Staff article by Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Ex-East Cleveland councilman Ernest Smith walked out of common pleas court a free man on Tuesday, after Common Pleas Judge Hollie Gallagher sentenced him to three years probation, answering the pleas by Black community activists for leniency and ignoring Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley's demand for imprisonment.

He was also ordered to pay $6,791 in restitution.

"Thank you to everybody who supported me," a relieved Smith, who is Black, said after sentencing.

Former East Cleveland mayor Brandon King, 57, and Smith were both convicted by a county jury of public corruption charges in office in May, King for steering more than $75,000 in city contracts to friends and family members and having an unlawful interest in a public contract, and Smith for using a city car and gas card for what he says was community and city business.

It is not uncommon for city officials in other cities in the county to use city vehicles and it is sometimes routine, sources said. O'Malley targeted Smith, in part, because East Cleveland, a neighboring Cleveland suburb, is a Black city, and one of the poorest in the nation, his critics said.

Smith, 49,  was found guilty of one count of theft in office, one count of soliciting or receiving improper compensation, one count of misuse of credit cards and two counts of theft. But activists said prison was uncalled for, given the situation, and because White elected officials traditionally do as they please without consequences from prosecutor O'Malley.

Though they were tried together, Gallagher scheduled the sentencing for Smith for early Tuesday morning and for King early Wednesday morning, an attempt, said activists, to minimize any planned protests.

An affidavit of disqualification and bias had been filed by King's attorney against Gallagher that sought her removal as presiding judge over the case but it was denied by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy prior to trial.

On Tuesday at Smith's sentencing the judge was professional, activists who attended the sentencing said.

"Ernie got probation and we are pleased," said community activist Art McKoy of Black of Black Crime Inc., who led an activist protest against O"Malley and racism in the legal system at the  county Justice Center in downtown Cleveland Monday afternoon.

Activists said at Monday's protest that O'Malley is hungry to prosecute activists and Black elected officials like King and Smith while leaving White elected officials alone, including some common pleas judges accused of covering up fixed indictments, falsification, tampering with records, and denying Black and poor defendants their constitutional and statutory right to indigent counsel.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com

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Staff article by Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Black activists, led by Black on Black Crime founder and longtime Black activist Art McKoy (pictured), picketed Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley at the Justice Center on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland on Monday afternoon.

The activists say O'Malley is an unfair and vicious prosecutor who mistreats and maliciously prosecutes Black activists and Black elected officials while leaving Whites alone, and that he is run by judges and the White establishment to the detriment of the Black community.

" If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything," said McKoy of O'Malley at a rally before leading a protest around the steps of the Justice Center.

McKoy highlighted his own situation.

After East Cleveland Councilman Twon Billings punched him in the nose following a dispute between the two at the Home Depot in Cleveland Hts. last year and O'Malley failed to get an indictment after Billings testified before the grand jury, saying McKoy, 81, was the alleged aggressor, McKoy has been upset with him in particular.

Also at issue is O'Malley's demand that Common Pleas Judge Hollie Gallagher sentence former East Cleveland mayor Brandon King, 57, and ex-councilman Ernest Smith to prison for jury convictions of public corruption in office in May. King was convicted of steering more than $75,000 in city contracts to friends and family members, and Smith was convicted of using a city car and gas card offered by King for what he says was community and city business.

Smith, 49, is a former activist, and activists say prison is harsh and uncalled for, given the situation and because White elected officials traditionally do as they please without consequences.

Though they were tried together, Judge Gallagher scheduled the sentencing for Smith for early Tuesday morning and for King early Wednesday morning, an attempt, say activists, to minimize any planned protests.

An affidavit of disqualification and bias filed by King's attorney against Gallagher that sought her removal as presiding judge over the case was denied by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy prior to trial.

Other speakers at Monday's protest include the family of Sheila McFarland, who is ten years into a life sentence without the possibility of parole per a sentence by former common pleas Judge Daniel Gaul, who was suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court for malfeasance only to get his law license back thereafter.

Activists want a review of all serious cases presided over by Gaul, who has a history of harassing Black people from the bench, according to an investigation by the disciplinary counsel arm of the Ohio Supreme Court that recommended his suspension.

McFarland was charged with accessory to murder and other charges following the death of a drug snitch at the Indian Hills senior living community in Euclid, Ohio, a neighbouring lower-middle-class suburb of Cleveland. She says she is innocent and that she refused a plea deal of 15 years in prison.

After a jury found her guilty of the charges, she called Gaul a racist at sentencing, and he unleashed a life without the possibility of parole sentence. It was later upheld by the 8th District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County and the state Supreme Court.

