NEW YORK, NY — In the midst of celebrating a recent Islamic holiday, an upper Manhattan couple heard a familiar knock at the door.

LEESVILLE, LA — Emergency dispatchers live lives of extreme. A day at work can be a long, monotonous 12 hours with nothing to break the sameness except for emergency calls, sometimes spaced few and far between, that aren’t really emergencies.

LEESVILLE, LA — On any given day, the Vernon Parish Communications District E-911 receives from 12 to more than 60 calls from parish residents.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s pick to lead the agency that handles 911 emergency calls and 311 service requests says she will improve morale “from the bottom up” and work to make sure emergency calls from Northwest do not end up at dispatch centers in Maryland.

CHICAGO, IL — Starting later this month, residents of Chicago’s far North Side, Skokie, and Lincolnwood will be able to get help in addition to 911 for medical emergencies. A team of local Orthodox Jews is launching a new emergency response service called Hatzalah Chicago to augment services in the areas where high concentrations Orthodox Jews live. Members hope...

WICHITA, KS — Dialing 911 has become such a natural act that people do it for wrong reasons as well as right ones. That has left Sedgwick County grasping at ways to keep 911 lines clear for emergencies, including a commonsense plan to begin cutting off non-emergency 911 callers with a recorded message advising them to seek help elsewhere.

HOPE, AR — Jerry Johnson retired on Thursday after 30-plus years on one job at the center of  the daily operations of local law enforcement, and her co-workers and friends threw her a farewell bash at Hope City Hall