August 3, 2011
In the News: Comcast-NBCU Falls Short of Diversity Promise; Biracial Spider-Man Unveiled and More
- Comcast-NBCU Falls Short of Diversity Promise
When Comcast was angling to take over NBCU, the cable giant promised prominently to increase the profile of minorities at the company and launch eight independent cable networks, including four under African-American control.
But a Who’s Who of African American media figures and civil rights leaders are frustrated that Comcast doesn’t seem to be moving fast enough, if at all.
- Author Leslie Esdaile Banks Dies at 51
Leslie Esdaile Banks, the prolific author of a best-selling series of vampire novels, romance books, paranormal thrillers, and works of nonfiction, has died today at age 51. She had adrenal cancer.
- Biracial Spider-Man Unveiled
We have an African-American president, so why not an African-American Spider-Man, too?
Revealed in Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Fallout Issue 4, out Wednesday, the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe is a half-black, half-Hispanic teen named Miles Morales. He takes over the gig held by Peter Parker, who was killed in Ultimate Spider-Man Issue 160 in June.
- New HIV Cases Steady Despite Better Treatment
Despite years of great progress in treating AIDS, the number of new infections with the virus that causes it has remained stubbornly around 50,000 a year for a decade in the United States, according to new figures released on Wednesday by federal officials.
The American epidemic is still concentrated primarily in gay men, and is growing rapidly worse among young black gay men.