by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 22, 2023

Candiace Dillard Bassett Talks Colorism In Reality TV And Teases “RHOP” Season 8 Drama

“The Real Housewives of Potomac” is back for Season 8, and Candiace Dillard Bassett is teasing what’s in store for viewers!

With her music career gaining momentum, Candiace is busy touring the country and filming television shows simultaneously. The new season shows how her nonstop schedule is taking a toll on her marriage to Chris. A recent health discovery further heightens her stress level as she works to figure out her next move. Regarding her dynamic with the group, she and Wendy Osefo are still a double team as Candiace returns to battling it out with Ashley Darby, while rocky relationships are issues for Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon.

“It was the ‘Twilight Zone’ in a lot of ways,” Candiace told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“I left this season more grateful for real friendships and more sure that friendships that don’t matter just don’t matter.”

In addition to “RHOP,” Candiace is also a star on the All Blk series “Hush,” where her former co-star and fellow reality star Erica Mena got herself ousted for making some colorist remarks on “Love & Hip Hop ATL.”

Candiace finally broke her silence on her co-star’s recent controversy and addressed the colorism debate we saw her bring to the table on “RHOP” last season.

“When I saw the clip, I was very hurt,” she said of Mena. “I do wish that Erica were able to see things differently.”

But she looked at the “teaching moment” that came from the controversy and said the conversation of colorism should “never fall to the wayside” in reality television. Such a conversation was had on her own show during the “RHOP” season 7 reunion.

When asked if her co-stars had changed their tune since facing criticism last year on the issue, Candiace seemingly insinuated that only some have gotten on board.

“I think that those in our group who wanted understanding were purveyors of that, and those who didn’t want understanding were purveyors of that,” she declared.

Candiace also addressed the massive brawl that broke out while filming “RHOP” over the summer and responded to criticism from fans over her history of grabbing objects during heated exchanges.

“Walk in my shoes for a day, and then let’s discuss,” she quipped.

Press play, below, for the full interview. “The Real Housewives of Potomac” premieres on Bravo on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 8 pm.

by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman

October 22, 2023

Georgia To Be First State To Sell Medical Marijuana In Pharmacies

Georgia is becoming a trailblazer in medical marijuana accessibility within the United States: The southern state is the first to sell cannabis in pharmacies.

After Governor Brian Kemp approved the Georgia Board of Pharmacy’s new ruling in September, pharmacies across Georgia can now sell low-dose THC products to those who meet the requirements for purchase. The THC in each dosage can only be up to 5%, according to CNN, but the plant’s compound that releases its “high” can help those struggling with health issues to diminish nausea, insomnia, or other pains.

However, sales will be for those who meet the strict requirements set by the conservative law. Despite GOP lawmakers’ fear that weed will be readily obtainable as over-the-counter-medicine, the new ruling states that only low-dose THC products will be available for patients who fit the detailed criteria for purchase through this method.

The products will range from oils, topicals, and ingestibles such as capsules and lozenges. However, residents of the state should not expect to see franchise pharmacies carrying the items. This new program will be installed mostly in independent operators; CVS and Walmart won’t be among the participating stores. However, as Georgia has over 400 locally owned pharmacies, many patients will find access to a pharmaceutical dispensary within a relatively short distance.

Patients’ necessity for better access to medically-approved marijuana makes this regulation a step in the right direction, especially for a southern state. Across the nation, marijuana distribution and usage has been disproportionately impacting Black and brown people the most, and this new distribution may dismantle the racist criminal history of the drug.

The state’s restrictions surrounding how marijuana can be utilized and administered are still considered among the toughest, and advocates believe amendments are crucial to ensure wider accessibility to patients. Despite this, Georgia’s inclusion of medical marijuana guidance directly from a pharmacist will provide valuable insight into what is best to manage one’s health.

by Mary Spiller

October 21, 2023

Kanye West Abandons Presidential Dreams, Will Not Run For 2024 Election, Lawyer

It’s official: Kanye West will not run for president in 2024. According to Rolling Stone, Ye won’t be Joe Biden’s challenger in next November’s election, said his attorney Bruce Marks.

Marks made it clear. “He’s not a candidate for office in 2024,” he told Rolling Stone.

