Since a pack of five coyotes was first seen in the Northern Kentucky city in January 2011, residents have reported seeing them a few more times. A police spokesperson strongly urged visitors and residents of Park Hills to remain vigilant and not to loiter in front of any roadside signs promising “Free Bird Seed” until the coyote threat has been neutralized.  

Germany’s Der Spiegel reported today that during 2011 German police shot only 85 bullets, and most weren’t even aimed at humans. Out of 85 bullets fired, 49 were warning shots. These numbers make it seem like it might be possible to greatly reduce the number of times per year in this country a person gets shot to death by the police in a situation where it seems like other resolutions could have been reached.  

In an attempt to better understand the effects of probiotics found in yogurt, and whether they have something to do with weight loss, the researchers fed one group of mice a normal food and gave another group the same diet plus a mouse-sized serving of vanilla yogurt. Male mice that were given yogurt became slimmer and had shinier coats then those that did not, and the yogurt-eating mice also became more desirable to all the hot lady mice.  

Image consultants have reportedly urged Cincinnati to emulate larger, “awesome” cities by becoming more accommodating to skaters, bikers and users of other self-propelled modes of transportation. Otherwise, visitors who have seen the locally filmed 1993 rollerblading classic Airborne might be disappointed to find out that Cincinnati isn’t really the kind of place a cool kid from California would move and that Devil’s Backbone might not be real, either.  

For participants in cannabis culture, 4/20, 420, or 4:20 is Christmas, July 4th and Thanksgiving wrapped into one. The annual date has evolved from being message board material and a secret stoner code to something much more widespread.  

More than 600 people today were expected to attend an anti-tax rally on Fountain Square, the city’s most recognizable public space which happens to be beautifully maintained by tax money. Attendees planned on complaining about poor people being offered health care and how the American dream now sucks.  

Greater Cincinnati civic leaders are debating whether or not to ask for a sales tax increase to help raise the funds necessary for renovations at some of its longstanding institutions such as the Museum Center and Cincinnati Zoo. But saving links to our city’s past costs money, and getting citizens from all of Cincinnati’s neighborhoods to agree to do so has proven to be problematic.  

We at CityBeat try hard to maintain high journalistic standards, as evidenced by last week’s internal editing debate over whether a freelancer who used the word “shit” was literally referencing “feces” or “stuff” (turns out it was poo).
  

Americans like to multitask, as long as it doesn’t involve trying harder at their place of employment. That’s why driving and texting has become such a problem. The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety states that cellphone use while driving has caused 186 crashes so far this year.  

Unfortunately, Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. today announced that it will sell off 29 Golden Corral buffets, ending their affiliation with the leaders in the field of Hoveround-based snackin’ and home of the chocolate waterfall.  

The Associated Press reports that the warm, mild winter we experienced might bring a pest-filled spring our way. Some folks might be getting a bit unsettled by the bizarre climate conditions they’ve noticed and feel like they would have rather seen a few snowstorms hit this last winter if it meant that the spring wasn’t going to be full of mosquitoes and other pests.   

A crispy looking jersey and the fact that the Bearcats are NCAA Tournament-bound pleased nearly all Ohioans, though Gov. John Kasich was reportedly quite crestfallen to learn that the lack of numbers on the jerseys shown at the unveiling was because they were prototypes and not the result of cuts in education funding.  

Residents of The Lakes of West Chester Village apartment complex will soon face $200 fines if Summit Management Services proves they’re not picking up after their dogs that shit everywhere. By using its “Poo Prints” DNA program, the owners hope to identify the culprits and put a stop to the problem.  

Jill Haney, owner of Cincinnati-based JH Image Consulting, wrote a column in today’s Business section of The Enquirer that was very helpful for professionals of all ages! Titled “Try to restrain your use of !!!,” the piece explains that when communicating in the business world it is not wise to end sentences with exclamation points!  

Recording artist Whitney Houston might have abruptly died last week during preparations for the Grammy Awards, but the real tragedy was the news overshadowing both the show and the most important industry news of the week — Beyonce and Jay-Z giving the media pictures of their baby for the first time.