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will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or with both. The

WGA Strike: Writers Want Higher Wages, Job Security, Residual Pay and More

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“California Vs. Hate” Launches at State Capitol

Edward

Henderson | California Black Media

On May 4, 2023, a press conference was held to launch California vs Hate, a new website and telephone hotline created to address the sharp rise in hate crimes and hate incidents occurring in the state. The event was attended by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), Gov. Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, state legislators, advocates and people affected by hate crimes.

California vs Hate is a tool state residents can use to report crimes motivated by racial, ethnic or other identity biases. It is part of a broader $110 million investment in anti-hate initiatives.

Lorreen Pryor, President of the Black Youth Leadership Project (BYLP), spoke at the event.

race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation; or because of the person’s association with a person or group with one or more of those actual or perceived characteristics.

“Here in California, we are sending an unequivocal message that hate will not be tolerated,” said Gov. Newsom. “We stand firm for a California for All and it is important that we hold perpetrators accountable for their actions and provide resources for those individuals victimized by hate crimes.”

Rae Benjamin, a Los Angeles resident and writer for the Netflix series “The Witcher,” is among more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) participating in a strike that has disrupted film and television production.

For almost a week now, writers have been picketing major studios in Los Angeles and New York City, after failing to reach a new contract agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The writers’ contracts expired on May 1 and negotiations with the Film and Motion Picture Association (FMPA) have not resulted in an agreement.

“For me, streaming residuals are really important,” stated Benjamin, one of the few Black writers in the union.

“Whenever they re-air an episode television writers would get a check based upon that,” she explained. “When network shows were the only options, content was constantly re-aired, and it really rewarded people who worked on a popular show. You could be making money from that show, years and years later, because it's in syndication.”

Benjamin says the compensation structure is different for streaming companies like Netflix.

“They refuse to release data on how many people actually watch your shows, even though it's easy to do. Because they're refusing to do that we could not get accurately paid for our work. We can't get paid the residuals and streaming that we're owed,” she said.

In the past decade, streaming

platforms, particularly Netflix, have disrupted the traditional cable television model by producing new shows with shorter seasons in an effort to attract new subscribers.

Last week, the AMPTP offered annual salary increases for writers and made other concessions, but the WGA has yet to respond to the proposal.

“When you see what was put on the table, and then you see that the producers negated most things, even proposals such as making sure that we'll have jobs and not robots take our jobs, and there's no proposal for that No. counter for that,” said Benjamin.

“It's a little scary to think that, hey, there's an AI that might be able to write your entire show, and no one seems to be fretted about that at all.”

In a statement, AMPTP acknowledged that the emergence of Artificial Intelligence technology “requires a lot more discussion.”

“AI raises hard, important creative and legal questions for everyone. For example, writers want to be able to use this technology as part of their creative process, without changing how credits are determined, which is complicated given AI material can't be copyrighted, the statement reads.

WGA’s proposal stipulated, “AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, can’t be used as source material; and MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement) covered material can’t be used to train AI.” AMPTP rejected the offer and countered with an offer of “annual meetings to discuss

AMPTP did not make a counteroffer regarding proposals about duration of employment, which the writers say is too short and akin to freelance work.

“On network shows we would typically be employed for a long time, because there were more episodes. It would be 20 to 30 episodes of the show, which means you were employed 40 to 45 weeks out of the year,” said Benjamin. “We would just take a break in between seasons and come back. So being a writer was a very stable career. Now, because of extremely short orders of streaming shows, it's become more unstable. Worse than that, these companies don't want to hire people for a reasonable amount of time to complete a show.”

Benjamin says showrunners and show creators cut corners by hiring writers for a short time then build on their work with rewrites and edits.

“The actual writers get a job for two weeks, which is very little pay,” she said. “I think it also disproportionately affects Black creatives, because a lot of times they'll hire us to do the cheapest amount of labor.”

West Hills-based writer Sid Quashie told the Los Angeles times he made $250,000 for a script he sold to Walt Disney Studios in 2003. Sixteen years later in 2019, when he sold a script to Netflix, he made under $100,000.

In 2007, the WGA went on a 100-day strike that cost the city of Los Angeles an estimated $2.1 billion and countless jobs as all corners of the industry and others adjacent to it were impacted.

Only one week into the 2023 strike, there are already casualties. Late night shows were canceled abruptly. Daily shows stopped. Productions for all shows are tenuous, with many on pause.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, who have received support from both sides of the dispute, have expressed their concerns and are advocating for a resolution.

Newsom said Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference that the work stoppage “has profound consequences direct and indirect. Every single one of us will be impacted by this, and we’re very concerned about what is going on because both sides are dug in. The stakes are high.”

“Los Angeles relies on a strong entertainment industry that is the envy of the world while putting Angelenos to work in good middle class jobs. I encourage all sides to come together around an agreement that protects our signature industry and the families it supports,” Mayor Bass said.

In the short term, streaming platforms with more scripts banked may have an advantage, as they can continue their productions. Daily and weekly cable shows are at the greatest risk. During the last writer strikes, the producers turned to unscripted content, leading the creation of the reality show Cops and even The Celebrity Apprentice.

The Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild are also in negotiations, with contracts set to expire at the end of June.

“Anti-Black or African American-biased events rose from 456 in 2020 to 513 in 2021, an increase of 12.5%, continuing the trend of Black Californians being identified as the most targeted ethnic group,” Pryor stated.

According to Pryor, “BYLP is committed to working with the civil rights department, local and state officials, and community leaders to address longstanding anti-Black racism and the subsequent lack of response from law enforcement. We will continue to uplift Black youth, families and community members as we navigate through daily acts of Black bias, discrimination and harassment.”

The Governor’s office stated that California vs Hate was established as a response to requests from state and local community and government leaders for resources to address the recent surge in reported hate crimes, which have reached their highest level since 2001. Between 2020 and 2021, hate crimes increased almost 33% statewide.

In California, any individual who has experienced or witnessed an act of hate can anonymously report it by phone or online, irrespective of their immigration status. Everyone is eligible for free care coordination and referrals to resources, including mental health care.

According to California law, a hate crime is a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim: disability, gender, nationality,

In 2021, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) proposed establishing a state hotline to report hate crimes. He said the program would assist individuals and communities who are targets of hate including Asian Americans, Latinos, Black Americans, LGBTQ+ individuals, religious minorities, and other diverse communities in California.

“We all saw how incidents of hate targeting Asian Americans escalated during the pandemic across the country. As we worked to fight back, we quickly saw this pandemic of hat was not only targeting Asians, but so many different communities in California,” said Muratsuchi. Reports can be made online in15 languages at any time at cavshate.org, or by calling (833) 866-4283 or 833-8-NO-HATE, Monday to Friday from 9a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, and talking to trained staff in over 200 languages.

Trained care coordinators will provide support following a report, identify options for next steps after a hate incident or hate crime, and connect callers with culturally competent resources. It should be noted that this is not an emergency response hotline and callers are advised to call 911 if they are in immediate danger or witness someone else in distress.

“California is strong because of our diversity but hate-fueled violence remains a persistent and growing threat,” said CRD Director Kevin Kish. “With the launch of CA vs Hate, we’re taking action to help put a stop to hate and to provide support for victims, survivors, and their families. In the face of hate across the nation, we stand united in declaring: California is for everyone.”

This California Black Media report was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Addressing the Real Need in Real Time

By Ben Jealous

Over 80 groups tell federal regulators Key Bank broke $16.5 Billion Promise Crosscountry redlining aided wealthy white communities while excluding Black areas

Hispanics, and young people? The White House can’t seem to cut through the clutter to convince people it has solved a real need in real time, even when it has.

By Charlene Crowell

Over 80 groups tell federal regulators Key Bank broke $16.5 Billion Promise Cross-country redlining aided wealthy white communities while excluding Black areas ...continued keep open four other branches in LMI neighborhoods that the bank initially planned to close;

Ben Jealous

As someone who’s been organizing since I was a teenager, I can tell you that it’s hard to get people to focus on two things at once. Pick a real need and work on it in real time – that’s the way to win people over.