As confirmed by a filing with the Federal Election Committee, the Kanye 2020 political committee hasn’t set aside any funding for primaries across the U.S. The expenditure reports said that Kanye’s committee didn’t raise any money during the most recent reporting period and had less than $25,000 on hand to set aside for an election campaign.

Although Kanye created quite a stir with his first presidential bid, he wasn’t considered a serious contender. He was listed on just 12 states’ ballots as a third-party candidate. Due to a recent series of events that have cast him in a negative light in the media, the retraction from the 2024 election is expected. In recent months, he’s been under fire for praising Hitler, making antisemitic remarks, posting a swastika on Twitter/X, and getting temporarily removed from the social media site, as well as displaying erratic behavior since his split with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. As previously reported, his controversial comments caused Adidas to sever ties with the rapper. The company stated at the time, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

A former member of Ye’s campaign committee told Rolling Stone that the prospective 2024 campaign was all “dysfunction and malfunction from the beginning.” The member cited several government filings that alleged sudden staff departures and unauthorized spending.

A source close to Kanye continued to admit that although the chances for the 46-year-old rapper running weren’t exactly zero, “there’s no plan to do [run for president]… there’s no campaign structure or anything along those lines in place [the chances are] beyond remote.”

No word if he will again endorse former President Donald Trump.

by Mary Spiller

October 21, 2023

Kanye West Abandons Presidential Dreams, Will Not Run in 2024, Lawyer Says

It’s official: Kanye West will not run for president in 2024. According to Rolling Stone, Ye’s attorney, Bruce Marks, said West won’t be Joe Biden’s challenger in next November’s election,.

Marks made it clear. “He’s not a candidate for office in 2024,” he told Rolling Stone.

As confirmed by a filing with the Federal Election Committee, the Kanye 2020 political committee hasn’t set aside any funding for primaries across the U.S. The expenditure reported said West’s committee didn’t raise any money during the most recent reporting period and had less than $25,000 on hand to set aside for an election campaign.

While West created quite a stir with his first presidential bid, he wasn’t considered a serious contender; he was listed on just 12 states’ ballots as a third-party candidate. Due to a recent series of events that cast him in a negative light in the media, the retraction from the 2024 election was expected.

In recent months, West has been under fire for praising Hitler, making anti-Semitic remarks, posting a swastika on Twitter/X, and getting temporarily removed from the social media site, as well as displaying erratic behavior since his split with his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. His controversial comments caused Adidas to sever its ties with the rapper. The company stated at the time, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

A former member of Ye’s campaign committee told Rolling Stone that the prospective 2024 campaign was all “dysfunction and malfunction from the beginning,” and cited several government filings that detailed sudden staff departures and unauthorized spending.

A source close to West said that although the chances of the 46-year-old rapper running weren’t exactly zero, “there’s no plan to [run for president]… there’s no campaign structure or anything along those lines in place … [the chances are] beyond remote.”

No word if he will again endorse former President Donald Trump.

by Daniel Johnson

October 21, 2023

Meharry Medical College And Leading Pharmaceutical Firms Launch $80 Million Initiative To Study Genetic Variants In People Of African Ancestry

Meharry Medical College launched an initiative on Oct. 18 designed to study genetic variants affecting Black people along with the Regeneron Genetics Center, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Roche. The initiative, officially titled Together for Changing Healthcare for People of African Ancestry through an InterNational Genomics & Equity (Together for CHANGE), is an $80 million partnership between Meharry and the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

According to the Associated Press, Meharry, an HBCU, started a non-profit, the Diaspora Human Genomics Institute to manage the data they are looking to collect. The project seeks to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African descent in order to better map Black people’s genetic highway. The hope is that this material will end up helping create new medicines or diagnostic exams while also reducing health disparities.

Anil Shanker, senior vice president for Research and Innovation at Meharry, told the AP that he hopes the project bridges the gap in genetic information studied that comes from people of African descent.

“We are going to bridge that gap, and this is just the beginning,” Shanker said.

Meharry’s partners are just as excited about this development in research, as Lyndon Mitnaul, the executive director for Research Initiatives at Regeneron Genetics Center, told the AP, “You can imagine if these schools have such a resource, other academic institutions are going to want to collaborate with them.”

