Washington Informer

High Heat, Storm Damage and High Electrical Demand Taxing the System

WASHINGTON, D.C.  --  The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory today for the Washington, D.C., region and predicts continuing extreme heat into the weekend with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.

This record heat, damage to the electric system from the recent storm and high demand for electricity, as customers seek to cool their homes, are stressing the capabilities of the electric system. In response, Pepco is asking customers to conserve electricity.

Hundreds of crews continue to work around the clock to restore customers who remain without power from last week's violent storm as well as address pockets of new outages caused by the high heat conditions.

Tips for Conserving Energy

Pepco recommends the tips below for conserving energy. To learn more, visit www.pepco.com /energy/conservation/.

· During hot weather, a central air conditioner can account for 30 percent of a customer?s energy bill. Pepco suggests checking the air filter regularly ? a clean air filter improves system efficiency, which should lead to energy savings.

· Set your thermostat at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, a reasonably comfortable and energy-efficient indoor temperature.

· Have a professional check your air conditioning system to ensure that it works properly and is not leaking coolant.

· Be sure all windows are shut and outside doors are closed when the air conditioning is on.

· It is important not to have lamps, televisions or other heat sources close to the air conditioner thermostat. Heat from these sources may cause the air conditioner unit to run longer than it should.

· Check to ensure that no furniture or other obstacles are blocking ducts or fans. This will enable cooled air to circulate freely, making your home more comfortable.

For more information and updates, visit www.pepco.com, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at PepcoConnect and download our mobile app at www.pepco.com/mobileapp.

Tonya Williams knew the first thing she was going to do when she moved into her first home last weekend – drop to her knees and thank God for making homeownership a reality.

"It's exciting," Williams said in anticipation of her move. "Very exciting."

Williams is the first homeowner assisted from start to finish in the Prince George's County Department of Housing and Community Development's (DHCD) newest homeownership "Buy Suitland" program. Through the program, qualified buyers receive up to $40,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance for the purchase of their first home. The program offers homeowners a 0 percent interest loan and half of the loan is forgiven if the house remains the homeowner's primary residence for 15 years.

Williams, 51, an administrative assistant with the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, is leaving the world of renting behind at a substantial savings. She will be paying $458 a month less in mortgage payments than the rent on her apartment in Suitland, where she's lived for 14 years.

Her new home is a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom townhouse. She purchased it through a short sale and the process took two months from her initial contact with DHCD to her signing papers at closing.

Williams also qualified for a loan to make home improvements [a new roof, remodeled kitchen, and a bathroom update along with termite treatment] to the house before she moved in.

Toward the end of moving day, June 30, an exhausted Williams only said, "It is nice."

"After renting most of my life, I'm sure I've paid for one or two houses by now in rent," Williams said. "Finally, a home of my own – my grandchildren can come over and play in the playground just out back."

William, who said she's been packed for a year, had attempted to purchase homes in the past with no success and had gotten to a point of shying away from the housing market.

"There [aren't] a whole lot of programs helping with down payment and closing costs," Williams said. However, those two areas are where the "Buy Suitland" program provided assistance.

"Oh wow, it was excellent," said Williams of the guidance and support she received from the county.

"Suitland is one of our target areas for the county executive's 'Transforming Neighborhoods Initiatives' with specific county resources dedicated to the area as well as a community anchored by the Suitland Metro station, the Suitland Federal Center and the planned mixed use of the Suitland Manor Redevelopment Project. It is an excellent location to purchase a foreclosed or short-sale property," said Eric Brown, DHCD director.

"Renters like Ms. Williams should seriously consider the benefits of homeownership and how our 'Buy Suitland' program can help."

Williams encourages those who have been thinking about purchasing a home but have become discouraged to consider the "Buy Suitland" program and to be patient.

"It's an overwhelming feeling," Williams said. "I am considered a homeowner."

Rev. Fred Luter to Take Over Southern Baptist Convention

On Tuesday, June 19, the Rev. Fred Luter, pastor of New Orleans' Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, was elected as the first Black president of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during their annual meeting in New Orleans. The two-day annual meeting's theme was "Jesus: To the neighborhood and the nations."

The previous SBC president is Bryant Wright.

When asked what message he hopes his nomination and SBC presidency will send, Luter, 55, explained that the lesson people should learn is about the importance of faith.

"Why me out of all the thousands and thousands of preachers in this city and state and nation?," he asked. "I believe it's not because I've accomplished so much; I just believe it's because of the faithfulness of God and that He has honored me because of my faithfulness."

According to the Annual Church Profile, the Southern Baptist Convention has approximately 15 million U.S. members and of those, an estimated one million members are Black. The selection of a Black minister for the highest post in the SBC has particular relevance because of how the convention was founded nearly 167 years ago. The Southern Baptist Convention was created in 1845, when participants decided to leave the Northern Baptists because they believed slavery was biblically just.

Many, including Luter, have difficulty believing the racial injustices perpetrated by SBC churches and their members.

"I've been in this thing four years now," he said. "I don't feel a need to leave. All of us got a past. All we can do is apologize about those things and move on."