We saw this play out when President Biden announced he would seek re-election.

Considering the record, Biden’s presidency has been a consequential one. Employment is as high as before COVID. While inflation is higher than in recent memory, it’s basically a third of what it was last June.

He’s made mistakes around supporting fossil fuels drilling, but President Biden has attacked the three things driving the climate crisis – vehicles, methane and power plants. And he has time to finish the job as he said in the last State of the Union Address by curbing further fossil fuel expansion.

So why was a common response to his announcement handwringing about an “enthusiasm gap” among key voting groups – Blacks,

The real need for many continues to be economic stability. I’ve talked to people in every region of the country in the last five months. Many continue to feel the only economic mobility slopes downward. It’s something that President Biden and Congress actually have done something about.

They’ve made unprecedented commitments to spend hundreds of billions to take a giant step toward keeping the Earth cool enough to stay livable. It’s our generation’s equivalent of the Apollo moon missions. The changes will happen over a decade, their benefits may take even longer to see.

But there will be immediate impacts, and that’s what is giving people the solution they need. Incentives for school systems to buy electric school buses and families to buy electric SUVs? Jobs. Home energy efficiency programs? Jobs. Tax credits for private sector investment in clean energy? Jobs.

The one thing we need to bring attention to and to protect are the jobs that come from reshaping the economy from destruction to renewal. They are good-paying jobs that in many cases don’t require a college education, the kind of jobs that have made the American middle class flourish. They employ mechanics, construction workers,

For much of Black America, the availability of affordable and accessible full-bank services has historically been an irritating issue for consumers and small businesses alike.

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) was supposed to be a financial yardstick that measured whether depository institutions were meeting local community credit needs in lowto-moderate income communities (LMI). Over the ensuing four decades, what federal regulators have ranked as ‘outstanding performance’ has had little or no relation to the nagging and persistent financial frustrations experienced by the communities some banks were supposed to serve.

A recently filed CRA challenge has the potential to close the gap between promise and performance at one of the nation’s largest financial institutions, KeyBank. On April 27, more than 80 national, state and local organizations representing 10 states told federal regulators it was time to downgrade the CRA ranking of the 180-yearold institution. The appeal also noted in factual detail how a five-year, $16.5 billion promise of community investment that was to begin in 2017 was never fulfilled.

“If you or I break a promise to our bank, they hold us accountable with fees. When a bank breaks promises, the law says there are consequences –and it’s our government’s job to enforce that accountability,”

Let’s Make Saving Water a Way of Life

National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) President and CEO Jesse Van Tol

said.

“KeyBank got an ‘Outstanding’ rating two years ago – and it’s clear now that was the wrong call,” continued Van Tol. “They promised to use their merger with First Niagara to buoy the economic interests of under-resourced communities, then turned around and did the opposite in most of the cities they serve – all while passing the new profits from the merger on to shareholders and insiders. Regulators have an obvious duty to act, not only for the communities KeyBank hoodwinked but also to show the industry as a whole that this kind of conduct is not okay.”

A March 31 letter to federal regulators reviewed a list of promises the bank made before a merger with First Niagara was approved and included:

Goals for loans, investments, and products specifically aimed at benefitting LMI individuals and communities, including home mortgages, small business loans, community development loans, investments, and philanthropic contributions; Bank branches in LMI communities across the bank’s geographic footprint and, separately, the state of New York; An additional branch in an LMI community in East Buffalo and

Enhance its diversity and inclusion policies, expand its community engagement and marketing efforts; and

Create an advisory council made up of various community organizations that will meet periodically to assess KeyBank’s progress under the Plan and to be informed of the bank’s future.

Instead, an NCRC research report released last November documents how the bank used the merger profits to benefit wealthy borrowers at the exclusion of Blacks. Further, Key Bank’s alleged redlining went beyond its Western New York state markets and included cities ranging from Western cities like Seattle, Portland and Denver, to the Midwest heartland of Indianapolis, Columbus and Cleveland to the East in Philadelphia, and New York City. Findings showed that Key Bank:

Had the lowest percent of mortgage originations to Black borrowers among the 50 largest mortgage lenders.

;imited its home mortgage lending in census tracts where Black residents are clustered;.

It approved mortgages for low-income White applicants at a higher rate than for highincome Black applicants; and

From 2018 to 2021 its share of home purchase lending to Black and LMI borrowers dropped by double digits.

“KeyBank executives used the 2016 merger to dramatically

expand the bank’s home purchase lending business,” states the report. “But it effectively excluded Black families from that expansion, instead growing the home purchase arm of its profit-seeking efforts by focusing investments on wealthier, whiter borrowers.

“Since 2018 – the first full year of data following KeyBank’s formal commitment to increase lending to LMI borrowers –KeyBank has in fact done less lending to both LMI and Black borrowers with each passing year. This trend is visible in nearly all of the bank’s top markets. Across those markets it generally trails the top ten bank lenders in lending to LMI and Black borrowers in 2021,” concludes the report.

Beyond a downgraded CRA rating, advocates are also calling for three additional actions:

A redlining investigation of KeyBank’s mortgage lending;

A data integrity review of KeyBank; and

An examination of KeyBank’s compliance with public commitments made in connection with its acquisition of First Niagara Bank, including in its Community Benefits Agreement as well as job growth commitments.

If regulators downgrade the bank’s CRA rating, it would pause KeyBank’s ability to merge or open new branches until it demonstrates improved performance in a future CRA exam.

Nearly 53,000 student loan borrowers in California approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

PSLF highlighted as Public Service Recognition Week begins

Today, to mark Public Service Recognition Week, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced it has approved nearly 616,000 borrowers nationwide for approximately $42 billion in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) since October 2021.

PSLF covers public employees—such as teachers, firefighters, and members of law enforcement, as well as those who work for a non-profit organization—in a variety of fields by forgiving the remaining federal student loan balance for those who make the required 120 qualifying monthly payments.

In fact, PSLF is making an incredible difference for public servants in California:

Between October 2021 and May 2023, the Department has approved nearly 53,000 borrowers in California for more than $3.6 billion in loan forgiveness under temporary changes the Biden-Harris Administration made to the PSLF Program. That’s nearly $70,000 per borrower!

While hundreds of thousands of California borrowers already have benefited from PSLF, more will benefit as the program continues.

“Since Day One, the BidenHarris Administration has worked relentlessly to fix a broken student loan system, including by making sure we fulfill the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness for those who have spent a decade or more serving our communities and our country,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “To date, the Biden-Harris team has kept that promise for more than 615,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, servicemembers, and other

public servants by approving a combined $42 billion in student loan debt forgiveness. The difference that Public Service Loan Forgiveness is making in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans reminds us why we must continue doing everything we can to fight for borrowers and why families cannot afford to have progress derailed by partisan politicians. During Public Service Recognition Week—and every week—we thank all those who serve our communities.”

Public Service Recognition

Week celebrates individuals who serve the United States and local communities as employees of federal, state, local, or tribal government.

Recent Improvements to the PSLF Application Process

In addition to record approvals, the Department is also announcing that for the first time, borrowers can now sign and submit their PSLF forms digitally and closely track their status through the process.

These significant changes to the PSLF application process create a faster, more straightforward, and more transparent process for borrowers.

The changes also improve the experience for public service employers, who now can confirm a borrower’s employment digitally via DocuSign.

Background Information about the PSLF Program

Visit StudentAid.gov/ publicservice to learn more about:

Qualifying Employment

Eligible Loans

Qualifying Payments

Qualifying Repayment Plans

The PSLF Process

The PSLF Help Tool A resource you can share

with your readers, viewers, and followers:

Federal Student Aid’s Become a Public Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool Ninja article

Will you help the Department spread the word about PSLF to California federal student loan borrowers? Your audience may not be aware of this program and would find it valuable to know about it and understand how they could benefit from it. Encourage public servants in California to visit StudentAid. gov/publicservice to learn more.

