Free Republic

Covid-19 has devastated small businesses nationwide, and New York’s entrepreneurs and landlords have been particularly hard hit. In response, Governor Andrew Cuomo has awarded millions of dollars to affected small businesses through the New York Forward Loan Fund. But to get these taxpayer-funded loans, it helps to be a minority-owned business, as designated by the state, because Cuomo’s office has announced that it will be “focusing on” Covid relief for minority- and women-owned firms. Relief was welcome news for those receiving grants, but small-business owners unable to obtain aid may feel like they have been shunned because of their race....

Advocate Aurora Health Care is accelerating its initiative for hiring diverse contractors on major construction projects and set a goal of 25% for a showcase $228 million campus in Mount Pleasant. The diversity program builds on goals Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care previously instituted for spending 15% of construction costs with contractors owned by minorities, women, veterans and other groups, said Daryl Hodnett, Advocate Aurora’s director of supplier diversity and inclusion. “This is an important part of how you help grow and build and develop underserved communities,” Hodnett said. “We’re helping make healthier communities economically — helping create jobs and economic...

When the most popular medical marijuana dispensary in Chicago begins selling recreational pot on New Year’s Day, it will operate like a busy restaurant. Dispensary 33 plans to take names from those in line and page customers by phone when they can get in. The North Side cannabis shop will take that unusual step due to the huge crowds expected when weed sales become legal under state law at 6 a.m. Jan. 1, 2020. The celebration will be similar to the unofficial pot holiday of April 20, or 4/20, when a Dispensary 33 street fest and special deals this year...

White, suburban men are reaping the benefits of public construction projects in the Syracuse area, despite the city's demographics, according to a new report. Advocacy groups are sounding the alarm, before a decision is made regarding the future of the Interstate-81 viaduct in Syracuse. The I-81 project is expected to be a massive undertaking with the potential to create lots of jobs for local residents. Andrew Croom, staff attorney with Legal Services of Central New York, which issued the report with the Urban Jobs Task Force, said they reviewed the payroll records for five construction projects in the Syracuse area,...

Illinois tollway directors agreed Thursday to spend up to $4 million to assist minority-, women- and veteran-owned construction companies that are seeking work with the agency. The funds will be distributed among seven entities including the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce, Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce and Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council. Training ranges from basics such as explaining the technicalities of bidding for a contract and obtaining financing to advanced classes in estimating the cost of a job or managing a business. The program will be evaluated based on the number of businesses served and successful bids, among other...

The Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA) has presented the Illinois Tollway with a Project of the Year Award for the $2.5 billion Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90) Rebuilding and Widening Project. The award was presented during the association’s 38th annual awards banquet in Chicago. This is the second HACIA Project of the Year Award the Tollway has received, the first being presented in 2015 for the initial phase of this same project. “This project demonstrates how the Illinois Tollway has helped contribute to the growth and development of Hispanic-owned firms in the Chicago area and across Northern Illinois,”...

In our episodic “national conversation about race,” perhaps it is time to take notice of Rothe Development Corporation of San Antonio, Texas, which, you could say, has been having its own conversation about race—in the federal courts. Rothe is a government contractor that has now brought two lawsuits challenging racial preferences in federal contracting, winning the first, which was filed in 1998 and decided in 2008, and hoping, of course, to win the second, which was filed in 2012 and could go to the Supreme Court while President Obama is in office. At stake, ultimately, is whether the government will...

The National Park Service is launching an initiative to make places and people of significance to the history of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual Americans part of the national narrative. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is convening a panel of 18 scholars next month that will be charged with exploring the LGBT movement’s story in areas such as law, religion, media, civil rights and the arts. The committee will identify relevant sites and its work will be used to evaluate them for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, designation as National Historic Landmarks, or consideration as national monuments, Park...

In the fall of 2008, the University of Texas enrolled 10,335 minority students, not including Asian-Americans. As far as Abigail Fisher was concerned, that was one too many. Fisher had made good grades in high school - a 3.59 average on a 4.0 scale - posted a score of 1180 on the SAT test and finished as number 82 in a graduating class of 674 at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land. She figured that was good enough. Then came those dreadful words: "We regret to inform you ..." Fisher was heartbroken. Her dad went to Texas, and...

The Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce will ink an agreement next week with state agencies and universities that could lead to as much as $100 billion in procurement opportunities for Texas Hispanic-owned businesses in the years ahead. The parties will sign the memorandum at an event at the Texas Capitol on June 24. The agreement calls for a number of state agencies and universities to earmark procurement work for Hispanic-owned businesses statewide. According to those involved, the total value of the procurements over the next several years could reach $100 billion. [Snip] State agencies participating in the...

Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions . "In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said. "It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up." Collins reported...

An open letter to Helen Donovan, editor of the Globe on its article "Gay principals soon take helm at both Newton high schools." Dear Helen: Under your supervision – or that of another of the homosexuality marketeers now running the Globe – we got this latest little goodie: "Jennifer Price, 34, is a doctoral student at Harvard's Graduate School of Education who lives in Newton with her spouse and their two young children. She takes over at Newton North High School in July." Now, Helen, you're not intentionally avoiding a franker use of English just so the precipitously declining...

Cannot link to Navy Times because the woosies can't stand criticism. Go to Click here to read story.

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News March 16, 2005 University of Colorado investigators are looking into a letter sent last summer by professor Ward Churchill to his late wife's mother. Rhonda Kelly, 41, the sister of Leah Kelly, Churchill's late wife, said she turned over the letter to CU lawyer Louise Romero, who is working on a university investigation being led by interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano. Initially expected to be done this week, DiStefano's report - which will help CU officials decide if there is cause to fire the tenured Churchill - has been pushed back to March 28. Churchill...

Have you heard about the latest California crusade? It's called Proposition 54, and it's based on the utopian ideal that race doesn't matter. The proposition stipulates that state and local officials can't collect or use information regarding someone's race, ethnicity, color or national origin for the purpose of public education, public contracting, public employment or other government operations. The mastermind behind Prop. 54 is a mild-mannered man by the name of Ward Connerly. He also happens to be African-American. But people are warned not to use that term in his presence. As Connerly sees it, race isn't real. Well, in...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America's country music scene isn't exactly known for its gay artists, but a colorful pack of wanna-be stars pulled out their best rustic twangs and wailing guitars on Thursday to try to change all that.Scores of country music hopefuls auditioned in New York for what is being billed as a television show to pick an openly gay country music star from about 50 contestants.The musicians -- most of whom wore jeans and spit-polished boots -- wailed through Willie Nelson songs, crooned like Lyle Lovett and belted out ballads like Garth Brooks.Livening up the day was The...

IBM Sponsors Gay Chamber of Commerce The nation's first National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce or NGLCC, said Thursday they will partner with IBM to launch a diversity development and procurement program to bring technology opportunities to GLBT-owned companies. The program, says NGLCC, was inspired by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, or NMSDC, a certifying body for minority owned businesses, which creates development and procurement opportunities with major corporations. "Since GLBT owned businesses do not qualify as minority businesses under NMSDC guidelines, tremendous financial opportunities are forfeited," said NGLCC's co-founder Chance Mitchell. IBM will be the founding corporate...

Mayor Daley on Wednesday opened the door to contract set-asides for businesses owned by gays and lesbians--provided they can prove they were frozen out of city contracts because of past discrimination. Daley kept the volatile issue alive, one day after Chicago's first openly gay alderman took the first step toward a gay agenda that will start by extending ethics rules to the live-in partners of gay and lesbian city employees and could end with contract set-asides. "You have to look at it. You have to have an open mind. There's nothing wrong with that," the mayor said. Daley said he...

<p>In the next month — and maybe as soon as within the next week — the Bush administration plans to submit to Congress its proposed reauthorization of the federal highway program, called TEA-21. The administration is now trying to decide whether the bill should include a requirement that the government's contractors and subcontractors be chosen not just on the basis of whether they are the low bidders, but also on the basis of race, ethnicity and sex. Yesterday, a number of leaders — including Linda Chavez, Clint Bolick, Ward Connerly and all four Republican appointees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — sent a letter to President Bush urging him not to include any such discrimination in his bill.</p>

NFL clubs to promote diversity program (Dec. 20, 2002) -- NFL clubs will implement a comprehensive program to promote diversity in their coaching and front office ranks based upon recommendations of the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity, the NFL announced. The Committee, appointed by NFL Commissioner Tagliabue on Oct. 31, reviewed its recommendations in a series of conference calls with owners on Dec. 19 and 20. The Committee's recommendations include: Early interview opportunities for playoff coaches. A commitment to interview minority head coaching candidates. Establishment of a coordinator/assistant head coach career data bank. Expanded training and development programs. Expanded internships....