CLEVELAND, Ohio - Former President Barack Obama (pictured), the nation's first Black president and a former U.S. senator,  urged  Ohioans on social media late Thursday afternoon to vote for Issue 1, the proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment on the Nov 7 ballot that would legalize abortion in Ohio, a pivotal state for presidential elections that Obama won in 2008 and again for reelection in 2012

Early voting is currently underway.

“Ohio, there’s an important election happening right now,” the former Democratic president  said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “If you want to protect abortion rights by making them part of your state Constitution, vote yes on Issue 1.”

Women's March Cleveland, a greater Cleveland grassroots activist group for women founded in 2017, was elated, saying Obama, a former constitutional lawyer, has been a longtime advocate for women's rights and Civil Rights.

" We thank former president Barack Obama for supporting issue 1 in Ohio as we prepare for victory on Nov 7 when Ohioans vote on whether to enshrine the legal right to abortion into the Ohio constitution,"said longtime Cleveland activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, head organizer for Women's March Cleveland and a long time local Black journalist who interviewed Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president in Cleveland in 2008, a cover story for the Call and Post, Ohio's most prominent Black print newspaper.

Women's March Cleveland is a grassroots women's rights group comprised primarily of greater Cleveland activist women and first established in 2017 when thousands of women in Cleveland and millions as a whole in sister cities nationwide marched in the streets in their respective cities following then president Donald Trump's inauguration, the largest single day march in American history.

The group has over 4,800 members, organizers said. The issues the group fights for or against, practically all of them public policy matters impacting women, also include poverty, excessive force, educational equity for poor and Black children, and the nation's intrinsically racist and sexist legal system.

But reproductive rights have also become a central premise of the organization, along with rape, murder and other heinous violence against women in the largely Black major American city of Cleveland, a disproportionate number of the victims Black, and poor.

If Ohio voters approve issue 1 at the ballot box early next month as polls predict, it would negate a six week abortion ban dubbed "The Heartbeat Bill," a state law that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, on June 24, 2022, overturned Roe v Wade and relegated the authority to restrict or outright outlaw abortion aside from applicable federal law to the respective state legislatures nationwide. And those state legislatures are predominantly Republican, including in Ohio.

The  Heartbeat Bill, however, is temporarily on hold per the ruling of a Hamilton County judge and as lawsuits over the controversial measure make their way through the courts.

• Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black 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 interviewCLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Washington, DC –Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) and Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, (NC-12) have introduced proposed legislation that, if passed by congress, would improve and expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) programs and resources for urban farmers.

The Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act (H.R. 5915), if passed by Congress, expands access to federal support for urban farmers, improves service delivery for urban farmers, and increases funding for the USDA's Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production.

Rep. Brown is the ranking member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management and Credit and Congresswoman Adams is a senior member of the Committee on Agriculture.

"Cleveland has been a trailblazing city for urban farming. Supporting urban agriculture is good for our cities, including those I represent, increasing access to nutrition and farming resources. Urban agriculture is key to making food production more resilient, innovative, and diverse, said Rep. Brown in a statement to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com.

"I am proud to introduce this legislation with Congresswoman Adams to build on the progress USDA has made, improve key programs, and expand grant opportunities for urban farmers," the congresswoman said. "As Congress continues work on the Farm Bill, it is imperative that urban agriculture is strengthened."

Congresswoman Alma S. Adams added that "this bill builds on the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production's success based on lessons learned since its inception. and she went on to say that "it also bolsters data collection, so we may have a better understanding of how this piece of the farm sector fits into the puzzle of ending the crisis of hunger. I am proud to introduce this bill with Congresswoman Brown."

Others who support urban farmers in America were just as elated.

"The Supporting Urban and Innovating Farming Act would put grant dollars into the hands of metropolitan farmers," said Erin Bradley, Farm and Feeding Programs coordinator at Freshlist, a food hub based in Charlotte, NC, and a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council. "The demand for agricultural production in urban areas has skyrocketed in response to the pandemic, but urban farmers often face an uphill battle with municipalities who are not set up to accommodate agriculture. "

• Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black 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 interviewCLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes (D-OH) (pictured) an Akron Democrat and one of three Black women in Congress from Ohio, has introduced the Lower Your Taxes Act. It would lower costs for Ohio workers and other workers and families and grow the middle class by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and would  pay for those expansions by making large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. Full bill text can be found here.

"When I ran for Congress, I promised to fight for lower costs and to expand opportunity. The Lower Your Taxes Act does exactly that," said Congresswoman Sykes, a former minority leader of the Ohio house of Representatives and the uoungest of Ohio's five-member Democratic congressional delegation. "By expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, we're investing in working people and putting more of your hard-earned money back into your pocket at a time when families need it the most."

The Lower Your Taxes Act would improve the EITC and the CTC by:

• Expanding the EITC by doubling the credit percentage for families with children and increasing the credit five-fold for those without children;
• Removing the EITC age cap and allowing individuals to begin taking the credit at 18 years of age instead of 25 years of age and eliminating the age cap of 65 years of age;
• Linking the earned income amount and the phaseout amount to inflation to ensure recipients receive the most generous benefit possible;
• Increasing the EITC phaseout percentage, the earned income amount, and the phaseout amount, all of which increase the amount of money put back in the pockets of qualifying families;
• Eliminating any marriage penalties for married couples filing jointly versus marries couples filing individually;
• Requiring that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service provide notification to filers who do not take the EITC to make them aware that they could receive a more substantial tax refund had they taken that credit; and
• Reinstating the American Rescue Plan Act Child Tax Credit expansion where payments to families with a child under six would rise to $350/month and payments for a child over six would rise to $300/month.

The Lower Your Taxes Act would also ensure wealthy corporations pay their fair share in taxes by:

• Cracking down on corporate greed by modifying the corporate alternative minimum tax to create a 25% tax bracket for corporate profits over the amount of $5 billion;
• Returning the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, eliminating the Trump Tax Plan that prioritized tax breaks for large corporations at the expense of working people;
• Increasing the excise tax rate for corporate stock buybacks to 4% from 1%; and
• Treating the capital gains of individuals with over $1 million in personal income as taxable income, as opposed to capital gains.

Full bill text can be found here.

• Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black 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.

• By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chieF
• WASHINGTON, D.C- Former president Donald Trump's endorsement of Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan as the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives may not be the kiss of death after all, as Jordan has emerged as a viable contender after Rep Steve Scalise, also a Republican, withdrew his bid for the speaker's job this week.
• The House ousted then speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month, led by hard-line Republicans who said he was getting too cozy with Democrats and could not be trusted.   A Champaign, Ohio Republican and outspoken conservative, Jordan then decided he wanted to be speaker,
• "We are at a critical crossroad in our nation's history," Jordan said in a statement announcing his candidacy for the congressional leadership role as Congress remains without a speaker of the House and  at a political stalemate on public policy issues such as additional funding for Ukraine and some domestic and other policy matters.
• Trump's endorsement of Jordan came right after the aforementioned announcement, Trump a candidate for the 2024 presidential election along with a crowded field of Republican nomination wannabees, and of course President Biden, his strongest competitor, if he wins the Republican primary.
• In spite of Jordan's enthusiasm, Rep. Scalise soon gathered ground support among Congressional Republicans, and that support began to wane this week. By a vote of 113-99, Scalise Jordan. He was, however, short of the votes needed to win a majority of the full House, which is  217 if all current members are present and voting.
• This opened the door for Jordan to seek support and he was nominated Friday by Republicans for the post with support from Scalise, and a full House vote expected next week.
• This is a continuing story.

• Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black 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.