Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., briefly met with reality star and hotel heiress Paris Hilton on Tuesday. The 41-yearold socialite stopped by the Senate to talk about how to continue her advocacy against child abuse. “Met with ParisHilton this week to talk about how we can better serve America’s youth,” Scott posted on his official Twitter account. Hilton has recently fought to persuade the government to provide better oversight for child care facilities, such as foster care and boarding schools, that are advertised to wealthy families to handle troubled youths. In October, she spoke in Washington about the abuse she suffered beginning at age 16 while she lived at the Provo Canyon School, a facility in Utah. Hilton also testified about those experiences at a Utah committee hearing last year. “Talking about something so personal was and is still terrifying,” she said then. “But I can not go to sleep at night knowing that there are children that are experiencing the same abuse that I and so many others went through, and neither should you.”
■ Authorities will not file criminal charges against former boxing champ Mike Tyson after he was seen on video punching a fellow first- class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport last month, prosecutors announced. The San Mateo County district attorney’s office said Tuesday that it closed the case and decided against pursuing charges based on “the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.” “These include the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson that no charges be filed in this case,” District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said. Representatives for Tyson have said he encountered “an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat.” The April 20 video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat and repeatedly striking the man in the head, drawing blood. Before the altercation, the other passenger was seen standing over Tyson’s seat, waving his arms and talking while the former boxer sat quietly. Attorneys for Tyson praised the Tuesday decision, thanking the authorities for “careful, diligent and professional work.”