National news briefs

Kansas City board closing 29 schools

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City school board narrowly approved a plan Wednesday night to close nearly half of the district's schools in a desperate bid to avoid a potential bankruptcy.

The board voted 5-4 after parents and community leaders made final pleas to spare the schools even as the beleaguered district seeks to erase a projected $50 million budget shortfall. The approved plan calls for shuttering 29 of 61 schools — a striking amount even as public school closures rise nationwide while the recession eats away at academic budgets.

"The urban core has suffered white flight post-the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, blockbusting by the real estate industry, redlining by banks and other financial institutions, retail and grocery store abandonment," Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks said to applause from a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people.

"And now the public education system is aiding and abetting in the economic demise of our school district," she said. "It is shameful and sinful."

Boy's 911 call stops gunmen in home

NORWALK, Calif. (AP) — A 7-year-old boy who called 911 while armed robbers threatened his parents hugged and delivered a high five to the dispatcher who took his call.

The boy, identified only as Carlos, told reporters Wednesday he remained calm during the ordeal because his mother used to make him practice dialing 911 in case of emergencies.

Carlos gave a hug to Los Angeles County sheriff's dispatcher Monique Patino, who called the boy "my little hero."

The assailants invaded Carlos' home and held his parents at gunpoint Tuesday while he and his 6-year-old sister hid in a locked bathroom. He begged the dispatcher to "bring cops. A lot of them!... And bring soldiers, too."

The assailants left without stealing anything once they realized the boy had called 911. Police are looking for the suspects.

Midnight Knitter darned fun to some

WEST CAPE MAY, N.J. (AP) — Someone is spinning quite a yarn over one New Jersey shore town.

An unknown person dubbed The Midnight Knitter by West Cape May residents is covering tree branches and lamp poles with little sweaters under cover of darkness.