The national press release for this announcement is at U.S. Department of Education Announces

$42 Billion in Approved Public Service Loan Forgiveness for More Than 615,000 Borrowers Since October 2021 | U.S. Department of Education

Inequality You Can Taste: Low Wages and Unstable Employment Make Fast Food Workers Susceptible to Homelessness

Fast food industry contributes to homelessness in California, says new report.

By Ethan Ward

Credit: Shutterstock

Fast-food workers represent a startling portion of California’s unhoused population, making up 11% of all unhoused workers in California, 9% in Los Angeles County and 8% in the city of Los Angeles, according to a new report on the intersection of poverty wages and homelessness.

The authors of the report, published by the Economic Roundtable, estimate that there would be 10,120 fewer unhoused workers in California, 3,595 fewer in L.A. County and 1,889 fewer in the city of L.A. if the fast-food industry provided stable employment and paid workers enough to maintain secure housing.

Daniel Flaming is president of the Economic Roundtable and coauthor with Patrick Burns of the report, “Hungry Cooks: Poverty Wages and Homelessness in the Fast Food Industry.” Flaming said the organization looked into the connection between income, jobs and homelessness after data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed that over half the unhoused who were surveyed said their biggest struggles were tied to a lack of work and affordable rent.

The fast food corporations are “flourishing, and they are poverty entrepreneurs. They are economic bottom feeders in terms of the labor force,” said Flaming. “The easiest, most cost effective and responsible solution is for these corporations to pay sustaining wages for workers. This is probably the biggest single thing that we can do to reduce homelessness.”

According to the Economic Roundtable report, California’s unhoused population grew 51% from 2014 to 2022, and that growth would have been significantly diminished if the fast food wage floor was adequate to ensure workers could afford stable housing.

Much of the report underscores statements by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has made homelessness her biggest focus since taking office. Her proposed 2023-24 budget dedicates $1.3 billion to address the crisis.

Inside Safe, the mayor’s initiative to reduce street homelessness and bring people indoors, has housed about 1,000 people so far.

The median annual earnings of California’s front-line fast food workers were $14,949 in 2020,

and over two-thirds of them were paid less than $20,000 a year.

Flaming said that while programs like Inside Safe offer immediate help to people living in encampments, permanent solutions involve building affordable housing. That will take decades.

For now, “A bigger fix would be helping people who are out there working,” he said, meaning the roughly 10,000 unhoused fast-food workers in the state.

The median annual earnings of California’s front-line fast food workers were $14,949 in 2020, and over two-thirds of them were paid less than $20,000 a year, the report reveals. What’s more, the poverty rate for the households of frontline workers is three times higher than the rate for the rest of the state’s workers.

Additionally, the report shows a disproportionate impact on minorities in the workforce.

Latinos make up the largest share of California’s unhoused workers; African Americans make up the smallest share of unhoused fast-food workers in the city of L.A., but 13% of all unhoused fast-food workers in the state. The risk of homelessness is higher for African Americans than for any other ethnic group in California’s fast-food workforce.

These workers are more likely to experience poverty and homelessness, says the report, and Anneisha Williams, 38, is no stranger to either. Williams, who is Black, experienced homelessness for five years, three of which were spent moving between motels and family or friends’ houses. For two of those years, she lived in a shelter.

“Every day I worry that will happen to me again,” she said.

In October 2020, Williams moved with five of her children into a two-bedroom apartment in South L.A. where she currently pays $1,730 a month. Her four daughters, between the ages of 3 and 14, share a bedroom equipped with a bunk bed and a single twin bed. Her 16-year-old son sleeps on the living room couch. She’s struggled to keep up with rent payments while making $16.04 per hour as a part-time shift manager at the Jack in the Box where she’s worked for almost two years.

When she started, Williams was paid $15 per hour as a drivethrough cashier. She said she gets

a minimum of 16 hours of work each week — 20 if she’s lucky. The CEO of Jack in the Box earned roughly $4.6 million in compensation in 2022 while the median pay for its workers was nearly $19,800 — a 234:1 ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay, according to the report.

“It’s stressful, it’s depressing. You try to keep a smile on your face because your kids don’t know what you’re going through.”

~ Anneisha Williams, fast food worker

“Being a single parent is a toll on me,” Williams said through tears. “I get the help from my grandmother, but I try to take care of all my bills myself. I’ve got to make sure I have tissues, paper towels, my hygiene stuff. I have to budget $20 per week for laundry.”

Over two-thirds of California’s fast-food workers are employed as cooks, cashiers and food preparation workers. These workers are more likely to have children they support with their earnings than the rest of California’s workforce, with 44% supporting children compared to 35% of the general workforce, according to the report.

While she’s grateful for paydays, Williams says they are also often stress inducing. When she goes to pick up her check from work on Fridays, she thinks to herself, “Damn, that’s it?”

Her circumstances have taken a toll on her mental health.

“It’s stressful, it’s depressing. You try to keep a smile on your face because your kids don’t know what you’re going through,” Williams said. “They think it’s all glitter and gold, and I want to keep it that way.”

Anneisha Williams, center, and her daughters join a protest and worker strike outside a Los Angeles McDonald’s on June 23, 2022. Photo courtesy of Fight for $15.

Williams said that despite the challenges, she loves her job because it allows her to use a skill she’s been proud of since she was a little girl — talking.

“I like the people,” Williams said. “I like my customer service. The joy of making somebody else happy and to know that I’m able to feed the next person’s family.

“You have to be able to love doing what you do. If you go to work not loving what you do you’re gonna do a shitty job.”

She disagrees with the idea that fast-food jobs are just for young people in high school.

“These kids will fold under pressure,” Williams said. “[Fast food businesses] need the backbone of an older person who is more knowledgeable on the floor. Some of these customers can get a little vicious.”

Flaming, president of the

California Awards Millions to Enhance Security for Reproductive Health Facilities...continued

said HCAI Director Elizabeth Landsberg.

CALIFORNIA’S LEADERSHIP ON REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM

and contraception.

In September, Governor Newsom signed the largest reproductive freedom bill package in history in response to the overturning of Roe v Wade to ensure California remains a reproductive freedom state.

Economic Roundtable, said it is “unforgivably arrogant” for people to think a fast-food job is transitional employment.

“These are people who do the basic heavy lifting that make our world go around,” he said. “They change our tires, they build our houses, they make our food. They are parents, they are good neighbors. This has been their life’s work. There ought to be dignity of work and it ought to be sustainable.”

“One of the easiest ways for local operators to cut expenses and have a profit for themselves is to not pay the workers very much.”

~ Daniel Flaming, president, Economic Roundtable

The new report proposes solutions that would help foster sustainability. They include allowing workers to organize and have a voice in setting industry standards; bringing together corporate executives, workers and government regulators to establish industrywide pay and scheduling standards; and requiring corporate brands to help local franchise operators provide wages, benefits and scheduling that enable frontline workers to afford housing, food and health care.

Others, too, are increasingly interested in keeping a roof over the heads of fast-food employees.

The California Legislature is currently weighing Assembly Bill 257, which would set industry standards for wages and working hours. The bill was signed into law in 2022, but is facing pushback from a coalition of restaurant and business groups sponsoring a referendum on the California ballot in 2024 that offers voters a chance to overturn the bill.

Flaming said that parent companies have contracts with franchise owners that require a percentage of the revenue regardless of whether the franchise is making a profit.

“One of the easiest ways for local operators to cut expenses and have a profit for themselves is to not pay the workers very much,” Flaming said. But he adds that corporations have a responsibility to make the system work for franchisees.

Parent companies have the money to make it happen.

According to the Economic Roundtable’s report, the top five publicly traded fast-food corporations operating in California generated $14.5 billion in profit in 2021 and $12 billion in 2022.

That’s why I fight so hard,” Williams said. “That’s why I’m an advocate for fast-food workers. We deserve this; it’s not like we’re being lazy on the job. We’re working for a company that can actually give it to us.”

California Awards Millions to Enhance Security for Reproductive Health Facilities

WHY THIS MATTERS: As extreme politicians continue to attack access to essential reproductive health care, California is providing key resources to help ensure patients and providers can feel safe and secure while accessing or providing care.

