All Articles Tagged "chicago"
Blackmark-it: Groupon for Black Businesses
Groupon has been saving consumers tons of dollars on their favorite activities and bringing unknown businesses new clientele for a little over a year now with its daily web deals. The idea has spawned a number of spinoff websites, and one site in particular, blackmark-it.com, is dedicated specifically to black-owned businesses.
Christopher Nolen, an independent film director and producer calls the site the African American Community’s Groupon. “It’s a great way to give African-American business owners some notoriety and help them in this economy, says Nolen who immediately signed up for the site when he came across it.
“As a business owner and filmmaker, it’s incredible when I see other African-Americans helping each other in business. We need more of that.”
Officially launched today, the first deal featured on the site is a discount for 40 percent off tax-preparation services by Emerging Business Solutions Group, LLC in Chicago. This deal will run for one week, as will the next three, then after the first month, the website’s creators plan to offer two deals per week and gradually increase to daily deals.
“We’re setting maximums (of deals) as low as 25 to 50 to make sure the merchants can meet the demand, and then we can revisit growth strategies,” says Natasha Williams, a marketing consultant at The Nielsen Company. She started the site with her husband Jamel, a truck driver who also manages their catering business, Covenant Café. “For many minority-owned businesses, advertising feels like more risk than a gain,” she says.
To help black business owners balance that risk, blackmark-it will only take 20-40 percent of the revenue from each deal, depending on the deal’s amount, the quantity sold, and other factors. In comparison, most daily deal sites take half of the cut. More than offering discounts on beauty services at nail salons and spas, or savings on meals at restaurants, the site also offers deals on professional photography services as well as books by up-and-coming authors.
Right now, the deals are mostly available in Chicago due to its high number of black-owned businesses but the couple plans to extend to other cities. This could be a great tool for minority businesses trying to get off the ground.
Do you support black-owned businesses? Would you check out blackmark-it.com?
Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.
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Sex Crimes Reported on Campus Seldom Prosecuted as Felonies
It’s often difficult for women, especially on college campuses, to report that they were victims of sexual assault, and low prosecution rates certainly don’t do much to convince women that coming forward is worth the shame and embarrassment they often feel.
A report into 16 colleges and universities in the Chicago area found that sex crimes reported on the campuses are rarely prosecuted as felonies. Out of more than 100 incidents reported since 2005, only 12 resulted in arrests, five in convictions, and most potential felonies were downgraded to misdemeanors—an act that is often viewed as an insult to victims.
“A misdemeanor battery is the same charge you’d get if you punched someone in the face,” Sharmili Majmudar, Executive Director of Rape Victim Advocates, told The Chicago Tribune. “To have any kind of conviction is something positive, I can’t deny that. But it’s such a qualified success. We’d like to see more felony charges.”
Earlier this year, The Tribune reported similar results from a June survey of six schools in Illinois and Indiana. Of the 171 reported sex crimes police investigated since 2005, there were only 12 arrests and four convictions.
The arrest and conviction rates in the Midwest and Cook County surveys were far below the average for rapes reported nationally, which suggests other states pursue sex crimes more aggressively, but it seems as though victims may be getting violated all over again in these cases which typically boil down to one person’s word against the others.
Did you often hear about sex crimes occurring on your college campuses? Were perpetrators ever convicted of their crimes? Why do you think the conviction rate is so low?
Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.
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arrest, campus, chicago, college, conviction, felony, misdemeanor, rape, sex crimes, the chicago tribune, universitites‘Collabo’ Clearance Controversy with Jay and Ye
Controversy just can’t seem to stay away from Jay-Z and Kanye West. Or is it the other way around? This time, Syl Johnson (who peaked as a singer in the 60s and father of singer Syleena Johnson) has filed a federal lawsuit against the two alleging they illegally used part of the vocals from his single “Different Strokes” on their album Watch the Throne.
The Numero Group, a company responsible for preserving and re-issuing old music, stated in a blog that Kanye and Jay-Z used Syl’s voice on their song, “The Joy” without getting proper clearance. They allege the process to receive clearance began last summer when the song was to appear on Yeezy’s latest solo project, My Beautiful Twisted Fantasy. But when the song was not released and didn’t make it to Ye’s (Kanye sure has a lot of nicknames, huh) album, the process pretty much stalled and they didn’t reach an agreement. “The Joy” now appears on Watch the Throne as a bonus track.
Mr. Johnson is disappointed that they used the song, which has been sampled in the past by artists such as Michael Jackson and Tupac, without getting the permission. SO, he’s suing for copyright infringement, unfair competition and fraud. He’d also like a jury trial hoping to permanently restrain them from performing or distributing the song, an impounding of all recordings of the song, an accounting of the revenues and a monetary judgment of what he is owed.
You can check out Syl’s side of the story on NBC Chicago.
- Drenna Armstrong
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Football Coach Charged After Watching His Players Jump Teen
Jones and his mother at home.
A Chicago football coach allegedly sat back and watched his football players jump a young man on the front lawn of his home–in front of his mother. The coach, 28-year-old Cassius Chambers, and an associate there during the fight, have been suspended from their coaching gigs. Chambers turned himself in to police and was charged with misdemeanor simple assault on Wednesday.
