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The nation's largest Protestant denomination is set to take its biggest step yet toward resolving its troubled racial past.

On Tuesday, the Southern Baptist Convention plans to vote on whether to elect an African-American president for the first time in the denomination's 167-year history. The Rev. Fred Luter Jr. is so-far unopposed for the position.

Seventeen years ago, Luter was one of the authors of an SBC resolution that apologized to African-Americans for perpetuating racism and resolved to strive for racial reconciliation.

BATON ROUGE — The top national organization of university professors has censured Louisiana State University for alleged mistreatment of faculty. The group also censured Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State universities for allegedly using state budget cuts as excuses to fire some tenured faculty.

The Army Corps of Engineers has restarted bidding for a $700 million contract to design and build permanent storm surge closure and pump stations on three canals that end in Lake Pontchartrain. Levees on two of them broke after Hurricane Katrina, letting floodwaters into the city.

The projects represent the final major construction of the post-Katrina levee system.

Nearly seven years after Hurricane Katrina's wind and water wrecked the library at Southern University at New Orleans, restoration of the three-story structure is to begin.

The library has been operating out of temporary quarters in the Multipurpose Building.

The Times-Picayune reports that a ceremony in front of the library building will launch the $4.3 million project.

SUNO spokesman David Grubb said the architecture firm for the restoration is Jerry Campbell & Associates of Baton Rouge. Work is expected to be complete by next summer.

New Orleans police says they are questioning a suspect in an early morning shooting in the French Quarter that left one man dead. The shooting happened at 3:30 a.m. in the 300 block of North Peters Street.