SACRAMENTO – In keeping with the commitment to protect reproductive rights of patients and providers throughout California, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced nearly $8 million in grants being awarded to bolster physical and data security at 21 facilities that provide abortionrelated care and reproductive health services.

“All health care providers deserve to feel safe while

offering resources and services to patients,” said Governor Newsom. “As attacks on reproductive health care continue, we're providing resources to help ensure patients and providers feel safe and secure while accessing or providing critical reproductive health care.”

GRANT DETAILS: The Physical and Digital Infrastructure Security Grant Program, administered by the

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) in coordination with the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), funds security enhancements at health care facilities and practitioner offices that may be the target of violence and vandalism. $7,879,108 will be awarded to 21 facilities that provide abortion-related care and reproductive health services, including Planned Parenthood facilities spanning from Redding to Long Beach and independent practitioners across the state.

“This funding represents a key part of our responsibility to protect Californians from

These grants are part of a broader effort by Governor Newson to champion reproductive freedom for anyone who seeks care in California.

In April, Governor Newsom created an emergency stockpile of medication abortion as legal challenges moved (and continue to) through the courts to ensure patients can continue to get care without disruption.

In February, Governor Newsom launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, which now includes 22 state and territory leaders fighting to protect and advance reproductive freedom in the face of ongoing attacks from extreme politicians.

In December, Proposition 1 went into effect, amending the state constitution to enshrine protections for reproductive freedom, including abortion care

In September, Governor Newsom launched Abortion. CA.Gov to ensure people across California, and the country, can access essential information regarding reproductive health care, including resources available to support their efforts to access care.

In June, Governor Newsom signed the Budget Act of 20222023 into law, which included a historic $200+ million investment in reproductive health care. California’s efforts to back reproductive freedom comes as other states continue their attacks to limit or outright ban access to abortion and other sexual and reproductive health care in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade nearly 1 year ago.

CalFresh expanded eligibility for college students set to end soon

A pandemic-era rule that made it easier to qualify for state’s largest food program will be going away in June

Gonzalez, assistant director of the county’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). “We can check their eligibility and help them enroll when we are visiting their campus. Students may also call us, visit any of our office locations, or apply online as soon as possible.”

Two in five college students are eligible for the program, according to CalFresh’s student portal. A single student can receive up to $281 in food benefits each month, which is equivalent to 60 jars of peanut butter.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. –Local college students are encouraged to apply for a food assistance program called CalFresh that can help stretch their grocery budgets and promote healthier eating before a temporary expansion in eligibility comes to an end in June, county officials said this week.

For the past two years, California was able to temporarily expand CalFresh eligibility to college students eligible for work-study and those whose families have a zero-dollar required contribution to their education expenses.

With the federal public health emergency due set to expire on May 11, the two pandemic-era exemptions will no longer be available to college students seeking to enroll in CalFresh, the state’s largest food program that provides monthly benefits to over five million Californians.

“We encourage our college students to apply now, so that they will still benefit from the temporary exemptions before they expire,” said Allison

Currently, there are about 7,050 Riverside County college students enrolled in the program. County officials say that students currently participating in the food program remain eligible under the existing temporary exemptions until their next recertification, which happens on a yearly basis.

After June 10, students who wish to enroll in CalFresh for the first time will need to meet one of the permanent student exemptions to be eligible. Examples of these include students who receive cash aid or CalWORKs, work 20 hours a week, single parents with children under 12, and those who are 17 or younger or 50 and over. Targeted outreach efforts have helped to boost student enrollment over the past two years since the temporary exemptions took effect. Local campuses have resources dedicated to informing students about this program and other resources to help students get access to healthy, affordable

violence,” said Cal OES Director Nancy Ward. “By providing security at vulnerable healthcare locations, we can help protect everyone involved, from providers, to patients, and the surrounding community.”

“The program safeguards California healthcare facilities that offer abortion-related services and reproductive healthcare services and serve socially vulnerable populations, including persons who are low income, Limited-English proficient, immigrants, LGBTQ+ community members, and/ or persons with disabilities,”

Addressing the Real Need in Real Time..continued from page 2 electricians, technicians, and people to support their work. And whether it’s the most dollars invested, or most jobs created, the states benefitting are among the reddest politically.

It makes sense that flipping the economy in this way would be a growth engine. The biggest subsidy our country ever gave private industry was allowing it to designate certain places and certain people disposable. Poverty is what has always driven people to trade the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the land they love for a paycheck that feeds and house them and their families. Turning that past on its head will create a lasting prosperity, one that doesn’t count on fuels extracted from under another country.

Opinion research makes clear that Americans care about the environment and will vote to protect it. They care about jobs more. For those of us fighting to reverse the climate crisis and leave a healthier, safer planet to our children, from the White House to a local rally, we must show people that a cleaner economy tomorrow brings jobs they want today.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. He is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free,” published in January.

Shelani Villanueva, an eligibility technician at the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services, helps a student at a CalFresh outreach event at Mt. San Jacinto College’s main campus.

Reparations panel recommends possible millions for eligible Black Californians

BY WENDY FRY

Black women are more likely to be breadwinners-

By Bria Overs, Word in Black

The California Reparations Task Force approved economic models for calculating reparations which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars owed to eligible Black residents to address past racial inequities. The models tell the state what is owed. The Legislature would have to adopt the recommendations and decide how much to pay, task force members said.

The state-appointed task force also unanimously voted to recommend California formally apologize “for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity and African slaves and their descendants.”

After 15 public hearings, two years of deliberations and input from more than 100 expert witnesses and the public, the task force on Saturday voted to finalize its proposals in an Oakland meeting. The ninemember panel has a deadline to submit it all to the Legislature by July 1.

The historic effort could become a model for a national program of reparations, some observers have said. Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from Oakland, said at the beginning of the task force meeting that the United States must repair the damage done to Black

Americans.

“Reparations are not a luxury, but a human right long overdue for millions of Americans,” she said. “We are demanding that the government pay their tax.”

A bill by former state assembly member Shirley Weber created the reparations task force in 2020, in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. The panel has since examined the history of slavery and racism in the state and developed detailed plans for how the state can begin to undo certain types of racial harm, such as housing discrimination, mass incarceration, devaluation of Black-owned businesses, the unjust taking of property and unequal access to health care.

The recommendations include policy changes and financial payouts. The task force’s final report and documents, numbering thousands of pages, don’t contain an overall price tag for reparations. They do include ways the state could calculate how much money eligible African Americans in California have lost since the state’s founding in 1850. The loss calculations vary depending on type of racial harm and how long a person has lived in California.

For instance, the loss estimates are $2,300 per person per year of residence for the over-policing of Black communities, and they

are $77,000 total per person, regardless of length of residence, for Black-owned business losses and devaluations over the years.

The task force voted in March 2022 that African American descendents from enslaved Americans were eligible, but other Black residents, such as more recent immigrants, are not. Nearly 80% of California’s 2.6 million Black residents would be eligible, said William Darity, an economist who consulted with the task force.

Task force members said elderly people should have priority for payment.

CalMatters created an interactive tool for calculating how much a person is owed, using formulas in the task force’s final reports and how long a person lived in California during the periods of racial harm.

For instance, a 19-year-old who moved to California in 2018 would be owed at least $149,799 based on the calculations, but a 71-year-old who has lived in California all their life could be owed about $1.2 million. On the other hand, an eligible 28-year-old Californian who moved out of state in 2012 and just moved back could be due around $348,507, according to the calculator.

Hundreds of millions of dollars

If all of the eligible African American residents lived in the state only two years, it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in potential reparations.

Eligible Black residents should not expect cash payments anytime soon.

The state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide on reparations. It’s unclear what they will do with the task force recommendations. The task force was not told to identify funding sources.

“Reparations are not a luxury, but a human right long overdue for millions of Americans.”

U.S. REP. BARBARA LEE, DEMOCRAT FROM

OAKLAND

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a task force member and Democrat from Los Angeles, stressed that the process will take time.

