All The News For Cleveland Escorts.

Port-au-Prince was a stopover on a two-week Caribbean cruise we ran between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and San Francisco.
I published the ship’s daily newspaper.
Though I worked for the cruise company, I had my own double passenger cabin and had to wear a tux to dinner every night.
We ate caviar and filet mignon and lobster tail and sipped fine wines.
So to step onto the sweltering dock in Port-au-Prince was a shock to the senses and sensibilities. To venture into Port-au-Prince was to enter a world opposite of the ship’s pampered luxury.
No U.S. slum could match Port-au-Prince for its hopelessness, etched into the faces of its people and reflected in their glassy stares.
A hot, tangible stench hung over the city.
I recall garbage in the gutters, young prostitutes on many corners and, most notably, a lack of smiles, even on the faces of children.

See the full article from “The Salinas Californian”

Then there’s the papers:  The Miami Herald, right, splashes the Haiti quake on its front pages for a readership that includes a large number of Haitians. The Los Angeles Times reports that California ACORN will hold to its traditional agenda, but is breaking with its embattled parent organization. The New York Times profiles former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn., who is testing the waters for a possible run for the Senate from New York. The Dallas Morning News says the new George W. Bush policy institute will co-produce a weekly TV show called Ideas in Action for public television and some cable stations. The Seattle Times says local Vancouver activists plan to showcase another side of the city during the Winter Games to note chronic homelessness, open drug dealing, prostitution and mental illness only blocks from the Olympic venues.

See the full article from “USA Today”

Ralph Bailey
RALPH BAILEY: Martin Luther King’s courage remains unmatched
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jan 15 2010 01:46 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jan 15 2010 01:46 PM
It is said that prostitutes and old buildings gain respectability after a period of time but it seems living legends become posthumous targets of ridicule and scrutiny and no one’s character has suffered more than that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., arguably the most courageous revolutionary this republic has ever seen.
While some of my radio brethren question King’s achievements, insisting we need no national holiday for the fallen minister, King’s undying spirit, commitment to nonviolence and unwavering drive for equal rights in the face of certain assassination cannot be surpassed.
King catapulted to national prominence in the mid-1950s after becoming president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a group of ministers, church goers and civil rights seekers that cooked up the Rosa Parks-spurred Montgomery Bus Boycott.

See the full article from “Bakersfield Californian”

Associated Press – January 13, 2010 5:05 PM ET
CLEVELAND (AP) – A former superintendent with the Ohio Department of Transportation faces up to eight years in prison for his role in a corruption scandal.
Terrance Kosmata is the 10th person convicted in the case, which began in 2008 with a report by the Ohio inspector general outlining nearly $11 million in questionable or improper payments to contractors.
The report said certain department supervisors and employees accepted lap dances at strip clubs, fishing trips and other favors in exchange for steering contracts.
The 56-year-old Kosmata is a former equipment superintendent. Authorities said he took about $250,000 in bribes.
Kosmata pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft in office, bribery and attempted bribery. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March in Cuyahoga (keye-uh-HOH’-guh) County Common Pleas Court.

See the full article from “WFMJ”

Crime, Real Time News »
Former ODOT district official pleads guilty in ongoing corruption case
January 13, 2010, 3:14PM
Cuyahoga County JailTerrence Kosmata
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Another of the former Ohio Department of Transportation officials indicted after an 18-month corruption investigation pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Terrance Kosmata, 56, of Garfield Heights, the former District 12 equipment superintendent, will be sentenced in late March.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft in office, bribery and attempted bribery and faces up to eight years in prison.
Kosmata, owner of 
T.D. Sportfishing Charters, raked in about $250,000 in bribes from men doing business with ODOT and took his fellow ODOT workers and strippers on fishing trips on Lake Erie.
The others involved in the corruption ring have been sentenced to six months in prison and three years of probation.

