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Showing posts from March, 2013

Blacks, Hispanics lose with new redistricting map for Cleveland City Council that cuts 19 wards to 17, Councilmen Johnson and Conwell will face off, racial unrest, city council infighting rampant, State Sen Smith, state Rep. Patmon, Mary Rose Oakar blast Council President Martin Sweeney, Smith wants criminal investigation by Ohio Attorney General, county prosecutor, Mayor Jackson supports Sweeney and says process was legal, Clerk of Council Pat Britt comments, Hispanics say new map violates Voting Rights Act, Latino activists up in arms, Councilman Westbrook's retirement helped, Sweeney says he tried to be fair and that the redistricting process and the new map were fair, lawsuit from Hispanic leaders looms

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Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com ( www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) CLEVELAND,Ohio- The redistricting map that Cleveland City Council approved last week that drops council wards from 19 to 17 seats next year based on declining population pits popular Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson and Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, both of whom are Black, against each other in city council races this year with their two wards combined into a newly established Ward 9. And not one White councilperson is largely impacted by the remapping, though the majority Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland is roughly 58 percent Black, and only 37 percent White.   CLICK THIS LINK HERE TO SEE THE MAP FOR THE NEW CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL WARDS                           Council President Martin Sweeney (pictured) , a west side councilman, independent

U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument on California's ban on gay marriage

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WASHINGTON, D.C-  The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument last week on  California’s Proposition 8,  a ban on same-sex marriage.  Proposition 8 was an   initiative  on California ballots in 2008 that voters approved that banned same sex marriage, and it conflicts with a California Supreme Court ruling made months earlier that allows it.  CLICK THIS LINK HERE TO READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST.COM

Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed's DUI case is at risk for case fixing victimization: Reprint of November 14, 2011 Cleveland Urban New.Com judicial corruption article as to documented corruption by Berea, Ohio Municipal Court Judge Mark Comstock and with help from Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, who has personally handpicked a retired visiting judge from Willougby, Ohio for Reed's latest DUI case, O'Connor handpicks Ohio common pleas and municipal trial court judges, most from outside of Cuyahoga County, who sometimes come to town to violate the law to harass select Democrats, Blacks, women and community activists, Reed is Black, and he is an activist, and a targeted Black elected official, state Rep Bill Patmon has introduced House Bill 216 that requires that Ohio trial court judges are assigned and reassigned to cases at all times by random draw, Attorney George Forbes as the then Cleveland NAACP president would not speak out against documented judicial bias and impropriety

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Outspoken Cleveland Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed Cleveland Urban News.Com News Brief (www.clevelandurbannews.com): Below is a  reprint  of a November 14, 2011 article by Cleveland Urban News.Com.  Recently Republican Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court assigned Willoughby retired judge Larry Allen to the Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed case, a third D UI arrest for the Black councilman, who was charged earlier this month of March 2013. But Ohio Revised Code 1901.10  is a state law that requires that retired visiting judges, such as the one the replaced Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pinkey Carr  in this last D UI case for Zack after she recused herself and the other Cleveland judges would not take the case, must come from the territorial jurisdiction of the court. In Cleveland the territorial jurisdiction is Cleveland and Bratenahl not Willoughby.  Community activists  call for the FEDS that are in town to investigate deadly Cleveland shootings, to invest

State Rep. Vermel Whalen laid to rest, Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, Congresswoman Fudge, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, former Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell are among dignitaries that attend,..... State Rep Barnes officiates, Rev Stewart does eulogy....Ward 1 residents pay their respects, State Rep. Patmon, State Senators Smith and Turner also attend,.... Campbell, who lost reelection to Jackson in 2005, says that Whalen was loyal, a friend, and a dedicated public servant, ....Other speakers include Cleveland Councilmen Pruitt and Johnson, former Cleveland councilmen John Barnes Sr. and Joe Jones, Elaine Gohlstin, Judges Mason, Stokes and Groves

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                Vermel  M. Whalen                      By Kathy Wray Coleman , Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com  www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com ) and ( www.clevelandurbannews.com ) CLEVELAND , Ohio- Republican Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder (R-69) and Democrats Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and former Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell were among the dignitaries that attended the funeral on Saturday of r etired state Rep. Vermel M. Whalen, who served in the Ohio House of Representatives for 12 years and was a respected and influential politician  in Cleveland Ward 1 on the city's majority Black east side. Her funeral was  at Williams Temple Church of God and Christ in Cleveland, 6812 Woodland Ave. and the Rev. George L. Stewart did the eulogy.  Batchelder described Whalen as a strong and dedicated state legislator and Fudge and Jackson highlighted her efforts in bringing eco