“Giving the impression that funds will become readily available — or that cash payments are recommended by the task force to rectify marginalization caused by generations of reckless policies and laws — is not focusing on the real work of the task force or the report itself,” he said in an interview Sunday.

“There is a process by which the legislature will look at and discuss all recommendations, and that will take some time.”

Task force members voted to recommend the Legislature consider “down payments” of varying amounts to eligible African American residents, saying direct cash payments are part of other reparations programs around the world.

“The initial down payment is the beginning of a process of addressing historical injustices; not the end of it,” the task force report states.

The task force also is recommending a variety of policy changes to counteract discrimination. For example, the task force has recommended the state end the practice of forced labor in prisons and adopt a K-12 Black studies curriculum.

Freedman’s bureau

The group finalized plans to establish a centralized state agency similar to the national Freedmen’s Bureau, a federal agency created in 1865 to assist previously enslaved Black people. The state agency would provide oversight and implement the task force’s proposals.

“The agency will be doing the work that we weren’t able to finish in two years,” said Kamilah Moore, chairperson of the task force.

continued on page 7

Police: 8 killed in Texas mall shooting, gunman also dead

by JAKE

BLEIBERG Associated Press and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press

ALLEN, Texas (AP) — A gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and started shooting people at a Dallas-area outlet mall Saturday, killing eight and wounding seven others — three critically — before being killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said. Authorities did not immediately provide details about the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping center, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.

The shooting, the latest eruption of what has been an unprecedented pace of mass killings in the U.S., sent hundreds fleeing in panic. Barely a week before, authorities say, a man fatally shot five people in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbor asked him to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept.

A 16-year-old pretzel stand employee, Maxwell Gum, described a virtual stampede of shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room.

“We started running. Kids were getting trampled,” Gum said. “My co-worker picked up a 4-year-old girl and gave her to her parents.”

Dashcam video that circulated online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle recording the video drove off.

Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the shooter died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition in the evening, Boyd said, and four were stable.

An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the police department wrote on Facebook.

“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” it added.

Mass killings are happening with staggering frequency in the United States this year: an average of about one a week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

The White House said President Biden had been briefed on the shooting and the administration had offered support to local officials. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called it an “unspeakable tragedy.”

Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones.

“It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Payton said.

People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the

all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.

Once outside, Payton saw bodies.

“I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground.

“It broke me when I walked out to see that,” he said.

Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up.

Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people motionless on the ground, including one who appeared to be a police officer and one who appeared to be a mall security guard.

Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic store during the shooting. As he left, he saw what appeared to be an unconscious police officer lying next to another unconscious person outside the outlet store.

“I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mouli said.

Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in the Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.

“We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we

Access to higher education has helped more married Black women become breadwinners.

say it can help uplift the Black family.

In 1972, men were the primary or sole breadwinners in 85 percent of opposite-sex marriages. Things have changed drastically 50 years later.

Today, according to new research from the Pew Research Center, husbands are the sole or primary breadwinners in 55 percent of marriages.

The change over several decades can be attributed to a variety of factors. For example, women are pursuing higher education at higher rates and choosing to have fewer children or none at all.

And 16 percent of marriages have wives as the main source of income.

These numbers are not the same for married Black women.

Pew found one-in-four Black wives out-earn their husbands. And, according to Pew’s survey and analysis of existing government data, Black women are more likely than any other ethnic group to be in marriages where they’re the breadwinner or in an egalitarian marriage.

Of marriages where the wife

is Black, the husband is the main source of income 40 percent of the time. The wife is the main source in 26 percent of marriages.

And, 34 percent are egalitarian. Education propels Black women into making more money Richard Fry, senior economist at Pew Research Center and researcher for the report, attributes these findings to education. Fry told Word In Black that Black wives are often better educated than their husbands.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, of all 206,527 Black college graduates earning bachelor’s degrees, Black women earned 134,435 — about 65 percent. Black men earned 72,092, about 35 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The trend continues for master’s and doctorate degrees. Antonius Skipper, assistant professor of gerontology at Georgia State University, said this data is not surprising. If

continued on page 7

CalFresh expanded eligibility for college students set to end soon...continued from page 3 food.

In addition, the DPSS community outreach team has made over 20 visits to local college campuses to help get the word out and help students apply.

pantries were a viable option, Valentin said that CalFresh had given her the freedom needed to tailor her grocery list to meet her specific nutritional needs.

just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press.

Employees rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.

Eber Romero was at the Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned that there was a shooting.

As he left the store, Romero said, the mall appeared empty, and all the shops had their security gates down. That is when he started seeing broken glass and people who had been shot on the floor.

Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot amid the sound of gunshots.

More than 30 police cruisers with lights flashing were blocking an entrance to the mall, with multiple ambulances on the scene. A live aerial broadcast from a news station showed armored trucks and other law enforcement vehicles outside the mall.

Ambulances from several neighboring cities responded.

The Dallas office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded.

Allen, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas, has roughly 105,000 residents.

Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas contributed to this report.

On one recent visit to the Mt. San Jacinto College’s main campus, county outreach workers assisted 64-year-old Kim Valentin, who was concerned about the end of the temporary student exemptions.

“If people don’t have a way to get food, they will not do well in school,” she said. And while food

In her view, the application process was easy. The hard part was asking for help. “The good news is there is help, and you’ve got to reach out,” Valentin said. Riverside County residents can apply for CalFresh online at BeneftsCal.com, by calling 1-877-410-8827 or by visiting the nearest DPSS office.

Reparations panel recommends possible millions for eligible Black Californians...continued

Saturday’s meeting was one of the more rowdy hearings by the task force. It included a brief shouting match between a regular meeting attendee and Amos Brown, the task force’s vice chairperson. Also the California Highway Patrol escorted a disruptive group out of Lisser Hall at Mills College, where the meeting was held.

During this nearly final task force meeting, debate continued over who is eligible for reparations. Some task force members also voiced concerns that the Legislature might not honor the task force’s vote to consider lineage for eligibility.

By a 5-4 vote last year, the task force narrowly defined an eligible person as an “individual being an African American descendant of a chattel enslaved person or the descendant of a free Black person living in the US prior to the end of the 19th century.”

That vote was contentious and emotional.

Reparations vote

The task force voted 6-3 Saturday to approve the recommendations for financial compensation. The three members who voted against it did so after changes they wanted

failed.

Moore on Saturday made several attempts to further codify the lineage-based definition in the task force’s final reports by adding a new chapter. That failed to garner majority support from the rest of the task force.

When Moore requested a section of the final report move from one part to another, members of the Department of Justice staff who put the report together balked, saying the panel would have to rescind its prior vote and convene an additional meeting to redo the report’s structure.

Monica Montgomery Steppe, a task force member and San Diego City councilmember, disagreed with them. But a majority of the task force went on to approve the final documents as presented with slight tweaks.

Speaking on Sunday in Twitter Spaces, Moore said that meeting “procedure can be weaponized.” She declined to say more publicly about issues from the meeting. “Stay tuned for the ‘tell-all’ book, though,” she joked.

The task force tentatively set its final meeting for June 29 in Sacramento. Members said they plan to hand the documents to members of Legislature.

Walter Forster, a Los Angeles resident, holds a sign that advocates for financial compensation during the California Reparations Task Force meeting that was held at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2022. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters

that’s not a bad thing

Experts

(Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash)

Salvation Army Community Resource Fair is May 17 in San Bernardino

REDLANDS CALIF. The Salvation Army San Bernardino Corps’ “Fight for Good” features a Community Resource Fair at Meadowbrook Park, 250 N. Sierra Way on Wednesday, May 17th, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Local community service organizations will be on hand offering a wide variety of services to provide support for San Bernardino families in need of help.

This is one of the local events celebrating National Salvation Army Week, running from May 15th to the 21st. The Salvation Army Corps of San Bernardino will join the National Salvation Army in a week-long series of events to pray for the hungry, homeless and hopeless and demonstrate the good works it does. This event takes place all over the nation.

