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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

Cleveland, Ohio-The North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, which is led by executive secretary Harriet Applegate, will rally today, Wednesday Jan 30, from 4 pm to 5 pm on Public Square in Cleveland to fight against proposed cuts to federal programs  to social security, medicare and medicaid and against tax loopholes for the top 2 percent of Americans.

"This action is part of a nation-wide day of action to focus attention on the fact that We the People need these critical programs that are not ‘entitlements’ –as the media likes to describe them- but actually ‘earned benefits," said Applegate. "This is an ongoing campaign. The next activity is a call-in to senators and congress-members on Feb. 12th. Look out for details in the coming days."

Some labor leaders also say that they support comments made public by the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper last week that U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (pictured)has called congressional Republicans pushing  to slash federal aid to poor and disabled Americans and  to food stamp programs to put poor women and children out on the street evil and crazy.

They say that cuts to food stamps, social security, medicaid and medicare all target disenfranchised groups such as the elderly on fixed income, poor people, women, minorities, children, unionized employees nationwide, and working and middle class people.

"It took a lot of guts for Congresswoman Fudge to say that, and its true," said Debbie Kline, executive director of Cleveland Jobs with Justice, an organization of some 62 labor union and faith based groups of greater Cleveland with the powerful Applegate as one of its board members.

Larry Bresler, a Cleveland community activist who leads Organize Ohio and the Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, said that Fudge is on the money in taking on Republicans that want to starve poor people while cutting taxes for the rich on the backs of the middle class and the poor.

Fudge said that she stands behind her statements made as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during a recent political  forum  with former Republican presidential candidate Newt present, among others, but her spokesman said the media took them out of context.

"It was never her intention to say that all Republicans are evil but the congresswoman stands behind her larger point that there are some members of Congress whose oppositions on cutting programs like food stamps create great suffering and harm to millions of vulnerable Americans," said Belinda Prinz, communications director for Fudge, whose majority Black 11th congressional district includes the majority Black city of Cleveland and a pocket of Akron, a city some 35 miles south of Cleveland that is roughly 29 percent Black.

Asked if President Obama is going to take a stance against cutting food stamps and other subsidies to the poor as aggressive as Fudge and the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization of Black members of Congress, Prinz said that she cannot speak for Obama, the first Black president of the United States of America.

"I speak on behalf of Congresswoman Fudge," said Prinz. "I cannot speak for the president."

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(www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Community activists will protest today, Jan 28, at 6 pm behind Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland at Lee Road and Terrace Ave. over published comments  to the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper last week by Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jerry Follmer.

A veteran cop, Follmer told the Plain  Dealer that the recent public announcement that the Cuyahoga County examiner allegedly found drugs in the system of shooting victims Malissa Williams and Timothy Ray Russell justifies the deadly shooting, though the official investigation by the City of East Cleveland and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and an internal investigation by Cleveland officials are underway.

Family members of Williams said that they will attend also.

Williams, 30, and Russell, 43, both Black, were gunned down by a group of White Cleveland police officers on Nov 29, 2012.

Russell was driving the car that police say backfired in front of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in Cleveland, causing some 30 police cars to chase him and Williams, a passenger, for more than 25 minutes until surrounding the car at Wymore and Terrace Avenues in East Cleveland and shooting 137 bullets at it, gangsta-style.

Neither was armed and no gun or gun residue was found at the scene of the shooting.

The celebrated shooting deaths have caused racial unrest in the Black community and calls by the Cleveland NAACP and Black leaders such as U.S.  Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, for an independent investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Follmer, who is White, has called the shooting a good shooting and his recent comments that Blacks can be gunned down and denied the opportunity to surrender to police if they allegedly have drugs in their system have outraged community activists, who say that greater Cleveland Black clergy need to stop singing and preaching so much and stand up on the controversial issue, and so do Cleveland and East Cleveland area Black elected officials.

"I love preaching and I love singing and city officials have given us much singing and much preaching," said Community Activist Art McKoy, founder of Black on Black Crime Inc. "They are trying to preach us and sing us to sleep concerning the 137 shots that killed Malissa Williams and Timothy Ray Russell and we need to stop preaching and come out swinging, and that is what we are going to do."

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who was endorsed by the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association for his election to the seat last year and who took campaign money from the organization, will decide if a recommendation for felony murder charges against police via a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indictment will be made.

