Pictured are are Cuyahoga county court of Common Pleas Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams and her son Omnisun Azali, who was convicted in December of 2022 of murdering his wife

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By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief. Coleman is a Black political and investigative reporter out of Cleveland, Ohio who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post newspaper.

Comprehensive/Investigative article

CLEVELAND, Ohio - A Black Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge whose son was convicted of murdering his wife in December of 2022 in a case that has drawn national attention is now fighting the county department of children and family services and the two children's aunt from Africa for custody of her grandchildren via a trial that got underway this week in downtown Cleveland, Ohio at the county juvenile court. Like the murder trial, a visiting judge is presiding in the case to avoid a conflict of interest because the man's mother, Cassandra-Collier Williams, is a common pleas judge.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.-After much anticipation around his decision whether to seek a second term in office, Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, who captured the White House by defeating former Republican president Donald Trump in 2020 in a heated election, officially announced on Tuesday that both he and Vice President Kamala Harris will run for reelection in 2024, a possible rematch of 2020 for the president since Trump is already the staunch front-runner for the Republican nomination.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.-After much anticipation around his decision whether to seek a second term in office, Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, who captured the White House by defeating former Republican president Donald Trump in 2020 in a heated election, officially announced on Tuesday that both he and Vice President Kamala Harris will run for reelection in 2024, a possible rematch of 2020 for the president since Trump is already the staunch front-runner for the Republican nomination.

The president joins former congressman Robert F. Kennedy Jr as key Democrats who have announced a presidential run next year and Trump joins Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who has yet to officially announce that he is running, as the two top Republicans in the news slated to fight out for the job that pays roughly $400,000 annually.

"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer," Biden said in a three-minute video announcing his presidential run. He also said that he is running for a second term to finish the job."

The president's video highlights the Jan 6 insurrection where Trump supporters, angry over the results of the election, rioted at the Capitol building,  leaving three people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and several others injured and says that if reelected he will continue to fight for the liberties and freedoms of all Americans.

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” the president said

And while the president's age plagues him as it did in 2020, Biden, 80, must now run on his record as his approval ratings are mediocre at best, approval ratings that can and will likely change during the course of the election The bright side is that he in an incumbent, though so was Trump when he lost reelection. Also, unemployment in the country is down at 3.6 percent, though inflation continues to be a problem for the Biden administration.

Whether voters will flock to the polls like they did in 2020 remains to be seen. According to voting and registration data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2020 presidential election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century with 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voting in the election,

President Biden, like Trump, is expected to fight like hell for reelection, and with the same tenacity and vigor that catapulted him to the White House in 2020. After winning over incumbent former president Trump in the key battleground states that were holding up overall election results, namely Nevada, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, Biden, 77, won the White House in 2020 with 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232 to become the country's 46th president. He also won the popular vote, 81 million to Trump's 74 million votes,  and made history in garnering the most number of popular votes of any American president.

"I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify. Who doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States," Biden said after winning election in 2020. "I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, to make America respected around the world again, and to unite us here at home."

Finally winning after two previous tries for president, he also spoke specifically to Trump supporters during his 2020 victory speech..

"For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I've lost a couple of times myself, but now let's give each other a chance," he said. "It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, and listen to each other again. And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans."

COVID-19 was the main factor in Trump's electoral college loss, pundits said, hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from the virus at the time of the 2020 election from the disease that has taken the lives of Black people at a rate more than three times that of their White counterparts.

A former long-term U.S. senator who served under former president Barack Obama as vice president for two terms, Biden has long been a favorite son in Democratic political circles. Winning the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 was all but ensured for Biden when his closest opponent dropped out of the race, U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont. A socialist  Democrat, Sanders was making his second bid for president after losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton going on to lose the general election to Trump, a real estate mogul and former television personality.

During his 2020 bid for president, his second bid for the White House, Sanders, as was Biden, was effective in narrowing the more than 28 Democratic candidates down to the two of them.
He nearly won Iowa, coming in second place to Pete Buttigieg, who is now U.S. transportation secretary under Biden. And he went on to win New Hampshire and Nevada. But Biden, powered by the Black vote and an endorsement from Black U.S. Rep James Clyburn, subsequently won South Carolina, and Super Tuesday, and never looked back. Thereafter, the polls continued to dampen President Trump's campaign for reelection and Biden went on to win the presidential race with Vice President Harris, a former California attorney general and U.S. senator and the first Black to run on a major party presidential ticket in America, by his side.

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.

Pictured are Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes of Akron,  Akron police shooting victim Jayland Walker, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland

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Staff article

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat and one of three Black women in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, has officially requested a Department of Justice investigation into the patterns and practices of the Akron Police Department. The request from the federal lawmaker comes hardly a week after a Summit County grand jury refused to indict eight Akron cops who gunned down 25-year old Jayland Walker shooting 94 bullets as he ran away from police on foot.

