In every major category, from job opportunities to acquiring health information, more African-American and Hispanic adults regard lack of broadband access as “a major disadvantage” than whites do. Nearly half of African-Americans believe expanding broadband access should be a top government priority, compared with just under two-fifths of whites.

The average broadband user pays $41.18 monthly for service. About one in five adults never use the Internet, with roughly half of nonusers citing its irrelevance to their lives. Three in five say they would need assistance to go online.

“Although the rise in home broadband usage among African-Americans seems surprising in light of the current recession,” said Aaron Smith, senior research specialist at Pew, the fact that a greater percentage of African-Americans say lack of broadband access is a disadvantage. particularly for obtaining career information, “speaks to a recognition within the African-American community that digital connectivity is essential, even — and perhaps especially — during hard economic times.” TEDDY WAYNE

Sixty-six percent of American adults now have a broadband Internet connection at home, the report says, little changed from the 63% mark recorded a year ago. That follows years of double-digit growth.

What’s more, Pew says that most demographic groups had flat to modest broadband adoption growth over the last year with one major exception: 56% of the African-American community now have broadband connections in the home, compared to 46% in 2009.

There are a variety of reasons why African-Americans are bucking the trend, starting with the notion that the group was starting out from a smaller base of users. But Pew’s Senior Research Specialist Aaron Smith, the author of the report, also thinks African- Americans are now more likely to own cellphones, use the mobile Web and social media apps, and that Internet providers themselves may be more aggressive in targeting populations with historically lower adoption rates.

Full story…

Wells Fargo is one of the nation’s largest banks, but it’s had a questionable record with lending to the black and Hispanic community.

As former Wells Fargo loan officer Beth Jacobson told The New York Times in June 2009, Wells Fargo singled out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages. Jacobson and another former Wells Fargo loan officer said in an affidavit that the bank’s employees referred to blacks as “mud people” and to subprime lending as “ghetto loans.”

Full story…

The study found that African-Americans and Hispanics continue to be more likely to own cellphones than whites and more likely to use their phones for a greater range of activities.

This increase in mobile Web use, first noticed in a similar study by the Pew Center last summer, is driven both by age and economics, according to Aaron W. Smith of the Pew Center.

Younger people and people living in households making less than $30,000 a year are increasing their mobile Web use at particularly fast rates, he said, and the African-American and Hispanic populations are younger and poorer relative to the white population.

Full story…

The move is part of an effort by Comcast and NBC Universal to ease concerns among the Latino community about the possible effects of their proposed merger on media diversity. The two companies also unveiled several other initiatives it hoped would lower the volume on the protests over the deal.

Besides adding a board member within 24 months after the deal is sealed, Comcast and NBC said they would boost the number of Latinos working at both companies as well as carry more independent channels and do more business with Latino-owned vendors. Signing a letter supporting their pledges were several Latino advocacy groups, including the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. The National Hispanic Media Coalition and its chief, Alex Nogales, had been very critical of Comcast since the deal with NBC Universal was announced.

In a blog post on Comcast’s website, Comcast also says the two companies will boost carriage of Telemundo, which NBC owns, as well as create new Telemundo spin-off channels.

Both companies also committed to expanding outreach to Latino students and increasing scholarship and internship opportunities.

Comcast also has an African-American — former Fannie Mae executive Kenneth Bacon — on its board of directors.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said an investigation revealed that African-American and Latino borrowers were much more likely to be given risky subprime loans by the lender than similarly situated whites from 2005 to 2007.

The lawsuit also alleged that a statistical analysis revealed that the company charged Latino and African-American borrowers more interest and fees on certain mortgages than whites.

Countrywide Financial, which was the largest mortgage lender in Illinois from 2004 to 2006, is now a subsidiary of Bank of America.

Full story…

Of borrowers who took out mortgages between 2005 and 2008, some 8% of both African-American and Latino borrowers have lost their homes to foreclosure, compared to 4.5% of non-Hispanic whites, according to a study by the Center for Responsible Lending, released Friday.

The racial and ethnic disparities continued even after controlling for income differences. The center’s research shows that African-American and Latino borrowers were about 30% more likely to get higher-rate subprime loans than white borrowers with similiar risk characteristics.

Of the total pool of homeowners, 17% of Latinos have lost their homes to foreclosure or are at imminent risk of losing their homes, while 11% of African-Americans are in that position. By comparison, 7% of non-Hispanic whites have lost their homes or are about to.

Full story…

GIRLFRIENDS Waters is right. While the casts of most dramas and many sitcoms have grown more diverse over the last decade (this fall, for example, the dual stars of NBC’s most anticipated drama, “Undercovers,” are African American), programs aimed at minority viewers are harder to find on both broadcast and cable television.

Veteran Producer Suzanne de Passe, a former president of Motown Television, offered up her thoughts on the disparity. Noting that it was not that long ago that the broadcast networks had such shows as “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “The Cosby Show” and “Living Single,” she laid the blame on media consolidation.

“I have witnessed what consolidation of content and distribution in entertainment and media has done to significantly slow down and diminish opportunity for minority professionals rather than accelerate and increase it,” she said. The networks that used to make shows aimed at blacks “now only offer a minority cast member here and there and a long list of contributions to minority charities under the catch-all word, `diversity,’ ” she testified.

Full story…

FoxNewsLatino.com will launch this fall, the network announced this week, and will “feature the latest breaking news, politics, economic and lifestyle stories that impact the Latino community.”

The site will feature videos in both English and Spanish, and will include reports filed from the US as well as Central America, South America, the West Indies, and beyond.

Full story…

Medicare introduced the program, Medication Therapy Management or MTM, in 2006 as part of the Part D prescription drug program. MTM provides face-to-face counseling, phone consultation or consultations by mail with pharmacists or other health care providers to help people with chronic illness resolve problems with taking medications. The goal is to improve patient health, reduce costs and minimize side effects.

In 2010, to be eligible for the program, a person must be enrolled in the Medicare Part D drug program, have at least three chronic health conditions, take eight or more medications covered by Part D and spend at least $3,000 yearly on the medications.

Full story…