Category: National News

By  Charlene Crowell   On behalf of the nearly 9 million people who are now in default on their student loans, a coalition of advocates from consumer, civil rights, and education organizations is appealing to the federal Education Department to halt its plans to begin garnishing borrowers’ wages this month. Default status connotes borrowers are…

by Jamannie Morgan For 40 months, Rev. Robert Turner has diligently walked nearly 43 miles from Baltimore to the White House in Washington, D.C. He has walked in the rain, stayed the course when facing sleet and even trudged along in the snow. He has done it without sponsors, without security and certainly without pay….

BET.com A new bill would create a state commission to investigate hundreds of deaths at a segregated juvenile facility. More than a century after hundreds of Black boys died under state custody in Maryland, lawmakers are pushing to uncover what really happened. A new bill in the Maryland legislature would create a commission led by…

Bo Tefu and Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media   Black Democratic candidates walked away from this weekend’s state party convention with a mixed but telling set of results.   One race in particular delivered a headline-making surprise. The biggest jolt came in the contest for Superintendent of Public Instruction, where educator Nichelle Henderson outpaced…

By Alvin Buyinza | Word In Black WIB) – The Education Department office responsible for protecting the rights of marginalized and minority students in the nation’s K-12 public schools dismissed nearly every discrimination complaint it received last year, due to the Trump administration’s massive reduction in force, according to a new government watchdog report. At…

By Hannah Schoenbaum The Associated Press Federal authorities announced an investigation Feb. 13 into two immigration officers who appeared to have made untruthful statements under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month. It is among at least five shootings in which initial descriptions by the immigration officials were later contradicted by video evidence. Those…

By Hazel Trice Edney America’s freight rail network is more than an economic engine. It is a force that shapes daily life in the cities across America where people live, work, raise their families and breathe the air. From Chicago to Kansas City, from Memphis to Houston, New Orleans, and beyond, the flow of goods…

New York, NY — Robootology, the emerging field that examines how artificial intelligence and robotics can challenge systems of white supremacy, has received strong and sustained coverage across the Black press.  Outlets rooted in Black journalism immediately recognized the concept’s urgency and cultural relevance. Yet major white‑run technology publications including Wired, The Verge, TechCrunch, MIT…

By: Dr. Rev Ambrose Caroll Sr.  Black History Month is a time of reflection, and each year I think about the legacy we carry. It’s a legacy deeply tied to the land. Long before “environmentalism” was a common word, our communities knew how to live with the Earth. We learned to care for it, respect…

By Madeline de Figueiredo, Daily Yonder Major changes to a federal childcare grant program have forced student parents across the country to scramble for care in the middle of the academic year.  The disruption has been felt by rural student parents acutely, where childcare options are already limited, and losing access may push students to…

by Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer This year, a final rule from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) went into effect, defining postmarks as being applied when a mailpiece is processed. While the agency said this definition has been consistent for decades now, recent changes to transportation operations may mean mail is processed later than it’s…

by Kristen Hwang More than 31,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers remained on strike Monday as the open-ended walkout entered its fourth week, disrupting patient appointments, surgeries and treatments across California and Hawaii. Bargaining teams for Kaiser and workers resumed negotiations after weeks of stalemate, but no agreement appears imminent. This is the latest of…

Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌ ‌|‌ ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌ On Feb. 5, the California State Assembly voted to pass Assembly Joint Resolution 25 (AJR 25) – legislation focused on maintaining lowered health care costs authored by Assemblymembers Mia Bonta (D-Alameda) and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay).  The resolution urges the United States Congress and President Donald Trump to…

By Laura Turner-Essel, PhD As a mother of four children, I’ve done A LOT of school shopping. I don’t mean the autumn ritual of purchasing school supplies. I mean shopping for schools – pouring over promotional materials, combing through websites, asking friends and community members for referrals to their favorite schools, attending open houses and…

Kevin Harris and Richard McDaniel Donald Trump won 48% of Latino voters in 2024 – the best Republican showing in half a century. Fourteen months later, 70% disapprove of his performance as President. What changed? The price of groceries. Pew Research found 68% of Latinos say things are worse for them today than a year…

Toyin Ibrahim Adeyeke’s far-reaching documentary on Yoruba culture comes to public stations across the U.S. and streaming The film features interviews with the likes of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Afrobeat musician and activist Femi Kuti and former Presidentof the Federal Republic of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo. BOSTON (February 9, 2026) — Bigger Than Africa, Toyin Ibrahim…

By Sunita Sohrabji Influenza targets people at both ends of the generational spectrum: seniors and children. The US is experiencing a dramatic spike in influenza cases as a new, more contagious strain of the flu virus makes the rounds. In its latest report on flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 20 million…

By Birmingham Times  irs.gov   With the 2026 tax season officially underway, and while millions of Americans prepare to file, IRS Criminal Investigation Atlanta Field Office officials are urging taxpayers to stay vigilant against unscrupulous preparers who prey on unsuspecting filers. In fiscal year 2025, IRS-CI identified $4.5 billion in tax fraud, more than double…

By Black PR Wire (Black PR Wire) CHICAGO – The Obama Foundation opened applications for the 2026-2028 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service. Funded by a $100 million contribution from Airbnb CEO and Co-Founder Brian Chesky, the scholarship provides college students with demonstrated financial need a last-dollar scholarship to help alleviate the burden of college…

By Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media  On Jan. 30, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attended independent journalist Don Lemon’s federal court appearance at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse following his arrest in Los Angeles by federal authorities for conduct tied to his reporting on a protest nearly 2,000 miles away in…

By Beverly Moran/The Conversation More than 6 million Americans receive paper tax refund checks annually. Often, those refunds go to purchase groceries or pay the bills. But this year, those taxpayers may be surprised to learn that the paper check they’re waiting for no longer exists. That’s because of executive order 14247, which President Donald…