In the news

■ Barbara Higgins of Concord, N.H., who lost her 13-year-old daughter, Molly, to a brain tumor in 2016, has given birth at age 57 to a healthy boy named Jack after she and her husband, Kenny Banzhoff, got assistance from a Boston in vitro fertilization clinic.

■ Joseph Razza, police chief of Johnston, R.I., said a 1,500-pound steer on the lam for nearly two months after escaping while being hauled to a slaughterhouse was finally corralled unharmed by its owner and returned to a Connecticut farm.

■ Maria Lauro, 66, of Davenport, Fla., pleaded guilty to mailing threatening letters containing white powder, which turned out to be baking soda, to four elementary schools and including notes saying they were “punishment” for firing her from teaching jobs.

■ Bruce Bickford, a Republican legislator from Auburn, Maine, who apologized for twice appearing in Zoom meetings with a background display reading “Harvey Weinstein Charm School Rehab Center,” is being investigated for possibly violating the state Legislature’s harassment policy.

■ Burnis Wilkins, sheriff of Robeson County, N.C., said a Pennsylvania woman was struck by bullets fired by the driver of a vehicle on Interstate 95 north of Lumberton, killing her in “a cowardly and senseless way” as she and her husband drove to the beach.

■ Michael Brindisi, artistic director of a dinner theater in suburban Minneapolis, said the theater scrapped plans for a production of “Cinderella” because the cast was “98% white,” which didn’t fit with its efforts to become more diverse on and off the stage.

■ William McManus, the police chief of San Antonio, said officers first tried using a stun gun to stop a man armed with a knife who was threatening his estranged common-law wife and three children, but ended up fatally shooting him when he broke through the family’s apartment door and went inside.

■ Timothy Henderson, a judge in Oklahoma County, Okla., resigned in the face of sexual misconduct allegations filed by three female attorneys, state judicial officials said.

■ Erin Hedlun, a spokesman for Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., said the school is immediately dropping its Crusader mascot, originally adopted in the 1950s to represent bravery, loyalty and courage, because of the word’s connection to a series of bitter wars between Christians and Muslims in the 11th to 13th centuries.