The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • A1

NAMES, SPORTS Remorse time for Woods TECH LAB I B5 INSIDE THE $1,000 FRAME VOLUME 276 NUMBER 156 Suggested retail price $1.00 $1.50 outside of Metro Boston Thursday, December 3 2009 DECEMBER ELATION Today: Windy, rain ending, warm. High 61-66. Low 40-45. Tomorrow: Breezy, colder, clearing. High 47-52.

Low 30-35. High Tide: 11:20 a.m. Sunrise: Sunset: Full Report: Page B13 v. mm Hobbled Menino yearns to walk in his old footsteps 'I just want to get rid of this thing and get rid of these MAYOR MENINO Referring to his leg brace and crutches he loves. Menino is not sure when he will return to City Hall, where he has worked as a city councilor and as mayor for more than a quarter-century.

For now, he has effectively converted the living room of his long-time Hyde Park home into the new seat of city government. A parade of civic MENINO, Page All By Michael Levenson GLOBE STAFF Wincing in pain, lying flat on a newly purchased automatic recliner with his left leg immobilized in a brace, Mayor Thomas M. Menino stared at the ceiling yesterday, thought of everything he is missing, and sighed. The 66-year-old mayor, confined to hospitals and home for 25 days, said he is now confronting one of the most difficult chapters of his life. Struggling through physical therapy and watching PBS at 2 in the morning when he is so uncomfortable that he cannot sleep, the mayor, who has built a political career and a personal identity around his omnipresence, acknowledged that he is now invisible in the city STILL MOURNED IN WORCESTER Wal-Mart will pay $40m to workers Settlement is biggest in Bay State history In the news Patrick backs a law school for UMass Governor Deval Patrick endorsed a proposal for the University of Massachusetts to acquire Southern New England School of Law, a plan opposed by three other law schools.

The deal still needs approval by UMass trustees and the Board of Higher Education. Bl. The Obama administration authorized 13 lines of human embryonic stem cells for experiments by federally funded scientists, departing from a Bush-era restriction. A2. Former senator Tom Daschle is adding his voice to the health care deliberations months after his nomination as health and human services secretary failed.

A28. Spending on prisons, jails, probation, and parole has surged in Massachusetts in the past decade despite little change in the number of people incarcerated, a report said. Bl. Chechen separatists claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian train last week, an attack that killed 26 people and injured scores. A3.

Faneuil Hall Marketplace would be removed from bankruptcy protection under a debt restructuring plan by General Growth Properties Inc. B5. Same-sex marriage went down to defeat in the New York Senate despite more than a year of lobbying by gay rights organizations. A27. diva Beyonce captured 10 Grammy nominations, followed by country sensation Taylor Swift with eight.

B14. A Wellesley showroom manager is throwing an open house for Globe Santa, still inspired by a cause she has known since childhood. B2. Have a news tip? E-mail newstipglobe.com or call 617-929-TIPS (8477). Other contact information, B2.

POINT OF VIEW: DAN WASSERMAN BILL GREENEGLOBE STAFF Betty Dion at the tribute to Worcester firefighters lost in the Cold Storage fire (below), 10 years ago today. 6 firefighters a presence at station By Dave Copeland GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Wal-Mart Stores the world's largest retailer, has agreed to pay $40 million to as many as 87,500 current and former employees in Massachusetts, the largest wage-and-hour class-action settlement in the state's history. The class-action lawsuit, filed in 2001, accused the retailer of denying workers rest and meal breaks, refusing to pay overtime, and manipulating time cards to lower employees' pay. Under terms of the agreement, which was filed in Middlesex Superior Court yesterday by the employees' attorneys, any person who worked for Wal-Mart between August 1995 and the settlement date will receive a payment of between $400 and $2,500, depending on the number of years worked, with the average worker receiving a check for $734. "The magnitude is large it's bigger than most settlements paid in wage-and-hour cases," said Justin M.

