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Texas families plead for information on at least 23 girls missing from summer camp after floods

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Texas families plead for information on at least 23 girls missing from summer camp after floods

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information as at least 23 campers from an all-girls summer camp were unaccounted for Friday after floods tore through the state’s south-central region overnight.

At least 24 people were dead and many missing after a storm unleashed nearly a foot of rain just before dawn Friday and sent floodwaters gushing out of the Guadalupe River, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters Friday evening. The flood-prone region known as Hill Country is dotted with century-old summer camps that draw thousands of kids annually from across the Lone Star State.

State officials said 23 to 25 girls from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp in Hunt, Texas, still were unaccounted for. They declined to estimate how many people were missing across the region but said a massive search was underway, with 237 rescued so far.

“I’m asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. “On-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls.”

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A helicopter flies over the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Rescuers evacuate some campers by helicopter

First responders scan the banks of the Guadalupe River for individuals swept away by flooding in Ingram, Texas, Friday, July 4, 2025. (Michel Fortier/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

First responders scan the banks of the Guadalupe River for individuals swept away by flooding in Ingram, Texas, Friday, July 4, 2025. (Michel Fortier/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

Texas Game Wardens said Friday afternoon that they had arrived at Camp Mystic and were starting to evacuate campers who had sheltered on higher ground.

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Elinor Lester, 13, said she was evacuated with her cabinmates by helicopter after wading through floodwaters. She recalled startling awake around 1:30 a.m. as thunder crackled and water pelted the cabin windows.

Lester was among the older girls housed on elevated ground known as Senior Hill. Cabins housing the younger campers, who can start attending at age 8, are situated along the riverbanks and were the first to flood, she said.

Families are reunited at a reunification center after flash flooding hit the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Families are reunited at a reunification center after flash flooding hit the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Campers in lower cabins sought shelter up the hill. By morning, they had no food, power or running water, she said. When rescuers arrived, Lester said they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with floodwaters whipping up around their calves and knees.

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“The camp was completely destroyed,” she said. “It was really scary. Everyone I know personally is accounted for, but there are people missing that I know of and we don’t know where they are.”

Her mother, Elizabeth Lester, said her son was nearby at Camp La Junta and also escaped. A counselor there woke up to find water rising in the cabin, opened a window and helped the boys swim out. Camp La Junta and another camp on the river, Camp Waldemar, said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff there were safe.

Elizabeth Lester sobbed when she finally saw her daughter, who was clutching a small teddy bear and a book. She said a friend’s daughter, who was a counselor for the younger children at Camp Mystic, was among the missing.

“My kids are safe, but knowing others are still missing is just eating me alive,” she said.

Families of missing campers worry

Dozens of families shared in local Facebook groups that they received devastating phone calls from safety officials informing them that their daughters had not yet been located among the washed-away camp cabins and downed trees.

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Camp Mystic said in an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers that if they have not been contacted directly, their child is accounted for.

At an elementary school in nearby Ingram that was being used as a reunification center, more than a hundred people stood around a courtyard Friday afternoon with hopes of seeing their loved ones emerge from buses dropping off those who had been evacuated. One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic T-shirt stood in a puddle in her white socks, sobbing in her mother’s arms.

Many families hoped to see loved ones who had been at campgrounds and mobile home parks in the area.

Families line up at a reunification center after flash flooding it the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Families line up at a reunification center after flash flooding it the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Camp Mystic sits on a strip known as “flash flood alley,” said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a charitable endowment that is collecting donations to help nonprofits responding to the disaster.

“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”

State officials began warning of potential deadly weather a day earlier. The National Weather Service had predicted 3 to 6 inches of rain in the region, but 10 inches fell.

The Guadalupe River rose to 26 feet within about 45 minutes in the early morning hours, submerging its flood gauge, Patrick said.

Decades prior, floodwaters engulfed a bus of teenage campers from another Christian camp along the Guadalupe River during devastating summer storms in 1987. A total of 10 campers from Pot O’ Gold Christian camp drowned after their bus was unable to evacuate in time from a site near Comfort, 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of Hunt.

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Flood turns Camp Mystic into a horror story

Chloe Crane, a teacher and former Camp Mystic counselor, said her heart broke when a fellow teacher shared an email from the camp about the missing girls.

