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What keeps Cincinnati shackled to its "20 years behind the times" image? The grassroots political action committee Cincinnatians for Progress claims it's our contentment with being stagnant, being OK with the status quo. The group focuses on three areas of potential for the city: job expansion, economic growth and improved public transportation.  

Eyeing its goal of joining "more progressive" cities with an active bicycling culture, Cincinnati has released an initial blueprint for its Bicycle Master Plan, a network of hundreds of miles of bike routes (from dedicated bike lanes to "sharrows") that could soon have more residents leaving their cars at home and pedaling to work.  

Home to more than 35,000 residents, Westwood is one of Cincinnati’s oldest suburban neighborhoods. Distinguished by its historic charm, the area represents roughly 10 percent of the city’s total population within only six square miles, which officially makes it the largest neighborhood in the city. But is it big enough for everyone — and their concerns?  

When Sister Jeanette Beuhler arrived in Over-the-Rhine 15 years ago from The Sisters of the Precious Blood in Dayton, she recognized the need for a safe place where impoverished women could go for a reprieve from the harsh realities of their everyday lives in the troubled neighborhood. Noting that creative expression can nourish a soul just as food nourishes a body, she began a program at the Sarah Center to teach women jewelry-making skills and to sell the wares at nearby Findlay Market to help supplement their meager incomes.  

The flavor of the Tea Party is likely to be unpalatable for people looking to become politically engaged without wrapping themselves in the American flag and parading around on horseback screaming, "Revolution!" But as of late January, the newly founded Coffee Party serves as an alternative for frustrated Americans to engage their political beliefs within a group of like-minded people without fury or superfluous theatrics.  

Amid their crushing defeat last week in the health care bill debate, GOP pundits and conservative groups had at least one victory to celebrate: ACORN, the liberal community activist group, announced it was shutting its doors. While right-wingers celebrated the group's demise, others saw the announcement as the final throes of a political assassination writ large.  

Nick Miller hopes putting a face on the term "gay" will help change the perceptions of conservative college students who've never been exposed to gay or lesbian people before. Well, at least not knowingly exposed. "They've probably known and talked to gay people before, they just didn’t know it," he said. The Cincinnati native is touring a large swath of the U.S. this winter and spring on a bus as part of Equality Ride 2010, which will stop at 16 private colleges and universities in an effort to change views about homosexuality and promote tolerance.  

Greater Cincinnati's air will soon become a little less smoggy thanks to money from President Obama's economic stimulus plan. The city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will add 22 new alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles to their fleets after being awarded a slice of an $11 million Clean Cities Grant aimed at cleaning up Ohio's air.  

Some students at Northern Kentucky University are upset by turmoil in the school's Office of African American Student Affairs, including the firings of top personnel. Combined with NKU's low rate for retaining black students, they question the institution's commitment to diversity.  

Katty Kay is a worldly Brit who's covered our nation for more than a decade, though a "strange duality" continues to puzzle her: The more highly respected an American politician is abroad (such as President Obama), the more suspect he is at home; and Americans want some kind of health care reform but refuse to learn anything from "socialistic" Europeans who enjoy cheaper, broader health care with equal or better outcomes. She explored these contradictions at the national speakers forum of the Cincinnati Woman's City Club on March 11.  

It's no secret that the rise of Internet advertising has corresponded with a shrinking advertiser base for newspapers. There were 689 cities with at least two daily newspapers a century ago, according to Dr. Sam Schulhofer-Wohl of Princeton University. Now it's more like a dozen. Whether this is a death knell or a wake up call, however, is a matter of opinion.  

Cold, snow and everything else that comes along with a Cincinnati winter have many people longing for spring right about now. If you're a cyclist, nothing says spring like taking a warm cruise around the city on a sunny weekend. If city planners have their way, it will soon be easier and safer to do just that.   

For Michele Hobbs, the situation is tragically simple: Somewhere in Cincinnati is a 4-year-old girl named Lucy, whom she helped raise for two years and loves as her daughter. Because she isn't biologically related to Lucy, the courts have ruled that Hobbs has no legal right to see her. But love isn't so easily thwarted.  

In an event designed to highlight the scope of its influence, the Cincinnati Tea Party hosted a press conference Feb. 24 featuring 101 candidates from precinct captain to Congressional hopefuls lining the stage of the Lakota Freshmen Campus Auditorium in West Chester. "We were very happy with the turnout," says Mike Wilson, Cincinnati Tea Party founder and a candidate for the 28th District Ohio House race, who organized the event. "We're very excited about what the party has been able to do in just a year. We've got a strong voting block."