A deadly case of meningitis sparks fear of bi-coastal outbreak; Why is a torn Achilles injury so serious for a pro basketball player?; What happens to kids separated from deported parents?; Publishers share secrets of what makes a great kids' book; Mexico City makes targeted effort to curb salt intake, and much more.
Deadly case of meningitis ignites fear of bi-coastal outbreak
A 33-year-old lawyer from West Hollywood died Saturday night from a lethal strain of bacterial meningitis. Brett Shaad had been reportedly "robust and healthy" prior to Monday, when he began to feel sick. By Thursday, he was in a coma. The disease has also claimed seven lives in New York City over the past few years.
John Duran is city councilman for West Hollywood and he joins us to discuss this strain of meningitis and what's being done to ward it off.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is offering free meningitis vaccines at the following locations:
AHF Pharmacy/West Hollywood
8212 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA , 90046
Phone: P: (323) 654-0907 Hours: M-Sat 10am to 7pm, Sun
AHF Pharmacy/Sunset (Hollywood)
6210 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA , 90028
Phone: P: (323) 860-0173 Hours: M-Sat 10am to 7pm, Sun
AHF Hollywood Men’s Wellness Center
1300 N. Vermont Ave., Suite 407, Los Angeles, CA , 90027
Phone: P: (866) 339-2525 Hours: Mon-Wed-Thu-Fri, 5:30pm to 9:00pm – Saturday, 9:30am – 5:00pm
SYMPTOMS:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bacterial meningitis is not spread by casual contact, however kissing could cause transmission. Symptoms typically develop within 3-7 days after exposure, and include the sudden onset of:
- Stiff neck
- Fever
- Headache
Other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light, and altered mental status may also be present. Visit the CDC's page on "Bacterial Meningitis" for more on:
- Risk Factors
- Transmission
- Signs & Symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Treatment
- Prevention
Bacterial meningitis can be treated effectively with antibiotics. It is important that treatment be started as soon as possible.
Appropriate antibiotic treatment of the most common types of bacterial meningitis should reduce the risk of dying from meningitis to below 15%, although the risk remains higher among young infants and the elderly.
What makes Kobe Bryant's torn Achilles injury so serious?
It was the pop heard 'round Los Angeles on Friday night as the Lakers star point guard Kobe Bryant suffered a torn Achilles tendon injury, benching him for the rest of the season with an estimated recover period of 6-9 months.
The team is currently a a game away from making the playoffs, after struggling through a drama-filled season that included the firing of coach Mike Brown and the hiring of Mike D'Antoni. If the Utah Jazz lose tonight in Minnesota, the Lakers are in, regardless of what happens in their regular season finale Wednesday in Staples Center. But they'll have to move forward without Bryant.
This isn't the first time Bryant has been out with an injury, he's suffered sprained ankles on multiple occasions, but it is by far the most serious. But why? What makes a torn Achilles so debilitating for a professional basketball player?
"The Achilles tendon allows you to jump, allows you to walk, and they're made up of two calf muscles," said Dr. Robert Klapper, chief orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai and host of The Weekend Warrior show on ESPNLA 710. "The reason this is important is, when Kobe Bryant snapped his tendon, it's like a bungee cord, these two muscles contract and create a gap between the tendon. The problem with that is when he tries to straighten his knee, he's actually going to be pulling on the repair that he had done."
So what's ahead for Bryant? Dr. Klapper breaks it down in four phases:
"Phase I you must calm everything down to heal the wound. Phase II, the tendon that you're sewing back together again has got to heal, that takes time and that's why he's on crutches, protecting him from putting all his weight on it, that's going to be 4-6 weeks. Once it's mended, then you begin the third phase, range of motion exercises, allowing him to put more weight on it. The ultimate thing is strength, that's the X factor. You and I, 9 months, a year. Kobe Bryant 5-6 months."
David Beckham suffered the same injury in 2010, but returned to the game after 5 months. Can Bryant do the same?
Dr. Klapper says the surgery Bryant will have to correct this injury may actually end up helping his chronic ankle issues. Though it is unlikely that he'll be the same Kobe Bryant we're used to.
"I believe the benefit will be that this surgery with ultimately help stability of his whole ankle," said Dr. Klapper. "He will bounce back, but in my opinion he will be 5-10 percent of the Kobe Bryant that we saw before. As a surgeon, I can work on Mother Nature, but I cannot work on father time."
What happens to kids separated from deported parents?
