(WASHINGTON) — It’s peak citrus season in the U.S., but Florida orange groves had a bitter yield of the beloved sweet and tart winter fruit.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that orange crops are projected to be down for the second consecutive season, which could send prices that were already high due to the pandemic, even higher.
The historically low production could be 16% less than last season’s final count, the USDA found.
Growers in the Sunshine State are forecast to harvest 44.5 million boxes of fruit from the 2020-21 season, according to the USDA, down1.50 million boxes from the December forecast.
The current USDA forecast looks at 17.5 million boxes of non-Valencia oranges (early, mid-season, and Navel varieties) and 27 million boxes of Valencia oranges.
Only one year since 1947 has yielded fewer oranges, according to the USDA; 2017-2018 when Florida crops were battered by Hurricane Irma.
Looks like we won’t be Cooking With Paris much longer. Netflix has decided not to give Paris Hilton‘s reality series a second season, according to Deadline. Inspired by her viral YouTube video, Cooking with Paris followed Hilton as she “navigates new ingredients, new recipes and exotic kitchen appliances,” with assistance from celebrity friends, including Kim Kardashian West, Nikki Glaser, Demi Lovato, Saweetie, Lele Pons and Kathy and Nicky Hilton…
Variety reports The Power of the Dog took home its 21st awards season prize for best picture from the North Dakota Film Critics, breaking Netflix’s previous record of 20, held by Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma in 2018. That said, the films and performances with the most wins hardly ever amount to an Oscar victory, Roma being a prime example. It lost out to Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, without leading in any category during its season…
Elliot Page has boarded Italian filmmaker Nicolò Bassetti‘s transgender-themed documentary Nel Mio Nome (Into My Name), inspired by his personal experience with the gender transition of his child, Matteo, according to Variety. Into My Name provides an intimate look at the universal challenges of gender transition by observing the transition within a tight-knit group of friends in the central Italian city of Bologna. Page, in a statement says, “Knowing that Bassetti consulted closely with his trans son throughout production is so beautiful to me, and I think that lived experience and input is clear in the film’s perspective. I’m honored to be onboard and can’t wait for everyone to see it.” The film, will make its world premiere February 20 during the Berlin Film Festival…
Marvel Studios dropped the first trailer for its Disney+ series Moon Knight during the Rams-Cardinals wild card game on ESPN and ABC on Monday.
The series stars Oscar Issac as Steven Grant — a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who suffers blackouts and memories of another life. After discovering he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector, they must navigate their complex identities as they’re thrust into a deadly mystery involving the powerful gods of Egypt.
“I can’t tell the difference between my waking life and dreams,” says Oscar Issac — sporting a legit British accent — as Steven Grant toward the top of the trailer, set to Kid Cudi‘s “Day ‘n’ Night,”.
Grant becomes increasingly disconnected from reality, until we hear Ethan Hawke’s villainous cult leader encourage Steven/Marc to “embrace the chaos,” at which point he transforms into the titular superhero.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 851,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.9% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 18, 7:30 am
Hong Kong to cull 2,000 small animals after hamsters test positive
Some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals will be culled in Hong Kong amid fears over possible animal-to-human transmission of COVID-19, authorities announced Tuesday.
The move came after an employee at the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant on Monday. Further testing revealed at least 11 hamsters in the shop, imported from the Netherlands, were also infected, according to authorities.
The store has been shuttered and its hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas will all be tested and euthanized. Anyone who visited the shop since Jan. 7 is being urged to get in touch with authorities. Although officials said there is no evidence animals can transmit the virus to humans, they are not ruling out the possibility.
As a precautionary measure, authorities said they will seize all hamsters in Hong Kong’s 34 licensed stores for testing before putting them down in a humane manner. Residents who purchased hamsters after Dec. 22 are being urged to hand them over to be tested and culled. The customers themselves will be subject to mandatory testing and quarantine.
Hong Kong will also cease the sale and import of small mammals, including hamsters. All shops selling hamsters in the city have been ordered to stop doing so immediately, according to authorities.
“We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs,” Dr. Leung Siu-fai, director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, told a press conference Tuesday. “We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jan 17, 2:31 pm
Moderna working on combined COVID, flu booster
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Davos Agenda Monday that the company is working on a combined COVID-19 and flu booster shot, which could, in a “best case scenario,” be made available by fall 2023.
Bancel said the company’s goal is to be able to provide a single annual booster.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 2:16 pm
Fauci: Unclear whether omicron will lead world into an ‘endemic’ phase
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it’s an “open question” as to whether the omicron variant will lead the globe into a new endemic phase of the pandemic.
