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Health

JAMA Editor Positioned on Go away Following Racial Controversy

Following controversial comments from a deputy editor at JAMA on racism in medicine, the editor-in-chief of the renowned medical journal was put on administrative leave on Thursday.

An American Medical Association committee that oversees the journal said Dr. Howard Bauchner will be replaced by an interim editor pending the results of an independent investigation. The decision was announced in an email to employees on Thursday.

JAMA is one of the world’s leading medical journals, publishing research that shapes the scientific agenda and public order around the globe. The controversy began when Dr. Ed Livingston, an associate editor, said on a February 24 podcast that structural racism no longer exists in the United States.

“Structural racism is an unfortunate term,” said Dr. Livingston who is white. “Personally, I think it will be helpful to take racism out of the conversation. A lot of people like me are offended that we are kind of racist. “

The podcast was promoted with a tweet from the magazine that said, “No doctor is racist. So how can there be structural racism in healthcare?” The response to both was quick and furious, causing the diary to shut down the podcast and delete the tweet.

A week later, Dr. Bauchner on the controversy. “The comments made on the podcast were inaccurate, offensive, hurtful and contrary to JAMA’s standards,” said Dr. Bauchner in a statement. “We’re making changes to fix these types of errors and prevent them from happening again.”

Dr. Livingston later resigned. On Thursday evening, JAMA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many in the medical community said that the diary did not go far enough and that events provided an opportunity to make more systemic changes. In an email to the AMA leaders, a group of doctors called for “a careful investigation into the editorial and board of JAMA, including the removal of Dr. Howard Bauchner.”

The authors also initiated a petition, which has now been signed by nearly 7,000 people, calling on the journal to contact Dr. Hold Bauchner accountable and review and restructure the editorial process.

“It’s not only that this podcast is problematic – it’s also that there is a long and documented history of institutional racism at JAMA,” said Dr. Brittani James, a black doctor who practiced on the south side of Chicago and helped start the petition.

“This podcast should never have happened,” said Dr. Uché Blackstock, an ambulance doctor in New York. “That tweet should never have happened. The fact that podcasts were conceived, recorded, and published was incomprehensible. “

“I think it’s caused an incalculable amount of pain and trauma to black doctors and patients,” she said. “And I think it will be a long time before the diary heals this pain.”

More recently, other prominent journals have faced their role in perpetuating racism in medicine. In January, Health Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil admitted that “the magazine’s employees and executives are overwhelmingly white and economically privileged,” and committed to reviewing the editorial process.

The AMA’s email to staff promised that the investigation would look into “how the podcast and related tweet were developed, reviewed and ultimately published,” and that the association had hired independent investigators to ensure objectivity.

The email did not include a deadline for completing the investigation.

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Health

New Zealand Approves Paid Depart After Miscarriage

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – New Zealand’s parliament unanimously passed a law on Wednesday granting three days of paid leave to couples who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth, making the country the vanguard of those performing such services.

Ginny Andersen, the Labor MP who drafted the bill, said she could not find legislation like it anywhere in the world. “We may be the first country,” she said, “but all of the countries where New Zealand is usually compared to legislation for the 20 week mark.”

Employers in New Zealand, as in some other countries, were already required to grant paid leave in the event of a stillbirth if a fetus is lost after a pregnancy of 20 weeks or more. The new legislation will expand this possibility to anyone who loses a pregnancy at any time, removing any confusion. The measure is expected to take effect in the coming weeks.

“I felt that it would give women the confidence to apply for this vacation when they need to, rather than just being stoic and getting on with life when they knew they needed time, physically or mentally, to read about it to get over grief, ”said Ms. Andersen.

The new law does not apply to those who terminate pregnancies, Ms. Andersen added. New Zealand decriminalized abortion last year, ending the country’s status as one of the few wealthy nations to limit reasons for terminating a pregnancy in the first half.

In Australia, people who have a miscarriage are entitled to unpaid leave if they lose a fetus after 12 weeks, while in the UK prospective parents who have a stillbirth after 24 weeks are entitled to paid leave. The United States does not require employers to take vacation leave for anyone who experiences a miscarriage.

