News

Tri-state residents appear to be generally satisfied with roads, housing and local issues affecting their everyday lives.

The results come from a survey by the Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments.

Nearly 2,500 people responded  to questions ranging from infrastructure to schools, energy efficiency, public health and other quality of life issues.

Cincinnati home sales reached a six-year high last month.  The Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors  says January closings rose 30 percent compared to a year ago.  

Board president Kevin Kelly says the continued upward momentum of Cincinnati home sales is a strong indicator the local economy is recovering.  He says mortgage rates are maintaining their historic lows, the inventory of homes remains low and the number of buyers looking for a home is increasing, all factors that will help the local housing market. 

Vanessa Y. White is foregoing a run for re-election to the Cincinnati Board of Education this year; and will run for Cincinnati City Council instead.

White, 49, put out a press release Thursday morning saying that she is "looking to make a broader impact" on the community.

Her first run for office was in 2009, when she emerged from a pack of 12 Cincinnati school board members to win one of the four seats that were open that year. It was her first run for public office; and she was the only non-incumbent elected that year.

A Cincinnati nun is being investigated for illegally casting an absentee ballot for another Sister of Charity who died before last November's election. 

Sister Rose Marie Hewitt, a 78-year-old Sister of Charity, died Oct. 4 - the same day the Hamilton County Board of Elections mailed her absentee ballot and about 60,000 others to persons around the county who had requested them.

Preliminary numbers show Cincinnati's Retirement System had an 11.9 percent return on its investments for 2012.  That's better than the 7.5 percent officials had projected. 

That's about the only new information that came from a special city council meeting Wednesday night to discuss the retirement system. 

Council Members Christopher Smitherman and Charlie Winburn called the session. 

Smitherman was upset by who was not at the meeting...