Latest news with #Spitzer
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Outdoor plans this weekend? You might want to check the weather report first
If your weekend plans include the Cocoa Beach Air Show or any other outdoor activities, you might want to have a backup plan. The weather is expected to be especially hot starting July 11 with highs near 92 and a heat index reaching 105 or higher. Rain and thunderstorm chances are around 50%. 'Heat and high humidity will combine each day to produce heat indices in the low to mid 100s, perhaps approaching 107 degrees in a few spots by Saturday and especially Sunday,' according to the National Weather Service. 'Those with outdoor weekend plans should keep this in mind and stay protected from prolonged heat exposure by taking frequent cooling and hydration breaks. While the prospects of a Heat Advisory for Sunday are not likely at this time, these mid-100 degrees heat indices can be dangerous to heat-sensitive individuals.' There's a good chance of that. Both July 11 and July 12 have 50% chances of rain, mainly in the afternoon. The heat is the big factor this weekend. Highs are predicted to be in the mid-90s both Saturday and Sunday with an extra dose of high humidity. Tickets are non-refundable. 'In the event of non-authorized intervention, weather or other causes beyond control, the event may be terminated early,' according to the event website. 'If the event is cancelled in its entirety due to an occurrence outside of the control of Event Management on one or both days, Event Management, at its sole discretion, may attempt to make an accommodation the following day or at next year's event for discounted admission.' Spitzer is a Trending Reporter. She can be reached at MSpitzer@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cocoa Beach 2025 Air Show is this weekend, but will it be rained out?
New York Post
30-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Longer maternity leave linked to one very unhealthy habit
Women have long fought for more paid time off after giving birth, citing bonding with the newborn, better mental health and greater workplace equity as some of the benefits. But a new study — published in the Journal of Health Economics — suggests the longer moms spend on maternity leave, the more likely they are to pick up a pretty big health problem later down the line. 3 A new study questions whether or not lengthier maternity leaves benefit mothers as much as people think by examining one surprising outcome. grooveriderz – Researchers tracked over 8,500 European mothers from 14 European countries between 1960 and 2010 and found that extended baby breaks corresponded to a surplus of cigarette breaks. For every extra month of maternity leave, a mom's odds of smoking later rose by 1.2 percentage points. Plus, total smoking duration increased by 7 months, daily cigarette intake edged up by 0.2 per day, and 'pack-years' — a way to measure a lifetime of smoking — climbed by 0.6. The findings caught the scientists by surprise. 'We actually expected that longer career breaks would lead to mothers smoking less. However, our results clearly show that the likelihood of smoking later in life increases with longer periods of parental leave,' Sonja Spitzer, a demographer at the University of Vienna, said in a press release. 'In principle, maternity and parental leave are important for health, and in the short term, health protection also outweighs other considerations. However, if the leave period is too long, financial burdens, social isolation and professional disadvantages can increase — smoking could be a coping mechanism for this stress.' 3 'Our results clearly show that the likelihood of smoking later in life increases with longer periods of parental leave,' Sonja Spitzer said. Miljan í½ivkoviíâ¡ – In keeping with that line of thought, the spike was especially stark among mothers who did not receive financial support from their partner when the baby was born. 'Financial worries during an already sensitive phase of life such as around the time of birth can increase the pressure even more — this stress seems to have a particularly significant impact on health behavior in the long term,' Spitzer said. 3 'If the leave period is too long, financial burdens, social isolation and professional disadvantages can increase — smoking could be a coping mechanism for this stress,' she said. SHOTPRIME STUDIO – While it might seem counterintuitive, the data clearly indicates that shorter maternity leaves seem to have protective benefits when it comes to the urge to light up. 'We were able to clearly show that longer leave periods increase the likelihood of smoking later in life. We can only speculate about the exact reasons behind this, but they are consistent with what we see in the literature and our data,' she concluded. The findings align with previous research, such as a 2012 study that found more than 40% of women who quit smoking during pregnancy relapse within six months postpartum. And multiple studies have indicated that prolonged periods of not working increase the likelihood of smoking, possibly due to stress, loss of structure and boredom. This new study adds a layer of complexity to the conversation, indicating that while longer maternity leave may have some mental health benefits when it comes to bonding and postpartum depression, is also carries some surprising longterm health risks. It suggests that maternity leave policies should focus not only on duration, but also on quality and support.
