are shorter because of climate change. You can also blame the abundance of ragweed. (The Boston Globe)
SALEM, Mass. Wands remain a sacred instrument for real-life witches. That’s why some are upset that their revered tool is being sold as a toy. (The Boston Globe)
DELHI Thick, toxic smog is enveloping northern India and eastern Pakistan just days before the start of the Hindu festival of Diwali. Air quality across the region is set to worsen as winter smog season approaches. (CNN)
BURUNDI A traditional melodic yodeling greeting done exclusively between women — called akazehe — is fading. Few young people know what it is, let alone know how to perform it. (The Associated Press)
The decision by the billionaire owners of The Washington Post (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos) and The Los Angeles Times (medical inventor and transplant surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong) not to endorse a presidential candidate this year broke decades of tradition and set off a firestorm of criticism and recriminations.
Several notable writers and editors at both papers have resigned in protest, including the head of the LA Times’ editorial board, Mariel Garza, who wrote in the Globe that “the owners of these two newspapers inadvertently illustrated the perils of a second Trump term in stronger terms than we could have done in any endorsement.”
The Post newsroom is said to be in turmoil. Ann Telnaes, an editorial cartoonist for the Post, drew a devastating indictment of the Post’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Both papers have lost subscribers.
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron, who worked for Bezos during the first Trump administration (and was formerly the top editor at the Globe), took to social media to criticize the paper’s decision, calling it “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.” He told Globe media reporter Aidan Ryan that “the pillars of democracy, particularly media institutions, need to stand up for what’s right.”
Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, who now teaches at Northeastern University, called the decision “craven and cowardly” in an opinion piece for the Globe. “That’s journalism’s most important mission: to hold power accountable and give people the information they need to make important decisions,” she wrote. “Casting a vote for president certainly qualifies as one of those decisions.”
And former Globe editor Brian McGrory, chair of the journalism department at Boston University, writes that the Post should change its slogan from “Democracy dies in darkness” to “Reputations are ruined in silence.”
Here’s what media critics and others are saying:
The New York Times: The Times has an inside look at how the Post decision happened, starting in late September when senior news and opinion leaders of the paper first got a hint that Bezos was cooling to the idea of a presidential endorsement. It came during a working visit to Bezos’ sprawling home on an exclusive island in Biscayne Bay. During a discussion about the paper’s opinion section, it became clear that Bezos had reservations about endorsing. But the editors thought he was persuadable.
NPR: Media correspondent David Folkenflik says the decisions not to endorse have stoked fears that news outlets “are preemptively self-censoring coverage” that could offend former president Donald Trump. Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of the news site Semafor, told Folkenflik that it appears the newspapers’ owners are making accommodations in case Trump is elected so they don’t antagonize him and suffer retaliation – especially if they have business dealings with the federal government, as Bezos has.
Reliable Sources: In his media newsletter for CNN, Brian Stelter points out that newspaper endorsements don’t appear to make a significant difference in the outcome of political races. But when a decision not to endorse is made in an effort to appease one of the candidates, that’s a problem. He also referred to “anticipatory obedience,” the situation where people “sometimes try to protect themselves by ceding power and currying favor with aspiring authoritarians.”
Media Buzz: On his media criticism show, Fox News’ Howard Kurtz called the Post decision “a profile in non-courage … an absolute wimping out,” given that the paper regularly tells readers what to think on its opinion pages.
The Guardian: Margaret Sullivan, a Guardian US columnist who writes on media, politics and culture, said there was no way to see these decisions other than as an “appalling display of cowardice and a dereliction of the two newspapers’ public duty.”Sullivan previously was the media columnist for the Post, and she had some strong words for her former employer: “This is no moment to stand at the sidelines — shrugging, speechless and self-interested.”
Columbia Journalism Review: CJR executive editor Sewell Chan was the LA Times’ editorial page editor in 2020 and 2021 and presided over their endorsement of Joe Biden in 2020. While expressing respect for Soon-Shiong as “a decent and thoughtful person” who rescued the paper from “the doomed and recently bankrupt Tribune Company,” Chan pointed out that owning a newspaper carries great public responsibility. “In my view, media proprietors should hire leaders they trust and then let them exercise their judgment,” he wrote. “If the aim here was to insulate the Times from accusations of political bias, it seems this intervention may have had the opposite effect.”