“To be quite honest, I cried because Mystic is such a special place, and I just couldn’t imagine the terror that I would feel as a counselor to experience that for myself and for 15 little girls that I’m taking care of,” she said. “And it’s also just sadness, like the camp has been there forever and cabins literally got washed away.”

Crane said the camp, which was established in 1926, is a haven for young girls looking to gain confidence and independence. She recalled happy memories teaching her campers about journalism, making crafts and competing in a camp-wide canoe race at the end of each summer. Now for many campers and counselors, their happy place has turned into a horror story, she said.

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Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.

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‘Criminal Minds’ Star Paget Brewster Tells TV Journalist to ‘Work at a Shelter’ After Mixed Review, Sparking Outrage From Other Critics

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‘Criminal Minds’ Star Paget Brewster Tells TV Journalist to ‘Work at a Shelter’ After Mixed Review, Sparking Outrage From Other Critics

“Criminal Minds” star Paget Brewster lashed out at ScreenRant staffer Shealyn Scott over X on Saturday afternoon for her story lamenting the changes Paramount+ has brought to the long-running procedural drama.

“Hello critic Shealynn Scott,” Brewster wrote in the since-deleted post. “You’re young. You don’t know that bad pics and bad reviews can lead to 350 people losing their jobs. Sell vintage. Work at a shelter. Do something better than what you do now. Because right now you suck.”

Film and TV critics were quick to hit back in the replies. David Rooney, chief film critic at The Hollywood Reporter, wrote in his response to Brewster, “This is a very bad look. An actor on a long-running show attacking a young reviewer who contextualizes her respectful criticisms with obvious knowledge of the material — says way more about u being thin-skinned than it does about her professionalism. ‘Work at a shelter,’ really?!”

Senior ScreenRant writer Andy Behbakht also came to the defense of Scott, writing, “This is disgusting behavior on your part, and really tragic to see you tearing down a young female journalist whom you are literally telling that she ‘sucks’ and that she shouldn’t be in the field that she is in. I stand by my colleague, and you owe her an apology.”

Brewster released an apology for the post on Sunday. She wrote on X, “Hi guys, I was mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it. Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job. I’m very sorry, Shealyn. And I’m sorry to those who follow me that you saw me behave like that. Turns out, last night, I sucked.”

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“Criminal Minds” premiered its 15th and final season on CBS in 2020, and then was revived for Paramount+ in 2022 under the title “Criminal Minds: Evolution.” Scott’s piece discussed the changes “Criminal Minds” underwent when it went from linear to streaming.

“From details as small as a ratings change to TV-MA— which allows David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) the occasional heated expletive— to new main cast members like Tyler Green (Ryan-James Hatanaka), there’s no doubt that ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ has its own unique identity,” Scott wrote in her story. “Plenty of the continuation’s changes have been received warmly, and ‘Criminal Minds’ unquestionably still works as a gripping crime drama, but there are just as many tweaks that feel more like downgrades— including the new 10-episode season structure. Though logical in theory, the shortened seasons are unfortunately working against ‘Criminal Minds’’ greatest strengths.”

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Meloni’s spat with Trump is calculated strategy to boost her approval ratings: expert

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Meloni’s spat with Trump is calculated strategy to boost her approval ratings: expert

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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s escalating feud with President Donald Trump is nothing but a calculated political strategy aimed at boosting her standing at home, a leading Italian political analyst told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

After the row between Trump and Meloni escalated on June 20, analysts also said the Italian leader may see little downside in confronting Trump, particularly as she faces declining approval ratings ahead of Italy’s 2027 general election.

The diplomatic dispute had reached a boiling point after Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced June 19 that he was scrapping a trip to Washington, where he had been scheduled to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Giorgia Meloni must have calculated that a public row with Trump yields no tangible consequences, other than an increase in her domestic and international standing,” Mattia Diletti, a political science lecturer at Sapienza University of Rome, said.

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TRUMP SAYS MELONI ‘WANTS TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN’ AFTER ITALY REFUSED TO HELP US AMID IRAN WAR

Giorgia Meloni said President Trump’s statements were “completely made up” and that “neither I nor Italy ever beg.” (Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images; Bastien Ohier / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images))

Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at Rome’s Luiss University, also told the Financial Times that the row would offer a “positive image” for Meloni and a “silver lining” to a confrontation she had “desperately tried to avoid.”

The friction between Trump and Meloni intensified after an interview broadcast by Italy’s La7 television network, where the president claimed she had asked for a photograph with him at the G7 summit and that he agreed only out of pity.

