A National Guard member seen helping a woman during the Maryland flash floods has gone missing
The last time witnesses saw Eddison Hermond, he was helping a woman cross the water in the aftermath of the intense flash floods that affected Ellicott City, Maryland. The Air Force veteran was swept away in the devastating floods, witnesses say.
Hermond’s friend said the Maryland National Guard member was at a restaurant when the water began to rise. He left to help a woman carrying a cat cross the water. “We're all yelling at him to stop, come back,” the friend said. “The current runs him into the river and he floats away.”
Authorities said they sent out teams and dogs to search for Hermond and other victims. Hours later authorities said they still hadn't found him and that they were still “actively searching in the river.”
If you haven’t seen the videos of the flash floods in Ellicott City, they’re quite terrifying.
Quick brief
A high school valedictorian said he was banned from speaking at his graduation because he was gender nonconforming.
Two reporters were killed in North Carolina when a tree fell on their car while they were covering a storm.
A pilot and his assistant were arrested and charged with conspiracy and kidnapping for trying to deport a flight school student back to China.
Police in New Jersey have launched an investigation after the disturbing video of a woman’s arrest went viral.
The Indiana teacher who tackled a school shooter and took three bullets made some incredible remarks
Jason Seaman is a seventh-grade science teacher at a middle school in Indiana. On Friday, he was shot three times. He also became a hero.
The shooter, a student who is now in custody, asked if he could be excused from class, then returned with two handguns and opened fire, police said.
Witnesses said Seaman knocked away the gun and tackled the shooter. The teacher was shot three times and a 13-year-old student was injured.
Seaman made some remarkable comments at a press conference yesterday, where he said, “I want to make it clear that my actions on that day, in my mind, were the only acceptable actions I could have done given the circumstances.”
He also praised the injured student’s resilience: “Her courage and strength at such a young age is nothing short of remarkable.” She remains in critical but stable condition.
The UK government is set to change the law after menstruating women were left to bleed in police custody
A watchdog found that often women detainees were left to bleed without menstrual protection in cells because of lax and insufficient provisions. The detainees often weren’t offered sanitary pads, access to female police officers, or washing facilities. Now the government is working on changing this.
In our report from January, one woman described how a male police officer laughed at her when she asked for sanitary products.
How the internet is changing the ways dogs find homes
An undeniably nice thing about the internet is that we’ve agreed that its main purpose is to always be nice to dogs. Pups, pupperinos, doggos, floofs — you know what I’m saying.
A consequence is that, in the age of viral doggos, shelters and rescue organizations have adjusted their practices to hop on the meme train.
You need to read Gray Chapman’s account of how dog rescue organizations have changed in order to go viral and get their pups adopted. A funny moment: For one organization, the last resort is a video of the pup in doggy PJ’s.
The “Spiderman” who saved a toddler in Paris will be made a French citizen and offered a job as a firefighter
Yesterday, I told you about the video of Mamoudou Gassama, who scaled the façade of a building in Paris to rescue a toddler dangling from a fifth-floor balcony. If you missed it, you should watch it.
Well, Gassama — an undocumented immigrant from Mali who arrived in France just a few months ago — was given a medal of courage by French President Emmanuel Macron. The office of the president announced Gassama will be made a French citizen.
He was also offered a job with the Paris Fire Brigade.
Wishing you such great heights,
Elamin