Pictured are Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, and Ohio 13th Congressional District Congressman Tim Ryan

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

From the Netro Desk of Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Representatives Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) and Tim Ryan (OH-13) held a news conference in Cleveland on Thursday to discuss H.R. 5136, the Breaking Addiction Act of 2014.  The legislation was introduced by Fudge, a Warrensville Heights, Ohio Democrat and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, and cosponsored by Congressman Ryan, a Nile's, Ohio area Democrat.  It establishes a five-year demonstration project to expand cost-effective, community-based treatment options to address the heroin/opiate epidemic.

“Fatal drug overdoses now exceed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio, " said Fudge. " Heroin alone claims more lives in Cuyahoga County than homicides.

Cuyahoga County is the largest of Ohio's 88 counties and is roughly 29 percent Black. It includes the city of Cleveland and 58 other cities, villages and townships.

"It imperative that we begin to stem this tide, and I am proud to stand with Congresswoman Fudge in support of the Breaking Addiction Act, which takes great strides to provide more individuals suffering from substance abuse with treatment options,” said Ryan.

Fudge said that "this public health threat affects communities in all regions of the country and impacts urban, suburban and rural areas alike."

The Breaking Addiction Act will enable participating states to receive federal reimbursement for Medicaid services provided to all eligible in-patients who receive treatment for chemical substance abuse at a community treatment facility.  It partially waives what is known as the Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion.  The 1965 law that created Medicaid excludes states from receiving federal reimbursement for services provided in an IMD with more than 16 patient beds.  Congress, however,  did not foresee nearly 50 years ago that this exclusion would impede communities’ ability to respond to the rapid escalation of heroin addiction and abuse of opiate-based prescription painkillers.

“As Democratic Co- Chair of the Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, I understand the damage substance abuse inflicts upon the state of Ohio and our nation," the congresswoman said.

Pictured are Cleveland police shooting victims Malissa Williams and Tim Russell (in sweat shirt), and Russell estate attorney Terry Gilbert ( in suit), a Cleveland area Civil Rights and constitutional lawyer widely known for settling record breaking Cleveland police excessive force cases.

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The city of Cleveland has reached a settlement in a notorious Civil Rights and  police excessive force case, likely the worst in city history, where unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Tim Russell, 43, were gunned down the night of  Nov. 29, 2012 with Cleveland police slinging 137 bullets.

Among the host of defendants named in the two lawsuits are police, all of them at issue sued in both their professional and personal capacities, and the city of Cleveland.

The fatal shooting followed a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland.

The settlement was reached on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio before federal district court Judge Dan Polster, who put a gag order on the parties to the case and their attorneys, one that will not truly be settled until probate court resolves several claims to the estates of the two shooting victims, something that attorneys for the plaintiffs say could take weeks or even months.

"The next step is probate court," said Civil Rights and constitutional attorney Terry Gilbert, in an exclusive interview on Monday with Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leading digital Black newspaper.

Gilbert represents the estate of Russell's son, now 18.

David Malik and Tyrone Reed, also Cleveland area attorneys, represent the Williams family in the lawsuit.

A renowned lawyer who has settled several record breaking Cleveland police excessive force cases, Gilbert is still concerned that excessive force by Cleveland police remains a problem to the Black community and others.

"We have  a lot more work to do to reform the Cleveland police department," said Gilbert, before thanking community activists for their support in bringing awareness around the unprecedented case, which he says also contributed to a timely settlement.

"The presence of community activists on raising awareness of what happen on Nov 29, 2012 has and will be instrumental in seeking accountability by the Cleveland Police Department," he said.

Gilbert said that neither he nor the other attorneys or the parties to the case are at liberty to disclose the amount of the settlement, the judge ordered. And he said that the fight to eradicate excessive force incidents by Cleveland police against the community and for justice for Malissa and Tim and all like them is not over by a long-shot.

"The fight is just really beginning,"said Gilbert.

A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury last month handed down an indictment on two counts of voluntary manslaughter against one of 13 non- Black Cleveland police officers that gunned down Williams and Russell , a celebrated tragedy that has heighten racial unrest in the predominantly Black major metropolitan city.

Prosecutors had sought a two-count murder indictment for Patrolman Michael Brelo, among other charges, but the grand jury opted for the lesser charge of manslaughter. The case is before Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell and Brelo has pleaded not guilty.