Los Angeles Times
26-06-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Self-proclaimed skinhead convicted of threatening pregnant Black woman faces at least 38 years in prison
A swastika-tattooed man was convicted Monday of berating and menacing a pregnant Black woman and threatening the life of her unborn child and now faces at least 38 years in prison after the Orange County district attorney appealed an earlier sentence he called too 'lenient.' The case began nearly seven years ago, when Tyson Theodore Mayfield, a self-proclaimed skinhead, berated and menaced a pregnant Black woman waiting for her bus on a Fullerton bench, according to prosecutors. The then-42-year-old Mission Viejo man clenched his fists and threatened the life of the woman's unborn child, according to a criminal complaint. The woman, known as Jane Doe in court documents, fled and called Fullerton police, who didn't locate the man. She soon returned to the bench and so did Mayfield, who threatened her again amid a barrage of racial slurs, according to court documents. This time, Doe tucked into a nearby restaurant and called the police, who found and apprehended Mayfield. That arrest and a guilty plea on two felony counts and one misdemeanor count initially resulted in a five-year sentence. After a series of court disputes and pressure from groups, including the Orange County district attorney's office, Mayfield will serve at least 38 years, according to prosecutors. 'I hope that no one else ever has to feel the absolute blood-chilling terror this young mother described as she had to run for her life, and the life of her baby, not because of what she did, but because of the color of her skin,' Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement. A call to the public defender's office was not returned. Mayfield, now 49, was charged with one felony count of making a hate crime criminal threat with the ability to commit a violent injury, one felony count of criminal threats and one misdemeanor count of petty theft in September 2018. He plead guilty in May 2019 and was originally offered a two-year sentence, according to the DA's office. Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins eventually upped the sentence to five years, but dropped one of Mayfield's previous two strikes, according to the DA's office. That action prevented Mayfield from facing California's much harsher three-strikes sentencing, which calls for a minimum of 25 years imprisonment. Mayfield was previously convicted for felony assault with a deadly weapon in 2005 and felony mayhem in 2008 in Orange County. He was also charged and convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime using a racial slur and punching a man in 2017. Spitzer disagreed with Robbins, arguing that the five-year sentence was too 'lenient,' and groups such as the NAACP and the Orange County Human Relations Commission rallied in support of Doe. 'He is indiscriminately picking out people on the street because he doesn't like the way they look and using violence against them,' Spitzer said of Mayfield in court in 2019. 'Is a five-year sentence going to protect society against someone so evil?' Eventually, Spitzer appealed to California's 4th District Court of Appeals later that year, claiming that Robbins abused his discretion as a judge to drop a strike. The appeals court agreed with Spitzer, noting that Robbins' action shocked them. The case was sent back to trial court and was delayed, according to Kimberly Edds, the district attorney's director of public affairs, as the defense argued that their client wasn't mentally sound. Mayfield eventually stood trial, was found guilty Monday and is due back in court Aug. 29 where faces a sentence of at least 38 years in prison. 'While Judge Robbins ignored that young woman's pleas for justice, thankfully the jury did not ignore the facts and convicted Tyson Mayfield of exactly what he did: threaten a pregnant black woman because he is a racist,' Spitzer said. 'We will never allow hate to win.'
