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Monday, August 24, 2020

University of Pittsburgh mandates anti-racism class for incoming freshman

The University of Pittsburgh will offer the new course, Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideology and Resistance in the fall

The University of Pittsburgh will require all incoming first-year students to complete a course on anti-Black racism.

Read More: Indiana teen accepted into 65 colleges chooses Howard University

Provost and senior vice chancellor Ann E. Cudd wrote in a letter to students on Monday that the course, Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideology, and Resistance, is intended to be an introduction to the Black experience. Students will be automatically enrolled for the class in the fall which will count towards one academic credit.

Roots, ideology, and resistance to anti-Black racism will be the central tenets of the course. Other themes that will be covered include pre-colonial African history, race, policing and mass incarceration, health disparities, and racial capitalism. There will be required reading in most weeks and a different scholar will present the discussions.

“This multidisciplinary course seeks to provide a broad overview of this rich and dynamic history. Built around the expertise of Pitt faculty and Pittsburgh area activists, this course will introduce students to the established tradition of scholarship focused on the Black experience and Black cultural expression,” the course overview read.

“It also seeks to examine the development, spread, and articulations of anti-Black racism in the United States and around the world. The course will grapple with three key areas of inquiry: the roots, ideology, and resistance to anti-Black racism.”

Cudd cited the recent social uprisings that have followed the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others as one of the motivators for this curriculum. The students at Pitt were another contributing factor.

George Floyd's Brother Attends Unveiling Of Memorial Portrait In Brooklyn
A mural painted by artist Kenny Altidor depicting George Floyd is unveiled on a sidewall of CTown Supermarket on July 13, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough New York City. George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis and his death has sparked a national reckoning about race and policing in the United States. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

“This summer, we have also spent considerable time reckoning with societal injustice in the form of police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism throughout society,” Cudd wrote. “We have heard from our Black students, as well as Black faculty and staff, that our campus is not the safe, inclusive and equitable place for all that we are committed to creating.”

Yolanda Covington-Ward, chair of the Department of Africana Studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, took the lead in helping to develop the course. The faculty and students involved wanted the course to be a reflection and response to anti-Black racism.

“We wanted to make sure that the course provided some historical context, while also looking at ideologies of race and contemporary struggles against anti-Black racism locally in Pittsburgh, nationally and globally as well,” Covington-Ward told PittWire.

“We also wanted to focus on the humanity of Black people in creating a course that emanates from their own perspectives, experiences and agency.”

The ultimate grade will be determined as satisfactory/non-credit, but for many of the students on campus, the course is long overdue. This summer, students, including medical students, sent a letter demanding more transparency with campus police. They also wanted a better system to report racial inequities.

“This is something that should already exist,” Morgan Ottley, president of Pitt’s Black Action Society, told The Pittsburgh Tribune–Review.

Ottley added that the work being done was not new by any means.

“Our presenting the demands is just a continuation of everything that’s led us to this point,” she said.

Margo Shear Fischgrund, a university spokeswoman, acknowledged that students spearheaded the decision to make the anti-racism course mandatory.

“Student leaders at Pitt absolutely played a role in the activism that resulted in the development of this course,” Shear Fischgrund told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “This course came out of conversations with Black student leaders on campus.”

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Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. reveals wife’s affair after he says couple was blackmailed

Becki Falwell’s former lover says he had a years-long affair with her and that her husband knew about it

Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned as president of Liberty University after a former business partner claimed he had a years-long affair with the evangelical’s leader’s wife. He also alleged that he had Falwell’s full blessing.

Read More: August Alsina says it was ‘necessary’ to admit ‘entanglement’ with Jada Pinkett Smith

In an interview published Monday, Granda confessed to Reuters that he had an affair with Becki Falwell. He claimed the extramarital relationship began in March 2012 when he was 20, after meeting the couple when he was a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The affair began that month and continued until 2018.

Becky Tilley, Jerry Falwell, affair, thegrio.com
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. participates in a town hall meeting on the opioid crisis as part of first lady Melania the first lady’s “Be Best” initiative at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort.

Granda said that not only did Falwell, 58, know about the affair but would often watch him have sex with his wife, 53.

“Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda told Reuters.

Granda added that he and Becki would hook up “multiple times per year” at hotels and the Falwell home in Virginia where the country’s largest Christian college, Liberty University, is based.

Falwell had been the school’s steward since his father’s death in 2007. He and Becki, referred to as the “first lady of Liberty,” oversaw the college, which has a strict moral policy including “sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are not permissible at Liberty University.”

In recent years, Falwell courted controversy due to his ringing endorsement of twice-divorced President Donald Trump. His wife served on Women for Trump, an advisory board for his re-election campaign.

Read More: Trump officially becomes Republican presidential nominee: ‘This is the most important election in the history of our country’

Donald Trump Delivers Commencement Address At Liberty University
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Jerry Falwell (R), President of Liberty University, pose for photos with members of gospel choir Lu Praise during a commencement at Liberty University May 13, 2017, in Lynchburg, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Falwell took an indefinite leave earlier this month after he posted a picture of himself on social media with his pants unzipped standing next to his wife’s assistant. He claimed it was a joke, but Granda offered evidence to Reuters that this was not the first time that Falwell was caught in a compromising position.

