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Anthony Sowell dies: Activists to rally in response to death of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell in prison at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 11, 2021 on Imperial Avenue where he murdered 11 Black women and raped three others who escaped his wrath

09 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Greater Cleveland community activists, elected officials, and community members in general, led by the Imperial Women Coalition, Peace in the Hood, and Black on Black Crime Inc., will rally on Thurs., Feb 11, 2021 at 4:30 pm on 12205 Imperial Avenue on Cleveland's largely Black east side in front of where convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell's home once stood and where he murdered 11 Black women and raped three others who escaped his wrath (Call the Imperial Women Coalition at (216) 659-0473 for more information. Masks and social distancing are required).

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR THE RALLY

Sowell, 61, died Feb 8 at the end-of-life care unit at the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus after being transferred there on Jan 21 from the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Ohio where he was awaiting the death penalty.

He suffered from a terminal illness, but it was purportedly not the coronavirus, a spokesperson from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said on Monday.

Dead at the hands of the infamous Sowell are Tishana Culver, Leshanda Long, Michelle Mason, Tonia Carmichael, Nancy Cobbs, Amelda Hunter, Telacia Fortson, Janice Webb, Kim Yvette Smith, and Diane Turner.

The 11 women were strangled and murdered by serial killer Sowell at his since demolished home on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant Neighborhood on the city's largely Black east side.

And while three other women were raped and escaped, they were left with emotional scars.

Activists will remember the 11 fallen women and other women subjected to heinous violence at Thursday's public event on Imperial Avenue and will give speeches.

"We are pleased that Anthony Sowell and his attorneys can no longer file frivolous appeals of his convictions on 82 of 83 counts counts and that the families of Sowell's victims have gotten some degree of closure but so much more work is needed to protect Black women in Cleveland from these heinous types of crimes and violence in general," said Imperial Women Coalition founder and Cleveland activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, who has been the head organizer of nearly every anniversary rally and march relative to the Imperial Avenue Murders since 2010, including the anniversary rally held last October.

"Men will be at Thursday's rally in support of Black women on this issue as we have always done," said Black on Black Crime President Alfred Porter Jr. "Sowell and his attorneys can no longer misuse the system."

Other participating groups for the upcoming rally include the Cleveland Peacemakers, the Black Man's Army, Black Women's PAC of Greater Cleveland, the Brickhouse Wellness Center, International Women's Day March Cleveland, Find Our Children The Missing-Ebony Alert, Survivors and Victims of Tragedy, the Laura Cowan Foundation, Refusefacism Ohio, the Carl Stokes Brigade and Women's March Cleveland.

Dubbed the "Cleveland strangler," Sowell was convicted in 2011 by a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas jury on 82 of 83 counts, including 11 counts of aggravated murder and three counts of rape.

Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose, the trial court judge who presided over Sowell's criminal case and a former Cleveland Browns football player, handed the serial killer a death sentence following a recommendation from the same jury that convicted him.

Six of the 11 murdered women were killed by Sowell after Cleveland police released him from custody in 2008 on a rape complaint, the serial killer arrested again in 2009 on another rape complaint that stuck, but only after he murdered six more women.

Police also ignored missing persons reports filed by family members of the victims, allegedly because the victims were poor Black women.

Sowell and his lawyers exhausted all appeals that sought to overturn his convictions and death sentence, including to the U.S. Supreme court, which refused to hear his case in 2017.

The city settled with the families of the six women murdered after Sowell was released from custody in 2008 in spite of a pending rape report to police.

The settlement was for $1 million, which was split between the six families.

Sowell was arrested again in 2009 on a rape complaint and that is when the 11 bodies were discovered at his then home on Imperial Avenue.

Five other families that sued await settlement.

A former U.S. marine, Sowell served 15 years in prison for attempted rape prior to the Imperial Avenue Murders.

See below, the 11 Black women strangled and murdered on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio by convicted serial killer and death row inmate Anthony Sowell.

