News

One week after President Gregory Williams' abrupt departure, the University of Cincinnati is moving forward with a search for its next leader.

The school's board of trustees voted Tuesday to begin the process of finding a new president.

Interim president Santa Ono is getting a raise to go with his new title. His salary is increasing to $369,000 with a $100,000 bonus. The university is also retiring the remainder of the mortgage on Ono's house ($172,963) in Atlanta.

Cincinnati's City Manager said in a memo a disagreement with Duke Energy concerning the streetcar threatens to increase the cost and potentially delay the project. 

The dispute could lead to a lawsuit.

The city and the company are at an impasse about who should pay to relocate the utility lines and pipes near the streetcar tracks.

Anna Louise Inn attorney Tim Burke says the Historic Conservation Board voted unanimously this afternoon to approve the Inn as a conditional use. He said the use will not change.

The request is the latest plan to allow renovation for the 103 year old building. Months ago Western and Southern filed suit blocking any fix up. The company offered to buy the Lytle Park building and wants to turn it into luxury condominiums.

The historic downtown building houses low-income women.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory is touting the success of a program he helped launch more than a year ago to get “unbanked” residents to have a relationship with a financial institution.

Mallory said Monday during a press conference “Bank on Greater Cincinnati”  has helped nearly 1,000 unbanked residents open accounts since it launched in April 2011.

Cincinnati is expanding its Task Force on Healthy Living to include several organizations.  The newest members represent the public schools, the city's parks and recreation departments and the soft drink industry. 

Council Member Wendell Young chairs the task force.

Attorneys for the Anna Louise Inn will go before the Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board this afternoon for a second time. The board issued a favorable report last week. The 103 year old building housing low-income women is in need of renovation and attorney Tim Burke is trying a new tactic.

"Now we're asking the city to approve the entire Anna Louise Inn as a conditional use or a special assistance shelter but the uses won't change."

This Wednesday Cincinnati State and Technical College will open a Middletown Campus.  Director Michael Chikeleze says the new campus will have nearly 200 new students when it opens this week.  Students will also be able to take classes at the Main Campus in Cincinnati as well as online. It will be the only Community and Technical College in Butler County.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital is part of a national effort to create a kind of mini-patient to test drugs.  Each partner is concentrating on creating a different part of the human body.

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's are in the process of making what's called an organoid. An organoid is a structure that resembles an organ. This one mimics the stomach and intestine.

Ohio's delegation to the Republican National Convention - set to begin Monday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in downtown Tampa - is already gathering in the city on the bay, hoping for a convention that will give its presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, a bounce in the polls.

They're also hoping to stave off disaster - natural disaster, in this case, which is entirely possible given the fact that Tropical Storm Isaac could be at hurricane status by the time it passes by the Tampa Bay area in the Gulf of Mexico, probably on Monday.

ZEROlandfill Cincinnati is back for a fifth year. The recycling initiative makes design samples and materials available to artists, teachers, students, or anyone who's interested.

The group says the goal is to divert waste from area landfills and promote material re-purposing. It says more than 130,000 pounds of waste has been diverted over the past four years.

University of Cincinnati classes begin Monday. Friday, interim President Santa Ono greeted the incoming first year class during Convocation.

Ono takes the helm from Gregory Williams who resigned suddenly Tuesday. Ono says the transition will be pretty seamless.

“Gregory Williams and I were very, very strong partners. We were a team. We wrote and created the academic master plan together. I intend to continue to support that. We’ve worked very hard and we will continue the momentum with that academic master plan, ‘UC 2019,”’ he says.

Supporters say they hope an event Saturday morning on the city's riverfront will help promote a healthy, active lifestyle. 

Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld is partnering with city departments, businesses and non-profits for “Let’s Move, Cincinnati.”

It's part of First Lady Michelle Obama's national initiative designed to fight the growing problem of childhood obesity.