“We were fortunate that omicron, although it is highly transmissible, nonetheless, is not as pathogenic but the sheer volume of people who are getting infected overrides that rather less level of pathogenicity,” Fauci said at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event held by the World Economic Forum.
But Fauci said it’s still unclear if omicron’s reduced severity will translate to the virus gradually becoming less prevalent.
“I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if you don’t get another variant that alludes to the immune response to the prior variant,” Fauci said, adding that it is “very difficult” to calculate how the globe could reach herd immunity.
When the globe does enter an endemic phase, Fauci said there will be a “new normal.”
“It’s not going to be that you’re going to eliminate this disease completely. We’re not going to do that. But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal, social, economic and other interactions with each other,” Fauci said. “To me, that’s what the new normal is. I hope the new normal also includes a real strong corporate memory of what pandemics can do.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 11:40 am
Growing evidence suggests COVID surge may be receding in parts of US
Growing evidence suggests the omicron surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the U.S. that were first hit by the variant.
Although new case rates remain high across much of the Northeast, daily totals are slowly beginning to fall. New York City reported a 17% drop and New Jersey reported a 17.6% drop in new cases over the last week. Washington, D.C., reported a nearly 25% decline and Vermont saw a nearly 22% decline in cases in the last week.
But health officials caution the latest surge has yet to peak for much of the U.S. The nation is still reporting nearly 800,000 new cases a day — a record high and a more than eight-fold increase compared to six weeks ago.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Sunday that Americans should not expect a decline in the days to come.
“This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates… we’re also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country,” Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”
Nearly 1,800 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day – an approximately 52.6% jump since Jan. 1.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 851,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.9% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 18, 7:30 am
Hong Kong to cull 2,000 small animals after hamsters test positive
Some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals will be culled in Hong Kong amid fears over possible animal-to-human transmission of COVID-19, authorities announced Tuesday.
The move came after an employee at the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant on Monday. Further testing revealed at least 11 hamsters in the shop, imported from the Netherlands, were also infected, according to authorities.
The store has been shuttered and its hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas will all be tested and euthanized. Anyone who visited the shop since Jan. 7 is being urged to get in touch with authorities. Although officials said there is no evidence animals can transmit the virus to humans, they are not ruling out the possibility.
As a precautionary measure, authorities said they will seize all hamsters in Hong Kong’s 34 licensed stores for testing before putting them down in a humane manner. Residents who purchased hamsters after Dec. 22 are being urged to hand them over to be tested and culled. The customers themselves will be subject to mandatory testing and quarantine.
Hong Kong will also cease the sale and import of small mammals, including hamsters. All shops selling hamsters in the city have been ordered to stop doing so immediately, according to authorities.
“We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs,” Dr. Leung Siu-fai, director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, told a press conference Tuesday. “We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jan 17, 2:31 pm
Moderna working on combined COVID, flu booster
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Davos Agenda Monday that the company is working on a combined COVID-19 and flu booster shot, which could, in a “best case scenario,” be made available by fall 2023.
Bancel said the company’s goal is to be able to provide a single annual booster.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 2:16 pm
Fauci: Unclear whether omicron will lead world into an ‘endemic’ phase
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it’s an “open question” as to whether the omicron variant will lead the globe into a new endemic phase of the pandemic.
“We were fortunate that omicron, although it is highly transmissible, nonetheless, is not as pathogenic but the sheer volume of people who are getting infected overrides that rather less level of pathogenicity,” Fauci said at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event held by the World Economic Forum.
But Fauci said it’s still unclear if omicron’s reduced severity will translate to the virus gradually becoming less prevalent.
“I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if you don’t get another variant that alludes to the immune response to the prior variant,” Fauci said, adding that it is “very difficult” to calculate how the globe could reach herd immunity.
When the globe does enter an endemic phase, Fauci said there will be a “new normal.”
“It’s not going to be that you’re going to eliminate this disease completely. We’re not going to do that. But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal, social, economic and other interactions with each other,” Fauci said. “To me, that’s what the new normal is. I hope the new normal also includes a real strong corporate memory of what pandemics can do.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 11:40 am
Growing evidence suggests COVID surge may be receding in parts of US
Growing evidence suggests the omicron surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the U.S. that were first hit by the variant.
Although new case rates remain high across much of the Northeast, daily totals are slowly beginning to fall. New York City reported a 17% drop and New Jersey reported a 17.6% drop in new cases over the last week. Washington, D.C., reported a nearly 25% decline and Vermont saw a nearly 22% decline in cases in the last week.
