A look back at the top stories of 2014 published by Cleveland Urban News.Com, they include Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Michael Brown, Michael Brelo, Judge John O'Donnell, President Obama, Governor Kasich, Congresswoman Fudge, Cleveland NAACP, JPMorgan Chase Bank, LeBron James, Ariel Castro victims, Pimp Judge Harry Jacob, Arnold Pinkney, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Connie Harper, Loretta Lynch, James Foley, Cleveland's now defunct traffic cameras, U.S. Supreme Court ruling on contraceptives and ObamaCare, Ebola, DOJ report on systemic problems in Cleveland Police Department, East Cleveland serial murders, violence against women

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, educator and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) 

Cuyahoga County Grand Jury to decide May 30, 2014, whether to criminally indict the 13 White Cleveland cops that gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Tim Russell with a hail of 137 bullets following a police car chase from Cleveland to East Cleveland (Editor's Note: Thereafter, Cleveland Patrolman Michael Brelo is indicted on two counts of manslaughter. The other 12 non-Black Cleveland cops go free of criminal charges and remain on the job)

Cleveland police kill 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Black boys and men are 21 times more likely than Whites to get shot dead by police, shooting comes on heels of settlement of lawsuit on 137 shots Williams, Russell deadly Cleveland police shooting

Michael Brown grand jury refuses to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on criminal charges for shooting and killing the unarmed Black teen, riots erupt around unjust decision, President Obama calls for calm

Vigil for Tanisha Anderson, the unarmed Black woman killed by Cleveland police on November 12, is at 5 pm on Saturday, November 22, 2014, activists, family members, Cleveland NAACP members to attend

Greater Cleveland community, community activists, elected officials to host 'The First Anniversary of the East Cleveland Serial Murders and Stop Violence Against Women and Find Their Killers Rally and Vigil' to remember Angela Deskins, Shirellda Terry, Shetisha Sheeley and other women subjected to violence Saturday, July 19, 2014 at 12:30 pm at the intersection of Shaw and Hayden Avenues in East Cleveland

The U.S Department of Justice finds systemic problems in the Cleveland Police Department from illegal deadly force shootings to illegal pistil whipping of innocent adults and children and cruel and unusual punishment against the mentally ill 

Cleveland voters vote to get get rid of traffic light cameras at polls on November 4

First Ebola patient diagnosed in a U.S. hospital has died, was turned away initially from a Dallas hospital

LeBron James signs contract with beloved Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson calls James "the best player in the world"

Ohio Governor John Kasich delivers State of the State address, gives Courage metals to Ariel Castro victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight

Ohio, national political strategist Arnold Pinkney dead at 83

National NAACP suspends election for Cleveland NAACP branch officers for violations of bylaws by the nominating committee per the request of Cleveland NAACP President Hilton Smith, the local chapter is flat broke and has not paid the executive director since June

Judge John P. O'Donnell is accused of unethical behavior and prejudice in filing before the Ohio Supreme Court that seeks his disqualification from the 137 shots manslaughter case of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo, data show that O'Donnell stole homes via illegal foreclosures for JPMorgan Chase Bank, others in cases without a plaintiff and where he did not have jurisdiction, he loses November election to unseat Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judi French

President Obama announces Loretta Lynch as choice as first Black female U.S. attorney general, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lynch would succeed Attorney General Eric Holder, America's first Black attorney general, Rev Al Sharpton applauds the move

Pimp former Bedford judge Harry Jacob sentenced to jail, community activists women call the sentence too lenient, say Jacob also kidnapped Black women in the court, denied indigent Blacks counsel with support from the Cleveland NAACP, which is now under investigation by the national headquarters after the election process for branch officers was suspended for impropriety, activists women say that if Jacob were Black he would have been thrown under the jail

Call and Post Associate Publisher and Executive Editor Connie Harper dies at 81

Famed poet, actress, author, and Civil Rights activist Maya Angelou is dead at 86, Angelou received Presidential Metal of Freedom from President Obama, the president comments on her passing

 

Actress, Cleveland native, and community activist Ruby Dee is dead at 91

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

Congresswoman Fudge, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards disappointed in U.S Supreme Court ruling that strikes down the mandate for employer corporations to provide access to contraceptives for women employees under Affordable Care Act, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writes dissenting opinion

Memorial services held for beheaded journalist James Foley, President Obama comments on his slaying, his family releases a letter from him, Foley was abducted by Islamic State militants while covering the war in Syria (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)