According to the Mayo Clinic, up to 20 percent of all known pregnancies in the United States result in a miscarriage. In New Zealand, which has a population of five million, the Department of Health estimates that one to two pregnancies in ten will result in a miscarriage.

Sands New Zealand charity, which supports parents who have lost pregnancies, says 5,900 to 11,800 miscarriages or stillbirths occur each year. According to the New Zealand College of Midwives, more than 95 percent of miscarriages occur in the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy.

A miscarriage or stillbirth remains a difficult and painful topic that health lawyers say is difficult to talk about in public or seek support.

“If you call the hospital and say,” I think I miscarried my baby, “so many women will say,” I felt like the first person in the world to miscarry, “said Vicki Culling. an educator on baby loss who advocated better support for the bereaved in New Zealand.

“The very foundations of your world are crumbling just because you expect to have this beautiful baby, and when that baby dies, whether in the womb or shortly after birth, everything is broken.”

Ms. Culling welcomed New Zealand legislation as a first step, but said more needed to be done.

“You get three days of paid vacation, maybe you bury your baby or you have a job, and then you go back to work and carry on – and then what? That’s my concern, ”she said.

“I celebrate, but I want us to maintain that compassion and delve deeper into the needs of these parents.”

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Business

Highly effective German Editor, Accused of Misconduct, Takes Depart

The editor-in-chief of Bild, Europe’s largest newspaper and an influential force in German politics and society, has been on leave while a law firm is investigating allegations against him, the publication’s owner said.

Julian Reichelt, the editor, denies allegations of misconduct, said Axel Springer, Bild’s publisher, in a statement. Springer said there was no “clear evidence” of wrongdoing and instead hired the Freshfields law firm to investigate the allegations. It was not stated what they were.

The allegations were first reported by the magazine Spiegel, in which it says that the law firm questioned half a dozen female employees who worked for Bild and complained about coercion by Mr. Reichelt about complaints about coercion by Mr. Reichelt. Spiegel did not name the female employees. The magazine states that Mr. Reichelt was accused of abusing his position of authority and creating a hostile work environment, but did not provide any explicit information.

“In order to ensure that the investigation process can be seen through to the end undisturbed and that the editorial team can work without any further burdens,” said Springer, Mr. Reichelt, “the Axel Springer Management Board has asked to release him from his functions until the allegations are made.” have been clarified. “

Alexandra Würzbach, editor of the Sunday edition of Bild, will take over the tasks of Mr. Reichelt, said Springer.

The #MeToo movement has hit Europe with much less violence than the United States, and cases of powerful men overthrown on allegations of wrongdoing against women have been relatively rare.

Germany and most European countries protect the identity of suspects in legal proceedings, which makes it difficult for the media to report cases of harassment.

Dishes were often unsympathetic. In 2019, a French court ordered the leader of the country corresponding to the #MeToo movement to pay damages to a former television manager whom she accused of making brutal and humiliating advances.

With a circulation of 1.2 million copies, Bild is Europe’s largest newspaper, but like most publications it has seen a sharp decline in its print readership. In 2011, daily printing revenue averaged 2.8 million, according to the newspaper’s website, down from 4 million in 1965.

With its colorful graphics and the focus on scandal, celebrities and sport, Bild – which means “Bild” – is Germany’s populist daily newspaper. The readership distorts masculine. Until 2012, Bild published a photo of a topless woman on the front page every day and continues to publish photos of half-naked “Bild Girls” online.

Unlike Britain’s right-wing tabloids, Image is relatively impartial yet empathetic, with an aggressive tabloid style despite being printed on a broadsheet format. Because of the reach of Bild, it is often the publication that leaders use to communicate with voters and offer exclusive interviews or juicy leaks.

Mr. Reichelt, 40, a former war correspondent who became editor-in-chief of Bild in 2017, also frequently wrote opinion pieces. He recently railed against the federal government’s mismanagement of the pandemic crisis. Earlier this month, he complained that the authorities fined joggers for not wearing masks, while the federal and state governments botched the introduction of vaccines.

