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The Cleveland Plain Dealer endorses Justin Bibb for Cleveland mayor as the nonpartisan September 14, 2021 primary election nears....The general election is November 2

08 August 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Cleveland mayoral candidate Justin Bibb

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.comTel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, Ohio- In a slight to Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, who many political insiders believed would be selected, the editorial board of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has endorsed novel candidate Justin Bibb for mayor to replace outgoing four-term Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor and its longest serving mayor. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL PLAIN DEALER ENDORSEMENT AT CLEVELAND.COM

Jackson announced this summer that he would not seek an unprecedented fifth term.

In a well written editorial published at its online affiliate of Cleveland.com and as a cover story of Sunday's printed edition, Ohio's largest newspaper said that though Bibb, who graces the cover, is young at 34 and has no political experience, he has the vision to lead the largely Black major American city of some 385,000 people.

The endorsement comes as the nonpartisan primary election for mayor and all 17 city council seats nears, the two top vote winners in each race facing off for a Nov. 2 general election.

The newspaper said that Bibb, who as mayor would, per state law, control the city's public schools, understands the pertinent issues facing Cleveland, knows how to collaborate and get along with people, and is the best candidate for the mayor's job, an open seat for the first time since Jackson, then a city council president, was first elected in 2005.

"In this pivotal moment for Cleveland.....we believe the candidate with the vision for the successful city we wish to be is Justin Bibb," the editorial reads in part.

A non profit executive and former banker with a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Bibb is Black and a product of Cleveland. When he was younger he interned for former president Barack Obama when Obama was a junior senator from Chicago, Illinois.

The editorial recognizes that Bibb is an underdog like former three-term mayor Michael R. White was when he first ran for mayor of Cleveland but goes on to say that he is in some ways like White, smart, articulate, not too old, and, though not said, attractive and clean cut.

Then an Ohio senator and former city councilman, White, the city's second Black mayor, upset then council president George Forbes, his former mentor who went on to lead the Cleveland NAACP for 20 years, to win a contentious runoff election in 1989.

White is allegedly a Bibb sponsor, and so are some of the big money campaign donors who helped to fund his campaign.

Bibb has raised more than a quarter million dollars, behind City Council President Kevin Kelley and Ward 7 Councilman Bashear Jones, who both have roughly a half million dollars.

The newspaper's editorial board chose Bibb to endorse among the seven all Democratic candidates, practically all of them better known that he is, including Kelley, an attorney and ally of the mayor and a front-funner, Councilman Jones, state Sen. Sandra Williams (D-21), former congressman and one-time city mayor Dennis Kucinich, attorney Ross DiBello, and former Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed , who lost a mayoral runoff to Jackson in 2017.

Kuncinich, Kelley and DiBello are the only Whites in the mayoral race in a city that is more than 58 percent Black. Whether the primary will render two Blacks for the November runoff election or a White candidate and a Black candidate remains to be seen.

Two Whites in this year's runoff, like Kelley and Kucinich, is unlikely, sources said, regardless of the popularity of Kucinich at 74-years-old, Kucinich also a former congressman who ran for governor in 2018.

Bibb, the editorial said, is better equipped to help grow the economy and address poverty and the city's high infant mortality rate, and he has "better ideas for fighting crime."

Crime has escalated in Cleveland and in other largely Black major American cities since the pandemic hit in March of 2020, prompting Mayor Jackson to join 27 other big city mayors in sending a letter to President Joe Biden seeking help on the issue.

Cleveland Division of Police Crime Analysis Unit statistics reveal that homicide cases are up 30% from last year, and incidents of felonious assault shootings are up 56%. Cleveland police officers have confiscated over more than 1,400 guns so far in 2021, a 72% increase in firearms confiscations from this time last year.

Elections for mayor and city council are held simultaneously in the same year, which keeps most of the city legislators on the city council from giving up a relatively safe council seat for a possible, and often unlikely, mayoral win.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Ohio's governor says 98 percent of Ohioans hospitalized with the coronavirus are unvaccinated but does not issue any restrictions as he faces primary opponents for his reelection bid next year....Ohio reported 26 new coronavirus deaths Friday

08 August 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

COLUMBUS, Ohio- Ohio's GOP governor said during a press briefing on Friday that hospitalizations of unvaccinated people in Ohio from the coronavirus are 98 percent greater in comparison to vaccinated people, though he has not issued any restrictions as he prepares for reelection in 2022 amid primary opponents and friction in his on party brought on primarily by COVID-19 orders he set forth during the height of the pandemic last year. (Those orders included statewide curfews, mask wearing mandates, and the temporary shut down of a host of businesses, including bars and in-house restaurants).

