AP - A 7-year-old boy who called 911 from a locked bathroom while armed robbers threatened his parents hugged and high-fived on Wednesday the sheriff's dispatcher who took his call.

AP - Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

AP - A northern Mississippi school district will not be hosting a high school prom this spring after a lesbian student sought to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

AP - A Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot and his weapons officer tried to make it back home after both engines on their warplane failed and a fire broke out, but they were forced to eject and ditch the aircraft in the ocean, a spokesman said Thursday.

AP - Authorities say one person was killed in the tornadoes that struck parts of Arkansas.

AP - Groups pushing for robust Hispanic participation in the 2010 census are enlisting a new corps of foot-soldiers in their battle to reach that hard-to-count demographic: tech-savvy, smart-phone-toting young people.

AP - Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia.

AP - Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish.

AP - Governors and education leaders on Wednesday proposed sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks and taking the same tests, replacing a patchwork of state and local systems in an attempt to raise student achievement nationwide.

AP - A year ago, President Barack Obama boldly, unequivocally demanded that Israel stop building settlements on the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Today he's left with little choice but to swallow a stinging and very public rebuke from America's closest Mideast ally.

AP - Gov. Bob McDonnell directed state agencies not to discriminate against gay people in employment practices Wednesday, essentially overriding the Virginia attorney general's advice to public colleges.

AP - Georgia's public defender system is still trying to recover its financial footing five years after a courthouse gunman racked up a $3 million taxpayer-funded defense tab on the way to his conviction.

AP - Shortly after entering Congress in 1993, Rep. Bart Stupak withstood President Bill Clinton's charm offensive and voted against free-trade legislation — an early display of the independent streak that has put him at odds with fellow Democrats many times since.