In 2011, some 1,500 children in southern California were removed from detained or deported parents, and placed in state care. That’s according to an investigation by the Applied Research Center, a think-tank specializing in race issues.
They projected that between 2012 and 2014, 15,000 more kids could face a similar fate. For the Fronteras Desk, Erin Siegal McIntyre reports.
What makes good a good kids' book? Publishers say the great ones share common traits
Jane O’Conner’s multi-million dollar children’s book empire was born almost by accident.
She was cooking dinner for her sons in 2005 and while the pots bubbled on the stove, an idea bubbled up, too.
“All of a sudden,” she said, “the name Fancy Nancy flew in my head.”
O'Conner fed her family. And then she went to work on what would become a best-selling storybook collection that has sold 22 million copies. Fancy Nancy is a, “sort of hothouse orchid in a family of very plain daisies,” O’Conner said. The books, which now number 60, have enticed a generation of little girls to want to read.
RELATED: #KidReads: Which children's book do you or your child hold most dear?
Everyone has a favorite children’s book. The stories are a linchpin of almost every culture. Some books are so irresistible, they elicit cries of: read it again! And again.
These stories, which set the stage for a lifetime of reading, are often very simple. But publishers said that doesn’t mean they’re easy to write.
“A good picture book tells a compelling story in 32 pages,” said Margaret Anastas, an editor at Harper Collins Kids, “which is very difficult to do because you have to establish a character, you have to make your reader fall in love with the character, and sort of embrace the story.”
That, she said, is tricky.
O’Conner, for instance, uses language and imagery in a compelling way. The main character, Nancy, is, according to O’Conner “words fancy.” She uses complex words that a 2- to 6-year-old might not have heard or used before (like iridescent or delectable) and a charming main character explains what these “fancy” words mean.
The high-brow language is woven into fun and adventuresome stories based on ordinary everyday events.
Literacy should be “fun,” said O’Conner, who describes her playful use of language in the books as “sort of like sprinkles on your ice cream cone.”
As O’Conner’s character plays with language, she is simultaneously building a love for language in her young readers, said Anastas, her publisher. She knew she had a hit on her hands the moment she read the first manuscript.
Anastas said the three elements to a popular children’s book are: rhythm, rhyming and pacing.
Fancy Nancy fits the bill, she said. It also hit because the illustrations are rich and tell a good portion of the story – another key to a good children’s book.
In the first Fancy Nancy book, there’s a scene where Nancy and her family walk into a pizza parlor and Nancy declares, “oh everybody thinks we look like movie stars.”
Yet Robin Preiss Glasser’s illustrations tell another story.
“Clearly from the reaction on the faces of people at this restaurant they think they look silly,” O’Conner said.
Like many best-selling kids’ books, Fancy Nancy has grown into an industry. There are over 60 titles as well as Fancy Nancy dolls, backpacks, games, clothes, bedding, sneakers, calendars, and the list goes on. There are multiple iPad apps and even an off-Broadway show.
But with 5,000 children’s books published last year, not all of them can be blockbusters – and not all parents go for the big sellers. Some want more diversity of characters and stories, or even multi-lingual books.
Those books often come from small publishing houses, which measure success on a much smaller scale. Because they don’t need the big numbers, they can be creative.
Take the series Cinco Puntos Press published by author Cynthia Weill. They are simple books of ABC’s, Opposites and counting –but they feature beautiful Mexican Folk art and characters. Each book sold out of its first print run of between 3,000 and 5,000 copies, which the publisher’s Managing Director John Byrd describes as a success.
Yet publishing these bilingual baby and toddler books was expensive. Weill drew on her relationships with indigenous Oaxacan artists, who created art sculptures that formed the illustrations for the book.
Weill had originally sent the books to Scholastic, which turned her down. At a book fair years later, Byrd said a Scholastic editor flipped through Weill’s books and complimented him: “You know, we couldn’t have done these the way you have done them.”
Byrd said his company, which prioritizes cross-border and bilingual Spanish-English books, manages to make a small profit and is growing. It mainly sells online, in independent bookstores and at book festivals. And its authors do a lot of promotion themselves. One author, Joe Hayes, who writes cross-border stories in Spanglish, has sold over one million copies.
“We like our books to serve as both a window into a culture for kids that are outside of that culture but also as a mirror for kids that are already within that culture,” said Jessica Powers, a writer who works in publicity for Cinco Puntos. She adds that there are “not enough books being published for Latino kids.”
The statistics back her up.