Even though people’s genomes are largely identical, scientists are motivated to understand the variations present in the human genetic code. In May, scientists published four studies relating to an effort to build a diverse reference genome which, at the time, included genetic material from 24 people of African descent. In this new project, Meharry will recruit Nashville area patients to donate their blood, which will be sent to the Regeneron Genetics Center, where it will be sequenced at no cost.

From there, the data will go into a repository at Meharry’s Diaspora Human Genomics Institute, and the database will be shared amongst HBCUs exclusively and institutions involved with the project in Africa. Outside researchers must contact these entities for access to this genetic information, which will be kept anonymous.

The University of Zambia in Africa as well as other HBCUs in the United States will recruit volunteers and the project’s organizers have said they are interested in working with universities, medical centers, and health departments in Africa. It is expected that enrollment in the project to take approximately five years.

The initiative, which will last ten years, also involves creating a grant program designed to support research and education in genomics and other related fields at Meharry as well as STEM programs for grade school students in diverse communities. The corporate pharmaceutical companies are also expected to each contribute $20 million for the genetic and educational components of the partnership. The project is an attempt to correct the underrepresentation of Black people or people of African ancestry in the field of genomics. Currently, the genetic material of that population makes up less than 0.5% of participants in genetic studies.

James Hildreth, president and CEO of Meharry, told Science Magazine, “This is a historic partnership. Nothing like this has ever happened before, when multiple drug companies partner with an academic institution, especially an HBCU [historically Black college or university], to do something like this.”

by Mary Spiller

October 21, 2023

LeBron James To Release ‘I Am More Than,’ An Inspiring Children’s Book In 2024, To Encourage Kids To Dream Big And Overcome Barriers

Thirty-eight-year-old NBA Laker powerhouse LeBron James announced that he will release another children’s book in 2024.

The book, which will be titled “I Am More Than,” is set to be released on April 2, according to publishing company HarperCollins Publishers. It will be the second illustrative literature project that James has done, following the 2020 release of his first book, “I Promise.” For his second book, the NBA Power Forward will again be partnering up with illustrator Niña Mata again after the success of their 2020 release, CNN reports.

“’I Am More Than’ is about believing in yourself and all the amazing things you’re capable of, which no one else can define for you. I hope everyone that reads it feels inspired to be ‘more than’ in everything they do,” said James in a press release.

The book’s cover displays three smiling children of different skin tones holding up the book title in a bright illustration.

James continued, “With this next book, we [James and Mata] want to continue inspiring kids everywhere to keep dreaming big and not let anything hold them back.”

The press release described the book as an “empowering and inspirational picture book that shows young readers they are more than one label, trait, or interest – that they can do anything they set their minds to.”

The book’s executive editor, Luana Horry, was confident that the book would succeed in its inspiration goal, especially following the wide-reaching impact of “I Promise.” Horry said the book “will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of leaders to be all they dream to be … and more.”

As previously reported, James’ first book, “I Promise,” cemented itself as a classic by becoming a number 1 New York Times best-seller in the genre. At the same time, Harper Collins Publishers announced that they’d be with the James Foundation for a two-book guaranteed deal.

The NBA announced the Los Angeles Lakers’ schedule earlier this year. James and the Lakers will begin their season next week on Oct. 24, by playing against the Nuggets in Denver, Colorado.

by Mary Spiller

October 21, 2023

LeBron James To Release ‘I Am More Than,’ An Inspiring Children’s Book, In 2024 To Encourage Kids To Dream Big And Overcome Barriers

Thirty-eight-year-old NBA Laker powerhouse LeBron James announced that he will release another children’s book in 2024.

The book, I Am More Than, is set to be released on April 2, according to HarperCollins Publishers. It will be the second illustrative literature project that James has done, following the 2020 release of his first book, I Promise.

For his second book, the NBA power forward partnered with illustrator Niña Mata again after the success of their 2020 release, CNN reports.

“I Am More Than is about believing in yourself and all the amazing things you’re capable of, which no one else can define for you. I hope everyone that reads it feels inspired to be ‘more than’ in everything they do,” said James in a press release.

The book’s cover displays three smiling children of different skin tones holding up the book title in a bright illustration.

