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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009
Southern’s Jeffrey Morgan Part of Louisiana Student Collaboration
rouge,
louisiana
Vol. 34 • No. 30
a people’s publication
Army Recognizes Contributions Black Leaders Applaud of Black Seminole Indian Scouts House Passage of Health Care Bill By Pharoh Martin NNPA National Correspondent
Jeffrey Morgan
BATON ROUGE -Southern University senior computer science major, Jeffrey Morgan, is one of five students from universities throughout the state preparing to compete as a team at the Student Programming Contest during the Supercomputing Conference 2009 in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 16. Morgan, a Fort Worth, Texas native, along with team members Lei Jiang, LSU Joshua Hitchins, Louisiana Tech University, Cory Redfern, University of New Orleans, and Nikhil Shetty, University of Louisiana at Lafayette meet every Friday on a video conference from their schools to figure out problems from various computational science disciplines. “Our hardest problems involve parallel programming,” said Morgan. “Parallel programming operations and equations for a complex problem can be separated and solved simultaneously across multiple computers and brought back together in the end. This allows a problem to be solved in a fraction of the time that it would take a single computer.” The team will receive eight to 12 computational problems at the contest, so preparation beforehand is important. “The problems are hard,” added Morgan who said he found out about the collaboration from Dr. Ebrahim Khosravi, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “He told me about it and it sounded interesting,” said Morgan. “This collaboration has helped me learn a lot. I wouldn’t be able to answer those problems on my own.” Morgan and the student team will continue to meet each See Morgan, on page 2
Black Seminole Indian Chief William “Dub” Warrior (center, standing above headstone), Buffalo Soldiers, U.S. Army Soldiers, and members of the general public attend a special ceremony to dedicate a new headstone for Seminole Indian Scout William Shields at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C (Photo by Michael Dorsey)
Buffalo Soldiers and Others Participate in Ceremony Washington, D.C. –- A formal Army recognition ceremony was conducted recently by the U.S. Army’s Freedom Team Salute program on the campus of Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. to honor the legacy of the Black Seminole Indian Scouts. William Shields, one of the scouts, was buried in the cemetery on the hospital’s campus in 1910. Freedom Team Salute helped dedicate a new headstone for Shields and recognized members of the Buffalo Soldiers with Freedom Team Salute Commendations. William “Dub” Warrior, Chief of the John Horse Band of Black Seminoles; Colonel David Griffith, Director of Freedom Team Salute; Buffalo Soldiers; and a historian participated in the ceremony. “The Black Seminole In-
(NNPA) - Keith Bardwell, the Louisiana judge who drew national criticism after refusing to marry an interracial couple, resigned Nov. 3. For weeks, Louisiana officials, including Gov. Bobby Jindal, had called for Bardwell’s ouster after he
NATIONAL/state & Community watch
See bill, on page 4
Cao Jolted the House William “Dub” Warrior (right), Chief of the John Horse Band of the Black Seminole Indians, receives an Army Freedom Team Salute Commendation from Colonel David Griffith. (Photo by Michael Dorsey)
dian Scouts were considered one of the toughest units in the Army,” explained Colonel Griffith. “Amazingly, not a single one of their men was killed or seriously wounded during their tenure with the Army. Four of the Scouts were Congressional
Medal of Honor recipients.” “I never thought this day would come,” said William “Dub” Warrior. “It’s beyond words. William Shields was just a plain man. He would be exSee SCOUTS, on page 2
Louisiana Judge in Interracial Marriage Debacle Resigns Special to the NNPA from the Afro
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - When the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi banged the gavel and declared, “The bill is passed”, health care reform that President Obama and Democratic leaders have pushed for so fervently over the past year came one step closer to reality on Saturday. The Senate is next. Black lawmakers, their Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives and civil rights leaders celebrated the passage of H.R. 3962 the Affordable Health Care for America Act, a landmark bill that aims to reform the health care system in America. The Democratic-con-
trolled House narrowly passed the hotly-debated measure on Saturday night with a 220-215 vote. Only one Republican supported the bill. President Obama called the passage of health care reform in the House “historic”. “Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America,” Obama said in a statement. “Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.”
refused to marry Beth Humphrey, a White woman, and Terence McKay, an AfricanAmerican man. “This was the right decision by Mr. Bardwell. What he did was clearly wrong and this resignation was long overdue,” Jindal said in a statement. Bardwell resigned from his position with a terse state-
STATE & LOCAL NEWS
ment to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne which read, “I do hereby resign the office of Justice of the Peace for the Eighth Ward of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, effective November 3, 2009.” According to The Associated Press, Bardwell said he has refused to marry other See JUdge, on page 2
business NEWS
Once a year, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao gives the Washington establishment a little jolt. In December 2008, the nationally unknown Vietnamese community activist captured a seat for Republicans in majority-black New Orleans, becoming an instant — albeit short-lived — celebrity for the GOP. On Saturday night, he handed Democrats their only Republican vote on the centerpiece of their domestic agenda, a massive overhaul of the nation’s health care system that promises to enhance coverage for tens of millions of Americans and thousands of Cao’s constituents. Now he’s a bit of a cult hero on the left — a profile in courage, Democrats say — and television bookers were scrambling to find cell phone numbers for his aides Sunday. Republicans and Democrats who have worked closely with Cao in Louisiana and Washington say they weren’t a bit surprised — even if much of the political world did a double take — when Cao registered a green light on the scoreboard in the House chamber. “I think he works hard. I think he studies things, and I think he tries to do the right thing,” said an administration
Health news
Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao
official who has worked with Cao. “People in the administration reach out to him a lot because he’s willing to talk about things nondogmatically.” Of course, Cao and the Obama administration have a major shared interest in the rebuilding of New Orleans, which puts him in regular contact with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Education. On health care, Cao met with the White House point person, Nancy-Ann DeParle, in his office and spoke to her repeatedly by phone during the past couple of months, according to an aide. PresiSee house, on page 4
religion news
There’s so much going on today. All types of problems rising up, that it seems that a solution won’t be found. Many are searching for a place to hide, trying to dodge the troubles that are rising up. ..See Page 6
INDEX
LA Promotes Recycles Day Members of the Louisiana Army National Guard were greeted by four NFL players in a special visit during pre-deployment training at Camp Beauregard near Pineville , La. , Oct. 23....Page 8
Keep Louisiana Beautiful, the state’s nonprofit organization dedicated to litter reduction, is urging citizens and businesses to participate in America Recycles Day (ARD) November 15. ARD is dedicated to raising awareness on recycling...See Page 3
Homebuyers and Unemployment
President Obama has signed into law a $24 billion economic stimulus bill providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending unemployment benefits to the longtime jobless who have been left behind...See Page 4
National Diabetes Month
There is an estimate that 80% of black women and 60% of black men are overweight or obese (which contributes to diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, high blood pressure, among other chronic health conditions)..... See Page 7
Local & State............................2 Business....................................4 Special......................................5 Religion....................................6 Health.......................................7 Other........................................8
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