Jailed Juror Hires High-Profile Attorney
Do you have to ask who this attorney is? Or do you trust your instincts?

WCIN sues Etta James (Last Item)
WCIN's 50th anniversary celebration June 2 ended on a bad note when Grammy winning singer Etta James failed to take the Stage at the Cincinnati Zoo's Pavilion. According to the Cincinnati Herald’s front page story, the lawsuit claims that

"While the Blind Boys of Alabama performed, Defendant Jamesetta Hawkins (Etta James) refused, offering no reasonable explanation or one recognized in the contract between parties."

Ms. James who is 65 years old, did not go on because she believed WCIN could not pay her, according to the Cincinnati Post story. As of now, the Boycott B gang is not claiming responsibility. No report was made of any protests at the event.

Note: The Cincinnati Herald has no known website to provide a link to their story.

Some In Cincinnati Have Misgivings About Tax On Visiting Athletes
It appears the Boycott B's Nate Livingston had a valid point that this law was in effect, something I did not know. (A mea culpa) What is unclear is that this law affects Ava Muhammad from the Nation of Islam, as I posted here. Her status under this law is debatable, but she is not a professional entertainer or professional athlete. I assume Nate is claiming she is a professional entertainer. Nate is still making a federal case out of this issue and I don’t know why. NOI is a racist group, but so is the Black Fist, an endorser of Nate’s Boycott B. I guess Nate is cooking a red herring up in the form of his faux attack on the NOI. I will now just await another email calling me names.

CalPundit: Hillary-NRO Smackdown!
Kevin Drums finds that "...Howell Raines isn't the only editor who knows how to flood the zone."

WNKU to showcase local music
Where do you have to go to get local music? Public radio stations. Clear Channel can't risk anything, so they wouldn't want to showcase local talent, when they can just plug in a direct from factory band, complete with pre-made image and merchandising contract.

Mayor poses election change
Who actually opposes changing how city council is elected? I don't think the Republican's are to keen on it, with Monzel's apathetic statement:

"It wasn't tainted by the politics of City Hall. Coming from the inside, I don't know if it will have legs," Monzel said. "But we'll see."

Uber-conservative Tom Brinkman is for a change, along with Charterite John Schlagetter. If elements of all three parties favor change, then is the only conflict when to change and what the structure of the revised council would resemble.

Of the three plans out there I like Democrat Donald Driehaus's plan of 7 district seats and 3 at large. Brinkman wants 15 seats, which seems far to many, and Schlagetter stated he likes the idea of proportional representation, which has the taint rewarding the little guy a bit to much. The basic fight will be on where you draw the districts. If the recent episode in Texas is any example, that process could get very ugly. Race will of course be the pink elephant in room for that process. This idea was one of the original boycott demands, and from the boycotters perspective they idea was to get more blacks on council, or at least gerrymander the districts to guarantee a minimum number would make it on council, almost a back door quota.

Luken is wise to get out front of this issue with the proposal to hold public hearings on the issue. The problem with all of the plans so far is that they lack details. Luken's process has the potential of giving the public a chance to learn about the plans, voice opinions on them, and attract support for what hopefully will end up being a broadly supported Charter Amendment. I hope the process to form districts has a mostly objective criteria as its basis, otherwise the process will become a pissing mach for power among power hungry interest groups. Your Price Hill groups, Hyde Park cartel, and boycotters all will scream about this or that, leaving little room for compromise. If those groups have the courage to be objective this might work, but that is a pipe dream. The worry that will be more cause for concern is long term: neighborhood competition for funding. Council members will be expected to bring home the bacon for their constituents. At-large council members can only provide minor balance to what will surely be a rancorous battle with the Downtown councilman and the Price Hill Councilman and the Avondale Councilman all battling for dollars. No Whammies, Big Money….Stop!!!

Other Coverage: Post, ONN, Canton Repository, WCPO, WKRC, and City Beat

Queen City Soapbox: Ethan Hahn on Bronson on Art. Ethan shares my view that Peter Bronson's opinions on art are not worth the canvass they are painted on.