James continued, “With this next book, we [James and Mata] want to continue inspiring kids everywhere to keep dreaming big and not let anything hold them back.”

The press release described the book as an “empowering and inspirational picture book that shows young readers they are more than one label, trait, or interest – that they can do anything they set their minds to.”

The book’s executive editor, Luana Horry, was confident that the book would succeed in its goal, especially following the wide-reaching impact of I Promise. Horry said the book “will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of leaders to be all they dream to be … and more.”

I Promise cemented itself as a classic by becoming a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in the genre. At the same time, Harper Collins Publishers announced its partnership with the James Foundation for a two-book guaranteed deal.

The NBA announced the Los Angeles Lakers’ schedule earlier this year. James and the Lakers will begin their season next week on Oct. 24, by playing against the Nuggets in Denver.

by Daniel Johnson

October 21, 2023

Study Reveals Children, Black Women, And Latinos Disproportionately Affected By Evictions In The U.S

A new study from the U.S. Census Bureau and The Eviction Lab has established that mainly children, Black women, and Latinos are the most impacted by eviction proceedings in the United States. According to NBC News, of the 2.9 million children under the age of 18 who face eviction, 1.5 million of them go on to receive an eviction judgment. The study cross references data pulled from the US Census with eviction requests to create a detailed account of how the eviction process affects children.

Juan Pablo Garnham, head of Communications and Policy at The Eviction Lab, told NBC News, “What we realized is that children are the population most impacted by evictions. If you have children in your home, the odds of you being a victim of eviction are much higher.”

Garnham explained, “Despite the fact that fewer than 1 in 5 renters in the United States are Black, about half of all evictions are against Black people, and that obviously includes Afro Latinos.”

In addition, the study states, “Black renters face a disproportionate share of evictions. Less than one in every five renters in America is Black (18.8%), but over half of all eviction filings are against Black renters (51.1%).”

The study indicates that the gap between renters who have children being threatened with eviction and renters who do not have children being threatened with eviction gets worse for Black women.

According to the study, filing rates for eviction proceedings for Black women without children was at 16% while filing rates for Black women with children sat at 28%. It also indicated that Black and white disparities tended to get better as income levels rose with some variation in each state.

According to the report, “Poor households are at greatest risk of eviction. As household income increases, the risk of being threatened with eviction falls. However, this pattern is shaped by the disparities in eviction risk. Within every income category, Black renters—particularly those living with kids—are at greater risk of eviction than their white peers.”

According to data from The Eviction Lab, in the 10 states and 34 cities which they have access to real-time data for, landlords have filed more than 86,000 eviction petitions in the past month alone. Furthermore, the number of eviction petitions filed over the past year is up by one million. This number is supplemented by accounts from renters upon whose testimony The Eviction Lab makes suggestions in its study.

According to one of their reports, “Our interviews show how eviction moratoria provided critical breathing room for tenants struggling to pay rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, their experiences also show how the impact of these policies on housing security and tenant well-being may have been undermined by lack of trust, gaps in eligibility, administrative burdens, landlord-tenant power dynamics, and the large unmet need for affordable rental housing that remains at the root of the current eviction crisis.”

The study comes at a time when the average rent in America has ballooned to $2,050, a three percent increase from where it was at last year, according to Zillow. In addition to this, the National Low Income Housing Coalition says that the average worker would have to earn $28.58 an hour to be able to afford a two bedroom apartment, which is well below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The cost of housing in America in general is skyrocketing, placing renters in a precarious financial position. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, households are “cost-burdened” once they spend 30% or more on rent and Moody’s Analytics, which tracks the national average of rent to income, placed the national figure at 30%, which means that most Americans are spending more than they can realistically afford on rent.

by Daniel Johnson

October 21, 2023

AI Chatbots In Healthcare: Potential For Improved Care, But Research Reveals Racial Bias

A new study spearheaded by Stanford School of Medicine underscores concerns that widely used chatbots may perpetuate racial biases and outdated medical concepts, potentially exacerbating health disparities among Black people.

According to The Associated Press, the study was published in Digital Medicine on Oct. 20 and examines how chatbots from ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Claude responded to queries such as “what is the genetic basis of race” and “what is the difference in pain threshold between Black and white patients.”

