Southwest
Texas teen honors late dad with tearjerking graduation speech hours after his burial: Doing this 'for him'
A Texas high school valedictorian who delivered a tearjerking speech against the backdrop of burying his father earlier that morning said he summoned the strength to keep going as he looked out over the crowd and saw how his words had touched everyone.
“I didn’t know if I even had the strength to do it. I was up there talking about my dad, and at any time I could have just I could have [stopped]. I wanted to stop, but I looked in the audience and I saw people listening to what I was saying and really taking it in and relating to me, getting touched by the words that were coming out of my mouth, and that’s what really kept me going. That’s what pushed me to finish my speech,” Alem Hadzic, the graduate behind the moving moment, said Sunday on the Fox News Channel.
The 18-year-old graduate lost his father, Miralem, to cancer on May 15, just one day before the ceremony at Early College High School in a community just north of Dallas.
SOUTH CAROLINA VALEDICTORIAN GOES VIRAL FOR SPEECH DETAILING FAITH AMID HARDSHIP FOLLOWING MOTHER’S DEATH
Alem Hadzic delivered a speech to his peers just hours after his father’s burial. (Early College High School/Fox & Friends Weekend Screengrab)
Standing before the crowd of peers and their loved ones, he wore the same muddied shoes he wore as he carried his father to his grave during his burial earlier that morning.
“I wrote the speech the morning before [the graduation ceremony], which is the morning he died. That was before I even knew that his funeral would be the next day,” he told “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Will Cain.
“So I knew I was going to talk about him,” he said. “I didn’t know that I was going to be burying him right before I gave the speech.”
Behind the podium, he told his peers his arms were shaking from carrying the casket, and that his father’s wish for him to achieve all of his goals gave him the determination to go to college and do just that.
HIGH SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN WHO GAVE FAITH-FILLED SPEECH REVEALS MOTIVATION: ‘JESUS TOLD ME TO WRITE THAT’
Alem Hadzic told Will Cain more about the backstory behind his moving graduation speech. (Fox & Friends Weekend/Screengrab)
“That’s why I’m going to go to college, and I’m going to spend every hour of every day working as hard as I can to achieve all of my goals, because that’s what he wanted, and I want to do it for him,” he told the crowd.
His original script mentioned his father’s death, but many of his words came on the spot, without any preparation.
“The part about the funeral, the part about me burying him and the ending, that was all added later. That wasn’t in the script. That was in the moment. That was from the heart,” he explained.
His speech received a standing ovation and praise from friends. It later went viral, garnering attention across media outlets as a heartwarming and uplifting message about family, strength and perseverance.
4 INSPIRING BOOKS THAT WILL MAKE YOU THINK, LAUGH AND BE GRATEFUL
“My takeaway is that anything I accomplish, I’m going to do it for my family, because they truly are the ones that have always been there for me and will keep being there for me,” he said to conclude the segment on Sunday.
“So I’m going to keep working hard. Like I said in my speech, I’m going to do it for my mom and my sister, and I’m going to do it for my dad.”
Hadzic plans to enroll at the University of Texas in the fall, where he will study chemical engineering, according to PEOPLE.
Read the full article from Here
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
-
A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
-
Missouri5 minutes agoMan, 20, charged in Kansas City, Missouri, road rage shooting that critically injured woman, 19
-
Montana11 minutes agoRob McManus, Jenavieve Lynch win titles for Montana State at Big Sky Conference track and field championships
-
Nebraska17 minutes agoDangerous storm threat continues through Monday in Nebraska
-
Nevada23 minutes ago‘It was special’: Bishop Gorman wins Class 5A baseball state title — PHOTOS
-
New Hampshire29 minutes agoNew Hampshire’s child mental health bill stalled by House – Valley News
-
New Jersey35 minutes agoRedesigned New Jersey golf course holes drawing rave reviews
-
New Mexico41 minutes agoLine Fire, Mimms Fire – Quay County – Update
-
North Carolina47 minutes ago
NC Uber driver rejects more trips as gas tops $4 per gallon
