The shine of Amanda Gorman’s work can’t be dimmed. Following a Florida school banning “The Hill We Climb,” sales have skyrocketed for the presidential inauguration poem as well as the poet’s “Call Us What We Carry” and “Change Sings,” according to Variety. The pieces of work have even taken over Amazon’s best-seller list. Plus, the pre-order for Gorman’s upcoming children’s book “Something, Someday” is No. 2 on Amazon’s list of best-selling new releases in children’s books on prejudice and racism, as of this writing.

Terry Donnell Gwinn can celebrate becoming the first business to be licensed as a medical marijuana operator in Florida — and it’s long overdue.

Shaquille O’Neal is always raising the bar! As AfroTech previously reported, the basketball legend and serial entrepreneur became a co-owner of Big Chicken in 2018 before introducing the restaurant chain to Las Vegas and California. Now, it appears Shaq is still on the move! Houston Chronicle reports Big Chicken will be opening 50 locations throughout Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. The first restaurants are expected to open at an undisclosed date later this year and it appears Houstonians and Austinites will have first dibs. “Big Chicken is exactly the kind of brand that succeeds in Texas: pioneering and bold, yet rooted in delicious tradition. Our restaurant industry’s rich diversity is our greatest strength, and we’re absolutely thrilled that Shaquille O’Neal and the Big Chicken team are joining us,” said Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, according to the Houston Chronicle. “Welcome back home to Texas, Shaq.” Big Chicken’s...

When an energy company decided it wanted to build a solar farm in the sleepy town of Archer, Florida, activists stood up and took notice. The town, which is steeped in Black history (rock legend Bo Diddley was born there), is also one of the few counties in Florida where Black homeownership — the prime driver for middle-class wealth — is at a much higher rate than most other counties in Florida. Yet, if this proposed solar farm — reported recently by The Grio — were to go up on 650 acres of vacant farmland near the St. Petersburg area, the residents would receive no benefits from its presence. And, in fact, they’d be all but driven out — which, they say, is the point. Jeraldine McMillan, who is a native of Archer, told the local CBS affiliate that none of the residents would receive benefits like cheaper electricity, for example. “We get our power from Clay Electric, and this whole project does not benefit us at all, and that’s where they overlooked us,” she said. “We grew up in...

Serving as the leading bank of Florida A&M University (FAMU) , The Wells Fargo Foundation has placed a generous contribution to spur women and minority-owned businesses. The $100,000 grant is a part of Wells Fargo’s continued partnership with FAMU to commit a total of $500,000 across Orlando and Tallahassee, FL. The funds will back the creation of a small business incubator and support the project’s staff operations, business development, and expansions goals. “As FAMU’s official bank, we are pleased to see Wells Fargo stepping up its commitment to small business development. This initiative will catalyze entrepreneurship and reap dividends for years to come,” says FAMU President Larry Robinson in an official press release from the FAMU Forward. The incubator will sow seeds of promise for many minority businesses who participate. In an interview with Tallahassee Democrat, Shawnta S. Friday-Stroud- vice president for University Advancement and director of the FAMU Foundation- noted...

A new vegan grocery store is coming to a city near you! According to Black Business, Vegan Fine Foods is not only an all-vegan grocery store, but it’s Black-owned and located in Fort Lauderdale, FL with intentions of opening locations in major cities across the United States by 2024. “I spent years living in food deserts with little to no accessibility to nutrient-dense foods and I see how damaging that can be for underserved communities,” Vegan Fine Foods founder Steven Smith told VegNews. It was this very experience that encouraged him to launch the vegan company in 2016 just after his departure from an engineering career at PepsiCo. and Proctor & Gamble. Today he aims to provide a one-stop-shop for all things vegan and plant-based, expanding his grocery chain by opening both company-owned locations and franchises. Black Business reports after raising over $1.4 million in 2019 for developments, new equipment, and the implementation of a new point-of-sale and inventory management...

Facial recognition is becoming more and more common with law enforcement. In May 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) obtained documents that showed Amazon’s Rekognition was sold to law enforcement in Orlando and Oregon. Now, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) in Florida is looking to use real-time facial recognition, as reported by Orlando Weekly . That essentially refers to a system where every person who passes by a camera running “real-time” software has their face scanned — no matter what. Facial recognition in Florida isn’t new. Biometric Update reported that PCSO already runs the largest facial recognition database in the United States, known as FR-Net. It contains 25 million identified faces pulled from various sources like driver’s licenses, mugshots, and federal IDs. However, the desire to begin implementing real-time facial recognition is a huge switch up from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri’s previous stance. When questioned by Florida legislators...