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 February 2021 04:52

Anthony Sowell dies: Activists to rally in response to death of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell in prison at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 11, 2021 on Imperial Avenue where he murdered 11 Black women and raped three others who escaped his wrath

09 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured is Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR THE RALLY 2017

He suffered from a terminal illness, but it was purportedly not the cornavirus, a spokesperson from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said on Monday.

The 11 women were strangled and murdered by serial killer Sowell at his since demolished home on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant Neighborhood on the city's largely black east side,

And while three other women were raped and escaped, they were left with emotional scars.

Activists will remember the 11 fallen women and other women subjected to heinous violence at Thursday's public event on Imperial Avenue and will give speeches.

"We are pleased that Anthony Sowell and his attorneys can no longer file frivolous appeals of his convictions on 82 of 83 and that the families of Sowell's victims have gotten some degree of closure but so much more work is needed to protect Black women in Cleveland from these heinous types of crimes and violence in general," said Imperial Women Coalition founder and Cleveland activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, who has been the head organizer of nearly every anniversary rally and march relative to the Imperial Avenue Murders since 2010, including the anniversary rally held last October.

Other participating groups for the upcoming rally include the Cleveland Peacemakers, the Black Man's Army, the Brickhouse Wellness Center, International Women's Day March Cleveland, Black Women's PAC of Greater Cleveland, Find Our Children The Missing-Ebony Alert, Survivors and Victims of Tragedy, the Laura Cowan Foundation, Refusefacism Ohio, the Carl Stokes Brigade and Women's March Cleveland.

Dubbed the 'Cleveland strangler," Sowell was convicted in 2011 by a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas jury on 82 of 83 counts, including 11 counts of aggravated murder and three counts of rape.

Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose, the trial court judge who presided over Sowell's criminal case and a former Cleveland Browns football player, handed the serial killer a death sentence.

Police also ignored missing persons reports filed by family members of the victims, allegedly because the victims were poor Black women.

Sowell and his lawyers exhausted all appeals that sought to overturn his convictions and death sentence, including to the U.S. Supreme court, which refused to hear his case in 2017.

The city settled with the families of the six women murdered after Sowell was erroneously released from custody in 2008 in spite of a pending rape complaint with police for $1 million, which was split between the six families.

Five other families that sued await settlement.

A former U.S. marine, Sowell served 15 years in prison for attempted rape prior to the Imperial Avenue Murders.

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 February 2021 16:38

Blacks still being denied felony jury trials in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County as common pleas judges, led by Chief Judge Brendan Sheehan, try to coerce plea deals or guilty pleas for County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley- Activists want Sheehan to resign

09 February 2021

Kathy

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Led by presiding and administrative Judge Brendan Sheehan (pictured), the 34 largely White judges of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas general division bench in Cleveland, Ohio are attempting to coerce defendants into taking plea deals or pleading guilty by denying them their statutory and constitutional right to a jury trial, even though the judges, who hear the felony cases at issue, have no authority whatsoever to vote to deny people jury trials, or speedy trials for that matter. 

The judges, only three of them Black, have arbitrarily voted three times since the pandemic hit last year to postpone jury trials, using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, and have not cited a single authority in justification of such vote.

Research reveals that the Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Rules of Superintendence, and local common pleas rules do not give the judges any authority whatsoever to vote to stop holding jury trials and neither does any case law or state or federal law

The last extension of their illegal moratorium on jury trials was on Jan 19, the new date upon which the trials might resume set for March 1.

Community activists remain upset over the issue, and say it is illegal, and unconstitutional, if not racist.

Bench trials are not affected, and Judge Sheehan told Cleveland.com for an article published Jan 19 that he urges people to take plea deals or other legal measures to resolve cases while he and his judicial colleagues continue to use the denial of jury trial as an intimation tactic.

The right to a speedy trial in Ohio, unless waived by a defendant in writing, is a constitutional right under the 6th Amendment of the U.S. constitution, and a statutory right under state law.

In the absence of a speedy trial dismissal of the case with prejudice is a proper recourse.