The SBC is well aware of its racist history and in recent years has made moves — big and small — to address its past and shape its future. In 2011, the convention passed an historic measure calling for more ethnic diversity in their leadership ranks; in 1995, they even formally apologized "to all African-Americans' for their past stance on slavery.

Black Clergy Take New Approach to Fight HIV

African-American clergy are reportedly ready to join the fight against HIV by focusing on HIV testing, treatment and social justice.

"We in public health have done a poor job of engaging African-American community leaders, and particularly Black clergy members, in HIV prevention," said Amy Nunn, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

"There is a common misperception that African-American churches are unwilling to address the AIDS epidemic. This paper highlights some of the historical barriers to effectively engaging African-American clergy in HIV prevention and provides recommendations from clergy for how to move forward."

Dozens of interviews and focus group data have been analyzed among 38 African-American pastors and imams in Philadelphia, where racial disparities in HIV infection are especially stark. Seven in 10 new infections in the city are among Black residents. Nearly all of the 27 male and 11 female clergy members said they would preach and promote HIV testing and treatment.

That message would provide a needed complement to decades of public health efforts that have emphasized risky behaviors, Nunn said. Research published and widely reported last year, for example, suggests that testing and then maintaining people on treatment could dramatically reduce new infections because treatment can give people a 96-percent lower chance of transmitting HIV.

According to the paper's analysis, many religious leaders acknowledged that they struggled with how to cope with the epidemic, particularly with challenges related to discussing human sexuality in the church or mosque setting.

"It's my duty as a preacher to tell people to abstain," one pastor told the research team, "but if they're still having sex and they're getting HIV, there has to be another way to handle this."

Natalie Mitchem, pastor of Calvary AME Church and director of the First Episcopal District Health Commission, has been supportive of efforts to engage faith leaders in the fight against HIV. She says HIV awareness and education is a comprehensive part of the AME church's health ministry.

"I feel like it's a very significant, vitally important ministry for churches of all denominations. It's important for us to share the messages about prevention and education in our congregations and in our communities — so that people know we care," Mitchem says.

The Affordable Health Care Act means affordable health care for all Americans. The green light the law received last week from the U.S. Supreme Court finally puts Americans on the right path to becoming healthier regardless of income, race, gender or preexisting conditions. Now what can be so incredibly wrong about that?

Apparently many members of the Republican Party have huge problems with what they like to call Obamacare. It doesn't matter that millions of Americans will have health insurance, including young adults who will be covered by their parent's health insurance until age 26, Republicans are insistent that the law must be repealed.

But not all Republicans are casting darts at the measure which ranked among the top issues voters wanted Barack Obama to address if he won the presidency in 2008. Some voters have short memories of the plethora of testimonials by Americans who were suffering due to the lack of access and affordability of health care.

But many young Republicans are flexible enough to separate politics from sound public policy. The dilemma of conscience young Republicans say they are facing stems from a desire to stick with the party because of their belief that you always support the party, or do they go with their conscience which leans toward President Obama who seems to get it when it comes to the issues that impact the next generation.

Their view is that the Republican Party is engaged in a really stupid game of partisan politics which will make it difficult for them come November to vote the party line.

Many young Republicans are not sold on Mitt Romney, either. What they hear is a candidate who represents a party that speaks more about what President Obama has done wrong instead of what their party is proposing to do to address the issues of health care, jobs, immigration and education.

These voters will most likely go to the polls in November and very likely may support President Obama's re-election bid. If they do, they will still be Republicans and they may become the hope for their party's future.

Andy Griffith, the warm-hearted, common-sense sheriff of rural Mayberry, featured on the "Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 86.

Revered as" America's favorite sheriff," the affable Griffith passed away early Tuesday at his home on Roanoke Island, Dare County, N.C., according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

"Andy Griffith passed away, after an illness ... Mr. Griffith has been laid to rest on his beloved Roanoke Island,"a statement from the actor's family conveyed.

Griffith's wife Cindi Griffith added that, "Andy was a person of incredibly strong Christian faith and was prepared for the day he would be called Home to his Lord."

Griffith's stellar career ranged from nightclub and radio appearances to movies and music. But it was his renowned role as a small-town sheriff on TV that endeared him to millions of Americans.

According to a CBS report, viewers tuned into "The Andy Griffith Show" which ran from 1960 to 1968, not to watch Sheriff Andy Taylor solve big crimes, but to watch him solve the little problems of life in the fictional Mayberry, N.C. Don Knotts played Deputy Barney Fife, and Jim Nabors portrayed Gomer Pyle, the gas pumper.

Although critics rated the weekly family-oriented show -- that also featured "Aunt Bea" -- number four among the top five sitcoms ever on TV, other reports state that, "The Andy Griffith Show" was one of only three series in history to end its run at the top of the ratings. "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld" also bowed out on top.

Griffith was born June 1, 1926, in the small town of Mt. Airy, N.C. He was brought up in the church where he sang and played slide trombone in the band at Grace Moravian Church. He got break an actor when he played the role of Sir Walter Raleigh in Paul Green's outdoor pageant, "The Lost Colony," in Manteo, N.C.

Griffith graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949 with a degree in music, and years later in 1972, he began his own production company.

Griffith returned to TV in 1986, playing the lead role in "Matlock," a courtroom-based drama, which aired until 1995.