paris – The Philadelphia Observer http://philadelphiaobserver.com Just another WordPress site Sat, 30 Mar 2024 14:15:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Prosecutors Say This Babysitter Did the Unthinkable http://philadelphiaobserver.com/prosecutors-say-this-babysitter-did-the-unthinkable/ Sat, 30 Mar 2024 14:15:47 +0000 https://philadelphiaobserver.com/?p=5822

A 3-year-old girl died after suffering blunt force trauma injuries. Days later, Michigan prosecutors came after the girl’s babysitter with charges in connection to her death after allegedly trying to cover it up.

On March 17, officials from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office say Paris England and Marquise Henderson sought a babysitter to watch Harmoni, their autistic, non-verbal toddler. England decided to leave the child with her friend, Iesha Harris, who lived on the west side of Detroit. It’s unclear how much time Harmoni was to spend with the sitter but not even 24 hours had passed before the unthinkable happened.

Prosecutors say that night, Harris locked the girl and her own 1-year-old child in a bedroom so she could go smoke marijuana with her friends. Harmoni’s parents told FOX 2 Detroit their baby girl was locked in that room for three hours.

Upon going back into the room, the report says Harris discovered Harmoni vomited on herself. In response, prosecutors allege Harris went on a rampage and doused the little girl with boiling hot water and slamming her head into the side of the bathtub.

Source: Prosecutors Say This Babysitter Did the Unthinkable

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Biden awards Black Vietnam vet Col. Paris Davis, 83, with Medal of Honor http://philadelphiaobserver.com/biden-awards-black-vietnam-vet-col-paris-davis-83-with-medal-of-honor/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 16:13:00 +0000 https://philadelphiaobserver.com/?p=4710 The belated recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident came after the recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again.

Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest military award for his bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday.

The belated recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident came after the recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again.

President Joe Biden awards the Medal of Honor to retired Army Col. Paris Davis for his heroism during the Vietnam War, in the East Room of the White House, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Washington. Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

It wasn’t until 2016 — half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men under fire — that advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork.

President Joe Biden on Friday described Davis as a “true hero,” describing his efforts to haul injured soldiers to safety under heavy enemy fire. When one of his superiors told him to get to safety, Davis said, according to Biden: “Sir, I”m just not going to leave. I still have an American out there,” and he went back into the firefight to carry out an injured medic.

“You are everything this medal means,” Biden said to Davis. “You’re everything our nation is at our best. Brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast.”

Biden said Davis should have received the honor years ago, describing remaining segregation when he returned home and questioning why the honor took so long.

“Somehow the paperwork was never processed,” Biden said. “Not just once. But twice.”

Davis doesn’t dwell on it. He says he doesn’t know why it has taken decades.

“Right now I’m overwhelmed,” he told The Associated Press in an interview the day before he attended the White House ceremony where Biden placed the blue ribbon holding the Medal of Honor around his neck.

“When you’re fighting, you’re not thinking about this moment,” Davis said. “You’re just trying to get through that moment.”

“That moment” stretched over nearly 19 hours and two days in mid-June 1965.Retired Army Col. Paris Davis listens as President Joe Biden speaks before awarding the Medal of Honor to Davis for his heroism during the Vietnam War, in the East Room of the White House, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Washington. Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province.

He engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese, called for precision artillery fire and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers — all while suffering wounds from gunshots and grenade fragments. He used his pinkie finger to fire his rifle after his hand was shattered by an enemy grenade, according to reports.

Davis repeatedly sprinted into an open rice paddy to rescue members of his team, according to the ArmyTimes. His entire team survived.

“That word ‘gallantry’ is not much used these days,” Biden said. “But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.”

Davis, from Cleveland, retired in 1985 at the rank of lieutenant colonel and now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Biden called him several weeks ago to deliver the news.

He says the wait in no way lessens the honor.

“It heightens the thing, if you’ve got to wait that long,” he said. “It’s like someone promised you an ice cream cone. You know what it looks like, what it smells like. You just haven’t licked it.”

Source: Biden awards Black Vietnam vet Col. Paris Davis, 83, with Medal of Honor

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Paris Closes Louvre Musuem As Virus Spreads http://philadelphiaobserver.com/paris-closes-louvre-musuem-as-virus-spreads/ Thu, 05 Mar 2020 17:03:29 +0000 http://philadelphiaobserver.com/?p=669

 

PARIS (AP) — Coronavirus cases surged in Italy, and France closed the world-famous Louvre Museum on Sunday as the deadly outbreak that began in China sent fear rising across Western Europe, threatening its tourism industry.

The virus has spread to more than 60 countries, and at least 3,000 people have died from the COVID-19 illness.

New fronts in the battle opened rapidly over the weekend, deepening the sense of crisis that has already sent financial markets plummeting, emptied the streets in many cities and rewritten the routines of millions of people. More than 88,000 have been infected, on every continent but Antarctica.

 

Black Women Take A Stand For Heart Health

 

Australia and Thailand reported their first deaths Sunday, while the Dominican Republic and the Czech Republic recorded their first infections.

Italian authorities said the number of people infected in the country soared 50% to 1,694 in just 24 hours, and five more had died, bringing the death toll there to 34. Cases in France jumped to 130, an increase of 30 in one day.

China, where the epidemic began in December, reported 202 new cases in its update Monday, the lowest increase since Jan. 21. The city of Wuhan had most of the new cases but also saw 2,570 patients released, continuing a trend that frees up patient beds in the prefabricated isolation wards and hastily built hospitals in the area where the disease has hit hardest.

Source: Paris Closes Louvre Musuem As Virus Spreads

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