But health officials caution the latest surge has yet to peak for much of the U.S. The nation is still reporting nearly 800,000 new cases a day — a record high and a more than eight-fold increase compared to six weeks ago.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Sunday that Americans should not expect a decline in the days to come.
“This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates… we’re also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country,” Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”
Nearly 1,800 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day – an approximately 52.6% jump since Jan. 1.
(WASHINGTON) — As climate change increases the severity of natural disasters, low-income school districts face disproportionately greater obstacles when attempting to recover from them, according to a Government Accountability Office report (GAO) obtained exclusively by ABC News.
Districts in high-poverty areas are already plagued with challenges — like outdated building infrastructure or a lack of resources — and when hit with the havoc wrought by a major disaster, the recovery process can be a tedious, uphill battle, according to the report released Tuesday. At the same time, natural disasters pose a disproportionate threat to students in already vulnerable educational settings, the report states.
There have been more than 300 “presidentially-declared major disasters” in every state and territory since 2017, and more than half of the nation’s public school districts are located in counties that were subject to major disasters from 2017-2019 and make up more than two-thirds of the nation’s students, according to the report.
But most districts that received certain federal recovery grants after major disasters that occurred during those years “had elevated proportions of students from certain socially vulnerable groups,” according to GAO’s analysis of federal data.
“Many natural disasters have had devastating effects on K-12 schools and the communities in which they are located — especially socially vulnerable communities for whom disaster recovery is more challenging,” the report reads. “We have found that school districts affected by natural disasters have faced a range of recovery challenges, including trauma and mental health issues among students and staff, lost instructional time, staff burnout, and financial strain.”
GAO spoke to officials from five school districts in socially vulnerable communities that detailed challenges their schools faced when recovering from a major disaster, and in most instances, physical recovery was one of them, according to the report.
A previous GAO report from 2020 showed that thousands of school buildings across the country could need critical repairs due to natural disasters, and revealed that “about half (an estimated 54%) of public school districts need to update or replace multiple building systems or features in their schools.”
The report, released on Tuesday, cites a “subject matter expert,” who reportedly told GAO that “socially vulnerable groups are more likely to attend under-resourced and poorly maintained schools, which in turn are more likely to suffer extensive damage due to disasters, causing extended school closures and student displacements.”
And in some instances, “low-income school districts can be denied funding or receive less funding than needed” from one of FEMA’s programs, because these are designed to provide funding to return a property to its previous condition.
“Officials from one state explained that districts must adequately document the condition of the building to prove that damage was caused by the disaster rather than neglecting to make an earlier needed repair, such as fixing a leaking roof,” the report states. “Poorer districts and those with fewer resources often do not have sufficient staffing or expertise to maintain the necessary maintenance records, according to these officials.”
Additionally, four out of the five districts that spoke with GAO said their district was still in the process of its physical recovery, “in some cases, years after the natural disasters.” Some of these districts told GAO they were forced to use temporary facilities, which also disrupted students’ learning.
“For example, in one district multiple classes had to share one classroom space, while in another district, a temporary facility lacked adequate Wi-Fi, requiring students and staff to rely on physical materials, according to district officials,” the report says.
House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott, D-Va., said in a statement: “This GAO report confirms what we have long known: Schools in vulnerable communities do not have the support they need to keep their facilities safe for students and staff.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic and recent natural disasters nationwide have been powerful reminders that our public school buildings are in urgent need of repair; however, we cannot expect schools to prepare for our changing climate or recover from future disasters without dedicated federal funding for school infrastructure,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — As the fight for voting rights stalls in Congress, the NBA Social Justice Coalition continues its call for lawmakers to act urgently to protect the right to vote.
The NBA Social Justice Coalition was formed in 2020, after the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake. The group, which includes players, owners and staffers, has advocated for policy changes regarding voting rights, criminal justice, policing and justice reform, by reaching out to lawmakers in targeted efforts in Congress and state and local legislatures.
Over the past two years, the group has been active across the country and in Washington, D.C.
Voting rights were at the forefront for the NBA Social Justice Coalition in 2020. The NBA opened up 23 league facilities to help increase voting participation by using them as polling locations and voter registration locations.
In 2021, NBA all-star forward Karl Anthony Towns, from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Caron Butler, an assistant coach of the Miami Heat, held a virtual roundtable with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., on the topic of policing reform.
Last year, the group publicly endorsed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and pushed for the passage of the EQUAL Act, a bill that seeks to eliminate the federal differences in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine.
