Here are some important numbers that everyone who lives or works in Cincinnati should remember: 69, 84 and five. The first number, 69, represents 69 percent. That’s how much of the city’s General Fund budget is allocated to the Police and Fire departments. A mere 31 percent — less than one-third of the total — is allocated for non-public safety purposes.  

We hardily endorse the latest idea from Kevin Flynn, the Mount Airy attorney and Charterite who’s making his second run for Cincinnati City Council. Like a few other politicos before him, Flynn proposes that council incumbents forego their usual two-month summer recess and stay in session, working on a plan to avoid the city’s estimated $33 million deficit next year.  

Nearly a full decade after a charter amendment was approved that changed how police chiefs are selected, it’s being used for the first time. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. announced June 28 that he’s selected a candidate from outside the current ranks to head the Cincinnati Police Department. Not only does the person selected have extensive experience dealing with gang-related violence and shootings in Los Angeles, but he also will be the Queen City’s first-ever African-American police chief.  

A judge’s job is to use reason and discretion to make fair decisions, within the scope of the law. But a decision June 24 by Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard strikes as excessive and vindictive.  

Barack Obama, it seems, is unfamiliar with the Internet and the facts of life in the wired age. Or maybe he just hopes no one is paying attention. In his feeble attempts to justify the continued U.S. military involvement in NATO’s efforts to oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power, Obama is directly contradicting numerous statements he made in the past about the abuse of presidential power by his predecessor, George W. Bush.  

Seelbach, 31, is making his first run for Cincinnati City Council this fall after having worked on several political campaigns for candidates and issues. A Democrat, he is an openly gay man who lives in Over-the-Rhine with his partner, Craig. Although another gay person, conservative John Schlagetter, ran twice unsuccessfully for City Council in 2001 and 2003 as a Charterite, Schlagetter never trumpeted his orientation. By comparison, Seelbach thinks it’s important that he be honest and forthcoming about his personal life when seeking public support.  

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint last week against the blubbery House Speaker from West Chester. The group alleges Boehner violated a law designed to stop officials from overspending appropriations.  

Back in January 2001, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was estimating the nation was on course to have a negative net indebtedness beginning in 2006, partially due to various fiscal policies put into place by President Clinton. They included a tax increase on upper-income taxpayers that was approved during his first year in office, coupled with some spending cuts and increases in tax collections on items like capital gains that were sparked by the then-booming economy.  

In an unusual move, Kasich listened to the advice of the Ohio Parole Board and granted clemency to convicted killer Shawn Hawkins of North College Hill. Hawkins, 42, was scheduled to be executed just a few days later when the governor made his decision June 8. Sister Alice Gerdeman of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Over-the-Rhine, an ardent death penalty foe, lobbied for clemency.  

People who closely follow the budget troubles plaguing City Hall for the past couple of years know that Cincinnati City Council had to make numerous cuts to services last winter to avoid a $54.7 million deficit. Those cuts originally included eliminating residential yard waste collection, ending funding for nurses in public schools and keeping most of the city-owned swimming pools closed this summer.