Biden gives Medal of Honor to trailblazing special forces member

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden bestowed the Medal of Honor to one of the nation’s first Special Forces officers, who struggled for decades to earn recognition for his actions saving fellow soldiers during a grueling, firefight in Vietnam.

Paris Davis, 83, was awarded the nation’s highest military honor at the White House on Friday after the Pentagon twice had said it lost paperwork nominating him for the award. The case has been widely seen as an example of discrimination faced by Black soldiers in the years after armed

20 minutes because the volume of snow made it difficult to maneuver the manual surveying equipment, said de Guzman, who referred to the snowpack in some parts of the mountains as “epic.”

One year earlier, when powerful storms the preceding October and December gave way to dismal precipitation totals in January and February, Phillips Station’s snowpack was at just 68% of average to start March 2022.

The southern Sierra Nevada range is leading the way this winter, reported Friday morning at 231% of the average for the date, with the central Sierra at 196% and northern Sierra at 151%, according to automated measurements.

The southern Sierra has been on pace since mid-january to break the all-time record for that services were integrated.

“He never lost faith, which I found astounding,” Biden said.

Biden heralded Davis’ decision to pursue a career in the Green Berets, despite warnings that the largely white special forces group could be discriminatory. Davis was awarded the medal for his actions

region, de Guzman said.

California’s drought conditions easing

Wet and snowy weather has greatly improved California’s drought conditions, at least in the immediate term. A weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday showed less than half of California in at least moderate drought conditions, down from 85% last week.

“The precipitation that California’s received in recent days combined with the nine atmospheric rivers during December and January have really helped ease a lot of drought impacts,” de Guzman said.

“But while it’s helped our snowpack and our reservoirs, our groundwater basins are a lot slower to recover. It takes more than a single in Vietnam, where he returned multiple times to the battlefield to drag wounded soldiers to safety – despite being shot twice himself.

“You are everything our nation is at our best: brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast,” Biden said.

wet year to really recover a lot of those groundwater basins that have been critically overdrafted for so many years during this drought.”

Reservoir levels mostly rising

With mountain snow and valley rain throughout most of the state since late December, nine of the state’s 17 major reservoirs are now above average for this time of year, the Department of Water Resources reported Friday.

Those nine include California’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, at 116% of its historic average and Folsom Lake at 114%.

Some reservoirs have been slower to recover. Trinity Lake stood at just 48% of average Friday morning, and the state’s largest, Shasta Lake, was measured at 84%.