JAN. 27—The U.S. Small Business Administration will host an 8(a) and HUBZone Certification & Contracting workshop from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Riverside Center for Innovation, 1st floor Conference Room, 700 River Ave., North Side. MBE/WBE and Veteran-owned businesses are encouraged to attend. The workshop is free and open to the public. Registration is requested. For more information, call Marisa Fentzel at 412-395-6560, ext. 109.

by Candice Choi

NEW YORK (AP)—You can still get credit if your finances are a mess. It will just cost dearly.

A sweeping credit card law that takes effect Monday was supposed to prevent banks from employing tactics that yanked borrowers deeper into debt. Yet an array of loans and cards with crushing terms still beckons from every corner.

Consider a subprime credit card that now comes with a 59.9 percent interest rate. There are also payday loans and prepaid cards, both of which can come at steep costs.

by Yussuf J. Simmonds

(NNPA)—There is much speculation in the news that retired NBA star and businessman extraordinaire, Earvin “Magic” Johnson is negotiating to purchase Johnson Publishing Company, the parent company of Ebony and Jet magazines. Sources close to the possible purchase said that the company’s Chicago headquarters, a beacon of Black pride, on Chicago’s South Michigan Avenue, would be included if the deal is consummated. Nothing was mentioned about the Ebony Fashion Show and the radio station that are also a part of the Johnson Empire.

MAGIC JOHNSON

The Johnson Company, home of Ebony and Jet magazines, was founded over a half century ago by John H. Johnson. It evolved from the Negro Digest and has been a media source of inspiration that chronicled life in the Black community in a positive light. Since Johnson passed away in 2005, his daughter, Linda Johnson-Rice, has been the chairwoman and chief executive officer. His wife, Eunice Johnson, was the secretary-treasurer and founded the Ebony Fashion Show that showcased fashion for Black people unlike any other news media at that time; she passed in January 2010.

There’s no place like “your” home! Less than 2 percent of Americans actually own their homes independent of a mortgage. Meaning 98 percent of Americans have a “limited” vested interest in their property, sharing ownership rights with the mortgage company. This boils down to one startling statistic. Either your housing payments are being used to pay down “your mortgage”—if you are a homeowner. Or your housing payments are being used to pay down someone “else’s mortgage”—if you are a renter. Given the fact that shelter is one of the basic necessities of life it stands to reason that many of us will have either a long-term or permanent housing expense. One tax strategy that many financial savvy people employ is to convert non-deductible interest expense to deductible interest expense. Housing expenses as a renter are non-deductible whereas housing expenses as a homeowner are deductible. Translation—seek homeownership over renting. It’s the taxable thing to do.