The $110 million streetcar project’s opening is being delayed by more than a full year — from spring 2014 to summer 2015.  Meg Olberding, city spokesperson, attributes the delay to “a number of scheduling issues.”   

Last week, packets of anti-Democrat political literature tucked into plastic sandwich bags were tossed into East Side driveways. It’s apparently a broadside from some bag ladies bent on kicking President Barack Obama out of office, along with anybody who might possibly share his views. But they might be cheating.   

The Ohio Voters First campaign for Issue 2 has shined some light into how Ohio’s district boundaries are redrawn. In a new graph, the campaign revealed that getting a business added to a district is sometimes as simple as asking for a favor.  

An internal police investigation determined that officers acted improperly in a July 10 car chase that ended up with one child seriously injured and four teenagers hurt.   

State Auditor Dave Yost released an audit today looking at Value Learning and Teaching (VLT) Academy’s 2010-2011 school year, and the findings are not pretty. The charter school, which is located in downtown Cincinnati, was found to be potentially overpaying in multiple instances — including potential conflicts of interest.   

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sept. 1 laid out five steps that he said would have America “roaring back” during a campaign stop at Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, his first campaign stop since formally accepting the Republican nomination.  

In a statement on Aug. 22, Secretary of State Jon Husted said of early voting, “The rules are set and are not going to change.” Husted made the comment in an attempt to end discussion over in-person early voting hours. Unfortunately for Husted, a federal judge disagrees.   

When the stimulus package passed in 2009, the federal government sent out funds that worked to prevent homelessness. Local organization Strategies to End Homelessness used some of this funding to help thousands of at-risk people and those who are already homeless. But that funding will soon come to an end because the stimulus package was only meant to be a temporary jolt to deal with the Great Recession.
  

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Aug. 23 that grant money will go to a local organization to help homeless youth. Some of the money, which is taken from the State Victims Assistance Act, will go to Cincinnati-based Lighthouse Youth Services (LYS) to help victims of domestic violence, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, between the ages of 18 and 24.  

Some Democratic lawmakers want answers from Republican Gov. John Kasich. A group of Democratic state representatives has put forth a bill that would require Kasich — and every governor after him — to come before the Ohio House of Representatives 10 times per year for 45-minute question and answer sessions where the governor would have to take at least five questions from each side of the aisle.   

University of Cincinnati President Greg Williams abruptly stepped down Aug. 21. According to reports, Williams walked into a UC Board of Trustees meeting, announced he was resigning effective immediately and left.  

“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine.” So said Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, in an email to The Columbus Dispatch.  

According to the CDC, 51 percent of the U.S. population diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2007 was African-American, making it by far the race or ethnicity most heavily plagued by the disease.   

Spectators at the Western & Southern Open’s finals on Aug. 19 also saw a plane flying overhead pulling a banner protesting the tournament’s corporate sponsor. The banner read: “W&S Stop Bullying Anna Lou Inn stpws.com.”    

Faced with the choice of raising property taxes or funding senior and mental health services at their current levels, the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners voted on Aug. 8 to approve a ballot measure that would effectively cut tens of millions of dollars from those services if passed by voters.