JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point since 2006.

The state Department of Economic Development said Tuesday that Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in November. That’s down three-tenths of a percentage point from October and is the lowest mark since April 2006.

Missouri’s seasonally adjusted employment rose by 2,200 jobs from October to November. The economic development agency says the largest gains occurred in the construction industry.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest on the closure of Los Angeles Unified School District schools due to a threat:

10:45 a.m.

The White House says the different reactions taken by the nation’s two largest public school systems after receiving threats show that local first-responders are responsible for protecting their communities.

Spokesman Josh Earnest says he won’t “second-guess” the decisions by Los Angeles officials to close their schools and New York City officials to keep their students in class.

Earnest says local authorities make decisions based on information they receive and what they believe is in the best interests of their communities.

He says that the FBI has been in touch with California law enforcement authorities.

New York City officials say they received the same threat as Los Angeles but quickly concluded it was a hoax. New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said he thought Los Angeles overreacted.

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10:35 a.m.

Los Angeles law enforcement and city leaders are defending the decision to shut down the city’s school system due to an emailed threat.

Police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters Tuesday that they stand behind the superintendent’s order to close the Los Angeles Unified School District’s more than 900 schools and 187 public charter schools as a precaution.

New York City officials say they and many cities nationwide received the same threat and quickly determined it was a hoax.

Beck says it’s easy to criticize a decision when someone has no responsibility for its outcome. He says district police contacted his department late Monday about a threat sent to school board members.

Officials say it was a tough decision but the safety of students and employees was their main concern.

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9:40 a.m.

New York City officials say they and many cities across the country received the same threat that closed the Los Angeles school system.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Tuesday that the threat came in the form of a “generic” email and that New York officials quickly concluded that it wasn’t credible.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials say they closed all of the system’s more than 900 schools and 187 public charter schools as a precaution.

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said the threat involved bombs in students’ backpacks. The official wasn’t authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and insisted on anonymity.

District spokeswoman Shannon Haber says the threat was emailed to a school board member late Monday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police have arrested three people after a local television news crew reported they were robbed at gunpoint while working on a story.

Three men, including one armed with a handgun, held up the KCTV news crew late Sunday while the crew members were working in a residential area. A member of the TV crew told police they were in the news van when three men pulled the door to the van open.

Police said the thieves took off with cellphones and wallets. Police arrested three people early Monday and recovered the stolen items.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Police in western Nebraska found a burglary suspect after following footprints in the snow. Gering Police were called to a repair shop Sunday morning to investigate a possible burglary.

The tracks in the snow led officers to a home where some of the stolen items and a suspect were found.

The 28-year-old told police he and another man had taken tools, a computer reader, police scanners and emergency lights from the business the previous night.

Police were still searching Monday for the other suspect in the burglary. A third man has been charged with possessing more than $5,000 worth of stolen property.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials have sent President Barack Obama a letter protesting the possible move of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth.

The letter Monday said moving terrorism suspects to northeast Kansas would jeopardize families, schools and local businesses. All six members of the state’s congressional delegation signed the letter, as did Gov. Sam Brownback, legislators and local officials.

The letter followed a town hall meeting Friday in Leavenworth sponsored by U.S. Reps. Lynn Jenkins and Mike Pompeo. Their signatures appeared first, along with Leavenworth Mayor Lisa Weakley’s.

Closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been a priority for Obama but continues to inspire congressional opposition. The Defense Department earlier this year surveyed seven potential sites for housing detainees in Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — The Johnson County Sheriff’s office says a woman and her adult son were killed in a weekend crash north of Tecumseh. The sheriff’s department says the crash happed around 3 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of state Highways 41 and 50 north of Tecumseh.

The southbound Ford Taurus 49-year-old Thomas Grof and his mother, 87-year-old Rose Marie Grof, were driving was struck by an eastbound semitrailer truck.

Deputy Johnson County Attorney Benjamin Beethe says Thomas and Rose Marie Grof both died at the scene. They were both from Tecumseh.

The truck driver survived.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Board of Regents is set to discuss a proposal that would require all state universities to add a notation on a student’s transcript if the student is expelled for sexual assault.

The Regents Council of Presidents, made up of leaders of the six state universities, will take up the issue at next Wednesday’s meeting.

Regents spokeswoman Breeze Richardson says the presidents have “confidently” agreed that they want such a requirement. She says the proposal will likely go to the Regents Governance Committee in January, and if approved, will be forwarded to the full Board of Regents for a vote.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri officials say the state Children’s Division has received more than 1,000 reports of juveniles with sexual behavior problems since late August.

According to state Social Services department’s spokeswoman Rebecca L. Woelfel, the division has logged 1,270 reports between Aug. 28 and Nov. 30.

A law allowing the division to investigate complaints of child-on-child sexual abuse was recently passed, increasing the division’s caseload and insight into the scope of the issue.

Until this year, state officials or local law enforcement were authorized to take action on a complaint only when the person accused of causing abuse had “care, custody and control over” the victim. Since juveniles don’t fit that definition, no one had the authority to investigate complaints that one child had abused another.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A new report shows that almost 40 percent of tenure-track faculty at the University of Missouri received waivers that allow them to reduce their teaching load during their final academic years.

According to the report, the majority of the waivers were for research purposes. The second-highest number of waivers went to faculty serving in administrative roles.

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer says the percentage isn’t on par with other universities, and that the University of Missouri needs to communicate with the Legislature about how state funds are being spent.

The school prepared the report for Schaefer ahead of the next legislative session, when university funding is to be discussed.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A man who was shot and wounded by a central Missouri deputy has been charged with first-degree assault.

Twenty-eight-year-old Joshua Huddleston of California, Missouri, was also charged Monday with unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action. The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office says Huddleston remains hospitalized in stable condition. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

The probable cause statement says that police responded Saturday after an intoxicated Huddleston pointed two firearms at a man’s head and fired a round in the direction of fleeing people. The confrontation started with Huddleston, who is white, directing racial slurs at a black man during a large gathering. The statement says Huddleston was shot after refusing to disarm himself.

The deputy involved in the shooting also is white.