And since Blacks are disproportionately impacted by the common pleas court's racist no-jury-trial policy, it raises the question of whether such obvious abuse of discretion and arrogance by the judges violates the equal protection clause of the 14 Amendment since Blacks are members of a protected class.

Meanwhile, Cuyahoga County Jail inmates who cannot afford to post bail and who refuse to agree to a bench trial and want a jury trial instead remain locked down in the Cuyahoga County Jail where at least 15 percent pf the inmates have been infected with the coronavirus, a jail where some 10 inmates have died in the last three years, at least one of them murdered.

In November 2018, U.S. Marshals issued a report deeming the county jail unconstitutional and inhumane. setting the stage for a host of indictments against administrative jail personnel, including the former jail warden and jail director.

Former Chief County Public Defender Mark Stanton, a former criminal defense attorney who regularly represented the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and cops prosecuted for alleged wrongdoing on the job against Black people, including excessive force killings by White Cleveland police officers, supported the denial of a timely jury trial to defendants.

His successor, Cullen Sweeney, is backing the no-jury-trial initiative too

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley is also in on it too, data show, as he and his largely White assistant county prosecutors are getting an avalanche of guilty pleas that they would not ordinarily get if the threat of a jury trial were looming

Some Cleveland activists are calling foul while the Cleveland NAACP says nothing on the issue.

Activists want Judge Sheehan to step down as presiding and administrative judge over the court, Sheehan selected as the court's chief judge by his judicial peers on the court.

"Activists call for Chief Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan to step down for misusing his role in this instance," said activist Alfred Porter Jr., president of Black on Black Crime Inc.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish once called in the National Guard regarding the COVID-19 problem in the jails but has said he cannot let the inmates out who are being held illegally and denied a speedy trial and a jury trial.

Some 323,000 people in America have died from the deadly virus since it hit with a vengeance in early March, the U.S. leading all countries worldwide in the number of confirmed cases and deaths.

The virus for which there is finally a vaccine has spread to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., worldwide figures showing that there are 106 million cases globally, and roughly 2.3 million deaths.

Ohio has reported some 922,000 cases and 11,695 deaths with Cuyahoga County, the state's second largest county, accounting for 91, 318 of those cases, and 1, 226 deaths.

Last Updated on Monday, 15 February 2021 16:50

Lifetime airs documentary on music icon Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina titled "Didn't We Almost Have It All".... Read the Whitney Houston story here....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

06 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured are the late famed pop singer Whitney Houston and her daughter and only child, the late Bobbie Kristina Brown

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

NEW YORK, New York-Lifetime aired a two hour documentary Saturday night on the life and legacy of the the late famed pop singer Whitney Houston and her daughter and only child Bobbi Kristina Brown.
While Houston's nephew, godchild and some associates are among those featured in the documentary film, former sister-in-law Tina Brown delivers some of the biggest revelations, and discusses using drugs with Houston, as well as Bobbi Kristina's drug use while Houston was alive.

Tina Brown speaks in the film at length as having known Houston up close as a sister-in-law also struggling beside her with drug addiction and said that both she and Houston were sexually molested as teens and that illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, helped to dull their pain that lingered into adulthood.

Conspicuously absent from the documentary are Houston's mother, Sissy Houston, and her two brothers, Gary and Michael Houston.

Also missing is any true depiction of Bobby Brown, whom Houston accused of domestic violence before she divorced him, his sister Tina painting him as bad-boy- good guy who, unlike Whitney, was a disciplined drug abuser, she claims.

But it was Hollywood entertainment from a Black perspective and it was moving, and, at times, heartbreaking and hard to watch as Houston's career spirals downward.

The close cousin of music icon Dionne Warwick and ex wife of former New Edition singer and solo artist Bobby Brown, Houston died on Feb 11, 2012 at 48-years-old and was found by her brother in the bath tub of the California Beverly Hilton Hotel room where she was in town for a Grammy party thrown at the hotel by record producer and music industry executive Clive Davis, her longtime mentor who discovered her talent, nurtured it, and molded her into a star.