NOTE: The Boston Globe editorial board, which is independent of the Globe newsroom, endorsed Kamala Harris earlier this month.
ELSEWHERE IN POLITICS
Trump’s Madison Square Garden event turned into a rally with crude and racist insults. (The Associated Press)
What is the “red mirage” or the “blue shift” and will it happen this year? (CNN)
Where we share our adventures around New England and rate them for Starting Point readers.
Rating: Bagged (💰) | Tagged (🏷️) | Dragged (❌)

This Armenian and Middle Eastern bakery is serving high-quality baklava that sell by the pound. They’re not too sweet, and if you’ve never been, the friendly owner will give you some tips about the flaky pastries: everything is hand-made (including the butter), how to properly heat them up, and most importantly, don’t refrigerate them. Rating: Bagged 9/10 (💰)
I really dislike touristy activities, but someone visiting me wanted to check out this museum because you get to throw wooden boxes that supposedly contain tea into the water. Although dreading it, I actually had a lot of fun. It’s an immersive and interactive experience with a thoughtful layout. It’s basically the definition of camp, so just lean into it. Rating: Bagged 8/10 (💰)
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Diamond Naga Siu can be reached at diamondnaga.siu@globe.com. Follow her on X @diamondnagasiu and Instagram @diamondnagasiu.
Real Estate
He set out to own Manhattan.
Now he’s coming for Massachusetts.
Celebrity real estate broker/diehard Patriots fan Ryan Serhant is bringing it all back home.
SERHANT., (styled with a period), his real estate brokerage featured on Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan” is expanding to Massachusetts, with a Boston office and “more than 15 agents,” per his Jan. 14. announcement.
“It’s exciting for me to get back to my roots,” the “Million Dollar Listing” star — whose firm deals in million-dollar listings — said.
“Boston is the biggest little city in the world. It’s built on culture, built on the ethos of the original founders of the United States — this get-up-and-go attitude. That’s what I love so much about Boston. It’s in everybody’s blood to get up and go and make things happen.”
A noted workaholic with a get-up-and-go-attitude himself, Serhant spoke of his Boston launch from the back of his car in New York City — presumably with Yuriy the driver, who has his own fandom.
For the initiated, if there’s such a thing as a real estate celebrity, it’s Serhant.
He’s a house-blend of Wall Street and Broadway. A savvy businessman, with the big personality of TV show host — magnetic Andy Cohen it-factor with Bostonian dry humor and an “I can sell ice to a snowman” sales attitude that revs up employees.
Watching “Owning Manhattan,” they look like they’d follow their silver-haired leader into battle if he raised his heavily-braceleted wrist. The knight’s steed? Social media. He’s harnessed the power of Instagram — with some 3 million followers— and social platforms. He also studied theater.
Two years after earning his broker license, he landed on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing,” then got his own Bravo spinoff shows.
In 2020, the author of three books founded SERHANT. He sells New York City apartments that look straight out of “Succession.” He repped Andy Cohen in the sale of his New York apartment, and Dave Portnoy’s Florida home.
Now that he’s “planted his flag” in Rhode Island andConnecticut, he’s expanding his empire back into what he considers his home state. “All my childhood memories” are here, he said. “My first date was at the Topsfield Fair.”
“When you walk to my office in New York City, the first thing you see is a Tom Brady autographed helmet. I have a football from the Falcons/Patriots Super Bowl signed, I have a lot of Patriots gear and jerseys,” he continued.
He took some time to chat about what the Boston office has in store:
You’re opening an office in Boston, but you’ll sell properties all over Massachusetts?
This is our 15th state. We’re starting in Boston with an office in Back Bay. We’re bringing our platform, our AI technology, ourapp, our brands, our production studio, our creative agency … It’s a big moment for us.
We’ll be selling all over Massachusetts. We have a lot of incredible listings that will come to market over the next couple days. They probably won’t be on the website site by Wednesday— the way licensure works, it takes a second. But I love Beacon Hill, the Seaport, South End, and all the neighboring suburbs, North Shore, South Shore. My little brother’s in Walpole. So I’m looking forward to painting Massachusetts SERHANT. blue.
