Chiney Ogwumike signs multi-year extension with ESPN

ESPN today announced that Chiney Ogwumike has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company. Her deal is for four years.

Chiney Ogwumike, who made history by serving as a full-time analyst and a full-time professional athlete simultaneously, has expanded her role in recent years to include studio analysis for the NBA, WNBA and Women’s College Basketball. Ogwumike regularly appears on ESPN NBA Countdown, NBA Today, WNBA Countdown, NCAA Championship in The Studio as well as Get Up, First Take and SportsCenter. Ogwumike has also added hosting responsibilities on NBA Today during select days.

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and Stanford University Libraries Receive Grant from Mellon Foundation to Digitize The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. Collection

A selection of The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. collection, the largest Black Panther Party archive and one of the most researched collections at Stanford University Libraries, will be digitized and made accessible to people around the globe. Thanks to a generous $150,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a selection of the collection will be digitized by Stanford University Libraries in this pilot project and made available online through SearchWorks, the Libraries's catalog, and in the community research room at the Black Panther Party Museum, recently established in downtown Oakland, CA. Stanford University Libraries has housed the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Collection since Huey's widow Fredrika entrusted it to them in 1996.

As one of the most frequently consulted and critically important archival collections housed at Stanford University Libraries, the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. collection includes Dr. Newton's private papers, letters, writings, videos, and photos as well as the Party's political campaign ephemera, documents on how they ran their Survival Programs, and drafts of the Ten Point Program, among many others. The collection also includes a series of FBI surveillance documents obtained by the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation via the Freedom of Information Act.

"In the very early days of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, we identified multiple pathways toward our goal of making the accurate history and legacy of the Black Panther Party as widely available as possible," said Fredrika Newton, co-founder of the Foundation. "An essential part of this was taking the voluminous amount of archives Huey left and placing them where they can be accessed, studied and utilized by as many people as possible. We are grateful for the care and partnership that Stanford University has provided to us and to this significant collection."

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and Stanford University Libraries's archivists are working together to identify and prioritize the works to be digitized during this initial pilot, with the hopes of possibly digitizing the entire collection, and ensuring the preservation of these critical historical documents for future generations. This digitization project aligns with Stanford University Libraries's ongoing commitment to making its archival resources more accessible and to supporting research that advances our understanding of social justice and civil rights.

Roberto Trujillo, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections at Stanford states, "It is critically important to broaden discoverability and access for a continued critical reception of the Black Panther Party history."

In an environment where the teaching and discussion of racial history is being discouraged if not forbidden in classrooms across America, Stanford University Libraries are seeing an even larger interest in The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. collection. Students and scholars across the country continue to use it for research, making it one of the most heavily consulted collections at Stanford.

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation is dedicated to preserving and promoting the true legacy and ideals of the Black Panther Party. Since 1995, the Foundation has commissioned public art and created education tools to inspire and inform real social, economic and political change. The Foundation is the number one source for historical preservation and archival collections for people seeking the truth about the Black Panther Party. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was co-founded by Fredrika Newton and is based in Oakland, CA, the birthplace of the Black Panther Party. Follow on Instagram @hueypnewtonfoundation

Stanford University Libraries 
The Stanford University Libraries are a dynamic network of libraries, librarians, information technology specialists, and a vast collection of academic resources that are dedicated to supporting research, teaching, and learning at Stanford.  The Libraries hold over fifteen million items in various genres and formats, including e-resources, fifty subject specialists, twenty campus libraries, and a broad spectrum of services. The Libraries's archival collections include rare books as well as photographs and documents about the history of civil rights in the Mexican American,  African American and Asian American communities;  documentary photography of Bob Fitch and David Bacon; political papers of both local and state politicians from the recently acquired papers of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein to the Wilma Chan Papers; historical maps featured in the David Rumsey Map Collection; and the incredibly diverse history of Silicon Valley covered  in the  Silicon Valley Archives. These archival collections and more are available in the Libraries's Department of Special Collections and in the Stanford Digital Repository, which manages and makes available all scholarly resources to students, faculty and researchers.  Finding aids to the Libraries's archival collections are accessible in the Online Archive of California. The Libraries's physical and digital spaces are designed to promote freedom and discovery, making knowledge-seeking more meaningful, more personal, and more connected than ever.  The opportunities for contributing to and transforming scholarship are infinite at Stanford University Libraries.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