“The Resource Fair brings together many of our partners who offer services like ours as well as services we are not able to provide and gives people who need help a convenient way to get the help they need,” said San Bernardino Corps chief executive Major Braga.

These are the community service organizations confirmed as of this writing; more are still pending. Naomi Goforth, Director of Programs, said, “We will have between 20 and 30 organizations on hand from throughout the community.”

1. Community Action Partnership

2. Cal State San Bernardino Project Rebound

3. Telecare CORE/FACT

4. San Bernardino County Workforce Development

5. SAC Health

6. SAC Dental

7. San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, COVID Vaccinations

8. San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, HIV/Hep C Screenings

9. SoCal United Way 211+

10. Option House

11. Inland Empire Health Plan

12. Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Mobile Medical Clinicians

13. Inland Behavioral and Health Services

14. Assemblymember James Ramos

15. Dignity Health, St Bernardine’s Medical Center

16. Goodwill SoCal Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program

17. Veterans Administration Loma Linda Homeless Outreach

18. San Bernardino County Child Support Services Office

19. Open Door/Family Assistance Program

20. Borrego Health

21. Inland County Legal Services

In 1954, the first National Salvation Army Week was declared by the United States Congress and proclaimed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a reminder for Americans to give freely. This

year's San Bernardino Corps event showcases the services it offers to the hungry, homeless and hopeless in the community, providing facility tours and live streaming of Salvation Army programs in action, with testimonials from people that have been helped.

The Resource Fair is a special added attraction that highlights the array of service providers that are available to provide help above and beyond what The Salvation Army itself can provide. The greater San Bernardino area is fortunate to have such a robust network.

By itself, the Salvation Army provides emergency services including daily meals, food baskets; lodging for homeless or displaced families; after-school programs for youth, summer camping programs, clothing, showers, and furniture; assistance with rent or mortgage and transportation; and rehabilitation for homeless families when funds are available.

“For Salvation Army Week we are asking our friends to help our neighbors in need and commit to a $5 per month or more if you can giving program that adds up to a considerable level of taxdeductible support for Salvation Army programs that help the hungry, homeless and hopeless,” said Major Braga. Donations can be made online at SBCSVA.org or by calling 1-(800)-SAL-ARMY, specifying that you want your donation applied to San Bernardino Corps in California.

For more information call (909) 792-6868.

HELP WANTED

Then suddenly, after all the warnings, a day will dawn that will start like any other day, but before that day is over, you will be face to face with God. Are you ready for that day? For, in one day, in one hour, God’s judgment will fall. [Revelation 18:8, 10, 17, 19].

For many people this will be the saddest day ever because they did not prepare themselves for this day. They did not repent, were not baptized, and did not accept Jesus as their personal savior. They will be likened to the “Five Foolish Virgins” of [Matthew 25:1-10] that failed to prepare their lamps before the Bridegroom came and missed out on the wedding feast. What Tragedy! The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night. [Revelation 14:11].

Listen, as God through Pilate gave Israel one last chance before consigning the nation to perpetual judgment. [John 19:816] He is giving you one last chance to repent. The parable’s lesson in [Luke chapter 13] is that mercy and grace are available to all who will come to Christ IN TIME. Because eventually time runs out. [Hebrews 9:27]. This message is an urgent call for you to use the second chance wisely.

Understand that it is only the forbearance of God that stands between you and eternal damnation. You are living on borrowed time. Opportunity to repent does not last forever. For He said to the vineyard-keeper, “Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! [Luke 13:7].

I want you to know that in life

there are windows of opportunity. Once those windows close, opportunities are gone. God’s patience won’t last forever. The window is closing. The opportunity is passing. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thought, let him return to the Lord and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:6-7].

Consider today with some urgency your eternal life.

Tomorrow is not promised. Learn the lesson of the Ten Virgins

[Matthew 25:1]. The Foolish were not in the bridal procession and they hadn’t been in the closed-door celebration. Why will you die? Repent and live!

Give, your life to Jesus NOW!

Don’t delay! For I declares says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of anyone.

[Ezekiel 18:30].

I tell you; your whole life is about to change. Get under the Almighty wings for cover. For NOW, is the Appointed Time. NOW is the Day of Salvation!

[2 Corinthians 6:2]. Do not wait!

Do not postpone the matter any longer! “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near” [Isaiah 55:6].

Repent and Live! The clock is ticking down from God's TwoMinute Warning and the window to change is closing. Don’t be another Belshazzar who waited until it was too late! Only if he’d repented, God probably would have spared his life. God spared the King of Nineveh, which had 40 days till destruction; God spared King Manasseh who had done the most terrible things of anyone in the Old Testament! But Belshazzar went on in arrogance with his charade and died that night. [Daniel 5:1-30]. Don’t you do it! Repent and live! For the judgment of God is serious business.

Resurrection Comes

Traci Blackmon

During this post-Resurrection season of the Christian Faith, it is helpful to remember there were two sets of witnesses recorded at the empty tomb. One set of witnesses were the women, of course, who make their way in that darkness of early morn intent on ensuring Jesus has a proper burial. The other witnesses were the guards stationed outside of the tomb to control any possible shenanigans from those resisters opposed to the execution.

Both sets of witnesses’ initial reactions were the same. The women feared the body of Jesus had been taken away and that they wouldn’t be able to complete their tasks. The guards feared what might happen to them when news spread that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. They both left the tomb with a story to tell. The women shared their news with the disciples and all who would listen. But the guards shared their news with the priest and were given a large sum of money to fabricate alternative facts and promote them through the region. And their lies were believed by many.

This story came to mind for me when I read of the $787.5m that Fox News will pay to settle the defamation lawsuit with Dominion. While the amount certainly is substantial to most, it’s a small price for a conglomerate that yields more than a billion dollars annually in revenue based on the intoxication of the lies they tell. The cost of having the truth disclosed would be a much higher price for them to pay. Those who believe in stolen elections, alternative facts, and attempts to ruin our country

would have to come to terms with the lies they’ve been fed.

The revenue gleaned from those with vested interest in fake news and frenzied resistance to non-existent threats is at stake. The exposure of a trial is the higher price tag and so Fox News took the low way out, because truth is more costly.

While the women saw the empty tomb, Matthew’s Gospel records that the guards saw the angel roll the stone away. The text says the soldiers were so afraid that they became like dead men. Yet, they could not un-see what had been seen. Even though they spread a lie, and the lie is still widely circulated today, the guards knew the truth. And those that paid them to lie knew the truth. And all who would listen to the women knew the truth. And no amount of money those guards received could keep the truth from rising. In spite of Dominion’s settlement with Fox News, enough pretrial testimony was shared to make clear the depth of lies told to interfere with our electoral process. Enough information was shared to warrant a deeper look into where the truth may be buried. And if we are courageous enough to make a trip to that place, we may too discover an empty tomb, and be reminded: “Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again.”[1]

[1] William Cullen Bryant, “The Battlefield,” 1878.

Traci Blackmon is Associate General Minister, Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ.

Lead Analyst, Data for GXO Logistics Corporate Services, Inc. at its facilities located in Bloomington, CA. Duties: Coordinating the development of appropriate operational analytics necessary to ensure both customer alignment and contractual obligations involving report creation, data validation, manipulation of the data, merging databases, writing queries, building reports on the dashboards and automation. Salary $130,000/Year. Apply at https://jobs.gxo.com/job/, Req. 337960. Must have legal authority to work in the US. EOE. Published in The San Bernardino American News May 11, 2023.

Mother & Daughter & Daddy Too! Fashion Show & Brunch

Scan the QR code on the flyer to pay a $25 donation, there will be

This is Our Official Soft Launch Fundraiser to Invite girls ages 5 - 21yrs old to Sign-Up to participate in Our Upcoming Pageant schedule for December 16, 2023 First rehearsal is scheduled for late July more information will be available at the Brunch!