Axel Springer, the parent company of Bild, is one of the best-known media companies in Europe. Springer also owns Welt, a German daily newspaper; the Business Insider online news site; and Politico Europe. The private equity company KKR owns 36 percent of Springer’s shares and has three seats on the company’s nine-member supervisory board. Friede Springer, widow of the founder Axel Springer, remains the main shareholder and board member.

Springer said in a statement on Saturday that the investigation involving Mr. Reichelt would include “an assessment of the credibility and integrity of all parties involved”.

The publisher added: “Prejudices based on rumors are not acceptable for the corporate culture of Axel Springer.”

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Business

Biden and the Fed Go away 1970s Inflation Fears Behind

Market-based inflation expectation measures are hovering around 2 percent and the consumer inflation outlook has fallen slightly over the past decade, although one indicator has risen recently. Unless buyers expect higher prices, companies may not be able to increase them, so whatever people expect can determine reality.

It’s also hard to see where a big and sustained price spike would come from, analysts said.

Airfares, clothing prices, and hotel prices have all taken a blow in the depths of the pandemic in 2020, and they are likely to spike as the economy reopens and consumers with money in their pockets go on vacation and renovate their wardrobes, Alan Detmeister said. A former Fed inflation expert who now works at UBS.

However, the price of goods, which jumped as workers moved to their home offices – from the laptop category to the auto category – could decline and weigh on overall profits. Categories that are very important to the overall index, such as rent and health insurance, are both subdued and slow.

In any case, a temporary rise in prices is not the same as an inflation process in which the price gains continue month after month.

Even if prices recover temporarily, the Fed has pledged to be patient with inflation. Over the past few years – also under the supervision of Ms. Yellen – interest rates have been raised before price gains really picked up to counter any possible overheating. The central bank’s new framework, passed last year, calls on policymakers to aim for a period of over 2 percent inflation so that, on average, they meet their target over time.

In addition to stabilizing prices, Congress is also mandating the Fed to try to maximize employment. Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said earlier this month that $ 1.9 trillion in government spending had the potential to help the Fed meet its inflation and labor market targets faster.

“I have a hard time realizing how big this is, which is causing overheating,” he said.

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Business

Why SPACs May Go away Buyers within the Chilly

The misalignments are severe.

SPAC sponsors say they are putting their reputation on the line, especially if they plan to repeat the process. This applies to series sponsors such as tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya, experienced banker Michael Klein and buyout specialist Alec Gores. In some cases, sponsors invest some of their own money in the business they are acquiring to better align their interests. But remember that often they have already received 20 percent of the business, so they are partially playing with house money.

SPAC sponsors also try to attract established brand investors to their launch, which gives legitimacy to the empty shell. For some of these investors, however, it’s all about financial engineering. They don’t have a unique interest in a SPAC as they have the ability to repay their investment plus interest for a modest but predictable rate of return, almost regardless of what happens to the acquisition. If the deal turns out to be a big winner, it’s a bonus.

What is unique is that the sponsor has no fiduciary duty towards the investors in the acquired company. Very few sponsors seek fairness opinions from third parties to confirm the price they are paying for an acquisition. And while mainstream investors increasingly pump additional funds into SPACs at the time of a merger, they typically do so at a lower cost than less-connected investors.

SPACs seek to differentiate themselves by nurturing their managers’ experience and the relationships with companies they may acquire. In most cases, however, the sponsor must use the money raised in a SPAC or be forced to return it within two years. This is an incentive to get a deal instead of getting the right deal at the right price and at the right time.

According to data service SPAC Research, there are currently more than 300 SPACs with a cash volume of around 100 billion US dollars seeking acquisitions. Since SPACs typically buy companies five times their size thanks to outside investment, that translates into potential purchasing power of about $ 500 billion.

“We have a massive problem with the imbalance between supply and demand. It’s inevitable, ”said Kawaja. “We know how it will end.”

None of this means that the traditional IPO process is better than the SPAC process. Both have advantages and disadvantages. It is possible for SPACs to become routine for certain types of companies to go public.