Los Angeles Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Orange County D.A. dismisses gang injunctions against hundreds of people
Orange County's top prosecutor moved to dismiss all active gang injunctions Tuesday, making it the latest California jurisdiction to move away from the controversial court orders in recent years. Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said the decision came after a 2022 Assembly Bill significantly narrowed the legal definition of what constitutes a gang or gang activity in California. Injunctions against 13 gangs were dismissed, affecting 317 people in cities including Santa Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton, San Clemente, Garden Grove, Placentia, San Juan Capistrano, and Orange. Some of the injunctions had been in effect since 2006, Spitzer said. 'After numerous audits and years of proactively removing individuals from these injunctions, we are now satisfied that these 13 gang injunctions have served their intended purpose and have now sought their dissolution,' Spitzer said in a statement. 'Gang injunctions are not intended to last for perpetuity; they are designed and implemented to correct criminal behavior.' Gang injunctions are civil court orders that can bar a suspected gang member from wearing certain clothes or associating with other alleged members of the same gang set within neighborhoods that are considered gang territory. They were meant to curb a gang's ability to dominate a neighborhood by marshaling in public. A person does not have to be convicted of a crime to be subject to an injunction, but violating the orders can prompt contempt charges in criminal court. Spitzer painted the move as 'proactive,' but the district attorney's decision came after mounting legal pressure from the Peace & Justice Law Center, which issued demand letters in March arguing that the continued use of the injunctions violated both California's Racial Justice Act and the 2022 assembly bill Spitzer referenced in his news release. Sean Garcia-Leys, the center's executive director, said the injunctions were racially-biased because they only targeted alleged Latino criminal organizations despite Orange County being home to a number of white supremacist gangs who were never subjected to injunctions. 'Gang injunctions turned everyday activities into crimes for a generation. They were built on racial profiling, deliberately used to bypass due process, and for those reasons, abandoned in nearly every other county in California,' Garcia-Leys said in a statement. 'With the Trump Administration weaponizing this kind of racist gang suppression to undermine due process across the country,' he said. 'It is more important than ever that we ensure all of Orange County's communities are treated equally under the law.' A district attorney's office spokeswoman did not immediately respond to additional questions from The Times. Spitzer said his office could seek new injunctions, under the revised definition of gang activity under California law, if the need arises. A relic of California's 1990s efforts to battle a dramatic surge in gang crime, injunctions have been repeatedly challenged as overly broad and draconian by civil rights groups, especially as gang violence has dramatically plummeted over the decades. A 2020 court settlement effectively barred Los Angeles from enforcing 46 different injunctions that targeted thousands of people. Years before that, a city audit showed more than 7,000 people were needlessly subject to injunctions. In the past decade, officials in Long Beach, San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego either announced reviews of their injunction programs or ceased enforcing them altogether under legal threat. Garcia-Leys said it was nearly impossible for people to get removed from injunction rolls under ex-Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. But Spitzer instituted a review process that led to at least 200 people being freed from the court orders in recent years. Garcia-Leys said injunctions often lead to absurd restrictions. He said one of his clients was arrested by Fullerton Police for taking the trash out after 10 p.m., violating a curfew element of one injunction. Another was accused of violating a court order for attending a family function with his brother-in-law, since both men were subject to an injunction related to the same gang and could not gather together in public. In Los Angeles, some injunctions barred people from wearing Dodgers merchandise in Echo Park, the neighborhood where Dodgers Stadium is located, because the baseball team's jerseys were considered gang paraphernalia. 'Growing up without good role models in a neighborhood with a gang injunction, I made mistakes,' Omar Montes, who was subject to one of the Orange County injunctions, said in a statement. 'But instead of helping me, the system put me on a gang injunction. 'Being on that injunction was humiliating,' he said. 'It made me feel voiceless and less than human. I was regularly harassed by police.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘St. Denis Medical' creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer discuss navigating the ‘peaks and valleys of comedy'
