Michael V. Drake
COMPANY
President, University of California
BOARD
Amgen Inc.
Michael V. Drake
George Dowdie
George Dowdie
COMPANY
Former EVP, Global Supply Chain of Starbucks Corp.
BOARD
Conagra Brands Inc.
by Daniel Johnson
August 22, 2024
IRS Issues Guidance On Employer Matching Of Student Loan Payments
After initially offering limited guidance on the revised contribution plan, on Aug. 19, the IRS released more robust guidance, defining what constitutes a qualified student loan payment, who qualifies for regular employer-sponsored matches, and sets the minimum number of contributions at one per fiscal year.
In December 2023, the Secure 2.0 Act was passed, and a number of provisions in the act were set to go into effect in 2024; among them was the ability of employers to match student loan payments similar to 401(K)’s. According to Business Insider, the program allows student loan payments to be treated as qualifying contributions toward 401(K) plans, 403(b) plans, or other retirement savings plans. It uses the same calculation as contributions pulled directly from an employee’s paycheck.
After initially offering limited guidance on the revised contribution plan, on Aug. 19, the IRS released more robust guidance, defining what constitutes a qualified student loan payment, who qualifies for regular employer-sponsored matches, and sets the minimum number of contributions at one per fiscal year.
According to the IRS, “For a qualified education loan to be treated as incurred by an employee, the employee who makes a payment on the qualified education loan must have a legal obligation to make the payment under the terms of the loan. In general, a cosigner has a legal obligation to make payments under the terms of a loan, but unless the primary borrower defaults under a loan, a guarantor does not have a legal obligation to make payments under the loan. For example, if an eligible employee is a cosigner on a qualified education loan for the employee’s dependent, both the eligible employee and the dependent may have a legal obligation to make payments under the terms of the loan. However, only the individual who makes payments under the qualified education loan can receive a QSLP match on account of those payments.”
According to Teresa Greenip, a CFP and senior wealth manager at Aspirant, “Student loan debt can be a significant drain on household income, shifting resources away from basic necessities, retirement savings, and other goals such as purchasing a home,” Greenip told Business Insider. “Eliminating student loan debt can benefit the economy by shifting household resources from debt repayment to investment and spending, as well as increased personal productivity.”
Greenip continued, “Employee deferrals to retirement plans are administered by employers themselves, so it’s relatively easy to track contributions. Since employers do not track student loan repayments, this adds a layer of complexity and administrative support that will be needed to offer the benefit.”
Andy Banducci, the senior vice president for Retirement and Compensation Policy at the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), a national advocacy organization representing large employers that provide health, retirement, paid leave, and other benefits to their employees. According to Banducci, ERIC lobbied Congress for a tax law change and issued the following statement to Forbes: “ERIC’s member companies are committed to the financial wellbeing of their employees, including those with outstanding student loans. That is why we lobbied Congress to enact a tax law change allowing employers to make retirement plan matching contributions on account of workers’ qualified student loan payments. We applaud the IRS for issuing interim guidance implementing this change and look forward to providing technical comments to the IRS in the coming weeks.”
RELATED CONTENT: Another One! Biden Announces Round Of Student Loan Debt Cancellation For 160K Borrowers
MONICA H. DOUGLAS
MONICA H. DOUGLAS
COMPANY
General Counsel for The Coca-Cola Co.
BOARD
Vici Properties Inc.
Robert L. Dixon Jr.
Robert L. Dixon Jr.
COMPANY
Former SVP & Global Chief Information Officer, PepsiCo, Inc.
BOARD
Elevance Health Inc.
Lori Dickerson Fouché
Lori Dickerson Fouché
COMPANY
Former Senior EVP & Advisor to the CEO for TIAA
BOARD
The Kraft Heinz Co.
by Jeroslyn JoVonn
August 22, 2024
Craig Mack Real Cause Of Death Revealed To Be Complications From HIV/AIDS
A look into Craig Mack's personal health records has revealed his real cause of death to be from HIV/AIDS complications.