Swartz of New York-based law firm Outten Golden LLP, who has handled similar cases, including a pending case against Wal-Mart. "But you would expect it to be bigger since Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer." Under the terms of the settlement, neither side is allowed to comment. But in an affidavit filed with the settlement, the lead counsel for the employees, Philip Gordon of Boston's Gordon Law Group, said the accord "dwarfs settlements of similar class actions against Wal-Mart across the country." "For many employers, this settlement will serve as a reminder to take the payment of earned wages and benefits seriously. For many other employers, it will provide comfort that all Massachusetts businesses must operate on a level playing field," Gordon wrote in the affidavit. "But most importantly, for employees of Wal-Mart, it finally pays them their earned WAL-MART, PageA21 uniform parade to the station to ring a bell at 6: 13, the time the first alarm rang on that terrible night, Dec.

3, 1999. "It's like we've created a home for them," said Bob Mansfield, a Worcester firefighter of 15 years who is sta By Sarah Schweitzer and Jenna Russell GLOBE STAFF WORCESTER For days, acrid smoke curled from the mass of twisted metal and charred bricks that had been the Cold Storage and Warehouse. It took eight days to recover the last body of the six firefighters killed in the inferno 1 0 years ago today. tioned at the new firehouse. "Because we're always here." In this city where firefighting is often not only a profession but a family legacy, the Cold Storage fire was a personal matter to many, one they still talk about and occasionally shiver over in the dark of night.

At the fire station yesterday, there were three elderly sisters who drove from nearby towns to delicately touch Now, in a kind of psychic urban renewal, an $8 million fire station of brick and mortar has risen on the warehouse site, graced in front with a stone memorial to the fallen men. Since its opening a year ago, the station has become a touchstone for pilgrims who come to lay wreaths and PAUL CONNORSASSOCIATED PRESSFILE the memorial. "We come to think about the fire," said Eleanor Hussey daughter of a fireman. There was Nicole Dupuis, dropping a wreath at the station. She was 16 when she glimpsed the conflagration WORCESTER, Page A18 honor the dead.

The station is Worcester's ground zero, a moonscape transformed into a memorial, where every time the bell sounds, firefighters say, they respond on behalf of their fallen brethren. Tonight, the station will again be the epicenter of remembrance, as firefighters in white gloves and dress In last debate, Coakley's foes go after each other Obama team now talking surge Afghan strategy mirrors what president opposed in Iraq Capuano tangles with Pagliuca Editorial cartoon, A22. Inside Features Business B5-9 B10-12 A22 B2 B13 Classified Legal notices B9 TWRadio, Comics, Crossword, Sudoku, KenKen, Movies, Horoscope Deaths Editorials Lottery Weather Sarah Palin of the Democratic Party; you already are," Pagliuca said to Capuano at one point, referring to Capuano's charge that passing a health care bill limiting abortion coverage would force poor women to seek abortions in "the alleys of America." At another point, addressing financial regulation, Capuano said to Pagliuca: "You believe in concentrated wealth, which I don't blame you for. Concentrated wealth in your life is a little bit more than any of the others." All the while, Coakley, leading in every public poll, wore a calm smile on her face and was so comfortable she managed to get off several one-liners. At times, she and Capuano, whose campaigns have clashed throughout the race, were DEBATE, PageA14 By Farah Stockman GLOBE STAFF WASHINGTON Three years after Barack Obama strongly rebuked President Bush's surge of US troops to Iraq, Obama dispatched top administration officials to Capitol Hill yesterday to defend a surge of his own.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, faced sharp questions from both Republicans and Democrats about whether their plans to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan could succeed. Time and time again, they responded with a common refrain: It worked in Iraq. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates referenced Iraq more than ByMattViser and Andrea Estes GLOBE STAFF Attorney General Martha Coakley coasted through the final televised debate of the short Democratic primary campaign for US Senate last night, as two opponents lagging in the polls, US Representative Michael E. Capuano and businessman Stephen G. Pagliuca, sniped at each other for much of the hour.

The animosity between Capuano and Pagliuca, who were seated next to each other, was so pronounced that it overshadowed any attempts by Coakley's challengers to make a dent in her front-runner status. "You're going to be the For breaking news, updated Globe stories, and more, visit: boston MARK WILSONGETTY IMAGES com 49430 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Admiral Michael Mullen testified yesterday. Obama's military advisers. When Gates, who helped orchestrate Bush's surge, was AFGHAN, Page A16 a dozen times, signaling that Bush's last-ditch military push has been used as inspiration, if not a blueprint, by President 947 72 51 RED Black GL Al 00:44 THIRD.