Shares of Five Below ( FIVE -2.52% ) jumped 22.5% this week, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . The discount retailer posted improving comparable store sales growth in the third quarter and announced a new CEO to lead the company. Shares of Five Below had fallen big-time this year, and are still off 52% from all-time highs. However, as of this writing at 2:33 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 6, the stock is up over 20% this week. Here's why Five Below stock recovered some losses this week. Strong Q3 earnings, new CEO Five Below's Q3 headline numbers were strong. Revenue grew 14.6% year over year to $843.7 million, with comparable-store sales growth of 0.6%. Less than 1% same-store sales growth might seem weak, but this is a big improvement for Five Below compared to previous quarters. In the second quarter of this year, Five Below had a negative 5.7% comparable sales growth, so any positive number is a major step in the right direction. Management stability is hopefully on the horizon as well. Five Below announced it was hiring Winnie Park as its new CEO. Park previously ran Forever 21, another retailer focused on serving a younger crowd. Park's turnaround of Forever 21 is likely why the board of directors sought her out as its new CEO. The quarter was not all sunshine and rainbows, however. Gross profit margin dipped in the second quarter, meaning that Five Below was discounting its merchandise in order to move inventory. Gross margin fell to 31%, which was well off its typical seasonal trend. Operating income was actually negative in the quarter, compared to a positive $16.1 million a year ago. While this will likely reverse if Five Below can keep pushing positive comparable store sales growth, it is not a good sign that the company needs to discount so much in order to hit sales figures. What comes next The stock is up a lot this week, but still well below its all-time high. The earnings ratio is not radically expensive, either. Five Below's price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is 23, which is well below the S&P 500 level of 31. Five Below is growing faster than the average S&P 500 stock right now with its double-digit revenue growth. One key metric for investors to track is operating margin . Operating margin has slipped to 9% over the past 12 months compared to closer to 11% or 12% in prior years. If Five Below can regain this operating margin figure while also growing sales, its P/E will come down in a hurry. If you believe in this business model, there is still a lot of room for Five Below stock to run in the coming years.
National security officials meet share intel on Chinese cyber espionage campaignLONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In the 1979 disaster movie “The China Syndrome”, a design flaw at a nuclear power plant threatens a catastrophic meltdown in which the reactor core will burn all the way through to the other side of the earth. Investors in Chinese equities have lately been enduring a China Syndrome of their own. Over the last three-and-a-half years, the benchmark CSI 300 Index has lost nearly a third of its value, even as the S&P 500 Index (.SPX) , opens new tab basket of leading U.S. stocks has soared to new all-time highs. With Donald Trump set to return to the White House backed by a Republican-controlled Congress, should investors brace for Chinese stocks to shrivel further – or is now the moment to take a contrarian view? It is not hard to find reasons to steer clear. Having averaged 9% a year in the two decades leading up to 2019, China’s economic growth rate has roughly halved since 2020. Even in the boom times, the link between equity returns and growth was weak . But the cracks run much deeper than that. China’s investment-led growth model, funded by successive waves of credit expansion, appears to have run out of steam while leaving the economy loaded with sky-high debts. The country’s once-booming real estate sector has succumbed to an epic bust, shrinking the value of most households’ main asset and stranding local government finances. Meanwhile, broad measures of domestic Chinese prices have been sliding for more than two years, completing a toxic circle and raising the spectre of debt-deflation. No wonder the bears say its economy is structurally impaired. Yet alongside these well-known handicaps, investors in the People’s Republic benefit from some equally notable tailwinds. It is the world’s second-largest economy, it is the undisputed leader in global manufacturing and trade, and - according to , opens new tab the Australian Strategic Policy Institute - the global champion in research and innovation in no fewer than 57 of 64 critical technologies. Indeed, the European Union is now considering asking Chinese companies to transfer technology in return for subsidies, the Financial Times reported this week. Financially, meanwhile, China is the world’s largest external creditor economy, with an excess of foreign assets over liabilities of some $4.3 trillion. Its annual current account surplus has dipped below $100 billion only once in the last two decades and added a cool $250 billion last year. Such economic and financial fundamentals give the Chinese authorities a degree of flexibility over economic policy that few other governments can match. China bulls can take further heart from valuation and sentiment. Even after a 25% jump since authorities in Beijing announced monetary stimulus measures in mid-September, the CSI 300 Index still trades at just over 15 times earnings. India’s BSE Sensex Index (.BSESN) , opens new tab trades at 22 times, while the S&P 500 Index is valued at a multiple of 27. It’s only four years since