Pictured are Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough (in yellow t-shirt), Cleveland Browns General Manager Ray Farmer (in grey suit) and Cleveland Browns Head Coach Rick Pettine (in Black suit)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Can you smell the peanuts and popcorn as the first round of the  NFL Draft gets underway this week and football fans began predicting the possible additions this year to the Cleveland Browns football franchise?

Can you hear the circus music? If you do you must be excited and expecting Texas A& M Quarterback and NFL probable Johnny Manziel to be coming to town with the media circus he will bring with him. Can you hear the fans cheering all over Cleveland? If so,  then you must be expecting fan favorite wide receiver Sammy Watkins to be chosen with Cleveland's first pick.

If there is a collective oh no being heard from every sports bar in Cleveland, then the Browns just selected an offensive lineman at 8:40 pm on May 8th. Cleveland is Browns Town, and the Cleveland fans have their Super Bowl every year when the Browns pick in the top 10 of the NFL draft. This year NFL Draft analysts have come to a consensus on there being four to five players in this year's draft that are a level above their draft class peers.  They are DE Jadeveon Clowney, OLB Khalil Mack, OT Greg Robinson, WR Sammy Watkins, and OT Jake Matthews. That means that with the fourth pick, the Browns will be faced with the choice of choosing an elite player or selecting someone who is more beautiful in their eyes.

The other option could be trading out of the pick. The Browns GM Ray Farmer and Head Coach Mike Pettine are doing everything short of playing Star Wars Jedi mind games with their verbal camouflage to misdirect other GM's through the media as to who they prefer. So, do we have a clue about what the Browns will do on May 8th?

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief. Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio

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

CLEVELAND, Ohio- There were no upsets in Tuesday's Democratic primary election in Cuyahoga County with front-runner Armond Budish running away with the race for county executive while incumbent state Reps. John Barnes Jr and Bill Patmon held on to their seats, Patmon beating former Cleveland Councilman Eugene Miller two to one after an aggressive campaign and Barnes edging Pepper Pike Councilwoman Jill Miller Zimon 6, 489 votes to 5,575 votes. No Republican or anyone-else filed to run either in state legislative district 10, which Patmon leads, or in Barnes' legislative district 12.

Miller, Barnes and Patmon are all three Black.

Unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections reflect a relatively boring election, one overshadowed by the media coverage of the one-year anniversary of the rescue and escape of Ariel Castro survivors Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald did not seek reelection to county executive and as widely predicted, he trounced Ken Gray, who is Black, unemployed, and has never held public office, with FitzGerald's gubernatorial ticket winning with 83 percent of the Democratic primary vote.

FitzGerald and his Lt Gov running mate, Attorney Sharon Neuhardt, will take on Gov John Kasich  and Lt. Gov.Mary Taylor in the November election in what political pundits say will be a closely watched race as the 2016 presidential race looms and Ohio remains a pivotal state.

And in other closely watched races Tuesday night the sin tax that extends the tax on cigarettes and alcohol for 20 more years to help fund professional sports stadiums upkeep and at a price tag of some $270 million passed as expected, another win for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who won reelection to a third four year term last year by a landslide against millionaire businessman Ken Lanci. And the Black mayor of the majority Black major American city convinced Cleveland voters a year earlier to pass a 15 mill schools tax levy, the largest remembered in decades in Northeast Ohio.

Voters of the heavily Democratic county, the largest of 88 counties state wide which is 29 percent Black,  approved the sin tax measure 56 percent to 44 percent, which opponents say is a tax on the poor that overburdens small business owners.

Term limited State Sen Shirley Smith, who is Black, came in a distant second for the county executive contest followed by Tim Russo, and fired former county sheriff Bob Reid, also a former Bedford city manager.

A former state Rep and minority leader out of Beachwood, Budish had the county Democratic party endorsement and a campaign war chest of nearly $600,000, over five times the amount of all of the other five candidates combined, and it showed on election night. He faces Republican Jack Schron in November, a member of county council

Budish , 60, who had key endorsements , including FitzGerald and Congresspersons Marcia Fudge and Marcia Kaptur, both with no opposition on Tuesday,  walked away with 56, 093 votes to Smith's 20, 240 votes. The rest was history in the six- way race and Budish garnered over double the votes of the other five candidates combined, a race that, in addition to Smith,  Reid and Russo,  also includes former North Olmstead Mayor Thomas O'Grady and Walter Allen Rogers Jr., a local artist.

