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Ohio State Senator Shirley Smith (D-22) Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH) By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) COLUMBUS, Ohio-With the help of Republican Gov. John Kasich, who went from initially having no Blacks in his cabinet to championing some Black causes, Ohio state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-22) finally got the Republican controlled Ohio State Legislature to pass a state law that gives Ohio state and federal sentencing judges the extent of discretion to seal not violent criminal records of a single felony conviction, and one additional misdemeanor conviction if applied for, or two misdemeanor convictions. An amendment to the previous record sealing statute that allowed Ohio state and federal trial court judges to seal one and not two criminal convictions, either a misdemeanor or felony, and with a requirement that the person has only one

The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com  ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) WASHINGTON, D.C.-President Obama's sweeping healthcare law that was adopted by Congress in 2010 before a divided America was narrowly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday as passing constitutional muster with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, a former president George W. Bush appointee who wrote the landmark opinion on behalf of the court, casting the swing vote with the four liberal's of the nation's high court, two of them appointed by Obama  himself. ObamaCare requires, among other mandates, that most Americans  that can afford it, hold heath insurance by 2014 or face a penalty.  Among other provisions, it also expands medicaid for some low income Americans, precludes insurance companies from dropping people be

United States Attorney General Eric Holder By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) WASHINGTON, D.C. - By a vote of 255 for and 67 against that came along party lines, the U.S.  House of Representatives  moved Thurs. to hold  America's  first Black attorney general in contempt of Congress in a document dispute pertaining  to a bungled gun-tracking operation, and a majority of the  Democrats  walked out of the congressional chambers during the vote in a show of protest and  solidarity  . Holder , 61, is  the first sitting attorney general and cabinet member to be held in contempt. A former Superior Judge of the District of Columbia and prior United States Attorney, Holder  was appointed to  U.S. attorney general by Obama when Obama took the reigns as the first Black president of the United States in 2009. He was also a member of

Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted U.S. Rep Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, sent a formal written request to  Republican  Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted last week seeking the number of registered voters, organized by county, who have been removed or purged from Ohio voter rolls since 2008.  The letter comes as Democratic President Barack Obama is in a neck and neck race with Mitt Romney, the nominee for the Republican party and a former governor of Massachusetts.  Ohio is a battleground state and prominent Republicans and Democrats that have a stake in the presidential election are not sitting on the side lines.  “The purging of voter rolls is yet another attack on the right of Americans t

b L LeBron James (also pictured above) holds up the Miami Heat's championship trophy after the Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder Thurs. night to win its second NBA title By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) MIAMI, Florida-Two years after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join James Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami amid a spat with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who is now part owner of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, LeBron James led the Miami Heat last night to its second NBA championship with the Heat beating the Oklahoma City Thunder121-106 in the fifth game of the series finals. “It’s about damn time,” said James after receiving his most valuable player trophy. James, 27, scored 26 points Thurs. night coupled with 13 assists and 11 rebounds. The Heat lost the first game of the series but then won four in a roll to take the world b

Editorial by Johnette E. Jernigan, Cleveland Urban News.Com Reporter   ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) Cleveland Urban News.Com Reporter and Editorial Writer Johnette Jernigan (left) poses with Obama for America  Campaign Regional Press Secretary Laura Allen before a campaign visit by First Lady Michelle Obama to Progressive Field in Cleveland on May 21, 2012 By Johnette Jernigan: Editorial Writer As battle grounds are drawn here in the state of Ohio and voter turnout is  anticipated to be high in a neck and neck race between President Barack Obama and  republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, it is important to not only register  new voters, but to also give disenfranchised voters accurate information on the right  to vote. Former offenders could be taking themselves out of the political process  inadvertently due to misinformation. Knowledge is no doubt power, particularly when it pertains to voting in a close election.  Ohio is one of 13 states along with the Distr

Rodney King By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) LOS ANGELES, California-Rodney King, whose 1991 brutal and videotaped beating by a group of White Los Angeles policemen generated a week of costly riots that killed 55 people and heightened racial tensions across the country after a predominantly White jury acquitted the officers was found dead Sun. afternoon in his swimming pool in a home he shared with his fiancee in Rialto, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb.  He was 47, and there was no evidence of foul play,  police said. Famous for going off script from his lawyers and saying "can we all get along?" at a press conference calling for peace around the riots, King publicly admitted that he had alcohol and drug abuse problems. Cynthia Kelley, whom King was scheduled to marry, made the 911 call crying and told police

United States President Barack Obama By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) CLEVELAND, Ohio-President Barack Obama gave Cleveland its proper respect and met briefly with about 10 grassroots volunteers and area movers and shakers on Thurs afternoon, moments before his 53 minute speech at the Cuyahoga Community College campus in Cleveland that drew over 1500 people. Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge Of Ohio (D-11-Warrensville Hts. ) Congresswoman Marcy Kaptor Of Ohio (D-9-Toledo) Congresswoman Betty Sutton Of Ohio (D-13-Copley Township) Among the special guests that the president courted before his address to a capacity crowd at Tri-C were Congresswomen Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Hts.  (D-11), Betty Sutton (D-13) of Copley Township, and Toledo's Marcy Kaptor (D-9), and Blaine Griffin, the director of the community rel

Former Ward 7 Cleveland Councilwoman Fannie Lewis By Frances Caldwell and Kathy Wray Coleman CLEVELAND,Ohio-A host of prominent members of Ohio's Republican Party and a few Black Cleveland Democrats remembered former Cleveland Ward 7 Councilman Fannie Lewis  for her support of the school choice movement  at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland Monday evening  during the tenth year anniversary celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 upholding of the Cleveland School Voucher Program that gives vouchers for public state funds for under privileged Cleveland children to attend parochial and private schools. The  keynote speaker was Ken Starr, whose report as then U.S. in house counsel broke the Clinton- Lewenski scandal and initiated the impeachment process against former president Bill Clinton, who ultimately received a brief suspension of his law license for lying in a deposition about his celebrated affair with the then 21-year-old Monica Lewinski, at the time a Whit

Shellie Zimmerman By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) SANDFORD, Florida-The wife of accused teen killer George Zimmerman, who is facing a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly stalking and gunning down unarmed Black teen Trayvon Martin earlier this year in a Florida suburb, was charged on Tues. with perjury. Shellie Zimmerman was arrested without incident by Seminole County sheriffs at her home, authorities said. Her arrest follows the arrest of her husband, whose bond was revoked two weeks ago after a Florida judge ruled that he had lied about his finances, including collecting monies in excess of $100 thousand from a White supremacist website. The seventeen-year-old Martin is Black, and Zimmerman, 28, is White.  Shelie Zimerman is accused of lying at George Zimmerman's bond hearing about their finances. Sh

United States President Barack Obama By Kath y Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) CLEVELAND, Ohio-President Barack Obama will visit the recreation center at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland at E. 38th St and Community College Ave. in the early afternoon on Thurs., Obama for America campaign officials announced Sun. The campaign event is free and open to the public. T ickets are needed to attend and can be picked up one-person-a-ticket- beginning at  5 p.m. on Mon at the Tri-C recreation center; Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Headquarters, 1466 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland; and campaign offices at 13100 Shaker Square in Cleveland and 5734 Ridge Road in Parma. Blaine Griffin, Vice Chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Meanwhile, African-American Cleveland area Black elected officials and other Black leaders for Obama wi