A federal appeals court yesterday reinstated an antitrust lawsuit against Duke Energy. The lawsuit accuses Duke of paying kickbacks to local companies in order to gain support for a 2004 electric rate increase. The lawsuit alleges that Duke appeased the more powerful opposing companies by including rebate deals for them. The suit is seeking unspecified damages and seeks to represent all Ohioans affected by the rate increase. Todd Portune is continuing his quest to become the East Side's county's property tax rebate savior, yesterday offering a new idea to bail out the stadium fund: extend the half cent sales tax past 2032. The revenue created by extending the sales tax, which has no sunset clause, would repay loans the county could use to pay for maintenance and projects at the stadiums now. Republican Commissioner Chris Monzel is open to “any ideas,” though Democratic Commissioner Greg Hartmann says otherwise: “Todd, here we go again,” snapped Commissioner Greg Hartmann. “Walking away from these leases is just fantasyland. “How many times are we going to do this?” he asked. Rob Portman will test out his GOP rallying cries at the Faith & Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C. next week. Bill Clinton says a Mitt Romney presidency would be “calamitous” for the U.S. The Senate will vote on a gender pay equity bill today. China and Russia say they'll help the UN more going forward, though they've been supporting Syria more than anyone really wants them to. Here's an explanation of the Transit of Venus, for those who don't get it yet. Nintendo has revamped its Wii to try to lure gamers from free Internet games they play on iPads. A new PC virus can infect computers by imitating a Windows update.