#NNPA BlackPress
Karen Carter Richards, CEO/Publisher Houston Forward Times, Seeks NNPA Chair
THE TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — Karen Carter Richards, CEO and Publisher of the Houston Forward Times, is running for the chairmanship of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the country’s largest Black Press advocacy group with more than 200 newspapers. Richards has a long and distinguished journalistic career, and is last year’s winner of the NNPA Publisher of the Year award.
By Rosetta Miller Perry
NASHVILLE, TN — Karen Carter Richards, CEO and Publisher of the Houston Forward Times, is running for the chairmanship of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the country’s largest Black Press advocacy group with more than 200 newspapers. Richards has a long and distinguished journalistic career, and is last year’s winner of the NNPA Publisher of the Year award.
Under her leadership since 2010, the Forward Times is able to compete with two other mainstream Houston dailies.
She has also maintained a family tradition dating back to 1960, when her father, Julius P. Carter, founded the Houston Forward Times. He saw a need for a newspaper dedicated to covering issues and personalities being ignored by the mainstream press. After his death, her mother Lenora “Doll” Carter took over, with Richards working alongside her, a partnership that continued over three decades. The family ties remain strong today, as her oldest daughter Chelsea is the paper’s general manager, and her youngest Nykayla, is its social media editor.
Richards is the NNPA’s current first vice chair, and has always publicly expressed her dedication and devotion to the the Black Press. “The Black Press has always been and will continue to be relevant,” she said in a recent NNPA release. “We are the voice, the true voice of our people. We have recorded our history for 191 years like no other media could ever do. We have recorded many stories…our celebrations, our injustices and those hidden, treasured stories that came from our communities that we have always found value in.”
A Houston native, having two parents immersed in journalism had a dynamic impact on Richards. She was delivering papers as a seven-year-old, riding her bicycle through her neighborhood.
She’s called her father “a visionary,” and stressed his desire to celebrate and highlight the positive things happening in Houston’s Black community as well as documenting problems, ills, and systemic abuses and injustices. He exposed her to numerous things from politics to the arts, fashion, business and commerce, which prepared her for her current role.
Likewise, her mother worked alongside her father, and upon his death took over the operation. Richards began working full-time at the Forward Times in 1983, and credits her mother with teaching her everything about the paper from the business and technical ends, whether it was writing, design, sales or distribution. When her mother passed in April of 2010, Richards was more than ready to assume a leadership role, one that’s seen her make the Forward Times a rare Black weekly newspaper, and an outlet that’s growing and expanding in an era when print properties are shrinking or disappearing.
One example of the paper’s outreach under Richards was the creation of the Julius and Lenora Carter Scholarship & Youth Foundation, which benefits low-to-moderate income Houston high school seniors and college students interested in various areas of journalism. Since its formation in 2010, the Foundation has provided internships to high school and college student in order to prepare them for careers in their prospective fields of study, through practical learning experiences in Journalism, Printing, Broadcasting and Digital Communications.
In her role as NNPA First Vice Chair, Richards was recently selected as an inaugural member of the International Women’s Forum (I.W.F.) – the Houston Chapter. The International Women’s Forum is a singularly unique organization comprised of more than 6,000 dynamic women leaders in thirty-three countries and seventy-four forums around the world. She served as Chairperson of “Go Red Girlfriend,” an African American Awareness Initiative for the American Heart Association. She’s also a recipient of the National Council of Negro Women’s Mary McLeod Bethune Impact Service Award. Numerous women, youth, senior citizens, community organizations, businesses and churches have benefited from her overall dedication, support and training.
Richards was also honored by the Texas Executive Women (TEW), an organization consisting of powerful and successful woman executives from various professions and industries in Houston, as one of their Women on the Move in 2016. Upon receiving her award Richards said publicly, “Although I am humbled by the things that we have accomplished, my pride comes in continuing the legacy of my parents,” said Karen. “They instilled in me a pride and commitment to our community. That is what they expected and it is the mandate that they left me to carry on. I am very proud that we celebrate more than 56 years in business.”
Now, as the Houston Forward Times enjoys celebrating 60 years in business, Karen Carter Richards aims to bring those same qualities of forthright self-awareness – decisiveness – the ability to make decisions quickly. fairness – treating others equally, enthusiasm – motivating a team with a positive attitude, integrity – earning the respect of team knowledge – keeping abreast of the facts and figures.and imaginative thinking to the position of NNPA chairman.
This article originally appeared in The Tennessee Tribune.