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Business

Donald McNeil and Andy Mills Depart The New York Occasions

Two journalists responsible for some of the New York Times’ best-known work over the past three years have left the paper after past criticism of their behavior inside and outside the organization.

In two memos on Friday afternoon, Dean Baquet, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, and Joe Kahn, the editor-in-chief, briefed staff on the departures of Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science correspondent covering the coronavirus pandemic, and Andy Mills Audio journalist who helped create “The Daily” and was the producer and co-host of “Caliphate,” a 2018 podcast that was found to be severely flawed after an internal investigation.

Mr. McNeil, a Times veteran who has covered from 60 countries, was an expert guide on a Times-sponsored student trip to Peru in 2019. At least six students or their parents complained about comments he made, The Daily Beast last week. The Times confirmed that he used a “racist bow” during the trip.

In their memo, Mr. Baquet and Mr. Kahn wrote that Mr. McNeil “did a lot of good reporting over four decades” but added “that this is the right next step”.

The statement was a turning point from last week when Mr. Baquet sent a message to staff defending his decision to give Mr. McNeil “another chance”.

“I cleared an investigation and found that what he had said was offensive and that he displayed extremely poor judgment,” wrote Mr Baquet, “but that it did not appear to me that his intentions were hateful or malicious.”

Days after this note, a group of Times staff sent a letter to the publisher, AG Sulzberger, criticizing the paper’s attitude towards Mr. McNeil. “Despite the Times’ apparent commitment to diversity and inclusion,” said the letter, viewed by a Times reporter, “we have given a prominent platform to someone who has chosen to use it – a critical blow, the one Pandemic that disproportionately affects people with color. ” Language that is offensive and unacceptable by newsroom standards. “

Mr. Sulzberger, Mr. Baquet and Meredith Kopit Levien, the CEO of the New York Times Company, responded to the group in a letter on Wednesday with the words: “We welcome this contribution. We appreciate the spirit in which it has been offered and broadly agree with the message. “

In a statement to Times staff on Friday, Mr. McNeil wrote that he used the bow in a discussion with a student about the suspension of a classmate who had used the term.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he wrote. “I originally thought that the context in which I used this ugly word could be defended. I now realize that it can’t. It’s deeply offensive and hurtful. “

Mr. McNeil concluded, “I am sorry for offending my coworkers – and for everything I have done to hurt The Times, an institution I love and whose mission I believe in and try to serve . I let you all down. “

The departure of Mr. Mills, the audio journalist, was announced nearly two months after an editorial note was posted about the bugs in “Caliphate”. The note says the series on Islamic State put too much faith in the misrepresentation or exaggeration of one of its main themes.

In an interview with Michael Barbaro, the host of the Times podcast “The Daily”, Mr. Baquet attributed the show’s shortcomings to “an institutional failure”. The note and the interview with the editors followed a month-long internal investigation into reporting on the “Caliphate”.

Following the correction, people who worked with Mr. Mills in his previous job on the WNYC show “Radiolab” posted complaints on Twitter about his behavior towards women in the Radiolab workplace and in social settings.

In February 2018, two months before the debut of Caliphate, an article in New York magazine The Cut about sexual harassment on New York public radio reported that Mr. Mills had been the subject of complaints while at Radiolab.

Women interviewed for the article said he asked them about dates, gave unsolicited back massages and poured beer on the head of a woman he worked with, and he said a woman in the office was about her a man’s sex has been set. WNYC Human Resources investigated Mr. Mills’ behavior, reported The Cut, and issued him a warning while allowing him to keep his job. In an interview for The Cut, Mr. Mills admitted much of the behavior described in WNYC’s HR report.

In an online post on Friday, Mr Mills said that his departure from The Times was not due to problems with “Caliphate” and that those responsible for the newspaper “did not blame us” for their shortcomings.

After posting the editor’s note, “Another story surfaced online: my lack of punishment was due to entitlement and male privilege,” he wrote. “This accusation gave some the opportunity to revive my previous personal behavior.”

