Sunday, June 22, 2003

Walnut Hills High School
WCPO's I-Team has a follow-up their story from last month where they claimed the Principal, Marvin Koenig, was not operating admission standards according to Cincinnati Public Schools policy. The new report brings up fresh allegations about grade changing by the Principal, another violation of policy. Reporter Stephen Hill also brought forth the charge that one student got into the highly regarding Walnut Hills High School in part to a financial donation the student’s family allegedly made to a new building addition at the school. According to the I-Team, CPS Administration officials may release more information on these allegations as soon as this week.

I do not know what to make of this incident. This is, after all local TV news. The issues appear to be singular actions. No evidence of wide spread violations was provided. Only a handful of occurrences were aired, so any violations reported are small and in any reasonable school system are understandable. Rules are not absolute. Sometimes things change for reasons that may make more sense than the dramatic I-Team music would lead you to believe. This issue of the possible quid pro quo is a serious question that if proven true should cost someone their job.
DONALD at All Deliberate Speed has added me to his blogroll, for which I thank him. I have to correct one thing about his comments. I live on the east side of Cincinnati, not the west. I don't fit in with the "stereotypical west sider." I am to the left of most of the City of Cincinnati in political terms, far to the left on social issues. I agree with him that Cincinnati is an important gauge of opinion in the Country. Cincinnati is basically the Mecca of mainstream Conservatism. We have our share of freakish reactionary conservatives, but most of them are Bush style Conservatives. I am not a fan of Bush at all, and most of his policies I find horrible, but Bush is not a reactionary. That does not mean he is not dangerous, just not as dangerous as the Free Republic crowd.
Calling All Local Bloggers!
I am compiling a list of local blogs from the Greater Cincinnati Metro area. I will eventually have a page of links listing all of the blogs categorized by category. If you are a blogger out there, please send me an email, or add a comment, with your blog address, email address, and a general description of what kind of blog you write. I will be happy to include anyone who may not think they are in the official Cincinnati area, so don't be bashful. Also, don't hold back. If you want people to read your blog, you have to promote it. If anyone wants to suggest another blog, please send that along too. I am not trying to create a master list of blogs, just those from the Cincinnati, Tri-state, or even greater Ohio area.
Enquirer's Concealed-Carry Coverage
The Editorial Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer has gone all out in coverage of the concealed-carry law that is slated to become law. Their editorial on it is a cheerleading call to action to try and reconcile the two bills passed in each in respective chamber. I will never know why people want this so much. Why do people feel the need to carry around a gun? How many people will ever have to draw their gun? I hope the number is small. If you never draw your pistol, why did you need it? I think the answer is that you are afraid. That is reasonable. We are all fearful of something, but most of us not to the point that we feel the need to carry around a deadly weapon.

The paper provides a good summary of the law passed by the senate, which has the governor's support. The Enquirer also provide two oddly opposing views on the subject. From Chuck Klein they get an extremist gun nut's point of view. Chuck is pissed that the Senate law tries to protect children. He wants an open shooting range so much that he is not even willing to compromise on the law and agree to a simple restriction involving children and guns in cars. Toby Hoover provides the safetly prospective in opposing the law all together. I agree with Mr. Hoover on his stance on the law and I think that carrying around guns on our streets does nothing but increase the ego of the gun carrier. If there is a reasonable need for an individual to carry a gun on their person, I am open to laws allowing people to carry a gun. Reason could be as part of the their job, like deliver persons who are targets of robbers or people who have been threatened with physical harm or have specific types of restraining orders issued for protection.

The Cleveland Suburban newspaper The Morning Journal had an interesting editorial on Friday. They raised this point in their title:
"State lawmakers in Columbus can't manage to help more Ohioans carry a college degree, but they're hard at work to help Ohioans carry concealed weapons. How stupid. "
Indeed.

Saturday, June 21, 2003

Riot News Coverage
During the 2001 riots here in Cincinnati, with the exception of the on the spot coverage of 1230 the Buzz, local news media stayed well behind police lines, limiting coverage of the most intense periods of the actions. If you listened to first hand testimony or listened to the police scanners, you hear a war zone. The decriptions from a reporter for the Herald Palladium about the recent riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan confirms what the local press may have faced if they had ventured deep into the riots back in April of 2001. Some limited stories of bottles and bricks hitting news vans were reported, but nothing compared to what reporter Kim Strode went through just trying to report the story. As a side note the Herald Palladium, the local St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, Michigan newspaper, has an interesting editorial about the police officer involved in the chase that instigated the riots.
Last Gasp or New Future for the Post?
The Cincinnati Post reports on itself today indicated they are consolidating their news rooms into the downtown Cincinnati location. From a business perspective, I wonder why this was not done years ago. I understand that Northern Kentucky residents was local coverage, and the Kentucky Post does an ok job of providing that, but being just over the border is a superficial element, that was only a symbolic tradition. I hope this buys E. W. Scripps some time to stabilize the paper. Rumor has the Cincinnati Post closing down once the Joint printing agreement with the Enquirer expires, keeping the Kentucky Post alive, but focused almost exclusively on Kentucky. If the FCC rules on ownership of newspapers and local TV stations stays in place, could the Post be sold to someone like Clear Channel? A news room connecting WLW, WKRC-TV and a new Cincinnati Post would be a conservative's dream. Would it bring new competition against an Enquirer/WCPO-TV alliance or just homogenize 3 news organizations into one? It is nothing but speculation, but is it plausible?
HERE IS Stonewall-Cincinnati's take on the Van Kuiken Removal from the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church for marrying gays and lesbians. Small critique: this document needs a date published listed.