This week's coverage spans the political arena, professional innovation, and the enduring power of a musical legacy.
Sybil Wilkes opened Friday’s edition of “What We Need to Know” with a packed briefing. It covered election results with real stakes for Black voters, a new resource for beauty entrepreneurs and a milestone in Black history that still echoes today.
Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race remains undecided. Democrat Scott Colomb leads Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by just over 1,700 votes out of nearly 1 million cast. Officials spent Thursday counting thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots. Both campaigns are preparing for a likely legal fight over the final count. Mississippi has the largest share of Black residents of any state, so the outcome carries weight for Black voters. Each remaining ballot could decide who represents the state in Washington.
Los Angeles has a new mayor-elect. Councilmember Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, the first woman to lead the city. Raman widened her lead Thursday to 429,450 votes to 394,796, with 76% of the expected vote counted. The result marks a major shift at City Hall in the nation’s second-largest city.
Sharina Hogan, founder of RS Beauty Pricing, has released a record-keeping journal for beauty professionals. The journal doubles as a scheduling book. It tracks income, expenses, cancellations, refunds and year-to-date totals. Hogan designed it to help stylists, braiders and estheticians price with purpose and get ready for tax time. Many Black-owned salons and independent stylists run their businesses on tight margins. For them, clear records can mean stronger pricing and fewer surprises when taxes come due.
From the good news file, Congresswoman Maxine Waters won re-election in California’s 43rd District. She is set to become the oldest member of Congress. Waters turned 88 in August and took nearly 82% of the vote against Republican Christian Morales. She is expected to lead the House Financial Services Committee again when Democrats take control in January. That role gives her major influence over banking, housing and lending policy. Those issues shape wealth-building in Black communities.
Wilkes closed with a tribute to brothers James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson. On November 6, 1901, they composed “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which became known as the Black national anthem. Its words captured the pain, faith and hope of formerly enslaved people and their descendants. Black children at a Jacksonville school first performed the song. The NAACP later adopted it, and it carried marchers through the civil rights movement.
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