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FEMA is now accepting applications for help paying for COVID-19 related funeral expenses. The agency is offering up to $9,000 for funeral costs for each person who has died from COVID-19 since Jan. 20, 2020.

Cincinnati City Council could vote Wednesday on two eviction measure proposals submitted in the wake of Hamilton County Municipal Court's decision to lift the national eviction moratorium.

It's been 20 years since a Cincinnati police officer killed Timothy Thomas, an unarmed Black teen in Over-the-Rhine – at the time, one of many deaths of Black men by police in the city – sparking demonstrations and protests. Last summer, police use of force was pushed into the national spotlight again after officers killed Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Earlier this month, several young people spoke in a roundtable discussion about how the 2001 civil unrest intersects with similar calls for justice now.

In 2001 when Officer Steven Roach shot and killed Timothy Thomas, the Fraternal Order of Police President was an outspoken 36-year-old ready to defend the actions of his officers seemingly at all costs. Fangman went toe to toe with reporters and activists in the community.

April 7, 2021, marked 20 years since white Officer Steven Roach shot and killed Black 19-year-old Timothy Thomas in Over-the-Rhine. The shooting, along with 14 other killings of Black males at the hands of police from 1995 to 2001, led to nearly a week of unrest in Cincinnati. The protests, lootings and chaos garnered national media attention.

It was only a matter of time before the former House Speaker John Boehner, raised in blue-collar Reading and now living in a gated community in West Chester Township, would simply just blow his top.

The civil unrest in 2001 sparked by the deaths of Black men at the hands of Cincinnati police did more than grab international attention. It also accelerated advocates' efforts for systemic reforms to the city's police department.

If you ask anyone in Cincinnati who lived through the events of 2001 to describe what happened after the officer-involved shooting death of Timothy Thomas, you'll get many different accounts. To some, riots broke out in the streets with days of looting and violence and buildings vandalized. Others saw protesters striving to raise awareness for an injustice, and in doing so, disrupted the typical social order. We would call this civil unrest.

A 2001 lawsuit led to what's now known as the Collaborate Agreement among the ACLU, the Cincinnati Black United Front, the city of Cincinnati and the Fraternal Order of Police. It required police to adopt community problem oriented policing, including the establishment of one of the first independent police oversight boards in the country: the Citizen Complaint Authority (CCA).

People sat outside an eatery sipping beer near the alleyway where Timothy Thomas was killed by a police officer 20 years ago. Bright lights beamed onto the streets. And a few blocks away at Washington Park, a yoga class had just finished when demonstrators arrived, Wednesday night. Organizers who were among the first to respond to Thomas' death 20 years ago say the gentrified neighborhood and continued police violence against Black people are in stark contrast of each other.

Soon-to-be college students have until May 1 to make a final decision about where to attend next year. Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., is getting creative to welcome potential students for one last campus visit as that deadline looms.

All Hamilton County employees will be returning to work in-person by June 1. County Administrator Jeff Aloutto sent out a memo to county employees Wednesday morning about the return date. Commissioner Denise Driehaus says this could be subject to change, but there will be exceptions to who can return.

Over-the-Rhine looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago when some say disinvestment in the community helped further the civil unrest that happened there in 2001 after the deaths of multiple Black men by Cincinnati Police. Following those events, were the decisions to renovate blocks at a time the right ones? And what does the future hold for what is now billed as one of the coolest neighborhoods in North America?

The unrest that tore through Over-the-Rhine in 2001 was, on the surface, about the death of Timothy Thomas and other Black men at the hands of police. But its roots went much deeper, some activists say, involving economic frustrations among Cincinnati's Black residents that continue to this day.

Community leaders launched a regional effort to vaccinate 80% of the population of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky by July 4.

"Get Out The Vax" weekends will take place during the second and fourth weekends in April and May. According to the Health Collaborative, there will be more than 20,000 appointments across the Cincinnati region spread out across 20 providers. Free Metro and TANK rides will be available for the Get Out the Vax weekends, as well as free Lyft rides.

Since the 2001 civil unrest, changes to policing in Cincinnati have served as a national model. In 2002, the city of Cincinnati signed the Collaborative Agreement and declared community problem-oriented policing would be the strategy for police services in the city. The strategy shifted the focus to prevention. Cincinnati has seen a dramatic reduction in use of force and arrests over the past 20 years, which mirrors a national trend.

Cincinnati Public Schools will have classes in-person five days a week next year and will include options for remote learning. CPS' Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution Monday that offers choices between five days of in-person and remote instruction, and includes the possibility of blended learning.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Little Blue penguins are swimming more thanks in part to technology that helps encourage it.