By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 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. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Cleveland Cavaliers hired David Blatt (pictured) on Friday to become the franchise's 20th head coach, replacing Mike Brown, who is Black and was ousted by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in May after the Cavs compiled a less than mediocre winning record and did not make the playoffs this year. He beat out closest contender Tyronn Lee, an assistant coach with the controversial Los Angeles Clippers.

Though Blatt, 55, has no NBA experience, he has experience as an international coach and coached over seas since 1993. He coached the Russian national team to the 2007 Eurobasket championship, and to a 2011 Eurobasket bronze medal. And at the 2012 London Olympics, he led his team to a bronze medal. Prior to joining the Cavaliers Blatt coached Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.

"I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to come to Cleveland and lead the Cavaliers as their head coach," said Blatt in a press release. "After spending a great deal of time discussing the organization, the team and the head coach’s role with David Griffin, I feel strongly about my fit for the job and this team's potential. "

Blatt said his new job represents "an opportune time to join the Cleveland Cavaliers."

He went on to say that "we are going to work extremely hard to achieve the kind of results we all expect and know are possible.

MIAMI, Florida-The city of Miami filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase Bank on Friday for allegedly causing a wave of foreclosures in the community by participating in predatory mortgage lending.

According to Reuters, Miami is leading the major U.S. cities in numbers of foreclosures, and the city now thinks JPMorgan’s practices contributed to the major housing crisis.

According to the lawsuit, JPMorgan offered high-cost loans to African-American and Latino homeowners and then later refused to refinance the loans after the housing crisis hit.

White homeowners, on the other hand, were allegedly given better terms for the loans and had no need to refinance during the housing crisis.

Eventually a wave of foreclosures plagued Miami and the city claims it was forced to spend extra resources to combat the negative effects of so many foreclosures, including crime and gang activity at the foreclosed properties.

The lawsuit also pointed out that the loans offered in predominantly minority communities in Miami were nearly five times more likely to result in foreclosures than the loans offered in predominantly white neighborhoods.

A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase & Co. denies all accusations of discrimination and said the lawsuit has no merit. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT ATLANTABLACKSTAR.COM

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

NEW ROCHELLE, New York-Actress and Cleveland, Ohio native Ruby Dee (pictured) is dead at 91. Also a poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and community activist, Dee died on June 11 at her home in New Rochelle, New York, reportedly from natural causes.

Hollywood, the Black community and others are mourning her death.

"The members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee," said Gil Robertson IV of the African American Film Critics Association in a press release."Throughout her seven-decade career, Ms Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of Black womanhood and also used her giftsto champion for human rights."

Dee was creamated, and her ashes held in the same urn as her late husband Ossie Davis, also an actor and community activist.

Dee is best known for  co-starring in the films A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Do the Right Thing (1989), and American Gangster (2007) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the recipient of Grammy, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Awards as well as the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors.

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

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

Dear Community activists and others,

Thank you to the more than 100 people that came out yesterday to the rally/fundraiser at the Chateau Mansion in East Cleveland for Ohio Senator Nina Turner(D-25) for Ohio Secretary of State. Senator Turner gave a dynamic speech on voting rights and so did others. It was a great event. I was asked to lead it, and did so willingly. Read below who was there, including Black elected officials and clergy, community activists, a sitting judge, and Ohio Representative Armond Budish (D-8).

Community activists Don Bryant of Peace in the Hood, etc has asked that we meet on the 137 shots issue. We will meet on Wednesday, June 18 at 5:30 pm at the Chateau Mansion, 13124 Euclid Ave, to discuss what activists  will do about the 12 non-Black cops not getting indicted for gunning down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams. Do not come if you just want to get Black mayors Frank Jackson of Cleveland and Gary Norton of East Cleveland while leaving Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who recommend that they not be indicted, free of any criticism. We will vote on what position to take after each group representative speaks. We will also address the apathy by the Cleveland NAACP on this issue. Call 216-659-0473 for more info.

Participants  at the State Sen Nina Turner event yesterday at the Chateau include Ohio State Rep Armond Budish (D-8), East Cleveland Municipal Court Judge William Dawson, East Cleveland City Council President Barbara Thomas, Cleveland Ward 6 Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, East Cleveland Board of Education President Una H.R. Kennon, also president of the Black Women's PAC, East Cleveland Board of Education Member Tiffany Fisher, former East Cleveland Board of Education member Pam McClarron,  former chief of staff for former congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones Dr. Betty Pinkney, former Cleveland school board members Gerald Henley and Genevieve Mitchell, retired Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Dick Peery,  and community activists Bettie Simpson, Clarissa Foster, Dr. Valerie and Stewart Robinson, Marva and David Patterson, Rev Pamela Pinkney Butts, Greg Roberts, Chateau Owner Betty Mahone, Pier Nappier, William Clarence Marshall, Greg Roberts, Mary Seawright, Rev. Gwendolyn Pitts, Deacon Adams, Amy Hurd, Greg Roberts, Mary Hopper, and Ada Averyhart.

Kathy Wray Coleman, The  Imperial Women Coalition, journalist/community activist

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

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