NEW ORLEANS - Pay-ments to those damaged by BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resumed Wednesday, a day after ad-ministrators of the $20 billion fund stopped the f low of money, saying they were un-clear on how to assess a 6 percent fee for lawyers han-dling claims.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said pay-ments made after Dec. 30 would have to include a 6 percent fee for trial lawyers affiliated with a steering committee helping plaintiffs with oil spill litigation against BP PLC.

The Gulf Coast Claims Fa-cility said it froze payments on

By Pat Hendricks Munson

Corresponding WriterSpecial to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel

“Please come home for Christmas. If not for Christmas by New Year’s night” - blues singer Charles Brown

Family and friends who’ve sat around listening to and sing-ing this Christmas classic are now breathing a sigh of relief as they welcome home that

special someone who served so gallantly on Iraq’s hot and dangerous battlefields.

It took a long time coming but after nearly nine years of fighting, 4,400 American mili-tary deaths, 32,000 injured and billions of dollars spent one of the most expensive wars, dollar for dollar, in American history, President Barack Obama has ful-filled his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq.

The war is over! The last

remaining troops rolled across the border out of Iraq and into the history books on Sunday, Dec. 18.

“Our strong presence in the Middle East endures. And the United States will never waver in the defense of our allies, our partners and our interests,” the Associated Press quoted Obama as saying in announc-ing the war’s end. Obama also

INDEXLocal & State ...........................2Commentary ............................4 Business ...................................5Religion ...................................6Health ......................................7Sports ......................................8

local & state news Business news HealtH news

classified Buying or selling a service, looking for for a good job or a good used car? Check out the classifeds .

aKa officers installationGamma Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. inducted its officers. The induction ceremony was led by Past Chap-ter President, Doveal Essex....See Page 2

scHwann’s closes la operationsA longtime Baton Rouge business closed its doors Friday. Schwann’s will no longer operate its food delivery service in Louisiana. For more than 30 years, Schwann’s operated a home-delivery food service in Louisiana. That ended Friday...See Page 5

treatment as preventionThe finding that HIV treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) can actu-ally prevent transmission of the virus from an infected person to his or her uninfected partner has been named “Breakthrough of the Year”....See Page 7

Every year for the last nine years the Odell S. Williams Now And Then Museum of African-American History has celebrated their Annual Veterans Day Celebra-tion...See Page 3

special triBute religionThe Promised Land Baptist Church hosted their Annual new toy and new clothing giveaway. Six Hun-dred and Ninety Seven (697) children were blessed by way of this event. ..See Page 6

THEWEEKLYPRESS.COM Celebrating 36 Years Of Service To The Baton Rouge Community 225.775.2002

THURSDAY, JAnUARY 5, 2011 a people’s publication Vol. 36 • No. 33

b a t o n r o u g e , l o u i s i a n a

See war, on page 2

obama ends war in iraq

President Barack Obama has welcomed home some of the last US troops from Iraq, marking a symbolic end to the nearly nine-year war that strained America’s armed forces and inflicted lasting damage to its standing worldwide.

BATON ROUGE, - Inves-tigators with the Office of the Louisiana State Fire Marshal reported nine people across the state have died in house fires in the month of Decem-ber.

State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said it has been one of the deadliest Christmas sea-sons he’s seen in decades.

“People need to act now,” Browning said. “We are in a society today where when there is a fire, within a mat-ter of seconds, precious lives are taken away and people’s property is lost.”

A Covington man was killed after investigators said a space heater caused his home to catch fire. Browning said space heaters are the common bond between many of De-cember’s deadly fires.

Barry Mounce with the Baton Rouge Fire Department walked through an area home

Tuesday to check on safety measures. He demonstrated how to properly work a space heater.

“Always plug it directly into the wall,” Mounce said. “Make sure you keep every-

fire marshal calls 2011 deadliest christmas in decades

State Fire Marshal Butch Browning

See decades, on page 3

BATON ROUGE - Adell Brown, Jr., Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, SU Ag Center, has been named Executive Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Research at Southern University Agri-cultural Research and Exten-sion Center. Dr. Adell Brown will replace Dr. Kirkland E. Mellad who retired from the position of Vice Chancellor for Research on December 31, 2011.

Additionally, Chancellor Leodrey Williams formally appointed Brown to be the

official designated person in charge in his absence.

dr. Brown named executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor for research

Adell Brown, Jr.,

Bp oil spill payments to resume after fee wrinkle

Under an unprecedented agreement, BP has provided $1 billion toward restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the largest agreement of its kind ever reached. These projects has begun to address impacts to natural resources caused by the Deepwater BP oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier

See payments, on page 2

“Our strong presence in the Middle East endures. And the

United States will never waver in the defense of our allies, our partners

and our interests,”

NEW ORLEANS — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given Tu-lane University a $5 million grant to help universities in disaster-prone regions in Af-rica and Asia establish pro-grams in disaster resilience and leadership.

Ky Luu, executive di-rector of Tulane’s Disas-ter Resilience Leadership Academy, says the grant is designed to create leaders

with expertise in disaster planning, response and re-duction.

In addition to offering short courses and postgradu-ate courses, the project will create postgraduate degree programs to ensure a future supply of leaders. Luu says it will also set up a world-wide network in which com-munity leaders and teachers can collaborate and share their experiences.

tulane gets $5 million for disaster training

Page 2 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 5, 2012

May you find happiness in every direction your paths take you

May you never lose your sense of wonder, and may you hold on to the sense of humor you use to brighten the lives of everyone who knows you.

May you go be-yond the ordinary steps and dis-cover extraordinary results.

May you keep on trying to reach for your stars.

May you never forget how wonderful you are.

May you always be patient with the problems of life, and now that any clouds will eventu-ally give way to the sunlight of your most hoped-for days.

May you be rewarded with friendships that get better and better, and with love that blesses your life forever.

May you meet every chal-lenge you are faced with, rec-ognize every golden opportu-nity, and be blessed with the knowledge that you have the

ability to make every day special.

May you have enough material wealth to meet your needs, while never forgetting the real treasures of life are the loved ones and friends who are invaluable to the end.

May you search for serenity, and dis-

cover it was within you all along.

May you be strong enough to keep your hopes and dreams alive.

May you always be gentle enough to understand.

May you know that you hold tomorrow within your hands, and that the way there will be shared with the makings of what will be your most won-derful memories.

And may you always re-member, each step along the way…

You are loved more than words can ever begin to say.

Love,Marge

LocaL&State

marge's Chit Chat

MargeLawrence

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HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2012

Gamma Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. inducted its officers on Decem-ber 12, 2011. The induction ceremony was led by Past Chapter President, Doveal Essex. Officers include, (standing from L-R), Chaplain Janet St.Cyr Moore, Hostess Chairperson Cornelia Barnes Bros-

sette, Graduate Advisor Linda West, Corresponding Secretary Manya Louis, Ivy Leaf Reporter Sancerie O’Rourke-Allen. Seated from L-R are Recording Secretary Mary Beals, Vice-President Deborah Paul, President Katina Semien, and Treasurer Jessica Guinn.

Gamma Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc Officers Installation

aid members of the military sa-hould be proud of their service and sacrifice and can withdraw from Iraq “with honor and their heads held high.”

Obama and his supporters can also stand a bit taller with pride knowing that the monu-mental task has been accom-plished. When then-Senator Barack Obama made the promise to end the war, many thought it

simply campaign rhetoric and par for the course of a good presidential candidate. At nearly five years into a war started by George W. Bush under what many considered controversial and misleading circumstances, Obama has his work cut out for him.

Despite the circumstances and battles with political oppo-nents in dealing with America’s pressing issues such as a failing economy, high unemployment, the housing crises and such, the war is now over.

