The Ohio Green Party will hold its state political convention in Columbus this weekend, where it will make decisions on several important issues.

Among the business that will be conducted at the convention is changing the organization's official status from a political action committee (PAC) to that of a minor political party.

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With new computer software programs available to create animated videos, this election cycle has seen several entertaining segments hit the Internet. Perhaps the best known video is one that shows an animated person trying to use reason with a co-worker who is a Tea Partier.

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After a seemingly interminable campaign season filled with bizarre antics and toxic TV commercials, Election 2010 is finally over. Some people are recovering from partying on Tuesday night, while others might be beginning therapy to deal with what lies ahead for our county, state and nation.

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Final results from a disputed 2010 judicial race will be announced later today. Workers at the Hamilton County Board of Elections are expected to finish the tallying of provisional ballots sometime this afternoon. A total of 286 ballots are being counted in a Juvenile Court judge race, in compliance with a recent order from a federal judge. Democrat Tracie Hunter seemingly lost to Republican John Williams by just 23 votes out of nearly 230,000 ballots cast by county voters, but 286 ballots weren't counted because they were cast by people who showed up to vote at the correct polling place but were misdirected by poll workers and voted at the wrong precinct table. Hunter then filed a lawsuit, which she won.

After completing their prison terms, many ex-convicts have difficulty finding jobs due to their criminal records. As a result, some return to a life of crime to make money. The HELP program, which is operated by St. Francis De Sales Church in Walnut Hills, assists the ex-felons — or “returning citizens,” as they like to be known — to find employment. Now the church is lobbying state lawmakers to help them get some professional licenses restored.

Profits fell for one of Greater Cincinnati's largest companies in the January-March quarter, but the firm still beat Wall Street’s expectations. Procter & Gamble today reported profits of $2.5 billion for the quarter, down 15 percent from the same period last year. That translates to earnings per share of 94 cents, beating analysts' forecast of 93 cents. Sales were $20.2 billion, up 2 percent from a year ago.

Speaking of P&G, a group alleges that one of the firm's most popular products might pose a cancer risk for users. Tests run by an environmental group, Women's Voices for the Earth, found small amounts of a cancer-causing chemical called dioxane in Tide Free and Gentle and Tide Original Scent. P&G representatives, however, say the amounts of dioxane in the detergent aren't harmful.

An investigation by WXIX-TV (Channel 19) into the safety of semi-tractor trailer trucks on Cincinnati area roads has revealed hundreds of them aren't being maintained properly and one company in particular is under scrutiny by state and federal investigators. T&T Enterprises, a U.S. mail hauler based in West Chester, has been cited multiple times for not maintaining its fleet up to federal safety standards and not monitoring whether its drivers have had enough rest on long-haul trips throughout the Midwest and up the East Coast. The company didn't respond to the report.

In news elsewhere, the U.S. government said Thursday that it will move about 9,000 Marines off Okinawa in Japan to other bases in the Western Pacific, in an effort to remove a persistent irritant in the relationship between the two allies. The Futenma air base on Okinawa has been viewed as essential to deterring Chinese military aggression in the region, but the noisy air base’s location in a crowded urban area has long angered Okinawa residents and some viewed the Marines as rowdy and potentially violent.

The United States' economic growth slowed to 2.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, down from the prior quarter’s growth rate of 3 percent, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve. The economy has been growing slowly since the second half of 2009, and the recovery quickened throughout all of 2011. Early this year, though, economists forecast a weaker showing for the first quarter, mostly due to a decline in aircraft orders.

An Afghan soldier shot and killed an American mentor and his translator at a U.S. base, Afghan officials said today. The soldier opened fire at an American military base on Wednesday in the volatile Kandahar province. At least 18 foreign soldiers have died this year in 11 incidents of so-called “green on blue” shootings.

A federal judge has refused to order the Obama administration to release photographs and video of the U.S. military operation that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan almost a year ago. The government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, had requested the Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) release any pictures or video footage of the May 1, 2011, operation. The CIA admitted it had 52 such records, but U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg said he wouldn't order their release. "A picture may be worth a thousand words," wrote Boasberg. "Yet, in this case, verbal descriptions of the death and burial of Osama bin Laden will have to suffice, for this court will not order the release of anything more."

A suicide bomber has killed at least five people in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a state TV news service reported today. It's the latest in a wave of explosions in Syrian cities in recent months, despite a diplomatic push to end the year-old uprising against the Syrian government. Thousands of people protested elsewhere to denounce persistent violence by President Bashar Assad's regime.

Amid increasing right-wing bellowing about illegal immigrants, Ohio's top elections official is defending the practice of providing bilingual ballots.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has released a video, “Bilingual Ballots: A Human Perspective,” that interviews people of Puerto Rican descent in Cuyahoga County.