Granda, now 29, provided Reuters with emails, texts, and audio to corroborate his allegations. In one recording, the couple discusses Becki’s jealousy of Granda’s other partners with Granda on the phone as well.

“He’s like telling me every time he hooks up with people. Like I don’t have feelings or something,” she said.

 “You’re going to make her jealous,” Falwell replied.

 “I’m not trying to do that,” Granda insisted.

In another exchange, the banter was friendlier.

“Right now I am just missing you like crazy …. Have you had this effect on all of your lady friends?” Becki texted him in 2012.

Granda’s relationship with the evangelical power couple, who married in 1987, began to fray over a business deal. The Falwells sought to purchase a Miami hostel that Granda would run, but the sale fell apart. Granda told Falwell in a June 2012 text that, “Since you’re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route.”

Falwell preemptively told the Washington Examiner on Sunday that he and Tilley were the victims of “blackmail” due to the affair.

“While we tried to distance ourselves from him over time, he, unfortunately, became increasingly angry and aggressive,” Falwell told the Examiner. “Eventually, he began threatening to publicly reveal this secret relationship with Becki and to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies,” he wrote.

Falwell alleged that Granda has mental health issues and said his own mental health suffered as a result of the affair. He and Tillery have remained together and despite the private nature of the accusations Falwell felt it was necessary for him to make a statement.

“I’m just tired of it,” he said. “It’s just got to end.”

At first, it was reported that Falwell resigned as president of Liberty University but it’s now unclear whether or not he will be allowed to remain in his position. A final statement is expected on Tuesday.

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Detroit woman originally ruled dead found alive at funeral home

‘They were about to embalm her which is most frightening had she not had her eyes open.’

A Michigan woman declared dead early Sunday morning was found very much alive hours later at a funeral home. 

Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old special needs woman from Southfield, suffered a heart attack Sunday morning at her home. According to local ABC affiliate WXYZ, paramedics performed CPR and tried to revive her. But after 30 minutes, she was declared dead based on her “medical readings and condition,” the report states. 

“They said, ‘Ma’am, she’s gone,‘”  the woman’s mother told NBC affiliate WDIV said. “I told them, ‘Are you absolutely, 100% sure that she’s gone?’ They said, ‘Yes, ma’am, she’s gone.‘”

Beauchamp was transported to the James H. Cole Home for Funerals in Detroit, but after 90 minutes, staff discovered she was still alive. 

Read More: New documentary short tells the story of ‘Detroit’s Other Rosa Parks’

EMS was called and she was transported to a local hospital, where she is currently receiving treatment and on a ventilator, Detroit Free Press reports. 

“You could tell she was breathing,” Cole spokeswoman Jocelyn Allen said. “You can see a chest going up and down. They could see that.”

“They said, ‘Ma’am, your daughter is on her way to Sinai Grace Hospital. She is breathing. She is alive,’ ” Beauchamp’s mother said.

“I said, ‘What do you mean? What do you mean she’s breathing?’ She said, ‘Ma’am, she’s in the hospital,’ ” she added.

“I haven’t slept all night. I just don’t know what to do. My heart is so heavy,” Beauchamp’s mother said.

“They were about to embalm her which is most frightening had she not had her eyes open. They would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it,” family attorney Attorney Geoffrey Fieger told WXYZ. “It’s one of people’s worst nightmares to imagine having an ambulance called and instead, sending you off to a funeral home in a body bag.” 

Read More: Detroit woman who worked on ‘Slave Narratives’ dies at 106

The Southfield Fire Department released a statement saying they followed proper protocols. 

The city is “currently conducting a thorough internal investigation in addition to the Oakland County Medical Control Authority, which will be reporting their findings to the State of Michigan Bureau of EMS, Trauma, and Preparedness,” according to the statement. 

“How did this happen? Everyone wants to know this,” Southfield Fire Batallion Chief Chris Smith told NBC News.

James H. Cole Funeral Home said its “thoughts and prayers are with this young woman and her family.”

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Garcelle Beauvais to join ‘The Real’

Garcelle Beauvais will replace Tamera Mowry-Housley on the daytime talk show

Garcelle Beauvais will join the ladies on The Real to replace actress and longtime co-host Tamera Mowry-Housely who left the show earlier this year, Variety exclusively reported today.

Read More: Bun B supports Megan Thee Stallion after shooting incident, Boosie is staying out of it

The Spider-Man: Homecoming actress will join Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Adrienne Bailon on the daytime chat show, which started in 2013.

Mowry-Housely is the latest departure on The Real, which at once time had Tamar Braxton and Amanda Seales among its co-hosts. Both Braxton and Seales left under controversial circumstances.

Braxton accused other cast members, primarily Love, of sabotaging her though Love denied it. Seales said that she had to leave after a relatively short stint because she didn’t feel her voice was being heard.

