Jason Whitman / WVXU
The Black Lives Matter mural in front of Cincinnati City Hall isn t looking as good as it once did, says Council Member Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, and $13,000 is needed to fix it up, including an overlay to protect it.
Private donations were used last summer to pay for the BLM mural painted on Plum Street between Eighth and Ninth streets by Black Art Speaks, ArtsWave and ArtWorks.
Initially there was talk about turning the area into a closed-off pedestrian plaza. That didn t happen, and traffic has weathered the design, according to Kearney.
She is seeking the money, of which 70% will go to arts and attorneys, to refurbish the mural. As far as the overlay, Apparently there s some type of material that can be put over it so it doesn t have to be repainted every year so that it s longer lasting, she says.
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Cincinnati City Council approved just shy of $30 million in stimulus spending on Wednesday, divvying up the last of the city’s first-year allocation from the American Rescue Plan.
Wednesday’s spending comes after council approved $134.2 million in stimulus spending on May 5. Cincinnati will get another round of money to spend in 2022, for a total between the two years of about $300 million.
Here are key takeaways from the latest round of spending:
Passion or ‘political speeches’?
Councilmembers were debating between two plans for spending the money, one put forth by councilmembers Steve Goodin and David Mann and the other by councilmembers Greg Landsman and Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney.
Ohio s public corruption case involving $61 million in bribes in exchange for a $1.3 billion bailout is the biggest open investigation in any Statehouse in America surpassing a similar scandal in Illinois and two closed-out cases in New York. Historically, I haven t seen anything like it, said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matthew DeBlauw, who leads the public corruption squad in Columbus. This case is in a league of its own.
So far, five Ohioans have been charged in U.S. District Court with racketeering. Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. fired its chief executive and other top managers and lobbyists, disclosed it paid $4.3 million to someone who became an Ohio utility regulator, and is in early talks with federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution. And FBI agents searched the home of then Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chairman Sam Randazzo, who then resigned.
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Kentucky, like other states, is struggling to connect young people with COVID-19 vaccines despite ample supply and opportunities. So, the commonwealth is creating a strategy to target the TikTok generation.
Meanwhile, a small Kentucky college is the first in the state to require vaccinations for students.
Courier-Journal reporter Deborah Yetter joins us for those and other COVID-related stories out of the Bluegrass State.
New details emerged this week about the firing of former Cincinnati Bearcats men s basketball coach John Brannen, including a pre-season practice considered to be too strenuous, and a reportedly inappropriate $135 payment to a student-athlete for psychological assistance.
It’s back to the drawing board for affordable housing advocates after Issue 3 was soundly defeated by voters on Tuesday.
The controversial charter amendment would have required the city to devote at least $50 million a year to affordable housing, with the amount rising each year with inflation.
But voters said no.
With 89% of precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections, Issue 3 was losing 73% to 28%.
The Issue 3 campaign conceded shortly after 10 p.m.
“Our effort is not a well-funded PR campaign. Our effort is a movement, and movements don’t end until we get where we’re trying to go,” said Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and one of the main proponents of the amendment. “So regardless of what the final outcome is this evening, we will be moving forward. And we will be moving forward until we live in a city where everyone has access to housing they can afford that is