You’re already in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Are you going to expand into other New England states?
They’re on the roadmap, yes.
We have some beautiful properties. We’re growing very fast in Rhode Island. A lot of those agents also have clients in Massachusetts, so Massachusetts makes a lot of sense for us.
Season 2 of “Owning Manhattan” just released on Netflix last month. Any chance we might be in Season three?
“Owning Boston”? Maybe. Depends on the properties. Every season so far, we’ve shown off a little bit outside of New York City. The show is predominantly based in Manhattan, obviously. But, last season we launched some beautiful properties in Miami, and the show came with us to South Florida. So we’ll have to see.
You said your parents moved, but you still have family here. Tell me a bit about your local roots.
I was born in Houston, we moved around a bit, then settled in Topsfield. I went to Proctor Elementary School in Topsfield, then Masconomet Regional for junior high and Pingree [in South Hamilton] for high school. I went to Hamilton College, a liberal arts school in upstate New York.
My dad worked at State Street. My [brothers work in finance]. I was the odd one out who got into real estate by way of theater.
So you learned to drive on Rt. 128?
Hilarious. My first real frustration [with driving] was the Big Dig. Remember the Big Dig?
Oh my gosh. That thing was endless, forever and ever. I mean, learning to drive on those roads is a thing. You go out to the Midwest where a lot of roads are straight, and you’re like, “These people have it way too easy. These roads were not carved by horses in any way, shape or form.”
And how did you get into real estate?
Real estate was never part of the plan. I went to school for theater and for English literature. When I graduated in 2006, my grandfather died and left $20,000 to each [grandkid.] That was the most money I’d ever seen. I was like, “I’m going to go to New York City, do Broadway — that money will last me 10 years.” It did not last me 10 years. It lasted me a lot less.
So I needed a job or I had to move home, which I didn’t want to do. And a friend of mine said “Sales is very similar to the skills you learn in theater. It’s listening to reply, listening to response, memorizing information, being a real human in front of people. Just get your real estate license.” So I did that in 2008.
What do you love about it?
I love that it’s a limitless career. The harder you work, the luckier you get. I love that every day is different. I love that you can be an inventor, a builder, a branded marketer, a negotiator, a therapist all at the same time. It personifies the American Dream.
How did you find your entertainment/celebrity/ real estate broker niche?
I got my real estate license in 2008, and after a year and a half, I went to an open-casting call for a reality show on Bravo, “Million Dollar Listing New York.” I was cast in 2010. We did that for a decade, and that was around the same time Instagram was invented. Instagram and Twitter and Facebook were a way to connect with those show fans, and clients. I was just able to build that profile.
I’m a businessman first, and I use social media and various forms of media to put out our message and our profile.
Will you be coming to Boston soon?
I was just there, actually. My little brother lives in Walpole. He and his wife just actually opened a gym in Walpole called Lifted Fitness, so I went to their opening, and went to one of their classes.
Interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
Lauren Daley is a freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected] and @laurendaley1.
Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
CLEMSON, S.C. — Nick Davidson scored 21 straight points in the first half and finished with a season-high 25 as No. 22 Clemson beat Boston College, 74-50, on Tuesday night to remain undefeated in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tigers (15-3, 5-0 ACC) won their eighth straight game, one day after reaching the Top 25 rankings for the first time this season.
Davidson, the Nevada transfer, accounted for all of Clemson’s scoring in a 21-9 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 32-24 lead.
Clemson started the second half on a 9-2 run. The Tigers were led by RJ Godfrey’s 5 points and extended their lead to double digits.
Davidson’s two foul shots with 9:50 to play extended Clemson’s lead to 21 points and Boston College (7-10, 0-4) failed to respond. The Tigers eventually led by 25 in the second half.
Davidson made 8 of 11 shots from the field, including four of Clemson’s eight 3-pointers. He finished a point shy of his career high, set against Sam Houston State in November 2024.
Fred Payne led BC with 20 points.
Godfrey and Carter Welling each had 10 points and eight rebounds for Clemson.
BC opened quickly, hitting five of its first eight shots for a 15-11 lead. That’s when Davidson went on his run in a 10-minute stretch in which he accounted for all of Clemson’s offense.