He wrote that when he was hired, he told The Times about his past mistakes and received good reviews for his work in the newspaper. He also said he received a promotion in December. But in the weeks after Caliphate’s errors were publicized, “allegations on Twitter quickly escalated to the point where my actual flaws and past mistakes were replaced by gross exaggerations and unsubstantiated claims.”

In the end: “I believe it is in the best interests of me and my team to leave the company at this point,” he wrote. “I do it without joy and with a heavy heart.”

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Health

Flaming Lips Use of Plastic Bubbles at Live shows Go away Covid-19 Specialists Uncertain

There are Covid-19 bubbles – small groups of friends or family members who agree to only interact with one another during the pandemic – and then there are the types of bubbles the Flaming Lips have used in recent concerts.

Band members and concert goers rocked and bounced while trapped in large, individual plastic bubbles amid bright, swirling lights in trippy scenes at concerts on Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma City.

The band took elaborate precautions during their live performances to protect themselves from the transmission of the coronavirus, but some health experts were unsure of the effectiveness of these measures.

“I would need to see how the air exchange works between the outside and the inside of the bubbles to be able to tell if it is overall safe or if it reduces the risk of transmission,” said Dr. Eric Cioe-Peña, director of global health at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, NY

The Friday and Saturday concerts were originally scheduled for December, but the band postponed them due to the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

“It’s a very limited, weird event,” the band’s front man Wayne Coyne told Rolling Stone last month. “But the craziness is that we can enjoy a concert before we endanger our families and everyone.”

“I think it’s a bit of a new normal,” he added. “You might go to a show, maybe not, but I think we can do it.”

In March, Mr Coyne posted a sketch on Instagram showing what the bubble concert might look like.

Nathan Poppe, a videographer and photographer documenting the show for the band, said on Twitter that the floor was constructed in a grid of 10 bubbles by 10 bubbles. “Each bladder can contain one person or two or maybe three,” he said.

Photos showed fans climbing into the balls on the concert floor, where the bubbles were then blown up with leaf blowers.

Each bladder was equipped with a high-frequency speaker, a water bottle, a fan, a towel, and a sign for when someone needed to use the toilet or when it was too hot inside. If it got too stuffy inside, the bladder could be filled with cool air, said Mr. Poppe.

He said concert goers could take off their masks in the bladder but would have to wear them after exiting the bladder.

“You roll your bladder to the exit and open it on the door,” he said.

It was not immediately clear what became of the bubbles used after the 90-minute performances, each attended by around 200 people.

Some health professionals have had concerns about the safety of users in the bladders.

“There is no evidence of the effectiveness – or the absence – of these bubbles from an infectious disease transmission point of view,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.

He said that controlling virus transmission relies on good air circulation and filtration.

“If air filtration is good, protective barriers can theoretically increase and decrease the risk of transmission. However, I would hesitate to go to a concert in a bubble right now unless further researched,” he said.

Dr. Cioe-Peña said the plastic bubbles used at the concerts appeared to be unventilated. But if each of the bubbles had “a bidirectional filtered air supply,” he said, “it would effectively prevent covid transmission between the bubbles.”

While a plastic bladder could help reduce exposure to “infectious agents” when filled with filtered air, it could also lead to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the bladder, said Richard E. Peltier, associate professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“My recommendation would be to add a small CO2 sensor to the bladder,” he said. “While they’re not always the most precise, they should be enough to tell a concert-goer that it’s time to take a break and freshen up the stale air. And then safely enjoy the music again. “

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Business

JC Penney CEO Jill Soltau to depart retailer after rising from chapter

The signage will be displayed outside a JC Penney Co. store in Chicago, Illinois.

Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Jill Soltau, CEO of JC Penney, who wanted to flip the contested department store, will leave the company on Thursday.

The company’s new owners, Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management, said Wednesday that they are looking for a new leader “focused on modern retail, the customer experience and the goal of creating a sustainable and lasting JCPenney.”

