Property damage and service disruptions due to the devastation from Hurricane Florence is expected to cost several states a total $17 billion to $22 billion. However, according to Moody's Analytics, that estimate could end up being much more, once the historic rainfall and flooding in North Carolina and South Carolina subsides. (CNBC)

Want to advance in your career? It's not going to happen unless you're willing to speak up for yourself. But there's a right and wrong way to do that. Here are five tips to help you promote yourself without being obnoxious. (Forbes)

You have arrived at the point where it's time to move your home office into a professional office building, but managing the logistics can be complicated. Here are some ways to ensure the transition is organized and productive. (Business.com)

There’s no magic formula you can use to help land a job, but there are lots of notions out there that are being viewed as fact, but in reality are myths. Here are five of the biggest myths to be aware of, and why you shouldn't fall into the trap. (Monster)

Studies show that sending and reading email can take up to four hours daily, and others have said that you can lose 25 minutes every time you respond to an email message. That's a lot of hours in your workday. There is some new research that shows there's a way to reduce the time and energy lost to email. (Inc.)

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Community Development Action Coalition (HBCU-CDAC), have announced they have agreed to begin a comprehensive effort to help the solar industry recruit and employ more students from the nation’s 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This will include hosting a national jobs fair, individual jobs fairs at HBCU schools and bringing solar companies to campuses for recruitment. (Solar Power World)

Bloomberg is reporting that China is planning to cut average tariff rates on imports from the majority of its trading partners as soon as next month, two people familiar with the matter said, in a move that would lower costs for consumers as a trade war with the U.S. deepens.(Bloomberg)

San Diego-based Taylor Guitars has made a substantial investment in a sawmill in Cameroon to provide the innovative company with a sustainable supply of an essential wood, ebony. Seven years after the initial investment, the company's co-founder if praising the decision. (Business Insider)

Prairie View A&M University is preparing to overhaul its curriculum with a new African-American Studies program, which has been made possible in part by funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)

After more than two decades following his passion to teach and generate interest in African-American studies, Western Kentucky University Professor Dr. Andrew Rosa is on a mission to keep Interdisciplinary studies, including African-American studies, at the forefront of learning for college students. (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)

The S&P 500 Index jumped to a record high on Thursday, aided by the technology, health-care and financial sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also reached a new high. (Bloomberg)

Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma's promise to create 1 million new US jobs is the latest casualty of the trade war. In an interview published late Wednesday by China's official news agency, Xinhua, Ma said the growing number of new tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing in recent months have undermined the plan.(CNN)

According to a recent Neilsen report entitled "From Consumers to Creators: The Digital Lives of Black Consumers", digital media is among the strongest drivers increasing African-American buying power. Here is some of the information gathered at a recent summit with California State Rep. Maxine Waters several business moguls on the importance of black purchasing power. (Essence)