There is probably no better time to end a war than right at Christmas giving families hope for the coming year. Active military, veterans and civilians are singing Obama’s praises for ending this war.

“The idea that (Obama) said he was going to bring them (the troops) home and he has…but, that he will not just abandon them. He has proposed tax cred-its to any employers who hire vets returning from Iraq and he has proposed monies as well if the employers hire disabled vet-

erans,” said Los Angeles resident and small business owner Wanda E. Green, a tax professional and astute political observer.

Green thinks the fulfilling of a campaign promise speaks vol-umes about the President and his wife, who has worked tirelessly in support of military, veterans, their spouses and children.

“It tells us that he and Mrs. Obama listened to the troops and their families. President Obama is a visionary and a problem solver… and that is exactly what a leader is,” said Green.

Chief Warrant Officer How-ard David Warren II, a network management technician, pres-ently stationed with the Active Guard Reserve in West L.A.

Warren, who served a tour of duty in Iraq from 2007-2008, trained Iraqi civilians in Ramada, west of Fallujah. Warren is happy the war is finally over and said just the promise of an end date was comforting to him back.

“That helped me to relax just knowing there was a deadline and it forced the Iraqi civilians we were training to become more fo-cused and serious about the train-ing. “It also took a lot of pressure

Tuesday in response to the Dec. 28 ruling that said disburse-ments made on and after Nov. 7, 2011, should include the fee.

Barbier’s clarification on Wednesday spared the facil-ity the prospect of asking 9,000 people compensated in November and December to pay for attorneys’ fees. About $260 million had been paid to claimants between Nov. 7 and the end of December, the facility said. Nov. 7 was the date when plaintiffs’ attorneys first asked the court to establish a fund to cover fees.

The oil spill began after the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the BP-leased drilling rig Deepwater Horizon off the southeastern Louisiana coast. The explosion and fire that burned for two days killed 11 workers aboard the rig that sank after two days.

More than 200 million gal-lons of oil flowed from the well a mile below the Gulf surface before it was capped in July, soiling coastal habitat, fouling fishing grounds and causing a near-panic for Gulf Coast busi-nesses reliant on tourism.

BP set up the $20 billion fund to compensate victims. So far about $5.8 billion in dam-ages has been paid.

The issue of attorneys’ fees remains contentious.

The Louisiana attorney general and lawyers not affili-ated with the steering commit-tee say they plan to appeal Bar-bier’s ruling. Under it, 4 percent of payments to Louisiana will have to be set aside to cover attorneys’ fees. The state op-poses that.

Mike Stag, a lawyer not

with the steering committee, questioned why his clients - hundreds of whom are settling their claims outside of federal court - should have to pay into the attorneys’ fund. Stag said he represents about 1,000 people and businesses across the Gulf Coast. He said his law firm went to great lengths to prove his clients’ cases without any help from the steering com-mittee. He said Barbier’s ruling left many questions open about how to pay fees.

“We are concerned about fairness and about delay,” he said. “We don’t think it’s ben-eficial to the clients”

Steve Herman, a lead attor-ney on the steering committee, said any move to overturn Bar-bier’s ruling was an “effort to refight an issue that has already been decided by the court.”

The steering committee and its associates are made up of about 340 lawyers from 90 firms who are working on the sprawling legal case against BP on behalf of more than 120,000 claimants. In court filings, the lawyers say that they have spent 230,000 hours and $11.5 million on the case, and that an escrow account should be set up to pay them for their work.

Lawyers not affiliated with the steering committee said Barbier’s order unfairly compensates those lawyers who are part of it.

Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel questioned how much work the steering committee attorneys have actually done. He said much of the legal work against BP was accomplished

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Every year for the last nine years the Odell S. Williams Now And Then Museum of African-American History has celebrated their Annual Veterans Day Cel-ebration. As always, they cele-brated their Veterans celebration and this year the guest speaker was Lt. Colonel James L. Clark. Curator Sadie Roberts-Joseph of the Odell S. Williams Now And Then Museum of African-American History was instru-mental in bringing this celebra-tion together.

Others in attendance were the EBR Police, SUBR Cadets, Minister J ohn Mosely, Sr., Judge Lisa Woodruff White, the McKin-ley Magnet High School Band, and Latoy Traveler just to name

a few who were in attendance.One local community leader

was in attendance this time, Sgt. Major William Jones. Sgt. Major Jones is a local columnist for The Baton Rouge Weekly Press news-paper. In addition, local song legend Mr. Earl T. Taylor singed the National Anthem.

At the same time this was going on the Families of peo-ple who serves in the military are going through things and they are in need of help them-selves.

The Baton Rouge Weekly Press newspaper and society as a whole are thankful to the people in the Armed Force and their families for the sacrifice they make each and everyday.

A Special Tribute to Men and Women, Their Families Who are Serving in the Armed Force

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thing at least three feet away from it and never leave it unat-tended, especially near children or pets.”

Mounce said though they may look small, space heaters pack a big punch and could kill you.

A space heater was also to blame for a fire that ripped through a home in Ponchatoula early Monday morning. Herbert

Harris, 65, died while trying to escape.

“If you try to hook up an extension cord to them, they can overheat, especially if you try to cover that extension cord with a rug,” Mounce added.

The home in Ponchatoula did not have any working smoke detectors. Experts recommend testing your detector once a month and changing its batter-

ies twice a year, even if they are working.

“Having a working smoke detector will more than double your chances of surviving a fire,” Mounce explained.

Some other t ips from Mounce:

• Have an escape plan• Establish a meeting place

for members of the family• Call 911 outside of the

home• Change smoke detector

batteries twice a year

DecaDes from page 1

off the home front because fami-lies had some assurance that the ward would end,” said Warren who has 20 plus years of service under his belt.

Rev. Maurice L. Street, a Ko-rean War veteran is overjoyed that this war has come to an end.

“Being a vet I think Obama is doing a great job as President and fulfilling this promise is a major victory especially with so much bias and prejudice against him,” Street said. “In four years you can’t expect the man to do

everything but, bringing an end to the war in Iraq is a major ac-complishment that should be celebrated.”

Aaron Giles, a Marine Corps veteran and Los Angeles resident can also appreciate the end of war.

“I feel like he brought the military home in a timely man-ner. They’ve accomplished their mission and now it’s time to come hone. I remember when Presi-dent Obama made that promise during his campaign and I knew

he would do it. I didn’t know it would take this long. I thought it would come sooner but it came when it came and I’m very happy about that,” Giles said.

Many are happy and can cel-ebrate this holiday season know-ing that a very important promise has been fulfilled. Republican or Democrat, Black or white, it’s hard to argue with the facts. The proof is in the pudding. Senator Obama said he would. President Obama did it. The war in Iraq ended just before Christmas giv-ing so many military as well as civilians an unforgettable gift to carry into the New Year.

War from page 2

Sgt. Major William Jones (Retired) at the podium during the VA Memorial celebration at the Odell S. Williams Now And Then Museum of African-American History.

The Southern University Baton Rouge Cadets.

Speaker Lt. Colonel James L. Clark.Ms. Sadie Roberts-Joseph the curator of the Odell S. Williams Now And Then Mu-seum of African-American History speaking at the VA Memorial celebration.

By Marc MorialNNPA Columnist

“Whether we’re talking about jobs, education, or health care…Broadband is now a basic requirement to participate in the 21st century economy.” Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Com-mission

Somewhere in the United States today, a student is un-able to finish his homework, a father will not be able to find a job and a mother will not be able to seek proper medical treatment. Today, broadband is a basic need and provides information that is vital to the quality of life and economic stability. Unfortunately one third of Americans remain unconnected and they are over-whelmingly people of color.

