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THE DAILY DRUMBEAT
News about us. For us. By the beat of the drum.
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Vol. 1, No. 3 · Wednesday, July 15, 2026 · 28 stories · 11 sections
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| In today’s Drumbeat: The EEOC scraps its 47-year-old affirmative-action hiring guidance, Fawn Weaver is out at Uncle Nearest as a sale nears, and Spain books its World Cup final spot. |
| P1 Business & Enterprise · P2 Policy & Justice · P3 Economy & Work · P4 Money Moves · P5 HBCUs & Education · P6 Sports · P7 Culture & Entertainment · P8 Tech & Innovation · P9 Health Equity · P10 Land & Legacy · P11 Black Excellence |
[ P1 · BUSINESS & ENTERPRISE ] | • | Fawn Weaver, the founder who built Uncle Nearest into the fastest-growing American whiskey brand, has been terminated by the court-appointed receiver along with her husband Keith, effective June 1 — and the receiver says a notice of sale for the company's core assets could be filed within 30 to 60 days, with a Black-owned investment firm reported as the leading buyer. TheGrio | | • | A Black-owned bakery and café — Uhuru Bakery, a project of the Black Power Blueprint — is preparing a grand opening on West Florissant Avenue in St. Louis, timed to honor Marcus Garvey's legacy and extend a community-ownership model built on cooperative economics. St. Louis Patch | | • | Rapper Boosie Badazz is suing two pro-Trump lobbyists for roughly $300,000 — part of a larger $600,000 payment — alleging they took his money on a promise to secure a presidential pardon that never came. The Guardian |
[ P2 · POLICY & JUSTICE ] GOVERNMENT WATCH — The EEOC has formally rescinded its 1979 Affirmative Action Guidelines and the related section of its Compliance Manual, arguing the 47-year-old documents pressured employers into race-conscious decision-making and are obsolete after the Supreme Court's 2025 Ames ruling. Employment attorneys say the move forces companies to re-examine any diversity hiring plan still built on the old guidance — a shift with direct consequences for Black workers in corporate pipelines. Sullivan & Cromwell | • | The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the EEOC's longtime disparate-impact guidelines are unconstitutional — telling employers they may rely on background checks and aptitude tests even where those tools produce racially unequal outcomes, so long as they serve a "valid business purpose." Justice Department | | • | A former EEOC commissioner fired by President Trump has dropped her lawsuit challenging the dismissal after a Supreme Court ruling expanded presidential power over independent agencies — clearing the way for an EEOC agenda that includes ending annual workplace demographic-data collection. AP via AJC |
| • | Real average hourly earnings rose 0.8% in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday — a sign that cooling inflation is finally letting paychecks stretch further. BLS Real Earnings | | • | Seventeen states and localities raise their minimum wage this July — and the Economic Policy Institute finds Black workers are 15.3% of those getting the raise despite being 10.4% of the workforce, a disproportionate benefit that shows how wage floors shape racial pay gaps. Economic Policy Institute |
S&P 500 7,543.59 | Dow 52,508.27 | Bitcoin $64,679 | Ethereum $1,880 |
Prior close · CPI 3.5% YoY (June 2026) — BLS.govBlack Wall Street Watch UONE Urban One $5.00 +4.6% | RLJ RLJ Lodging $11.60 +1.7% | CARV Carver Bancorp $1.40 -3.5% | AXSM Axsome Thera. $235.26 +3.1% |
Overnight Movers Top Gainers ARBE Arbe Robotics +27.0% PHOE Phoenix Asia +25.4% LANV Lanvin Group +19.5% | | Top Losers IBM IBM -25.2% FBYD Falcon's Beyond -18.0% AGEN Agenus -17.0% |
Movers as of Tue 7/14 close; crypto 6:00 AM ET Wed · market data The Money Brief Lower-income spending is catching up — the K-shaped economy is (briefly) closing Card spending by lower-income households accelerated from 1.7% year-over-year growth at the end of 2025 to 4.9% in June — nearly matching higher-income households at 5.6% — driven by stronger job growth and larger tax refunds ( PNC Economic Research). Real hourly earnings rose 0.8% in June as inflation cooled ( BLS). But PNC warns the refund tailwind is fading and roughly 60% of households still live paycheck-to-paycheck. Takeaway: treat this breathing room as temporary — bank the difference now, before the labor market decides otherwise. |
| • | CRYPTO WATCH — President Trump urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act crypto market-structure bill "in honor of" Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died July 11 at 71, adding fresh political momentum to the stalled legislation ahead of the August recess. CNBC | | • | Credit card balances are up roughly 9% year over year across every income group, PNC's July Consumer Health Check finds — but from a historically low base, with payoff rates still above pre-pandemic norms, suggesting debt growth that is manageable rather than alarming, for now. PNC Economic Research |
[ P5 · HBCUS & EDUCATION ] The Education Brief Race-based scholarships are not disappearing — they are being rewritten Colleges, nonprofits and corporate donors are steadily converting race-based scholarship criteria to income, first-generation and geographic eligibility to avoid litigation after the end of affirmative action ( Inside Higher Ed). Legal pressure is real: a conservative group only dropped its suit over law-school diversity scholarships after the ABA changed its policy ( Reuters). Total scholarship dollars keep growing — the money is moving, not vanishing. Takeaway: have your student apply on income, first-gen and hometown criteria too, not just identity-based awards. |
| • | The CIAA board has extended Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams Parker's contract through 2031, approved a new playoff-style football championship format, and confirmed women's flag football as a varsity sport beginning 2026-27 — a package of moves the conference unveils at its Media Day in Durham today. The Charlotte Post |