A look into Craig Mack’s personal health records has revealed his real cause of death to be from HIV/AIDS complications.
At the time of Mack’s 2018 death, his family reported his passing as the result of congestive heart failure. However, according to a recent article from Rolling Stone, the Bad Boy rapper’s death certificate confirmed HIV/AIDS as the cause of death.
It’s rumored that Mack denied treatment for his ailing health due to his involvement in a religious cult. The article makes mention of the “last day prophet” Mack allegedly followed who believed that barcodes on items were reportedly “a mark of the beast.”
During his life, Mack was hailed as a pioneer within Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment record label. His 1993 hit “Flava In Ya Ear” served as a hip-hop anthem in the early 1990s and helped put Diddy’s then-burgeoning record label on the map.
In 1994 Mack released his debut album Project: Funk da World which featured the hit single and earned him a Grammy nomination. His rap career was short-lived as he found it difficult to follow up the success of his debut single. With Diddy going on to sign big name artists to Bad Boy like The Notorious B.I.G., Mase, and 112, Craig Mack was easily overlooked before being forgotten entirely.
Born in Queens, New York, Mack eventually relocated to Walterboro, South Carolina where he passed away in March 2018 at age 47. During his time on Bad Boy, Mack was working hard to try and get out of the label, his family says.
He initially filed for bankruptcy to get out of his deal after his sophomore album, Operation: Get Down. When that didn’t work, Mack met with Suge Knight to consider signing with his Death Row records. Suge reportedly offered Mack a $1.25 million recording budget and a $200,000 advance.
However, once Diddy found out, he forced Mack to drop his bankruptcy claim and buy out his Bad Boy contract in order to leave the label.
“Puff was pissed [Mack was] leaving Bad Boy and the fact that he was going to go with Suge,” Mack’s ex-wife Roxanne Alexis Hill Johnson said. “From what I understand, Puff was enraged. Puffy became a vindictive bastard and really stuck it to him for doing that.”
Johnson claims Mack was afraid of Diddy and blames the hip-hop mogul for the rapper’s career downfall. The revelations into his real cause of death come amid a drastic fall from grace for Diddy, who’s locked in a series of legal battles based on allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
by Mitti Hicks
August 22, 2024
Black Couple Acquires A 120-Room Full-Service Hotel In Louisiana After Raising $2.8M
This is the second property Norland and Dr. Amina James acquired in the south.
Norland and Dr. Amina James, the Black couple who made history by purchasing the Quality Inn in Memphis Northeast, just secured another property in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, in 2022, the two acquired the 70-room Memphis property for $3.85 million with the help of a cohort of first-time African American hotel investors. They then raised $2.8 million to purchase Wyndham Lake Charles – a 120-room full-service hotel.
According to Development Wyndham, less than 2% of hotel owners nationwide identify as Black.
While the hotel is currently open for reservations, renovations are underway to transform the property into an upscale Wyndham resort with a restaurant, bar, and meeting space by 2025.
“We’re creating a space that is for everyone,” Dr. Amina says. “It will be the perfect choice of accommodations for vacations, family reunions, and business trips alike.”
Black Business reports that the hotel project is backed by a majority of Black investors and managed by the Black-owned management company Synergy Hospitality Group.
Inside the hotel, guests will immediately notice what the owners call “affordable luxury.” The hotel features a two-story lobby with charming black-and-white tiled flooring, abundant natural light, and the newly branded hotel restaurant Renaissance Bar & Grill, which will offer southern comfort food with a Creole flair.
Located three hours from Louisiana’s bustling city, New Orleans, Lake Charles is considered the state’s playground, with a beautiful blend of Cajun, Creole, and Native American influences.
There’s no shortage of fun in Lake Charles. The city hosts approximately 70 festivals, attracting thousands of visitors annually.