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In a refreshing sign of sanity at City Hall, Cincinnati officials might change the way they go about drafting the municipal budget. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who heads council's Finance and Budget Committee, is proposing the group adopt a new priorities-based process that involves more community input. Six council members support the idea, which means it probably will be adopted.

As first reported by The Daily Bellwether blog and later picked up by The Enquirer, a new tenant at The Banks shopping and residential district will get almost $1 million in grant and loan assistance from the city. Mahogany’s Bar and Grill, a soul food restaurant scheduled to open in spring, will get a $684,000 grant and $300,000 loan, if City Council approves the deal Thursday. The grant would cover design and construction costs, while the loan would be used to pay for furniture and equipment.

Legendary Soul and Funk singer Patti LaBelle is visiting two local Kroger grocery stores to celebrate Black History Month. The diva will visit the Queen City Centre store at 4777 Kenard Ave. from 1:30-2:30 p.m. today, where she will be joined by a choir from the School of Creative and Performing Arts, along with students from Rockdale Academy in Avondale. She will visit the Norwood store at 4500 Montgomery Road from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursday, where she will perform with the St. Bernard High School Choir and students from Evanston Academy. As Ms. LaBelle might say, “Gitchi gitchi yaya here, mocha chocolata, yaya here.”

As expected, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, has broken a 2-2 tie vote by siding with the GOP members of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Husted wants to appeal the decision of a federal judge who ordered elections officials to count additional ballots in a disputed 2010 juvenile court judge election.

In news elsewhere, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is defending comments he made in 2008 that he's a Satanist. No, not really, but he did say that The Evil One exists and has targeted the United States for destruction through the policies of President Obama. (Yes, that part is real.) Maybe Santorum would prefer being elected Pope instead of president. Someone buy the man an airline ticket to Rome, please.

The newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to overhaul rules on overdraft fees charged by banks. The agency plans to limit the costly charges. Last year, banks made between $15 billion and $22 billion from overdraft fees, which is excessive, agency officials said.

President Obama is about to ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent, sources told The New York Times.

At least four people were killed and 20 injured in Afghanistan after protests spread over the burning of copies of the Koran at a U.S. military base. American officials apologized on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram Air Field. Seriously, we're in our 11th year of this war, shouldn't we know proper protocol by now?

In a fundraising e-mail sent to its supporters Thursday, Citizens for Community Values (CCV) gloated about what it termed were Election Day victories over “the homosexual agenda.”

The e-mail, entitled “A Surge of Votes for Traditional Marriage,” implies the issue of equal marriage rights was the deciding factor in numerous races.

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Perhaps hoping to woo a few Tea Party voters, many households in Ohio's 1st Congressional District received a letter from U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) this week, providing an update on the U.S. Census.

The letter, on Driehaus' official Congressional stationery, notes that the 2010 Census effort was completed under budget and had a 72 percent national participation rate, the same as the 2000 Decennial Census.

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Subpoenas will be issued to more than 2,200 poll workers and others to solicit testimony about advice they gave to voters in Hamilton County precincts being investigated in a contested judicial race.

Local Democratic Party leaders said the issuance of subpoenas is “a ridiculously expensive and time-consuming proposition” that could be done more quickly and cheaply through other methods, but that process is being blocked by their Republican counterparts.

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Anyone who wants to observe the processing of provisional ballots in a disputed 2010 election is being invited to attend as the work is completed this week.

 

Officials with the Hamilton County Board of Elections have announced the processing will occur today, Thursday and Friday. A total of 286 provisional ballots are being tallied in a Juvenile Court judge race, in compliance with a recent order from a federal judge.

 

The ballots are being counted today until 4 p.m., as well as from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, and from 10:30 a.m. until the work is completed on Friday. The board’s offices are located on the third floor at 824 Broadway Ave., downtown.

 

Also, the Board of Elections will hold special meetings this week. Both will occur Friday; one at 10 a.m., the other at 4:30 p.m. Board members will discuss “pending litigation” related to the Hunter-Williams race.

 

Earlier this month a federal appeals court upheld a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott that 286 provisional ballots should be tallied in the 2010 race between Democrat Tracie Hunter and Republican John Williams.

 

Hunter seemingly lost by just 23 votes out of nearly 230,000 ballots cast by county voters, but 286 ballots weren't counted because they were cast by people who showed up to vote at the correct polling place but were misdirected by poll workers and voted at the wrong precinct table.

 

Hunter filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging the ballots should be counted. Dlott had ordered the local Board of Elections to precisely determine how many ballots weren’t counted due to poll worker error, before she decided. That’s when local Republicans appealed the order.

Williams alleged poll workers correctly followed Ohio law and excluded the ballots, and that they shouldn’t be tallied. The GOP tried to get the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter, but it declined to hear the case in April 2011. That put the matter back in Dlott’s court.

Since the dispute began, Williams was appointed to another vacant Juvenile Court judgeship in November 2011.