Stunned By Her Death

I needed to digest this for a day before posting. All of these "wow!" moments over the past couple of months is just leaving me speechless. She had a strong voice in Congress and will be sorely missed.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress and a staunch supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s bid for president, died Wednesday in a suburban Cleveland hospital after suffering an aneurysm and brain hemorrhage Tuesday.

Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic, which owns the Huron Hospital in East Cleveland, said the congresswoman suffered a hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst and left her with limited brain function. She was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.

“Throughout the course of the day and into this evening, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones' medical condition declined,” Sheil said in a statement from the clinic and Tubbs Jones' family.

Officials had updated her condition after conflicting reports that the congresswoman had died earlier in the day. Numerous media outlets -- including The Plain Dealer on its Web site cleveland.com, CNN and the Associated Press -- reported that Tubbs Jones had died several hours before she was pronounced dead.

Tubbs Jones was stricken Tuesday evening about 9 p.m. while driving her Chrysler in Cleveland Heights. A police officer spotted her driving erratically. When the car stopped, the officer found Tubbs Jones unconscious but breathing and she was then rushed to the hospital.