Activists said Monday that O'Malley is hungry to prosecute activists and Black elected officials like King and Smith while leaving White elected officials alone, including some common pleas judges accused of covering up fixed indictments, falsification, tampering with records, and denying Black and poor defendants their constitutional and statutory right to indigent counsel.

This is a continuing story.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Staff article:Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After passing the Senate on Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act) on Thursday, 218-214, with all Democrats voting "no" and all but two Republicans voting "yes." Dubbed a win for the president and Republicans, the reconciliation legislation now heads to the president's desk for his expected signature to become law.

House Republicans broke out with applause after the "yes" votes were read.

Notably, the tax and spending cuts legislation increases the national deficit by some $4 trillion, extends the president's 2017 pro-rich tax cuts, provides for more spending on defense and border security, and makes astronomical cuts to  Medicaid, healthcare initiatives and programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps).

Congressional Democrats are up in arms and fought like hell against the bill, including Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Among other Dems, Brown and Jeffries spoke on the House floor on Thursday before the vote was taken, Brown speaking against cuts to SNAP and Jeffries speaking for 8 hrs., 44 min. in a prolonged effort to win support and delay passage of the bill.

The first Black House minority leader, Jeffries called the bill and its passage by the GOP "a crime scene" that harms Americans.

"House Democrats want no part of this," he said.

Republicans have a three-prong advantage over Democrats and control the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, and the White House under President Trump.

The Reconciliation Bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes a $186 billion federal funding cut to SNAP, the largest cut in the program's history. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some five million Americans will lose SNAP benefits, a disproportionate number of them Black and low-income single mothers.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com

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Staff article

Washington, DC – Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat who represents Ohio's 11th congressional district, and one of three Black women in Congress from Ohio, spoke in opposition to the Republican Reconciliation Bill on the U.S. House of Representatives floor Wednesday, calling attention to the bill's cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (food stamps).

The Senate-passed Reconciliation Bill ( The One, Big Beautiful Bill Act) includes a $186 billion federal funding cut to SNAP, the largest cut in the program's history. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some five million Americans will lose SNAP benefits if the president's "big beautiful bill" becomes law, a disproportionate number of them Black and low-income single mothers. Congressional Democrats oppose the bill in unison, calling it a "big ugly bill" that targets America's most vulnerable across the board and increases the nation's deficit. Following Senate approval, the bill awaits final passage in the House.

Rep. Brown stated the following:

"This policy punishes those who can least afford it, seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, and families already forced to choose between gas and groceries."

The Republican budget bill would require, for the first time, that states, including Ohio, pay for a portion of SNAP benefits and cover an increased share of program administration costs. Under current law, the federal government and states split program administration costs 50/50. The bill would make this a 25/75 split between federal and state governments.

On these new costs for states, Brown stated, "States will be stuck in a corner [and forced to] cut benefits, cut eligibility, or cut public safety, education, housing, and mental health programs just to stay afloat."

A number of states further split the state administration costs between the state and the county, meaning this will also create new funding burdens on Cuyahoga County, which includes the majority Black city of Cleveland.

The Governor of Pennsylvania has said that his state may not be able to administer SNAP at all, given these increased costs. For a full explainer on the bill's SNAP cuts, click here.

Read Congresswoman Brown's Remarks as Delivered (VIDEO) on the House floor below:

Thank you Ranking Member McGovern for yielding.

I rise in strong opposition to this Rule and the underlying bill.

For the first time in history, this bill would force states to pay for part of SNAP benefits. And it would require states to increase their share of administrative costs.

This is an unfunded mandate—plain and simple.

And let's be clear: the costs are staggering.

The consequences? Devastating. And the cruelty? Deeply

disturbing.

This policy punishes those who can least afford it: seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, and families already forced to choose between gas and groceries.

States will be stuck in a corner.

Cut benefits. Cut eligibility. Or cut public safety, education, housing, and mental health programs just to stay afloat.

This isn't just a budgeting decision. It's a values decision.

And for what?

To take from the hungry... and give it to the wealthy.

To slash SNAP benefits—just $6 per day – and hand a quarter-million-dollar tax break to the top 0.1%. 0.1%

That's not policy. That's plunder.

The math doesn't lie.

In North Carolina, its $400 million. More than the entire state budget for child development and early education.

In Georgia – its $500 million. DOUBLE what the state spends on

child welfare.

And in my state of Ohio, its $300 million. Four times the transportation budget.

My colleagues are writing checks that their Governors can't cash.

And when the money runs out? The food runs out.

Children go hungry. Seniors skip meals. Veterans, working mothers, and fathers will be turned down and turned away.

All because of a vote taken here today.

This mandate isn't just unfunded – it's unfathomable.

So, I urge my colleagues: Reject this provision. Reject this rule.

Reject this betrayal.

Don't reward the rich on the backs of hungry Americans.

Thank you, I yield back.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com