The paradox of the Digital Age is that while technology has the capacity to bring people together and connect people to information, it simultaneously presents the threat of deepening the divide between society’s in-formation “haves” and “have nots”, often referred to as the digital divide.

This dilemma was high-lighted in a recent Commerce Department report which found that “Broadband adoption rates

varied substantially between dif-ferent racial and ethnic groups, with 81% of Asian and 72% of White households having broad-band Internet access, compared to only 55% and 57% of Black and Hispanic households.” Major rea-sons for these disparities include lack of knowledge, the high cost of getting online, and the lack of an adequate computer. With so much of modern life tied to In-ternet access, these are barriers that must be overcome. As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently put it, “Closing the digi-tal divide is about achieving the basic American promise of op-portunity for all.”

The National Urban League has stepped up to meet this challenge in a big way. In 2010, we joined forces with the One Economy Corporation as part of a Broadband Opportunity Coalition (BBOC) focused on breaking down the barriers to people getting online and get-ting the information they need to improve their lives. The BBOC is comprised of other leading civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, National Council of La Raza, Asian American Jus-tice Center, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Joint

By GeorGe e. curryNNPA Columnist

After winning the show-down with House Republicans shortly before Christmas over extending unemployment insur-ance and receiving an uptick in his job-approval ratings, Presi-dent Obama is now in a better position to win re-election, de-spite a sluggish economy.

With the Iowa caucus over and New Hampshire as the next GOP battleground, Obama is ex-pecting to face former Massachu-setts Gov. Mitt Romney in the general election next November. Former Speaker of House Newt Gingrich, like other candidates before him, briefly assumed the front-runner mantle before his poor performance in Iowa.

The good news for Obama is that his populist themes and his willingness to call out Republi-cans are winning over voters.A story in the Washington Post observed: “A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that Americans are still broadly dis-approving of Obama’s handling of the economy and jobs, the top issues, but that views of his over-all performance have recovered among key groups, including independents, young adults and seniors.”

It noted, “Obama’s job-ap-proval rating is now its highest since March, excluding a tem-porary bump after the killing of Osama bin Laden: Forty-nine

percent approve and 47 percent disapprove.”

The poll, taken Dec. 15-18, found Republican Congres-sional support has fallen to 20 percent.

Both parties have actively courted middle-class voters. And Obama seems to be winning that matchup as well, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll. When asked about protect-ing the middle class, 50 percent of respondents said they trusted Obama over Republicans, who were favored by only 35 per-cent.

This does not mean that Obama is guaranteed re-elec-tion.

While Democrats enjoyed watching Republican candidates form a circular firing squad in Iowa, aided by unprecedented spending by outside groups called super PACs, they real-ize that once the GOP selects a nominee, all that negative campaigning will be aimed at Obama. A large segment of the GOP hates Mitt Romney, but they hate Obama more.

This will be the first presi-dential election since a pair of 2010 Supreme Court decision cleared the way for unlimited corporate and individual dona-tions to support independent political organizations. It is es-timated that such contributions to candidates seeking federal of-fice could reach $6 billion to $7 billion this year.

On another front, the Wash-ington Post reported Sunday that Republican officials have cre-ated a video catalogue of every word Obama has uttered since launching his 2008 presidential campaign.

The story said, “The GOP playbook is designed to take one of Obama’s greatest assets – the power of his oratory – and turn it into a liability.”

One attack on Obama will feature a 2009 clip from the “Today” show in which he said that if he could not fix the economy in three years, “then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

Republican National Com-mittee Chairman Reince Prie-bus told the Post, “That’s a clip the American people will hear and see over and over and over again…The nice thing about Ba-rack Obama is that he’s given us plenty of material. The one thing he loves to do is give speeches.”

Obama plans to use even more speeches to argue that he is a stronger advocate for the middle-class and unemployed workers than Republicans. He hopes to depict the GOP as con-cerned only about the plight of superrich and keeping tax loop-holes for large corporations.

Like Harry Truman, who campaigned against a do-nothing Congress, Obama is drawing a sharp contrast between his ad-ministration and Republicans.

However, Obama can’t totally disassociate himself from Con-gress if he wants any additional legislative victories. One of his first tests in 2012 will be to ob-tain a one-year extension of un-employment benefits, which is set to expire in less than two months.

Obama’s team also must do a better job communicat-ing his message if he is to win a second term. Many polls show that although Obama’s personal approval ratings are low, many of the policies he has proposed – including using a combination of higher taxes on the wealthy and spending cuts to lower the defi-cit – resonate with most voters, including many Republicans.

Both Democrats and Repub-licans are disappointed that the economy remains sluggish.

When asked on the CBS program “60 Minutes” why he should be re-elected, Obama replied, “Not only saving this country from a Great Depres-sion. Not only saving the auto industry. But putting in place a system in which we’re going to start lowering health care costs and you’re never going to go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. Making sure that we have reformed the financial system, so we never again have taxpayer-funded bailouts and the sys-tem is more stable and secure.

By Dr. BenjaMin chavisNNPA Columnist

As we begin 2012, the issue of “income inequality” is a mat-ter of high importance for mil-lions of Black Americans and others who struggle to improve their overall quality of life. The fact is that the contradiction of economic injustice for decades has had a devastating impact on Black people across America. Inequality and systematic racial discrimination in education, economics, and the environment have been so pervasive and in-stitutionalized that too many of us have come to falsely believe that this situation is permanent without recourse to challenge and change it. This is again why the growing Occupy Wall Street movement should be of particular interests to African Americans and Latino Ameri-cans who are the two groups that are most affected quanti-tatively by income inequality in America.

Black church leaders, in particular, are now moving to the forefront once again to raise the level of consciousness and social action of millions of

Black people around this issue through the rise of Occupy the Dream that is revitalizing and reapplying the therapeutic and uplifting dream and legacy of The Reverend Dr. Martin Lu-ther King, Jr. Our situation can and will change to the extent to which we organize and mobilize around our defined economic and political interests. More than ever before, Black Ameri-cans will have a larger role in shaping the future of America. But we must be focused on what the priority issues are while standing tall and bold in sup-port of an inclusive movement for social change.

What is income inequal-ity? It is the measurement of the distribution of income that highlights the gap between in-dividuals or households mak-ing the most of the income in a given country and those making the least for a period of time. In the United States, overall income inequality has steadily increased during last 30 years between the super wealthy and the super poor. When you add race as a distinguishing char-acteristic, the widening gap of income inequality between

Blacks and Whites in the U.S. exposes the lingering impact of years of targeted discrimination and economic injustice imposed on vast majority of Black Ameri-cans. Income inequality is the extent of disparity between high income and low income households.

The “Gini coefficient” mea-sures income inequality by cal-culating the extent to which the distribution of income among individuals within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. During the last ten years the United States had the highest Gini ranking of income inequality at coefficient number of “46” of all leading industrial-ized nations in the world. The Gini coefficient (named after an Italian statistician named Corrado Gini) is the most com-monly used measure of income inequality. A Gini coefficient of 0 represents perfect equal-ity (that is, every person in the society has the same amount of income); a Gini coefficient of 100 represents perfect inequal-ity (that is, one person has all the income and the rest of the society has none). In the U.S., 1% of the people overwhelm-

ingly and increasingly control the wealth of the nation at the economic hardship of 99% of the people. To put this inequality into a global context, the Credit Suisse Research Institute just released a report that docu-ments that the richest .5% of global adults hold well over a third of the entire wealth of the world.

