Hamilton County

Hamilton County's online public auction site has all the usual government surplus items you'd expect: desks, chairs, a few cars from the sheriff's auto auction. And, right now, 19 fur coats.

In Ohio and across the country, jails are becoming defacto hospitals with more than 30 percent of inmates suffering from mental illness. The national program Stepping Up will now include Hamilton County after county commissioners voted to enhance existing efforts late last year.

WVXU politics reporter Howard Wilkinson spoke with city hall reporter Jay Hanselman this morning about the results of of last Tuesday's election in Hamilton County. One thing was obvious: Hamilton is now a blue county. Every Democratic statewide candidate - for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasuer and auditor - lost statewide, but every one of them won Hamilton County by a sizeable margin. Democrats defeated several incumbent Republican judges.

The Ohio midterm elections are not only important in deciding the next governor and congressional representatives.

While the City of Cincinnati struggles to reduce a $32 million deficit, it continues to carry millions of dollars in loans and unpaid debt.

Hamilton County commissioners rescind a sales tax increase under threat of a lawsuit. Now they have to find a way to address the county's structural deficit. Businesses at The Banks want to know when and where the proposed new riverfront music venue will be located. Cincinnati residents will be asked to approve at least four Charter amendments in November, and that number could grow. The City of Cincinnati continues to clear homeless camps out of downtown. And more changes are in store for local TV news operations.

There is now a full-time Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy devoted to catching and holding illegal dumpers accountable. The initial focus will be tires.

The Hamilton County Coroner's office, which houses the county crime lab, will no longer process rape kits from the Cincinnati's police department, according to Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black.

Foster children aging out of Hamilton County’s child welfare system cost almost eighteen million dollars in social expenses and lost productivity each year. Teens who suddenly find themselves on their own face challenges in transitioning to adults. A local mentoring program is one of several interventions that can have a positive impact on young people while helping to reduce those costs.

Cincinnati and Hamilton County leaders are trying to cut down on litter across both communities.  

That could include creating a countywide collaborative to address it and pooling resources to clean it up.