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 Kathy Wray Coleman is  an educator, community activist and 21-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

BEACHWOOD, OHIO- Newly elected Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, a former state representative and Speaker of the Housee, took the oath of office just after midnight at his home in Beachwood on New Year's Eve as Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) administered the oath, and  his wife Amy, other family members and a small group of supporters looked on in support. (Editor's Note: Budish met with greater Cleveland community activists while he was campaigning for county executive this year and Cleveland Urban News.Com published a comprehensive story on that meeting.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACKDIGITAL NEWS)

Another swearing in ceremony, this time open to the public and with a free inaugural celebration, is Sunday, Jan. 4  at 3 pm  at the convention center's  Global Center for Health Innovation, also known as the Medical Mart.

Doors open at 2 p.m. Admission is free, but seating is limited. To RSVP, visit http://www.cuyahogacounty.us/en-us/RSVP.aspx or call 216-307-5615.

Both Fudge and Budish are Democrats.

The county executive works in concert with an elected 11-member Cuyahoga County Council on issuance of contracts, county services, and public policy measures.

The job paid $175,000 annually when Ed FitzGerald, who did not seek reelection and ran unsuccessfully for governor, was elected in 2010. It is likely the most powerful job in the county next to the county prosecutor, and the judges.

The county executive appoints his administrative team and the county sheriff, fiscal officer, clerk of courts, coroner, treasurer and many more, a change in the county governance structure dubbed Issue 6 that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2009. The new county governance structure scratched a three-member Board of Commissioners and all elected county offices in place at that time, including the now appointed sheriff and clerk of courts, aside from the elected judges and the still elected county prosecutor.

Budish, Black elected officials, the Cleveland NAACP,  and Call and Post Newspaper, a Black Cleveland weekly, opposed Issue 6, including Fudge. They said then that the county executive has too much power, among other complaints.

A former Lakewood, Ohio mayor and prior FBI agent,  FitzGerald's relationship with Black leaders, including Fudge, was strained, partly because of  the controversial Issue 6, which was pushed heavily by Republicans, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper.

Others said that Blacks were not getting their fair shake of county jobs under Fitzgerald, a Democrat also, who once told Fudge that he did not need her support to win reelection, or to become governor.

While campaigning for county executive, Budish met with community activists and pledged that he would ensure that Blacks get their fair share of county jobs, and he said  that diversity in employment has been a hallmark of his career as both an attorney and state lawmaker. He represented the eight house district as a state representative, a seat that Kent Smith, whom he endorsed for election, will hold beginning in January.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, educator and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- As Cleveland Rocks NYE 2015 hits downtown Cleveland tonight beginning at 8 pm with a 10-dollar-per-person public New Year's Eve party to ring in 2015 outside of the Convention Center on Mall B, 602 St Clair Ave, community activists will be protesting over police killings at 9:30 pm at the nearby Public Square, also in downtown Cleveland.

Also, there will be a free New Year's Eve party at the Horseshoe Casino, also in downtown Cleveland. It features D.J. Smoov spinning tunes on the first floor until 2 am, and the Spazmatics will perform beginning at 9:30 pm on the second floor of the casino into an '80s party. The Horseshoe will serve champagne for a buck, from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., organizers said.

Other events will be going on throughout the city, a city where all eyes are on the relationship between police and the community, a relationship that is being tested as police shootings of unarmed people escalate. The killings, which have increased racial unrest, particularly in the Black community, come coupled with findings by the U.S. Department of Justice of systemic deficiencies in the largely White Cleveland Police Department, from illegal deadly shootings to cruel and unusual  punishment against the mentally ill.

The Public Square rally, organized by Revolution Books and Puncture the Silence, will address police killings nationally, and by Cleveland police , including the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice on the city's west side, the killing last month of Tanisha Anderson by Cleveland police while in custody, and the 137 shots Cleveland police killings of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell.

For the New Year's Eve party at Mall B  on St Clair Ave, there be  live coverage, starting around 8 p.m. on the Entertainment Channel, giving you the rundown on festival, the Plain Dealer Newspaper reported.

Other Mall B party features  include fireworks, food trucks, a beer garden and performances by Cleveland's own Machine Gun Kelly, DJ E-V and Carlos Jones. Gates open at 8 pm, and the event will be broadcast live on WOIO Channel 19, from 10 p.m. to 12:30 am.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, educator and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) (pictured), a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes parts of the cities of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and suburban sections of Cuyahoga and Summit counties, was recently saluted by the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress that she currently chairs as she prepares to pass the CBC leadership baton to Rep. G.K. Butterfield for the 115th Congress.

A 10-year member of Congress and former justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Butterfield is currently the vice chair and was elected last month to chair the 43-member organization, which consisted of all Democrats under Fudge's leadership. His duties will officially begin in January.

"Chair Fudge has done much more than occupy her position in her time as CBC chair, and she has truly led this caucus at a time like few others requiring active leadership," said Rep James Clyburn of South Carolina during a recognition ceremony for Fudge on the floor of Congress.

A senior member of Congress and assistant minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Clyburn said that Fudge, a former Warrensville Heights mayor and prior national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., is a supreme leader who worked tirelessly during her two-year term as chair, and while also effectively representing her constituents at home.

Clyburn said that the congresswoman has relentlessly fought across the board on issues paramount to the Black community and others, including job creation, voting rights, health and nutrition, social security and medicare, and housing and education.

Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, 85, a founding member of the CBC, also spoke during the congressional tribute, and was just as complimentary.

"We rise today to honor an accomplished public servant, an effective problem solver, and a tireless advocate for our society's most vulnerable," said Conyers of Fudge, and while flanked by several members of the CBC, including Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat.

Fudge thanked the CBC for recognizing her, and for supporting her during her tenure as chair. The federal lawmaker said that Butterfield will serve the organization well as her successor.

"I am happy to pass the chairman’s gavel to my friend and colleague, Rep. Butterfield," said Fudge. "He has dedicated his life and career to advancing the priorities of the disenfranchised and overlooked, both in his home state of North Carolina as well as here on the hill."

The CBC is exclusive to African-Americans. It was established in 1971 by 13 Blacks in Congress with a purported mission "to address the legislative concerns of Black and minority citizens."

The organization has expanded since its inception, both in membership and in direction. In particular, it  has become more research oriented.

All of the CBC chairs have served only one two-year term by design, partly because the job is so consuming, and also to give others a shot as chair, sources said.

Other founding CBC members include the late former congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, longtime Congressman Charles Rangel of New York, and former 11th congressional district congressman Louis Stokes, the first Black in Congress from Ohio and a former CBC chair himself.

Cleveland police kill 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Black boys and men are 21 times more likely than Whites to get shot dead by police, shooting comes on heels of settlement of lawsuit on 137 shots Williams, Russell deadly Cleveland police shooting

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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, educator and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Community activists and some families members of victims of Cleveland police killings and other violence will hold an anti-police brutality rally, vigil and march beginning at 4:30 pm on Public Square in downtown Cleveland on Christmas Day, Thursday December 25.

Organizers of the upcoming event released the following press statement:

Countless families will spend this Christmas without their loved ones due to a culture of violence claiming lives. The family of Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Tanisha Anderson and others will spend their first Christmas without these precious members of their beloved families.