Middle school student saves bus mates, and more

Middle school student saves his bus mates

A quick-thinking middle school student in Milton, Wash., saved his classmates from a terrible accident this week by taking control of his school bus after its driver suffered a heart attack at the wheel. After the ailing driver slumped in his seat, Jeremy Wuitschick, 13, sprang into action, steering the vehicle to the side of the road and bringing it to a halt. The driver remains in grave condition, but thanks to Wuitschick’s heroism, his young passengers are fine. Wuitschick now plans to learn CPR in case another emergency strikes. “When something major happens, I always look back to see what I could have done better,” he said.

A taste of the African Queen

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One of the stars of the John Huston film The African Queen was restored to its former glory this week—the titular 30-foot riverboat that ferried Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn up the Congo in the 1951 movie. Lance and Suzanne Holmquist of Key Largo, Fla., spotted the 100-year-old boat sinking into disrepair in a marina near their home. Having leased it from the son of its original owner, the couple gave the vessel a $60,000 refurbishment and will maintain it as a charter boat for tourists and movie buffs.

Special deliveries from a Somerdale truck driver

A truck driver from Somerdale, N.J., has earned a reputation for delivering more than just cargo. Michael Hawthorne has helped bring no fewer than three babies into the world during his time on the road. The midwife’s son first delivered a baby in the backseat of a car in California in 1999. That chance event prompted him to keep a medical birth kit in his cab in case it happened again. Remarkably, it did—once in Maryland in 2010, then again in Texas last month. “I feel like I’m a doctor in a mobile hospital unit on 18 wheels,” he said.