According to the U.S. De-partment of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010-2011, the poverty rate in the U.S. reached its highest level since 1933 while the Forbes 400, an an-nual listing of America’s richest individuals inflation-adjusted net worth, cited that the wealth of the Forbes 400 rose from $507 billion in 1995 to over $2 tril-lion in 2011. Black Americans of all groups listed in national annual poverty analysis have the highest and increasing an-nual poverty rates in America going into 2012. I do not have to list the litany of all the prob-lems that we face from double unemployment, foreclosures, loss of health care, incarceration, school drop outs, and other real

CommentaryThursday, January 5, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 4

Surge in Polls Helps Obama’s Re-election Prospects

The views expressed in the editiorial columns are not necessarily the veiws of The Weekly Press or its staff. Address all opinions and comments to: Letters to the Editior, P.O. Box 74485 Baton Rouge, La. 70874 or E-mail them to: theweeklypress@yahoo.com

See INEQUALITY on page 7

Fighting to win over unhappy American voters, President Ba-rack Obama and his Republican challengers are seizing on one of the most potent issues this elec-tion season: the struggling middle class and the widening gap be-tween rich and poor.

Highlighted by the Occupy movement and fanned by record profits on Wall Street at a time of stubborn unemployment, eco-nomic inequality is now taking center stage in the 2012 presiden-tial campaign, emphasized by Obama and offering opportuni-ties and risks for him and his GOP opponents as both sides battle for the allegiance of the angst-ridden electorate.

For Obama, who calls boost-ing middle-class opportunity “the defining issue of our time,” the question is whether he can bring voters along — while parrying GOP accusations of class warfare — even though he’s failed to solve the country’s economic woes dur-ing his first term in office.

For Republicans, Obama’s potential vulnerability gives them an opening, but they also must battle perceptions that their poli-cies favor the wealthy at a time when voters support Obama’s call to raise taxes on the very rich. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt

Romney has already made clear he’ll resist Obama’s attempts to capitalize on the issue, adopt-ing the language of Occupy Wall Street in an interview with the Washington Post this month where he called the president “a member of the 1 percent.”

For both sides, the question is how to find political advantage in light of a weak economy with unemployment above 8 percent. Since Obama is expected to run for re-election with higher un-employment than any recent president even if the economy continues to show signs of im-provement, he must aim to set the terms of the debate in a way that helps him and hurts the GOP — while Republicans will be working just as hard to deny him any advantage.

The president won a year-end victory Friday with the pas-sage of a two-month extension of a payroll tax cut that had biparti-san support in the Senate.

The measure will keep in place a 2 percentage point cut in the Social Security payroll tax — worth about $20 a week for a typical worker making $50,000 a year — and prevent almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging $300 a week.

Economic Inequality An Issue For 2012 Campaign

See TOMORROW, on page 5

See PROSPECTS, on page 7

To Be equal

Broadband Access for All: Connect Today, Change Your Tomorrow

Black American Income Inequality

The schools and calendars in America still teach that Colum-bus discovered this land where people of color already lived. This reveals today’s schools are still teaching that nothing officially matters until white people define and/or control the matter.

I once heard Minister Louis Farrakhan say, “If your slave mas-ter is your teacher, no wonder you act like a slave.”

Although I do not agree with Mr. Farrakhan’s religion, I can agree that since schools became integrated, those like Professor Willie Lynch have taught black on black hatred to the point that black families have been reduced to mostly single mothers complaining that their baby daddy’s ain’t s..t.

Ironically, if you ever listen to Minister Farrakhan preach, you’ll probably hear him quote the King James Bible far more often than the Quran. Why? Be-cause the Quran does not contain prophecies like Amos 3:15, which says the Lord will put an end to

the ivory/white houses. Nor does the Arab’s Quran admit that the people of God are as children of the Ethiopians (Amos 9:7). So why is Mr. Farrakhan a Muslim?

These revelations prove that students who seek the truth on any subject must learn to stop embracing doctrines just because their teacher is/was famous or has a degree certifying that he was indoctrinated by ‘different’ slave masters. But learn to con-firm what teachers or preachers say (1st Timothy 1:7).

The truth is the difference between education and indoc-trination. But be aware that just because you do not believe I have not proved my case against devilish teachers do not mean they are not guilty. After all, if the world did not enjoy being deceived- magicians would be out of business!

Vince Carthane, author of Aimed At America

See Vince Carthane on You-Tube

Education or Indoctrination

Thursday, January 5, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 5

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BATON ROUGE - Initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week end-ing Dec. 24, 2011, decreased to 3,270 from the previous week’s total of 3,966. Initial claims were below the com-parable week ending Dec. 25, 2010, figure of 3,411.

The four-week mov-ing average of initial claims increased to 4,032 from the previous week’s average of 3,968.

Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending Dec. 24, 2011, increased to 43,080 from the previous week’s total of 42,443. Continued weeks claimed were below the comparable

week ending Dec. 25, 2010, figure of 50,373.

The four-week moving average of continued weeks claimed increased to 42,851 from the previous week’s av-erage of 42,088.

For more detailed informa-tion on occupational groups of unemployment insurance claimants, visit the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s web-site at www.laworks.net and select Labor Market Informa-tion. Then select LOIS and use the menu under Historic Data Analysis. Scroll over Employ-ment and Wage Data, Labor Force Data, and select Unem-ployment Insurance Claim-ants.

Unemployment Insurance Claims Report Shows a Decline the Last Week of the Year

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Tax-exempt organizations with January and February filing due dates will have until March 30, 2012 to file their annual returns, the Internal Revenue Service announced last week.

In Louisiana, over 900 or-ganizations can take advan-tage of the extended filing deadline.

The IRS is granting this extension of time to file because the part of the e-file system that processes electronically filed returns of tax-exempt organi-zations will be off-line during January and February.

The agency stressed that the rest of the e-file system will continue to operate normally and urged all individuals and businesses to choose the accu-racy, speed and convenience of electronic filing.

In general, the exten-sion applies to tax-exempt organizations whose normal filing deadline is either Jan. 17 or Feb. 15, 2012. Ordinarily, these deadlines would apply to organizations with a fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31 or Sept. 30, 2011, respectively.

The extension also ap-plies to organizations that already obtained an initial three-month filing extension

and now have an extended fil-ing deadline that falls on Jan. 17 or Feb. 15, 2012. The majority of tax-exempt organizations will be unaffected by this exten-sion because they operate on a calendar-year basis and have a May 15 filing deadline.

The extension applies to affected organizations filing Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, or 1120-POL. Form 990-N filers will not be affected. No form needs to be filed to get the March 30 extension.

In order to avoid receiv-ing a late filing penalty notice, a reasonable cause statement should be attached to the tax return. If organizations receive late-filing penalty notices, they should contact the IRS so that these penalties can be abated. The IRS encouraged these or-ganizations to consider either e-filing early—before the end of December—or waiting until March to file electronically.

Further details are in Notice 2012-4, posted on IRS.gov.

Contact Dee H. Stepter at 504-558-3081, by e-mail at deirdre.h.stepter@irs.gov.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook: www.twitter.com/DeeHS_IRS and facebook.com/dee.h.stepter.

IRS Extends Filing Deadline for Over 900 Louisiana Non-Profits

Center for Political and Eco-nomic Studies, and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council.

This effort is the outgrowth of efforts already underway by the non-profit One Economy Corporation. Since 2000, One Economy, under the leadership of Chairman Rey Ramsey, has been committed to ensuring that every person, regardless of income and location, can maximize the power of tech-nology to improve the quality of his or her life and enter the economic mainstream. In April of last year, One Economy and the BBOC were awarded $28.5 million in federal stimulus funds to support that goal. We are sup-plementing the stimulus award with private sector matching support valued at $23 million for a total of $51.5 million.

This effort will bring broad-band connections to 27,000 low

income housing developments, promote digital literacy to 20 million people and offer digi-tal mentoring for more than 235,000 at-risk youth. The Na-tional Urban League has also made the expansion of minority participation in the Information and Communications Technol-ogy Industry one of the pillars of our 12-point Jobs Rebuild America plan.