Privately, the group has also held several bipartisan meetings with lawmakers.
Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers told ABC News, fighting for equal rights “has been part of my life throughout my life.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Rivers, 60, grew up going to Operation Breadbasket, a 1960s era program that fought for jobs and services on behalf of the Black community.
Rivers was only three years old when the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965 and stressed that Americans should not normalize the fight for voting rights.
“You should be able to vote and you should be fighting for everyone to be able to do it. And the more people you can get engaged in the fight to vote, which shouldn’t be a fight anymore,” he said.
The coach added, “We can’t normalize it that for a long period of our history, and not just Black Americans, women, minorities, were kept out of the right the vote, which is literally the single most important thing about democracy being able to vote, and it’s been attacked throughout my lifetime.”
In August, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed in the House of Representatives. However, in the months since, the bill has stalled due to partisan gridlock.
Rivers told ABC News, “this shouldn’t be controversial … This has nothing to do with color. This has to do with equal rights.”
“It’s been made hard for targeted groups throughout my lifetime to vote, and I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican, the one thing that everybody should be fighting for is not making it harder to vote, but making it easier for everyone to vote,” Rivers said
When asked what he would say to lawmakers today on the issue of voting rights, he said he’d simply ask them to protect his right to vote.
“Can you protect my right to vote? Don’t make it harder for me, or certain groups make it easier for all groups. Protect our rights, and we love using the Constitution. That is constitutional,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — A dispute over a Boston flagpole, the Christian flag and the First Amendment is testing the limits of free speech on government property.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments over whether the city of Boston engaged in unlawful discrimination and censorship when it denied the request of a local civic organization to fly the Christian flag on a flagpole outside City Hall.
Designed in the late 1880s, the white banner with red Latin cross has been adopted by many American Protestant communities as a nondenominational symbol of their faith.
The city says its policies forbid promotion of religion on its flagpoles and that doing so would violate separation of church and state.
Hal Shurtleff, founder of the nonprofit group Camp Constitution, which brought the case, argues the flagpole was effectively treated by the city as a public forum open to all viewpoints for more than a decade.
“It’s a public access flagpole,” Shurtleff said in an interview with ABC News Live about his 2017 request to raise the flag at a planned Constitution Day event on City Hall Plaza.
“It’s kind of ludicrous to think flying a flag on a flagpole for maybe an hour or two will somehow get people to think, ‘Oh my goodness, look at the city of Boston now endorsing the Protestant or the Christian faith,'” he said.
City officials had approved 284 private flag-raising events over a dozen years, including flags to mark Veterans Day, Columbus Day, LGBTQ Pride Month and numerous ethnic and cultural communities across Boston.
Shurtleff’s request was the first and only one denied, court records show.
“This is an 83-foot-tall flagpole in front of City Hall that’s associated with the government. That’s why, you know, this religious group wants to use it, because it carries with it some government imprimatur,” said Patrick Elliott, senior counsel with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is backing Boston in the case. “So we say the city can control that.”
In court documents, Boston lawyers also argue that approved private flag-raisings were almost always “in connection with publicly recognized days of remembrance” and that the city had “never flown a purely private flag on a random day.”
Lower courts sided with the city, concluding that the flagpole was not public forum and that the city officials could exercise discretion in approving requests to raise flags on its flagpole.
“The city, for its own speech, does not want to get into the issue of religion,” said attorney Doug Hallward-Driemeier, who is arguing the case for Boston. “It’s said that it didn’t want to fly a flag that was offered as ‘the Christian flag,’ because that wasn’t the message that the city itself wanted to communicate.”
Supporters of the policy say it also protects the city from unwanted association with divisive messages and, in this case, a flag that critics allege has been coopted by hate groups.
“The Christian flag is associated with Christian nationalism. This is the same flag that was used during the Jan. 6th insurrection,” said Elliott, referencing publicly available images showing the flag being carried by some rioters as they stormed the U.S. Capitol last year. “So this is really akin to them trying to take over City Hall and saying, ‘Hey, this is a Christian place.'”
Shurtleff dismissed the comparison and insinuation that the flag was a symbol of extremism.
“I don’t know of any white nationalists carrying Christian flags. That may have happened, but I don’t know. But this flag certainly represents Christianity and was designed by a couple of Sunday school teachers. Not exactly white supremacists,” he said.
The Supreme Court has limited the display of religious symbols by governments on government property, but it has also said that public forums are different and that censorship of viewpoints there isn’t allowed.