Kent Smith won the Democratic primary for the state legislative district eight seat now held by Budish with no Republican in that race in November. 

State Rep Sandra Williams, also Black,  won the Democratic nod to replace Smith in Ohio senate district 21, and former state Rep. Kenny Yuko beat former state Rep. Ed Jerse and Bedford Heights Councilman Thadeus Jackson to win the Democratic primary for the state senate district 25 seat. Jackson is Black.

The state senate seat in district 25 is held now by state Sen. Nina Turner, who will face incumbent Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted in November. Yuko and Williams face Republican write-in candidates, whose chances of winning are slim to none. If she wins Turner would be the first Black Democrat to win statewide office in Ohio.

Former Cleveland councilwoman Stephanie Howse, whose mother Annie Key is a former state Rep, won the state district 11 seat held by Williams. And Cleveland Heights Councilwoman Janine Boyd won in district nine to replace her mother, the term limited state Rep. Barbara Boyd. Neither Howse nor Boyd, both Black, faces an opponent in November.

Former Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney, still on city council representing ward 16 on Cleveland's largely White west side but seeking to become a state lawmaker rather than a city lawmaker, won the Democratic primary for state house district 14 with 38 percent of the vote, topping Steve Holecko, who followed in second place, and Mike Piepsny. He faces Republican Anna Melendez in November.

For Cuyahoga County Council seats at issue Shontel Brown won the Democratic primary for district nine as county County Council President C. Ellen Connally decided not to seek reelection. Both Brown and Connally are Black, and Connally is one of four Blacks on the largely Democratic 11-member county council, all four of whom are Democrats. County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell won without opposition and faces no general election opponent and county council members Pernel Jones Jr. and Anthony Hairston, the other two of the four Blacks, are not up for reelection.

Brown will face Republican Adam Trumbo in November.

Trumbo, like Brown, is Black, and is a son of former Cleveland Municipal Court Judge George Trumbo and retired Eighth District Appellate Court Judge Sara Harper.

In judicial races closely watched, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Anita Laster Mays won the Democratic primary for a seat on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals against the powerful Corrigan name, beating Common Pleas Judge Brian Corrigan after winning the county Democratic party endorsement.

Mays, who is Black and sits on the 13-member predominantly Black Cleveland Municipal Court bench,  faces no opponent in November. When she joins the state appeals bench of Cuyahoga County's eighth district she will join three other Blacks on the nine-member state appellate court bench, including Judge Melody Stewart, who is not up for reelection, and Judges Patricia Ann Blackmon and Larry Jones, both running for reelection this year without opposition.

Former longtime assistant county prosecutor Francine 'Frankie' Goldberg of University Heights out did John McIntyre on Tuesday to win the Democratic primary. She faces Republican Janet Rath Colaluca in November.

Pictured are Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight

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

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Community activists will hold a Stop Violence Against Women Rally and Vigil at 5 pm on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at 2207 Seymour Avenue on Cleveland's west side to mark the first year anniversary of the day a year ago that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued from the home of serial rapist and kidnapper Ariel Castro following a decade of captivity. The rally and vigil will be held in front of where Castro's since demolished Seymour Avenue home once stood. For more information contact the Imperial Women Coalition at 216-659-0473.

"This is a celebrated case of unprecedented cruelty and violence and we intend to address this issue and other issues on violence against women and girls in greater Cleveland, statewide and nationally in a wholehearted fashion," said Imperial Women Coalition Leader Kathy Wray Coleman. "And we again praise the Ariel Castro victims for their courage and fortitude and for getting out alive when so many other innocent women and girls pay the ultimate price of death."

Coleman said that her group will also address the Imperial Avenue Murders by serial killer Anthony Sowell, the murders by alleged East Cleveland serial killer Michael Madison, who awaits trial, and the Cleveland E. 93rd St murders, where the assailant is still on the loose.

Groups or group members associated with the Imperial Women Coalition include Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, the Carl Stokes Brigade, People for the Imperial Act, the Fairfax Business Association, the Cleveland African American Museum, Black on Black Crime Inc., Peace in the Hood, the People's Forum, the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Sister to Sister, the Cleveland Black Contractors Group, Ohio Family Rights, the National Association for Parental Equality, the Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, Gov Abuse, and Revolution Books.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief

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

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Playhouse Square theater venue in downtown Cleveland lit up Friday night as part of the 'Dazzle the District' extravaganza, an event that drew over 20,000 people to the center of the city at 14th and Euclid Avenue. It featured song, dance, a fireworks display,  and the lighting of the world's largest outdoor chandelier, a celebration to highlight a  $16 million renovation project funded by some private donors and with $4 million in Cuyahoga County grants from casino revenues.