“She begged me to take a picture with her,” Trump said. “She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.”

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RUBIO MEETS MELONI AS TRUMP–POPE CLASH CLASH ESCALATES US STRAINS WITH KEY EUROPEAN ALLY

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends her annual press conference in Rome on Jan. 9, 2026, addressing government priorities and policy challenges for the year ahead. (Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

Meloni fired back, releasing a video statement on X rejecting the president’s narrative.

“I am frankly stunned,” Meloni said in the video message. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies. But there’s one thing he must remember: Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

Trump doubled down on Truth Social and tied the row directly to Meloni’s political fortunes.

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“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America… when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon … She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience … Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!”

Within hours, Meloni responded on social media: “As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it … My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest… In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”

TRUMP ‘RIGHT TO BE OUTRAGED’ BY EUROPE’S BETRAYAL ON IRAN, SAYS FORMER THATCHER ADVISOR

Rubio will travel to Italy on Wednesday for meetings with Pope Leo and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. (Maria Grazia Picciarella/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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The back-and-forth marks a reversal for two leaders who once enjoyed a close political alignment.

When Meloni first came to power, she positioned herself as a bridge between Washington and Brussels while pushing ties with Trump based on shared nationalism and stances on immigration.

“Politically, Trump has favored Meloni,” Diletti noted, pointing out that she had previously visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2025. She was the only European Union leader to attend his second inauguration.

The cracks also appeared in April when Trump criticized Meloni for siding with Pope Leo XIV’s condemnation of the U.S. conflict with Iran.

On Sunday, Trump also criticized Italy and Giorgia Meloni over their approach to Iran, accusing the NATO ally of failing to help confront Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

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“As the 2027 Italian general election approaches, Meloni is facing a decline in approval ratings for the first time,” Diletti explained.

“The opportunity to counter a President so unpopular in Europe and Italy helps bolster her approval ratings and allows her to build European solidarity,” he claimed.

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Mourners gather to remember Lebanese conservationist killed by Israel

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Mourners gather to remember Lebanese conservationist killed by Israel

Renowned turtle conservationist Mona Khalil had been wounded in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.

Mourners have gathered in Beirut to pay their respects to a much-loved Lebanese conservationist who died from wounds caused by an Israeli strike on her home on the country’s southern coast.

Mona Khalil, 77, who spent more than two decades protecting sea turtles along Lebanon’s coastline, was critically injured in the attack in the village of al-Mansouri in Tyre province on June 4 and succumbed to her wounds more than two weeks later, on Friday.

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News of her death triggered an outpouring of grief among environmentalists and those who volunteered and worked with her over the years, many of whom gathered in Beirut on Sunday.

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The Orange House Project, which Khalil helped build into a small conservation hub and ecotourism site in al-Mansouri, became a refuge for endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles and a training ground for volunteers documenting nesting activity along the coast.

Khalil was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1949. She held Dutch as well as Lebanese citizenship, having lived in the Netherlands before returning to Lebanon and settling in what had once been her grandmother’s home – the building that would later become known as the Orange House.

At the heart of Khalil’s work was a narrow stretch of coastline, al-Mansouri beach, where a fleeting encounter with a turtle that had emerged from the ocean to lay its eggs in 1999 propelled her on a lifelong journey devoted to animals.

Each nesting season, Khalil and volunteers would patrol the beach at night, marking fresh tracks in the sand and carefully relocating vulnerable nests away from human activity and coastal light pollution.

Journalist and environmental activist Fadia Jomaa first met Khalil in 2016 while researching sea turtles in Lebanon and then decided to volunteer with her project.

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During the previous war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in 2024, Khalil initially refused to leave al-Mansouri beach, Jomaa said. The Lebanese army ultimately persuaded her to evacuate for her safety.

“She was the last one to leave the area,” Jomaa noted.

“She had an awful time in Beirut,” the journalist said, adding that Khalil longed to return to the south, to the Orange House and the beach she had spent years protecting.

“She used to say, ‘My soul will stay here,’” Jomaa said, recalling conversations in which Khalil would point to an olive tree or a small hill overlooking al-Mansouri beach. “She used to say, ‘This is where you will bury me.’”

Where Khalil will ultimately be buried remains uncertain and is tied to the security situation in the area, Jomaa said.

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