Awards/Honors

Spike Lee Will Become First Black Director to Be Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award at 2022 Directors Guild of America Awards

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The accolades and acknowledgments keep coming for the New York Knicks’ biggest fan! Filmmaker and

Grammy Awards Rescheduled for April and Relocated to Las Vegas

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Cardi B Breaks Own Record With Third Diamond Record

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United Negro College Fund Selects Ashlynn Lee As 2021 Scholarship Recipient

By bigced 1 month ago

United Negro College Fund Selects Ashlynn Lee As 2021 Scholarship Recipient Bennett College is pleased

Wheaties Century Box Featuring Michael Jordan

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University of Alabama Quarterback Bryce Young Takes Home this Year’s Heisman Trophy

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Steve Harvey Asks Miss Universe Winner Miss India to Do an Animal Impression and Makes Another Blunder With Another Contestant

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Ne-Yo Will Host 2022 Urban One Honors on MLK Day – January 17th, 2022

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Simone Biles Named 2021 Time Athlete of the Year

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Adding another accolade to her already full mantel, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has just been

Pastor Mike Jr Doesn’t Recognize Kanye West as Billboard’s Top Gospel Artist of 2021

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Miss Kentucky Elle Smith Crowned Miss USA 2021

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JAY-Z is Now Most-Nominated Recording Artist in Grammys History

By bigced 2 months ago

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Will Packer to Produce 2022 Academy Awards Show

By bigced 3 months ago

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US Congress Declares November ‘National Hip Hop History Month’

By bigced 3 months ago

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Michael B. Jordan, Serena Williams and MaC Venture Capital Partner Are Giving Founders From HBCUs A Chance To Be Awarded $1 Million

By bigced 3 months ago

Michael B. Jordan, Serena Williams and MaC Venture Capital Partner Are Giving Founders From HBCUs

A 104-page audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services exposed spending not being used for the purposes the money was earmarked for according to USA Today.
Money that was meant to assist poor residents was used to purchase buy luxury cars, sponsor a college baseball tournament, and encouraged nepotism by hiring family members of a top state official, according to a report from State Auditor Shad White.
The audit, which was released earlier this week, shows how federal welfare grant funds flowed from DHS into two nonprofit groups, which allegedly spent money in inappropriate or questionable ways.
In a written statement, White stated that the report “shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor.” He said, “If there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it.”
White said his office will forward the information they found to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the welfare program. White said this could lead to cuts in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) allotments or other sanctions placed on the state.
The audit found these items questionable:
The two nonprofit groups used welfare money to hire lobbyists, often without paperwork describing the work they were supposed to do.
MCEC gave contracts to, and hired, family members of Davis, sometimes making lump-sum payments. The payments and salaries to his nephew and brother-in-law totaled more than $1 million over the past several years, auditors said.
Both nonprofit groups gave welfare money to a trio of wrestlers, Ted DiBiase, Ted DiBiase, Jr., and Brett DiBiase – some of it for work never performed, some for “unreasonable” travel costs.
MCEC paid Victory Sports Foundation with welfare money to run fitness programs, some of which Mississippi legislators and other officials or staffers participated in, free of charge. The trainer who runs Victory said he did not know he received welfare money.
MCEC bought three cars with welfare money, each worth more than $50,000, for New and two sons. Salaries, cellphones, and other expenses were paid using welfare money. The vehicles included a 2018 Nissan Armada, a Chevrolet Silverado, and a Ford F-250. In each case, the vehicle was registered to MCEC, but in each case, auditors said the vehicles were for personal use.
MCEC used welfare money for sports-related purposes, including sponsoring a college baseball tournament and other NCAA events.
MCEC cut a $3,000 check to a bookkeeper of MCEC, though a handwritten note says “$3,000 cash was given to” Davis, the DHS executive director.
MCEC moved $6 million to a private school and organization run by New and bought supplies for the school.