Also on hand was a group of protesters led by Black on Black Crime founder Art McKoy, who picketed to bring focus to the tragedy in 2012 where 13 all non Black Cleveland police officers gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams (pictured), 30, and Tim Russell, 43, following a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended at Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland.

The protesters want a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury currently reviewing the case to issue an indictment on criminal charges of the police officers at issue, all of whom are still on the job.

"We will be there to protest," McKoy, a longtime Cleveland area community activist, told Cleveland Urban News.Com during an interview Friday afternoon.

That chandelier though, is beautiful, said some people that came out Friday to Playhouse Square.

It stands 48 ft. tall, and has some 4, 200 crystals, designers said yesterday.

The majority Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland,

led by Mayor Frank Jackson, a Black mayor elected last year to a third four-year term, may have high crime rates, poverty and struggling public schools, but it can brag about Playhouse Square and its Broadway shows, opera, comedy, concerts and children's programming, replete with the Palace, State, Allen and Ohio theater houses. It is one of the country's largest performing arts centers,  second only to the Lincoln Center in New York city.

Jackson spoke briefly and area marching bands , including Shaw High School in East Cleveland, were among the performers, which also include the popular American rock band Hot Chelle Rae.

Many Clevelanders were excited about the gathering, while activists and some other residents said that the monies could have been put to better use, including to fill street pot holes, to address citywide poverty that disproportionately impacts the Black community, and to deal with the epidemic of rape and murder of greater Cleveland women across racial lines.(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher, Editor-n-Chief,

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

BREAKING NEWS: JUDGES AND LAWYERS BEHAVING BADLY, AN EPIDEMIC (A CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM ONGOING COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION)

Bedford, Ohio- In spite of a suspension of disqualification from the bench last year by the Ohio Supreme Court of former Bedford Municipal Court Judge Harry Jacob (pictured) due to a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indictment on charges of bribery, tampering with evidence and a host of other felonies, and in spite of other embarrassing charges, including that he boldly pimped Black and other women through a prostitution ring and that he fixed cases, the court's website describes pimp Jacob as an upstanding citizen and community advocate (Editor's note: Bedford law director and prosecutor Ken Schuman this week resigned. He took paid leave in November, some two months before an indictment on soliciting, bribery and theft in office).

In fact, his court website curriculum vita, if you will, says also that Jacob "has been appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to the commission on continuing legal education and his peers have elected him secretary-treasurer of the Northern Ohio Judges Association."

Asked yesterday by Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leading digital Black newspaper, why Jacob is still put out as a judge though he has been suspended for pimping women and other alleged crimes, court personnel directed questions to Clerk of Court Tom Day, also allegedly involved in criminal activity, data show, but still on the job doing in Blacks and others too.

Jacob has pleaded not guilty to all charges and hired prominent Cleveland lawyer Kevin Spellacy to represent him.

The other judge on the Bedford Municipal Court, Brian Melling, is still hanging around too, doing in Blacks and others also, an investigation reveals, and as a White man, like Day, that is accused of thinking that he too, like Jacob, is above the law.

Melling and Day have harassed Blacks that come before the Bedford court, data show,  denying some of them counsel though deeming them indigent, and unless they go along with the program, both bragging that they have the support of area Black leaders and politicians and the Cleveland NAACP. specifically criminal defense attorneys Michael Nelson Sr. and James Hardiman, relative to their anti-Black and anti-Democratic malfeasance.

Jacob, 57,  did the same thing, data also show, but to a more heightened level.

A recent raid by law enforcement authorities at the former judge's house where he lives  in Solon, Ohio brought more incriminating evidence, data show, and monies allegedly stashed in vents and throughout the Jacob family home.

The city of Bedford is a suburb of Cleveland and has a population of some 13,000 people, and is roughly 44 percent Black.

The Bedford court handles cases from 14 different diverse locations including Bedford itself, neighboring Bedford Heights, and Chagrin Falls, Bentleyville, Chagrin Township, Cleveland Metro Parks, Glen Willow, Highland Hills, Moreland Hills, North Randall, Oakwood Village, Orange, Solon and Warrensville Heights. They are all among the 59 municipalities, villages and townships of Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest of 88 counties, and of which is roughly 29 percent Black.