“I write today on behalf of the people of Ohio’s 13th congressional district urging the United States Department of Justice to investigate the death of Mr. Jayland Walker, a young Black man killed by eight officers employed by the Akron Police Department on June 27, 2022," wrote Rep. Sykes in a letter on Monday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The letter goes on to say that "I request that the Department of Justice (DOJ) use its authority pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12601 (formerly codified at 42 U.S.C. § 14141) to initiate an investigation into the patterns and practices of the Akron Police Department (APD) in order to enhance public safety and the community’s trust in our sworn officers.”

A trained attorney herself and former minority leader of the Ohio House of Representatives who won a seat in Congress via the midterm elections, Sykes, 37, is the youngest of Ohio's five-member Democratic Congressional Delegation, which also includes U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty of Columbus, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, and Shontel Brown of Warrensville Hts., and U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland But she is no less assertive and said also in her letter to Garland that he needs to step in to make sure that what happened to Jayland Walker does not happen to others.

"I am confident you share our ultimate objective of ensuring that the citizens of our nation have confidence in their law enforcement agencies and that you will facilitate solutions-based tools and practices necessary to keep law enforcement safe and accountable and protect our communities so that we never have to be in this situation again," the congresswoman's letter reads.

Sykes told the attorney general in her letter that the office of the DOJ  has investigated numerous police departments across the country and that "the gravity of recent events regarding Jayland Walker has shown it is past time for an independent third party to facilitate a discussion to help mediate disputes and place the community on a path to reconciliation and healing.”

A largely White, majority female county grand jury issued what is called a no bill last Monday after determining that the shooting death was justified and that an indictment on criminal charges was not warranted.The tragic killing by police of the young Black man from Akron who had no criminal record has drawn national attention to the city of roughly 200,000 residents that is some 30 miles southeast of Cleveland and the hometown of NBA megastar and Los Angeles Laker LeBron James.

The police shooting incident in question occurred following a car and foot chase and traffic stop in June of 2022. No gun was found on Walker's person but police say they later found a gun in his car, and that he allegedly shot at them before jumping out of the car and taking off on foot.

Rep Sykes gave an emotional presentation at a press conference held last week by the Walker family and their attorneys, and community leaders and activists. She called for calm and branded the grand jury decision unjust and routine for Black America. And she questioned how Walker could be gunned down execution style while running away from the police and without any weapon and not one of the involved cops is criminally prosecuted.

"We've seen this time and time again and now it's in our community of Akron," the congresswoman said at last week's televised press conference.

Though controversial, last week's grand jury decision has not caused the racial unrest that followed Walker's shooting death last summer. Akron Public Schools, however, were closed the day after the county grand jury chose not to indict police and so were classes at University of Akron. Also, six people were arrested in a protest after the grand jury decision, the first of several protests held in Akron by activists, who also convinced a judge to issue a temporary order precluding lethal force after they sued for being tear gassed and pepper sprayed for picketing.

Here's what police and city officials say led up to the police shooting death of Jayland Walker, much of it at odds with what attorneys for the Walker family say allegedly happened

According to the Akron Police Department, at about 12:30 a.m. on June 27, police in Akron attempted to stop Walker for an unspecified traffic violation. Walker did not stop and a chase ensued. The pursuing officers say gunfire came from the vehicle less than a minute into the chase. After several minutes, Walker exited the highway and the chase continued along city streets.

Eventually, Walker's car slowed down, and while the car was still moving, Walker exited from the passenger's side, wearing a ski mask, and ran towards a nearby parking lot. Officers chased Walker and attempted to stop him with a stun gun but were not successful. After about ten seconds of chasing Walker, eight police officers opened fire for six or seven seconds, shooting approximately 94 rounds. Police said that it appeared Walker was turning towards them, and they believed he was armed and "moving into a firing position, a claim the Walker family attorneys dispute.

Following the shooting, Walker was put in handcuffs by police and was found with his hands cuffed behind his back when EMTs arrived on the scene. According to police, officers attempted to administer first aid to Walker after he was shot Walker was pronounced dead at the scene. Police claim that a wedding band was found in Walker's car and that Walker may have been acting erratically because he had just lost his fiance in an unrelated car accident Community activists and the Walker family attorneys dispute such assertions and contend that they are nothing but a cover up for a police shooting gone wrong, and that the entire scenario is indicative of a lack of police training and excessive force.

The medical examiner observed 60 wounds on Walker's body, with some uncertainty based on entrance and exit wounds.No firearm was found on Walker's body.The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Walker's death a homicide.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and blog 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.