By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Reach us by phone at 216-659-0473 and by email at  editor@clevelandurbannews.com

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts-The Cleveland Browns lost by one point to the New England Patriots on Sunday, falling 27 to 26 in a heartbreaking loss at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Browns Quarterback Jason Campbell, who is Black, passed for 391 yards and three touchdowns, not enough though to bring home a needed win.

The Patriots trailed 6 to 0 at halftime. And with 1:25 left in the third quarter, the Browns led 19-3. But that's when Quarterback Tom Brady stepped up his game, ultimately completing 32 of 52 passes, and two touchdowns. With 61 seconds remaining, the Patriots got two touchdowns, and the Browns could not recover.

In spite of the team loss, Josh Gordon, who had seven catches for 150 yards, one of those catches resulting in a touchdown, set an NFL record with  774 yards receiving in four consecutive games. He also set a single season team record for the Browns for yards receiving, with 1,400.

Browns Coach Rob Chudzinski told reporters after the game that he was "sick about the outcome of the game."

The Browns are now four in nine, and fourth in the AFC Northern Division.

The loss comes on the heels of a controversial ordinance passed by the 19-member Cleveland City Council that allocates $30 million over a period of 15 years to fund upgrades to FirstEnergy Stadium for the Browns.

Pushed by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Council President Martin Sweeney, the measure passed two weeks ago with the required supermajority, though five city councilpersons, namely Kevin Conwell, Michael Polensek, Dona Brady, Jeff Johnson and Brian Cummins, opposed the ordinance. They argue that the money could be better spent rebuilding inner city neighborhoods, with Polensek and Johnson saying further that the city should hire more firefighters and police officers.

Jackson told reporters before the ordinance passed last month that stadium improvements are needed, and that the Browns are a city investment that he will not neglect.

Pictured are former South African President Nelson Mandela, United States President Barack Obama (in blue suit), and Congresswoman Marcial L. Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, who also leads the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Reach us by phone at 216-659-0473 and by email at  editor@clevelandurbannews.com

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nelson Mandela, the first Black South African president and an anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison fighting for democracy and retired from public life nine years ago, died Thursday. He was 95.

South African President Jacob Zuma released a press statement saying that the nation has lost its greatest son and that "he is now at peace."

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Reach us by phone at 216-659-0473 and by email at  editor@clevelandurbannews.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Parma, Ohio police will do sobriety checkpoints tonight, Friday, December 6, 2013, according a departmental press release. Police will conduct the checkpoints in the 5700 block of Ridge Road from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m, the press release said.

Parma is a majority White suburb of Cleveland, and a city where Blacks traditionally stay away from due to claims of racism and police harassment, not to mention a consent decree the city once had with the Cleveland Chapter NAACP for discriminating in hiring against Blacks seeking to become firefighters there.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Michigan Dept of State Police v. Sitz. determined via a ruling issued in 1990 that state highway sobriety checkpoints are not unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure or under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. But the high court said in its ruling that the traffic stops must not be random and must be done by uniformed police officers. And data must show that the purpose deters illegal drinking and driving.

Thirty eight states and the District of Columbia, including Ohio, have state laws that allow the checkpoints, though ordinarily police cannot stop a car without either probable cause or reasonable suspicion, the latter in such cases as alleged traffic violations.

In the absence of a state law permitting it, sobriety checkpoints are illegal. States that ban such checkpoints include Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.