the planned $37 billion initial public offering of Jack Ma’s Ant Financial attracted orders of $3 trillion from prospective investors – equivalent to nearly 3% cent of global GDP at the time – shortly before regulators cancelled the offering. Investors evidently weren’t too bothered by the Middle Kingdom’s structural challenges back then. If ever there were a case of prices making opinions, China’s boosters argue, this is it. Yet even if technical considerations make a short-term punt look tempting, the case for the People’s Republic as a longer-term investment is a trickier matter. The GOP clean sweep in Washington ironically makes it more likely that the world’s two superpowers will be able to strike an economic deal. That’s because on its central contentious issue – China’s management of its exchange rate – the incentives of both sides are increasingly aligned. An agreement under which Beijing agrees to revalue the yuan against the dollar in return for averting an all-out trade war would meet the key demand of Trump and his advisers for an end to what they see as an artificial currency advantage which has brought American manufacturing to its knees. Such a deal - call it a “ Mar-a-Lago Accord ”, after the Plaza Accord which saw U.S. trade partners agreed to devalue the dollar in the mid-1980s – would also align with China’s reluctance to reflate its economy through demand-side stimulus, in favour of attempting a more controlled recovery via a supply-side transition to new drivers of growth built on more advanced industry and technology. It would support China’s long-held ambitions for the yuan’s emergence as a genuine international reserve currency as well. For Chinese equities, such a détente might sound like unequivocal good news. It would be anything but. While it would free China’s stock markets from their current burden of geopolitical risk, it would imprison them in Beijing’s deflationary restructuring strategy instead. Absent the looser monetary conditions and higher inflation that a weaker currency would permit, corporate and local government balance sheets would have to sweat off their excessive debts over time. Growth in corporate revenue and earnings would suffer a prolonged slowdown until the economy had worked out its imbalances. Such a scenario would not disappoint all investors. A strong-yuan, sound-money strategy would be music to the ears of holders of Chinese bonds. Well-targeted venture capital investments in China’s industrial upgrading, meanwhile, could pay off handsomely. But for asset allocators exposed to most constituents of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, the period after a “Mar-a-Lago Accord” would be a long, hard slog. There is of course an alternative possibility. China might opt to ditch its controlled approach and plump for radical reflation instead. That would require a devaluation of the yuan, killing any currency accord. Such a volte-face would supercharge Chinese stock markets – at least in local currency terms. But the resulting disruption to global trade and capital flows would almost certainly be extreme. In that scenario, equity investors well beyond China will need to don their radiation suits as well. “Today, only a handful of people know what it means...” warned the original movie poster for “The China Syndrome” of the meltdown at the heart of its plot, “Soon you will know”. Follow @felixmwmartin , opens new tab on X For more insights like these, click here , opens new tab to try Breakingviews for free. Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Streisand Neto
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items of grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the U.S. West Coast. The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury. The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon. “It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale. “We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up. The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s legendary marijuana crop — was struck by a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky. Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.” South of San Francisco in Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka. “I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 about 66 miles (106 km) north of Eureka. “That’s what I was feeling ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.” Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said. Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any major damage from the quake, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks. “The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?" The students were later sent home. In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The campus in was not in the tsunami hazard zone and after inspections, “all utilities and building systems are normal and operational,” the university said in a statement. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe. There also have been no major infrastructure problems, building collapses or roadway issues, and no major injuries or deaths have been reported, he said. Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake. “We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.” Michael Luna, owner of a Grocery Outlet in Eureka, said that besides a few items falling off shelves, the store on Commercial Street was unscathed by the earthquake. “We didn’t have any issues but a couple of deodorants fall off.... I think the way the earthquake rumbled this time, it was a good thing for our store because the last earthquake was a huge mess," he said. They evacuated customers and closed their doors temporarily until officials lifted the tsunami warning, he said, rushing off the phone to attend to a growing line of customers at check-out. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated. Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said the computer models indicated that this was the type of earthquake that was unlikely to cause a tsunami and gauges that monitor waves then confirmed it, so forecasters canceled the warning. This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state. The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly. On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City. Dazio reported from Los Angeles. AP writers Chris Weber and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles; Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California; Sophie Austin and Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.Shares of health insurance companies including UnitedHealth Group continued to fall on Friday, two days after Brian Thompson, the CEO of the company’s health insurance unit, was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel by a gunman waiting for him. The shooter is still at large and his motive for the attack has not been determined, police officials say. Thompson’s death sparked a wide social media conversation over frustrations with navigating the US health insurance system, particularly when medical expenses are not covered or insurance claims or requests for care are denied. “The anti-insurer sentiment expressed by the public after this event suggests that UnitedHealth and perhaps the industry may need to adjust how they handle coverage decisions,” said Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback. Shares of UnitedHealth slid 5% on Friday to $549.62 after a 5% drop on Thursday. Rival insurers Elevance, Centene, CVS Health, and Cigna also fell between 1.5% and 3%. Those shares all lost ground on Thursday as well. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were carved into shell casings found at the scene, police sources told ABC and the New York Post. The words evoke the title of Jay Feinman’s 2010 book critical of the US insurance industry: “Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.” Follow the latest on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson : Social media sites have been flooded with angry posts attacking the companies and users sharing personal frustrations on coverage rejections and how they have been denied necessary care, as well as sarcastic videos with unsympathetic messages like “thoughts and prayers require prior authorization.” Health insurance companies are reassessing the risks for their top executives with both UnitedHealth and CVS removing photos of their leadership teams from their websites after the shooting. Potential changes in coverage decisions may be prompted by internal initiatives or external pressures that could pose risks for profits, said Utterback. The insurance industry has been facing higher costs over the past few quarters due to increased demand for health care under government-backed Medicare plans for older adults or those with disabilities, as well as changes in Medicaid eligibility from states, which has left insurers with more patients who require more medical services.Prepare Portfolios for Lower Rates, AI Boom, and Select Opportunities UBS is advising investors to align their strategies with expectations of falling interest rates, emerging investment opportunities in AI, and promising sectors such as real estate and resources. Rate Cuts on the Horizon UBS predicts major central banks will lower interest rates as inflation normalizes and labor markets cool. In this environment, investors are encouraged to diversify into high-grade and investment-grade bonds, diversified fixed income, and equity income strategies to enhance yields. Bullish on Equities UBS maintains a positive outlook on equities, forecasting the S&P 500 to reach 6,600 by the end of 2025, driven by lower rates and robust growth. Beyond the U.S., the firm sees opportunities in select Asian markets (excluding Japan), Eurozone small- and mid-cap stocks, and high-quality Swiss dividend equities. AI: A Decade-Defining Opportunity UBS highlights artificial intelligence as a transformative investment theme, projecting the sector could generate over $1.1 trillion in revenue by 2027. For now, the firm recommends focusing on megacap tech stocks and private companies in the enabling layer of the AI ecosystem. Invest in Power and Resources The firm anticipates surging electricity demand fueled by AI adoption, industrial electrification, and decarbonization. UBS advises investing in infrastructure such as transmission, distribution, data centers, transportation, and energy storage. Dollar Weakness Ahead While the U.S. dollar remains strong in the near term, UBS expects it to weaken alongside declining yields and rising twin deficit concerns. Investors are advised to hedge, sell on strength, or use options to generate yield as the currency softens. Gold and Transition Metals Gold is positioned to benefit from falling interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and rising government debt concerns. UBS also sees strong potential in transition metals, as rising demand for electrification meets constrained supply. Real Estate Opportunities UBS sees promise in global real estate, driven by limited supply and rising demand. Sectors like logistics, data centers, and multi-family housing stand out, with the firm recommending a focus on high-quality assets and strategic diversification. his strategic guidance underscores UBS’s forward-looking approach, balancing defensive positioning with opportunities for growth in transformative sectors.
