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Governor signs landlord sexual extortion bill

RICHMOND, Va. — recently signed a bill that will charge landlords who threaten renters with sexual extortion with a Class 5 felony . Del. Wendell Walker, R-, introduced House Bill 1998 to offer renters more protection from landlords who make malicious threats such as housing or financial loss, and property damage, in order to engage in sexual intercourse.

Sexual assault can occur in ways other than nonconsenusal sex, and include situations of threat, intimidation, physical helplessness or mental incapacity, according to current Virginia .

Walker told lawmakers that current law does not protect from threats to someone’s housing , which is a detriment to the victim’s financial and living situation. The bill ensures housing and financial manipulation will be recognized as a form of sexual extortion, Walker said.

Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison advocated for the bill and collaborated with Walker.

“I had a case in Lynchburg within the past five years that came to our that we could not proceed with, that involved a sexual assault between a and a couple of tenants,” Harrison said. “So that’s where I brought this idea to Del. Walker and he came up with the sexual exploitation bill.”

There was also another case in a neighboring county that involved a landlord threatening eviction for sex, she said.

The bill contends with an area of sexual assault not yet covered, Harrison told the House Criminal Subcommittee on Jan. 31. Victims need protection against financial threats, not just physical harm, she said. Walker introduced the same bill in 2024, but it did not advance from the House of Justice Committee. This year it passed both chambers unanimously.

The bill also creates a felony for violations against people younger than 15 years of age. This punishment ranges from one to 20 years and a fine of no more than $100,000.

“It is a bill that is helpful to our victims of crime,” Harrison said. “Given that within the past couple of years, we had a sexual exploitation law that passed and this bill adds to that law.”

The Class 5 felony charge aligns with existing sexual exploitation charges, according to Harrison. Individuals found guilty of a Class 5 felony face a prison sentence of at least one year, but no more than 10 years. A jury or court can opt for a jail sentence of no more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both. That means a perpetrator found guilty could pay only a fine for the crime.

The bill will go into effect starting July 1.

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.

Lynchburg’s BWXT unveils Innovation Campus

On Wednesday, , federal and state officials and executives, engineers and employees of Lynchburg-based gathered to celebrate the official opening of the company’s new Innovation Campus.

“The IQ level in this room is really high,” Youngkin joked.

Set on 11 acres in , ‘s Innovation Campus (which shares a name only with Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Alexandria) includes 170,000 square feet of offices and space, which will house laboratories where the company’s Advanced Technologies business unit will design, build and test advanced nuclear systems for its clients, which include NASA, the Defense Department and commercial businesses.

With roots dating back to the mid-19th century, BWXT manufactures nuclear reactors, fuel and components. In 2021, then-Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans for BWXT’s $65 million Innovation Campus. The plan was to build a facility that would house 150 employees and serve as a research, development and production center for new microreactors and nuclear fuels.

Earlier that same year, Youngkin, then a candidate for governor, visited the Advanced Technologies team in Lynchburg at the invitation of BWXT President and CEO Rex D. Geveden.

Having Youngkin back on BWXT’s turf Wednesday, Geveden said, felt like “a full-circle moment.”

In 2021, BWXT’s Advanced Technologies unit had a business backlog of about $10 million , the company head explained Wednesday. Since then, he noted, the team has won $700 million in technology contracts. Now, it has more than 350 team members. “We’ve more than doubled the size of the organization,” Geveden said.

In a 2020 deal, BWXT divested its U.S.-based commercial nuclear services business to Lynchburg’s Framatome and acquired the 11 acres and a 118,000-square-foot building on Mt. Athos Road. That building was renovated and expanded to become the Innovation Campus.

To support development of the campus, BWXT received local and state tax grants worth up to $2 million, which are dependent on the company investing $65 million in the project and adding 97 jobs with salaries averaging $116,000 by the end of this year. 

By the end of 2024, BWXT had made considerable progress toward that goal, making $51 million in investments and hiring more than 115 employees, according to a company announcement.