Also during his briefing the governor urged Ohioans who have not done so to get vaccinated and emphasized a clear distinction between what he says are disparities between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in the Buckeye state.

A former U.S. senator and state attorney general, he said one group is safe and the other is not.

“We truly have two Ohios," Gov. Mike DeWine said on Friday regarding the discrepancies between vaccinated and unvaccinated Ohioans. "One group of people who are safe, one who are not."

COVID-19 cases continue to grow in Ohio and throughout the U.S. while vaccinations continue to decline, forcing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) to recommend that both fully vaccinated people and unvaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission, a reversal of its previous position that vaccinated people could safely go mask free in public.

The Ohio Department of Health has released the latest number of COVID-19 cases in the state.

As of Aug 7, a total of 1, 4 million cases have been reported in Ohio since the start of the pandemic, leading to more than 60,000 hospitalizations and roughly 8500 ICU admissions. And nearly six million of the state’s population have at least started the vaccination process, which is about 49 percent.

ODH reported 26 deaths Friday, bringing the total to 20,556 deaths statewide.

Some 616,000 million people have died from the contagious disease nationwide, and roughly 4.2 million worldwide.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief COVID-19 medical adviser, has said that the increase in cases and hospitalizations coupled with a decline in vaccinations present a serious problem.

“We’re going in the wrong direction,” Fauci told reporters.

This news comes amid the surge of cases driven by the delta variant, a more contagious strain that is wreaking havoc on efforts to curb the cornavirus outbreak.

Data also show that most of the people in the U.S. who died from COVID-19 in 2021 were unvaccinated, and Black and Latino communities are suffering the most.

Blacks are dying at a rate three to five times higher than their White counterparts.

Andy Slavitt, a former adviser to the Biden administration on COVID-19, has predicted that 98 percent to 99 percent of the Americans dying of the coronavirus are unvaccinated. What database he is using to make such an assessment is unclear.

U.S. track and field star Allyson Felix wins 10th track medal, tying Carl Lewis and making America proud at the Tokyo Olympics....She is the most decorated female track and field star of all time

06 August 2021

Kathy

Pictured is U.S. track and field star and Olympic medalist Allyson Felix

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

TOKYO, Japan-Allyson Felix, a Black U.S. track and field star competing in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, has won her second consecutive Olympic medal in the women's 400-meter at 35-years-old, finishing with a time of 49.46 seconds and winning the bronze metal on Friday.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas won the gold with a personal-best time of 48.36 seconds. Marileidy Paulino took the silver with a time of 49.20 seconds. though Felix finished within 0.5 seconds.

A Los Angeles native who now resides in Santa Clarita, California, Felix has garnered 10 track medals over the years via five Olympic games, matching Carl Lewis' U.S/ record. She is the most decorated female track and field star of all time, a distinction she held before the Tokyo Olympics.

From 2003 to 2013, Felix specialized in the 200 meter sprint and gradually shifted to the 400 meter sprint later in her career. Her racing repertoire also spans the 100 meters, 4x100 meter relay, and 4x400 meter relay.^[2] At 200 meters, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2005–2009), and two-time Olympic silver medalist (2004 and 2008). At 400 meters, she is the 2015 world champion, 2011 world silver medalist, 2016 Olympic silver medalist, 2017 world bronze medalist and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist.

Felix has won five additional Olympic gold medals as a member of the United States' women's relay teams: three at 4 × 400 meters (2008–2016), and two at 4 x 100 meters (2012 and 2016). The 2012 U.S. Olympic 4 x 100 meters team also set the women's 4x100 meters world-record that still stands. Felix is the only female track and field athlete to ever win six Olympic gold medals,^[3] and is the most decorated female Olympian in track and field history, with a total of ten Olympic medals. Felix is also the most decorated athlete, male or female, in World Athletics Championships history with 18 career medals, and also has the most gold medals at 13.

Felix's 200 meters best of 21.69 secs from 2012 ranks her seventh on the all-time list. In 2013, she broke the world best for the rarely contested 150 meters distance, running 16.36 secs. In the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships, she ran the fastest split ever recorded by an American woman, and third fastest split ever after Jarmila Kratochvilova and Marita Koch, with 47.72. Felix is also a four time Diamond League winner. She is a participant in the US Anti-Doping Agency's "Project Believe" program. She is coached by Bobby Kersee.

