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0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Flynn Still In, But Won't Run Again

Provided, City of Cincinnati

Cincinnati Councilman Kevin Flynn will not seek re-election next year, but will serve the remainder of his term.

In a prepared statement late Wednesday afternoon, Flynn says he never wanted to make a career out of politics and he has reached many of his goals on Council.

"I want to be able to spend my future time providing public service to our great city in other ways.  I want to give other civic minded citizens a realistic amount of time to develop a credible campaign to continue good government in Cincinnati and to give them the opportunity to stand up for Cincinnati.”

Flynn says he is “most proud of the reestablishment of oversight and the provision of checks and balances to the city Administration, by activating the Audit Committee of Council and bringing back the citizen Internal Audit Committee after an absence from City Hall of almost a decade.”

After leaving office, Flynn plans to continue to live in Mt. Airy with his wife and be active in the city with the University of Cincinnati and several area non-profit agencies.

He did not make an endorsement for a replacement. Flynn's decision means there will be at least three new faces after the next election. Yvette Simpson is running for mayor. Charlie Winburn is prohibited from running again because of term limits.

Flynn is the only council member elected in 2013 with an endorsement from only the Charter Committee, the city's independent third party. In 2013, Charter also gave endorsements to two Democrats who won council seats, David Mann and Yvette Simpson, and one Republican, Amy Murray.

Each council member, when he or she takes office, signs a form designating which council member or members will name his or her replacement in case that council member leaves early. 

Flynn says he won't leave office early, but, if he did, Simpson, Murray and Mann are designated to name his replacement. 

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.