We're asking everyone in attendance for the "Summer Fun" of it all to wear our theme colors of royal blue & white. We look forward to You joining Us and Support Our Mother-Daughter

& Father-Daughter duos to Strut the Runway

Our main concern for the Pageant are the girls. We do what's best for the Pageant Contestants so that they will shine and have a sense of community service and opportunity to form a sisterhood that may last in a Lifetime. Thank you for Supporting the Miss Black Awareness Scholarship Pageant.

www. missblackawarenesspageant. webs.com

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2…”

“The Resource Fair brings together many of our partners who offer services like ours as well as services we are not able to provide and gives people who need help a convenient way to get the help they need,” said Major Braga.

Are We Out of the Woods With COVID?

By Peter White

Omicron variants are killing 200-300 people a day but population immunity in the U.S. is higher and more stable than a year ago.

Breaking Down Barriers to Care: Behavioral Health Goes Digital

By Dr. Donald Tavakoli, national medical director for behavioral health at UnitedHealthcare

Anxiety affects nearly 30% of people at some point in their lives and often goes hand in hand with depression, which affects about 16 million American adults a year. To add insult to injury, studies show that 4 in 10 U.S. adults who needed mental health treatment in the last 12 months did not get it.

Breaking Down Barriers to Care: Behavioral Health Goes Digital...continued

coaching, rather than treatment?

Tip #2: Speak with Your Primary Care Physician

there is good evidence that your whole-body benefits from mental well-being.

The Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco says the number of new COVID-19 cases is decreasing, wastewater infectiousness is relatively low and hospitalizations are going down.

“The state of COVID, at least as far as I can tell, feels reasonably mild compared to what we’ve seen in the past 3 years, and remarkably stable,” says Dr. Robert Wachter.

Wachter briefed reporters on an Ethnic Media Services conference call last week.

He said the biggest surprise about new variants driving the pandemic in the last 18 months has been the relative lack of surprises.

“We are still on the same Greek letter that we were since December 2020,” Wachter said, referring to the Omicron variant whose name derives from the Greek alphabet.

Since March, the World Health Organization has been monitoring the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, aka

“Arcturus.” The variant has a higher transmissibility than previous ones but doesn’t appear to be more dangerous. The new strain accounts for about 10% of COVID-19 cases worldwide. People who get it tend to have a fever and some get pink eye. Both symptoms don’t last very long.

“The last year or so really feels like new variants are a little scary and then they turn out not to be that big a deal. And so I think, if past is prologue, that’s likely to be what happens with this newest variant,” Wachter says.

Staying safe even as COVID-19 restrictions fade

Dr. William Schaffner, Professor and Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says that while Covid can still be deadly, the risk of severe infection has diminished.

Dr. William Schaffner, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at

As these numbers continue to climb, accompanied by a flood of demand for mental health care, access to virtual behavioral health care resources may help to address unmet patient need.

Why are so many people with anxiety and depression going untreated?

The reasons are complex and numerous, but stigma, cost, convenience and access to affordable resources are among some of the factors impacting Americans’ ability to get help for their concerns or illnesses. Furthermore, people are often unsure as to whether their feelings require treatment or if it’s situational and something that can be managed through other means, such as changes in lifestyle.

Are the answers in the Cloud?

Virtual care, also referred to as telehealth, may be part of the solution. These resources have steadily gained popularity over the last few years and continue to accelerate —with technological advancement attempting to meet demand. According to the FAIR Health monthly telehealth tracker, telehealth accounted for 5.5% of medical claims in the U.S. in December 2022, and mental health conditions accounted for

62.5% of diagnoses—the top overall diagnosis.

Virtual resources range from video chatting with your primary care physician to texting with a bot for your prescriptions or supplementing mental health care through easily downloadable apps. Virtual care has clear benefits—it’s designed to be convenient, affordable and allows users to get care where and when needed.

Not every situation calls for telehealth and digital solutions are still being studied for how they may fit into overall care planning for individuals, but virtual behavioral health services may play a role in helping to alleviate the mental health crisis.

Consider these three quick tips for evaluating what works best for you:

Tip #1: Establish Your Preferences. Take inventory of what may be of interest for you in terms of care. Not sure? That’s ok. Start with asking yourself the following questions.

Do you wish to be assessed by a licensed professional for your mental health?

Would you prefer in-person or virtual care?

Do you have preferred therapy approaches? Can the mental health professional prescribe medication, or do they collaborate with a psychiatrist who will see you if deemed appropriate?

Do you seek focused problem solving like personalized

Submission

When considering seeking help, your primary care physician (PCP) can be a great ally and guide—even if you want to explore virtual mental health options. Discuss with your PCP your pre-established goals so they can help point you in the right direction, but it’s also okay if you don’t know exactly what you need. Increasingly, PCPs are interconnected with virtual providers, giving you a holistic approach to your care.

Collaboration between primary care teams and mental health specialists has great value, and

BUILD SKILLS HELP OTHERS EARN MONEY

Tip #3: Speak with Your Insurance Provider

When speaking with a customer advocate, describe the care you’d like to receive and ask about available options. They can explain the services that are reimbursed and offer a list of therapists that are covered innetwork, helping you understand your choices and keep costs down.

Don’t wait to seek mental or behavioral support for yourself or those around you – resources are available.

Black women are more likely to be breadwinners- that’s not a bad thing...continued from page 4 anything, it makes sense.

Skipper’s research focuses on African American marriages. He regularly interviews couples with enduring unions and works to find out how they built their relationship and how they cope with common stressors.

“If you look around pretty much any college campus, a large percentage of African American students there are women,” he said.

In addition to this, Black men are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. This has longterm effects on Black men’s mental health and income.

Dianne M. Stewart, professor of religion and African American studies at Emory University, agrees. Stewart is the author of “Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage.”

“The numbers are not matching up for Black women to have partners within their social and economic range,” she said.

Skipper and Stewart also pointed to the transatlantic slave trade and centuries of institutional discrimination as reasons for these arrangements in marriages.

“Black women making more money and being in spaces that historically they may not have been able to be in, that helps strengthen the Black family and closes the racial wealth gap,” Skipper said.

Being the breadwinner only matters if you make it matter

In Skipper’s perspective, despite the financial role women play, marriage can be financially beneficial for the Black community. It’s a tool for getting out of poverty, he said, more than education or changing neighborhoods.

A study on reasons for divorce named financial problems as one of the top contributors to marital issues and divorce. And patriarchal structures within unions can contribute to this as well if a couple embraces the ideals that come with it, Stewart said.

“If this is what they’re embracing, they will notice the dissonance between the ideal and what can be pragmatically worked out,” Stewart said. “I would think this has to cause some sort of conflict, difficulty, or stress.”

One thing Skipper noticed in his research on Black marriages is their varying financial situations. He found that what matters for married couples is how money is managed in a relationship, not how much each person makes.

“I don’t think there really should be an issue here,” Skipper said. “Let’s remove those stereotypical role expectations and really view this as a partnership.”

Are We Out of the Woods With COVID?...continued

Vanderbilt University Medical Center still wears a mask in crowded places, as does Wachter.

“Many of our population have experienced COVID. Many people have been vaccinated, and of course many people have experienced both, and so our level of protection is very high, and these Omicron variants seem to be spreading, producing milder disease,” Schaffner says.

“The therapies, the testing, the treatments that we’ve gotten used to all work about as well as they have for the last 18 months. In some ways the biggest changes are political and sociological. It’s clear that any rules and restrictions are pretty much gone,” Wachter says.

Americans have largely stopped wearing masks or hung them on their car mirrors just in case they may need them.

Schaffner says we need to keep our guard up. Older and immunocompromised people, as well as the unvaccinated, are the COVID patients who end up in the hospital. Vulnerable people need to get vaccinated, boosted, and wear masks.

“It turns out that the quality of the mask and the fit is important,” says Schaffner. The N-95 mask fits securely around your nose and chin. In the early days of the pandemic they were hard to find and controversy about wearing masks created a lot of confusion. Masks are no longer mandated except in hospitals and other places where the risk of infection remains high and it remains high for certain people.

“The other early mantra – that

it’s really about protecting others and not you – it’s also wrong. It is about protecting others, but it certainly protects you, too.

It’s probabilistic. It lowers the chance of getting infected,” Schaffner says.