Allyson Felix is included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020

References by wikipedia.org

Will Nina Turner run for statewide office in Ohio in 2022?...Her campaign comments...What will Nina do after losing Tuesday's special primary election for Ohio's 11th congressional district seat to Shontel Brown?...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

05 August 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Nina Turner

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, OHIO – What will former Ohio senator Nina Turner do next after losing Tuesday's special Democratic primary election to Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, a heated election relative to the congressional seat in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district that was vacated in March by former congresswoman Marca L. Fudge, now the U.S. secretary of housing and urban devekopment with President Joe Biden's administration?

The establishment-backed candidate and Fudge's protege, Brown handily defeated all 12 of her Democratic opponents, including the well-financed Turner, and will face Republican Lavern Gore for a Nov. 2 general election, an election that favors the Democratic candidate in the highly Democratic Cuyahoga County, the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties behind Franklin county, which includes the capital city of Columbus.

But Turner, who lost a race for secretary of state in 2014 and served as the co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign for president last year, compiled a $5.6 million campaign war chest in Ohio's congressional race and lost by only six points, 46 percent to Brown's 50 percent and less that 5,000 votes, which keeps her name mentioned in political circles as the 2022 gubernatorial and other statewide races near as well as the fight to replace U.S. Sen Rob Portman who is not seeking reelection next year.

Asked how Turner is doing since Tuesday's election, her deputy campaign manager, Kara Turrentine, said during a post election interview that "Nina is doing just fine, she is still the same Nina Turner. She will continue to fight for the poor, the working poor and the barely middle class. This was never about Nina Turner, it is about the people. "

On the issue of whether Turner will run for any office in 2022, Turrentine said "we have not had that conversation though people continue to recognize Nina Turner's broader appeal and her unique ability to lead."

Turner made it clear during her concession speech Tuesday night that she is will be hanging around politically.

"Tonight, our justice journey continues," said Turner to applause from her supporters as she conceded the race to Brown at the Lanes Bowling Alley in Maple Hts Tuesday night. "And I am proud to continue that journey with each and every one of you. We will continue this journey until every working person earns a living wage, including passing a $15.00 minimum wage. We will continue this journey until every person has health care as a right and not a privilege."

All of Ohio's non-judicial statewide offices, which are currently held by Republicans. are open for grabs next year, including the offices of governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state, and attorney general. And since Sen Portman, a Republican, has announced that he is retiring and will not seek reelection to his seat next year U.S. Senate wannabes are lining up in hopes of replacing him in Washington.

Current Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has a $6.6 million campaign war chest on hand as he seeks reelection, including $4 million he has loaned his campaign, and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley has some $1.4 million, more than any Democrat in the race.

The race for Portman's U.S. senate seat is anybody's game as the current candidates running in the Republican primary include former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken, Former State Treasurer Josh Mandel, Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons, and Cincinnati venture capitalist and author J.D. Vance.

Congressman Tim Ryan, from the Youngstown area, is the only high profile Democratic challenger so far.

Also up for grabs is a powerful county executive seat currently held by Democrat Armond Budish, who may or may not seek a third term amid indictments of members of his administration, the former county jail and supervisors, several jail guards, and a host of others.

This is coupled with two FBI raids on his downtown headquarters office in the last three years and a still pending FBI investigation centered around some 12 or more deaths in the county jail in the last three years, many of them questionable.

One of two of Ohio's 16 congressional districts crafted under the redistricting provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, Ohio's 11th congressional district includes most of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County and a majority Black pocket of Akron and staggering sections of Akron's Summit County suburbs.

And while the congressperson who represents Ohio' 11th congressional district is an important and powerful position the top jobs, some of them paying upwards of $200,000 annually, are under the county executive, and likewise, Ohio's governor.

By Kathy Wray Coleman. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a Black political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio

U.S. Congressional candidate Shontel Brown (pictured) wins the special Democratic primary over Nina Turner in the fight to replace former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district, Fudge now U.S. HUD secretary

04 August 2021

Kathy

Pictured are U.S. Congressional candidate Shontel Brown (wearing Black), the winner of the special Democratic primary election on Tues, Aug 3 as to the open seat in Ohio's 11th congressional district, which includes most of Cleveland, a largely Black pocket of Akron, and staggering sections of Akron's Summit County suburbs, and Nina Turner who lost to Brown on Tuesday along with 11 other Democratic candidates

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, OHIO – Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown emerged as the winner among a crowded field of Democrats competing in a special Democratic primary election in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district on Tuesday, handily defeating her 12 opponents, including Nina Turner, the well-financed front-runner and a former Ohio senator who last year co-chaired the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Also chairwoman of the county Democratic party, Brown will face Republican Lavern Gore for a Nov. 2 general election, Gore winning with 75 percent of the vote over her only opponent, Felicia Washington Ross, in Cuyahoga County and 70 percent of the vote in neighboring Summit County.