The African American Film Critics Association's 11th Annual AAFCA Awards - Inside
Sterling K. Brown, Garcelle Beauvais, and Jamie Foxx pose for portrait at The African American Film Critics Association’s 11th Annual AAFCA Awards at Taglyan Cultural Complex on January 22, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images,)

“I have arrived because my contract is up at ‘The Real’ and I did not renew it because it doesn’t feel good to my soul to be at a place where I cannot speak to my people the way they need to be spoken to and where the people who are speaking to me in disparaging ways are not being handled,” Seales told Power and Hamilton star Brandon Victor Dixon during an Instagram Live earlier this year, NBC reported at the time.

The cast of The Real Season 6 (Fox Television stations)

Seales said that neither her voice nor that of her coworkers was heard the way they should be due to the white decisionmakers “at the top.”

Despite that, Beauvais joins season 7 of a show that has been groundbreaking as its the only nationally syndicated daytime TV show that has a roster of all women of color.

The Real has also won an Emmy and two NAACP Awards. According to NBC, the show’s 2 million YouTube followers are more than twice as much as The View, a show now in its 23rd season that has been airing since 1997.

Read More: TikTok sues Trump over his pending order to ban its app

Love gave a warm welcome to her new co-host on Instagram and Twitter.

In April, Beauvais became the first Black woman to be a part of the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills franchise. Season 7 of The Real starts on September 21.


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Coronavirus in Kenya: How it turned classrooms into chicken coops

Some Kenyan private schools have found new sources of income after they were forced to close.

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Netflix on YouTube

Dragon's Dogma | Official Trailer | Netflix
After losing his home to a dragon, Ethan sets out to hunt it down once and for all. A pawn appears by his side and serves to protect his life. But the dangers that lie in wait for Ethan are beyond their imaginations, for when you fight a monster... you just may become one too. Premieres September 17 only on Netflix. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Dragon's Dogma | Official Trailer | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix Resurrected as an Arisen, Ethan sets out to vanquish the Dragon that took his heart. But with every demon he battles, his humanity slips further away.


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NBA, NFL on the Jacob Blake shooting: ‘Why does this keep happening?’

LeBron James, the Milwaukee Bucks and NFL players Tyrann Mathieu and Aaron Rodgers decry the latest police shooting of Jacob Blake

Members of the sports world have reacted to the shooting of Jacob Blake and it’s safe to say they are disgusted, hurt, and angry. NBA and NFL players from LeBron James to Aaron Rodgers responded with outrage on social media today after Blake’s shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin sparked protests.

Read More: Jacob Blake’s father shares son’s condition after shooting, national guard deployed

“And y’all wonder why we say what we say about the Police!! Someone please tell me WTF is this???!!! Exactly another black man being targeted. This shit is so wrong and so sad!! Feel so sorry for him, his family and OUR PEOPLE!! We want JUSTICE,” James wrote.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who play at Fiserv Arena in Milwaukee which is about 45 minutes from Kenosha, issued a statement today.

In the statement, they said they are praying for Blake’s recovery. He remains hospitalized in intensive care at a Milwaukee hospital.

“We stand firmly against recoccuring issues of excessive use of force an immediate escalation when engaging the Black community, ” the statement read. “Our organization will continue to stand for all Black lives. “

The team referenced the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as lesser-known victims of police violence like Sylville Smith and Joel Acevedo who was killed in Milwaukee by an off-duty cop in June.

Though the Bucks and their star player Giannis Antetokounmpo are on the verge of clinching a second-round playoff spot Wednesday with a commanding 3-1 lead over the Orlando Magic, their coach Mike Budenholzer said the team was impacted by the latest killing of an unarmed Black man.

“It’s on our players’ minds, it’s on our coaches’ minds, it’s on our staff’s minds and our organization’s mind,” Budenholzer said according to ESPN.

“We have a playoff game that’s very important to us, but an incident like this is more important than anything we’re doing in Orlando. And I think there was a lot of talk before we came here that we need to continue this conversation. We need to be better as a country and have no more of these incidents and understand that Black lives matter.”

Bucks player George Hill didn’t think the team should have participated in the restart, even though they fought to wear social justice messages on their jerseys and ‘Black Lives Matter’ was prominently displayed on the courts at the NBA bubble at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.

Other NBA players who commented included Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell who said: “F THE GAMES AND PLAYOFFS!!! THIS IS SICK AND IS A REAL PROBLEM WE DEMAND JUSTICE! ITS CRAZY I DONT HAVE ANY WORDS BUT WTF MAN! THIS IS WHY WE DONT FEEL SAFE!!!!”

NFL players also chimed in, including Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, Green Bay quarterback Rodgers and New Orleans Saints players Michael Thomas and Cameron Jordan.

Read More: Wisconsin police shoot Black man several times from behind, sparking protests

Blakes’ family has retained attorney Benjamin Crump. His father updated his condition today, saying he was still alive.