Time for Britain to follow the Aussies and take kids offline
OFAC Continues to Target German, Non-U.S. Entities for U.S. Sanctions Violations
Seeing is believing — at least, that is how Jae’Shaun Phillips feels about attending Sacramento State, the California State University with the largest Black student body, with over 2,000 students. He is in the inaugural class of the Black Honors College, a new initiative created to support future Black scholars and leaders. Now, Sacramento State is leading similar charges statewide. For one, the university is hosting the Cal State system’s new Office for the Advancement of Black Student Success , which oversees efforts to better serve Black students throughout the Cal State system. Secondly, on a wider scope, this office will soon manage a special designation for California colleges and universities that demonstrate a strong dedication to their Black students. A new law taking effect Jan. 1, enacted as SB 1348 , creates the first official Black-Serving Institution designation in the country. The designation will be given to qualifying colleges that vow to take a more aggressive approach to address California’s systemic obstacles that have kept Black students at the lowest college-going and graduation rates. Though it’s not stated in the law explicitly, the intent is that both public and private nonprofit institutions are allowed to apply, according to the office of Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford of Inglewood , who authored the law. This designation is not federally recognized nor will campuses receive federal funding. Besides meeting other student support requirements, the designation is only available to institutions that have a Black student enrollment of at least 10%. For campuses that can’t meet the 10% threshold, they must have at least 1,500 students who are Black. Students like Phillips find comfort in these numbers. “I feel like it pushes me further, just seeing a lot of motivated people, our colors, trying to (succeed) in college,” Phillips said. This is not the reality for most Black college students who find themselves a minority in the majority of California classrooms. California colleges and universities educate over 217,000 Black college students in a pool of over 3.4 million. California’s Black students trail behind their peers academically. Two-thirds of the state’s Black students start at community colleges yet only 35% transfer to a four-year university within six years, compared to 45% for white students, according to an independent study using California Community Colleges data. Cal States lag in graduating their Black students at 49% within six years compared to 62% overall , according to U.S. Department of Education data. At the UCs, where Black enrollment is the lowest, 78% of Black students graduate in six years but are still 8 percentage points behind the general population. Bradford finds those statistics “concerning,” further noting that Black undergraduate enrollment nationwide has declined 25% between 2010 and 2020 . Bradford hopes this new law will reverse the enrollment decline by recognizing colleges that are “accepting and open and there to support African American students.” In California, no colleges or universities meet either of the two primary federal designations for serving Black students: Predominantly Black Institutions, which must have at least a 40% Black student population, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which apply to schools established before 1964 with a primary mission to educate Black students. The Office of Black Excellence will oversee the applications from campuses seeking the Black-Serving Institution designation. Designees will be selected by a governing board consisting of the lieutenant governor, the chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, two members of the public, and college and university officials representing public and private, nonprofit higher education institutions. To qualify for the designation, schools must have established programs dedicated to Black student success, a yet-to-be-determined track record with Black retention and graduation rates, and a five-year plan to boost those rates. Bradford’s office says the governing board will clarify ambiguities in the law regarding application requirements and determine the logistics once it convenes in January. The law does not outline the requirements for two-year nonprofit private institutions applying to the designation nor does it stipulate a deadline for when the first Black-Serving Institution will be recognized. The law is also unclear about which student enrollment data, self-reported or federal, schools will use to show eligibility and whether they can include both undergraduate and graduate students. Self-reported data introduces the potential for inconsistency in how the board vets the institutions — in some cases the numbers nearly double. For example, the UC system indicates that 4.5% of its undergraduate students are Black. However, according to federal Department of Education data, that number is just 2.3%. According to 2022 federal counts of undergraduates and graduate students, 60 California colleges and universities meet one or both of the student population requirements to be a Black-Serving Institution. Of those schools, 32 are private nonprofits, 24 are community colleges, three are Cal States, and only one is a UC — UCLA with 3.6%, or 1,681, Black students. However, according to UC’s self-reported data in 2022, two of the 10 UCs reported more than 1,500 Black students. That number jumped to four in 2023. This is because the UC system counts a person of mixed race as a single race based on a hierarchy that places the highest priority on Black students. UC data rules state that a student who self-identifies as Black and any other group will be reported in UC’s system as Black. Meanwhile, federal data counts mixed-race students in a separate “two or more” category. The Cal State and community college systems also publish internal demographic numbers that vary somewhat from federal data. Unlike the UC, these systems use a category of two or more racial groups. Private, nonprofit institutions operate independently, making it difficult to assess each college’s internal methodology. A few campuses that have confronted inequities served as the blueprint for the new Black-Serving Institution designation. Keith Curry, president of Compton College, and Luke Wood, president of Sacramento State, worked closely with Bradford’s office to conceptualize the law. Both presidents say they recognize the limitations imposed by Proposition 209 , passed in 1996 to ban race-based admissions and education programs, and emphasize that their programs focus on minority students but are open to everyone. In 2022, Curry proclaimed Compton College a Black-Serving Institution, encouraging educational leaders to serve Black students “unapologetically” in an Op-Ed for Diverse magazine. Located south of Los Angeles, Compton College has 1,204 Black students, a quarter of its population. Curry said he harnesses the power of culture to boost student interest with events such as Black Welcome and Black Graduation. This past spring, rapper Kendrick Lamar spoke at graduation, creating some social buzz. In 