NATIONAL BRIEFS

GEORGIA: Small jet crashes, killing 5

A small private jet carrying a surgeon and members of his clinic staff aborted its landing before it hit a 60-foot utility pole and crashed in a flaming wreck, killing five people onboard and injuring two, federal authorities said Thursday. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said fuel leaking from the plane ignited in flames Wednesday night after it hit the concrete pole, sheering off the left wing. Pieces of the plane were strewn over 100 yards. he said. Investigators don't yet know why the plane aborted its landing at Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport, a small terminal with a 5,500-foot runway about 30 miles west of Augusta.

MISSOURI: Gas victim in critical condition

One person remains in critical condition after a deadly natural gas explosion at a Kansas City restaurant that killed one person and injured 15 others. A spokesman for the University of Kansas Hospital said two other victims were in serious condition and one in fair condition Thursday, two days after the massive blast near the city's Country Club Plaza. Most of the other victims have been treated and released from various hospitals. Formal identity of a body pulled from the rubble early Wednesday was delayed by a winter storm that brought most activity in the area to a halt Thursday. Genny Cramer told The Associated Press on Wednesday she is sure her daughter, Megan Cramer, 46, a server at JJ's, was the victim.

MASSACHUSETTS: '911? Help, Mom's a problem'

A 10-year-old boy called 911 because he didn't want to go to bed, Brockton police said. They said the boy made the emergency call just after 8 p.m. Wednesday and told the dispatcher he was calling to report his mother because he did not want to go to bed. The Enterprise reports that, according to the police log, an officer went to the home and explained to the boy when it's appropriate -- and when it's not -- to call 911. No one was charged.