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This 11-Year Old Has Helped 20,000 Homeless People By Giving Them “Blessing Bags”

jahkil_jackson_chicago_boy_giving_blessing_bags

Jahkil Jackson, an 11-year old boy from Chicago, has already helped over 20,000 homeless people in his city by giving away ‘Blessing Bags’ through his organization Project I Am. At the young age of 8, he started helping people through small ways and he is up for bigger goals as he grows older.

“Seeing people on the street made me really sad because I thought everybody had homes,” Jackson told Today.

Jackson was 5-years old when he first saw a homeless person. Since then, he asked his mother if they could buy houses for all homeless people. While it seemed to be a far-fetched idea for a young child, he made efforts to help them through the organization called Project I Am that he established when he was 8-years old.

Through the organization, he gave toiletries, food, and water stuffed in what he called ‘Blessing Bags’ to homeless people in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Virginia, and Idaho. His efforts are not limited nationally. He has also helped people internationally, including those orphans in Mbabane, Swaziland, volcano victims in Guatemala, and hurricane survivors in Florida, Houston, and Puerto Rico.

“When I’m giving the bags to people it makes me feel like I’m getting one step closer to demolishing the whole homeless thing… and it makes me happy to see the smiles on their faces,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who was named a Youth Ambassador for one of the world’s leading anti-poverty organizations Heartland Alliance International in 2016, has also been acknowledged by former President Barack Obama as one of the three most influential people of 2017.

“To know that someone like him knows my name, and supports what I do encourages me to keep moving forward every day,” he said in an interview with Forbes.


Basketball superstar LeBron James has also recognized him and helped promote Project I Am. Jackson, who loves basketball as a fan and a player, dreams of having his own NBA team one day.

Moreover, Jackson continues to help more less-fortunate people in any way he possibly can.

“There’s way more homeless people in the world that I could help, that I need to help.”

This article was originally published by BlackNews.com.



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Black-Owned Family-Style Restaurant in Alabama Has No Prices and Feeds Anyone Who Is Hungry

founders_drexell_honeybees_restaurant_alabama

The founders of Drexell & Honeybee’s, a Black-owned family-style restaurant in Brewton, Alabama, are gaining national attention because they serve meals with no prices. The donation-only restaurant does not use cash registers and also feeds everyone – including those who don’t have anything to pay.

Every lunchtime from Tuesday to Thursday, husband and wife team, Freddie and Lisa Thomas-McMillan, are busy serving hungry people with soul food and Southern dishes from their daily-changing menu such as fried chicken, cornbread, and collard greens.

Everyone who comes to the restaurant doesn’t have to worry about the payment because they can leave a handful of coins, a generous donation, or even just a thank-you note. The owners then use 100% of the donations for the operational costs of feeding the hungry so they don’t really profit from it.

Still, the McMillans continue serving people from all walks of life in exchange of the joy that they get from all of it. They say there’s real joy whenever people leave their restaurant “with a full stomach, a full heart, and the understanding that you are loved and worthy of love.”

For more information about Drexell & Honeybee’s and/or to donate online, visit DrexellAndHoneybees.com


This article was originally published by BlackBusiness.com.



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Kellyanne Conway’s daughter vows to seek emancipation amid WH departure

Claudia Conway took to Instagram Live to accuse her parents of abuse hours after her mother announced she’s leaving the Trump administration

One of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving and most loyal advisers is leaving the White House at the end of August. 

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, who was Trump’s campaign manager near the end of the 2016 campaign, says that she plans to focus on her family: “For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.” 

Kellyanne Conway Speaks To Reporters Outside The White House
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, speaks to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House on August 6, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Her husband, George Conway, also confirmed that he is taking a leave of absence from The Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump organization. Both Conways say they are planning to take a break from Twitter. 

In her statement, Kellyanne Conway said she and her husband “disagree about plenty, but we are united on what matters most: the kids.” She stated that the couple’s four children are, like many, embarking on a fully digital new school year. 

Read More: Kellyanne Conway’s anti-Trump teen daughter claims she’s being silenced

“As millions of parents nationwide know, kids doing school from home requires a level of attention and vigilance that is as unusual as these times.” 

The Conways’ 15-year-old daughter, Claudia Conway, has been gaining social media attention as she regularly tweets about her parents and their political affiliations. 

Just days before their announcements, Claudia Conway tweeted that she was seeking legal emancipation from her parents. 

Twitter users have shared their support for the teen. One user wrote, “Claudia Conway is more effective than every single sitting senator.” 

In her statement, Kellyanne Conway wrote that “the incredible men, women and children we’ve met along the way have reaffirmed my later-in-life experience that public service can be meaningful and consequential.”

“For all of its political differences and cultural cleavages,” she maintained, “this is a beautiful country filled with amazing people. The promise of America belongs to us all.” 

The soon-to-be-former counselor to the president is scheduled to speak this week at the Republican National Convention. It has not been confirmed if she will still do so. 

In an Instagram Live message that is circulating online, Claudia Conway is calling her parents resignation from their roles a “show.” The teenager claims that her mother and father were physically and verbally abusive toward her “my whole life.”