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama set the goal of enabling businesses to provide high-speed wireless services to at least 98 percent of all Americans within five years. We support that goal. Broad-band access for all is essential to expanding opportunity, creating jobs, reducing our deficit and winning the future.

Marc H. Morial is the Pres-ident and CEO of the National Urban League

Tomorrow from page 4

BATON ROUGE—East Baton Rouge Parish has more than $1 million to allocate to residents who need help pay-ing their utility bills.

The Advocate reports the city-parish received the money from a federal grant through the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency.

Officials say the parish will allocate $108,126 for people who already have had utilities discon-nected or have received discon-nect notices. The rest will help residents who are late paying or expect to be unable to pay because of a job loss.

Eligible households could receive up to $400 based on the bill amount, income and the num-ber of people in the household. People 60 and older, disabled or with children 5 years or younger can get an extra $100 benefit.

Applicants must apply through the city-parish’s Office of Social Services.

East Baton Rouge Gets $1M for Energy Bills

BATON ROUGE - A longtime Baton Rouge busi-ness closed its doors Friday. Schwann’s will no longer op-erate its food delivery service in Louisiana.

For more than 30 years, Schwann’s operated a home-delivery food service in Loui-siana. That ended Friday.

“The Louisiana project is pretty much being shut down at Schwann’s at this point,” said General Manager Randy Oliveri. “There won’t be any depots open after today.”

Employees on their last day

did inventory on the foods left over. Offices all over the state are shutting down.

“Been out of a work before, took me nine months to find a job the last time,” said Jimmy Thurston. “Hopefully it won’t take me that long this time.”

Richard Whiteoak has been on the delivery route for the past nine years. He says his customers were more than just an address.

“I’m a little sad to go,” said Whiteoak. “When I started my route nine years ago, like other route managers, customers got

to be like friends and family, so instead of a customer you get to go see a friend.”

The company itself has been around for 55 years. It’s based in Minnesota - a long way from Louisiana - which appears to be a big part of the closure.

“I think the economy ver-sus shipping the product this far down, being the corporate office is in Marshall, Minne-sota,” said Oliveri.

The yellow trucks of Schwann’s won’t be rolling on Louisiana roads any more.

Schwann’s Closes Down Louisiana Operations

For more than 30 years, schwann’s operated a home- delivery food service in Louisiana. That ended Friday.

BATON ROUGE — Two stories this week on Forbes Magazine’s online site have rated LSU among the nation’s best in rankings of the business of college football.

LSU is the only school in the country ranked on both Forbes’ lists of “most valuable teams” and “best teams for the money.”

In a story titled “Col-lege Football’s Most Valuable Teams,” LSU is ranked atop the Southeastern Conference and No. 4 in the country in a study that evaluates the financial im-pact of football programs in four distinct areas. The survey puts primary emphasis on a team’s academic value — the revenue

directed toward university pro-grams and spending (including football scholarships) — and its athletic value — football revenue used to support other athletic programs. Also considered are the distribution of bowl game revenue among conference teams and the economic impact of visiting fans for each teams’ home games.

NBAHornets: The Hornets

signed forward Gustavo Ayon on Friday, beefing up the team’s interior three days before the regular season begins.

Coach Monty Williams, however, isn’t sure exactly what the 6-foot-10, 245-pound

player from Mexico will bring from his time playing in Spain’s top division.

Ayon, 26, will become only the third Mexican-born player in NBA history, but because he speaks very little English, Williams said it might take awhile to acclimate to league’s language.

Nets: With the prospect of a trade for Dwight Howard fad-ing and the season opener less than a week away, New Jersey Nets coach Avery Johnson was getting a feel for his team.

That all changed Thursday when center Brook Lopez broke his right foot, an injury that left Johnson shaking his head and

Forbes Ranks LSU Football 4th Most Valuable in NationNEW YORK — Oil prices

were little changed Wednesday as traders booked profits after a 4 percent surge at the start of the year.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 26 cents to finish at $103.22 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oil that’s imported by U.S. refineries, rose $1.57 to end the day at $113.70 per barrel in London.

Prices jumped Tuesday on concerns that Iran might try to close off the strategic Strait of Hor-muz in the Persian Gulf, if the U.S. and other nations impose further economic sanctions because of Iran’s nuclear program. One-sixth of the world’s oil exports move through the strait.

Rumors that the European Union has agreed to embargo Iranian oil sent prices higher at midday on Wednesday, but they retreated in the afternoon. Independent trader and analyst Jim Ritterbusch said the rumors were unconfirmed and contained only vague details about when an embargo would begin.

“We still feel that a definitive indication will await a planned meeting by EU foreign ministers at the end of this month,” Ritterbusch said. Even then, Ritterbusch said, an embargo could take months to have an effect. Traders say they’re waiting to see if the situation heats up following Iran’s military exer-cises over the weekend.

“It’ll take something big” in Iran to drive prices much higher, analyst and trader Stephen Schork said. “You’re going to need to see mines being laid or bullets flying or something.”

Military and economic ex-perts say it’s unlikely that Iran

Oil Price Stays Around $103 Per Barrel

See oil price, on page 7See lsu, on page 7

Page 6 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 5, 2012

Religion

Call Walter for Details TODAY! 225.775.2002. Ask about internet radio broadcast specials.

The Baton Rouge Weekly Press Church Directory is a great place to let the com-munity know about your church!

Bishop Ivory J. Payne

BATON ROUGE, LA - The Promised Land Baptist Church hosted their Annual new toy and new clothing giveaway on De-cember 17, 2011. Six Hundred and Ninety Seven (697) chil-dren were blessed by way of this event.

On hand helping out were two Southern University Fresh-man Baseball Players Mr. Ryan Gorman and Mr. Camilo Godoy.

Some people have been known to give the shirt of their back, but these two players gave the hats of their heads to a young boy in attendance that adored their hat.

Many thanks to everyone who came out and made these events successful.

If additional information is needed, please feel free to call Carolyn Gee at 225-229-0762.

Promised Land Baptist Church Annual Toys and Clothing Giveaway

Included in the picture from left to right are Ryan Gorman, Carolyn Gee and Camilo Godoy.

By DonalD lee

With national statistics show-ing that roughly 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, it is my prayer that this series — with today’s message being the first installment — serves as a tool through which God brings restoration into marriages that are on the brink of separation or divorce.

Also, I pray that this serves to be further confirmation to mar-ried couples who are already working the Word and enjoying the fruits of their labor, living a life of bliss together, a result of making Jesus Christ the founda-tion on which their marriage was built.

Moreover, I pray that this serves as a blessing to those who are single (or divorced) but need guidance on how to discern when they’re in a God-ordained rela-tionship or one that the Lord has absolutely nothing to do with.

And to those persons who have no intentions on getting mar-ried or remarried, the principles shared in this series — if adhered to — should help enhance your ability to communicate in other relationships, such as those with your family members, colleagues, neighbors and anyone else you come in contact with.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, a Word from God:

In a message he preached on Dec. 13, 2009, “The Sleeping Giant Awakes,” Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor at The Potter’s House in Dallas, said something so pro-found that it begs for the atten-tion of every married individual as well as singles who aspire to be married (or married again).

“Love seeks not its own, it’s not puffed up, it’s not about you, it’s not about what you need, it’s not about how you’re being

neglected, it’s not about the atten-tion you’re not getting,” Bishop Jakes said.

“Love seeks to serve some-body else, (it says) ‘How can I make things better for you?’ ‘How can I do things for you?’ ‘How can I use what I have to make your life better?’” Bishop Jakes said.

