By Dianne Anderson Seems like small businesses and independent contractors everywhere are asking that same question – Got money? Free or super cheap money in the form of grants doesn’t have to be paid, and right now, small businesses can’t lose. “The percentage rate is a ridiculous low,” said Kim “Kat” Shepherd, chapter chair with ...

Moving Marginalized Communities Toward America’s Bounty  By Charlene Crowell On January 26, President Joe Biden took steps to bring the nation towards the long-promised, but never realized, pledge of racial justice. Four executive orders signed that day make clear that the new Administration will take meaningful and corrective actions. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media Malia M. Cohen, the only African American member of the California Board of Equalization (BOE), has some critical concerns about the cost homeowners will have to bear because of Proposition 19, a constitutional amendment that took effect on Dec. 16, 2020. Cohen, who represents 10 million Californians in ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Nat’l Correspondent President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders that his less than two-week-old administration hopes will be a catalyst to tackling America’s long-standing race problem. Biden’s action focused on equity and included police and prison reform and public housing. “America has never lived up to ...

By Tanu Henry California Black Media   On Jan. 29, former Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber, who represented parts of San Diego and its eastern suburbs in the lower house of the state legislature for eight years, has been sworn in as Secretary of State of California. In her new role as the state’s top election ...

From “Vaccines to Vaccinations” By Steven Vargas California Black Media COVID-19 hospitalizations are starting to decrease in California, but that decline does not mean the pandemic is over, state health officials warn. The number of cases in California dropped by 31% over 14 days leading up to Jan. 22, according to the New York Times ...

By Dianne Anderson Each day, Margo Malone goes into her frontline job in hazmat gear with a full face shield, mask, goggles, double gloved, and armed with cans of Lysol. “I have become a Lysol junkie,” she said. When COVID first hit, the bodies were coming in already masked, and double bagged, but lately, probably ...

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌ Two Black lawmakers, Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena) and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), made history last month when they were both appointed Public Safety Committee chairpersons in their respective chambers of the California legislature. This is the first time in California history that two Black elected officials have ...

Covered California announced that it has begun the New Year with a record number of people who have signed up for coverage amid a severe spike in COVID-19 cases across the state. A record 1.6 million Californians had either renewed their coverage or selected a plan during open enrollment for health insurance coverage starting Jan. ...

By Quinci LeGardye California Black Media Two weeks into January, California has not distributed as many COVID-19 vaccines as previously estimated. Gov. Gavin Newsom first acknowledged on Jan. 4 that the state’s vaccine rollout was “not good enough.” As of Jan. 8, less than a third of the over 2 million doses of vaccines that ...