After two days of testimony, the criminal trespassing trial of some Occupy Cincinnati protestors has been continued until Jan. 30 while attorneys on both sides continue to negotiate a possible resolution.

Meanwhile, the Occupy Cincinnati group isn't resting; it will stage an event called “Recharge Weekend” on Saturday and Sunday, designed to boost the morale of participants and devise a more precise, clear agenda for moving forward.  

If you’re like most people, you would jump at the chance to buy something that you wanted if it was offered at just one-third of its normal price. That’s exactly what happened last week when two of the three Hamilton County commissioners offered to sell the county-owned Drake Center to the University of Cincinnati at a rock-bottom price.   

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.  

As far as conservatives go, I can tolerate columnist George Will and often enjoy reading his work. Unlike most of what passes as conservatism today, Will tends to base his arguments on logic and fact, not emotion and rhetoric.

Making him even more of an anomaly in Republican circles, Will acknowledges and corrects his errors, when he makes them. As an added bonus, he's also a deft wordsmith.

Despite his many years in office, Congressman Steve Chabot (R-Westwood) could stand to take a few pointers from Will. Chabot, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, spoke during a hearing Wednesday about his concerns with a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by year's end.  

An organization of retired labor union workers is praising the failure of Congress' so-called “super committee” to agree on a deficit reduction deal as a good development for elderly Americans.

The Ohio chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans said many politicians, especially Republicans, are unfairly blaming the deficit on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They are using the budget battle as an excuse to dismantle programs they dislike, the group added.  

There is a relatively simple way to ascertain how neither Republicans nor Democrats no longer represent the will of average voters and show how out of touch the political class is with most people. The litmus test comes down to three major issues: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case and raising taxes on the wealthy.  

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.   

A new Census Bureau report reveals that from 2005 to 2009, a segment of Over-the-Rhine had the highest income inequality of more than 61,000 communities nationwide.The segment — known as Census Tract No. 17 — is the northeast quadrant of Over-the-Rhine. The findings were featured in an article Tuesday by McClatchy Newspapers, which attributes the disparity in the tract partially to gentrification and the influx of young professionals into the predominantly low-income neighborhood.  

This isn’t something I say or write often, so please pay attention: Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann is right. Hartmann, a Republican who currently is president of the county commission, wants to temporarily keep the existing reduction in the amount of a property tax rollback to avoid deficits in the county’s stadium account.  

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.