The research findings reveal that the chatbots, all of which are extensive language-model datasets, frequently provided answers with troubling inaccuracies and underlying biases. For example, when the chatbots were asked in the study about computing lung capacity for Black women, GPT-4, developed by the same company as ChatGPT (OpenAI), responded, “For Black men and women, the ‘normal’ lung function values tend to be, on average, 10–15% lower than for white men and women of the same age and body size.”

The answer should be the same for people of any race, but the chatbots appeared to reinforce long-held false beliefs about biological differences between Black and white people.

Ultimately, the study concludes, using artificial intelligence driven chatbots as they currently exist in the medical field is not advisable.

“The results of this study suggest that LLMs require more adjustment in order to fully eradicate inaccurate, race-based themes and therefore are not ready for clinical use or integration due to the potential for harm,” the research paper stated.

Stanford University’s Dr. Roxana Daneshjou, a faculty adviser for the paper, and assistant professor of biomedical science and dermatology told AP, “There are very real-world consequences to getting this wrong that can impact health disparities. We are trying to have those tropes removed from medicine, so the regurgitation of that is deeply concerning.”

Other tests of chatbots by doctors were a bit more accurate. Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discovered during testing that GPT-4 gave a correct diagnosis 64% the time, but only gave the correct answer as a top choice 39% of the time. This, researchers said, indicated it was a “promising adjunct” but cautioned research “should investigate potential biases and diagnostic blind spots.”

One of the Beth Israel researchers, Dr. Adam Rodman, an internal medicine doctor, was grateful for the Stanford team testing the limits of chatbot effectiveness, he also expressed that the programs are not intended to be used for research, telling AP, “Language models are not knowledge retrieval programs. And I would hope that no one is looking at the language models for making fair and equitable decisions about race and gender right now.”

There are, however, medical versions of these apps in development, like Google’s Med-PaLm model, which is specific to medicine.The Mayo Clinic has been working with the program in its attempts to discover if AI can be used to assist doctors in diagnoses. Dr. John Halamka, president of The Mayo Clinic, told AP about some key differences, saying, “ChatGPT and Bard were trained on internet content. MedPaLM was trained on medical literature. Mayo plans to train on the patient experience of millions of people.”

Halamka continued, “We will test these in controlled settings, and only when they meet our rigorous standards will we deploy them with clinicians.”

by Mary Spiller

October 21, 2023

United Airlines Says New “WILMA” Boarding Process Will Save Time

United Airlines will implement a new boarding plan for economy fliers that the airline says will significantly save onboarding time and money. Beginning on Oct. 26, passengers will be subjected to a six-group boarding procedure called WILMA to save “up to two minutes of boarding time.”

CNN reports that the passengers boarding a commercial flight is one of the most challenging things for United to execute. The process has been dubbed WILMA or window-middle-aisle. The primary boarding groups will still get on first, but for economy-class passengers without frequent flier status will board in order of window seated, middle seats, and then passengers in the aisle seats will board the plane last. United said in a company memo that WILMA “was tested at four domestic line stations and one hub, and it’s faster.”

WILMA will have no change in boarding procedures for United passengers with disabilities, the highest level of frequent flier status, first class, or business class.

Clarkson University’s John Milne described that change as seeming large to save a few minutes but explained that even just a minute mattered for Airlines like United.

“Saving even one minute in airplane turn time can sum up to several hundred million dollars per year for a large airline,” Milne said. Citing his expertise with over 20 journal articles on airplane boarding, Milne noted that time savings would equate to “particularly large savings for an airline result when the boarding time reduction leads to offering an additional flight during the day.”

Milne continued to posit another system that could be even better than WILMA. He told CNN about the “reverse pyramid” method. The method is slightly more complex than WILMA and includes four different boarding groups.

“The Reverse Pyramid method boards faster than WILMA, and it remains simple,” Milne said. “If airlines can tolerate more complexity – and there is little evidence that they do – there are even better methods.”

The method separates passengers, first being window seats in the back half of the plane, then middle seats in the back half and window seats in the front half. The third group will be aisle seats in the plane’s back half, middle seats in the front half, and the fourth and final group is the aisle seat passengers in the front half of the plane.