IN BRIEF

MISSING SINCE FRIDAY

FBI joins search for boy who failed to return from school

The FBI has joined an expanding search for a 7-year-old Oregon boy who vanished sometime after his stepmother left him at his Portland elementary school on Friday morning.

Detectives on Sunday interviewed parents and Kyron Horman's fellow students at the school to glean possible clues. Relatives also distributed fliers with the boy's picture.

The boy and his stepmother attended a science fair at the school early Friday, and she last saw him walking down a hallway toward his 2nd grade classroom at about 8:45 a.m. He was wearing a "CSI" T-shirt and dark cargo pants.

Police said Kyron did not return home on the bus as scheduled. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office was contacted at about 4 p.m., and authorities have been searching the school and the surrounding area since then.

RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION CLlAIM

Health official says parents refuse newborn immunizations

A health official in Ravalli County said parents refusing immunizations for newborns by claiming a religious exemption are creating a health problem.

County nurse Judith Griffin told county commissioners during a budget meeting late last week that the increased number of children not being immunized has forced a step up in surveillance of communicable diseases.

Griffin said child immunization rates in the county had dropped to 50 percent last year from 86 percent in the 1990s.

Griffin told commissioners in Hamilton, Mont., that a grant for a part-time nurse is ending and the county should cover the $53,000 cost of salary and benefits.

But commissioners said it's not a good year to find money for the position.

GUN IN HOME OFFICE

Girl dies after accidentally shooting herself, official says

Authorities say a 5-year-old girl who accidentally shot herself Sunday afternoon at a Tucson home has died.

Capt. Adam Goldberg of the Northwest Fire District told the Arizona Daily Star the child was taken from a home in extremely serious condition.

He said she was pronounced dead a short time later at a Tucson hospital.

Authorities said the shooting occurred about 12:30 p.m. at a Tucson home where the girl and her mother were visiting.

Goldberg said the child found a gun in a home office and shot herself in the chest.