By Chinta Strausberg

Ministers and funeral directors are holding a meeting 12 noon Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at the Liberty Baptist Church, 49^th and King Drive, to give instructions on how to lobby legislators to support the budgeted $10 million needed to restore burial funds for the poor who simply want to bury their love ones with dignity and respect.

Referring to the General Assembly’s not passing funds to bury the indigent and Cook County officials threatening to donate unclaimed bodies to science, Leak said, “This important moral issue could at any time impact each and everyone of us in this challenging economy. Human dignity should not only be recognized in life but also in death.”

“We support and we applaud Governor Pat Quinn for restoring the burial funds and now we have to get the General Assembly to approve these monies that were discontinued on August 15^th,” said Spencer Leak, Sr., president/CEO of the Leak & Sons Funeral Home.

“The discontinuance of these burial funds has created a crisis in the funeral industry,” said Leak explaining without burial funds their love ones have had to remain in the Morgue as unclaimed.

And, that has caused yet another pressing problem to the grieving relatives, and it is a slap in the face of W. Earl Lewis, who was once homeless, but who established the Interfaith Memorial Observance for Indigent Persons in 1986. Lewis, who has since died, didn’t want the homeless to “live and die” alone. The annual memorial service honors the lives of poor people buried by the Cook County Morgue.

But, thanks to a 100-year-old law, that’s now changed.

“The Morgue is seeking to restrict an unclaimed deceased person’s stay in the Morgue to two-weeks. After two-weeks, they will release their bodies for medical research and possible harvesting of organs, and they are using a 126-year law to do this,” said Leak referring to the 1885 Illinois Cadaver Act.

He was referring to Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Jones who reportedly said that the families who can’t afford to pay for a burial would see their love one’s bodies donated to science after a two-week unclaimed period. Prior to imposing this law, the County paid $300 for these bodies to be bury in a segregated area in Homewood.

Already, the Anatomical Gift Association has reportedly agreed to accept the bodies it needs to shore up its donors.

Rev. Dr. Johnny Miller, pastor of the Mt. Vernon Church, said, “In light of so many people who are coming to us when they don’t have money to bury their love ones, we are thankful at this juncture that the Governor has put back $10 million to bury the indigent.

“We’re praying that the legislator get onboard,” said Miller referring to Gov. Quinn’s restoring $10 million for indigent burials that needs to be approved by state lawmakers.” This is a rough time for the country right now, and this restoration of these funds is in the right direction. While I am hoping that one day people will become self-sufficient, right now we need these burial funds,” said Miller.

“Restoration of these burial funds will help people secure the state stipend of $1,103 restoration of these funds will enable them to seek a funeral home service. While $1,103 is not that much, still it will allow them to seek the services of a funeral director,” said Leak.

Leak said the public is also invited to attend Tuesday’s meeting. “We are trying to enlist everyone to call their elected official to restore those funds,” said Leak.

For more information, contact Spencer Leak, Sr. at 1-773-846-6567.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

By Thomas A. Farrington, Founder and President
Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN)

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — There is a raging prostate cancer crisis in Black America where men are diagnosed with the disease at a rate 60% higher than all other men and die at a rate 140% higher. This is the largest racial disparity for any type of major cancer in the United States. Even with these unbelievably gloomy statistics progress has been made over the past 20 years as the overall prostate cancer death rate for Black men and for all men has declined by approximately 40%. Medical experts and the data collected over this period attribute this decline to an earlier detection and better treatment of the disease. The only test that is available today for early detection of prostate cancer is the PSA test.

The U. S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued this draft recommendation on October 7, 2011: “The USPSTF recommends against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) – based screening for prostate cancer. This is a grade D recommendation. This recommendation applies to men in the U.S. population who do not have symptoms that are highly suspicious for prostate cancer, regardless of age, race, or family history.”

If this recommendation is allowed to drive public health policy then the methods for detecting prostate cancer will be returned to those used prior to the PSA test. There is a history, and data, to know exactly what the outcomes will be; a majority of men will be diagnosed with metastatic incurable disease resulting in a higher death rate and increased suffering. The harshest impact will be on Black men and other men at high risk for the disease. However, the USPSTF is basing its recommendation primarily on data that does not include a statistically significant number of Black men.

The Prostate Health Education Network, Inc. (PHEN) hosted a live webcast on Wednesday, October 12th to explore the PSA screening debate and its impact on Black men. We assembled some of the leading medical experts to address this issue. I urge you to learn more about this debate by viewing this webcast which is available in its entirety here: PSA Screening Debate Webcast.

I am an eleven year prostate cancer survivor in good health today with no discernable side effects from my treatments. I have also witnessed the deaths of my father, both grandfathers and only brother-in-law from prostate cancer. I know the benefits of PSA testing and the horrible death that men experience from the disease. We cannot allow a public policy that would return us to the days of increased deaths and suffering – we have a better option.