“If we’re not masking… I would say condoms prevent babies, masks prevent infectious disease. You’ll hear a lot of arguments about wearing both of them. But that doesn’t mean they don’t work,” says Dr. Ben Neuman, Chief Virologist of the Global Health Research Complex at Texas A&M University.

Arcturus variant likely not a game changer Neuman said the Arcturus variant is different enough from the current vaccine strains that it has the potential to evade them because “it’s about as different from Omicron as Omicron was different from Delta and so just like we saw the Omicron wave come through, there is at least the potential for that.”

Wachter doesn’t think the new variant will be a game-changer though. For one thing, enough people have immunity now so the possibility of a super-spreader event is unlikely.

“The vaccine and the booster still work reasonably well in about the same way that we have thought for the last 18 months or so.” Paxil still works reasonably well, your home test still works reasonably well, Wachter says.

“The risk of getting very sick is probably not any different now than it will be in 3 years… so we all have to come up with

strategies that allow us to live our lives as fully as we can while mitigating the risks in a way that’s practical and sustainable. And that’s different than two years ago, when we were all trying to get through it,” he says. Wachter and Schaffner told reporters that they get boosted regularly. They are waiting for new vaccines that will be available in a few months for flu, COVID-19, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

Long COVID Dr. Robert Wachter, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, discusses what medical professionals and researchers have learned about long covid and what they’re still working to understand.

For people who get re-infected, the danger of long COVID increases, especially for women. Wachter’s wife, a former reporter who now writes books, has long COVID and she is learning to live with it.

“A year ago she was not disabled in any way in terms of getting through her days. Certainly, many people have it worse than she does,” Wachter says. “But most days at about one or two in the afternoon, she will text me and say I’m hitting a wall. I need to take a nap. She never had to do that before.”

A little bit of brain fog is making her “a little less good than she was” but it’s a consolation to know what’s causing it, he says.

Those urgent emails from MetaMask and PayPal are phishing scams

Cristina Miranda

Consumer Education Specialist, FTC

Secretary Cardona in HuffPost: ‘Let’s Give You-- Our Teachers -- a Raise’

If you got an email that seems to be from MetaMask or PayPal, stop. They’re phishing scams. The MetaMask fake says your cryptocurrency wallet is blocked. And, if you don’t act fast, click a link, and update your wallet, they say your crypto will be lost. The phony PayPal message says BNC Billing cancelled your payment to Binance — and it gives you a phone number to reach PayPal… except that’s a scam, too. If you get one of the messages, delete it. But what then?

Most unexpected emails saying to act quickly, click a link, or call a number are phishing scams. They may look like they come from companies you know, but they’re from scammers who want you to think the message is real. That way, scammers think you’ll click into a fake website or call an actual scammer — all to solve a fake problem. If you click or call, the scammers will steal your financial or personal information, and that could lead to identity theft.

Here are examples of these fake phishing emails:

To spot and avoid a phishing scam:

Slow down. Ask yourself: Do I have an account with the company? Do I know whoever sent the email? If “no,” it’s a phishing attempt. If “yes,” still check it out. Contact the company using a number or website you know is real. And, if you own a cryptocurrency wallet and have a concern, contact the cryptocurrency exchange that holds your wallet.

Don’t click on any links. Links in unexpected texts or emails could lead to identity theft or let scammers install malware. Update your security software. This will protect your phone and computer from security threats, which could expose your personal or financial information to scammers.

If you get a phishing email, forward it to the AntiPhishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org. Then tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc. gov.

Twenty-five years ago, I was a newly minted college graduate brimming with excitement for the teaching profession. So excited that I spent $450 of my own savings on crayons, notebooks, and decorations for Room 160— my first classroom. To welcome my class of fourth graders, I designed a wall banner with a rocket ship that said, “let the journey begin.”

On that day, the journey began for me, too.

We, educators, live for those moments when our students feel a sense of belonging in our classrooms and start to believe in themselves. Those moments when a student discovers a love of writing, a knack for numbers, an ear for music, or an eye for art that they didn’t know they possessed. Those moments when students don’t just meet your highest expectations but surpass them.

Especially during National Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to thank you—America’s educators.

You build relationships with students and set a high bar for their growth. You believe in their potential, even when they don’t see it quite yet themselves. It’s not an exaggeration: you change lives.

As we celebrate you, know this: the Biden-Harris team and the Department of Education see you. We know appreciation can’t just be a box of donuts dropped off in your breakroom. You deserve action that shows America truly values you.

In this moment, you’re facing unprecedented challenges. A public education sector that lost nine percent of its jobs amid the pandemic has left you with growing workloads and less time to provide students with

individual attention that you know they need. Salaries are far below what most professionals with graduate degrees earn. Politicians who’ve never studied the science of learning are trying to tell you what you can teach and attempting to drive a wedge between you and families.

But this divisiveness does not reflect the thriving school communities I’ve seen across the country. And through it all, you’re focused on what matters most—your students.

Teaching is the profession that enables all other professions. And teachers deserve respect.

That’s why, as your Secretary of Education, I’m pushing for what I call a focus on “the ABCs of the teaching profession.” Agency. Better Working Conditions. Competitive Salary. That’s what President Biden and I are fighting for.

Agency means making sure you’re part of conversations that impact the work you do. Thriving school communities incorporate the voices of teachers along with students, families, and school leaders. Agency means treating you as professionals with pathways to advance in your career, and earn more, while still doing what you love—teaching.

Better working conditions means giving you the support you need to do your job effectively, including time for planning and collaboration with your peers. And it means finally moving past “one-and-done” professional development and prioritizing jobembedded learning, coaching, and mentoring.

Competitive salary means recognizing that no one pursues a career in education to get rich, but no teacher should qualify for your state welfare program.

In the last 25 years, wages for

college graduates have gone up by 28 percent while weekly wages for teachers have gone up by a measly 2 percent. That’s an increase of $29 per week for teachers, and a $445 increase for other professionals with college degrees. It can feel sometimes like a teacher tax. You deserve better.

The Biden-Harris team understands this. We’ve been putting our appreciation for you into action.

That’s why the President has secured a $1.9 billion increase in funding for schools serving low-income communities, which can help with teacher pay.

It’s also why the Department of Education is partnering with state and local education leaders to improve teacher salaries. And we’re seeing progress.

The Indianapolis Public Schools agreed to a combined six-percent increase in teacher pay. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill that increased base salaries, on average, by 20 percent for New Mexico’s teachers. And Governor Kay Ivey enacted a pay increase that boosts compensation for Alabama educators by at least four percent, with those with nine or more years of experience earning five to 21 percent more. We need more leaders taking bold actions like these.

And at the federal level, we’ve worked to make it more affordable to be a teacher by helping educators get student loan forgiveness. The BidenHarris team’s improvements to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have resulted in $42 billion in forgiveness for over 615,000 public servants—including educators. And our proposed income-driven repayment plan

would cut monthly payments for undergraduate borrowers in half and create faster pathways to forgiveness.

We’ve also secured $2.65 billion to grow and support a pipeline of educators that is diverse, talented, and effective.

We’re fighting for additional resources to train and hire teachers in hard-to-fill areas, including special education and multilingual education.

And we’re empowering teachers to focus on teaching by providing students with access to better mental health supports. In addition to all the vital work you do, you should not be expected to also serve as your schools’ counselors or psychologists; yet you understand that the wellbeing of your students directly impacts their learning.

I’m proud President Biden has secured unprecedented, bipartisan investments to build safe and healthy schools, including by training and hiring more school-based mental health professionals. As a result, the number of counselors in our schools is up 10 percent and the number of social workers has jumped 48 percent since prior to the pandemic.

As a first-year teacher, I was interviewed by a local reporter in my hometown. I told her “I was really blessed” to enter the teaching profession. I knew then what I know now: teaching is the best profession. My love for teaching is inseparable from my admiration and respect for the people drawn to this work.

So, let’s give you—our teachers—a raise. Let’s lift up your profession. And let’s show you the respect you deserve. Let that journey begin with renewed commitment today!