An Indiana staffing firm has just agreed to a substantial settlement to settle discrimination claims.

The Renhill staffing company will pay $585,000 in an age, race and retaliation discrimination suit. According to the suit, brought forth by the EEOC, “Renhill’s Fort Wayne office and a former office in Decatur violated federal law by failing to refer African-American applicants and applicants ages 40 and older for work assignments.” Furthermore, the EEOC claimed that employees of the firm were retaliated against when they complained about these practices.

In addition to the financial settlement, Renhill will be under a consent decree for the next three years, so that monitors can ensure that the company’s discriminatory practices are not continuing.

Popularity: 76% [?]

I remember complaining because I had student loans. But, I kept telling myself that it went towards a good cause. However, had I not gotten loans, I might not have been able to finish college.

Today, I read something that showed me how close to home this credit crunch is going to hit Americans.

It appears that some banks are now no longer offering student loans.

In the past fortnight, some banks, including HSBC, have pulled out of the $85 billion (£42 billion) a year US student loans market, fuelling anxiety that the turmoil that hit debt markets on Wall Street last summer is spilling over into the wider economy and making credit more difficult to secure for ordinary American households.

In the US, many undergraduates take out a federal guaranteed loan and top up their financial needs with a private loan from lenders such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citi-group. In the academic year 2005-06, $17 billion in private student loans was used to finance higher education.

Banks have become reluctant to offer private student loans because worsening credit conditions have meant that they cannot package up the loans and sell them on.

Although the brightest students who win places at America’s rich Ivy League universities will be affected less because of generous bursaries - which do not have to be repaid – less able students applying to other institutions are expected to face difficulty in securing private loans to fund their study. At one end of the field is Harvard University, with $34 billion of endowments, and at the other are many community colleges and low-tier universities with limited resources.

So, unless you kid’s in an Ivy League school, chance are that securing a loan is going to be a problem. Mark my words: this will be the next cause for a major credit crisis. When scarcity becomes an issue, you’ll see the vultures swoop in, offering student loans at bad rates. When things subside in the housing market, these bad loans will be sold to them and default rates will skyrocket.

Why do I think this? It is because the current presidential administration’s answer is to bail out big business and leave the little guys to fend for themselves, which leaves them vulnerable to unscrupulous practices. So, I will not be surprised when the issue arises again, in a different form.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Well, sort of.

Chester Davenport is believed to be one of the wealthiest black entrepreneurs in America. Via his Georgetown Partners firm, he has made quite a name for himself.

Now, he is trying to influence one of the largest business mergers of the upcoming year. As you may be aware, the two satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius are talking about joining forces. This could mean that there would be more than 300 nationwide radio channels under one company’s control.

Davenport believes that there should be opportunities for minority broadcasters to lease channels on the new XM/Sirius network. What Davenport is speaking of is a share of the pie that could mean between 50-100 satellite channels. Right now, the odds are not stacked in his favor. The current FCC chair, Kevin Martin, has shown that he is willing to side with the big corporations over the rights of minority ownership.

So, let’s see what happens. I will say that I hope that we will not see minority radio owners shut out of the new frontier of satellite radio.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.

As you might be aware, I had been contemplating a change since Radio One fired Matsimela Mapfumo from its “The Power” channel on XM radio and replaced his show with a sports show. When I heard that he got a show with Sirius, I gave it even more thought but, there were still a few shows on the Power that were keeping me there.

Well, it looks like I am being nudged, again. I read, today, that XM Radio is ending its relationship with Radio One and will be bringing programming for the Power in-house. From what I can surmise, XM will continue carrying the shows of Joe Madison, Warren Ballentine and Al Sharpton but, effective Jan 8, all other on-air talent will be dumped.

According to Radio One, the advertising dollars just weren’t coming in. Truthfully, the quality of the programming on the Power had gone down significantly in my eyes and I really only listened to three shows: the Joe Madison Show in the morning; Digital Spin, at night; and On With Leon on the weekends.

The only reason I chose XM over Sirius was the availability of a black talk channel. However, when Radio One began “dumbing down” their programming (this was how I saw it), I had to question whether or not I would stick with XM. So, we’ll see what the next few weeks bring. If it’s not good, I’m off to Sirius.

Popularity: 26% [?]

As I think about the housing crisis, I can only think of the words of one of my favorite talk show host, Joe Madison, saying that black people are “undervalued, underestimated and marginalized.” You see, for many years, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been railing against predatory lending. Of course, their warnings went unheeded. Now, we stand on the edge of financial catastrophe in this country, largely fueled by a lot of bad home loans — with a disproportionate amount of them made to people of color.

However, the question that’s not really been pursued in the mainstream press is “where minorities steered into bad loans when they could have otherwise been offered more conventional loans?” An article I read causes me to think that this was very likely the case.

In September, the Federal Reserve released a study that found 52.8 percent of African-Americans got a high-cost home loan when they refinanced in 2006, compared to 37.7 percent of Latinos and just 25.7 percent of whites in the same year.

A similar study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN, in September found the same pattern even when income was equal.

According to ACORN, upper-income blacks were 3.3 times, and Latinos 3 times, more likely than upper-income whites to have a high-cost loan when purchasing a home in 2006.

“I keep hoping one day I’ll do a study where race doesn’t play a part,” said Liz Wolff, author of the ACORN study.

“But clearly, there is a racial bias,” she added.

So, the foreclosures climb and more and more Americans are losing their homes. But, we have to ask, how many minority families are going to lose their homes because they were steered into loans by people who felt that it was okay to, basically, rip off people of color.

Popularity: 27% [?]

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961

So, what happens when the war profiteers take over? You get this current mess in Iraq and the drumbeats to war with Iran. War is good money. Ask once-struggling Halliburton or Blackwater how good the “war business” is. It almost seems that good common sense has been abandoned by people who embrace the logic that spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars so their friends can make tens of billions is fiscally-sound policy.

It is against this backdrop that an interesting piece of legislation has been introduced. The House passed a bill, by a vote of 375-3, calling for a prohibition of war profiteering. The bill calls for stiff penalties for companies and individuals who knowingly defraud the government. Individuals can face sentences of up to 20 years in prison for fraud and companies can face fines ranging from $1 million to double the gross profits of the contracts, whichever is greater.

Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, took exception to the bill, worrying that “mere overpricing” would be criminalized. However, to that I respond with what the same refrain I constantly hear from the “conservative” side of the aisle, “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”

I, for one, hope that this legislation become law. War is supposed to be a last resort, not a business decision.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Riddle me this — if the economy is doing so well, why are home foreclosures going up? I mean, if there is so much money going around, am I left to believe that people, in record numbers, are just choosing not to pay their mortgages?

The real estate information company, RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, CA, has released its foreclosure figures for the time frame of September 2006-September 2007 and the findings are disheartening. For the month of September 2007, alone, 223,538 foreclosures were filed. Then number for September 2006 was 112,210, which just missed doubling last year by a mere 882 filings. RealtyTrac did say, however, that this number was lower that August 2007 — in that month 243,947 foreclosures were filed.

However, the company is also saying that, despite September’s numbers being lower than August’s, this should not be seen as an end in the cycle of foreclosures. With the rates on adjustable rate mortgages increasing, it would be expected that more will lose their homes due to an inability to afford the higher mortgage payments.

Popularity: 26% [?]

A few months back, I shared with you my outrage over the lineup changes at XM 169 “The Power”, which included the cancellation of one of my favorite shows, “Make it Plain” and the firing of its host, Mark Thompson. For all intents and purposes, during the week, this leaves me with, basically, one show that I care to listen to on XM.

Today, I read a bit of good news that has me considering a move, as well.

Sirius Satellite Radio has announced that it has added “Make it Plain” to its lineup. So, Mark Thompson will be back this fall:

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it has signed Mark Thompson, host of “Make it Plain,” to appear exclusively on SIRIUS. Thompson is a trailblazing African-American talk show pioneer, human rights visionary, and community leader, and he will contribute to SIRIUS’ powerful and diverse programming lineup.

Thompson’s “Make it Plain” launches this fall on SIRIUS. On “Make it Plain,” a daily 3-hour show, Thompson speaks passionately about political, social and economic issues from an African-American perspective, and welcomes listener call-in and a variety of guests.

“‘Make it Plain’ has served as a national talk forum and platform for politicians, newsmakers, and entertainers for many years, and SIRIUS is thrilled to enrich our diverse programming lineup with the addition of this respected show,” said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS’ President, Entertainment and Sports. “We welcome Mark Thompson and his ability to empower listeners.”

“At this hour of increased anxiety amongst America’s diverse cultures, SIRIUS’ thoughtful decision to air ‘Make It Plain’ should leave no doubt about its commitment to informing and empowering all of its listeners,” said Mark Thompson. “‘Make It Plain’ will continue to expose the injustices in places like Jena (Louisiana), to celebrate our joys, and even break some fresh ground in no better home than one so impressively creative and unbound as SIRIUS Satellite Radio.”

I think I’ll be looking into what Sirius has to offer. I’ll keep you posted.

Popularity: 44% [?]