In an annual study, the University of Wisconsin found that only 3.3% of children’s books published last year were about African Americans and 1.5% about Latinos. Even fewer were about Asian-Americans or Native Americans.
“As a whole, the books being published just don’t reflect who we are as a nation in terms of diversity,” said Megan Schliesman, a children’s librarian in the University of Wisconsin’s School of Education. The university’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center complies the annual statistics on the number of kids' books by and about people of color.
Schliesman said individual editors at large publishing houses are trying to combat the problem. But, she adds, “they aren’t necessarily the ones making final decisions. Their marketing and business departments are going: ‘is it going to sell?’ ”
Anastas, of Harper Collins Kids, said Shliesman’s right about big publisher’s motivations.
“We have to go into an acquisition meeting and justify that there is an audience for the book,” she said.
That doesn’t mean the books are bad, she said. It means they have to have the potential to be popular.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “our goal is to create a great product that we feel fits a need in our marketplace.”
Hollywood Monday: 'Oblivion' obliterates international box offices
L.A. Times entertainment reporter Rebecca Keegan joins us for her regular Monday update of the latest from Hollywood.
The film about Jackie Robinson, 42, was the highest grossing film this weekend in the United States. But the real box office winner is a film that hasn't opened here yet, it's a big budget, post-apocalyptic thriller starring Tom Cruise. It's called Oblivion, and it opened in international theaters this weekend, pulling in more than $60 million.
There are big expectations for Oblivion when it opens here next weekend and the film could mark a bit of a comeback for its star, Tom Cruise.
Our regular Monday guest, Rebecca Keegan of the LA Times, is in New York today, where she will be moderating a Q & A session on Oblivion.
Coachella Wrap-up: Sandstorm, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more
The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed the Coachella Vallley Music and Arts Festival Last Night, in a blinding sandstorm. KPCC's Ben Bergman survived the storm — and the heat — and is here with a recap.
Gun law legislation debate sparks rush on gun sales
Legislation on gun control continues to edge its way forward in the Senate. One large gun rights group — the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms — has come forward in support of the bill, but the proposal is still strongly opposed by the NRA
And at gun shows here in the west, there has been a rush to buy more firearms.
Joining us is Mitch McKinlay, promoter for Rocky Mountain Gun Shows, which hosts events in California, Utah, and Nevada.
What did Jerry Brown accomplish during his China visit?
Today is Jerry Brown's last day in China. The governor has been there for over a week, talking about improved trade, high-speed trains, and the environment. Today, Governor Brown and Chinese officials signed a non-binding environmental accord.
Political Editor John Myers of the Sacramento ABC affiliate KXTV is in China traveling with the governor and he joins us once again.
Don Newcombe, legendary Dodgers pitcher, remembers Jackie Robinson
Today is the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier. Though Robinson is considered symbol of the shift in race relations in the U.S., there were other baseball pros who played important roles.
There was Branch Rickey, the baseball executive that signed Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers, catcher Roy Campanella and there was also Don "Newk" Newcombe. He was the imposing African-American pitcher that joined the Dodgers in 1949. He played alongside Jackie Robinson for eight seasons, but managed to carve out his own unique place in baseball history.
He was the first black pitcher to start a World Series game, the first to win 20 games in a season, and for more than 50 years, he was the only pitcher to win Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and the Cy Young award. He was one of a handful of African-American ball players who helped gain momentum for the then-nascent civil rights movement.
"I wanted to be a part of what was going on. I wanted to be a part of what Jackie and Roy were involved in," said Newcombe. "I was a poor kid from a poor family in New Jersey and I was a part of changing what was going on in this country being with two great men named Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson."
Newcombe says it was Jackie Robinson's unique spirit that inspired him to enter a world where he would be on display and subjected to intense discrimination on a national stage. Being just 19 when he was signed to the major leagues.
"We needed somebody who was experienced, and could handle this kind of stress that was going to be instilled upon him because he had the audacity to want to play baseball and break down the color barrier," said Newcombe. "If they had asked me I would have turned it down because I couldn't have done that, especially as a pitcher."
What challenges will the next UC president face?
After five years of serving as president of the University of California system, Mark Yudof is retiring. We know he plans to leave in late August, less clear is who will replace him. What's for sure is that whoever takes on the job will face all sorts of challenges.
Los Angeles business turns electronic waste into opportunity
Last year in California about 200,000 tons of electronics – or e-waste – was dumped into landfills. E-waste encompasses pretty much anything that has a plug or battery: that outdated computer, the cell phone you just replaced, that printer that stopped working. But there’s gold to be found in e-waste, literally, and jobs for the almost unemployable.