Youngkin said Wednesday that since President Donald Trump moved into the White House, he has had more meetings than he “can possibly count” with members of the new administration.

“They firmly believe that the future of military propulsion, the future of space exploration, the future of our national infrastructure to win the war of intelligence, the future of making sure that [when a health care provider at a hospital NICU] turns on a light, that it comes on … it is all grounded in nuclear,” Youngkin said.

BWXT will be able to help meet those demands and provide solutions for Virginia, which expects demand for energy to grow exponentially if continue to be developed at the current pace, Youngkin added.

“I’m sorry [to] the rest of our national labs, [but] there’s no place else in the nation that is more prepared to step into this moment, to forge ahead at an expedited pace and deliver … the next generation of nuclear power into Virginia and America and the world,” the governor said of BWXT.

In September, DOD announced it had broken ground at the Idaho National Laboratory in preparation for the construction of the Project Pele transportable , which is being manufactured by BWXT Advanced Technologies in Lynchburg.

“It is expensive, it is large, it is heavy, it is complicated,” Jeff Waksman, program manager for the Strategic Capabilities in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said at the Innovation Campus event Wednesday. “It’s taking a long time.”

The goal, Waksman said, isn’t to build the one reactor, however. “If we just build one and it’s just a museum piece, then we have failed,” he said. “We have to make this a real ecosystem.”

Additionally, BWXT is working with Maryland’s Lockheed Martin to complete the final design of a nuclear reactor to be used in the first demonstration spacecraft using nuclear thermal propulsion known as the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO.

“We are well past the paper reactor phase, and we are building real hardware at relevant scale that was developed on aggressive schedules,” Kate Kelly, director of space and emerging programs at BWXT Advanced Technologies, said Wednesday. “This is creating a path to deployment where we see the reality of sending these systems to space in the next several years.”

 

Virginia Chamber’s DuVal to lead new ITA venture

Newport-News based government contractor announced Wednesday that CEO will be the new president and CEO of , a newly created company designed to help ITA International expand.

ITA International CEO Mike Melo said ITA Growth Partners will officially launch operations on April 1. The goal of this new company is to acquire and grow small veteran-owned businesses across all sectors on behalf of ITA International. Melo told Virginia Business the target companies would complement ITA International and its existing customer base.

DuVal announced in September 2024 that he planned to retire from the chamber in early 2025.  Cathie J. Vick will take over as the chamber’s new leader, starting April 1.

In his new role with ITA, DuVal will lead outreach to veteran-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs and focus on owner transitions, acquisition strategies, evaluations and exit strategies.

“I am excited to begin this new chapter with ITA International and to lead ITA Growth Partners in its mission to support veteran-owned small businesses,” said DuVal in a statement. “ITA has a proven track record of turning challenges into opportunities, and I look forward to working with this talented team.”

DuVal has decades of public and private sector experience, having previously served as mayor of from 1990 to 1996, Secretary of and for Virginia from 1998 to 2002 and most recently as the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s president and CEO.

During his almost 15 years with the Chamber of Commerce, the chamber grew from under 1,000 members to over 33,000 and launched key initiatives like the Blueprint Virginia plan and the WiseChoice Healthcare Alliance.

“We are thrilled to welcome Barry to the ITA family,” said Melo in a statement. “Barry’s reputation as a dynamic leader who has transformed organizations and championed economic development aligns perfectly with our vision to support veterans in the community.”

In a previous announcement about the formation of ITA Growth Partners, Melo described veteran entrepreneurs as “the kind of high-performance leaders we want to invest in,” saying they are trained to solve complex problems, lead under pressure and adapt to change.

“ITA Growth Partners is our way of betting on their success and providing the capital and resources to accelerate their growth,” he said in a statement.

