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). Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The family and friends of slain 27-year-old Daniel Ficker, who left behind two young children and a fiance, will host a fundraiser for his children and a memorial to remember him as the second anniversary of his July 4, 2011 death by Cleveland police that occurred outside of his home in Parma, Oh. nears.

Parma is a middle-class suburb of Cuyahoga County that is some 15 miles south of Cleveland.

The event will be held on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at Coe Lake behind Berea Commons from 1:00 pm-5:00 pm in Berea, Ohio, a suburb some 20 miles south of Cleveland.

Tickets for the fundraiser for Ficker's two small children are $10 and the Breakfast Club Band will perform. Children get in free, organizers told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper.

For more information contact Ficker's mother, Bernadette Rolen, by phone at 1-440-773-6103 or by email at bern316@cox.net For donations in general go to www.danficker143.com .

Rolen said that the memorial is just that, a memorial fundraiser to raise money for Ficker's children and to remember her son, one of two children, she said. She said that the event is not a rally and that her grandchildren by Daniel Ficker are what friends and other family members said that they are hosting the event for.

"The memorial is to remember Dan and to raise money for his two children," said Rolen.

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).

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

WASHINGTON, D.C-The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued two celebrated rulings to bolster the gay rights movement, historical decisions that come on the heels last year of President Obama's announcement of his support of gay marriage, and the echoing of that posture by the NAACP, the nations' oldest and most respected Civil Rights organization.

One case gives federal benefits to spouses of same-sex marriage and the other in essence struck down Proposition 8 through the court's refusal to hear the appeal of a lower court ruling that invalidated it. Adopted by California voters in 2008 that outlawed gay marriage, the defeat of Proposition 8 became a baby of the gay rights movement, as has the campaign for same-sex marriage.

America's high court decided in the first of the two cases, a case out of New York State, that same -sex couples have a constitutional right to federal benefits commensurate to their heterosexual counterparts, and in turn the court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law enacted by Congress in 1996.

President Obama and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio welcomed the decisions as did a host of Congressional Democrats.

Congresswomen Marcia L. Fudge (D-11), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, and Joyce Beatty (D-3), the only two Blacks in Congress from Ohio, with no Blacks at all in Congress from nearby  Kentucky, and the state of Tennessee, had rallied against DOMA.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a licensed attorney and Democratic candidate for the 2014 race for Ohio governor, joined gay rights activists and a string of Democratic leaders nationwide in applauding the landmark decision in DOMA.

"The Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act shows the immense progress we've made in the fight towards equality for our LBGT friends and family," said FitzGerald in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper. "This decision is long overdue, and I'm proud that by friend Senator Sherrod Brown had the courage to vote against it in Congress so many years ago."

Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the liberal wing of four justices to announce the majority decision in the DOMA case, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion.

The 26-page dissenting opinion was authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, the longest serving justice currently on the court.

The plaintiff in the DOMA case is 83-year-old Edwin Windsor, who argued that it was unconstitutional to make her pay nearly $400,000 in federal taxes on her inheritance from her 2007 Canadian marriage to longtime companion Thea Spyer, who died 3 years ago.

In the other case at issue the court's majority effectively permitted same-sex marriage in California by declining to interfere with a trial court's ruling striking down Proposition 8, a voter adopted measure that precluded gay marriage. Here the case was determined on technical grounds with the court saying that the proponents of Proposition 8 lacked standing to appeal in place of the state of California, something even novel attorneys often sometimes understand, and perhaps even a gesture that raises a question of whether the appeal in this instance was frivolous.

Both cases were split 5-4 decisions, which is becoming routine for the court on high profile cases and follow a split decision on Tuesday that struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the court's 5-4 ruling last year that upheld Obama's Healthcare Affordability Act, known in laymen's terms as Obamcare.

The decisions will extend benefits to states that permit same-sex marriage but do not effect bans in other states across the country. But they do set the stage for gay rights advocates to seek a good faith modification of the law in those instances, though gay rights cases are  rarely prosecuted without passion by the parties, one way or another.

Before Wednesday's rulings 12 states, with the Bible Belt state of Ohio not being among them, allow same-sex marriage, raising that number to 13 in including California, the nation' largest state by population.

Opponents of the Supreme Court rulings say that marriage should be solely between a man and a woman.

From The Metro Desk Of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ohio state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21) (pictured)), a Cleveland Democrat who this month formally announced her candidacy for Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive, a seat held now by 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, would be the first Black and first female to hold the post if she wins the 2014 Democratic primary and goes on to win the general election later that year.

“We must work together on a county and regional basis to tackle our shared challenges and pursue future economic development opportunities,”  Smith told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper. “During the campaign I will emphasize the need to address foreclosed and abandoned properties and strengthen the health, human and social services provided to the residents of Cuyahoga County.”

Under a charter amendment that voters adopted in 2009, an elected county executive,  who gets paid $175,000 annually,  and an elected 11-member council, a part time job that pays $45,000 yearly,  are the Cuyahoga County governance bodies.

The controversial change in county governance, which Black elected officials and Black leaders overwhelmingly opposed, took effect in 2011 when FitzGerald took office. It took the county from a three- member county Board of Commissioners and the once elected but now appointed positions of county sheriff, clerk of courts, corner, engineer, auditor, treasurer and recorder to a county executive and county council, a  governance venue separate from the the 19- member Cleveland City Council, whose members collectively adopt city ordinances.

Smith has the support of several Black elected officials of greater Cleveland including state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10) of Cleveland,  Cleveland councilpersons  Kevin Conwell, Mamie Mitchell and Zack Reed, East Cleveland Council members Dr. Joy Jordan, Barbara Thomas, Mansell Baker, and Shantell Lewis, and East Cleveland School Board Member Una H.R. Keenon, a retired East Cleveland judge who leads the Black Women's Political Action Committee.

