A 2-year-old in Gary, Indiana was struck and killed by a passing freight train when he was playing too close to the tracks near his home.

The train’s engineer saw the boy but could not stop in time. Gary Police say they don’t expect charges to be filed against the parents of Ryan Watson and are calling his death a tragic accident. But the boy’s family sees things a little differently. They say if there was some sort of fence around the tracks he might still be alive.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. He was so close to me,” said Janet Watson, victim’s grandmother

VoIP, or “Voice Over Internet Protocol”, is becoming a popular alternative to land based phones. But what’s buried in the fine print is something most VoIP customers don’t think about — the way 911 emergency calls are handled differently than the phone company.

Sylvia Luck called 911 on Tuesday night using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone — which routes calls through the Internet — after her nephew, Elijah, appeared to be in medical distress, his left hand and leg quivering. An ambulance arrived more than 30 minutes later, and only after a neighbour called 911 from a land line.

Alison George, a spokeswoman for Comwave Telecom Inc., the VoIP provider for the Luck family, said its call centre heeded Ms. Luck’s plea and sent an ambulance to the address on file. Unfortunately, it was the family’s former address in suburban Toronto.

Internet-based phone services do not relay the caller’s location. When a land line is used, emergency services can see the person’s name, address and phone number.

And hopefully the cops arresting him returned the favor.

Police In DeLand said they have never seen anything like it, Local 6’s Erik Webber reported.

Officers said Kenneth Smith, 25, got into a fight with his girlfriend Thursday and it then escalated into violence.

Smith’s girlfriend was in a bedroom holding her infant son when police said he pepper sprayed the woman and his own son in the face.

“We have had cases where children get injured during an argument, but it is the first time we have heard pepper spray or Mace has ever been used,” DeLand Police Sgt. John Anderson told the Daytona Beach News Journal. “It is unusual.”

But not for the reason you might think. The obvious reason would seem to be that inner city minority kids don’t have the same opportunities to learn as their white, suburban counterparts, not that they “can’t” or “won’t”.

How come? Black and Latino kids “are six times more likely to be part of a family in which neither parent nor child can swim,” according to the study commissioned by USA Swimming. In January and February, the University of Memphis interviewed 1,772 children ages 6 to 16 in six U.S. metropolitan areas. Two-thirds were black or Latino. Non-swimmers: 58% of blacks, 56% of Latinos and 31% of whites.

The survey found that “children do not buy in to the stereotype that minorities don’t or can’t swim. When asked whether they believed swimming was “just for white people,” over two-thirds of African-American and Hispanic/Latino children aged six to 16 disagreed (68% and 71% respectively), more than 40% of each group disagreed strongly.”

A school bus driver in Huntley, Illinois was taken into custody. Police say that she deliberately slammed on the brakes, sending kids flying everywhere. The children on the bus were elementary school age, ranging from 5 to 10 years old.

Julieta Clinton, 37, of 9 Savoy Court, Lake in the Hills, was taken into custody at the school district transportation office 650 Academic Drive, Algonquin, at 1:30 p.m. She was charged with 19 counts of reckless conduct, a Class A misdemeanor, and 19 counts of child endangerment, a Class A misdemeanor.

Clinton posted bond and was released. She is scheduled to appear in McHenry County Court at 8:30 a.m. May 22.

Huntley police said they were called about 8:25 a.m. to Leggee Elementary School, 13723 Harmony Road, to assist the Huntley Fire Department on a report of several injured juveniles on a school bus. Police said it initially was reported that the school bus made an abrupt stop in the school parking lot, causing injury to the pupils.

And the high school athletic director was not amused.

Thirteen members of a high school lacrosse team have been disciplined for baring their bottoms to extend a prom invitation from one player to a girl.

The varsity lacrosse players at Huron High school displayed the question: “Will You Go To The Prom With Me? Yes or No?” on their backsides, which they revealed during a junior varsity game last week.

School officials suspended the 13 players for an undetermined number of games and ordered them to perform 20 hours of community service. The players were also suspended from school for one day.

“Inappropriate is inappropriate,” school athletic director Dottie Davis told The Ann Arbor News on Monday. “It disrespects women, and that’s the clear message we need to have the students understand — what may be fun to them isn’t necessarily fun to everyone else.”

A child recovered from a drug house in Wisconsin was first believed to be missing Las Vegas girl Everlyse Cabrera, but now authorities aren’t so sure.

Instead, Green Bay, Wis., police now believe the girl might be the child of a former inmate at a North Las Vegas women’s prison, one who gave birth in 2005 and surrendered the infant to relatives.

“Our preliminary investigation and our continuing investigation has led us to believe that she is not (Everlyse Cabrera),” Green Bay police Capt. Karl Fleury said. “But we can’t say that with 100 percent certainty until the DNA evidence comes back.”

DNA samples from the Wisconsin girl and from Everlyse are being tested, but police say it could take months to get the results.

Tionda Bradley, who disappeared with her sister Diamond in 2001, has turned up in an unexpected place — the internet.

According to a high-profile forensic artist who analyzed photos of a young Tionda — 10 when she disappeared; her sister was 3 — next to photos of a girl whose picture was part of a profile for a social networking Web site, the photos match.

“I took a hard look at them [the photos] for the first time [this week], and I do not say this lightly, but it’s her,” said Lois Gibson, a forensic artist with the Houston Police Department.

Gibson has been called on to assist authorities around the country, including DuPage County, where she drew a picture of a little boy found dead in 2005. He remains unidentified.