WKRC and WSTR Joining News Forces

I don't quite understand how this is going to work, but WKRC is going to produce a half hour news cast in partnership with WSTR at 10 to air on Channel 64. Will this just be recycled news from Clear Channel? Will it be just more non-local "local" stories about bus crashes and such. Will they instead gather more local news?

Build Towards New SCPA

Development plans in OTR should have the SCPA as its core. A new and vibrant arts district is starting to form along Central Parkway. It should be something that complements but not compete with Main Street, fountain Square, or the Banks.

Ethical?

The Enquirer actually used that descriptor in the sub headline of their endorsement of Ken Blackwell in the GOP primary for government. Yea, that’s surprising. This is the guy who put his foot on the scale in the 2004 Ohio voting process to help his candidate, Bush, get elected. He's the guy who doesn't seem to know when he buy's the stock of a company that manufactures the voting machines he is looking to require that every board of elections to purchase. I really don't find that all too ethical.

Backhand Endorsement

The Enquirer appears to have held their nose while endorsing Jean Schmidt for the GOP nomination in the 2nd district. They think she can be strong on constituent service. Well, if all you can do for you district is help them get their passport in a pinch, then I don't see you as much of a Congress person. Constituent service is half about staff. Does she have a good team working here and at the Capitol?

McEwen is no better of a choice. He is something of a carpetbagger. He has the anti-government COAST types in his corner, which does give you the stench of extremism. I don't know if that is enough for him to win. If she loses, and I am leaning that way, she loses because the voters think she has done a horrible job in the last 10 months, not because they love Bob McEwen.

Cool Cincinnati

From Comments yesterday, we got a great NY Times story about making movies in Cincinnati.

Farewell Editor's Blog, We Hardly Knew Thee

Here today and gone tomorrow. Tom Callinan's Editor's blog at Cincinnati.com was interesting. The key word is "was," meaning it is no more. It was up for maybe a couple of weeks. The Beacon has more.

Big Know Coverage!

The Know Theatre got a great story in today's Post, complete with a photo. Love seeing the Know Tribe get ink space.

Show your love for the Know by attending their big event one week from today:

The Inaugural House Party
Friday April 28
Happy Hour 6-8 p.m.
Performance of In The Blood @ 8 p.m.

After Party Champagne Celebration @ 9:50 p.m.

The Know’s New Theatre: 1120 Jackson Street
Featuring DJ The Late Circuit
$50 Single & $90 Couple
Includes Dinner-by-the-Bite, Drink Tickets and Admission to In The Blood.
Proceeds Benefit The Know Theatre Tribe’s Installation Expenses into 1120
Jackson. Reserve your tickets now.

More HERE.

Oh Not Much!

Open, Be NICE!

First Desdemona Acts Announced

Nick Spencer has announced the initial list of acts for the Desdemona festival:

THE WALKMEN
THE FIERY FURNACES
RADIO 4
THE HEARTLESS BASTARDS
RICHARD SWIFT
SMALL SINS

My HB fix will be met with stars. Nick states this is only 1/5 of the acts to play, so more to come! Tickets go on sale May 1st.

Portman Moves Up

Former Cincinnati Congressman Rob Portman is moving closer to the President as White House Budget Director. This I think is an insiders pick to try and stem off some of the conservative ire over Bush's spending habits.

You Can't Handle the Truth

When I first read about John Donaldson getting kicked off the Citizens on Patrol Board, he was just reinstated by the Police Chief, all I could think of was Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men:

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it."

That is what Assistant Cincinnati Police Chief Richard Janke came off as when he kicked Donaldson off the COP Board for speaking some truth in an Enquirer article about the news of the Sheriff starting to patrol OTR. This shows some insight to the mentality of the Cincinnati Police leadership. If they are going to act like political hacks, then they should be treated as such, and not treated like deities by the likes of the Peter Bronsons in town.

Thinking Big

Nick is thinking big about new ideas for Cincinnati. The arts district I believe is one that is well on its way, but hinges most on reducing crime on Vine Street and Washington Park. Leaving off the Banks on the list is very interesting. I would have added development around Fountain Square too, but that doesn't need much backing, it is beyond the development stage.

More Bigotry

Pure bigotry was laid on the city by the anti-gay group CCV and their bigot in chief, Phil Burress.

Before any of the usual suspects gets out there and whines about the "bigot" use, why don't you ask yourself in the this case Phil Burress and his gang is fighting the amendment to the Discrimination Ordinance? Why don't they fight the whole law? Why just the part that tries to help gays and lesbians? Hmmmm, I wonder why they want to allow discrimination against gays, but not against say blacks or Christians? Why motivates that? I wonder????