Headquartered in Newport News, ITA International offers services in a wide variety of areas, including data analytics, intelligence, logistics and technical support. It has 185 employees. The newly formed ITA Growth Partners will initially have five or six employees, some of which will also be working for ITA International.

Federal judge struggles with scope of relief for fired workers

BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland said Wednesday he will at least briefly extend a temporary order requiring the Trump administration to bring back who were fired as part of a dramatic downsizing of the federal , but the judge said he was struggling with the scope of a broad order.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar said he had “great reluctance” to issue a sweeping national preliminary injunction in the case, where 19 states and the District of Columbia contend they have been harmed by a large-scale reduction in the federal workforce without warning as required by .

Bredar asked attorneys for plaintiff states and the to submit supplemental documents by 10 a.m. Thursday on the question of the ramifications for the 19 states seeking relief and the 31 states that are not parties to the case.

During a hearing in Baltimore, Bredar said “there’s a lot of things wrong with national injunctions, just on a jurisprudential level, and and commentators are all over the issue.”

“That doesn’t mean the court won’t enter one, if the circumstances and law on this case compel it, but I’m going to resist doing it,” Bredar said. “You’re going to have to show me that it’s essential to remedying any harms that your clients are specifically experiencing.”

The case is complicated by the fact that some federal employees may work a job in a state that is a party to the lawsuit, while they may live in a state that isn’t. An example is in the Washington area, where an affected federal worker might live in Virginia, which isn’t one of the states in the complaint, but work at a federal job in Maryland or the District of Columbia, which are parties in the lawsuit.

In the meantime, the judge said he planned to extend a temporary restraining order he issued last week that required the federal government to reinstate more than 24,000 federal workers. The order expires Thursday night, but the judge said he would extend it “at least briefly, because I think it’s doubtful that given the work that still has to be accomplished that I could complete my opinion and any orders related to this before that TRO runs out.”

The government is appealing the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court last week denied the administration’s request for a stay of the temporary restraining order, since the district court held the Wednesday hearing. At the time, Judge Allison Jones Rushing took issue with the scope of district court rulings. She noted she was writing to “echo the growing concerns over district courts issuing nationwide injunctions to order redress for those who have not sought it.”

The administration is already appealing to the Supreme Court a similar order to reinstate probationary workers from a judge in California. The Justice Department argues that federal judges can’t force the executive branch to reverse its decisions on hiring and firing. Still, the government has been taking steps to rehire fired workers under those orders.

Both judges have found that the president can terminate probationary workers but determined the administration violated the law in the way they carried out the .

Bredar previously found that firings amount to a large-scale reduction in force that’s subject to specific rules, including giving advance notice to states affected by the layoffs.

His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by 19 states that contend the Trump administration blindsided them with the layoffs, which could have devastating consequences for their state finances.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, argues that the states have no right to try and influence the federal government’s relationship with its own workers. Republican President Donald Trump claims the cuts target fraud, waste and abuse in a bloated federal government.

Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they’re usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the mass firings.

The states suing the Trump administration include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia also is a plaintiff.

Copper prices have soared as the US threatens tariffs on the metal and China boosts its economy

NEW YORK (AP) — prices have hit record highs as an ongoing between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to squeeze supplies of the vital metal.

Buyers in the U.S. have been stocking up on copper ahead of potential . Future prices for the base metal hit $5.21 per pound on Tuesday. Prices are up about 30% so far this year, following modest gains over the last several years.

has threatened to impose a tariff of up to 25% on all copper and has called for increasing U.S. production. , the world’s largest importer of copper, is embarking on a stimulus program that could further increase demand for the base metal.

“Tariff threats, tightening supply, and stimulus-fueled optimism for an economic rebound in China have underpinned a rally in copper.” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial.

Copper is critical to around the world. It goes into cords for electronic devices, transmission lines, batteries, and LED lights. A global shift to cleaner energy technology, such as solar power, had already been boosting demand, which is expected to keep growing as the development of artificial intelligence technology puts more of a strain on data centers and the energy grid.

