In this week’s address, President Obama discusses how America can create a good economic foundation through using clean energy. The move would reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and create jobs in this country, he said.

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Two Pillars of a New Foundation

 Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, plans to visit Michael Vick in prison. Vick, who is on the down side of a 23-month prison term for charges stemming from dogfighting, is scheduled to see Dungy on May 5 at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., according to ESPN.com. Dungy, the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl, will discuss life, not football, the network reports. Vick will be heading to Virginia late next month, where he will finish his term under home confinement.

Rev. Jackson meets Chicago sit-in workers. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is beginning to meet with the hundreds of workers who are staging a sit-in at a Chicago factory that they say gave them no notice or severance before closing, according to The Associated Press. The workers say they won’t leave the Republic Windows and Doors plant until they get some assurance that they’ll receive their severance and vacation pay. Jackson met with the workers Sunday morning, and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition says he’s trying to help get Republic’s creditor, the Bank of America, to reinstate the company’s line of credit so that it can pay the workers and possibly save around 300 jobs. Union organizer Leah Fried says the window manufacturer can’t pay its employees because the Bank of America stopped the money flow. The bank said it isn’t responsible for Republic’s financial obligations to its employees.

 “Mama Africa” memorial service draws hundreds.

Hundreds of people came out to celebrate the life of legendary South African singer Miriam Makeba (also known as “Mama Africa”) at a public memorial service Saturday, reports the BBC. The 76-year-old singer died last weekend when she suffered a heart attack after performing at a benefit concert in Italy. The service drew fellow musicians, poets, South African government officials. Makeba, who was exiled from the country for using her music to speak out against apartheid, was described as “a woman whose name became synonymous with the worldwide struggle for freedom in South Africa,” by the nation’s Arts minister, Pallo Jordan. Hugh Masekela, a trumpet player and her former husband, performed at the service, and a South African poet, Maishe Maponya, read a poetic tribute. Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s former president was also in attendance. The current president, Kgalema Motlanthe, who was in the United States for the G20 economic summit, sent a video message. “Let us say it loud and clear. Miriam Makeba was not affectionately called Mama Africa for nothing. Her music reverberated with consciousness about the real conditions of South Africans,” he said. South Africa started a period of national mourning the day after her body was flown to the country last week. Makeba, who was the first Black singer to win a Grammy award, also was the voice behind such hits at “Pata Pata” and “The Click Song.”

World leaders, minus Obama, meet to discuss economy.

Twenty leaders from all over the world converged in D.C. this weekend to talk about ways to solve the international economic crisis, reports CNN. The Group of 20 leaders (who’s nations collectively own 90 percent of the world’s economy) agreed on some aspects of the causes of the crisis and some places for solutions and decided to meet again in April to look at the progress. Various economic stimulus plans, such as interest rate cuts, found support among the nations; they also agreed to help developing nations hit hard by the global crisis. They also agreed on greater oversight for credit agencies. President George Bush called the meeting “very productive.” “All this is an important first step. In other words, this is a beginning of a series of meetings,” he said following the summit. President-elect Barack Obama did not attend the meeting, instead sending former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican congressman Jim Leach. “There is one president at a time,” a joint statement from Albright and Leach said, echoing the words of Obama during his first policy speech. “So, the president-elect asked us to represent him in receiving the views of these important partners.” And Obama’s absence didn’t seem to fade other world leaders, such as U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who believes he would be onboard with what they decided anyway. “What we decided today – to use fiscal measures to stimulate demand, and all countries signed up – is very much in line with what Obama said he would do,” he said. Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets surrounding the World Bank to speak out against everything from the government to international financial institutions to capitalism.