2021, Compton College created a new leadership role, director of Black and Males of Color Success. In the role, Antonio Banks connects students to tutoring services, basic needs resources, and specialized programming. He also oversees the Men’s Leadership Academy, which hosts weekly events dedicated to community building, such as the recent “Babyboy: Building Emotional Intelligence to Combat Toxic Masculinity.” Banks said they focus on fostering community and “helping students become advocates, both in their own fight for education, (and) the fight for others.” Curry believes his Black-centered approach is already working. During the 2023-24 academic year, returning Black full-time equivalent students increased 34.6% from the previous year, according to Compton’s data. Banks says it will take one to three years to fully reveal the impact of their programs on graduation rates. In the Cal State system, Wood has been a leading advocate in supporting Black students. A 2023 report by the chancellor’s Black Student Success Workgroup acknowledged the university system’s failure to produce equal outcomes for its Black students. The report made recommendations to all Cal State universities, including recruiting faculty with a high record of success in serving their Black students, implementing inclusive curriculum, and establishing a Black Resource Center on every campus. Much of what the report entails, Sacramento State has already established. Sacramento State hosts over a dozen groups and resources dedicated to supporting Black and marginalized students. “We’re trying to create an experience outside of the classroom that celebrates Black history, life and culture in a way that you would only see at an institution that is a HBCU,” Wood said. An example is the Black Honors College, which focuses entirely on Black academia and culture. Select students receive specialized staffing and resources for seminars, coursework, therapy, research opportunities, housing, and more. The university has also started establishing pipelines with some community colleges with large Black student populations, including Merritt College in Oakland and Compton College. Business major Phillips attended predominantly white grade schools in Tracy, California. One of the reasons he chose Sacramento State was the community it has built for Black students. He said initiatives like the Black Honors College have special impact on “kids who are very strong in academics, but may not have that home life that really supports them, or for kids who have a lot of capability, potential and talent, but (are not) being promoted or pushed through all the way to see that full potential.” Wood says their efforts have already helped in recruiting and graduating Black students. Applications overall were up by around 4,000 this fall, with a 17% increase for enrolled Black freshmen and a 40% increase among Black community college transfers. Four-year graduation rates for Black students rose to 1 in 4 graduating in 2024, compared to 1 in 5 in 2019 . Universities that pursue the new Black-Serving Institution designation seek to attract students like Nora Thompson, who is studying administration of justice at Merritt College and has always wanted the HBCU experience. Merritt serves a 20.4% Black student population. Thompson has plans to transfer to North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, in the spring. She dreams of becoming a judge like her grandfather. “I had to work 30 times harder to be seen as a student and as someone who cared about their education,” Thompson said. “For most people, their HBCU changes their life ... I wanted to experience feeling like being part of a community in every possible way, not just education wise.” She lamented having to leave the state — and pay out-of-state tuition — just to experience a flourishing Black academic setting. Thompson says that even with the Black-Serving designation, California’s Black student populations are not enough to keep her here. Further north in a more remote area of the state, junior journalism major and Black Student Union president at Cal Poly Humboldt, Kaylon Coleman, is not satisfied with his experience at the university — from the subtle racism by his classmates to the few opportunities to learn from Black scholars. Cal Poly Humboldt is a predominantly white institution. Federal data as of 2022 shows that of the 6,025 students enrolled, only 179 were Black — far below the minimum to qualify as a Black-Serving Institution. As a freshman, Coleman was told by counselors that the Black Student Union had a history of disbanding due to low Black student enrollment. He turned to the Umoja Center for Pan African Student Excellence, the university’s cultural center for those who are Black identifying or of African descent. A friend of Coleman’s revived the union, and he joined. Like many students attending universities with small Black populations, Coleman said it’s exhausting to speak up about the behavior of those around him. “It’s hard to be that one person — Black person — in your class, or the one to explain why this was a microaggression, or why this was racist, or why you can’t touch my hair, stuff like that,” Coleman said. Coleman feels that students attending schools without the Black-Serving Institution title will be left behind. He believes that Black students at every California college deserve to reap the benefits that would come with the label. Kyira Todmia, a senior in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior at UC Davis, shared a slightly different experience. In 2022, federal data reported Davis had 783 Black students, representing 2% of over 39,000 students total. However, it self-reports 1,472 Black students, or 3.7% of the population. She says that while her school may not have a large Black student population, the student resources are strong. Todmia built her social circle around the African American “learning community” in student housing as a freshman. She also hangs out at the Center for African Diaspora, where students have access to study spaces, tutors, peer advisors and events. During Todmia’s four years at Davis, she’s only had one Black professor. Because few Black students are in STEM majors, at times she is the only Black student in classes of 300 to 500 people. At least in her learning community, she said, she was able to see rooms full of Black folks every day — even if they weren’t in most of her classes. For Sen. Bradford, now 64, the new law is personal. Bradford reflected on his own experience as a biology student at Cal State Dominguez Hills in the 1980s. For a campus that earns the Black-Serving Institution designation, Bradford said, “It’s going to be an environment that’s going to be welcoming, that’s going to be supportive. I only wish that had existed when I entered college over 40 years ago.” Mikhail Zinshteyn contributed to this story. This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
NoneMiami Heat president Pat Riley may have just offered the final word in the Jimmy Butler saga. "We usually don't comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches," Riley said Thursday in a statement . "Therefore, we will make it clear—we are not trading Jimmy Butler." This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .
Holiday shopping isn’t over for the Los Angeles Lakers , who are “monitoring the sellers around the NBA,” per ESPN’s Shams Charania. Singling out the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, and Chicago Bulls as potential trade suitors, the insider reveals that L.A. is willing to move up to three first-round picks for immediate help. The caveat is that they want a player who Lakers head coach JJ Redick can help mold after LeBron James retires. Shams Charania: “They’re [Lakers] monitoring the sellers around the NBA: Portland, Washington, Toronto, maybe Chicago.” pic.twitter.com/mnEgZNcIZP — Omer Osman (@OmerOsman200) December 26, 2024 If so, the Wizards are the best option among the listed teams. Wizards Trade Fits Lakers’ Needs Most Amid Recent Rumors Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors appear committed to the young core of Immanuel Quickley , RJ Barrett , and Scottie Barnes right now. As a result, Jakob Poeltl would likely be the focus of and best player in their trade talks, even if the Lakers had their eye on young players like Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter . A broad shouldered center with a familiar European game, Poeltl can definitely fortify their frontcourt rotation. Portland Trail Blazers A package from the Blazers would likely revolve around Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant . There aren’t many differences between Simons and D’Angelo Russell , who L.A. has been dangling as trade bait. Yet, the best part of adding Simons is his youth, as he’s just 25 years old. Grant is probably a more valuable addition as he’s a more advanced scorer than Rui Hachimura is right now. However, the former ninth overall pick is valuable glue piece in the starting lineup. Giving him fewer minutes may not work in their favor. The same goes for the idea of Grant allowing James to rest more. Chicago Bulls High-flying wing Zach LaVine might finally land in Los Angeles after years of speculation. That is, unless the Lakers turned their attention to Nikola Vucevic , whose blistering hot shooting could open up the paint for players like James and Anthony Davis . LaVine is a deadly marksman himself though, which should matter for a team that ranks in the bottom-10 in three-point conversions, three-point attempts, and three-point percentage (.348). If the Lakers are set on adding a younger player, 2021 No. 6 pick Josh Giddey fits the description. In the immediate future, he’d be a high IQ floor general who stabilized the point guard position. Down the line, he could star in it. Washington Wizards If the Lakers were able to strike a deal with the Wizards, they could come away with a package that includes Kyle Kuzma , Jonas Valanciunas , and Jordan Poole . However, the math suggests that L.A. would have to be willing to trade Hachimura to acquire the Poole. Kuzma hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season. Nonetheless, he’s an underrated scorer with playmaker who won a championship with L.A. in 2020. Valanciunas, who’s even more skilled than Poeltl, was among the players James was willing to take a small paycut for this offseason. Poole, an NBA champion with a smooth offensive game, also has a tendency to shine in the clutch. By making this trade, it’ll be like consolidating the other potential packages. Like Grant, Kuzma —who should already have chemistry with James and Davis —helps solidify the frontcourt rotation. Valanciunas does the same. Furthermore, whether or not his three-ball is falling like Vucevic’s, he possesses the physical tools the Lakers have been looking for at center. Poole isn’t as explosive as Simons or LaVine but he’s quick, crafty, and on fire . This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.