Zarina Khairzada

1 month ago | spectrumnews1.com | Zarina Khairzada

CALABASAS, Calif. — Strength, courage and grit — that’s what 17 formerly incarcerated women show every day as they train day in and day out hoping to contain the next major wildfire. For Cadet Patricia Murphy, it’s igniting her inner calling. “They push you so hard," Murphy said. "The job of firefighting itself is such a challenging thing.

1 month ago | spectrumnews1.com | Zarina Khairzada

BURBANK, Calif. — From a checkered past to a custom auto industry career path, 30-year-old Frankie Servillo spent more than a decade behind bars for robbery and gang charges. “I was in there for 12 years. It was just a long time, you know? And it was enough time for me to open my eyes and realize that once I do touch down in these streets, I need to find something and I need to pursue it,” Servillo said. Ret.

2 months ago | spectrumnews1.com | Zarina Khairzada

NORWALK, Calif. — Outreach days can be some of the most rewarding or challenging for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health CARE Court team members. Anthony Perea, a medical case worker, and Marisela Banda, a substance use disorder counselor, may not know how the day’s outreach will unfold. Still, Perea said previous outreach visits have helped the client they are there to see. “We’re really grateful that he followed his objectives and his goals.

2 months ago | spectrumnews1.com | Zarina Khairzada

LOS ANGELES — In a de Toledo High School classroom, students that are part of the Medical Science Academy on campus got a closer look at tonsil cells under a microscope. But just a couple weeks ago, 11th-grade student Ilana Litwak and her four Medical Science Academy classmates saw firsthand what tonsil removal, eardrum repair and other surgeries looked like in an operating room in Guatemala.

2 months ago | spectrumnews1.com | Zarina Khairzada

LOS ANGELES — Her son’s pink baseball bat is a reminder of the breast cancer journey Deven Phillips went through nearly seven years ago. It also serves as a reminder of the surgical complications that led to an additional problem, an uncomfortable swelling in her left arm after she had a lymph node removed. “It’s a heaviness feeling. I would almost feel like I was walking a little lopsided because I just felt the heaviness on this side,” Phillips said.