If you care about human rights, the mere mention of the name John Yoo probably is enough to get your blood boiling and make your stomach churn.

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Federal officials Thursday unveiled new pending regulations that offer more protection from discrimination for LGBT individuals in regard to housing and mortgage issues.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the proposed regulatory changes that explicitly protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people under certain circumstances.

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Because it can take years after exposure for symptoms to develop, many people who are infected with the virus that causes AIDS don't even realize it. More than one million people in the United States are estimated to be living with HIV, and approximately one in five people with HIV are unaware they're infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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In a move that's been expected for months, the parent company of The Enquirer informed investors Wednesday that all of its websites will implement a paywall model by year's end. Under the switch, online users will be able to access a limited number of articles for free every month, then must subscribe if they want to see additional digital content. Gannett Co. executives said it would probably offer between five and 15 articles for free per month, and compared the change to a system implemented by The New York Times last year. That newspaper, however, offers 20 free articles per month.

Hamilton County will soon have its first female coroner. The local Democratic Party's central committee will meet tonight to vote on the appointment of Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, a radiologist who lives in Indian Hill. She will replace Dr. Anant Bhati, who died last week from injuries sustained in a fall.

In a sign that the economy might be improving, local home sales increased in January. The Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors says sales last month rose almost 11 percent over January last year.

The city manager and his staffers at City Hall seem to be keeping pertinent facts from Cincinnati City Council. First, council members said they weren't aware that a Hamilton restaurant in line to get almost $1 million in grants and loans to open a location at The Banks just paid off a delinquent property tax bill that was almost two years old on their eatery in Butler County. Then, council members learned the city's recently hired human relations director had to resign from her previous position in Detroit over a controversy involving a severance payment. Although Georgetta Kelly said she had nothing to do with a $200,000 payout to a woman who voluntarily left a county job to become CEO of an airport, her signature appears on some of the documents.

In news elsewhere, a Georgia lawmaker who is disturbed by Republicans' increasing attempts to pass new legislation involving abortion and birth control has offered a proposal of her own. State Rep. Yasmin Neal, a Democrat, wants to begin regulating vasectomies. If approved, her bill would ban the practice of male sterilization except in cases where a man faces serious health risks without one. It was crafted as a response to a so-called “fetal pain bill” proposed by Republicans, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

Even though he wants to end the Afghanistan war and impose a more isolationist foreign policy, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has received more donations from members of the military than all of his GOP rivals and President Obama combined during 2011's fourth quarter. Paul raised more than $150,000 from active-duty military personnel.

As banks foreclose on an increasing number of properties nationwide, tenants are discovering many of those lending institutions are neglectful landlords, NPR reports.

The United Nations has a secret list of top Syrian officials who could face investigation for crimes against humanity for their violent crackdown against anti-government protestors, according to a U.N. report. The list includes Syrian President Bashar Assad, said London's The Independent. Sources tell the newspaper as many as 500 children have been killed in the violence.

Local and national leaders working to advance equal rights for LGBT people will gather tonight in Covington to unveil a national award in honor of the late Nancy Minson.

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus is co-sponsoring “Light of One, Power of Many: A Night to Honor Nancy Minson.” The event will be held at The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington, and begins with a reception at 6 p.m.

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A notorious ultra-right Sharonville group is urging its followers to write their Congressional representatives and let them know they oppose the repeal of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

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Today is the winter solstice, the day of the year with the longest amount of darkness. That means it's also Homeless Memorial Day.

Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless has held memorial services for individuals who have died from causes related to their lack of housing on this day.

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An account has been created at a local bank to accept donations to help pay for the funeral expenses of a homeless man who died last weekend.

William "Baldy" Floyd, 45, died late Sunday night after a fire spread through a camp near Mehring Way and Sixth Street downtown. Baldy was featured in a CityBeat cover story about homeless camps in September.

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Human rights activist and author Kerry Kennedy, one of the late Robert F. Kennedy’s daughters, will be in Cincinnati Friday to speak about women who create social change.

Kennedy will appear at an event sponsored by the Woman’s City Club of Greater Cincinnati. The speech will begin at 7:30 p.m.
at the Millennium Hotel, 150 W. Fifth St., in downtown Cincinnati.

Tickets to the event cost $25 for the lecture or $125 for the lecture and a reception with the speaker afterward, and are available online in advance or at the door.

She will present a speech entitled, “The Power of One: Stories of Inspiration 
from Women on the Cutting-Edge of Social Change.”

Kennedy, 52, is president of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Justice and Human Rights in Washington, D.C. Also, she is chairwoman of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council.

Kennedy is author of the best-selling books, Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning, along with Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World.

She is the seventh of Robert F. Kennedy’s 11 children. From 1990-2005, she was married to Andrew Cuomo, the current New York governor and son of Mario Cuomo.

Founded in 1915, Woman’s City Club has worked to foster civic reform and social justice in Cincinnati. Among its many activities, the club helped establish the city’s first race relations committee and held study circles on various issues to encourage greater civic participation.

The wife of an Israeli diplomat in India and her driver were injured Monday when the car they were traveling in was bombed, while another bomb was defused outside an Israeli embassy in Tblisi, Georgia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran, which he called “the greatest exporter of terror in the world.”

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