Listen to Charlamagne Tha God's interview with VP Kamala Harris

Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris sat down Tuesday with Charlamagne Tha God for an audio town hall in Detroit. Listen to their interview below:

Justice Department Secures $8M from Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation to Address Redlining in Black Communities in Birmingham, Alabama

The Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced today that Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (Fairway) has agreed to pay $8 million and a $1.9 million civil money penalty to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of lending discrimination by redlining predominantly Black neighborhoods in and around Birmingham, Alabama.

Redlining is an illegal practice by which lenders avoid providing credit services to individuals living in communities of color because of the race, color, or national origin of residents in those communities.

With this settlement, the Justice Department’s Combating Redlining Initiative surpassed $150 million in relief for communities of color nationwide that have experienced lending discrimination. This settlement marks the Justice Department’s 15th redlining settlement in three years. Under the Combating Redlining Initiative, the Department has secured a historic amount of relief that is expected to generate over $1 billion in investment in communities of color in places such as Houston; Memphis; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; and Birmingham.

“This settlement, and the over $150 million in relief the Justice Department has secured for communities across the country through our Combating Redlining Initiative, will help to ensure that future generations of Americans inherit a legacy of home ownership that they too often have been denied,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This case is a reminder that redlining is not a relic of the past, and the Justice Department will continue to work urgently to combat lending discrimination wherever it arises and to secure relief for the communities harmed by it.”

The Justice Department and CFPB allege that Fairway illegally redlined Black neighborhoods in Birmingham, including through its marketing and sales actions, and discouraged residents of those neighborhoods from applying for mortgage loans. The settlement announced today requires Fairway to provide $7 million for a loan subsidy program to offer affordable home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans in Birmingham’s majority-Black neighborhoods, invest an additional $1 million in programs to support that loan subsidy fund, and pay a $1.9 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

This case is the third redlining enforcement action brought jointly by the Justice Department and the CFPB under the initiative, highlighting the strong partnership between the agencies to root out and address lending discrimination.

“Birmingham lies at the heart of our nation’s civil rights struggle but is also a community that bears the legacy of discriminatory redlining and other exclusionary policies,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This settlement will provide Birmingham’s Black neighborhoods with the access to credit they have long been denied and increase opportunities for homeownership and generational wealth. This settlement makes clear our intent to uproot modern-day redlining in every corner of the country, including in the deep South. With more than $150 million in total relief secured in three short years, our Combating Redlining Initiative is generating real economic opportunity for communities of color while sending a strong message to mortgage lenders, no matter their business model, that discriminatory lending will not be tolerated in America.”

“The settlement reached with Fairway Mortgage is a win for communities of color here in Birmingham that have historically been denied access to vital economic resources,” said U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama. “Our office is committed to ensuring that these communities have equal access to housing and credit resources.”

“The CFPB and Justice Department are holding Fairway accountable for redlining Black neighborhoods,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Fairway’s unlawful redlining discouraged families from seeking loans for homes in Birmingham’s Black neighborhoods.”

Fairway is a non-depository mortgage company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2022, Fairway was the nation’s fifth-largest lender by origination volume and ninth-largest by application volume. Fairway operates in the Birmingham area under the trade name MortgageBanc.

The complaint describes how Fairway redlined majority-Black neighborhoods in the Birmingham Metropolitan Statistical Area (Birmingham MSA). During the period covered by the complaint, the Birmingham MSA included six counties in north central Alabama with a combined population of about 1.1 million. While Fairway claimed to serve the entire metropolitan area, it concentrated all its retail loan offices in majority-white areas, directed less than 3% of its direct mail advertising to consumers in majority-Black areas, and for years discouraged homeownership in majority-Black areas by generating loan applications at a rate far below its peer institutions.