She said that she still plans to continue to seek emancipation.

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Forrester Total Economic Impact Study of DataRobot: 514% ROI and Payback within 3 Months

With AI proving to be the most transformative technology of our time and companies today need to pivot faster and drive near-term impact from their tech investments, many organizations are looking to drive higher ROI from AI as quickly as possible. From predicting customer churn to reducing fraud and avoiding supply chain disruptions, the possibilities are virtually limitless as to how AI can increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve profitability. But how can companies predict the expected value of an AI application or use case so they can justify new investments in the face of tight budgets and headcounts?

To help answer this question, DataRobot today announced the results of a new study: The Total Economic Impact (TEI) of DataRobot. Conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of DataRobot, the commissioned study reveals that organizations using DataRobot’s AI platform achieve a net present value (NPV) of $4 million and a 514% return on investment (ROI) with payback often within as short as 3 months.

Forrester interviewed four customers with experience using DataRobot in the retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors as the basis for the report to help them better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with using the platform. These customers were looking to overcome key challenges, such as forecasting demand and tackling fraud. 

Prior to using DataRobot, the customers relied on their data science teams to do the heavy lifting of data preparation, model development and training, and model deployment using traditional open-source technologies, such as the Python and R programming languages and their associated libraries and frameworks.

Some customers were also hindered by their use of legacy data analysis technologies that failed to keep pace with the advancements in AI and machine learning over the past decade. This created environments with lengthy AI project timelines and frequently missed deadlines where organizations often never deployed and operationalized the models they developed.

Forrester Consulting designed a composite organization based on the characteristics of the organizations interviewed. They then constructed a financial model representative of the interview finding, using the TEI methodology based on four fundamental elements: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Forrester’s TEI methodology serves to provide a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. 

The results were remarkable, with firms reporting significant value relative to cost.

  • Cost savings from reduced seasonal overhiring in retail: $500,000
  • Cost savings from reduced healthcare fraud: $10 million
  • Increased revenue from improved demand forecasting in manufacturing: $50 million – $200 million
  • Significant cost savings from avoidance of hiring a data science team 3x as large

Determining ROI of AI

Many of our customers ask for help in estimating the value of AI when it’s being used to augment an existing process where some predictive analytics are already in place. The methodology in this report, drawing on data from 4 real-world customer deployments of AI, should provide a useful framework for anyone looking to justify an AI investment.

Today’s business climate has never been so challenging, and organizations need agile trusted solutions that can steer intelligent decision-making in the face of market turbulence and continuously evolving customer needs. 

DataRobot’s end-to-end enterprise AI platform addresses these demands. By preparing data, automating the training of machine learning models, operationalizing AI, and continuously monitoring AI assets, DataRobot enables organizations to enhance prediction accuracy, accelerate time to insight, reduce risk, and increase revenue – all without requiring heavy investment in data science teams. 

Read the study to learn more.

Study
Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study of DataRobot
  Download now

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How to Create an Inviting Space for Yoga at Home

Whether you're a seasoned yogi or just getting started, here's all the gear you need to get your flow on.

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Tito Mboweni: South Africa's president lambasts minister over Zambia tweets

Tito Mboweni caused a diplomatic incident by telling Zambia's president "hell is on its way".

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Urban Specialists To Present Conversation On Police Reform In Atlanta

police reform

Some high-profile Black celebrities, athletes and activists will be among attendees at a conversation on advancing police reform in metro Atlanta.

Based on a news release, The  Heal America Tour: A Course Correction Conversation on Race, Citizenship & Humanity will occur August 26 at House of Hope in Decatur, Georgia. The event is being presented by Urban Specialists in partnership with Stand Together.

The conversation will be moderated by Bishop Omar Jahwar, CEO and founder of Urban Specialists, a nonprofit group focused on ending senseless violence and reviving urban culture. The talk comes as the nation is facing a critical moment regarding policing and race relations.

“The Atlanta community is in need of healing and solutions following the tragic acts of police violence in Georgia, Minneapolis, and Louisville. All sides must rally together around a defined call to action that examines racial injustices across our society and elevates viable solutions to improve police interactions in communities and beyond. We must stand united and seek justice, equality, and fruitful productivity from each one to another,” Jahwar stated in the release.

“Although we’ve come a long way, this great country is waiting and ready for continued change after centuries of injustice and brokenness for the marginalized. The Heal America Tour vows to be there every step of the way with real solutions that restore hope.”

Heal America has conducted events in Dallas and Minneapolis, drawing thousands tuning in. Now heading to Atlanta, the group aims to elevate solutions through live, on-stage conversations about police reform among victims of police violence, business leadership, law enforcement, public figures, and lawmakers.

Panelists are expected to include:  Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (Invited); T.I. Harris, Artist and Entrepreneur, Grand Hustle; Alice Marie Johnson, Author & Criminal Justice Reform Advocate; Deion Sanders, NFL Hall of Famer and Entrepreneur; Titus O’Neil, WWE Superstar; along with activists, police shooting survivors, and others.

