After spending several weeks in the nation’s capital waiting for a chance to vote on a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is glad to be back in Ohio. Brown, the Democrat from Avon, a Cleveland suburb on Lake Erie, was in Cincinnati this week to visit with constituents in this part of the state and meet with the media.  

In what’s the largest solar project in downtown Cincinnati to date, 429 solar energy collection panels have been installed on the roof of the Duke Energy Convention Center. The 101 kilowatt installation is expected to receive 1,000 hours of sunlight annually and reduce the center’s greenhouse gas emissions by 57.9 metric tons each year.  

Here they go again. Just as Far Right conservatives in Congress created a crisis over the federal debt ceiling so they could advance their true goal of nibbling away at Social Security and Medicare, so are fringe factions closer to home using a backdoor maneuver to block Cincinnati’s mass transit options for the next decade or more.  

The hillside neighborhood that overlooks downtown to the west is making a rebound after years of suffering due to bad policy decisions by bureaucrats. Crime reported in the East, West and Lower Price Hill areas took a steep 20.2 percent drop in the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period a year ago, according to statistics compiled by Cincinnati Police.  

Let’s connect the dots and see who is being more honest and straightforward in negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling. (And for readers who think the debt ceiling fight doesn’t affect them, you’re just flat out wrong.) Boehner alleged the House had passed a plan, the “Cut, Cap and Balance Act,” with bipartisan support. That bill — which would cut current spending, cap the amount of future spending, require Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and raise the federal debt ceiling — is based on highly questionable numbers.  

Megan Ketover, the pastry chef at downtown’s Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza hotel, has been selected to compete against 14 other pastry chefs on the new season of Top Chef: Just Desserts. The reality TV show, which appears on the Bravo cable network, premieres Aug. 24.  

Silence isn't always golden. There are plenty of unanswered questions surrounding the arrest of State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-Green Township) on drunken driving charges, and Republican leaders are hoping the lawmaker's impending resignation will end the matter. The Enquirer has been helpful in keeping the matter under wraps.  

Step aside, Happy Days. If everything goes well, the average American might think of downtown Cincinnati’s historic watering hole when they hear TV characters talking about “going to Arnold’s” after this fall. That’s because producers of the NBC drama series, Harry’s Law, have decided to use exterior shots of the East Eighth Street bar and recreate the tavern’s interior in a Hollywood studio.  

In a letter sent July 8 to the Ethics Commission, attorney Tim Mara alleges that Towne Properties, a firm owned by the family of Councilman Chris Bortz, holds a 50-percent stake in a newly created firm established so the project could receive $21 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) from the city. City Council approved the TIF deal at its June 29 meeting, with Bortz abstaining from the vote.  

If this were the Olympics, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation would’ve been awarded a bronze medal, which isn’t bad at all. Despite a concerted online lobbying effort, the nonprofit agency placed third in an online voting competition recently held by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.