“When you look at the uses of copper in today’s economy, those uses and the intensity of use of copper in today’s economy are growing,” said Kathleen L. Quirk, President and CEO of giant Freeport-McMoRan, at a recent conference for the global industry.

The International Energy Agency expects demand for the base metal to rise 20% to 31,128 kilotons by 2030 and by 41% to 36,379 kilotons by 2040. The U.S. mined about 1.1 million tons of copper in 2024. It currently lags the top producers, including Chile, Peru and China.

Copper mining companies are gaining ground amid rising demand. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan, which operates most of its open-pit copper mines in the U.S., are up 12% this year. Southern Copper, which has operations in Mexico and Peru, is up 8% for the year. The broader market has been slipping, with the S&P 500 down about 2%.

The rising price of copper has a potential downside for some businesses and consumers.

The construction industry, including homebuilders, could face a tighter financial squeeze because of copper’s rising cost as demand fails to keep pace with supplies. Stubborn inflation has already pushed home construction costs higher. Total construction costs for a single-family home rose just under 9.2% in 2024 from the previous year, according to the National Association of Homebuilders. Higher copper prices, coupled with higher prices for other key building materials such as lumber, could worsen inflation for the sector.

Appliances, electronics and other products containing copper could become more expensive, also fueling inflation and prompting consumers to cut back on spending for certain items.

Trump places 25% tariffs on auto imports

WASHINGTON (AP) — said Wednesday he was placing 25% on auto , a move the White House claims would foster domestic but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll effectively be charging a 25% tariff.”

The tariffs, which the White House expects to raise $100 billion in revenue annually, could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world. The tax hike starting in April means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales, though Trump argues that the tariffs will lead to more factories opening in the United States and the end of what he judges to be a “ridiculous” supply chain in which auto parts and finished vehicles are manufactured across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

To underscore his seriousness, Trump said, “This is permanent.”

Shares in General Motors fell roughly 3% in Wednesday trading. Ford’s stock was up slightly. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, dropped nearly 3.6%.

Trump has long said that tariffs against auto imports would be a defining policy of his presidency, betting that the costs created by the taxes would cause more production to relocate to the United States while helping to narrow the budget deficit. But U.S. and foreign automakers have plants around the world to accommodate global sales while also maintaining competitive prices — and it could take years for companies to design, build and open the new factories that Trump is promising.

“We’re looking at much higher vehicle prices,” said economist Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “We’re going to see reduced choice. … These kinds of taxes fall more heavily on the middle and working class.”

She said more households will be priced out of the new car market — where prices already average about $49,000 — and will have to hang on to aging vehicles.

The tariffs on autos would start being collected on April 3, Trump said. If the taxes are fully passed onto consumers, the average auto price could jump by $12,500, a sum that could feed into overall inflation. Trump returned to the White House after losing the 2020 election in large part because voters believed he could bring down prices.

As Trump announced the new tariffs, he indicated that he would like to provide a new incentive to help car buyers by allowing them to deduct from their federal income taxes the interest paid on auto loans, so long as their vehicles were made in America. That deduction would eat into some of the revenues that could be generated by the tariffs.

The auto tariffs are part of a broader reshaping of global relations by Trump, who plans to impose what he calls “reciprocal” taxes on April 2 that would match the tariffs, sales taxes charged by other nations.

Trump has already placed a 20% import tax on all imports from for its role in the production of fentanyl. He similarly placed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with a lower 10% tax on Canadian products. Parts of the Mexico and

Canada tariffs have been suspended, including the taxes on autos, after automakers objected and Trump responded by giving them a 30-day reprieve that is set to expire in April.

The president has also imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, removing the exemptions from his earlier 2018 taxes on the . He also plans tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceutical drugs, lumber and .

