1.   An appeals court on Tuesday overturned the November dismissal of the Kansas City school desegregation lawsuit.

2.   Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office would represent the state in the desegregation lawsuit, could not be reached for comment Friday.

3.   After nearly five decades of desegregation lawsuits, there is confusion about just how many school district cases are still pending.

4.   Critics said that was unfair to Kansas City, which has settled its desegregation lawsuit.

5.   Demps also met for about two hours Saturday afternoon with Arthur A. Benson II, attorney for the plaintiff schoolchildren in the desegregation lawsuit.

6.   Demps also received about a four-hour briefing on the status of the desegregation lawsuit and court orders aimed at improving academic performance in the district.

7.   Officials dropped those plans, at least for now, Demps said, until the district can get out of the federal desegregation lawsuit.

8.   The move was part of a larger desegregation lawsuit.

9.   U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple has scheduled a court hearing for January to determine whether the district will be freed from the long-running desegregation lawsuit.

10.   Ashcroft also has criticized desegregation lawsuits in Kansas City, Mo., and in St. Louis.