WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Last week, President Barack Obama said what many people who visited healthcare.gov to browse and buy affordable health insurance already knew: The website, tied so heavily to the success of the Affordable Care Act, wasn’t working properly.“And there’s no sugarcoating it,” said President Obama during a speech on the Affordable Care Act […]

  Robert L. Johnson announces a campaign to end payday lending and to encourage access to low interest rate borrowing alternatives. Initiative To Call On Minority Organizations, Elected Officials, and Consumer Groups To Support Low Interest Solutions For Consumers In Need Of Short Term And Emergency Borrowing   BETHESDA, MD Robert L. Johnson, founder and […]

  By Freddie Allen NNPA Washington Correspondent   ASHVILLE, N.C. (NNPA) – The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded $75 million in grants for a 5-year project called the American Healing Initiative. But in an unusual and unexpected move, the foundation assembled some of the grantees here recently to help heal the healers. The W.K. Kellogg […]

  By Julianne Malveaux   The Senate’s Gang of Eight have put together an 844-page monstrosity known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, legislation that President Obama says he “basically approves” of. The crafters of this essentially unreadable bill was put together by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Chuck […]

By Marc Morial NNPA Columnist“Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day…But other times, I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do…”Francine Wheeler, mother of 6-year-old Ben Wheeler, one of the 26 victims of the December 14 Sandy Hook tragedy. I recently took […]

  By Marian Wright Edelman The United States Senate’s failure to pass common sense gun safety measures – the Manchin-Toomey Amendment to expand background checks to keep guns away from underage or dangerous people, and amendments to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines designed only to kill as many human beings as possible — […]

  By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist   I am a certified news junkie, but even I had to step away from the oversaturated media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. Anyone who has covered crimes on a smaller scale than the twin explosions in Boston knows that investigators don’t have instant answers for everything […]

By Karanja A. Ajanaku Special to the NNPA News Service from The New Tri-State Defender   MEMPHIS – A billing for the evening read: “Mountaintop Speech Commemoration.” It was a summons to gather back at Mason Temple, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last oration – often simply called “The Mountaintop Speech” – […]

  By James Clingman   Surely you’ve heard the saying, “Money Talks.” But, have you ever wondered what is said about Black money? Obviously, understanding its power and the role it plays in this economy, money speaks loudly and clearly, and Black money speaks even louder. But what does it say? We know from past […]