Organizers hope some solutions or policies on police reform that surface from the livestream event help:

  • Transform police culture to prioritize transparency and accountability with the public
  • Remove structural barriers to good policing by changing bad incentives
  • Eliminate unnecessary criminalization so that law enforcement can focus resources on preventing and solving serious crime, rather than having to address societal problems they are not best suited for.

Evan Feinberg, senior vice president of Stand Together, publicly stated, “The recent tragic killings in Minnesota and Georgia bring home the importance of the work needed to address the injustices holding people back. Too many policies that disproportionately harm minority communities serve as unnecessary barriers. The Heal America event is about bringing a diverse group of people together to bridge divides and drive change on meaningful solutions to eliminate injustice by transforming policing policy. At the heart of this work is a commitment to equal rights and a belief in the inherent dignity of every person. Stand Together is proud to partner with Urban Specialists to elevate these solutions and drive change together.”

Register here for the livestream. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing, the event will only allow 50 individuals in person. The event is free and open to those who have registered and want to view online.



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Meet the Founders of Black-Owned Electric Scooter Sharing Company Verve Scooters

Kevin Thompson, Tykeem “Tak” Williams of Verve Scooters

The coronavirus pandemic has affected each one of us in ways that were not imaginable not even a year ago. Luckily, for some, the pandemic has provided opportunities to utilize technology to gain a distinct advantage. With current social distancing protocols in place, Verve Scooters offers transportation that’s both efficient and allows for social distancing.

Verve Scooters, which offers dockless electronic scooters, was created to help reduce traffic congestion and offer a more environmentally friendly method of transportation for its users.

The company is run by Kevin Thompson, CEO; Naim Statham, COO; and music executive Tykeem “Tak” Williams, co-founder. Former NBA champion Rasheed Wallace is an investor in the company. Verve Scooters is one of few Black-owned scooter companies in the United States and presently, the only Black-owned scooter company targeting inner cities to create pathways of success for people outside of suburban areas.

BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke to the founders of the company to discuss their recent venture and plans for Verve Scooters.

How did the Verve Scooters venture come to fruition and how has the business been since the coronavirus pandemic took over the country?

Verve Scooters came to fruition because we saw a need for an effective eco-friendly way of transportation for our community that was also affordable. With the safety risks of the coronavirus pandemic rapidly impacting every community, it gave Verve the continued motivation in furthering our efforts to gather the community and cultivate more job opportunities for the previously incarcerated and inner-city youth. 

As entrepreneurs, what was the path that led the two of you to become partners in this venture and how does your previous background help you?

We have always been interested in ways that would help support the families in our community. We see the need to put the strength and confidence back into the inner-city families. It was a no-brainer for us to partner with somebody who has so much experience in the music industry and also has aligned aspirations for our community. They only show the negativity in hip-hop, but they don’t show how this is a huge community. Also, it has many benefits, with one being a way to reach the youth.

What would you say would be the most important factor that will drive the success of Verve Scooters?

One of the driving forces for us to be successful business owners is the weight of being the first Black-owned mobile tech company. We have a passion for making change for the environment, which is why we take pride in being eco-friendly. We also want to help Black communities thrive, which is why we hire previously incarcerated people and people in our neighborhoods to provide alternative solutions for them. Verve Scooters is also COVID-friendly with a single person use.

If someone were to come to you for suggestions on how to be a successful business owner, what advice would you give that person?

The best advice we can give is that success is not a competition, it’s a journey. It’s important to do more than just make things a hustle. It’s essential to find your niche because nothing can exist without thought. You have to understand the industry and where it is in the current climate we live in, whether industries are oversaturated, and what demographics the industry serves. That also includes whether or not you may have to relocate to successfully develop this industry. We would also say to not be afraid to be the trailblazer into a new industry and to make sure to look for sustainability and build the infrastructure for generational wealth.

With Verve Scooters approaching the anniversary of its launch, what is in the future for the company, and are there any plans to branch off to other companies or ventures?

We plan to start an investment group for young minorities and returning citizens to get into the tech industry and become entrepreneurs. We hopefully plan for the future to be in Tyler Perry Studios, among many other communities. We also want to provide transportation and help provide infrastructure in underdeveloped countries in Africa.



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Looking for an Alternative to Stocks? Here Are the Benefits of Investing in Multifamily Real Estate

multifamily

In the midst of a pandemic and record unemployment, stocks are reaching a new all-time high. Understandably, many investors are concerned about a bubble and seeking stock alternatives. Real estate is a popular option, in particular, multifamily apartments. Multifamily is seen as recession resilient, evidenced by the high rent collection rates during the pandemic. 

 

Rent Payment Tracker Aug. 2020
Source: National Multifamily Housing Council

 

Apartments can be bought by large institutional investors, but more and more everyday professionals are buying apartments or investing through private investing groups. Multifamily intrigues investors because it’s a real, tangible asset. In addition, it provides various benefits to round out investing portfolios for stock and rental investors. 

Here are some of the top reasons to consider multifamily investing:

Rising Apartment Demand

The demand for rentals continues to increase. According to RentCafé, 34% of America’s general population are renters. And since 2010, the number of renters has increased two times faster than the number of homeowners, climbing by 9.1% and 4.3%, respectively. Many rent by choice to have greater flexibility in an uncertain environment. These renters want their apartments to feel like home, without the weight of a mortgage to limit their options.

Developers have responded by building the largest number of new apartments since the 1980s, but as much of 80% of the rentals are high-end luxury units. The vast majority of renters can not afford to rent these luxury units, creating an opportunity for more affordable apartments that reflect the designs tastes of today’s renter.  

Strong Returns on Multifamily

Cash flow and appreciation make a dynamic duo for multifamily returns. Cash flow is driven primarily by rental income, but also includes other income such as pet fees, late fees, utility fees, laundry, and parking. Investors can increase cash flow by improving the property or adding new revenue streams. In addition, they can lower expenses through smart upgrades and renegotiating contracts and services.  

Appreciation is the increase in value over time. Appreciation is driven by inflation, surrounding developments, or renovations to a property. Renovations force appreciation; this is common with flip projects, where someone remodels an outdated property to increase the value. Investors can do the same thing with apartments with greater scale, efficiency, and impact than renovating a single house. 

Apartment Valuations

Unlike residential properties, which are valued on what your neighbor fetched for his house, commercial real estate is valued as a business. The two metrics that determine value are net operating income (NOI) and cap rate. NOI measures profitability, while cap rate is the expected rate of return based on demand for an area.

NOI/Cap Rate = Value

When apartment investors increase the NOI, they are also increasing the overall value of the property.

As an example, let’s say a property has a net operating income of $100,000 and a cap rate of 6.5%.

NOI/Cap Rate = Value

$100,000/6.5% = Value

The value is $1,538,431. 

If an investor is able to add an additional $15,000 of income, it would boost the NOI to $115,000. While that may not seem significant, the real kicker is what it does to the valuation. 

NOI/Cap Rate = Value

$115,000/6.5% = Value

The value is $1,769,231. 

At a 6.5% cap rate, the initial value was $1,538,461. With the $15,000 increase to the NOI, the new value becomes $1,769,231. That $15K increase in the NOI added over $230,000 in value to the property! 

The strategy of buying multifamily properties to increase the value creates wealth-building opportunities, but protecting this newfound equity is where this asset really shines as a stock alternative.

Unrivaled Tax Benefits

Many wealthy people invest in commercial real estate as a stock alternative for tax advantages. Houses and buildings can be depreciated over time. Commercial buildings are also depreciated but have the option to use an accelerated schedule that can create a significant paper loss. These paper losses can be used against any profits from the actual rental income and can also offset other qualifying passive income gains in an investor’s portfolio. Savvy investors use this strategy to reduce or eliminate their tax liability. 

Capital gains taxes can eat up a significant portion of profits on any investment. However, with multifamily, you have two options to lock in gains without triggering capital gains taxes. The first is to refinance the property and pull out some of the new equity. This is a tax-free event. The second is to do a 1031 exchange, which allows investors to defer the capital gains indefinitely and roll the equity into the acquisition of a new property. 

A note on taxes: Some may criticize these tax benefits, but the government recognizes that it is awful at providing housing, so these incentives encourage private companies and investors to create, provide, and sustain housing. Real estate investors help drive the economy by hiring vendors, employees, buying materials, and providing Americans with a basic necessity. These tax breaks are incentives to encourage that contribution.  

Portfolio Diversification

Many financial advisers state that professionals should create a diversified portfolio with at least a small portion of their holdings in real estate. Multifamily helps investors diversify their portfolio and spreads the risk across multiple units. When factoring in future demand, cash flow, appreciation, value-add opportunities, and tax benefits, it’s easy to see why multifamily is a popular alternative investment. 

Multifamily has served as a wealth driver for generations. These assets can be a hedge against a looming downturn. If you are seeking alternatives to the stock market, it would be prudent to consider multifamily investing.



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Inside the Sprint to Map the Murder Hornet Genome

The arrival of the insect in the US sent scientists racing to unravel its DNA, looking for clues to where it came from and how to stop it from sticking around.

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How Animal Activists Exposed the Brutality of Factory Farming

In the second part of a Get WIRED series, we go inside one man's mission to bring to light one of factory farming's most notorious practices.

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Covid Hits Minorities Hardest, but Data Often Doesn't Show It

Many states are not collecting the race or ethnicity of coronavirus patients, which can make it harder to know the true impact on low-income communities.

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What to Know Before Sending Your Kids Back to School Online

Whether your children are going back to class in person or remotely—or some combination—we have tips to help them make the most of the experience.

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A Postal Slowdown Is Scary for Those Who Get Meds By Mail

Many seniors, veterans, and chronically ill people rely on the USPS for prescriptions and medical supplies. During Covid-19, they can’t just go to a drugstore.

