NATIONAL BRIEFING / AND FINALLY . . .

Just in time for Mother’s Day, a mother duck has been reunited with two of her babies that fell into a storm drain in Manchester, N.H.

The duck was crossing the street with 11 ducklings behind her Thursday when two little ones tumbled through a grate. Workers at a nearby hair salon called police, who sent a crew from the water works department. As salon workers corralled the upset mother duck and other ducklings, city workers rescued the pair.

The salon owner told the New Hampshire Sunday News that when all 12 were taken to the Merrimack River, they were met by a male duck who led the family into the water.