Kamala Harris & Others Introduce Bill to Provide Monthly $2,000 Payments During the COVID-19 Crisis

U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Ed Markey (D-MA) on Friday introduced the Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act, legislation that provides a monthly $2,000 check to those struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. As rent comes due and bills continue to pile up, Americans desperately need assistance to financially survive this crisis.  

“The coronavirus pandemic has caused millions to struggle to pay the bills or feed their families,” said Senator Harris. “The CARES Act gave Americans an important one-time payment, but it’s clear that wasn’t nearly enough to meet the needs of this historic crisis. Bills will continue to come in every single month during the pandemic and so should help from government. The Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act will ensure families have the resources they need to make ends meet. I am eager to continue working with Senators Sanders and Markey as we push to pass this bill immediately.”

The Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act is endorsed by Economic Security Project Action, Humanity Forward, Community Change Action, High Ground Institute, LatinxVoice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Income Movement, People's Action, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Golden State Opportunity, MyPath, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Heartland Alliance, One Fair Wage, Caring Across Generations, End Child Poverty CA/The GRACE Institute, Coalition on Human Needs, Black to the Future Action Fund, ParentsTogether Action, RESULTS, and Forum for Youth Investment.

“As Congress considers the next relief package, $2000 monthly payments must be part of the equation,” said Natalie Foster, co-chair of Economic Security Project. “Alongside other important programs, cash payments give families an income floor so that no American is one missed paycheck away from living on the street. We’re glad that there’s growing support for direct payments both inside Congress and among the broader public.”

The Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act:  

• Provides up to $2,000 a month to every individual with an income below $120,000 throughout and for three months following the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Married couples who file jointly would receive $4,000.
  •   $2,000 per child up to three children
  •  Retroactive to March
  • Begins to phase out after $100,000

• Ensures that every U.S. resident receives a payment, regardless of whether or not they have filed a recent tax return or have a social security number.
  • Uses the data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income, (SSI), Medicare and housing assistance programs 

• Forbids debt collectors from seizing the rebate payments.

• Ensures the homeless and foster youth receive payments.

Text of the bill can be found here.

A one-pager of the bill can be found here.

Andre Harrell dead at 59

Andre Harrell, a veteran music executive best known as the founder of Uptown Records and who later went on to head Motown Records, has died. He was 59. The cause of death is as yet unclear.

A native of New York, Harrell started his career in music as an artist, one-half of the early rap duo Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, whose single “Genius Rap” was a minor hit in 1981. In 1983 Harrell teamed with Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records, and had one of his early experiences in the business working as a vice president and later GM of the label.

He left to start his own record company, Uptown Records, in 1986. Stylish, sophisticated and fashion-forward, the label played a key role in the development of the New Jack Swing style of R&B, courtesy of acts like Guy (featuring the hugely influential producer-performer Teddy Riley), Al B. Sure and Jodeci, as well as crossover hip-hop via Heavy D and the Boyz and Father MC. Harrell also signed Mary J. Blige in the late ’80s.

Harrell would later find a home for Uptown at MCA where he simultaneously developed multiple projects in film and television in the 1990s, including the movie and soundtrack “Strictly Business.” In 1995, he went on to run Motown Records as president and CEO for a brief period not long after the label’s acquisition by PolyGram.

[SOURCE: VARIETY]

Arrest made in death of Ahmaud Arbery

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Thursday night announced the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery following a storm of public outcry after video of Arbery's death was made public.

The father and son were both charged with murder and aggravated assault, GBI said in a statement. They will be booked into the Glynn County Jail, according to the bureau. GBI earlier Thursday asked for patience in its investigation, which began Wednesday.

Before GBI began its investigation into Arbery's death, the Glynn County Police Department contacted the bureau to “investigate allegations of threats against GCPD and individuals involved in the active investigation,” the bureau said in Thursday’s statement.

GBI added the investigation into Arbery’s death remains “active and ongoing.” The case is being investigated with District Attorney Tom Durden, who on Tuesday formally asked the bureau to investigate the death of Arbery.

Biden slams Ahmaud Arbery shooting as a 'grave injustice,' and demands investigation

Joe Biden, the apparent Democratic presidential nominee, on Thursday addressed the brutal attack of Ahmaud Arbery, black man in Georgia, who was chased and gunned down by two white men, saying the incident amounted to a lynching “before our very eyes” and demanding a “transparent investigation.”

Biden, in his first public comments about the shooting of Arbery, called the attack a “grave injustice that claimed a life” and “that resonates in so many ways across threads of our history into the present day.”

“By now many of us have seen that harrowing footage of Ahmaud Arbery out on a jog on a beautiful day in February in Florida, in Georgia, shot down in cold blood, essentially lynched before our very eyes, 2020 style,” Biden said during a virtual roundtable in Jacksonville, Fla., with local African-American lawmakers.

“This family and the country deserves justice and they deserve it now. They deserve a transparent investigation of this brutal murder. But our nation deserves it as well. We need to reckon with this, this goes on. These vicious acts call to mind the darkest chapters of our history,” Biden said.

Biden said the attack was part of a “rising pandemic of hate” and said he’d “work tirelessly” as president to put in place measures that would allow the U.S. be a nation in which “African American mothers and fathers should feel confident that their children are safe walking on the streets.”

[SOURCE: YAHOO]

LeBron James responds to Ahmaud Arbery killing

Lakers superstar, Lebron James who has not been shy about discussing social issues that affect the Black community took to Twitter on Wednesday to respond to the killing of an Ahmaud Arbery by two white men in Georgia.

We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes! Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!? No man fr ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! I’m sorry Ahmaud(Rest In Paradise) and my prayers and blessings sent to the..... pic.twitter.com/r1PNxs8Vgn

— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 6, 2020