News

Just how all-pervasive is this presidential campaign in Ohio, the swing state of all swing states?

Well, we know that the presidential candidates, President Obama and Mitt Romney, are camping out in the state with regularity – Romney at a rally at Lake Erie College in Painesville Friday; Obama on his way to rallies in Cincinnati and Columbus on Monday – but that is only part of the story.

Both Vice President Biden and the Republican nominee for vice president, Paul Ryan, were in Clermont  County within days of each other last week.

Cincinnati officials estimate they'll be able to save eligible residents about $163 a year for natural gas with a new aggregation program. 

The city announced Friday it's negotiating a contract with Duke Energy Retail Services to provide service to about 64,000 eligible residents and small businesses. 

Customers will be getting a packet of information in the mail soon about the plan.  Eligible residents are automatically enrolled in the program unless they notify the city they don't want to participate. 

The chief financial officer of Kenwood Towne Place and its developer, Bear Creek Capital, is being accused of bank fraud.

Tina Schmidt was indicted Thursday in federal court in Cincinnati. The indictment alleges Schmidt and others knowingly took millions in loans from Bank of America to build the now defunct retail and office complex next to Kenwood Towne Center but instead used the money for other projects.

Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

The property was sold to a new developer last month.

A release from the Obama Campaign says the President will speak at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park, Monday morning you can get in starting at 10:00.  The event is free, but you will need a ticket. They'll be available starting at 9:00 AM tomorrow at these locations:  

East Walnut Hills OFA-Ohio Office

2718 Woodburn Ave

Cincinnati, OH 45206

Forest Park OFA-Ohio Office

1240 West Kemper Road

Cincinnati, OH 45240

College Hill OFA-Ohio Office

5846 Hamilton Ave

Cincinnati officials and a number of groups are launching a plan to redevelop the city's Evanston neighborhood. 

They say decades of population loss have left the area in decline. 

The neighborhood has experienced 300 foreclosures since 2006 and there are more than 200 vacant or abandoned buildings. 

The strategy will focus on the Woodburn Avenue corridor between Xavier University and DeSales Corner, and includes the area near Walnut Hills High School. 

Elizabeth Blume with the Community Building Institute said one goal of the program is to target blight.

UC will pay its former president more than $1.2 million during the next two years. The university's board of trustees unanimously approved the package for Greg Williams yesterday. It includes a bonus, retirement benefits, consulting fees, a year's worth of salary for his faculty position, and buying out his contract. Williams will also be allowed to live at the presidential penthouse through next January. He resigned for personal reasons less than a week before fall classes started. He'd been with UC since 2009. 

Hamilton County Commissioners are moving forward with a plan to shore up the struggling stadium fund for another year.

Essentially the board is taking out an insurance policy to cover the bulk of the debt and fund what's left from county reserves. It'll cost about $300,000.

Senator Rob Portman says the attacks in Libya and Egypt are heartbreaking reminders that we live in a very dangerous world and need to remain vigilant.  During a conference call with reporters today, Portman said those responsible should be pursued.     

"We need to go after the perpetrators and hold them responsible.  The government of Egypt and the government of Libya need to ensure that these folks are held acountable," said Portman.  "They also need to do a better job of protecting American soil, just as we protect their embassies in the United States."

A former Cincinnati union president is now in custody in West Virginia.  The Federal Bureau of prisons lists Diana Frey as an inmate at Alderson a minimum security facility for female offenders.  Frey was sentenced in June after pleading guilty to stealing 750-thousand dollars from the Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees union.  In Court Frey said she will spend the rest of her life trying to make it up to her family and union members and repay the debt.  Her release date is listed as March 20, 2016.   

President Obama will be campaigning in Cincinnati and Columbus on Monday. A release from the Obama for America Campaign says details of the event are forthcoming. The president will travel to New York City on Tuesday.  

Hamilton County Commissioners are meeting with department heads as they work out next year's budget. With most agency leaders begging not to have their budgets slashed and Commissioners facing steep cuts, the meetings don't last long.

Board president Greg Hartmann calls the process challenging.

“We’re in the neighborhood of being $100 million dollars smaller than we were six years ago, from $300 million to $200 million,” he says.

Cincinnati councilman PG Sittenfeld wants to know why young married couples tend to leave the city when they start having children.

Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up a campaign swing through Southern Ohio Sunday with a stop in suburban Cincinnati. Standing in an atrium at Milford High School, he focused on representing the two presidential candidates as "fundamentally different."

The vice president stuck to familiar themes dinging the Republican party's stance on healthcare - which Biden called "voucher-care", and especially what Mitt Romney had to say about job creation at the Republican National Convention...

Here's an interview with Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Laura Vikmanis from March 16, 2012 edition of The Front Row with Betsy Ross on Cincinnati Edition.

You must take the test. That's the ruling from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission. Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig challenged a requirement that he take Ohio's standard police exam. But Thursday the commission ruled his decades of police work don't exempt him. During an interview with WVXU just hours prior to the decision Craig remained resolute, he won't take it.

A family spokeswoman confirms Neil Armstrong will be buried at sea. However she did not release details about the time and location.

A private service for the first man on the moon was held in Indian Hill last week. On September 13th the public will get a chance to remember Armstrong in Washington.  The 10a.m. service will be held at the Washington National Cathedral and will be broadcast on NASA television and streamed on the websites of the space agency and  the cathedral. Reservations  to attend the memorial are through NASA on a first-come basis.

Cincinnati's Horseshoe Casino is on schedule to open next Spring. General Manager Kevin Kline says you should expect to see something unique.

"I think it's unique in terms of the architecture... the openness. It's unique in terms of having a one acre outdoor space connected to your casino that you can program and activate. And unique in that... look at the community that we're in, you've got Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton and Downtown all within the doorstep."