“Love is not about you,” he said. “Lust is about you. Love is about somebody else. Lust is about ‘What can you give me? Give it to me now.’ Love is about ‘What can I give you? How can I serve you?’

“And when somebody loves you, it’s a ministry,” Bishop

Jakes said. “They don’t even have to say anything … if you get in the presence of somebody who loves you, it is a ministry. Love is a ministry.

“It’s not the chicken soup that made you well,” Bishop Jakes said. “It was the loving hands that prepared it.”

Pastor Bre Eaton, my 4 a.m. prayer partner who also is an as-sociate pastor at God’s Guiding Light Christian Center in south-east Houston, said Bishop Jakes’ comments are on point, adding that if people are going to be in meaningful, loving marriages or relationships, there needs to be a clear understanding of the dif-

ference between love and lust — selflessness and selfishness.

“A lot of times, when we look at love we only see the sur-face, like characteristics and traits, instead of actually loving the per-son,” Pastor Bre said. “For exam-ple, you can have a person who is a take-charge type of person. And you could look at that (character-istic or trait) and be attracted to that, but the inside (that person’s inner spirit), upon getting to know them better, could actually reveal self-centeredness, selfishness, that person’s true character.

“Love goes deep. If you look at it, it actually goes from dethroning yourself and it actu-ally elevates the person that you say you love,” Pastor Bre said. “You’re putting yourself to the side and your attention is focused on the needs of that other person. For example, it says, ‘How can I put myself in position to be a blessing to you?’ Also, too, when you think of love, it’s the largest investment you’ll ever make in your life next to stocks and bonds on Wall Street.

“When you compare it to 1st Corinthians 13, the biggest invest-ment God ever made in us was love, according to 1st Corinthians 13 and John 3:16,” Pastor Bre said, referring to scriptures dealing with the depths of God’s love. “God not only invested His time, but He invested His Spirit, a part of Him. When you think about that, He poured everything into us through love. God’s trusted love is the only thing that’s fully reliable and dependable. In other words, we have the guarantee that His love never fails.”

Don’t be deceived, people. Any marriage in which one person is making far more (emotional or love) withdrawals than deposits

Love Vs. Lust: Part I In A Series On Marriage And Relationships

See relationships, on page 7www.theweeklypress.com

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Thursday, January 5, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

health

Thursday, March 6, 2008 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

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cally pointed out that changes which occur in a human being is redirected to pull from the core of his own humanity to reaffirm self worth and purpose. he will then by nature acquire the will to do for himself and others.

Space is not available to cover concerns of so many people

concerned with the conditions at Jetson. it is happening there. What i do know is that most of these youth can be changed, from contrition in a prepatory school for Angola to rehabilitation for a positive life that may lead to a life of meritorious glory. That is the Way I See It!

SyStem from page 4

all funny or remotely appropri-ate about the use of a lynching reference about Michelle obama,’’ he said. ‘’it’s - i’m speechless.’’

As President Bush pointed out so eloquently during the Black history Month event, the noose represents ‘’more than a tool of murder but a tool of intimidation’’ to generations of African-Ameri-cans. Nooses not only robbed some of their lives but many of their peace of mind.

‘’As a civil society, we must understand that noose displays and lynching jokes are deeply offensive. they are wrong. And they have no place in America today,’’ he said.

Neither o’reilly nor ingraham has been reprimanded by their re-spective employers even though the Fox News personality did offer a half-hearted apology.

At least ingraham didn’t drop the l-word but her suggestion that Sharpton, a former presidential candidate and respected member of the African-American community and beyond, is a petty thief reeks of race-baiting and negative ste-reotyping of African-Americans and black men in particular.

But it’s hardly the first time ei-ther has ventured into questionable and offensive territory. how can

we forget o’reilly’s less-than-informed comments regarding a dinner he shared last year with Sharpton at Sylvia’s in harlem? o’reilly expressed surprise over how similarSylvia’s was to other restaurants in New York restau-rants.

‘’there wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, i want more iced tea,’’’ he said.

As the Washington Post’s rob-inson sadly observed on MSNBC in February, ‘’All you can go by is his words and his actions. And he keeps saying these things that sound pretty darn racist to me.’’

has talk radio learned anything from imus’ decline and fall? of course not, because it didn’t take imus too terribly long to get a new gig.

our nation’s media outlets should not provide a platform for racialhostility and hateful speech now or in the future. What kind of messageare we sending to our chil-dren, our nation and our world?

in such an historic election year, we cannot stand aside and allow individuals to use the airwaves as an outlet for insensitive and misguidedcommentary. if you hear something that offends you, speak up.

talk Radio from page 4

ering all children.the CDF Action Council, build-

ing on the best practices in states and lessons learned about children falling through the bureaucratic cracks of Medicaid and SChiP, strongly urged Congress to enact the All healthy Children Act, S. 1564/h.r. 1688, introduced by representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) in the house and Senator Bernie Sanders (i-Vt) in the Sen-ate. the measure would provide comprehensive benefits including dental and mental health, simpli-fied bureaucracy, and a national eligibility plan for families up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. We thank the 62 house co-sponsors for their support. how-ever, we regret that neither a single house republican nor any other Senator joined them to push for coverage for all children.

the CDF Action Council strongly supports long overdue health cov-erage for everyone in America as soon as possible—because children cannot wait. As SChiP comes up again for reauthorization in early 2009, we hope every Member of Congress will insist on covering every child and pregnant mother now by enacting and adequately funding the provisions of the All healthy Children Act.

Specious claims that we could not find the money—$70 billion over five years—to cover all children is belied by that amount spent in eleven months for tax cuts for the top one percent of richest Americans and in seven months for the iraq War. We do not have a money problem in America: We have a priorities and political will deficit. it is time for all adults to protect the health of our children.

the citizens of the nation must demand that our leaders free our children from the false ideological and political tugs of war among those who put excess profits ahead of children’s lives.

how well did Congress protect children in 2007? Not well enough: 276 Members of Congress had good CDF Action Council Con-gressional Scorecard scores of 80 percent or higher, and 198 of those had stellar scores of 100 percent. But 231 members scored 60 percent or lower—a failing grade from our school days.

Whether Members of Congress are liberal, conservative or mod-erate; Democrat, republican or independent, children need all of them to vote, lobby, speak for and protect them. Adults need to listen carefully to what candidates say they will do for children and fami-lies and, once they are in office, we need to hold them accountable. Please thank your Members of Con-gress with scores of 80 percent or above and let those with scores of 60 percent or below know you are dissatisfied with their performance. And please convey that same mes-sage to each presidential candidate. We must demand that our leaders commit to children as a condition of our vote.

Marian Wright Edelman is Presi-dent of the Children’s Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

ChildRen from page 4

(NAPSM)-A survey commissioned by two leading health organizations found that although two out of three African Americans (61 percent) ex-pressed concern about developing heart disease and two out of five (40 percent) expressed concern about developing Alzheimer’s, only about one in 20 are aware that heart health is linked to brain health.

the Alzheimer’s Association is joining forces with the American heart Association to educate African Americans that by managing their cardiovascular risk, they may also strengthen their cognitive health.

“What’s good for your heart is good for your brain,” says Jennifer Manly, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Associa-tion spokesperson. “every healthy heartbeat pumps about one-fifth of your blood to your brain to carry on the daily processes of thinking, prob-lem solving and remembering.”

“By the year 2030, the number of African Americans age 65 or older is expected to more than double to 6.9 million,” said emil Matarese, M.D., American heart Association spokes-person. “Although Alzheimer’s is not part of normal aging, age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. So it is important that Af-rican Americans take steps now to decrease their risk of heart disease, which research has shown could also decrease the risk of cognitive decline.”

Did You Know?• Compared to the general public,

African Americans have a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and vascular dementia.