She was remembered at the 2012 Grammy's during a special segment sung by the talented Jennifer Hudson .

A toxicology report says alcohol and a host of drugs were found in her body during an autopsy, namely cocaine, marijuana, the prescription anti-depressant Xanax, Benadryl and Flexeril.

Her daughter Bobbi Kristina, whom she had with Brown, died a similar fate at 22, and was also found unresponsive in a bathtub and consumed by drugs.

Krissi died July 26, 2015, six months after being taken off of life support.

Her mother died three and a half years before her tragic death.

Police said that Houston, once a worldwide music phenomenon, could not be revived following a 911 call from hotel security. Also an actress and producer who starred opposite Kevin Costner in the hit motion picture "The Body Guard," and opposite actresses Loretta Devine and Angela Bassett in the popular women's liberating film "Waiting To Exhale," Houston rose to fame in 1985 with the Grammy winning "Saving All My Love For You," a song on the multi-platinum album "Whitney Houston, which had a string of other billboard hits like "You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All," a remake of the George Benson hit.

She won six Grammy's, 30 NAACP image awards, an Emmy, and a host of other awards and commendations.

Probably the song most memorable that Houston brought her fans is "I Will Always Love You," a tune that soared the top of the charts too, and was the theme of her love movie with Costner, whom she kisses in the end, marking an interracial embrace between two sex symbols that peaked the public's interest. And she hit the charts with her popular 90s rendition of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman, sparking women to feel more confident about being women, and during a time when the nation's women's movement was more vibrant.

One of the world's best selling artists, she sold 170 million albums, cd's, videos and singles worldwide.

She had ties to Cleveland and knew as an associate and family friend through Warwick, renowned boxing promoter Don King, a Cleveland native who publishes the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press.

The third child and only daughter of John Houston, a retired army man and small time entertainment executive, and gospel singer Sissy Houston, Whitney Houston grew up middle class in Newark, NJ., and in the baptist church where she sang solos in the youth choir.

Her parents later divorced and her father remarried, dying in 2003 at 82 years old of diabetes and heart disease.

He had sued his daughter in 2000 over a contract dispute over money as her one-time manager, something that reportedly caused heighten tension in the singer's life as she battled substance abuse that saw her career spiral downwards in the late 1990's.

After her father's death she feuded with her stepmother Barbara Houston, who unsuccessfully sued after her husband's death claiming that while Houston was sole beneficiary of her father's $1 million life insurance policy, his estate required that the proceeds go to payoff the mortgage on their condominium, a claim met by a counter suit from the singer-actress for 1.6 million.

Houston married former New Edition singer and soulful crooner Bobby Brown in 1992 and from that union came daughter Bobbi Kristina, who became a singer like her mother, but without the fanfare and fame.

But also with the Houston-Brown marriage came turmoil and strife, with Brown in and out of jail for DUI, domestic violence charges lodged by Houston, and failing to pay child support on some of his then three children with other women before his marriage to the pop star.

Reported physical fights between the couple often overshadowed any good in the relationship, coupled with Brown's infidelity, and widespread publicity about their drug use that Houston announced publicly in a now infamous ABC interview with Diane Sawyer in 2002.

The tabloids had a field day and frequently ran vicious and racist news stories on the legendary R&B singer, some of it true, some of it not true.

Still, she was loved, and admired as the princess of pop for her generation, pioneering the way for popular pop singers like Christina Auguilera and Beyonce.

She divorced the abusive Brown in 2007 after fourteen years of marriage, something people pulling for her celebrated, and she tried several times to make a come back.

But she could not reinvent her mega successes of the mid 1980s and 1990s.

The night of Houston's death in 2012, Brown told an audience of music goers that came to hear him and other members of the revitalized New Edition perform Sat. night at a concert in Southhaven, MS. that he still loved Houston.

"I love you Whitney, " Brown told the somber audience, while choking back tears.