I am asking that all of PHEN partners, survivor members and those that care about men’s health to join me in taking action against the USPSTF recommendation. For the USPSTF to make a recommendation that ignores the very existence of the men most impacted by prostate cancer is an insult and irresponsible. Let your voice be heard on this issue! Email your U. S. Congressional leaders, and make your comments to the USPSTF here: Public Comment

Thank you for your support and please visit our website for additional information: www.rapcancer.org

About PHEN

PHEN is a non profit 501(c)3 organization, founded in 2003 with a primary mission to increase prostate health education and awareness among African American men, who have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States. PHEN’s mission also includes efforts to increase the overall support and resources in the fight against prostate cancer that will eventually lead to a cure for the benefit of all men. PHEN utilizes a national network of prostate cancer survivors who volunteer to help implement its initiatives within churches and other venues.

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Diverse Mobile the minority owned mobile application development company behind the first African American Storybook App on the AppStore, A Song for Miles, brings you another revolutionary App for the iPhone focusing on HBCU Homecomings. HBCU Homecoming is the first App created solely to promote Black College Homecoming activities and events. The application features schedules of events for all Black Colleges with Fall football Homecoming activities.

Having all attended HBCUs, the founders of Diverse Mobile recognize the amount of excitement and pageantry around Black College Homecomings and are attempting to fill a void in the mobile space with this one of a kind App. According to the UNCF Patterson Research Institute, though representing just 4 percent of the nation’s public and private not-for profit four-year institutions, HBCUs enroll 21 percent of African-American college students, and grant 22 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to African-Americans. HBCUs also account for more than a fifth of all African- American undergraduates.

What makes the App so revolutionary and a must have for anyone with an interest in HBCUs is not only the schedule of events but all of the other innovative and collaborative features sure to please Alumni, current Students, and all interested Parties.

The feature set is listed below:

* Homecoming schedule of events for all HBCUs that have Fall Football activities and the ability to set reminders so you won’t miss any events

* School specific In App Chat rooms that allow you to connect with old classmates or talk smack about an upcoming Game or Event!

* Listen to live broadcast streams of selected Black College football games through our partnership with the Heritage Sports network via the App

* Want to know where the hottest parties around Homecoming are occurring? This App has you covered in the Entertainment section

* Search for travel deals inside of the App for transportation to HBCU Homecomings and Events through our partnership with the HBCU College Shuttle

* Multipurpose QR scanner to be used on any QR code (2D Code)

* Twitter and Facebook feeds with the latest news on HBCUs inside of the application

The App can be downloaded today at the following link (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hbcu-homecoming/id471987577?ls=1&mt=8) or found on the AppStore by searching for “HBCU Homecoming”. You can also follow HBCU mobile Apps on Twitter @hbcumobileapps or visit www.hbcumobileapps.com for more information. If you are a Promoter and interested in advertising your event around an HBCU Homecoming inside of the App, please contact us at info@hbcumobileapps.com

In the office’s continuing efforts to enhance community involvement and awareness, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, along with members of the office’s Advisory Councils, presented a one-day seminar aimed at informing and empowering community organizations.

“Taking our Community Back: Staying Informed and Connected”, was the theme for the 3rd annual Unity Conference, held in commemoration of Unity Month.  The conference gave participants the opportunity to hear presentations highlighting the State’s Attorney’s newest initiatives: mortgage fraud, human trafficking and deferred prosecution. 

Also during the conference, State’s Attorney Alvarez presented the Community Empowerment Award to Katherine Kaufka Walts, Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC) at Loyola University for their efforts to protect children from trafficking, both locally and globally.

The Unity Conference was held last month at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Road.

Illinois Charters awarded a third of federal funds for proposed
or current schools

Springfield, IL – The Illinois State Board of Education announced that nine Illinois charter schools developers were awarded $1.6 million in federal funds to be used toward planning, program design and initial implementation, as well as for sharing best practices. These new and proposed Illinois charter schools represent a third of the 26 national charters awarded $4.7 million in grants with eight Illinois charter developers receiving funds for planning, program design and initial implementation of new charter schools, and one charter school receiving a grant to partner with other charter and non-charter public schools to improve academic performance and to share its best practices.

“On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, I would like to congratulate these charter schools and developers for earning critical federal dollars and playing an important role in our state’s mission to ensure every student is prepared to succeed in college and careers,” said Illinois State Board of Education Chairman Gery J. Chico. “These grants can provide valuable resources for proposed and new charters to develop and implement high-quality charter school programs and for existing charters to spread best practices across Illinois so that parents and students have more options for a high-quality education.”

Charter developers applied to the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) which aims to increase national understanding of the charter school model and to expand the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the nation by providing financial assistance for the planning, program design, initial implementation and dissemination of best practices.

More information about the Charter Schools Program is available from the Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/csp/index.html

Following is a list of successful Illinois grantees and the first-year grant award amount for each charter: