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A Quincy woman is being held on $200,000 cash bail, accused of fatally injuring her 11-month-old niece after police reviewed household video and heard chilling audio of “thuds” while the girl was in her care, cops and prosecutors said.Shu Feng Hsu, 27, wore pink sweatpants at Quincy District Court while shackled at the wrists and ankles. She is facing a charge of assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury. Prosecutors said they have not ruled out a murder charge as they continue to investigate.

Students across the Bay State could have longer school days, a shorter April vacation or even class on Saturdays as districts grapple with an academic year extending well into the hot days of June.The predicament has angered many Boston parents and teachers in schools without air conditioning.After superintendents canceled school for what turned out to be only a dusting of snow in much of the region yesterday, district representatives now must contemplate several ideas to spare kids from roasting in classrooms in late June.

A batch of heroin cut with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl is making its way through Lowell, causing four fatal overdoses overnight on Wednesday — and officials are urging those addicted to these substances to dodge death by using in large groups.“It’s very disturbing,” Lowell fire Chief Jeff Winward told the Herald. “We believe there’s an extra-strong batch of heroin and fentanyl going around.”

PALMER — An early morning fire in the Three Rivers neighborhood of Palmer claimed the life of an adult yesterday, the state Department of Fire Services said.The blaze broke out at 2 a.m. in a multi-unit apartment building at 15 Springfield St., according to Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for state Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey.“We are working with the Three Rivers Fire Department, Palmer police and the Hampden District Attorney’s Office to determine where and how the fire started,” Mieth said.

A former youth hockey coach is facing more charges for the alleged sexual assault of six boys.Christopher Prew, 31, of Winthrop, is now facing 10 more indictments returned by an Essex County Grand Jury yesterday for his alleged assault of six boys under the age of 14 in Marblehead and Peabody, Essex District Attorney spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan said.He will be arraigned on the new indictments today in Salem Superior Court.Monahan said the bulk of these assaults allegedly occurred between Jan. 1, 2017, and Feb. 5, 2018.

A Cape Cod elementary school teacher was arrested yesterday on charges of raping at least two students.Noah Campbell-Halley, 36, of Harwich, a technology teacher at the Stony Brook Elementary School in Brewster, pleaded not guilty in Orleans District Court to three counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, two counts of rape of a child and one count of witness intimidation.

Jurors will begin their second day of deliberations on Monday in the “Puppy Doe” case, arguably the most notorious instance of animal cruelty in the state’s history.A jury of 10 men and six women began deliberating this afternoon after lawyers made their closing arguments in the Norfolk County Superior Court trial of Radoslaw Czerkawski in Dedham.The young pit bull who became known as Puppy Doe was bounced around to several owners on Craigslist before ending up with Czerkawski in Quincy, Assistant District Attorney Gregory P. Connor said.

AMHERST — CNN anchor Jake Tapper has been chosen to speak at UMass Amherst's spring graduation ceremony.The school announced Thursday that Tapper will be the featured speaker at the May 11 commencement ceremony for undergraduate students.Tapper hosts a weekday program on CNN and serves as the network's chief Washington correspondent. He's known for his political coverage and has won awards for his reporting on the 2016 presidential election.

BREWSTER  — A 36-year-old Brewster elementary school teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting school children.Noah Campbell-Halley, of Harwich, faces six counts, including child rape, indecent assault and battery of a child under the age of 14, and intimidating a witness.He was being held Thursday on a $25,000 bond. It was not immediately clear if he had hired a lawyer.Police say they were contacted on Sunday by the parents of a Stony Brook Elementary School student. They say an investigation led them to identify two other potential victims.

BOSTON — A husband and wife who ran an export business out of their Massachusetts home were indicted Wednesday on charges that they did business with a Syrian company that developed bombs used against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, federal prosecutors said.Anni Beurklian, 49, and her husband, Antoine Ajaka, 50, operated their company Top Tech US Inc. out of their Waltham home, the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said.