Funeral services for Whitney Houston were held in her hometown of Newark, NJ and aired live on CNN.

Kevin Costner was among the many prominent speakers there, and said he made a wise decision in choosing Houston to play opposite him in the hit 1992 thriller drama "The Body Guard," which grossed $411 million at the box office and made Houston a megastar.

Her entire $12 million estate was left to her daughter Bobbi Kristina in increments, and after Krissi died what was left went to Houston's mother and her two brothers.

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Last Updated on Monday, 08 February 2021 15:28

Democrat Dr. Amy Acton may run for the U.S. senate seat currently held by Rob Portman...Acton is the former director of the Ohio Department of Health and was a key advisor to Gov DeWine on COVID-19 policies

05 February 2021

Kathy

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS. COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, who held the director's job under Republican Gov Mike DeWine from 2019 until she resigned the post last year to take a job with the non-profit organization the Columbus Foundation, announced Thursday that she is considering running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Rob Portman, a Cincinnati Democrat who has said he will not seek reelection in 2022.

Other Democrats considering a bid for the powerful seat, one of two U.S. Senate seats in Ohio, include state Rep Emilia Sykes, the House minority leader who also leads the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, a Youngstown area Democrat and unsuccessful presidential candidate for the 2020 election.

Sen Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, is the other U. S. senator from Ohio.

Brown has praised Acton but has not said which Democrat he will back to go after Portman's seat next year.

Acton told reporters this week that she will leave her job at the Columbus Foundation as she considers a possible run for the Senate seat, which is heavily favored for a Republican.

The Constitution sets three qualifications for service in the U.S. Senate.

The candidate must be at least 30-years-old, a U.S. citizen for a least nine years, and a residency in the state a senator represents at time of election.

Acton, 55, gained notoriety as DeWine's sidekick when the coronavirus hit the U.S. last march with a vengeance and the pair began shutting down restaurants, bars, public schools and nearly everything in Ohio but essential entities like grocery stores and gas stations.

And at one point police were actually knocking on doors and patrolling the streets to seek compliance with DeWine's COVID-19 orders, which included social distancing and mask wearing requirements.

This intrusion occurred mainly in places like Cleveland, a largely Black major American city and the state's second largest city behind Columbus, the state capital.

At first Acton and DeWine gained praise for the manner in which they handled the pandemic and Acton's popularity escalated.

But pressure began to mount from several venues upset over the stringent coronavirus requirements, including the business community.

Lawsuits began piling up regarding claims that shutting down Ohio over the pandemic was a nail in the coffin to Ohio's businesses, and that it was in many respects illegal, and unconstitutional.

Protesters soon began picketing DeWine at the statehouse and the governor's fellow Republicans in the state legislature began crafting legislation to curtail the his power relative to the virus, though he enjoys a $3.6 million political war chest today for his expected run for reelection in 2022.

DeWine has said that stringency was needed to tackle the virus

Acton resigned her post as Ohio's health director for the state in June of last year, nearly three months after the virus began raging through Ohio, and she is now leaving her second job at the Columbus Foundation.

Her supporters say she was effective in responding to the pandemic and that cases in Ohio increased after she stepped down as the state's health director.

DeWine, they say, was equally effective.

Their critics say otherwise.

Ohio currently ranks seventh in coronavirus cases with 914, 500 of them, behind California, Texas, Florida, New York Illinois, and Georgia.

The deadly virus for which there is finally a vaccine has spread to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and the nation has more than 26.9 million reported cases and some 450,000 people dead

Worldwide figures show that there are some 105 million cases globally, and roughly 2.3 million have died.

Whether Acton's popularity as the former director of health for the state will help catapult her to a U.S. Senate seat if she decides to run remains to be seen since she has never held public office.

She still has some popularity, and getting DeWine out of office in 2022 want be easy, pundits say.

If Acton does run for the U.S. Senate in 2022 as a Democrat, it is almost certain that she will not get DeWine's endorsement as he will be running on the state Republican ticket as an incumbent GOP governor.

