Massachusetts, Boston | featured news

BOSTON — April school vacation has arrived and state parks around Massachusetts are gearing up to help parents keep their kids busy in the coming week.The Department of Conservation and Recreation is offering a variety of what it calls family friendly programs in the state park system, including nature hikes, wildlife observation and mansion tours.DCR says most of the activities are free and many of the programs will be guided by agency staff.The list of parks offering April vacation activities covers nearly every region of the state.

GREENFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts man has been convicted in the killing of a 95-year-old man and his 77-year-old wife during a home invasion.The Northwestern District Attorney's office says 25-year-old Joshua Hart was found guilty on Friday of two counts of first-degree murder. The verdict was returned on the second day of deliberations by a Franklin Superior Court jury.Hart is charged in the October 2016 killing of 95-year-old Thomas Harty in his home in the town of Orange. Hart's wife, Joanna Fisher, was severely injured and died weeks later.

The K-9 community is in mourning.Handlers, with their dogs always at their sides, took a moment to pray and reflect on the death of Yarmouth police officer Sean Gannon and the gunshot wound to his Belgian Malinois, Nero.The officers say the bond between a cop and his dog lasts a lifetime. To lose a member of their fraternity, they told the Herald yesterday, hits them all.

Few things are more “Boston” than Patriots’ Day.Massachusetts was the first to proclaim it a state holiday, and only three other states have followed suit. Connecticut this year joins Maine and (oddly) Wisconsin as the only other states to recognize the day that celebrates the historic victories over the Redcoats at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

The arc of 32-year-old Yarmouth police officer Sean Gannon’s life was short, but it bent toward justice, long before he and his K-9 were gunned down Thursday as they tried to serve a warrant on a career criminal.The Rev. Daniel W. Lacroix, who knew Gannon and his siblings when they were young altar servers at St. Francis Xavier Church in Acushnet, remembered him as “kind” and “very responsible.”

The United States and European allies barraged Syrian chemical weapons facilities with precision strikes in retaliation for a suspected regime gassing of a rebel stronghold outside Damascus last week.President Trump ordered the joint strikes with British and French armed forces last night to send a clear message to Syrian President Bashar Assad for the April 7 attack in Douma that led to 70 deaths and more than 500 injuries.

BARNSTABLE — Police from all over Cape Cod packed the county courthouse here yesterday to show support for their fallen brother in blue as the alleged cop killer was being arraigned for the murder of Yarmouth K-9 officer Sean Gannon.Thomas Latanowich, 29, appeared in court with an officer at each side and his head down during the entire arraignment, pleading not guilty to a charge of murder. He is being held without bail until a hearing on June 26.About 100 Yarmouth and Barnstable police officers exited the courtroom as they had entered — in silence.

The last time Marie Piotte remembers seeing Thomas Latanowich, he had his hands around her throat in the front seat of her car while their baby sat quietly in the back.“Luckily, she was too young to remember that,” Piotte told the Herald yesterday afternoon. “He would grab me, he would choke me. When he got mad, it was like he was a whole different person.”

Rose Grant taught 4,000 students in her decades of teaching science at Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth, but Sean Gannon and his family always stuck out.“To remember these kids — I know their names, I kept in touch — it says something about them that they made that kind of impression,” Grant said.Gannon, a 32-year-old Yarmouth police officer, was killed on duty Thursday in Marstons Mills.When he was in high school, Grant said, Gannon was a hardworking, dedicated student.

OK, so maybe running’s not your thing. Or you get claustrophobic in crowds. If this is the case, the Boston Marathon’s not for you.But, it’s Patriots’ Day, and you are in the state that made it a holiday. You have to take advantage. Here are some non-marathon activities to consider: