Color Of Money

BPT  It’s a common financial predicament for most 20-something-year-olds: You need credit to get credit. But even if you’re older and have been through some credit-wrecking havoc in your life, you could face the same issue. “The only way to build a credit history is to use credit,” explains Maxine Sweet, vice president of public…

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Trends to help small businesses stay competitive with larger companies BPT Some of the latest changes in technology are making it easier for employees to connect with clients and conduct business both day and night, which makes it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to compete against larger companies. Just a few years ago, unified…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  A protestor at a McDonald’s in New York.  (Photo by Annette Bernhardt/Wikipedia)   By Wendell Simpson Last week, several thousand fast food workers from across the country gathered at a suburban Chicago convention center to press their demands for a $15 per hour minimum wage for the four million plus employees in the industry….

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ABOVE PHOTO:  by Shutterstock   City Council last week announced a comprehensive strategy using data analysis, mapping technology and community engagement to empower Philadelphia’s leaders to craft policies that will improve the quality of life in each of the City’s neighborhoods. The Community Sustainability Initiative (CSI) is a challenge to residents, businesses, institutions and government to…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  President Barack Obama   Blacks benefitting from improved economy, report says By Frederick H. Lowe Trice Edney News Wire/TheNorthStarNews.com An ebullient President Barack Obama said on Thursday that that day’s jobs report showed the fastest growth since the first half of 1999. “This is also the first time we’ve seen five consecutive months…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  PHA’s LEED Gold Norris Apartments, located next to Temple University, have been recognized for outstanding achievement by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).  The energy efficient design includes a small pocket park in the center courtyard that provides green space for residents while limiting rainwater…

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Urge ongoing, united effort to solve public education’s funding crisis As the daunting shadow of more teacher layoffs and larger class sizes stretches over the School District of Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams last week lauded the efforts of supporters who have stepped up to fight to make sure the…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Sheriff Williams   Responding officially to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Audit released Monday by City Controller Alan Butkovitz, Sheriff Jewell Williams gave a point-by-point address that exposed several major errors in the audit of the MOU between the Office of the Sheriff of Philadelphia City and County and Philadelphia City Administration. “It’s…

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ABOVE PHOTO: A sign for a T-Mobile store.  (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Associated Press  WASHINGTON — T-Mobile USA knowingly made hundreds of millions of dollars off its customers in potentially bogus charges, a federal regulator alleged Tuesday in a complaint likely to mar the reputation of a household name in wireless communications. In its complaint filed in…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  The beautifully worn appearance of the Heirloom Distressed finish is achieved by burnishing, rasping and flyspecking, among other techniques.     BPT The quilt handed down through generations, the turn-of-the-century wooden rocking chair made by a long-gone relative, hand-stitched samplers that have graced every home your family has lived in – handcrafted items…

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