Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Channel 3-WKYC News Assignment Editor Danielle Fink (pictured), 48,  died in  a one car accident early yesterday morning when the car she was driving crashed into a tree near Bradley Road in North Olmsted, Oh. at the North Ridgeville border, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported today.

According to the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, Fink was found dead at the wheel of her car by police at 8:30 am on Sun. morning, Jan 20. The newspaper offered no further details.

Fink was known in prominent journalism circles in greater Cleveland. And as a news editor for one of Cleveland's most prominent local television stations, she decided what national, statewide and local news to report, assigning coverage of breaking news  events such as the Imperial Avenue Murders, a celebrated case of the rape and murders of 11 Black women on the majority Black east side of Cleveland at the home on Imperial Ave of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, publisher and editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper

CLEVELAND,Ohio- Cuyahoga County current and former residents whose homes  were foreclosed on between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011 by  Bank of America or Ally/GMAC, Citi, Wells Fargo or J.P. Morgan Chase banks had until Fri., Jan 18 to file a claim for part of a $1.5 billion national mortgage settlement. The money is all but guaranteed, the office of the Ohio attorney general said last month. And it still might not be too late to file a claim, data show.

The settlement deadline, though previously established, comes on the heels of the public firing two weeks ago of former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid (pictured) by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (pictured).

County executive since 2011, FitzGerald, a former Lakewood, Oh. mayor and prior FBI agent who aspires to be governor, fired Reid, a former police chief in the corruption ridden city of Bedford, Oh., following claims of mortgage and foreclosure fraud by Reid himself, Chase Bank, and  Bricker and Eckler and Lerner, Sampson and Rothfuss law firms, among others.

Data show that several of the 34 general division judges and magistrates of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas are involved in the widespread foreclosure corruption scheme too. They basically  hear foreclosures, felony criminal cases, and civil lawsuits. And they often do as they please, the law sometimes meaning nothing to them.

As defendants the  aforementioned banks are parties to the settlement and court authorized consent decree along with the states attorneys general, who are acting on behalf of 49 states that are the plaintiffs, including Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a popular Republican and former U.S. senator, is helping to oversee the settlement process for Ohio, though the consent decree is under the jurisdiction of the federal district court.

For more information on the national mortgage settlement at issue contact nationalmortgagesettelment.com or call DeWine's office. While the deadline for filing a complaint was Jan 18, that date has not been set in stone, it appears.

The consent decree settles the claims for interested consumers that qualify who want to waive litigation in exchange for $850 to $1400 of the $1.5 billion total settlement set aside for the meager compensation for their stolen homes. And affected Ohioans and others still in their homes, though foreclosed on illegally, would be kicked out if they take such money, the consent degree suggests.

Though neither side to the settlement has admitted any guilt, the alleged malfeasance includes claims that Chase and the other four banks received transferred mortgages without a notary public as required by law, denied homeowners requested loan modification programs, and charged excessive fees, among other alleged illegalities.

The consent decree denotes in relevant part that J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and the other defendants to the case are accused of violating state mortgage and foreclosure laws, federal bankruptcy laws, the False Claims Act, and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.

The $1.5 billion settlement is part of a $25 billion larger settlement, part of which goes to the respective states that are parties to the settlement, an obvious impetus for the attorneys general that agreed to participate.

Oklahoma would not join the other 49 states, saying in part that homeowners impacted by the illegal foreclosure activities deserve more of the settlement, and that they could seek redress independently, and even fight to remain in their homes rather than agreeing to settle for little or nothing.

Data suggests that Cuyahoga County officials and some county judges such as common pleas judges John O'Donnell (pictured in red tie) and Carolyn Friedland, and Chief Foreclosure Magistrate Stephen Bucha, must have seen the settlement coming where some homeowners that qualify due to alleged illegalities by at least Chase Bank were improperly ousted from their homes in cases before them. And some were literally harassed and interrogated by O'Donnell, data also show, who used former convicted sheriff Gerald McFaul and his judicial friends to jail those that fought back in court, particularly Blacks and women

By Katy Wray Coleman, publisher, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper

WASHINGTON, D.C.- With Vice President Joe Biden by his side President Barack Obama on Wednesday offered strict measures to curb gun violence across the nation in the wake of the unprecedented shootings last month that left 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. dead. Also killed in that rampage was the mother of suspected shooter Adam  Lanza, 20, who then turned the gun on himself.

The president's proposal calls for extensive background checks for the sale of guns across the nation and bans on high-capacity magazines and military type assault weapons, among other proposed provisions. Some of the proposal became effective through executive orders signed Wednesday by the president such as more extensive background checks to buy guns legally, but much of it requires congressional approval.

Obama also wants Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 and to limit ammunition magazine clips to 10 rounds or less. And he wants  access to mental health treatment for all Americans.

Since the Connecticut shootings on Dec. 14 that moved a nation to tears, Obama has repeatedly said that federal lawmakers and state and municipal policymakers, school boards and other authorities must do more to protect America's children, the country's greatest resource by his standards.

The president repeated that stance on Wednesday in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black news venue. He said that the debate by congressional leaders on the controversial issue does not have to get nasty.

"Protecting our children from harm should not be divisive," the president said. "These are our kids. What we should be thinking about is our responsibility to care for them, and shield them from harm."

At the White House press conference on anti- gun violence objectives by the Obama administration on Wednesday both Obama and Biden spoke as well as a host of others, including family members of the Connecticut shooting victims, who flanked the president in support of his gun control recommendations.

"Before I begin today, let me say to the families of the innocents who were murdered 33 days ago, our hearts go out to you," said  Biden, whom the president thanked for his leadership in pushing for heightened gun control legislation.

Violence in major metropolitan predominantly Black cities like Cleveland is also on the rise, data show. And guns are the fueling mechanism.

The murder rate finished at 97 in 2012, Cleveland city officials said., up from 75 in 2011, and 72 in 2010.

The suburbs of Ohio are being hit by extensive gun violence too, and in their public schools.

Just last year gun violence rocked Chardon, Oh.  as three Chardon High School students, one of them Black, were gunned down in the school cafeteria by suspected student-shooter T.J. Lane.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, publisher, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) (pictured), a Warrensville Hts Democrat who is also president of the Congressional Black Caucus, on Wednesday commended President Obama for presenting a series of executive and legislative initiatives that she says would strengthen gun laws and improve delivery of mental health services to reduce the loss of life due to gun violence.

“It is clear the culture of violence is an American epidemic," said Fudge,  whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes the east side of the majority Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland and a largely Black pocket of Akron, a city some 35 miles south of Cleveland that is roughly a third Black. "It is time for us to face the music. We are complicit in the violence that takes place in our nation if we fail to strengthen our gun laws, fail to invest more resources in our mental health services, and fail to address the issue of bullying."

The president, the first Black to lead the United States of America,  unveiled his bold gun control initiatives at  a press conference at the White House Wednesday afternoon.