By Kathy Wray Coleman, Executive Publisher, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog (www.clevelandurbannews.com) (nod42)

CLEVELAND,Ohio- Former WOIO 19 Action News Anchor Sharon Reed (pictured), whose contract with the Cleveland television news station was non-renewed last year, has joined KNOV Channel 4 in St Louis, Mo. as a news anchor.

Reed will co-anchor the 4 and 10 pm news with Larry Connors and anchor along side of Jasmine Huda at 5 pm, station officials said.

Like 19 Action News, KNOV Channel 4 is also a CBS affiliate.

This summer rumors circulated the Internet linking Reed's  pregnancy, the non-renewal of contract at 19 Action News,  and her subsequent new born baby to NBA basketball star and Miami Heat star player LeBron James, coupled with claims that she was living in Miami, Fl.  Her lawyer quickly denied the rumors and threatened to sue.

James, 27 and a native of Akron, Oh., played for the Cleveland Cavaliers before leaving the team amid a fallout with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in 2010 . He is roughly six years younger than Reed, whose low cut blouses and sex appeal drew people to watch her as an anchor.

Reed had covered the Cavaliers games during James' tenure there, which prompted rumors that the rich mega star is her baby's daddy.

Both Reed and James are single, though James has two out-of-wedlock children with high school sweetheart Savannah Brinson.

By Johnette Jernigan and Kathy Wray Coleman, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog

CLEVELAND,Ohio-In Cleveland, Oh., where Ohio is a pivotal state that will likely decide the upcoming election, presidential debate watchers that gathered Wednesday night to capacity at the Ward 8 community office of Cleveland Councilman Jeff Johnson in the predominantly Black city's Glenville neighborhood said President Barack Obama was a winner over Mitt Romney.

That posture, no doubt, is contrary to mainstream America and a CNN poll that found that Romney beat Obama 67 percent to 35 percent,  a poll that  political pundits said was admittedly skewed with Republicans.

Held in Denver, Colo at the University of Denver, the first presidential debate of the 2012 election was moderated by Jim Lehrer, 78, a prominent journalist and frequent debate moderator who  is accused of letting it go off course with Obama and Romney making long speeches rather than timed responses in a continual fashion.

It covered domestic policy issues such as tax platforms, green energy, and education, and the federal budget and deficit.

"The president was the winner," said Councilman Johnson, a Clevelander and one of 13 all Black Obama delegates from Ohio's majority Black 11th congressional district to the since done Democratic National Convention held last month in Charlotte, NC.

Johnson did not give Obama a slam dunk but he said that his incumbency in a close debate took him over the edge to win it.

State Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat, agrees.

"If we base the debate on facts, truths, and informative data," the president won," said Patmon.

Those at Johnson's debate watch party ate fried chicken, potato salad, and collard greens, compliments of the councilman and his ward club.

At times you could hear a pin drop in the room.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Executive Publisher, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog

CLEVELAND,Ohio- Community activists, elected officials and others will picket on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 10: 30 am at E. 35th and Community College Ave. in Ward 5 in Cleveland  over a billboard owned by Clear Channel in that area that the activists and some Black leaders say is voter intimidation and suppression that targets poor people, Blacks and other minorities by threatening voters in a key presidential election year with a felony conviction, 3 and a half years in prison,  and a $10,000 fine.

Cleveland Ward 5 Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland said that she will hold a press conference at 11:00 with community activists under the controversial billboard. State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25) and  State Rep. Sandra Williams (D-11) are expected to join her, among others.

The billboard at issue, which is near the Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus, is purportedly by a private corporation approved by Clear Channel, but community activists believe that the Tea Party and Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney are aware of it since similar billboards are popping up in minority and poor communities all over the nation, including Milwaukee, WI.  It is in the Central Neighborhood where Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson lives, one of the country's poorest communities, data show.

"It is beyond insensitivity and is voter intimidation," said State Rep. Bill Patmon  (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat who argues that the billboards, also of which are up on the west side of Cleveland and in poor and  minority communities in Lorain, Oh., may be unconstitutional.

Groups associated with the protest include Cleveland City Council members, Ohio state legislators, The Imperial Women, The Carl Stokes Brigade, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, Black on Black Crime, The Oppressed People's Nation, Organize Ohio, The Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Peace in the Hood, The Family Connection Center, The Underground Railroad and the Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Executive Publisher, Editor, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog(www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND,Ohio-President Barack Obama will visit Cleveland, Oh. on Friday, Oct. 5 at Krenzler Soccer Field, Cleveland State University at E. 18th St and Chester Ave. to speak. The gates open at 11:00 am, said Nick Martin, executive director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. (Editor's note: Reach the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party at 216-621-9750)

The event  is free and open to the public but tickets are required.

Tickets are available on a first-come first-serve basis at the following locations:

13100 Shaker Square, Cleveland (Phone number 216-416-2017)

5734 Ridge Road, Parma

11822 Detroit Ave., Lakewood

4071 Lee Road, Cleveland

3740 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

468 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights

21760 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights

12414 Euclid Ave., East Cleveland

22800 Lakeshore Blvd., Euclid

Also, a watch party for the first presidential debate, which is tonight, Oct 3, at 9 pm in Denver, Colo at the University of Denver,  will be held by the Obama for America Campaign, state Sen. Nina Turner (D-25) and state Rep. Mike Foley (D-14) at 8 pm on  the west side of Cleveland at The Market Garden Brewery and Distillery, The Ohio City Room, 1947 West 25th St.

Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson will host a watch party at 8 pm at his ward office on the predominantly Black east side of Cleveland, 10553 Saint Clair Ave. in the Glenville Towne Plaza.