PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Satirist, author and columnist Leslie Streeter is leaving the Palm Beach Post and moving her family to her hometown in the Baltimore area. Streeter said her son, Brooks, and her mom, Tina, will move in July, but she will continue writing for the Post until August.
Streeter said there are a variety of reasons why the timing is right, including anxiety about COVID-19.
ONLY ON 5: Leslie Gray Streeter talks to WPTV NewsChannel 5's T.A. Walker about why she is leaving South Florida.
"And now, with COVID, it seemed like a great time because, unfortunately, as you know, the numbers in Palm Beach County are not great and I'd like to get out of here before you can't travel anymore," Streeter said.
"I am very hopeful for this community, even though I will be leaving it," she continued. "I will always feel a part of Palm Beach County. ... I feel like I've lived eight lives [in the last 18 years]. I can't think of a better place to have spent such a large part of my life."
But now she wants to be closer to her family which all reside in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas. Streeter also said she'd like to get her son in place before he starts first grade in the fall.
Streeter said she is starting a new chapter in her life.
"I have irons in the fire that are positive," she said.
"There are some definite things on the horizon and there are some possible things that are super big and super great that are not yet a guarantee," Streeter said.
Streeter said there is a possibility of development for her new book, "A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the Title: Black Widow."
Only on 5: Mini-Doc the making of 'Black Widow'
Streeter recently appeared on the TODAY show with Hoda and Jenna to talk about her new book, which is a love story about how she, a Black Christian, and her husband, a white Jewish man, who died, the religious and racial obstacles they overcame and how she navigated grief after his sudden death.