Last Night's Scoreboard · Tuesday, July 14 MLB All-Star Game: AL 4, NL 0 — Cody Bellinger's two-run single won MVP honors as AL pitchers struck out 15 at Citizens Bank Park. ESPNWorld Cup semifinal: Spain 2, France 0 — Mikel Oyarzabal's penalty and Pedro Porro's strike sent Spain to Sunday's final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. ESPNWNBA: Sun 90, Fire 87 — Aaliyah Edwards scored 21 off the bench and Brittney Griner added 20 for Connecticut. ESPNWNBA: Mystics 79, Tempo 62 — Kiki Iriafen (25 pts, 14 reb) and Shakira Austin (17 pts, 10 reb) both posted double-doubles. ESPN |
On Deck · July 15-19 TODAY — World Cup semifinal: England vs. Argentina, 3:00 PM ET, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta (FOX). ESPNTONIGHT — WNBA: Golden State at Indiana, 8:00 PM ET (USA Network). USA NetworkSUNDAY — World Cup Final: Spain vs. England/Argentina winner, 3:00 PM ET, MetLife Stadium (FOX). ESPN |
| • | SWAC Football Media Day convenes today in Birmingham with Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk and all 12 head coaches, where the league unveils its preseason predicted order of finish. HBCU Legends on SI | | • | Paige Bueckers used her postgame platform to call out the WNBA's lack of Black women head coaches — zero this season for the first time since 2020, in a league where nearly 80% of players are Black or brown. "It was built on a lot of Black women," she said. TheGrio |
[ P7 · CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT ] | • | Jay-Z closed his three-night "Extra Innings" Yankee Stadium residency with a surprise-packed finale — Beyoncé, Rihanna, Usher, Teyana Taylor and more joined a set that doubled as a living archive of hip-hop history. XXL | | • | "Beyond the Gates" stars Tamara Tunie and Karla Mosley made Daytime Emmy history with landmark nominations, headlining a year in which Black talent dominated the 2026 daytime field. TheGrio |
[ P8 · TECH & INNOVATION ] | • | AI chip maker SambaNova — co-founded by CEO Rodrigo Liang — closed the first $1 billion tranche of a Series F at an $11 billion valuation led by General Atlantic, a roughly fivefold jump in five months, with a U.S. IPO possible as early as 2027. Reuters | | • | Black-founded startups have raised $643 million so far in 2026 — already about 70% of last year's full-year total — but Crunchbase data shows the gains concentrated in a handful of large AI deals, with founders warning that broad access to capital remains scarce. TechCrunch |
The Health Brief 59 unpermitted gas turbines — and the neighborhoods breathing them Elon Musk's xAI has installed 59 natural-gas turbines at its Colossus 2 data center near Memphis without federal clean-air permits, and Reuters finds the pollution burden falls hardest on historically Black communities like Boxtown, where asthma rates already run high ( Reuters). Environmental and civil-rights groups have sued over the "illegal" turbines ( Data Center Dynamics). Takeaway: if you live near a data-center corridor, check daily air quality at AirNow.gov and get asthma symptoms documented — records matter in enforcement fights. |
| • | A Louisiana man has been functionally cured of sickle cell disease through Casgevy gene therapy, Manning Family Children's Hospital reports — a human face on the treatment wave reshaping care for a disease that disproportionately affects Black patients. Healthline |
| • | South Carolina's new Heirs' Property Tax Relief Act prevents punishing tax reassessments when Gullah Geechee families and other heirs'-property owners clear muddled titles or transfer ownership — a move advocates say helps stem generational land loss along the coast. The Guardian | | • | An Iowa farmer calls USDA funding cuts "a slap in the face" to rural conservation and land-access programs — a ground-level look at the fallout hitting small and minority farmers even as some grants are restored elsewhere. The Guardian |
[ P11 · BLACK EXCELLENCE ] | • | Voorhees University freshman Josephine Mulenga and her team won first place and a $5,000 award in the national HBCU Smart Cities Challenge Showcase for a project tackling localized flooding in Henry County, Georgia — Mulenga was chosen from more than 150 applicants nationwide. UNCF | | • | A team of Morehouse College student filmmakers won the $25,000 Coca-Cola HBCU Sports Production Grant at the 2026 Sports Emmy Awards, presented at a ceremony hosted by HBCU alum Roy Wood Jr. Secret Atlanta |
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"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." — Marcus Garvey. Wikiquote |
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Ask Your Table: Lower-income households are finally spending like everyone else again — but 60% of us still live paycheck-to-paycheck. What is one recurring bill your household could renegotiate or cancel this month?
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Inside The Daily Drumbeat All 11 sections · every weekday | P1 Business & Enterprise Black founders, owners, and enterprise — deals, openings, and closures. | P2 Policy & Justice Government Watch, courts, and policy that moves our communities. | P3 Economy & Work Jobs, wages, and the economic data behind Black work. | | P4 Money Moves Markets, the Black Wall Street Watch, movers, and The Money Brief. | P5 HBCUs & Education HBCUs, students, and the classroom — plus The Education Brief. | P6 Sports Last night's scoreboard, tonight's biggest games, and HBCU sports. | | P7 Culture & Entertainment Film, TV, music, books, and the arts. | P8 Tech & Innovation Tech, AI, and innovation — decoded for our community. | P9 Health Equity Health equity, medicine, and The Health Brief. | | P10 Land & Legacy Land, legacy, farmers, and generational wealth. | P11 Black Excellence Black Excellence — promotions, honors, and achievements worth sharing. | |
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All sources free to access | Data: BLS.gov, market data | Staff-written
A Pitre Media publication
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