Bank of America

Aug 11 2011

Supporters of the Expo gather

A lively crowd showed up at Club Nokia, hosted by AEG/L.A. Live, to demonstrate support at the West Coast Expo’s pre-event mixer. They noshed on Wolfgang Puck finger food, imbibed favorite beverages, schmoozed and, of course, chatted up the Expo. The event was held Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Jul 21 2011

“Technology is and always will be the wave of the future. There’s just no end in sight. This is the train you’re forced to ride, if you’re in business. You either get on or get run over. But it’s also fun if you line up with it.”
—Natalie Cole, publisher and chief executive officer of Our Weekly

The West Coast Expo’s (WCE) founders and business partners Natalie Cole and David Miller conceived it as a signature event to be looked forward to by the business community every year.

Their goal is to bring a diverse, multicultural component to local commerce, ideally encompassing the surrounding western states in years to come, and, of course, bringing in a cash return for participating businesses.

Jun 16 2011

Demand responses

Angry homeowners from across Southern California converged on Bank of America in downtown Los Angeles June 9 to demand proper responses on loan modifications requests, after trying for months–and sometimes years–to get the bank to work with them.

OW video reporting by Nash Baker.
 

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
May 19 2011

Target minority communities

Another side effect of the stagnant economy has been the surplus of short-term methods devised to extract cash from a public desperate for financial relief. Among the more visible of these ventures are the ubiquitous cash advance outlets, payday loan facilities, and other such franchises that maybe found throughout the southland, especially in minority neighborhoods.

May 5 2011

Manipulation charged

In August 2010, the Federal Reserve Board directed banks to seek customer approval before enrolling them in high-cost overdraft coverage. Now nearly a year later, a new survey by the Center for Responsible Lending finds there are still lingering consumer misperceptions as to what consumers believe they were actually signing up for. Among consumers who opted in to overdraft, 64 percent thought they were getting coverage to avoid bounced checks even though overdraft only affects debit card and ATM transactions.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.