A former common pleas judge and assistant county prosecutor, McGinty is  pro- police, and his record as a public servant reveals it.

McKoy can be reached at 216-253-4070.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473.

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

CLEVELAND, Ohio - James W. Oliver Jr., via a unanimous vote, was recently re-elected to his second consecutive term as president of the Enrolled Agents of Greater Cleveland, a networking organization of Cleveland area enrolled agents.

He is the first Black to hold the position.

An enrolled agent is a person who is a federally authorized tax practitioner in the field of taxation and is empowered by the U.S. Department of Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the IRS for audits, collections and appeals.

Oliver is the principal owner and founder of J. C. and Associates Tax & Financial., a full service firm that provides everything from accounting to bookkeeping tax preparation and representation of clients in front of IRS auditors .

He was born and raised in the Greater Cleveland area and graduated from Cathedral Latin High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Baldwin Wallace College and has over 20 years experience in the accounting and tax industry.

“If you are tired of working like a dog and getting paid like a puppy then let our firm  help you make your dollars work smarter for you,” said Oliver, who is also a member and treasurer of the Greater Cleveland Cares Mentoring Movement, the National African American Speakers Association, the Shaker Heights Chamber of Commerce and  Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Oliver is also a board member of the Consortium of African American Organizations (CAAO).

Oliver  can be reached at his Shaker Heights office at  216-491-9350 or via email at  jcandassoc@earthlink.net for a free tax analysis of your recent tax returns and/or for  a one hour free financial or real estate consultation.

Miami Florida-Michael Drysch, a fifty-year-old computer technician from McHenry, Il. tossed a hook shot from half court to win $75,000 and a bear hug from NBA mega star LeBron James.

An Akron, Oh. native, James left the Cleveland Cavaliers amid controversy in 2010 to join the Miami Heat, whom he led to an NBA championship two years later.

The fans shooting contest was held in between quarters at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, FL on Friday of the Heat's 110-88 win over the Detroit Pistons.

CLEVELAND,Ohio-More than 14,000 Ohioans in Cuyahoga County who were illegally foreclosed on may be eligible for relief after this month’s deal requiring banks to pay $8.5 billion to 3.8 million homeowners nationwide who were hurt by the mortgage crisis, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown for Ohio has announced.

Cuyahoga County is the largest of 88 counties statewide and includes the majority Black city of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs.

The aforementioned settlement differs from a 1.5 billion settlement that also impacts Cuyahoga County homeowners undermined by illegal foreclosure activities and was negotiated by the attorneys general for 49 states, including Ohio. It involves the affiliated states as plaintiffs and the five top banks that issue mortgages as the defendants. Those banks are Bank of America and Ally/GMAC, Citi, Wells Fargo and J.P. Chase Morgan bank.

The Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board brokered the  $8.5 billion deal that includes 10 big banks including Bank of America and U.S. Bank, and J.P, Morgan Chase, Aurora, Wells Fargo and PNC banks.

A Democrat, Brown visited Cleveland last week to discuss the settlement and additional steps to address problems in the mortgage servicing industry. He was joined at Community Housing Solutions by Carla Martin, a Cuyahoga County homeowner whose home was in unlawful foreclosure.

The husband of popular Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Sen. Brown also sent a letter to the federal banking regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice urging them to prevent financial companies from taking tax deductions as part of their legal settlements.

Under current law, companies are able to take advantage of tax rules to deduct from their federal taxes the full value of any settlement payouts.

“While the settlement reached can in no way make up for reckless actions taken by mortgage servicers that harmed families and our economic recovery, it is one step forward,” Brown said. “But it’s simply unacceptable that these Wall Street banks can write off these mortgage settlements, shifting the cost to taxpayers. Banks that take a family’s home because of errors or fraud should not get a tax deduction and a slap on the wrist. Breaking the law should not be a business expense.”

Foreclosures—which drag down housing prices and hurt borrowers, even ones who are current on their mortgages—have been responsible for the slow housing market recovery.

Two weeks ago, federal regulators and the 10 lenders at issue reached an agreement to address the large number of unlawful foreclosures that occurred when banks used illegal practices—such as “robo-signing”—to initiate foreclosure proceedings or failed to offer mortgage modifications or other measures that could keep Americans in their homes.

Nearly 96,000 Ohioans, including more than 14,000 people in Cuyahoga County, are eligible for payments and loan modifications averaging $2,125 per homeowner under the deal.