Headliner

 With the United States topping the world’s obesity charts — the most current figures of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development show 30.6 percent of the U.S. population is “obese” — U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp. says it will allocate some of its New Markets Tax Credit investments to projects that increase the availability of healthy, affordable food in high-need urban and rural communities. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 23 million people currently live in low-income communities that do not have access to a supermarket or a large grocery store within one mile of their home.

Half (49 percent) of African-American New Yorkers age 50 years and older will delay retirement if the economy doesn’t improve...

The number of Black-owned businesses increased by 60.5 percent to 1.9 million from 2002 to 2007, more than triple the national rate of 18.0 percent, the latest U.S. Census Bureau’s “2007 Survey of Business Owners” shows.

In December, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released two briefing reports whose findings and recommendations some consider “dangerous.” The reports,

Some pundits contend that the immediate future of the Congressional Black Caucus is inextricably tied to the fate of its venerable leader, Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y. The House of Representatives voted 333 to 79 on Dec. 2 to censure Rangel for 11 ethics violations, rejecting the lesser “reprimand” he and his supporters sought.

Amid all the gnashing of teeth over the paucity of minorities in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) careers, one organization is tackling the problem by reaching into inner-city high schools nationwide.