Overreaction

It is not surprising to me, but the Enquirer has called for the firing of NKU professor Sally Jacobsen, who was involved with the dismantling of the anti-abortion religious display on the NKU grounds.

This will likely be the first voice from the right wing for this, it will not be the last. NKU appears weak, and will cave if Kentucky lawmakers jump on the bandwagon. NKU is in the middle of an expansion and will not stand up for a teacher giving them horrible press.

Kabaka Oba Dead

The Enqurier is reporting that Kabaka Oba died earlier today.

Mayor Mallory has issued the following statement:

"I want to express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Kabaka Oba. I have known Kababa for many years. Even though he was seen as controversial, some of the ideals that he talked about like economic inclusion, equality, and justice cannot be disputed and should be embraced by us all."

I personally found Oba's views to be abhorrent, adding nothing but hate to our local political discourse, but no human being deserves to be murdered.

Tainting the Jury Pool?

Is this an attempt to taint the jury pool in the Howard Beatty case? Is this a backdoor attempt by the defense to try and sell their fruitless self-defense strategy?

Bad Debate at NKU

A pox on both sides from me. This anti-abortion display should never have been erected on a public university's grounds. It is a religious display and demonstrates where 99.9% of the anti-abortion motivation is sourced.

That being said, the professor and students involved should not have removed the display in the manner they did. They should have protested it being there and sued to have it removed. In the article NKY's President refers to it as the destruction of property, that is over the top, but what was done was the wrong way to handle it. It is a form of protest, and they can argue a 1st Amendment defense, but the freedom of speech clause may not be their best bet.

This sounds like it would have been much simpler to have the anti-abortion side hold a protest, with temporary crosses while they are there, but be forced to remove them when the protest ended. If that was what was supposed to happen, well, then the students just helped clear the grounds of discarded items.

None of this improves the situation. It will just drive a bigger wedge into the growing cultural gap in our society. That I fear is the goal of many on the anti-abortion side.

UPDATE: The Post has more. The most interest element here is that a police report valued the crosses at $600. Now if that is true, then why they hell didn't these anti-abortionists cut to the chase and buy $600 worth of condoms and pass those out on campus? They would have a great protest cheer: "Reduce Abortions by reducing unwanted pregnancies!" Instead they turn to symbols instead of actions that could actually have results.

UPDATE #2: Nice to see the anti-abortionists seeking to turn the other cheek. Oh wait, lol. This story from the NKU paper has photos of the destruction. The professor involved looks, shall we say, nutty! I will repeat something I post in comments. If a group of students is not allowed to erect a 6 foot penis, or, for that matter, take 400 dildos and plant them in the ground, then there is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment.

UPDATE #3: The AP has the story, so this should be making the talk radio rounds in the coming week. Once Bill O'Reily gets a chance, he will drag this thing out till the cows come home to roost.

Howard Beatty Charged with Shooting Oba

Self Defense is the reported defense.

It is most telling seeing the varied reactions. From the near ranting of Nate to the foolish post at the Beacon, this was a big event in the City. How quickly Nate has turned on someone who was his steadfast ally.

What I find most offensive is how on Television last night the story at WLWT was painting Oba as a nice guy who is likeable and pleasant. They failed to mention his past anti-Semitic and anti-white remarks that came out of his mouth nearly every time he called into 1230 AM's call-in shows. I can understand not attacking the man while he clings to life, but that does not mean you have to put a package together that equates a self professed black-separatist to a civil rights leader.

Kabaka Oba Shot Near City Hall

Details are here and here.

Reports in the articles state he was targeted specifically and one or two African Americans are sought for questioning or are outright suspects.

He was shot multiple times and his condition is not currently known.

Picture Contradicts Article

I believe this article is talking about the City of Cincinnati proper and Hamilton County, not metro Cincinnati. The picture accompanying this article lists the following caption:

"Mohamad Ramlawi, owner of the Halal Market in West Chester, has some fun with customer Asiya Chaudhry, holding her granddaughter, Eman Chaudhry, 2, of Mason. Ramlawi is a native of Lebanon, and Chaudhry is from India. Immigrants made up almost half of Cincinnati's population in 1850; now they make up just 2.6 percent."

If immigrants are going to save the "city," then how are they going to do when they are out in West Chester? This is a very poor job of Editing. I don't know if this picture or the caption made it to the print edition, but the online version makes the entire article appear off kilter.

UPDATE: Edited for the Lebanon City-Country confusion. That doesn't alter the point of the post.