Jestin Porter, who scored 26 points in Clemson’s last outing in a win at Notre Dame, added a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch as the Tigers led 37-27 at the break.
The Eagles host Syracuse on Saturday.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s stalled tax shift bill will be taken up by the state Senate Thursday for the first time since it was killed there more than a year ago, but this time as an amendment filed for an alternate Senate-led tax relief proposal.
State Sen. Michael Rush, a Boston Democrat, filed an amendment to state Sen. William Brownsberger’s property tax shock bill that mirrors the language included in a home rule petition the mayor has been pushing for nearly two years that would shift more of the city’s tax burden from the residential to commercial sector.
“Property tax relief is a pressing issue for my constituents — and residents throughout the state,” Rush said Monday in a statement to the Herald. “On behalf of the people of Boston, I have filed the home rule petition passed by the Boston City Council to provide property tax relief for Boston residents.
“As the Senate considers several worthy proposals designed to address affordability in the Commonwealth, I am glad this proposal will be part of the discussion,” Rush said.
Wu’s office told the Herald Saturday that the mayor had requested the amendment.
“Every senator has the opportunity to submit amendments related to these bills by Monday, and we have asked Boston’s senators to offer an amendment with our residential tax relief language that has been vetted thoroughly and never received a vote,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement. “We are following closely and hope the final bills will include this needed relief for residents.”
Wu has said her legislation is aimed at lowering the 13% tax hike the average single-family homeowner is projected to face this year. Third-quarter tax bills went out to homeowners earlier this month.
The mayor’s bill seeks to shift more of the city’s tax burden onto commercial property owners, beyond the 175% state limit, for a three-year period.
It is set to be debated, along with several other amendments that have been filed by senators for Brownsberger’s property tax shock bill, at Thursday’s session.
“All amendments filed by members of the Senate will be considered by the full body during our session on Thursday,” a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka’s office said Monday in a statement to the Herald.
A vote is expected on the bill and underlying amendments on the same day, according to state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat whose alternative tax relief bill and amendments will also be considered.
Collins, who opposes the tax shift element of the mayor’s home rule petition and helped lead the push to kill it on the Senate floor in late 2024, has put forward a bill and amendments that include other elements of what Wu has proposed.
He’s pushing for tax rebates for low- and middle-income homeowners who already receive the residential tax exemption by using surplus funds, along with senior, veterans and small business tax relief provisions.
“I think that the relief measures are positive in terms of the amendments that I and others have filed that are relief in nature or relief options, but I think anything that involves a tax increase is going to be difficult,” Collins told the Herald Monday when asked about the chances for the mayor’s proposal.
“Especially when the city is sitting on $552 million of what they consider to be free cash, it’s hard to make the case that tax increase is necessary,” Collins added.
In a statement issued by his office, Collins added that the city’s decision to hike residential property taxes by double-digits “with so much in the City of Boston’s surplus fund” was “unnecessary, unfair and clearly inequitable.”
“To cancel out that tax increase, my legislation would authorize the city to issue direct rebates to homeowners,” Collins said.
He pointed to a similar approach that he said was taken at the state level in 2022, when the governor and legislature issued rebates after tax revenues exceeded the cap established under voter-approved state law, Chapter 62F, which limits the growth of state tax collections.
In terms of Rush’s amendment, Collins said he’s also concerned that the senator’s language would make the mayor’s tax shift bill applicable statewide, rather than just in Boston.
Collins said he has also filed an amendment that would allow for an extension of the abatement process to April 1, to allow homeowners and commercial property owners a longer period of time to challenge city property assessments that have an impact on how much they pay in property taxes.
The mayor added tax rebates to her home rule petition at the beginning of last year as a fall-back option, and renewed her push for the Senate to approve the bill last month.
Collins is a co-sponsor of Brownsberger’s bill, which seeks to shield homeowners from double-digit tax bills, by phasing in increases or offering targeted tax credits in years when property tax hikes are projected to exceed 10%.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, co-sponsored both the Collins- and Brownsberger-led bills that will be debated on Thursday.
If the bills, and any related amendments, are approved, they will move onto the House of Representatives for consideration.
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