At 11:54 a.m. March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Senate overhaul of the health insurance industry, which the House of Representatives approved two days earlier.

On March 30, the president signed the final, reconciled version.

Initial reaction from health advocates and community leaders was largely positive.

Wilfred Payne, executive director of the Alma Illery Medical Center in Homewood, said the new law is positive for the Black community because it would prompt more uninsured Black men to get insurance.

by Rebecca Nuttall
Courier Staff Writer

While sifting through her mail, Joy Maxberry Woodruff was shocked to see a familiar symbol looking back at her. That symbol was the Confederate flag, which is prominently featured in the Mississippi state flag as part of the U.S. Postal Service Flags of the Nation stamp series.

“I’m still in shock, I’m so surprised that there wouldn’t be more sensitivity with our U.S. Postal Service,” Maxberry Woodruff said. “They’ve done such a great job of promoting diversity and goodwill in our country that this was so contrary to their normal mode of operations. I was disappointed and dismayed.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE STAMP

It was fitting that Pittsburgh City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle sponsored the resolution honoring the New Pittsburgh Courier and its forerunner, the Pittsburgh Courier for a century of importance in the African-American community, fitting because his grandfather once worked at the Courier.

“It’s an honor to have you here today,” he said to the assembled Courier staff. “It’s impossible to put into a proclamation all that the Courier has done and what it has meant to people. But we wanted to recognize you for the fine work you do.”

CENTENNIAL—District 6 Councilman Daniel Lavelle presents New Pittsburgh Courier Editor and Publisher Rod Doss and staff with a proclamation celebrating the newspaper’s 100-year anniversary. March 30 was proclaimed Pittsburgh Courier Day.

Reading from the proclamation, Lavelle noted the Courier’s 1907 origin as the writing outlet of H.J. Heinz security guard Edward Harleston, which attorney Robert L. Vann took over and publicly chartered in 1910. This, he said, transformed the Courier “into the vanguard for economic and political empowerment of African-Americans, effectively offering an alternative voice to the misrepresentations of African-Americans in mainstream media.”

On March 26, Judge Joseph James dismissed two challenges made by former City Councilwoman Tonya Payne against her opponents in the race for the 19th legislative district. The challenges claimed incumbent Rep. Jake Wheatley and District 8 School Board Rep. Mark Brentley did not have the required number of signatures on their petitions.

TONYA PAYNE

“I immediately noticed she filed in the wrong court,” said Brentley. “This petition is supposed to be filed in Commonwealth Court; she filed in Common Pleas Court. It’s a state issue.”

As it turned out, Brentley was right. Judge James dismissed the challenges because he said they should’ve been filed with Commonwealth Court.