By Dianne Anderson Alpha, Beta, and the highly contagious Delta COVID variants have parents worried about getting kids safely back to school as the virus spikes. Hospitals could again become overwhelmed, and it’s hard to tell what to expect in the weeks ahead as Delta rages on. As cases continue to swell, might the state ...

By Manny Otiko California Black Media California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says school districts across the state are prepared to open safely in the fall even as COVID-19 cases surge in California and around the country. The new spike in COVID-19 positive rates across the state are driven by infections involving the more ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Nat’l Correspondent For Walter Coleman, an independent contractor in Washington, D.C., Samantha Robles, a hairstylist in Bethesda, Maryland, and Robin Pruitt, a loan officer who also lives in Bethesda, the coronavirus pandemic not only resulted in close calls, but the financial fallout may lead to bankruptcy. Each says ...

By Dianne Anderson If Black students can benefit from their fair share of the latest COVID Relief funding, then some relief may be in store from the academically, social-emotionally barren year. Summer school programs are set to open in real time, and Long Beach educators hope to see students back in their traditional classrooms as ...

By Charlene Crowell A $349 billion program created to assist America’s small businesses was launched on April 3 to provide payroll, utilities, rent and more for eligible applicants screened by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). On April 16 – less than two weeks later — this national stimulus enacted in the throes of the ...

First-in-the-nation program will partner with local restaurants to prepare meals for older Californians Social Bridging Project will mobilize 1,000 callers to check in on older Californians Friendship Line California is expanding to serve older Californians statewide Governor Gavin Newsom today announced a series of initiatives to support vulnerable older Californians who are isolating at home during California’s stay ...

Decision based on progress toward preparing California’s hospitals and health care delivery system for a COVID-19 surge in patients – one of California’s six indicators to gradually modify state’s stay-at-home order State also announces plans to add at least an additional 80 testing sites, mainly in underserved communities; train up to 10,000 contact tracers Governor ...

By Dianne Anderson No one really imagined the coronavirus impact of recent weeks, but some local educators were prepared far ahead of the pandemic to give their students an academic edge. Some schools already had the right technology at their fingertips, and simply needed to put some last-minute moves into motion. Dwaine Radden Sr., CEO ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent AARP, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and over, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade association of the Black Press of America, held a briefing to help provide critical information for those most at-risk and impacted by the novel ...

Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held a conference call today with Governor Gavin Newsom to discuss a range of issues related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Black Community. “It was a productive conversation,” said CLBC Chair, Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. “Our primary concern is that African Americans in California contract and die of the ...