Hero: David Benke

Deer Creek Middle School math teacher David Benke was doing parking lot duty as school was letting out when he heard what he thought were firecrackers.

It was the sound of gunfire.

Benke, a 57-year-old teacher who has been at the school for a decade and whom students call "Dr. Benke," walked toward the sound and saw a man stooped over a rifle filling the chamber with another round.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to grab him before he got a second shot off," Benke said from his home in Littleton. "I grabbed him, and I think he dropped the gun. Basically we danced around."

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Will Phillips: Hero

Via Queerty comes a story from the Arkansas Times about Will Phillips, an elementary school student who refuses to say the pledge of allegiance in school because of discrimination against gay people:

"I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer," Will said. "I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all."

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Hero

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg called the pilot [Chesley Sullenberger] "masterful," adding that he had spoken to him and the last passenger to get off the plane. Here's an account of the mayor's press conference.

Read more here.