• More than 40 percent of African Americans have high blood pres-sure (hBP) and are at risk for stroke, which can lead to greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s or other vascular cognitive dementias.

• every year, more than 100,000 African Americans have a stroke.

• having high cholesterol increases the risk for stroke and may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s.

Manage Your Risks• Watch the numbers. remember

that desirable blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmhg. Keep your body weight in the recommended range and make sure that the total choles-terol is less than 200mg/dL.

• healthy lifestyle choices include staying mentally and physically ac-tive, staying socially involved, reduc-ing your intake of fat and cholesterol and not smoking.

Visit www.alz.org/heartbrain or call the American Stroke Associa-tion, a division of the American heart Association, at (888) 478-7653 or the Alzheimer’s Association at (800) 272-3900 and you’ll receive a bro-chure with heart and brain health information and a free pedometer, while supplies last.

What’s Good For Your Heart Is Good For Your Brain

Research shows a link between heart and brain health, which means impaired heart function could lead to impaired brain function.

apart. You must continue to hold on to your faith and stay before the Lord. But, it may be that the time has come when you may need to take some quality time for yourself and spend some of that time with God.

Get on your knees before God and tell him of how you are feel-ing inside. And maybe the words wont come out exactly as you wish but you can have a good weeping, wailing crying falling, out tantrum and give all those problems to him.

While you are praying, you might forget some of the things that vexed you but God knows what you are going through. he can read the pain, which flows through your tears. even though he knows what’s troubling you, he still wants to tell him about it and bring your problems and burdens to him.

therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hands of God, that he may exalt you in due time, “casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you,”(1st Peter 5:6-7).

After you finished having your tantrum. You may have a stopped up nose and swollen eyes and mucus running down your lip and dried tears on your face, but you’ll feel better after emptying yourself of those things which had been heavy on your heart.

Sometimes we go for weeks or months trying to take matters into our hands and try to solve our own problems. We are not super humans; we can’t handle every-thing alone. We need God’s help. We have to let go of those situ-ations and let God handle them. there are some things we can’t humanly do anything about.

tantRum from page 6

(NAPSi)-here’s an alert worth paying attention to: According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), learning your risk for type 2 diabetes could save your life.

Diabetes is a serious disease that strikes nearly 21 million children and adults in the U.S. it is named the “silent killer” because one-third of those with the disease--more than 6 million--do not know they have it.

For many, diagnosis may come seven to 10 years after the onset of type 2 diabetes. early diagnosis is critical for successful treatment and can delay or prevent some of the complications such as heart diseases, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and amputation.

that’s one reason the ADA holds the American Diabetes Alert® Day, a one-day wake-up call to inform the American public about the serious-

ness of diabetes, particularly when it is left undiagnosed and untreated. the day is held on the fourth tuesday of every March.

on that day, people are encour-aged to take the Diabetes risk test, either with paper and pencil or online. the risk test requires users to answer seven simple questions about age, weight, lifestyle and family history--all potential risk factors for diabetes. People scoring 10 points or more are at a high risk for type 2 diabetes and are encouraged to talk with a health care professional.

An estimated 54 million Ameri-cans have pre-diabetes. those with pre-diabetes have blood glucose lev-els higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

early intervention via lifestyle changes such as weight loss and

increased physical activity can help delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Among the primary risk factors for type 2 diabetes are being over-weight, sedentary, over the age of 45 and having a family history of diabetes. African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific islanders are at an increased risk, as are women who have babies weighing more than 9 pounds at birth.

the Diabetes risk test is avail-

able in english and Spanish by call-ing the ADA at 1-800-DiABeteS (1-800-342-2383) or online at www.diabetes.org/alert.

though the Alert is a one-day call to action, awareness about type 2 diabetes is important anytime of the year, so free Diabetes risk tests are available online and by calling ADA all year long.

A free Diabetes risk test is avail-able all year long to determine the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

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could successfully block the strait, and that producers could still transport their oil through land-based oil pipelines. Still, a dustup in the region would turn oil tankers into military targets, and that could keep markets on edge — and prices elevated — for months.

Meanwhile the Commerce Department reported Wednes-day that orders for computers, electronic equipment and other “core capital goods” fell for the second month in November, as the nation’s economy recovers in fits and starts.

Americans continue to cut back on gasoline purchases, ac-cording to MasterCard Spend-ingPulse. Its private survey of credit card purchases showed that the four-week average for

gasoline demand fell 3.4 percent as of Dec. 30. Average gasoline demand has dropped every week for more than 10 months, MasterCard said.

At the pump, retail gasoline prices rose nearly a penny to a national average of $3.29 a gal-lon on Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular is about 22 cents higher than it was a year ago.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose 5 cents to fin-ish at $3.09 per gallon, while gasoline futures rose about 4 cents to end at $2.79 per gal-lon. Natural gas rose 10 cents to finish the day at $3.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Oil Price from page 5

painful problems as a result of the economic inequities and injustices that Black Americans face. The systemic problem of income inequality is a serious issue that we must address forthrightly. But we should not become cynical or hopeless. To the contrary, Black Americans have options. We first need to focus on this problem and we need to work on the solutions to income inequality. So much of our future is at stake. In the spirit of Dr. King and in the legacy of all our ancestors who

overcame great hurdles in the past, let us pray, work, struggle, organize, mobilize, unify and build a future for our children and communities.

Join the movement. Let’s stand up to income inequal-ity. Let’s occupy our dreams…. Let’s occupy our future.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is National Director of Occupy the Dream and President of Educa-tion Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).

inequality from page 4

Ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Decimating al Qaeda, includ-ing Bin Laden being taken off the field.”

He added, “But when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do. And we’re going to keep on at it.”

George E. Curry, former edi-tor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a key-note speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

PrOsPects from page 4

The finding that HIV treat-ment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) can actually prevent transmission of the virus from an infected person to his or her uninfected partner has been named “Breakthrough of the Year” for 2011 by the journal Science.

The eye-opening HIV clini-cal study, known as HPTN 052, demonstrated that early initia-tion of ARV therapy in people infected with HIV reduces trans-mission of the virus to their part-ners by 96 percent. The findings end a longstanding debate over whether ARV treatment of HIV-infected individuals can pro-vide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while at the same time cutting transmission rates, according to the journal. It’s now clear that ARV treatment can also reduce HIV transmission.

The results were called “as-tounding” by Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. HIV researcher. Oth-ers have called them a “game changer” because of the near 100 percent efficacy of the in-tervention.

The editors at Science,

the flagship publication of the American Academy for the Ad-vancement of Science, said in their announcement that “In combination with other prom-ising clinical trials, the results have galvanized efforts to end the world’s AIDS epidemic in a way that would been inconceiv-able even a year ago.

The HPTN 052 study is proof of a concept more than 20 years in the making.

“From the time the first AIDS drugs were developed in the mid-1990s, researchers have been working on the idea that antiretrovirals might make people less contagious,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, who led the

study.Cohen and his research

team thought it was time to try and prove it. Eventually nearly 2000 couples at 13 sites in nine countries joined HPTN 052.

In May of this year, four years before the study’s sched-uled completion, an outside monitoring board requested that the results be released im-mediately, because they were so overwhelmingly positive.

“Prevention of HIV-1 Infec-tion with Early Antiretroviral Therapy” was published in Au-gust of 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Jon Cohen, a writer for Sci-ence, said in an article about the breakthrough, “HPTN 052 has

made imaginations race about the what-ifs like never before, spotlighting the scientifically probable rather than the pos-sible.”

Since their release, the study results have been rever-berating throughout the policy community. U.S. and interna-tional organizations such as the World Health Organization, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, have incorporated or soon will incorporate “treatment as prevention”–the strategy proved by HPTN 052–into their policy guidelines for battling the AIDS epidemic.