The ACLU is siding with Camp Constitution in this battle, saying a win for Boston would threaten free speech.
“When the government opens its public property for private speakers, it has to treat everybody equally,” said David Cole, ACLU national legal director. “This case is really about private citizens’ access to government property to express themselves. And that access is critical to our ability to speak to each other, to express our views and the like.”
Boston insists it never intended to make the flagpole open to anyone, for any reason, telling the high court that if a majority sides with Camp Constitution, the city may end its flag-raising program altogether.
“We’re optimistic that they will rule in our favor and that we will be allowed to raise the flag,” said Shurtleff, “although I understand the city will most likely cancel its flag raising events. So we’ll see what happens.”
(CLEVELAND) — Over the last few decades, it has been considered taboo to reveal tattoos, piercings or even unconventional hair colors in a professional work setting, but one woman is challenging that idea after showing off her full sleeves of arm tattoos in her company headshot and going viral on LinkedIn.
“As soon as it started going viral, I thought, ‘I know how this works. If I put myself out there, and it’s something that is controversial, I should be prepared,'” Jessica Leonard said.
Leonard, 36, received over 30,000 reactions and nearly 3,000 comments on her LinkedIn post, which showed a two side-by-side images — one of her posing in a suit jacket and one of her exposing her tattoos.
“I did get some comments where people felt like they needed to advise me or others to still be careful about tattoos, because there is still judgment out there,” she said. “And you certainly don’t want to close any professional doors by being too forward.”
After roughly two years of heightened lifestyle and work changes, ranging from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to “the great resignation,” Leonard’s post proves that the concept of what is deemed acceptable in a professional setting is rapidly changing. With one in four Americans working remotely last year, according to Upwork’s “Future of Workforce Pulse Report,” a tattoo or piercing in view doesn’t seem to hold as much weight as it did before.
Leonard, a Cleveland, Ohio, native, said she was initially nervous about posting the tattoo photo, but her boss actually gave her the confidence boost she needed.
“‘Loud and proud’ is what he said,” Leonard said, recalling her conversation with her boss. “I read the text message aloud and I was literally brought to tears. And then my husband got a little emotional about it too. It was such a shocking response to have that kind of inclusion from someone that you work for, and just overall acceptance of who I am. I felt so moved.”
After being in public accounting for nearly 14 years, Leonard said she was ready for a change. Although she loved her former firm and they never had an anti-tattoo policy, she never felt like she could divulge her tattoos in internal or client meetings, as she was fearful that work or promotional opportunities could be at stake. She especially felt that way when she went to a women’s conference and received some comments at dinner.
“I found it a little surprising,” she said. “I came without a jacket on and that’s when the conversation turned. I thought, ‘That’s weird. We just came out of a conference talking about women empowerment, and now I’m kind of being told that I can’t be a leader because of my tattoos.'”
Last September, Leonard decided to leave the more traditional firm she worked at and take a position as a partner at Evolution Capital Partners, a small business private equity firm in Cleveland. When it was time to take headshots, she said she had the photographer take some photos with her jacket on for LinkedIn and the company website and some photos showing her tattoos to keep for herself. It was her manager that encouraged her to post both online.
“It is the content of one’s character that is most important to us,” said Jeffrey Kadlic, founding partner of Evolution Capital Partners. “Authenticity and transparency are cornerstones of the culture we are working to create. We see Jess for who she is and embrace all of her because she shares our core values and is a tremendous talent. At the end of the day, that is all that really matters.”
Leonard said she is very proud of her ink and not shy in talking about it. Some of her more fun tattoos include Harry Potter-themed art while others hold deeper meanings. One is in memory of her nephew who passed away from brain cancer at just 4 years old.
“I actually had a father reach out to me who is in public accounting,” she said. “He asked me very pointed advice about advising his daughter on getting tattoos — maybe in places that could be easily covered — because, as a father and as a professional, he was guiding her in that way. After seeing my post, he said he would consider having another perspective.”
Leonard said many people have approached her with positive feedback, and some have said they feel ready to get more tattoos or piercings, especially since many are working from home.
“I think everyone needs to go where they feel comfortable in their skin,” she said. “They shouldn’t feel like they work in an environment where it’s hindering them as an individual. There are a lot of places you can work where you’re not going to feel that.”
“I hope this will resonate or help someone who may have experienced judgment or bias in the past,” Leonard added. “There are leaders that are super inclusive and accepting, and if you haven’t found them, just know they exist and they are out there. I’m glad I could inspire at least one person in my network.”