The Justice Department and CFPB allege that Fairway violated the Fair Housing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Consumer Financial Protection Act. Specifically, the government alleges problematic conduct by Fairway including:

• Failing to address known signs of discrimination: Fairway’s own data showed that, since at least 2017, it was failing to serve majority-Black neighborhoods in the Birmingham area, but before October 2022, it took no meaningful actions to address redlining risk. Between 2018 and 2022, only 3.7% of Fairway’s applications were for properties in majority-Black areas, compared to 12.2% for Fairway’s peer lenders. In other words, Fairway’s peer lenders generated applications for properties in majority-Black areas at over three times the rate of Fairway. This disparity was even higher in neighborhoods with 80% or more Black residents, where Fairway made loans at less than one-eighth of the rate of its peer lenders. Despite these figures, Fairway failed to adopt any written plan for marketing or growth to address the concern.
• Redlining Black neighborhoods: From 2015 through 2022, Fairway operated three retail loan offices and three loan production desks within real estate offices in the Birmingham MSA, all of which were in majority-white areas. Fairway also relied on referrals from real estate professionals and its loan officers’ personal contacts to generate applications, and the vast majority of Fairway’s referral sources and referred consumers were located in majority-white areas. Fairway predominantly directed its marketing to majority-white areas and failed to train or incentivize its existing loan officers to better serve majority-Black areas. By taking these actions, Fairway discriminated against, and unlawfully discouraged mortgage loan applications for properties in, majority-Black neighborhoods.

The proposed consent order, which awaits approval by the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, would require Fairway to:

• Provide $7 million for a loan subsidy program: The order would require Fairway to offer home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans on a more affordable basis than otherwise available in majority-Black neighborhoods in the Birmingham MSA. The program may provide lower interest rates, down payment assistance, closing cost assistance, or payment of initial mortgage insurance premiums.
• Invest at least $1 million in redlined neighborhoods: Fairway would be required to open or acquire a new loan production office or full-service retail office in a majority-Black neighborhood in the Birmingham MSA. The company must also spend at least $500,000 on advertising and outreach, at least $250,000 on consumer financial education, and at least $250,000 on partnerships with one or more community-based or governmental organizations to serve the affected neighborhoods.
• Pay a $1.9 million penalty: The proposed order imposes a $1.9 million civil penalty against Fairway, which would be paid into the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund, also referred to as the victims’ relief fund.

Information about the Justice Department’s fair lending enforcement work can be found at www.justice.gov/fairhousing. Individuals may report lending discrimination by calling the Justice Department’s housing discrimination tip line at 1-833-591-0291 or submitting a report online.

Consumers can submit complaints about financial products and services by visiting the CFPB’s websiteor by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their company has violated federal consumer financial protection laws are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov. To learn more about reporting potential industry misconduct, visit the CFPB’s website

Justice Department to Monitor Compliance with Federal Voting Rights Laws in Portage County, Ohio

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in Portage County, Ohio, during the early voting period and on Election Day.

The Justice Department enforces the federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot. The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country. In addition, the department also deploys federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, where authorized by federal court order.

Voters in Portage County have raised concerns about intimidation resulting from the surveillance and the collection of personal information regarding voters, as well as threats concerning the electoral process. Attempted or actual intimidation, threats or coercion directed toward any person for voting and related activities or urging or aiding others in voting is prohibited by Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section, working with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, enforces the civil provisions of federal statutes that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Civil Rights Acts and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

Reports related to voter intimidation in Portage County and complaints about any other possible violations of federal voting rights laws can be submitted through the Civil Rights Division’s internet reporting portal at www.civilrights.justice.gov or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931. More information about voting and elections, including guidance documents and other resources, is available at www.justice.gov/voting. Learn more about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws at www.justice.gov/crt/voting-section.