University of Cincinnati President Greg Williams abruptly stepped down Aug. 21. According to reports, Williams walked into a UC Board of Trustees meeting, announced he was resigning effective immediately and left.  

Rival political parties in Ohio probably know more about your elected officials than you do. It’s common practice for the major parties to file open records requests to get everything from schedules and emails to staff resumes from officeholders.    

Congratulations are in order for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. As part of his U.S. senatorial campaign, Mandel, a Republican, has earned his sixth “Pants on Fire” rating from fact-checking website PolitiFact.  

Anyone who cares already knows that the contents of the “official” Congressional Record are bullshit. Members can delete things they’ve said and add things they’ve never said.  

When the Reds announced that Joey Votto needed knee surgery and was going to miss a month, most thought the best-case scenario would be the first-place Reds treading water and hopefully keeping the Pirates and Cardinals at bay. And even that was seen as a bit optimistic.  

“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine.” So said Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, in an email to The Columbus Dispatch.  

According to the CDC, 51 percent of the U.S. population diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2007 was African-American, making it by far the race or ethnicity most heavily plagued by the disease.   

Spectators at the Western & Southern Open’s finals on Aug. 19 also saw a plane flying overhead pulling a banner protesting the tournament’s corporate sponsor. The banner read: “W&S Stop Bullying Anna Lou Inn stpws.com.”    

Since 2010, Ohio has woken up to the realities of its human trafficking problem. Back then, the state was considered to be among “the worst states” — or tier 4 — by the Polaris Project, an organization focused on the nationwide issue of human trafficking.   

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) has long been known locally for its unwavering opposition to the streetcar project, but the organization crossed the line into dishonesty on Aug. 6 with its calls to action about the sale of the Blue Ash Airport.
  

As he sat at a podium in Mason, Andy Murray wasn’t quite sure where his gold medal was. Murray, a week removed from winning the Olympic gold medal for singles in men’s tennis, was in Cincinnati while his prize was far away.  

Faced with the choice of raising property taxes or funding senior and mental health services at their current levels, the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners voted on Aug. 8 to approve a ballot measure that would effectively cut tens of millions of dollars from those services if passed by voters.  

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Aug. 9 that there is a new way for registered voters to change their voting address: the Internet.  

Some of the best jobs in Cincinnati in 2020 will not require college degrees, according to a new report.  

Barack Obama is the first sitting American president to express his support for gay marriage, and he’s hoping to cash in on that political capital come November.