Manslaughter is a first degree felony in Ohio that carries a possible prison sentence of three to 10 years.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty told reporters during a press conference on the grand jury indictments  that his office did not recommend any charges against the 12 officers that escaped indictments, 11 White and one Hispanic. That posture has upset community activists who have protested and are demanding that another grand jury convene independent of what they say was prejudice by McGinty and his office.They also want federal charges as well as the firing of the 13 cops that did the shooting.

Some community members and community activists called the grand jury decision and McGinty's refusal to seek charges against the 12 police officers at issue unjust, racist and outright shameful.

"The neo- Nazi's won and it is unbelievable that only one police officer faces felony charges and the other 12 got away with killing two unarmed Black people," said Community activist Pierre Nappier, who had protested over the deadly shooting with Cleveland area religious groups such as the United Pastors in Mission and the Baptist Minister Alliance and  with members of the Cleveland Chapter NAACP and  greater Cleveland grassroots groups including Black on Black Crime Inc, the Carl Stokes Brigade, the Imperial Women Coalition, Revolution Books, Peace in the Hood, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, and the Oppressed People's Nation.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-“The King,' better known by many as LeBron James, has returned to his original throne in Cleveland, Ohio. “The Decision' over whether to return or not finally came to a happy ending on Friday July 11. Cavaliers' fans were elated. It came four years and three days after James' first 'Decision,' one that saw him take his talents to the Miami Heat.

That infamous day in July of 2010 when James left Cleveland had to be on the minds of Cavaliers' fans, who are use to being spurned, as LeBron's possible return loomed. But after Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert's private plane was spotted in Miami on July 6, speculation grew quickly that Cleveland had gained the lead in the race for one of the nation's most talented basketball player. After July 6 the anticipation for LeBron to announce what team he had chosen grew nationally with each day and each hour, especially after James met with Miami Heat GM Pat Riley on July 9 and would not commit to the Heat.

LeBron would wait until Friday, July 11 at noon to release his decision to the world. Suddenly people all over Cleveland began to act strange. One man was seen walking down the street shouting 'welcome back to the Q' when there was no one within shouting distance of him. Others were seen getting out of their cars and doing a happy dance for no apparent reason, and running down the street with their cell phones in their hands. Thousands changed their plans for the evening to go to their local watering hole to celebrate. Meanwhile, the national focus switched to who The King chose and why. The explanation he gave for coming back to Cleveland will forever be remembered.

Pictured are Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (in red tie), the democratic nominee for Ohio governor, Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich (in blue tie), and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern (in light green tie)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog .Com, Ohio's leading Black digital newspaper and Black digital news blog. Contact us by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and advertising @clevelandurbannews.com, and by phone at (216) 659-0473 (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio-As the Nov. 4 election for Ohio governor looms Republican Incumbent Gov John Kasich and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee, are neck-and-neck, polls show.

According to a Public Policy Polling poll that the Democrats began touting early this week,  Kasich is beating FitzGerald 45 percent to 44 percent among likely voters.

The poll  shows a serious trend that some say should alarm the Republicans.

Kasich, whose campaign war chest was at $9.3 million to FitzGerald's $836,000, according to campaign finance reports filed last month, led FitzGerald by 15 percentage points just in May, a Quinnipiac University poll showed.

Polls for the governor's race have vacillated in the past year. A  poll commissioned by Freedom to Marry Ohio conducted between December 6 and 8 of 1,011 of Ohio voters by PPP, one of the most accurate pollsters in America, found that if the election were held then, Kasich would have carried 40 percent of the vote, followed by FitzGerald at 38 percent.  FitzGerald held a 13 percent lead over Kasich in that poll with Independent voters.

“With more than 427,000 Ohioans out of work and the state’s unemployment worse than the nation’s for the first time in three years, voters are tired of Governor Kasich’s policies just benefiting the rich,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern told Cleveland Urban News.Com at the time of the December poll. “This poll shows what every struggling middle-class family already knows, John Kasich is vulnerable going into 2014 because under his leadership Ohio’s economy is headed in the wrong direction while the rest of the nation recovers.”

A February Quinnipiac poll shows a five point gap with Kasich leading FitzGerald, 43 percent to 38 percent, and the May Quinnipiac poll that  reveals a 15 point lead has Kaisch winning over Fitzgerald, 50 percent to 35 percent.