America’s best weekly
Should we buy a home outright or get a mortgage? SEE DAMON CARR, PAGE B1
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 114 No. 37 Two Sections
SEPTEMBER 13-19, 2023
thenewpittsburghcourier $1.00 Published Weekly
Keeping the Black community informed on proper heart health ‘Life’s Essential 8’ discussed by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Have you heard of “Life’s Essential 8?” If you haven’t, they are: Proper blood sugar level, proper cholesterol level, proper blood pressure level, exercising, eating the right things, not smoking, getting enough sleep, and having an ideal body weight. Conrad Smith, a physician and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, in Oakland, stressed in an intimate setting with African Americans at the Thelma Lovette YMCA in the Hill District, that those “essential
8” things will greatly reduce one’s likelihood of a cardiovascular event. And as everyone knows, the heart is nothing to play with. “Heart health affects everybody, (but as it pertains to the Black population), we know that they are more susceptible to things such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes,” said Roland Castro-Boulware, director of community impact for American Heart Association Pittsburgh. He told the New Pittsburgh Courier during the July 24 event that there are barriers many African Americans SEE HEART HEALTH A4
College fair with admissions on the spot set for Sept. 19 by Marcia Liggett
For New Pittsburgh Courier
DR. CONRAD SMITH, DIRECTOR OF THE CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORIES AT UPMC PRESBYTERIAN. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that the Infinite Scholars Program (ISP) will be hosting a Free Scholarship Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 19. It will be the eleventh time the event is held in Pittsburgh. Unlike a traditional college fair, participants will be eligible for immediate provisional admission and will be
awarded scholarships to some colleges and universities on the spot. According to Pittsburgh Public Schools, more than $1 million in 1-year scholarships; and $4.3 million in 4-year scholarships were awarded to their students at the 2022 Pittsburgh fair. Founded by Thomas “T” Ousley in SEE COLLEGE FAIR A6
Overcoming an attack, Taylor blossoms into a master gardener Garden to be featured in Brighton Heights, Sept. 16 by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
February 28, 2020, is a date that DeShelle-Monique Taylor can’t forget, even if she wanted to. Yes, it was just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a normal world back then. It was a normal, cold February day for Taylor, nothing out of the ordinary for the Philadelphia-raised woman, who fell in love with the City of Pittsburgh after attending and graduating from California University of Pennsylvania in 2000. She had just left a seminar at a friend’s residence. She returned to her home in Brighton Heights, at 1419 Orchlee Street, in the evening. She parked in the driveway, got her bag out of the car, “and
that’s when the gunman lurched out from the driver’s side of the car...” A man with bad intentions had been hiding, waiting to strike someone. That someone was Taylor. “When he pushed me backwards, I fell and hit my head on the ground,” Taylor told the New Pittsburgh Courier exclusively, Sept. 5. “I blacked out for what felt like forever, but probably was like, seconds...he still had the gun in my face asking me if there was anyone else in the house...” Someone who was in the home ran out yelling Taylor’s name, scaring the gunman off. Police detectives were called to the scene. A police report was filed. Taylor had suffered a concus-
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
To subscribe, call 412-481-8302 ext. 136
sion. The gunman took Taylor’s phone and credit cards, but dropped Taylor’s car keys nearby when he ran off. “I went to the ER the next day, which was Saturday morning,” Taylor said. “I was in Philadelphia by Tuesday morning.” THE TRAUMA, AND THE GARDEN Taylor’s father was from Charlottesville, Va., and his family was full of farmers. They had vegetable gardens, apple trees, Taylor recalled. Taylor’s mother was from Philly, and had a love for interior plants. So it wasn’t out of the ordinary that Taylor would garden from time to time, but she said it was merely a hobby. By 2014, she started to have more of an urge to take gardening more seriously. She took classes in horticulture technology at the Bidwell Training Center on the North SEE TAYLOR A8
DESHELLE-MONIQUE TAYLOR’S GARDEN HAS BEEN CHOSEN TO BE FEATURED IN BRIGHTON HEIGHTS’ HOUSE AND GARDEN TOUR ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 16. (PHOTO BY AVERY CARTER)