Black & Magazine Newswire Atlanta, GA – Two college roommates turned business partners were living out of their cars just a few years ago, but now, they are viewing life from a completely different vantage point – from their luxury penthouse overlooking the bustling city of Atlanta. Gio Vrsce and Lenni Hendri (real names Gary Green and Pierre Harvey) – have overcome their past challenges to establish Torque Rentals, a  premier enterprise featuring American Muscle and Exotic rentals for entertainers, athletes, and business professionals. The company is raking in the business ..read more

Black & Magazine Newswire Cox Communications is delivering indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi connectivity to Southeastern San Diego through a partnership with Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, a nonprofit organization empowering the community through economic, educational and neighborhood-building work to keep the community thriving now and in the future. Cox has connected the Joe and Vi Jacobs Center at 404 Euclid Avenue in San Diego’s Diamond District with Wi-Fi over the next two years that can be utilized by the community as they participate in various programs at the center ..read more

Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media California is one of many states whose policies helped to shape President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assistant to the President and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice. The U.S. House of Representatives held a procedural vote on November 5 that cleared the way for a full floor vote on the legislation, which could happen as early as next week. “California’s values will be on the national stage with the Build Back Better plan. @POTUS is creating good jobs, investing in clean energy ..read more

Edward Henderson | California Black The California state government has been reminding businesses across the state that it is illegal to discriminate against job applicants because of they have committed felonies or misdemeanors in the past. Authorities in Sacramento have also taken steps to make sure businesses do not use COVID-related restrictions to deny entry to customers they do not want based on race or other factors. So far, the state has sent more than 500 notices to businesses informing them that they have violated protections put in place to protect people seeking work. “The Californ ..read more

Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the Black community owned less than 1% of the United States’ total wealth, the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans was told during its fourth meeting. Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor at the University of California Irvine, School of Law, shared the statistics during the “Racism in Banking, Tax, and Labor” portion of the two-day meeting on Oct.13. From her perspective, the power of wealth and personal income is still unequally distributed. And that inequality ..read more

SAN DIEGO, CA — Twenty-six-year-old fashion designer Tyler B. Free is using his line of gender-neutral handbags to make a statement of inclusion —  only a few months after learning how to sew at San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE). Having earned the title of top designer by Black SD Magazine in 2020, a feature in San Diego Magazine, running fashion shows at North Park’s Queen Bees, and a hand-crafted collection being sold online and in stores at Encinitas4Equality, a multicultural community center and co-op for BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) owned ..read more

Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media Watching your tax dollars, elected officials and legislation that affects you. Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a number of bills lawmakers introduced to address injustices. One such restorative measure is Senate Bill 796 introduced by State Sen. Steven Bradford (D – Gardena) that allows Bruce’s Beach, an oceanside plot of land in Los Angeles County, to be returned to the descendants of its original owners. “We’re making history by righting historic wrongs. With new legislation that will allow the transfer of Bruce’s Beach back to its ..read more

Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media Black-owned businesses in California and around the country are closely watching as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi decides when she has enough support from the congressional Democratic caucus to call a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan federal infrastructure spending bill. Dubbed the “American Jobs Plan” by the Biden administration, the spending bill finances construction projects, airports, roads, bridges, education initiatives, and more. As a component of Biden’s broader “Build Back Better plan,” the legislation includes spending to combat cl ..read more

This month millions of Californians are losing federal unemployment benefits made available to them because of the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of others will lose federal aid that helped absorb the high costs of their COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) health coverage after getting laid off or having their hours reduced by their employers. But Covered California — which administers the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare” — may help take some of the sting out of these lost benefits by offering consumers quality, low-cost health plans from na ..read more

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month   We Cancerve Movement, Inc., a Harford County-based nonprofit founded by a childhood cancer survivor, and Coco&Soy, a Laurel, Md., Black woman-owned candle company, are partnering on a campaign to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer patients and their families in treatment at Sinai Hospital’s Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. The “Moments of Grace” candle collection is a new aromatherapy line that was carefully cultivated with both cancer patients and caregivers in mind said Coco&am ..read more