Hamilton County

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.  

The Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency was founded in 1964 to offer services to low-income individuals and families to help lift them out of poverty. 

WVXU politics reporter Howard Wilkinson talked with news director Maryanne Zeleznik about the presidential election results in Ohio and how Donald Trump outperformed even the polls that had him with a slim lead. And Wilkinson talked, too, about how Hamilton County has gone from a red county to a purple county to a blue county. 

There are two seats up for election on the Board of Hamilton County Commissioners. 

In the past three weeks, there have been nearly 300 overdoses and three deaths from heroin in the Cincinnati area. These are unprecedented numbers and the situation is nothing short of a public health emergency.