After thieves broke into the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati office in Lower Price Hill and tried to steal copper piping, causing $4,000 in water damage, the agency serving homeless families had enough. Plans are underway to move to another neighborhood.  

Within 48 hours of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signing House Bill 545 — characterized by many groups as the "country's strongest payday lending reform law" — the payday lending lobby mobilized to fight it. But Ohio voters embraced reform by a wide margin, passing Issue 5 63-37 percent. Payday lenders were singled out with this law, but the national mortgage financial crisis has also raised the question of how banks and other financial institutions earn their big bucks.