Democrats now control the U.S. Senate, but only by a narrow margin, and with Portman not running next year, it gives the Democrats a fighting chance to snatch his Republican seat in what is sure to be a contentious election.

Acton attended Youngstown State University and earned a medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 1990,working to pay her way through college.

She completed her residency in pediatrics and preventive medicine and later earned a master's in public health from Ohio State University.

Last Updated on Saturday, 06 February 2021 23:33

U.S. Senate committee approves Marcia Fudge's nomination for HUD secretary.....The next step is possible confirmation by the full U.S. Senate...By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

04 February 2021

Kathy

Pictured is HUD secretary nominee Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Thursday approved the nomination of Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge to President Joe Biden's cabinet as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The next step is a vote by the entire U.S. Senate on possible confirmation.

Fudge sat for her hearing by the committee on Jan 28 and faced few obstacles.

A few Republicans on the committee, including Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the leading Republican on the committee, voted against her confirmation, saying she has been overly critical of Republicans.

Also a former national president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a prominent Black sorority for progressive women, Fudge chaired the Congressional Black Caucus during the 113th Congress after being unanimously elected by her colleagues.

A trained lawyer, she won a special election to Congress in 2008, replacing her friend, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm, and was reelected each election thereafter, the last time in November of 2020.

The largely Black congressional district she represents includes parts of Cleveland, mainly its majority Black east side, and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and a largely Black pocket of neighboring Akron and staggering parts of Summit County.

The lawmaker and women's rights advocate endorsed Kamala Harris in her failed bid for the presidency that Biden ultimately won with Harris on his ticket as the Democratic candidate for vice president, and Biden subsequently tapped her for HUD secretary.

She has bipartisan support for the secretary post, including from both of Ohio's U.S. senators, Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican federal lawmaker out of Cincinnati.

Brown lives in Fudge's congressional district and is a Fudge ally, and was a co-chair of the hearing committee.

Brown said that Fudge's will lead the HUD agency to "a brighter future."

He said that Fudge will address corporate greed and interference that has plague HUD.

"The days of this committee doing the bidding of Wall Street are over," Brown said.

Portman said ahead of the committee hearing that Fudge is more than qualified to lead HUD.

"I don't always agree with Marcia on policy, she certainly does not always agree with me, but I can speak to her integrity, her commitment to justice and the strength of her character," said Portman.

In the past, HUD has had the most Black secretaries in American history with five, including Dr Ben Carson, a Republican who served under former president Donald Trump.

Coming in as president, Biden has nominated more women and more Blacks to his original cabinet than his six predecessors, including former president Barack Obama, the nations' first Black president, whom Biden served under as vice president from 2009-2017.

If confirmed, Fudge's 11th congressional seat will be up for grabs with a special election scheduled by Gov Mike DeWine, a Republican, likely to be set as early as next month.

Former state Sen. Nina Turner, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former state Sen. Shirley Smith, former state Rep. John Barnes Jr and former Cleveland city councilman Jeff Johnson have all launched campaigns in an effort to succeed Fudge.

All five of them are Black.

Last Updated on Friday, 05 February 2021 16:44

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Anthony Sowell dies: Activists to rally in response to death of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell in prison at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 11, 2021 on Imperial Avenue where he murdered 11 Black women and raped three others who escaped his wrath

Anthony Sowell dies: Activists to rally in response to death of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell in prison at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 11, 2021 on Imperial Avenue where he murdered 11 Black women and raped three others who escaped his wrath

Blacks still being denied felony jury trials in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County as common pleas judges, led by Chief Judge Brendan Sheehan, try to coerce plea deals or guilty pleas for County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley- Activists want Sheehan to resign

Lifetime airs documentary on music icon Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina titled "Didn't We Almost Have It All".... Read the Whitney Houston story here....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

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U.S. Senate committee approves Marcia Fudge's nomination for HUD secretary.....The next step is possible confirmation by the full U.S. Senate...By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

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