Brown, 46, is all but the congresswoman in the heavily Democratic congressional district, winning in Cuyahoga County 50 percent to Turner's 44 percent, unofficial results from the Cuyaghoga County Board of Elections reveal.

Voter turnout there was low at roughly 17 percent with some 75,000 of the county's nearly 422,000 voters taking part in Tuesday's primary election.

With 95.95 percent of the precincts reporting Brown had 33,535 votes to Turner's 29, 100 votes.

Former Ohio senator Jeff Johnson trailed in third place with 1,234 votes, followed by former state representative John Barnes Jr. with 724 votes, and former state senator Shirley Smith with 534 votes.

The remaining eight Democratic candidates combined got less than four percent of the vote.

Turner led over Brown 49 percent to 48 percent in Summit County where less than 8, 000 of its roughly 72,000 registered voters cast ballots in the closely watched race. And there the other 11 candidates each got less than one percent of the vote.

Tuesday's win moves Brown closer to succeeding former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge in Congress, her mentor who vacated the congressional seat in March to become U.S. secretary of housing and urban development and all but named Brown as her replacement.

Both of the front-runners hosted election night watch parties, Brown holding her event at the Touch of Italy on Aurora Road in Bedford Hts and Turner's campaign gathering with its supporters at Lanes Bowling Alley on Southgate Park Boulevard in Maple Hts.

Both Maple Hts and Bedford Hts are largely Black Cleveland suburbs.

Brown thanked her supporters and said "I'm just a little girl from the hood that has really been blessed....just to be in this position." She added that "anything really is possible."

Turner conceded the election at about 10 pm and vowed to keep fighting for the issues she holds dear.

"Tonight, my friends, we have looked across at the promised land. But for this campaign, on this night, we will not cross the river, Turner said. "Tonight, our justice journey continues. And I am proud to continue that journey with each and every one of you. We will continue this journey until every working person earns a living wage, including passing a $15.00 minimum wage. We will continue this journey until every person has health care as a right and not a privilege."

Both Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are Democratic strongholds. The multi-million dollar congressional race put Cleveland on the political map this year and drew big money and national public figures to Northeast Ohio, particularly during the weeks leading up to Tuesday's special primary election, including U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez of New York and former NAACP President and prior Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ben Jealous of Maryland, also a former president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a prominent organization of Black newspaper publishers.

Jealous and Ocasio-Cortez campaigned with Turner in the greater Cleveland area two weeks ago, followed by Bernie Sanders, who appeared in Akron and led a get-out-the vote rally with Turner in Cleveland on Saturday with other big political names such U.S. Rep Cori Bush of Missouri, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, scholar and motivational speaker Dr. Cornel West, and local leaders, including Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland Councilman Blaine Griffin, and state Rep Juanita Brent, a Cleveland Democrat.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest ranking Black in Congress, Rep Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat and currently the only Black in Congress from Ohio, joined Brown, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, for campaign events over the weekend in the Cleveland area, among others.

With the advantage of a $5.6 million campaign war chest, Turner ran on a progressive platform and promoted a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All and a cadre of other progressive agendas while Brown, a moderate Democrat supported by Cleveland's "Old Black Political Guard," or by the remnants of the once powerful group, stressed that, if elected to Congress, she could get along better with the Biden administration, her message obviously resonating more with voters who gave her the win on Tuesday.

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Welcome to the Frontpage

The Cleveland Plain Dealer endorses Justin Bibb for Cleveland mayor as the nonpartisan September 14, 2021 primary election nears....The general election is November 2

Ohio's governor says 98 percent of Ohioans hospitalized with the coronavirus are unvaccinated but does not issue any restrictions as he faces primary opponents for his reelection bid next year....Ohio reported 26 new coronavirus deaths Friday

U.S. track and field star Allyson Felix wins 10th track medal, tying Carl Lewis and making America proud at the Tokyo Olympics....She is the most decorated female track and field star of all time

Will Nina Turner run for statewide office in Ohio in 2022?...Her campaign comments...What will Nina do after losing Tuesday's special primary election for Ohio's 11th congressional district seat to Shontel Brown?...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

U.S. Congressional candidate Shontel Brown (pictured) wins the special Democratic primary over Nina Turner in the fight to replace former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district, Fudge now U.S. HUD secretary

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