See the full article from “Plain Dealer (blog)”

… The Sept. 23 arrest of three men — Richard Barringer III and Lorinzo E. Sampson, both of Cleveland, and Alfred Woodall, of Canton — on half a dozen charges for allegedly stealing credit card numbers. Barringer and Woodall both pleaded guilty to one count each of identity theft and possession of criminal tools and were each sentenced to six months in prison. Sampson’s trial is set for Jan. 26. 
• Keith S. Miller, who was sentenced to 10 years in the Grafton Correctional Institution for a June 25 incident in which Brimfield police performed a routine traffic stop and found  a mobile methamphetamine lab in his 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Traffic on Interstate 76 was backed up for several hours while police cleaned up toxic chemicals. 
• In June, officers arrested Diana K. Davis on a felony charge of heroin possession and a misdemeanor charge of prostitution. Davis, who goes by the aliases “Sexy Sasha,” “Brandi” and “Joy,” allegedly set up meetings with clients through the Internet in a Brimfield motel. Her sentencing on those charges is set for Feb. 1 in Portage County Common Pleas Court Judge John Enlow’s courtroom. She pleaded guilty Nov. 20 guilty plea.

See the full article from “Ravenna Record Courier”

Central Florida’s HIDTA task force has been busy busting Cuban pot rings, which have come to dominate the indoor marijuana trade in Florida. They and have become a problem in Poinciana, a community of 70,000 that straddles the Osceola-Polk border. In 1998, the Director of The Office of National Drug Control Policy began to identify areas with serious drug-trafficking problems, and established HIDA task forces to help local agencies coordinate their efforts. Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are designated the Central Florida HIDTA.
Remember Ezell “E-Z” Harris, the former Orlando City Council candidate? The 14-agency Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation was responsible for his November arrests on accusations he dealt in prescription narcotics. The task force, which conducts investigations on organized vice and narcotics operations in Orange and Osceola counties, has taken flack for investigating too many strip joints, and not enough drug kingpins. Think the 2007 Orlando Weekly bust, in which three of that publication’s employees were arrested over ads for escort services. (Charges were dropped.) They’ve responded that most of their drug busts take place under the radar.

See the full article from “Orlando Sentinel”

Most punks cultivate rebellious personas. Krane was the Jack Benny of the scene. The shtick endeared him to many, because he did it with humorous bravado – a stark contrast to punk’s angry pose.
“I’d get a 99-cent breakfast at a joint, give them a buck and ask for my penny back,” he says. “Somehow it seemed better than leaving a one-cent tip.”
Photo by Jim LanzaYears before he was soaking in the sun and extravagance of Dubai, Jim Krane was a punk rocker, who hung out in low-rent dives such as the now-closed Lakefront, located on West 9th Street in the Warehouse District.
He even named one of his bands Jippo, “because it was slang for something cheap, of low value,” he said. “We used to play low-rent strip bars, because it was, well, fun and funny.”

See the full article from “Plain Dealer”

Elyria man sentenced for September home invasion
ELYRIA — An Elyria man was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday for two counts of having weapons under disability and single counts of burglary and theft.
Melvin Blue, 36, was also sentenced and found guilty by Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Rothgery of misdemeanor charges of falsification and obstructing official business. The charges stem from a September home invasion where Blue, and other accomplices, burglarized an Elyria home while the 78-year-old resident was with a prostitute.
Blue was arrested the same night of the burglary after Elyria police chased him on foot. Police found several items looted from the home, including jewelry, watches, coins and 10 guns.

See the full article from “The Morning Journal”

He issued a statement of apology after a photo was released showing him pointing his fingers, as if they were guns, to teammates who looked on while laughing.
“I feel very badly that my actions have caused the NBA to suspend me, but I understand why the league took this action,” Arenas said. “I put the NBA in a negative light and let down my teammates and our fans. While I never intended any harm or disrespect to the NBA, or anyone else, my gun possession at the Verizon Center and my attempts at humor showed terrible judgment. I take full responsibility for my conduct.”
The NBA has had issues with guns and its players in the past, including Sebastian Telfair, suspended three games after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in 2008.
Stephen Jackson was hit with a seven game ban in 2007 after taking shots outside an Indiana strip club in 2007.

See the full article from “AHN”