The Boston Globe rolled out another new newspaper section this week, but it’s unclear whether advertisers are getting on board.

An expanded daily Business section launched on Thursday, featuring its own section front (it used to be tucked inside Metro) and a catchy new design. Northeastern professor Dan Kennedy offers his take from a content perspective. Here’s a link to the web version.

 

The new Business follows close on the heels of the Friday Capital section, which focuses on politics, and Score, the Monday section devoted to football. All three sections are part of the Globe’s effort to beef up coverage and bring in advertisers.

The inaugural print Business section was a big success on the advertising front. The eight-page section featured 2-½ pages of ads, including 1-¼ pages from UMass Boston and one page from Dolce & Gabbana. Friday’s print section, however, contains only one ad from Massport promoting new nonstop service to Mexico City out of Logan International Airport.

Advertising in the Capital section is also down. What started out as a 12-page section with at least three pages of ads, is down to eight pages this week with just 1-¼ pages of ads from a single advertiser, Steward Health Care. The smaller section probably makes sense, since there’s no election to cover and it sometimes has felt as if the Globe is struggling to fill the space.

—BRUCE MOHL

BEACON HILL

The big pay increases recommended for the House speaker and Senate president reflect how power is wielded on Beacon Hill, CommonWealth reports. Outgoing Senate president Therese Murray says the Legislature is unlikely to act on the recommendations this year.

State officials may be scrambling to close a budget gap, but the Lowell Sun is all for it. In an editorial, the newspaper says a cut in the income tax is just what’s needed to rein in spending.

A New Bedford city councilor charges that Mayor Jon Mitchell’s critical comments about then-candidate Charlie Baker’s tale of a struggling fisherman are the reason the governor-elect has yet to visit the city, even though Baker says he plans to be there before Christmas.

The Globe reports on the hardship-filled life of state Sen. Stan Rosenberg’s boyfriend, Bryon Hefner, with a lot of help from other stories, including this recent CommonWealth profile of the presumed incoming Senate president (though the paper evidently hasn’t heard yet about this new linky thing that’s been invented).

Senate President Therese Murray signs off.

AMERICAN POLICING

Thousands take to the streets in Boston to protest the Eric Garner case in New York, the latest case in which a grand jury failed to charge a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man. Protests also took place in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to walk a fine line between support for his city’s police and for its protesting citizens, whose grievances he has been sympathetic to.The National Review says Sen. Rand Paul is right that New York’s exorbitant cigarette taxes are partly to blame for Garner’s death, arguing he wouldn’t have been illegally selling “loosies” if not for the high tariff.

Michael Curry, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, talks with Broadside’s Jim Braude about police body cameras. In Springfield, there is tepid support for them.

The MetroWest Daily News calls for a stronger focus on community policing, among other measures to improve relations between police and civilians.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Attleboro’s police chief wants to contain medical marijuana dispensaries to industrial areas.

Shirley Leung fears we’ll all grow old before Marty Walsh names a director for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

CASINOS

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission requires casino operators to offer gamblers voluntary bet limits.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Hillary Clinton, in Boston, says the US justice system is “out of balance,” the Associated Press reports.

Democrats clear New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in one of several Bridgegate investigations, the Daily Beast reports.

Rhode Island’s new governor, Gina Raimondo, has her work cut out for her.

ELECTIONS

The Salem News reports on a government task force charged with fixing state campaign finance laws to address concerns about “dark money.”

The Atlantic ponders what Sen Mary Landrieu’s fall in Louisiana means for Democrats nationally.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Abigail Johnson, the most down to earth billionaire you’ve never heard from.

While talk of a Boston Olympics has set off a vigorous debate here, proposals being submitted by three other US cities have mostly been met by yawns.

The Department of Labor released its monthly jobs report Friday showing the economy added 321,000 jobs in November, with unemployment remaining steady at 5.8 percent, and the average hourly wage jumped 9 cents after months of remaining stagnant.

EDUCATION

Brockton school officials sent a letter to parents warning that some middle school students were robbed of their cell phones and money by older teens showing a gun in their waistbands as the children walked home from school recently.

HEALTH CARE

Quincy officials have hired a law firm for the city to take its own look at blocking Steward Health Care’s planned closing of Quincy Medical Center.

Dante Ramos says the agreement Martha Coakley struck with Partners HealthCare is a tricky, long-term fix for which there are not a lot of similar examples of success.

TRANSPORTATION

A JetBlue executive vice president confirms service out of Worcester was not profitable in its first year and the second year will be crucial to long-term success, the Telegram & Gazette reports.

Keller@Large must have been late for work due to the two accidents that involved 14 cars Wednesday because he decides to rail against the design of the Tip O’Neill Tunnel, which he calls an “engineering debacle” that causes 20 times more accidents than the Sumner and Callahan combined.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Lynn tries to changes the minds of its residents about the importance of recycling; the city currently recycles just 7 percent of its trash, the Item reports.

The consulting firm hired by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to conduct a reuse study for the soon-to-be-closed Brayton Point power plant in Somerset met with residents to gather ideas on possible uses.

A new report by the group Environment Massachusetts, funded by supporters of wind energy, touts the benefits of turbine-produced power as a potential solution for global warming.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Mark Wahlberg seeks a pardon from the governor, State House News reports.

Bill Cosby fights back.

Lawyers for confessed triple-murderer Gary Lee Sampson argue that, because Massachusetts does not have the death penalty, federal prosecutors should not be allowed to seek capital punishment despite Sampson’s conviction in US District Court in Boston.

MEDIA

Big changes, personnel and otherwise, are in store at The New Republic, with none of it meeting with positive reviews. Former TNR writer Jonathan Chait offers a “Eulogy for The New Republic.”Condemnation of moves by new owner Chris Hughes to dump revered editor Franklin Foer and longtime literary editor Leon Wieseltier rocketed through the Twitterverse last night. Says Chait: “Frank Foer isn’t leaving TNR because he wasn’t a good enough editor. He’s leaving because Chris Hughes is not a good enough owner.” As of this morning, word of resignations of 10 contributing editors.

The Herald reports on Globe CEO Mike Sheehan’s address to the state newspaper publisher’s association.