That’s what Kabira Stokes, co-founder of Isidore Recycling Company, explains while a truckload of e-waste is being unloaded behind her warehouse in Lincoln Heights on the edge of downtown L.A.
“When we get e-waste in, we bring it to this station here, we weigh it…and then we sort it,” Stokes says. Isidore, which has been operating for slightly more than a year, looks like a veritable mausoleum to our plugged-in lifestyle.
Stokes, a Vassar graduate who doesn’t quite fit the stereotype of someone who deals in waste, says they first take anything that can be fixed and put it aside for resale. Everything else gets the electronic equivalent of an autopsy.
“It's actually worth our time to take things apart," Stokes says. "It's called de-manufacturing.”
The de-manufacturing is handled by Shaye Elliot. He’s been at Isidore two months. He got the job shortly after getting out of prison, where he spent 18 of his 43 years, mostly for drug-related offenses. Beyond Stokes not fitting a waste management stereotype, Isidore also breaks the usual business mold because of its hiring practices: five of its seven employees have served time in prison for felonies.
Isidore’s co-founder and COO, Aaron Malloy, for example, was arrested at the age of 16 for a robbery and was ultimately sentenced to state prison.
“I did six years and ten months in numerous institutions from juvenile hall to county jail to California youth authority,” Malloy says. “I did time in a prison once known as 'gladiator school' and also Folsom State Prison.”
Nevertheless, Malloy, 35, managed to turn his life around. He now holds a degree in economics from UC Berkeley and an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business. He says working at Isidore fulfills two important requirements for him.
“I'm particularly interested in working in businesses that provide some sort of good to society,” he says. “And this is a business that provides good to society in many ways. The first is that it helps provide a cleaner environment. Second, it helps other young men and women overcome the same challenges that I faced.”
It turns out Stokes didn’t come upon this idea by mere chance. Before working for Eric Garcetti when he was Los Angeles City Council President, Stokes studied prison reentry policy and environmental governance at USC. Combining those two areas into a business seemed like a logical step.
“I am a social entrepreneur at heart,” she says. “It seems like these problems that we're presented with – specifically, a very broken correctional system and piling up amounts of e-waste – if we can try to tackle two of these problems at the same time, that’s a good idea.”
One problem is that so much e-waste ends up in landfills.
”It's a tragedy on many levels,” Stokes says. “The first being that there's toxins in there, so that stuff starts leaking into our groundwater. There’s arsenic. That's just not where it belongs.”
She points out that the materials in e-waste were taken from the ground using effort and energy to begin with.
“We’ve gone to the trouble of mining precious metals out of the earth and using petroleum to make plastic,” Stokes says. “And then we put them in these gadgets. Trying to throw them back into the earth is insane.”
Stokes says about 99 percent of the e-waste Isidore takes in can be sold on the commodity market once it’s sorted. Beyond the environmental advantages of recycling these materials, it actually is a way to make money. It turns out that there’s more gold in one ton of electronic waste than in 17 tons of gold ore. Stokes thinks that if she can increase the volume of e-waste coming through her center, Isidore should be making a profit in a year.
She says that the e-waste that isn’t dumped into landfills is shipped elsewhere, even overseas, where labor is cheaper and environmental regulations are more lax. She thinks processing this material in L.A. makes more sense because it creates more jobs here.
For Elliot, his job at Isidore gives him a better shot at staying out of jail.
“Just actually doing something constructive and productive gives you some kind of dignity,” he says. “You’re actually earning your way in society and re-acclimating.”
Stokes says, currently, less than a fifth of the nation’s electronics are recycled. She says we’re simply throwing away a valuable asset, one that could bring more jobs for people like Elliot.
“What we're really trying to do here is recapture that value,” she says. “Both in the electronics, but also in our workers.”
And as long as electronics continue becoming obsolete as quickly as they do, it appears Isidore stands a good chance of having the raw material essential for its success.
Mexico City makes targeted effort to curb salt intake
As cities throughout the U.S. consider soda bans as a way to crack down on our sugar intake, Mexico City is looking for ways to reduce consumption of salt. Mexicans consume as much as three times the amount of salt that Americans do.
Two-thirds of Mexican adults are overweight or obese, and diabetes and hypertension are reaching epidemic proportions. Now health officials in Mexico City are urging restaurants to take salt shakers off their tables.
For more on this, we go now to Josefina Santacruz. She owns the Dumas Gourmet restaurant in Mexico City.