The state lawmaker, whose bills include legislation on breast cancer awareness and a  state law that took effect this year that permits the sealing of Ohio criminal records (Senate Bill 337), including a felony and misdemeanor or two misdemeanors,  is the only Black in the race thus far . To date she faces a 2014 Democratic primary election  against state Rep. Armond Budish (D-9) of Beachwood,  a licensed attorney  with likely support from Ohio Democratic Party Chairperson Chris Redfern  , and former county sheriff Bob Reid, also a Democrat, and a former Bedford City Manager whom FitzGerald fired this year from his appointed sheriff's job.

Reid can brag of endorsements from some eight suburban mayors of cities such as Bedford and Bedford Hts. But with no support from Black elected officials, and endorsements from only a handful of suburban mayors from Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest of 88 counties statewide, his candidacy might be an uphill battle, and an effort to annoy FitzGerald for firing him as sheriff.

Among Black movers and shakers of greater Cleveland  Budish enjoys support from political strategist Arnold Pinkney, an integral part of the Old Black Political Guard That guard, however, some of whom elected the first Black mayor of a major American city when Carl Stokes won for Cleveland mayor in 1967, is narrowing with age, and so is its clout.

The Old Black Political Guard does have clout though, but so does Smith, and sometimes across partisan lines.

Republican Gov John Kasich helped Smith, a smart and strong lawmaker, and a diva whom her peers and some constituents say dresses to the nines, win Republican state legislators to get her criminal records sealing bill (SB 337) through, an unprecedented measure most will agree.

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Hts Democrat, has not taken sides yet. Her treasured endorsement as a member of Congress who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus speaks volumes.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is being quiet on the race for now too. And county council president C. Ellen Conally, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge, is likely not running, political pundits say. Black leaders want her to stay put so Blacks can keep that seat, they say.

A two-term Black mayor of a major American majority Black city  running for reelection this year who faces, among others,  millionaire businessman Ken Lanci for a September 10 non-partisan primary election Jackson, 67, has substantial political influence And he has  Cleveland votes he can toss to the candidate he supports, and enormous power across racial lines.

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.  Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

Pictured are Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, President Barack Obama (Black man in blue tie), Ohio state Rep. John Barnes Jr (D-12) (in orange tie), Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (in red tie), Ohio Secretary of State John Husted (White man in blue tie),  U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. (White man in judicial robe), and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (grey-haired Black man in judicial robe)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a 5-4 ruling that President Obama and congressional Black Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Black members of Congress, are calling an unprecedented step backwards to decades of Civil Rights gains.

The nation's high court, in Shelby County v. Holder, invalidated the portion of the Voting Rights Act enacted with other provisions in the 1960s that required 15 states that historically discriminated against Blacks to get federal approval to change state voting laws. And though Ohio is not among those states, it is impacted relative to other provisions that pertain to all states across America.

"Today's decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent," said Obama in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr (pictured), the swing vote that won for Obama for the Healthcare Affordability Act just months before last year's presidential election, also a spit 5-4 decision, said that the formula for determining compliance with the Voting Rights Act by the affected states was outdated and antiquated. The justices said that the voting rights provision at issue, under section 4 of the Voting Rights Act,  must be updated to deal with the "changing times."

How Ohio fits into any revised formula is not quite clear.

Justice Clarence Thomas, the only Black on the U.S. Supreme Court, sided with the majority, and drew disdain from Minnesota state Rep. Ryan Winkler, who called Thomas an "Uncle Tom," a historical term used in the Black community for Blacks that are subservient to the White establishment and sellout to White racism.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissenting opinion where the justice brilliantly chastised her colleagues that supported the elimination of a watchdog provision that she and the three other liberal justices of the high court say is necessary in voting and in a plethora of other cases, including cases challenging discrimination in public education.

Flanked by members of the Congressional Black Caucus including seasoned congressional legislators Reps. Clyde Rayburn of South Carolina, John Conyers of Michigan and John Lewis of Georgia, Fudge, a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, said at a press conference yesterday that the controversial decision represents "one of the worst days for Civil Rights and civil discourse in this country's history."

Fudge called for a federal law that addresses Ohio in particular saying that efforts by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to stop weekend voting coupled with other shenanigans during last year's presidential election to target those that use it most, mainly minorities and poor people, lends credence to the harm the court's decision brings to the Black community, and to poor people.

Husted's efforts though were circumvented after the Obama for America Campaign sued Husted and won in federal court, and on appeal to the Sixth Circuit, but on the provision that permitting weekend voting for military personnel and not for other Ohioans was inequitable and thus unconstitutional.

The president went on to beat Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for reelection to a second four year term after winning Ohio, a pivotal state for presidential elections.

But the stink behind Husted's scheme to silence the Black and Democratic vote in hopes of pushing Romney to victory upset Ohio Democrats, and outraged Black elected officials, including Fudge and Black members of the Ohio General Assembly.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision is extremely disappointing and an effort to keep all voters  from engaging in the political process," said state Rep. John Barnes Jr. (D-12), a Cleveland Democrat and an Obama delegate at last year's Democratic National Convention.

Some Cuyahoga County elected officials are upset too.

County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democratic candidate for the 2014 race for Ohio Governor, voiced dismay at the high court's decision.

"I'm incredibly disappointed in today's Supreme Court ruling, which is a step backwards for voting rights and weakens the progress we've made toward equal opportunity for all," said FitzGerald. "The court's decision implies that an individual's race and zip code no longer have an effect on equal access to the ballot."