His taxes risk igniting a broader global war with escalating retaliations that could crush global trade, potentially hurting economic growth while raising prices for families and businesses as some of the costs of the taxes get passed along by importers. When the European Union retaliated with plans for a 50% tariff on U.S. spirits, Trump responded by planning a 200% tax on alcoholic beverages from the EU.

Trump also intends to place a 25% tariff on countries that import oil from Venezuela, even though the United States also imports oil from that nation.

Trump’s aides maintain that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are about stopping illegal immigration and drug smuggling. But the administration also wants to use the tariff revenues to lower the budget deficit and assert America’s preeminence as the world’s largest economy.

The president on Monday cited plans by South Korean automaker Hyundai to build a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana as evidence that tariffs would bring back manufacturing jobs.

Slightly more than one million people are employed domestically in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and parts, about 320,000 fewer than in 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 2.1 million people work at auto and parts dealerships.

The United States last year imported nearly 8 million cars and light trucks worth $244 billion. Mexico, Japan and South Korea were the top sources of foreign vehicles. Imports of auto parts came to more than $197 billion, led by Mexico, Canada and China, according to the Department.
___
Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.

Kastle takes majority stake in Mich. security business

Kastle Systems, a solutions company, has taken a majority stake in i2G Systems, a Michigan-based electronic security service provider firm. Kastle did not clarify the amount of the .

“Kastle’s strategic investment in i2G — a majority stake — is the largest investment in our company’s 50-year history,” Kastle CEO Haniel Lynn said in a statement Wednesday. “i2G’s existing owners and management continue to have significant ownership in the business, ensuring a shared vision for the future.”

In an announcement distributed last week, Kastle, best known for developing security cards and systems for employees in , stated that making what it described as a “strategic investment” in i2G, which has an in , will strengthen its ability to deliver security solutions for high-risk facilities like and will broaden the company’s technology capabilities.

Photo of a man wearing a blazer and tie.
Mark Ein. Photo courtesy Kastle

“This strategic investment reflects Kastle’s commitment to continued expansion into fast-growing, high-security end markets looking for the most advanced technology solutions,” Kastle Chair Mark Ein said in a statement. “i2G’s rapid growth and reputation amongst their customers for best-in-class execution and service excellence are well-earned.”

An investor, and minority owner of the Washington Commanders, Ein purchased Kastle in 2007.

i2G, which was founded in 2013, will operate independently, with support from Kastle’s expertise and , according to the announcement.

“Kastle provides an exciting opportunity for our team and customers to grow while upholding our high standards of service and execution,” i2G CEO Jason Slocum stated.

Founded in 1972, Kastle’s security solutions are used at 3,600 properties and 41,000 businesses across the United States and Australia.

 

Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade war is hurting Americans, noting consumer confidence

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday U.S. ‘s trade war is hurting Americans, noting that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.

Carney also said the kinship that exists between U.S. and is under more strain than at any point in the two countries storied histories.

“His war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more. I see that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low,” Carney said while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of Canada’s April 28 election.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021. Trump has plunged the U.S. into a global — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.

Trump put 25% on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.

“He wants to break us so America can own us,” Carney said. “And it will never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves we look out for each other.”

Carney, former two-time central banker, made the comments while campaigning near the Ambassador Bridge, which is considered the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25% of all trade between the two countries. It plays an especially important role in auto .

Carney said the bridge carries 140 billion Canadian dollars ($98 billion) in goods every year and CA$400 million ($281 million) per day.

“Now those numbers and the jobs and the paychecks that depend on that are in question,” Carney said. “The relationship between Canada and the United States has changed. We did not change it.”

Carney announced Wednesday a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s tariffs.

The Liberal Party leader noted the bridge is especially important to Canada’s auto sector, the country’s second largest export. He said Canada’s auto sector employs 125,000 jobs directly and almost another 500,000 jobs in related industries, many of them union jobs.

“Canada will be there for auto workers,” Carney said.

Earlier this month, Trump granted a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.

In the auto sector, parts can go back and forth across the Canada-U.S. border several times before being fully assembled in Ontario or Michigan.

Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. The American president has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.

The new prime minister, sworn in March 14, still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump. It is unusual for a U.S. president and Canadian prime minister to go so long without talking after a new leader takes .

US could run short of money to pay its bills by August without debt limit deal, CBO says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is on track to hit its statutory — the so-called X-date when the country runs short of money to pay its bills— as early as August without a deal between lawmakers and the White House, according to a Congressional Budget Office report Wednesday.

By that time, the government would no longer have enough of a financial cushion to pay all its bills after exhausting its “extraordinary measures” the accounting maneuvers used to stretch existing funds.

Washington would risk defaulting on its debt unless and Republican agree to lift the borrowing limit or abolish the debt ceiling concept altogether.

The debt limit was reinstated Jan. 2, following its suspension by Congress in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

“The Treasury has already reached the current debt limit of $36.1 trillion, so it has no room to borrow under its standard operating procedures,” according to the CBO report.

An analysis released on Monday by the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that the U.S. could run out of cash by mid-July if Congress did not raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit.

Trump had previously demanded that a provision raising or suspending the debt limit — something that his own party routinely resists — be included in to avert the last potential government shutdown. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement in December. That deal did not address the debt limit.

After the debt limit was reinstated, in one of her last acts as Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen said Treasury would institute “extraordinary measures ” intended to prevent the U.S. from reaching the debt ceiling.

Since then, the Treasury Department has stopped paying into certain accounts, including a slew of federal worker pension and disability funds, to make up for the shortfall in money. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has continued to notify Congress about the use of extraordinary measures in an effort to prevent a breach of the debt ceiling.

The CBO estimates that if the debt limit remains unchanged, then “the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025. The projected exhaustion date is uncertain because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from CBO’s projections.”

Founders of Black-owned brands adapt their hopes and business plans for a post-DEI era

NEW YORK (AP) — The co-founders of a company that makes lip products for darker skin tones no longer hope to get their line into Target. A brother and sister who make jigsaw puzzles celebrating subjects wonder if they need to offer “neutral” images like landscapes to keep growing.

Pound Cake and Puzzles of Color are among the small businesses whose owners are rethinking their plans as major U.S. companies weaken their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The initiatives mostly date from the end ‘s first term and entered a new era with the dawn of his second one.

Some Black-owned brands suspect big chains will drop partnerships they pursued after the police killing of a Black man in 2020 reignited mass protests against racial injustice. In today’s anti- climate, other entrepreneurs worry about personal repercussions or feel pressure to cancel contracts with retreating retailers.

“It becomes a question of, are the big box stores going to be there? Do we even make any attempt to talk to these people?” Ericka Chambers, one of the siblings behind Puzzles of Color, said. “We are really having to evaluate our strategy in how we expand and how we want to get in front of new customers.”

A fighting chance for Black-owned brands

Chambers and her brother, William Jones, started turning the work of artists of color into frameable puzzles the same year a video captured a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. Amid the Black Lives Matter protests over Floyd’s death, a fashion designer challenged large retailers to devote 15% of their shelf space and purchasing power to Black businesses.

The Fifteen Percent Pledge helped bring Puzzles of Color’s creations to Macy’s and Nordstrom’s websites in 2022. Last year, they made it into select Barnes & Noble stores. Chambers said she’s confident in the companies’ commitments but recalled a backlash after news outlets covered the brand, which is based in Texas.

“It does make us think about how we envision ourselves as far as the safety of not wanting to be attacked, because some people are very vocal about being anti-DEI,” Chambers said.

Vibrant depictions of Black women account for many of her and Jones’ puzzles. The pair figured they needed to provide more abstract designs for certain Barnes & Noble locations to give Puzzles of Color “a little bit of a fighting chance.”

Discontent over corporate diversity

The first prominent names in U.S. retail to end or retool their diversity programs surfaced last summer amid threats of challenges and negative publicity from DEI critics, who argue that setting hiring, promotion and supplier diversity goals for underrepresented groups constitutes reverse discrimination.

