Pictured are Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard and eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell (in sky blue tie), Cleveland Police Patrolman Michael Brelo (in blue shirt), Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (in red-pink tie with polka dots), 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Malissa Williams (in white shirt), and 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Timothy Russell ( in dark blue sweatshirt).

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-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. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.

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

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Greater Cleveland community activists groups will protest at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland on two occasions, on Monday, May 4 at 10 am. and two hours after any manslaughter verdict of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo.

On Thursday, the defense rested, and closing arguments are set for Tuesday, May 5.

The verdict rally will go on, organizers said,  regardless of the verdict by Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell, who is hearing the case in lieu of a jury per Brelo's request. (Editor's note: Brelo is on trial at the Justice Center in courtroom 18D).

Organizing groups include Black on Black Crime, the Black Man's Army, Puncture the Silence, the Imperial Women Coalition, the Carl Stokes Brigade, Revolution Books, and the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network. Call Art McKoy at (216)  253-4070 for more information.

"We will protest and we want justice," said community activist Art McKoy. "We want Michael Brelo convicted."

McKoy said also that the family of 12-year-old Cleveland police shooting victim Tamir Rice will also attend the rally on Monday, May 4.

Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell tossed out two gun specifications charges against Brelo but denied defense counsel's Rule 29 motion for a judgment of acquittal to dismiss the manslaughter charges.

Brelo, who is White, fired 49 of the 137 shots fired by a total of 13-non Black Cleveland cops who gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell, 43, following a high speed car chase in 2012 that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in a middle school parking lot in neighboring East Cleveland. He now faces potential convictions on two counts of voluntary manslaughter, and is currently suspended without pay pending the outcome of his trial.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-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. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.

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

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky-American Pharoah, ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza, scarcely won the 141st  run of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville before a crowd of some 170,00 people.

"I feel like the luckiest Mexican on earth," said Espinoza, a native of Mexico and a Mexican-American. "It's unbelievable."

The total purse for this year's annual Derby event was $2 million, with the first place winner getting $1.24 million, and the second place finisher taking home $400,000. Third, fourth and fifth places took home $200,000, $100,000 and $60,000 respectively.

The second two- year champion to win the Derby in the past five years who lived up to the hype as the projected overall favorite, American Pharoah won by a length over Firing, with Dortmund, also a favorite, coming in third.

A premier thoroughbred race horse, American Pharoah paid $7.80 on a $2 bet to win, $5.80 to place, and $4.20 to show. The odds, with a mediocre payout, reflected its popularity as a front-runner.

Trainer Bob Baffert was elated and told reporters after the race that he thanks God for good horses and that he is "lucky to be in the picture."

Next is the fight for a triple crown, which Espinoza, riding 2014 Derby winner California Chrome, could not bring home last year.

Last year California Chrome placed fifth at the Belmont Stakes, even after winning the Kentucky Derby as a 5-4 favorite , and subsequently the Preakness.

Affirmed remains the last triple crown winner for the last 36 years and since 1978.

The Kentucky Derby, held annually at Churchill Downs in Louisville, is always the first Saturday in May, with the Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland held two weeks later, and the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York three weeks after that, but never before June 5 or after June 11 for the Belmont Stakes. Winning all three legs will bring a triple crown.

Pictured are Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard and eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell (in sky blue tie), Cleveland Police Patrolman Michael Brelo (in blue shirt), Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (in red-pink tie with polka dots), 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Malissa Williams (in white shirt), and 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Timothy Russell ( in dark blue sweatshirt).

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-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. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). (If you are reading this too, you are keeping abreast of the news from Cleveland Ohio, and from its news leader of Cleveland Urban News.Com).

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is calling for calm as an anxious community awaits a decision in upcoming days on whether Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell will find Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the 2012 shooting deaths of two unarmed Black people.

"In the wake of the tragic events that unfolded in Baltimore, and bearing in mind the series of police-related matters and legal proceedings currently in process here in Cleveland, I am writing to let you know that the City of Cleveland has been planning and is prepared to address upcoming developments," said Jackson in a letter to the community that was released to the media earlier today.

Jackson's call for peace comes as rioting broke out this week in Baltimore, Maryland around the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray earlier this month while in police custody.

"As I am sure you are aware, it is likely that the trial of Officer Michael Brelo will conclude within the next few days," said Jackson. "We are planning for a variety of contingencies and are being very proactive in both communication and outreach."

Last week Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell tossed out two gun specifications charges against Brelo but denied defense counsel's Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal to dismiss the manslaughter charges. The prosecution has rested its case and the defense began presenting its case Monday morning, April 27. A decision by O'Donnell, who is hearing the case instead of a jury trial, is expected any-day.