#NNPA BlackPress
Tiguan’s AI Touchscreen & Gear Shift: VW Just Changed the Game! #2
Explore the Tiguan’s cutting-edge 12.9-inch infotainment touchscreen featuring wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, voice control, and a new AI assistant. See how VW innovatively moved the gear shifter to the steering column, enhancing the center console and navigation system! #AutoNetwork #Tiguan #Infotainment #AppleCarPlay #AndroidAuto #AISystem #NavigationSystem #CarTech #TechReview #CarInnovation #Automotive

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xUKM6U2Lpc&autoplay=0&cc_lang_pref=en&cc_load_policy=0&color=0&controls=1&fs=1&h1=en&loop=0&rel=0
Explore the Tiguan’s cutting-edge 12.9-inch infotainment touchscreen featuring wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, voice control, and a new AI assistant. See how VW innovatively moved the gear shifter to the steering column, enhancing the center console and navigation system! #AutoNetwork #Tiguan #Infotainment #AppleCarPlay #AndroidAuto #AISystem #NavigationSystem #CarTech #TechReview #CarInnovation #Automotive
#NNPA BlackPress
IN MEMORIAM: Legendary Funk Pioneer Sly Stone Dies at 82
Sly Stone’s musical approach radically reshaped popular music. He transcended genre boundaries and empowered a new generation of artists. The band’s socially conscious message and infectious rhythms sparked a wave of influence, reaching artists as diverse as Miles Davis, George Clinton, Prince, Dr. Dre, and the Roots.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Newswire
Sylvester “Sly” Stewart—known to the world as Sly Stone, frontman of the groundbreaking band Sly and the Family Stone—has died at the age of 82.
His family confirmed that he passed away peacefully at his Los Angeles home surrounded by loved ones, after battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other health complications.
Born March 15, 1943, in Denton, Texas, Stone moved with his family to Vallejo, California, as a child. He began recording gospel music at age 8 with his siblings in a group called the Stewart Four. By his teenage years, he had mastered multiple instruments and was already pioneering racial integration in music—an ethos that would define his career.
In 1966, Sly and his brother Freddie merged their bands to form Sly and the Family Stone, complete with a revolutionary interracial, mixed-gender lineup.
The band quickly became a commercial and cultural force with hits such as “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—all penned by Stone himself.
Their album “Stand!” (1969) and live performances—most notably at Woodstock—cemented their reputation, blending soul, funk, rock, gospel, and psychedelia to reflect the optimism and turmoil of their era.
Sly Stone’s musical approach radically reshaped popular music. He transcended genre boundaries and empowered a new generation of artists. The band’s socially conscious message and infectious rhythms sparked a wave of influence, reaching artists as diverse as Miles Davis, George Clinton, Prince, Dr. Dre, and the Roots.
As the 1970s progressed, Stone confronted personal demons. His desire to use music as a response to war, racism, and societal change culminated in the intense album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” (1971). But drug dependency began to undermine both his health and professional life, leading to erratic behavior and band decline through the early 1980s.
Withdrawn from the public eye for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Stone staged occasional comebacks. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys in 2017, and captured public attention following the 2023 release of his memoir “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—published under Questlove’s imprint. He also completed a biographical screenplay and was featured in Questlove’s documentary “Sly Lives!” earlier this year.
His influence endured across generations. Critics and historians repeatedly credit him with perfecting funk and creating a “progressive soul,” shaping a path for racial integration both onstage and in the broader culture.
“Rest in beats Sly Stone,” legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D posted on social media with an illustrative drawing of the artist. “We should thank Questlove of the Roots for keeping his fire blazing in this century.”
Emmy-winning entertainment publicist Danny Deraney also paid homage. “Rest easy Sly Stone,” Deraney posted. “You changed music (and me) forever. The time he won over Ed Sullivan’s audience in 1968. Simply magical. Freelance music publicist and Sirius XM host Eric Alper also offered a tribute.
“The funk pioneer who made the world dance, think, and get higher,” Alper wrote of Sly Stone. “His music changed everything—and it still does.”
Sly Stone is survived by three children.
#NNPA BlackPress
PRESS ROOM: Clyburn on 10th Anniversary of Mother Emanuel AME Church Shooting in Charleston
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

By Congressman James E. Clyburn
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.
“Over 6 years ago, the House first passed my Enhanced Background Checks Act to close the Charleston Loophole that allowed a white supremacist to obtain the gun he used to murder nine worshipers at Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.
“I’ll never stop fighting to pass this law.”
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