news release

City Officials Announce Completion of Bike Lane Inspection Pilot Program Using Electric Bikes 

Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmembers Paul Krekorian (District 2) and Bob Blumenfield (District 3) and Board of Public Works Vice President Teresa Villegas joined StreetsLA (Bureau of Street Services) yesterday in North Hollywood to announce the completion of a pilot program of inspecting the pavement condition of the City’s bike lane network by using electric bikes.

Historic Bill Raises Minimum Wage to $17 and Eliminates Tipped Wage for Contracted Workers at BWI Airport and Baltimore Penn Station

Following a three-year campaign, Doran Brown, a contracted wheelchair agent at BWI Marshall Airport in Baltimore, and over 2,000 union and non-union contracted workers at BWI Marshall Airport and Baltimore Penn Station who earn as little as $8.50 per hour plus tips will see their hourly compensation rise to $17 five years. The higher salary is a result of the Secure Maryland Wage Act, a new law sponsored by Maryland Senator Antonio Hayes and Delegate Kriselda Valderrama.

General Motors Announces 400 Percent Increase in Ad Spending with Black-Owned Media

General Motors officials said it would be more productive to host a series of meetings involving a more extensive mix of Black-owned media publishers and executives. “To ensure that our conversations are both substantive and constructive, we are going to postpone and reschedule it into a series of smaller conversations that take place over the next few weeks,” GM global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl told the executives.

NBA Legend Isiah Thomas Sets Up to Dominate the Pan-American Cannabis Space

Superstar and NBA Icon Isiah Thomas, whose Cheurlin Champagne is one of the best-selling in the world, announced that his company, ISIAH International, LLC, will invest $3 million into One World Pharma, Inc., a U.S. based, fully licensed, pure-play hemp and cannabis ingredient producer in Columbia.

OneTen, a Coalition of Major Corporations, Vows to Hire 1 Million African Americans in High-Paying Jobs

“This is a moment in time for Americans to move past our divisions to come together and reach our full potential as a nation,” Ken Frazier, the chairman and CEO of Merck and a OneTen founder stated. “Our country’s workforce of the future will be an increasingly diverse one,” Frazier proclaimed.

Valeisha Butterfield Jones Named as The Recording Academy’s First Diversity & Inclusion Officer

“We are thrilled to welcome Valeisha Butterfield Jones into the Recording Academy family,” said Academy Chair and Interim President and CEO Harvey Mason Mason in a statement. “Valeisha has been a force in driving systemic change and enhancing equal opportunities for underrepresented groups across entertainment, technology, and politics.”

Joe Biden’s Plan for Empowering Black America

Biden said he plans to hold financial institutions accountable for discriminatory practices in the housing market, and he will restore the federal government’s power to enforce settlements against discriminatory lenders. Additionally, the plan calls for Biden to strengthen and expand the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure that the nation’s bank and non-bank financial services institutions are serving all communities.

Tennessee Student is Centennial Scholar Recipient of Ossie Davis Scholarship

Earlier this month, after a rigorous selection process, the family of the late actors and activists, together with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), announced that Lane College senior, Jade Allen, is the recipient of the Ossie Davis Legacy Scholarship. “We are always motivated by mom and dad’s love of education and what a struggle it was for each of them to get higher education and the sacrifices that their parents made,” Davis Day told NNPA Newswire.