Community activists said that the mayor's call for calm is an indication that he may know something that others don't as to how O'Donnell, who is White, might rule.

"The mayor must know something that we do not know," local community activist Art McKoy told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news.

Supporting the mayor, among others, is the United Pastors in Mission, a greater Cleveland organization of Black clergy led by the Rev. Larry Harris. Their group has also called for calm and will do so again at 11 am on Thursday, April 30 at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in downtown Cleveland where Brelo is on trial.

Jackson is Black, and a three-term mayor of the  majority Black major American city. Its largely White police department is the subject of a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report that found systemic problems, including illegal excess force police killings, mainly shootings,  and cruel and usual punishment against innocent women, children, and the mentally ill. A consent decree is in the workings.

Brelo, who is White, fired 49 of the 137 shots  fired by a total of 13-non Black Cleveland cops who gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell. 43, following a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in a middle school parking lot in neighboring East Cleveland. He is currently suspended without pay pending the outcome of his trial.

No gun was found at the deadly scene.

The other 12 Cleveland officers that did the shooting, 11 White and one Hispanic, were not charged with crimes per the support of county prosecutor Tim McGinty, and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, both of them of whom are White also, and of whom were endorsed by local and state police unions.

Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, legal and political reporter, and a 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C.-A deeply divided nine-member U.S.  Supreme Court  heard oral arguments on Tuesday, April 28 in four consolidated cases together titled Obergefel v. Hodges on whether same-sex couples enjoy a constitutional right to marry, with the liberal and conservative justices split, and Justice Anthony Kennedy holding the controlling vote.

Thousands converged on Washington, D.C. and protested in front of the Supreme Court, both advocates and opponents of same sex marriage.

A decision is expected to be handed down in coming months, likely in June.

The  arguments, which went on for more than two hours, centered around gay marriage bans in the states of Kentucky, Michigan , Tennessee and Ohio that were upheld by the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio , a 2-1 decision of a three-judge panel issued late last year that created a conflict with other appellate rulings. That conflict between federal appeals courts made the case ripe to be heard by the Supreme Court of the land.

The Sixth Circuit, pursuant to its decision issued last year, upheld the trial courts ruling, saying  that the state legislature and voters in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee, and not the courts, should decide the issue of same sex marriage.

President Barack Obama, a constitutional lawyer and  two-term Black president who advocates same sex marriage, has said that he believes that "the equal protection clause [of the 14th Amendment] guarantees same sex marriage in all 50 states."

Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former U.S senator representing the state of New York who served as secretary of state during the president's first term, and who announced earlier this month that she will make a second bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, supports gay marriage too.

"I was proud to help launch Hillary's campaign," said same sex marriage advocate Jared Milrad in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news." She's been an advocate for equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender Americans."

Milrad , who is featured with his fiancee Nathan Johnson in Clinton's video for her announcement for president, said that he does not have to wait on a decision by the high court because he and Nate are engaged and getting married this summer in Chicago, Illinois where same sex marriage has been legal since June 2014.

Gay marriage is legal in 37 states, and is banned in 13.

About six in 10 of U.S. registered voters support gay marriage, polls show.

John J. Bursch, the lawyer for the opponents argued  before the high court on Tuesday that same sex marriage is not a constitutional right  and that it perpetuates children born out of wedlock ,while attorneys representing proponents of gay marriage told the justices that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, among other arguments. That denial of due process, they argued, creates an undue interference with the fundamental freedom of marriage.

Justice Kennedy asked tough questions on both sides and said  that while he is concerned about changing a conception of marriage ingrained in the American way of life, he is equally uncomfortable with excluding the gay and lesbian communities from what he called "a noble and sacred institution."

The four conservative justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas, the only Black on the high court, seemed inclined to leave the issue of the right to marry to the states, and questioned whether those wanting gay marriage  are seeking to join the institution, or are  "seeking to change the institution.”

Several of the more liberal justices asked the lawyers of the opponents of gay marriage  how extending marriage to same sex couples would harm anyone, including heterosexual couples that now enjoy the right to marry without discrepancy.

“You are not taking away anything from heterosexual couples if the state allows gay couples to marry," said Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the more liberal of the four liberal justices, the other three of whom are  Sonia Sotomayer, Elena Kagan and Stephen Bryer.

Ginsburg was nominated by former president Jimmy Carter, Sotomayer and Kagan were nominated by Obama, and Bryer is a nominee of former president Bill Cinton.

U.S. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and must be subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve. They are appointed for life.