Black Muslims meet in Detroit

When most people think about Black Muslims, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam is the first thing that comes to mind. But it’s the Muslim American Society and its leader, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, that is widely believed to have the largest following among African Americans. This past weekend, thousands of Black Muslims converged on Detroit for an annual convention, which met in Michigan for the first time in more than 10 years. Metro Detroit has one of the largest Muslim populations in America . Mohammed is the son of the Elijah Muhammad, the longtime leader of the Nation of Islam, who died in 1975. After his father died, Mohammed took over the Black Nationalist organization and retooled group’s message, downplaying racial separatism and preaching orthodox Islam. “He’s a superb leader,” said Nadir Ahmad, 58, of Detroit , told The Detroit Free Press “He has a sober message of good morals, but also a commonsense approach to life and religion.” Ahmad said Mohammed “has always called for cooperation between faiths.”

Scientists find a protein that produces “good” fat. A study by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has shown that a protein known for its role in inducing bone growth can also help promote the development of brown fat, a “good” fat that helps in the expenditure of energy and plays a role in fighting obesity. “Obesity is occurring at epidemic rates in the U.S. and worldwide, and that impacts the risk and prognosis of many diseases,” said Yu-Hua Tseng, Ph.D., an assistant investigator in the Joslin Section on Obesity and Hormone Action and lead author of the paper published in the Aug. 21 issue of Nature. “We hope this study can be translated into applications to help treat or prevent obesity.” Tseng noted that obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes and is closely linked to metabolic syndrome, a collection of medical problems associated with insulin resistance that can lead to an increased risk of atherosclerosis, the build up of plaque in coronary arteries that leads to heart attack and stroke. In laboratory studies of mouse cells, Tseng and her colleagues identified that a bone-inducing protein called BMP-7 drives precursor cells that give rise to mature brown fat cells. According to Tseng, there are two main types of fat cells in the body – white and brown. “White fat cells are the ‘conventional’ form of fat designed to store energy. By contrast, the main role of brown fat is to burn calories by generating heat. Brown fat cells largely disappear by adulthood in humans, but their precursors still remain in the body,” Tseng explained. In one of the experiments, the mice that developed brown fat tissue gained less weight than those that did not. In another experiment, mice that received injections of progenitor cells – similar to stem cells – that had been pre-treated with BMP-7, also developed additional brown fat tissue. “Diet and exercise are still the best approaches for weight reduction in the general population,” Tseng said. “However, for people who are genetically predisposed to obesity, these approaches may have very little effect.”

Prostate health group to meet next month. The Prostate Health Education Network, Inc., will host its fourth annual “African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit” in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25 to 26, 2008. “Since our very first summit in 2005, this event has proved highly effective in bringing together members of Congress, medical and research specialists, survivors and members of industry to address one of the biggest health crises in Black America,” says Thomas Farrington, the group’s president. African-American men die at a rate of 2.4 times that of all other men from prostate cancer. This is the largest racial disparity for any type of cancer. Because of the overwhelming success of the annual summits on Capitol Hill, the 2008 Summit will be held in conjunction with the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. Speakers on Thursday will include Tavis Smiley, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.); U.S. Rep Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.); Dr. Edward Benz, president of the American Association of Cancer Institutes; former Major League Baseball star and prostate cancer survivor Ken Griffey, Sr.; and many others. A Friday “Town Hall Meeting” will outline an “action blueprint” to address the prostate cancer crisis in Black America. This blueprint will be presented to the incoming presidential administration in 2009. Panelists will include well-recognized leaders in the war on prostate cancer. The school will work with churches to find out who is pre-diabetic. Mercer University gets $3.1 Million diabetes prevention grant. The National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. John Boltri, a physician at the Mercer University School of Medicine, and his $3.1 million to study a church-based diabetes prevention and education programs. Mercer medical professors will be working with the Medical Center of Central Georgia in a five-year study that will launch in April or May, said Boltri, who conducted earlier research showing that the rate of diabetes was 50 percent higher in Blacks than in Whites. “We’re going into African-American churches and doing screenings for diabetes,” said Boltri, who works as a physician at the Family Health Center in Macon. “We’re looking to see who has pre-diabetes.”