“Lake Charles is such a great place to visit with family and friends,” Norland said in a statement. “There’s so much to do from the casinos to sports and festivals. It’s ideal for a long weekend or quiet getaway.”
by Jeroslyn JoVonn
August 22, 2024
It’s Been 60 Years Since Fannie Lou Hamer’s ‘Is This America’ Speech At The DNC
The 2024 Democratic National Convention comes 60 years after Fannie Lou Hamer's famed "Is this America" speech at the 1964 DNC.
The 2024 Democratic National Convention is seeing the country unite to nominate someone who could become the first Black woman president. The historical event comes 60 years after Fannie Lou Hamer’s famed “Is this America” speech, where she called out the seating of Mississippi’s all-white delegation.
It was during the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that Fannie Lou Hamer sat before the credentials committee to give testimony about her experience as a sharecropper in Mississippi who was fired from her plantation job in retaliation for trying to register to vote.
Hamer described the abuse she sustained while in jail for encouraging other Black people to exercise their right to vote, AP News reports.
“It wasn’t too long before three white men came to my cell. One of these men was a state highway patrolman,” Hamer told the crowd. “He said, ‘We going to make you wish you was dead.”
She recounted the arbitrary tests imposed by white authorities to block Black people from voting, along with other unconstitutional tactics used to keep white elites in power throughout the segregated South.
“All of this is on account of we want to register to become first-class citizens,” Hamer told the committee.
Hamer went to the DNC as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which helped organize Freedom Summer, a campaign to educate and register Black voters. In response to Mississippi holding whites-only primaries, activists like Hamer formed the racially integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to confront leading Democrats on a national stage.
President Lyndon B. Johnson attempted to distract the public from Hamer’s speech by calling a news conference during her testimony. However, networks later showed her speech on television, giving the masses a chance to hear her impassioned plea.
“If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America,” Hamer told the credentials committee. “Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings in America?”
Her work and voice continue to resonate within the modern Democratic Party with figures like U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who will speak Wednesday at the 2024 Democratic National Convention who first registered to vote after Hamer urged him to while he was a college student in Mississippi.
“Our challenge as Americans is to make sure that this experiment called democracy is not just for the landed gentry or the wealthy, but it is for everybody,” Thompson said.
RELATED CONTENT: ‘America ReFramed’ Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Premiere of Fannie Lou Hamer’s America
by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
August 22, 2024
Crossword Puzzles Get Black Culture Spin In New Book Release
The book will offer pages of puzzles with clues that reference Black culture.
For diverse crossword lovers, this new book release will provide clues primarily from Black culture.
Its inception was sparked by a Black woman who frequently found herself unable to relate to other crossword themes. Juliana Pache’s desire to play a game that spoke to her cultural norms and phrases led her to create blackcrossword.com in January 2023.
The platform allows fellow Black crossword enthusiasts to play with familiar clues. The site’s motto even includes “If you know, you know.”
She told ABC News that the site boasts around 2,200 daily visitors. However, her new book, “Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating the African Diaspora,” takes the games up a notch. Released on Aug. 20, the book contains multitudes of puzzles that once drove Black people to her original website.
While “making it with Black people in mind,” the puzzles contain abundant Black cultural references. However, they also remain “challenging” like the comparable The New York Times version.
“I also want to make it challenging, not just for people who might be interested in Black culture, but people within Black culture who might be interested in other regions,” said Pache. “Part of my mission with this is to highlight Black people from all over, Black culture from all over. And I think … that keeps us learning about each other.”
She added, “And then, if anyone else enjoys it, they learn things from it; that’s a bonus, but it’s not my focus.”
Pache is not the only one who has called out the Times’ not-so-inclusive crossword. The criticism even pushed the platform to boost representation for its fan-favorite game. In the meantime, however, Pache is putting the power into her own hands, becoming the game master where Black history and culture are the standard.
Avid players can purchase “Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating the African Diaspora” from various retailers.