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Sunday, August 23, 2020

How To Install Laravel PHP Framework with Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04

Laravel is the most popular, free, and open-source PHP framework in the world, known for its expressive and elegant syntax. Laravel is accessible, powerful, and offers some of the best web development tools required

The post How To Install Laravel PHP Framework with Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04 first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.



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10 Interesting and Useful Apps I Discovered in Snap Store

Snap Store is a graphical desktop application store with thousands of applications used by millions of people across 41 Linux distributions. In this guide, I will share with you 10 interesting and useful applications

The post 10 Interesting and Useful Apps I Discovered in Snap Store first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.



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Syringe technology could enable injection of concentrated biologic drugs

MIT researchers have developed a simple, low-cost technology to administer powerful drug formulations that are too viscous to be injected using conventional medical syringes.

The technology, which is described in a paper published today in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, makes it possible to inject high-concentration drugs and other therapies subcutaneously. It was developed as a solution for highly effective, and extremely concentrated, biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, which typically are diluted and injected intravenously.

“Where drug delivery and biologics are going, injectability is becoming a big bottleneck, preventing formulations that could treat diseases more easily,” says Kripa Varanasi, MIT professor of mechanical engineering. “Drug makers need to focus on what they do best, and formulate drugs, not be stuck by this problem of injectability.”

Leaders at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation brought the injectability problem to Varanasi after reading about his previous work on dispensing liquids, which has attracted the attention of industries ranging from aviation to makers of toothpaste. A main concern of the foundation, Varanasi says, was with providing high-concentration vaccines and biologic therapies to people in developing countries who could not travel from remote areas to a medical setting.

In the current pandemic, Varanasi adds, being able to stay home and subcutaneously self-administer medication to treat diseases such as cancer or auto-immune disorders is also important in developed countries such as the United States.

“Self-administration of drugs or vaccines can help democratize access to health care,” he says.

Varanasi and Vishnu Jayaprakash, a graduate student in MIT’s mechanical engineering department who is the first author on the paper, designed a system that would make subcutaneous injection of high-concentration drug formulations possible by reducing the required injection force, which exceeded what is possible with manual subcutaneous injection with a conventional syringe.

In their system, the viscous fluid to be injected is surrounded with a lubricating fluid, easing the fluid’s flow through the needle. With the lubricant, just one-seventh of the injection force was needed for the highest viscosity tested, effectively allowing subcutaneous injection of any of the more than 100 drugs otherwise considered too viscous to be administered in that way.

“We can enable injectability of these biologics,” Jayaprakash says. “Regardless of how viscous your drug is, you can inject it, and this is what made this approach very attractive to us.”

Biologic drugs include protein-based formulations and are harvested from living cells. They are used to treat a wide range of diseases and disorders, and can bind with specific tissues or immune cells as desired, provoking fewer unwanted reactions and bringing about particular immune responses that don’t occur with other drugs.

“You can tailor very specific proteins or molecules that bind to very specific receptors in the body,” says Jayaprakash. “They enable a degree of personalization, specificity, and immune response that just isn’t available with small-molecule drugs. That’s why, globally, people are pushing toward biologic drugs.”

Because of their high viscosities, administering the drugs subcutaneously has involved methods that have turned out to be impractical and expensive. Generally, the drugs are diluted and given intravenously, which requires a visit to a hospital or doctor’s office. Jet injectors, which shoot the drugs through the skin without a needle, are expensive and prone to contamination from backsplash. Injecting encapsulated drugs often results in their clogging the needle and additional complexity in drug manufacturing and release profiles. EpiPen-style syringes are also too expensive to be used widely.

To develop their technology, the MIT researchers began by defining theoretical parameters and testing them before designing their device. The device consists of a syringe with two barrels, one inside of the other, with the inner tube delivering the viscous drug fluid and the surrounding tube delivering a thin coating of lubricant to the drug as it enters the needle.

Because the lubricated fluid passes more easily through the needle, the viscous payload undergoes minimal shear stress. For this reason, Jayaprakash says, the system could also be useful for 3D bioprinting of tissues made of natural components and administering cell therapies, both cases where tissues and cells can be destroyed by shear damage.

Therapeutic gels — used in bone and join therapies, as well as for timed-release drug delivery, among other uses — could also be more easily administered using the syringe developed by the researchers.

“The technique works as a platform for all of these other applications,” Jayaprakash says.

Pramod Bonde, Yale School of Medicine associate professor of surgery, says the technique could greatly affect the field of medicine.

“This innovative technology has the potential to have a fundamental and wide-ranging impact on how drugs are delivered in the body,” Bonde says.

Whether the technology will make a difference as researchers hunt for Covid-19 vaccine possibilities and treatments is unclear. The researchers say, however that it widens the options as different drug formulations are considered.

“Once you have the story about the technology out there, the industry might say they could consider things that had previously been impossible,” Varanasi says.

With his previous work having spurred the creation of four companies, Varanasi says he and his team are hopeful this technology will also be commercialized.

“There should be no reason why this approach, given its simplicity, can’t help solve what we’ve heard from industry is an emerging problem,” he says. “The foundational work is done. Now it’s just applying it to different formulations.”



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