The state representative Alicia Reece has introduced a bill that would reduce the number of reasons for making voters cast provisional ballots and also clarifies that election officials will be held responsible for errors instead of blaming voters.  

Cincinnati’s new police chief, James Craig, who began his job in August, already is making some welcome and long overdue changes. Ten supervisors and 40 officers are being transferred from the department’s numerous specialized units and put on street patrol.  

The Organizations of Noteworthy Excellence (ONE) program recognized six Greater Cincinnati nonprofit organizations for their systems effectiveness and performance results. The groups were the Assistance League, Cincinnati Union Bethel, 4C for Children, Redwood, the Society of St. Vincent DePaul and the Children’s Home of Cincinnati.  

It took an Ohioan to help President Obama finally grow a pair and show some leadership. Obama last week flexed his executive authority and appointed Cordray, Ohio’s former attorney general and treasurer, as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  

Ben-Gals cheerleader and Edgewood school teacher Sarah Jones won $11 million in a default judgment in summer 2010 arising from a libel lawsuit she filed against Thedirty.com, a gossip website.
  

After serving 20 years for allegedly committing several rapes near Dayton, Dean Gillispie was released from prison Dec. 22 based on the work of City Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan and the Ohio Innocence Project.  

Never one to pass up an opportunity to make headlines, Hamilton County’s prosecutor inserted himself into the outrage over the 10-second fight that broke out among players during the Crosstown Shootout.
  

Social Venture Partners announced Dec. 8 that it would award nearly $160,000 in cash and in-kind services to four nonprofit groups to help them create sustainable organizational effectiveness. SVP will give $4,000 to the Civic Garden Club and $12,000 each to German Heritage Farm, Imago for the Earth and Whole Again International.  

The Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) was reaccredited by the National Recreation & Parks Association, and is one of just 97 agencies nationwide to receive the distinction.  

Disturbed by the large number of Bengals games that aren’t allowed to be aired on TV stations in Cincinnati, Dayton and Lexington, Ky., Sen. Sherrod Brown has proposed the Federal Communications Commission repeal or revise the “sports blackout rule,” a 1970s-era regulation that allows the NFL to prohibit broadcasts of a local sports game when the event doesn’t sell out.   

Led by City Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, Cincinnati officials recently expanded the mobile food vending program by creating new zones near Fountain Square. So far at least two vendors — Tim Hurst of Vinnie’s Gourmet Pretzels and Tom Acito of Café de Wheels — have said they will use the zones, and more are sure to follow.  

As it turns out, the Occupy Cincinnati protesters who were arrested for camping overnight in downtown’s Piatt Park for nearly two weeks might not have violated any law. That’s the opinion of Municipal Court Judge David Stockdale, who sent a letter last week to city prosecutors and his fellow judges.  

Berding resigned from Cincinnati City Council in March, after he butted heads with his fellow Democrats in council chambers and berated them on WLW (700 AM). After Jeff lost support from the police and firefighter unions for his flip-flop on layoffs, his last bastion of support evaporated. Berding retired to the comfort of his office at Paul Brown Stadium.   

In what might be one of the most overdue actions at City Hall in many years, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm will conduct a comprehensive audit of the Police Department. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. hired Strategic Policy Partnership to perform the audit over the next three months, at a cost of $61,000, at the urging of newly hired Police Chief James Craig.  

When developers of the under-construction Cincinnati casino came to the Oct. 24 meeting of the Hamilton County Commission to give an update on the project, Commission President Greg Hartmann was nowhere in sight. That’s because Hartmann flew to his native Texas so he could attend two World Series games with his dad. That might not be so bad if it was a rare occurrence, but it’s not. An Enquirer analysis showed that Hartmann has missed seven of the group’s 67 meetings this year, or 10.7 percent.