The Plano, Texas-based retailer filed for bankruptcy in May. It was bought by the two US mall owners in the fall and showed up earlier this month. It joined a growing list of retailers marginalized by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the old retailer’s problems began before the global health crisis. Sales have decreased annually since 2016. At the time of filing for bankruptcy, the sales area of ​​around 860 stores in 2001 was less than a quarter of the store base.

About two years ago, the company hired Soltau to advance its turnaround efforts after its former CEO Marvin Ellison left to run Lowe’s. Before that she was CEO of the fabric and handicraft retailer Joann Stores. She also worked for Sears, Kohl’s and Shopko stores. At the time, news of her hiring sent stocks up as investors hoped she would bring fresh ideas and fuel growth in the department store.

This year, however, the company’s efforts were scaled back as its stores were temporarily closed during the pandemic and its already tight finances were hit.

According to a press release, Simon and Brookfield have selected Simon’s chief investment officer Stanley Shashoua as interim CEO. You have started an executive search with the strategic partner Authentic Brands Group. The licensing firm owns interests in other retailers that have emerged from bankruptcy, including Brooks Brothers and Forever 21.

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Business

5 Anchorwomen to Go away NY1 After Settling Discrimination Go well with

Five NY1 presenters, including longtime New York television personality Roma Torre, are leaving the local news network after settling an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against the beloved local media institution.

“After a long dialogue with NY1, we believe it is in the interests of everyone – ours, NY1, and our viewers – that this dispute be resolved, and we have mutually agreed to part ways,” the plaintiffs wrote on Thursday in a statement. In addition to Ms. Torre, these are Amanda Farinacci, Vivian Lee, Jeanine Ramirez and Kristen Shaughnessy.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The announcement ended a legal saga that began in June 2019 when the anchor women, ages 40 to 61, sued NY1’s parent company, cable company Charter Communications. They said they had been forced out of thin air and turned away by managers who preferred younger and less experienced hosts.

The presenters’ decision to leave NY1 entirely was a staggering result for many viewers, including Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.

“2020 was a year of loss and NY1 has just lost five of its best reporters,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “This is an enormous loss for all of your viewers.”

For New Yorkers who revered NY1 as a publicly accessible public space for the five boroughs – with gracious anchors that were part of the all-in-the-neighborhood charm – the discrimination lawsuit persisted. In the legal complaint, Ms. Torre, a signature-on-air presence that joined the network in early 1992, described her frustration at what she thought of including NY1’s more favorable treatment of the station’s star morning anchor, Pat Kiernan The advertising campaign and a new studio that they are not allowed to use were sparkling.

Charter executives responded that the lawsuit and allegations were unfounded and described NY1 as “a respectful and fair place to work.” The company found that another longtime female presenter, Cheryl Wills, had been named to host a prominent weekday newscast as part of a network redesign.

On Thursday, Charter, based in Stamford, Connecticut, said it was “pleased” with the solution to the anchor women’s suit. “We would like to thank you for your years of dedicated service in reporting the news to New Yorkers and wish you all the best in your future endeavors,” Charter said in a statement.

Ms. Torre and the other plaintiffs continued to appear on their regular slots in NY1 while the lawsuit was pending. But occasionally tensions came into view.

Last month, the New York Post wrote to journalists about an attorney’s request that Charter reveal Mr. Kiernan’s contract as a means of determining his salary. (The claim was denied.) Another lawsuit accused Mr. Kiernan’s talent agent of attempting to intimidate Ms. Torre by telling her brother the lawsuit should be dropped, an allegation the agent denied.

The women were represented by Douglas H. Wigdor, a prominent Manhattan attorney who has filed discrimination lawsuits against large corporations like Citigroup, Fox News, and Starbucks.

The lawsuit also touched upon greater tensions in the television news business, an industry where older women often make careers when male colleagues thrive. In the world of New York television, the case brought to mind Sue Simmons, the popular WNBC TV host who was ousted in 2012 and whose longtime co-host Chuck Scarborough continues to be a star of the station.

“We feel we are being withdrawn,” Ms. Torre told the New York Times in 2019 when the lawsuit was filed. “Men age with a feeling of heaviness on television, and we as women have an expiration date.”