'It would feel stupid to walk away and do something that's less joyful,' expresses Eric Ledgin about why he has built his career around television comedy. The writer, who is one of the two creators of the NBC mockumentary series St. Denis Medical alongside Justin Spitzer, initially wanted to 'make movies that are important,' but got 'pushed into comedy by a friend.' He now revels in the format because 'half hour gives you limitless opportunities to do whatever you want.' The creative duo recently sat down with Gold Derby to discuss the origins of the hospital-set series, their favorite episodes from the first season, and more. St. Denis Medical boasts a unique tone. It is a comedic mockumentary about the doctors, nurses, and administrative staff at a regional hospital in Oregon, but it also often includes moments of true stakes and dramatic heft. 'It's a comedy and it's comedy forward, but there's a lot of attention paid to character and conflict and realism,' explains Spitzer, who notes, 'It's not a drama, but we're not just a joke machine either.' Ledgin echoes the sentiment, adding, 'The thesis is that hospitals are funny places, and I think if you talk to healthcare workers, almost all of them would agree. Because it's a mockumentary, it would feel false if there weren't real moments of people being moved.' 'You have the peaks and valleys of comedy and serious, happy and sad,' adds Spitzer. More from GoldDerby Liam Payne confirmed as judge for Netflix singing competition, 'Superman' hits hard, and today's other top stories Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' Brian Wilson, Beach Boys co-founder, dead at 82 WATCH our video interview with Wendi McLendon-Covey, 'St. Denis Medical' The series features a large ensemble of television stalwarts including David Alan Grier, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Allison Tolman plus newer faces to broadcast television such as Josh Lawson, Kahyun Kim, Mekki Leeper, and Kaliko Kauahi. When the creators were first crafting the series, the number of full-time players they wanted to include was 'restricted by budgets, obviously,' but Spitzer explains, 'What's great about these workplace settings, certainly Superstore, is that you have so many recurring employees and nurses and doctors, so it gives you the chance to slowly expand the world.' Ledgin appreciates having a large ensemble because 'having more options helps, especially when you're on episode 50 and you're trying to come up with something fresh.' The characters he gravitated toward when he and Spitzer were breaking the pilot were surgeon Bruce, played by Lawson, and Alex, portrayed by Tolman, especially because they are so 'opposite' and therefore 'opposing forces.' In addition to the premiere episode, which laid the foundation for the tricky balance of broad comedy and emotional stakes of the show, Ledgin and Spitzer co-wrote the tenth installment, 'People Just Say Stuff Online.' In the episode, Dr. Ron, played by Grier, gets a negative Yelp review from a patient who felt the advice he received from the doctor was disparaging. The idea for the episode was inspired by a real interaction Ledgin heard from a healthcare provider. 'This doctor, who was a cocky ortho guy, was telling me he had this patient who was overweight and had a knee issue and he said the person got really offended. I thought the story was going to be, 'Can you f—ing believe this guy?,' but instead he said, 'I need to be more sensitive.' It was this very touching story about this jock-seeming guy and that seemed surprising in a way that felt like an interesting launch pad.' Spitzer says the episode works because 'this is one of those complicated areas. You don't want to make people feel ashamed, you need to meet them halfway, but some things are worse for your health than other things.' SEE 'I know this dude!': David Alan Grier explains why he leapt at the chance to play a 'burned-out' doctor on 'St. Denis Medical' The episode also features an excellent push-and-pull between Ron and McLendon-Covey's Joyce, the hospital administrator concerned with maintaining St. Denis' four-star rating online. The dynamic between the two had been developing all season. Ledgin describes, 'They have this history and a respect, even when they argue, and that definitely informed a lot of what we did even in Season 1. We're having a little more fun in Season 2 exploring questions like, how long have they worked together, and how well do they know each other?' Spitzer observes that in comedy series like St. Denis Medical, 'The characters become very quickly a family or a group of people that generally like each other. ... You have conflict, you keep that, but underneath it, people really don't want to watch people who truly hate each other.' In Gold Derby's recent interviews with Grier and McLendon-Covey, both actors expressed interest in doing a flashback episode to when Ron and Joyce were residents together at St. Denis three decades ago. Asked about the possibility, Spitzer confesses, 'It's hard with a mockumentary,' because who would have been filming in the hospital back then? Ledgin agrees, saying, 'I have a little trouble with the math of that.' WATCH our video interview with Allison Tolman, 'St. Denis Medical' Ledgin also wrote the season finale, 'This Place Is Our Everything,' which features a payoff to the season-long question about a potential romance between nurses Serena (Kim) and Matt (Leeper). Ledgin says of how he approached the arc and its first-season conclusion, 'I think the primary thing was just not forcing anything and making sure that it never felt paint by numbers. … If there's something that we did that was smart, it was not going in with a specific objective of what's going to happen with them. I could see it. I could also see it blowing up.' Out of the 18 episodes from St. Denis Medical's first season, Ledgin and Spitzer single out a few as especially memorable. Spitzer cites the third episode, 'Weird Stuff You Can't Explain,' sharing, 'I love watching Val (Kauahi) drag the cross. It makes me laugh a lot. If I rewatch it, it still makes me laugh.' Ledgin mentions episode 14, 'Listen to Your Ladybugs,' because it features a subplot with Ron that he says 'happened to me in the middle of the season, and it was very cathartic and fun to see.' He also spotlights the penultimate episode, 'Bruce-ic and the Mus-ic,' which features Bruce competing in a dance contest at the hospital gala, and 'People Just Say Stuff Online,' which finds Bruce confronting his high school bully. Speaking of Lawson's performance, the creator says, 'I thought he executed that so well in such a maniacal way.' SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