“While I am obviously thrilled to have this research recognized as the Science break-through of the year,” Dr. Cohen said, “witnessing the translation of this scientific discovery on a global scale truly is the best reward.”

The HPTN 052 study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The com-plete list of top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year are published online at news.sci-encemag.org

HIV “Treatment as Prevention” Study Science Breakthrough of the Year

are a marriage that is in desper-ate need of counseling.

And if you’re in a court-ing kind of relationship and one person is in constant “gimme” mode, that’s a clear indication that that relationship needs to be dissolved.

The Rev. Donald Lee, a pastor and free-lance journal-

ist, can be reached for prayer or comment at pastordonjlee@yahoo.com. Pastor Bre Eaton can be reached for prayer or com-ment at kingdomprayers4am@yahoo.com. To order their book, “Married to Commitment,” go to http://www.xulonpress.com or call Xulon Press publishing at toll-free (866) 909-2665.

relatiOnshiPs from page 6

considering his options.Lopez, the Nets’ leading

scorer, had surgery Friday for a nondisplaced fracture. He was hurt in a preseason game against the Knicks on Wednes-day and will be sidelined at least six weeks and probably more.

In the meantime, general manager Billy King acquired former All-Star center Mehmet Okur from Utah for a second-round draft pick, signed free agent guard DeShawn Steven-son and waived forward Ime Udoka.

MLBDodgers: A U.S. District

Court judge in Delaware on Friday dealt a significant blow to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ plans to sell the media rights to

future games, halting the sales process while he consider an appeal by Fox Sports. Judge Leonard Stark also said he likely will agree with Fox’s position that a bankruptcy judge who authorized the sale process erred when he determined that certain pro-tections granted to Fox in its existing contract with the Dodgers were unenforceable in bankruptcy.

“The court is also likely to conclude that the bankruptcy court opinion and/or order are based on one or more clearly erroneous findings of fact,” wrote Stark, who said he would issue an opinion on Tuesday further explaining his reasons for granting Fox’s re-quest for an emergency stay of the bankruptcy order.

lsu from page 5

Screenings made possible by donor gifts.

www.marybird.org

during Coast Guard and congres-sional hearings and investiga-tions. He said the committee has duplicated that work.

“You have to do something to get your attorneys’ fees,” said Becnel, who is not part of the steering committee. “We’re all beside ourselves.”

Herman, for the steering committee, said that the Coast Guard investigation and testi-

mony were not “generally admis-sible” in civil court “so facts and opinions had to be independently established.”

Meanwhile, BP, Transocean Ltd., Halliburton and other com-panies involved in the spill have blamed each other in lawsuits. Civil and criminal investigations into who is responsible for the nation’s worst offshore oil spill are ongoing.

Payments from page 2

Page 8 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 5, 2012

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BATON ROUGE - The top-ranked LSU Tigers spent their last night in Baton Rouge before the BCS national championship game next week.

The team also enjoyed the day off Tuesday before a busy Wednesday, when they practice in the Capital City and then bus to the Crescent City.

9 Sports will be there waiting for Tyrann Mathieu and the rest of the Bayou Bengals when they arrive at the team headquarters for the next six days.

At least one Alabama star said he’s tuning out some of the

pregame hype, even though most of the national experts seem to be picking the Crimson Tide to win, just as they did for the first game.

“Last night, I was watching ESPN and they did a segment on the Honey Badger and I im-mediately changed the channel,” said Darius Hanks, Alabama Sr. WR. “Because, that stuff gets into your mind. I don’t want to think about that. I’ve got my mindset right, I feel, and I’m ready for the game.”

Hanks had two catches for 38 yards in the first contest.

Tigers Rest Up Before Heading To New Orleans

Tyrann Mathieu shown with a few of LSU football players

SALT LAKE CITY - Al Jef-ferson scored 22 points and Devin Harris added 19 points, including a late 3-pointer and three free throws down the stretch as the Utah Jazz beat the New Orleans Hornets 94-90 on Monday night.

The Jazz (2-3) have won two at home to offset three blowout losses on the road.

Jarrett Jack scored a sea-son-high 27 points for New Orleans (2-3), which dropped its third straight.

Utah outscored New Or-

leans 50-32 in the paint.Josh Howard scored 13

points off the bench for the Jazz, including six straight in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 80. C.J. Miles added 11 and four rebounds.

New Orleans continued to struggle from 3-point range, making just 3 of 10 shots.

Utah trailed by as many as seven points early but had a 32-point second-quarter, with key contributions from rookies Enes Kanter and Alec Burks.

Jefferson Has 22 Points, Jazz Beat Hornets 94-90

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — After missing out on a first-round bye in the playoffs, the Saints got the next best thing — a night game at home to open the postseason.

It’s a welcome reward after the first season in history in which New Orleans went undefeated at home during the regular season, including a 4-0 record at night, when they beat opponents by an average of 47-16.

Saturday night, Detroit will get its second crack at the Saints this season. The first one was one of those big Saints wins — 31-17 in the Superdome on Dec. 4 on a Sunday night.

After winning just 43 percent of their home games in the 39 seasons before Sean Payton was hired as coach, the Saints have won 66.7 percent since.

And yet, there’s little any-one inside the Saints locker room could say was decidedly different from the past.

“I don’t know exactly what it is,” New Orleans strong safety Roman Harper said. “The Saints play well at home and it’s a known fact about this league, just like Seattle plays well at home. Nobody knows exactly why, but maybe it’s a sense of confidence being at home, a different pattern throughout the week.”

After winning just 43 percent of their home games in the 39 seasons before Payton was hired in 2006, the Saints have won two thirds since.

“I’ve got a pool table at my

house and you have to play with a short stick sometimes,” Harper said. “That’s the home-field ad-vantage to me because I know how to play with it. Somebody on the outside may not know

how to play with it. Maybe we have a couple of dead spots on the turf.”

They’ve been even better in night games, going 15-6 overall and 10-4 in home games after dark during the regular season.

In the playoffs, they’re 3-0 at night under Payton.

“It’s always an advan-tage playing in a dome with the crowd that we have, the type of atmosphere they set for us,” cornerback Tracy Porter said. “It makes it easy to play, it makes it enjoyable to play, especially when we have suc-cess and those guys have the Dome rocking. You can’t ask for anything better.”

The Saints haven’t lost a home night game since Dec. 19, 2009, when Dallas stopped New Orleans’ 13-game win streak.

The Saints now are on an eight-game win streak and line-backer Scott Shanle has an idea why they have been so good lately at home — they’re just playing good football.

Since a Nov. 20 bye, New Orleans has outscored opponents 234-111, including four home games in which it has won by a combined 96 points.

“It’s just been one of those things where we’ve just been on a roll,” Shanle said. “No matter where we played, I feel like we would have won.

Saints Relishing Chance To Stay Unbeaten At Home

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New Orleans Saints fullback Jed Collins (45) crosses the goal line for a touchdown as Carolina Panthers defensive end Thomas Keiser (98) pursues during the third quarter of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012.

PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS - Jameel Grace scored 21 points and Michael Celestin added 18 to lead Southern to a 73-65 victory against Prairie View A&M in the Southwestern Athletic Confer-ence opener for both teams on Tuesday night.

Derick Beltran had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Jaguars (5-9, 1-0).

Ronald Wright, with 14

points, was the only player to score in double figures for the Panthers (4-10, 0-1), who shot just 37.1 percent (23 of 62) from the floor.

A 23-5 run over an 8:03 stretch of the second half gave Southern control. Celestin had 10 points and made two 3-pointers while Grace added seven points during the surge, which gave the Jaguars a 64-47 lead with 9:56 remaining.

Southern Defeats Prairie View A&M 73-65

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