After Trump won a second term in November, Walmart joined the corporate pullback. Target’s suspension of its comparable DEI targets in January stung Black and LGBTQ+ customers harder, largely because they regarded the Minneapolis-based company as more of a natural ally.

The company said it would continue working with a diverse range of businesses. Philadelphia-based Pound Cake’s co-founders, Camille Belle and Johnny Velazquez, said they don’t think they would agree at this point if the retailer offered to stock their lipsticks and lip oils.

“Target would have been a great boost to our business’s growth,” Velazquez said. “We’ll just find it elsewhere.”

To boycott or not?

Target’s stance has created a dilemma for brand founders with existing distribution . One is Play Pits, a natural deodorant for children that Maryland resident Chantel Powell launched in 2021. The product is found in about 360 Target stores.

The retailer’s DEI program “allowed us to employ amazing people, give back to our community, and exhibit Black excellence on and off the shelves,” Powell wrote on LinkedIn as civil rights leaders talked about boycotting Target.

She and some other product creators highlighted the impact boycotts might have on their businesses. They urged upset customers to intentionally limit their purchases to items from Black-owned enterprises. Some activists understood; others pushed the brands to join the protest by cutting ties with Target.

“The conversation around Black brands, that they should pull out of the retailers that they’re in, is unrealistic,” Powell said this month as a 40-day, church-organized Target boycott was underway. “We signed up to be in business. I understand why people are having that conversation of boycotts. As a Black founder, I also understand the side of how it can be detrimental.”

Navigating the post-DEI landscape

The owner of a Black-owned sexual wellness business with its own line of condoms has a slightly different take. Target started carrying B Condoms in 2020, and founder Jason Panda said the company told him late last year that it didn’t intend to keep the prophylactics in the 304 stores that stocked them.

Panda says he isn’t worried. The product is available through Amazon and in more than 7,000 CVS stores, he said. What’s more, contracts with non-profit organizations and local governments that distribute condoms for free are the cornerstone of the business he established in 2011, Panda said.

“My money has never really come from mainstream,” he said. “We’re going to be protected as long as I can maintain my relationship with my community.”

Brianna Arps, who founded the fragrance brand Moodeaux in 2021, notices fewer grants available to Black brand creators these days. She used to apply for 10 to 15 every week or two; the number is down to five to seven, Arps said.

“A lot of the organizations that had been really vocal about supporting (Black businesses) have either quietly or outwardly pulled back,” she said.

Moodeaux was the first Black-owned perfume brand to get its perfumes into Urban Outfitters and Credo Beauty, which specializes in natural vegan products. In the current environment, Arps is looking to expand her brand’s presence independent shops and to support other Black fragrance lovers.

“The resiliency of brands like ours and founders like myself will still exist,” she said.

Accentuating the positive

Aurora James, the founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, said nearly 30 major companies that joined the initiative remain committed to it, including Bloomingdale’s, beauty retailer Sephora, J. Crew and Gap.

Ulta Beauty, another pledge signatory, and Credo Beauty carry Pound Cake products. Velazquez and Belle want to use social media to direct their followers to support retailers like Ulta and to bolster their online sales.

“It’s going to be fostering the community that we have and growing that,” Velazquez said.

While making a strategic decision “to appeal to a broader audience” when selecting puzzles for Barnes & Noble, Chambers said she plans to introduce Black faces and experiences to the chain’s bookstores over time, in boxes of 500, 750 and 1,000 pieces.

In the meantime, Puzzles of Color expanded its “Pride” collection as a response to the DEI backlash. The subjects include Harriet Tubman, a mother and daughter tending a garden, and a little girl in a beauty supply store gazing up at hair accessories.

“Do we lean in all the way?” Chambers asks herself. “Part of why we started this was because we didn’t see enough Black people in puzzles.”