According to the Chicago Tribune, nearly 30 players reportedly drove in multiple cars to the home of Darion Jones, 16, where they proceeded to viciously attack the young man and his 15-year-old nephew, and it all started over a pair of flip flops. According to Jones’s mother, one of the players claimed that Darion stole a pair of his Nike flip-flops, which the young man denies ever doing. She says the coach and one of his associates watched the attack, but didn’t make any effort to stop it or step in. Jones has been wearing a prosthetic contact lens for years after losing sight in his eye to cataracts. That prosthetic was lost in the fight, and Jones also acquired bruises and lost a tooth in the attack. The boy, and the football players were all students at Fenger High School on Chicago’s South Side. This is the same school where a brawl happened near that killed 16-year-old Derrion Albert in 2009. If you remember, the brawl was caught on video, and Albert was hit with what looked to be a wooden plank or two-by-four.
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Woman Runs Chicago Marathon, Gives Birth Shortly After
For most pregnant women it’s a struggle just to stand as their delivery date grows closer, but on Sunday a Westchester woman ran the Chicago Marathon at 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. And then she gave birth.
Amber Miller, 27, whose doctor cleared her to half run, half walk the marathon, told The Daily Herald that she felt a contraction after crossing the finish line at 6 hours and 25 minutes. Having a very casual attitude about the whole experience, Miller said she ran throughout both of her pregnancies and was used to getting contractions whenever she ran.
“The contractions became regular after we finished, so we stopped and grabbed a sandwich and then went to the hospital. It was the longest day of my life.”
Doctors list her labor at 2 hours and 18 minutes before her daughter June was born at 10:29 pm, weighing 7 pounds and 13 ounces. But Miller said she had been having contractions since she crossed the finish line at about 3:30 p.m.
Exercise is to be embraced when carrying a child, but comments on the web have called Miller’s move “risky, selfish, and stupid!” It is possible that Miller’s labor was brought on by the overexertion of the marathon, but she still gave birth to a healthy baby and had her doctor’s approval.
What do you think? Do you see anything wrong with Miller’s choice to run the marathon or did she have her priorities backward?
Turning Students Into Teachers
(Chicago News Cooperative) — The gap between the number of minority teachers in Chicago Public Schools and minority student enrollment has grown significantly over the last decade, but one CPS school is working hard to change that by preparing the next generation of teachers. At Wells Community Academy, where the racial breakdown of students is almost evenly split between African-American and Hispanic students, more than 60 high school students will participate in a teacher training program that gets them to the front of the classroom nearly eight years ahead of schedule. Students enrolled in the Chicago Urban Teacher Academy at Wells take a four-year curriculum in partnership with National Louis University designed to focus on best practices in teaching. One day per week students work in classrooms at one of three nearby elementary schools – Peabody, Talcott or Moos. Ernesto Matias launched the program two years ago and now it has three cohorts of students, one group that started last year and two groups of freshman. He hopes that someday he can hire his own students as teachers.
J-Hud Opening Own Weight Watchers Center in Chicago
(Eurweb) — Jennifer Hudson, who has lost 80 pounds through Weight Watchers and is a spokeswoman for the company, is opening her own Weight Watchers weight loss center in her hometown of Chicago, according to the AP. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to attend the event Tuesday in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side.
Chicago Given Many Painful Ways to Escape Budget Mess
(Chicago Tribune) — As Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to present his first budget next month, Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson is tossing out dozens of ways to raise more money and cut the size of city government. Many of them are politically poisonous: a city income tax, tolls on Lake Shore Drive, higher ambulance fees. Others could conceivably gain traction: making garbage pickup more efficient, cutting layers of management and making all city employees work 40 hours a week. Each of the 63 ideas, Ferguson says, is pointed toward highlighting the desperate plight of city finances in the coming years and the need for action to head off a financial meltdown.
Homewood Salesman Sacked Over Packers Tie Doing Well in New Gig
(Chicago Sun Times) — Just about eight months ago, John Stone learned firsthand just how intense NFL rivalries can get — he was sacked from his job as a car salesman for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie to work smack dab in the heart of Bears country. What a difference an offseason can make. Shortly after the 35-year-old Stone lost his job at an Oak Lawn car dealership, he got a chance as a salesman at Chevrolet of Homewood, 18033 S. Halsted St. Since then he’s brought in customers from as far away as Milwaukee. And four times he’s been named salesman of the month — an honor that goes to the associate who sells the most cars in a month.
Seven Former Chicago Aldermen Now Lobbying City Hall
(Chicago Sun Times) — Seven former Chicago aldermen — William J.P. Banks, Charles Bernardini, Mark Fary, Terry Gabinski, Patrick Huels, Terry Peterson and Miguel Santiago — are cashing in on their clout, lobbying their former City Council colleagues and other city officials to approve projects for developers and other businessmen. The latest alderman-turned-lobbyist is Banks, who helped shape the city’s skyline as chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Zoning. Banks retired two years ago, but, under city ethics rules, waited a year before he began lobbying city officials for his private clients. As soon as the one-year period ended in September 2010, Banks began lobbying City Hall. He now has 18 lobbying clients, more than any other former alderman.
