At a White House ceremony this afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama will present the 2013 National Medal for Museum and Library Service to The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and nine additional libraries and museums. She will join Institute of Museum and Library Services Director Susan Hildreth in recognizing 10 exceptional institutions making important contributions to their communities and implementing creative approaches to outreach and public service. Obama will present the award to the directors and local community members of these institutions, highlighting the impact each facility has had on individual lives and community growth. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor conferred upon libraries and museums for service to individuals, families and communities. Recipients are selected from an extensive list of nationwide nominations of libraries and museums exceeding the average standards of community outreach. This year, the 10 diverse institutions represent seven states and include outstanding facilities such as a Santa Ana, Calif., science center; a Boston, Mass., children’s museum; a Clarksdale, Miss. Blues museum dedicated to exploring the unique musical genre; a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Czech and Slovak museum that successfully re-emerged after a catastrophic flood in June 2008; and various public and county library systems. Representing The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are The Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director Kimber L. Fender and library patron Amina Tuki. The award will recognize the value the library has brought to the Cincinnati and surrounding community as well as its dedication and innovation in the field of public service. Later this year, StoryCorps — a nonprofit committed to recording, sharing and celebrating a diverse array of American voices — will visit each of the winning institutions to collect information and personalized stories from individuals of the honored communities. The organization, founded in 2003, has pioneered such initiatives asthe  Military Voices Initiative, the National Teachers Initiative, the September 11th Initiative and the Memory Loss Initiative, and continues to celebrate its National Day of Listening (NDL), which takes place the day after Thanksgiving as a noncommercial alternative to “Black Friday” shopping mania. Their upcoming focus on libraries and museums across the country could serve as a contender for the NDL theme this November. With its 21,000 programs, workshops and classes, The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County stands out among 140,000 libraries and museums across the United States. There is no word yet on what immediate effects this award will have on the local community, but a library spokesperson attributes the honor to its patrons and visitors, saying, “It’s because of your commitment to the Library that gives us the privilege of saying we’re one of the busiest and best library systems in the nation. This award belongs to all of us.” The ceremony will be streamed live beginning at 1:30 p.m. Follow The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County on Facebook for photos and updates.

In-person early voting is underway in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth here.Josh Mandel, state treasurer and Republican U.S. senatorial candidate for Ohio, is denying he physically confronted a campaign tracker. According to Mandel, the tracker approached and confronted him, not the other way around. But the video of the confrontation shows Mandel approaching and getting really close to the tracker first. Ohio Democrats, who said Mandel’s campaign is a “campaign of unending dishonesty,” were quick to jump on another example of Mandel possibly being dishonest. CityBeat covered Mandel’s notorious dishonesty here. Mandel is running against Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown.  The presidential debates are tonight at 9 p.m. A full schedule of future debates can be found here. Whoever does better, keep in mind debates rarely influence elections. Michelle Obama was in town yesterday. She spoke to a crowd of 6,800, asking them to take part in Ohio’s early voting process and encourage friends and family to do the same. Grocery store competition could soon be bringing lower prices to the Greater Cincinnati area, according to analysts. JobsOhio chief Mark Kvamme is stepping down. The high-profile venture capitalist, who was originally from California, was originally recruited by Gov. John Kasich to lead the Ohio Department of Development. But soon Kvamme hopped onto JobsOhio, a nonprofit company established by Kasich and the state legislature to bring investment into Ohio. Under Kvamme’s leadership, JobsOhio, which is supposed to replace the Department of Development, has brought in 400 companies to invest in Ohio, leading to $6.1 billion in capital investment, according to a press release. But the nonprofit company has been heavily criticized by liberal groups like Progress Ohio, which say JobsOhio is unconstitutional. Lower courts have generally legitimized Progress Ohio’s claims, but the Ohio Supreme Court recently turned down a case dealing with JobsOhio. The court said a lower court would have to give a declaratory judgment first. William O’Neill, former judge and Democratic candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court, is asking Republican justices Robert Cupp and Terrence O’Donnell to “recuse or refuse.” O’Neill says the Republican justices are sitting on cases that involve FirstEnergy, an Akron-based energy company that has contributed to the re-election campaigns of Cupp and O’Donnell. O’Neill says the conflict of interest diminishes faith in the highest court of Ohio’s justice system. A new study on Taser use in Hamilton County found local law enforcement have some problematic policies on the books and in practice. The study was put together by a local law firm that’s demanding policy reform. Americans United for Life (AUL) is celebrating a federal court ruling against Planned Parenthood that maintains Ohio regulations on an abortion drug. The regulations require physicians to administer the drug in a clinic or physician’s office, and the drug may only be taken within 49 days of gestation. AUL says health groups like Planned Parenthood want to avoid sound health regulations, but Planned Parenthood argues the regulations make it too difficult for women to use the drug. Natalie Portman is in a new commercial in support of President Barack Obama. In the ad, she touts Obama’s support of women’s rights. It seems most Americans are avoiding or can’t afford as many trips to the doctor as before. One of the most lucrative criminal enterprises in the world is wood.It turns out the vampire squid is not a lethal ocean predator. Still, who wouldn't run away from that?

While the presidential candidates prepared for Wednesday’s debate, Michelle Obama urged Cincinnatians on Tuesday to take advantage of the first day of early voting, before leading a group to the board of elections to cast their ballots. “I’ve got news for you: Here in Ohio it’s already Election Day. Early voting starts today,” Obama told a crowd of 6,800 inside the Duke Energy Convention Center. She urged everyone to reach out and encourage their friends to vote after they had cast their own ballots. “Twitter them. Tweet them. What do you do? It’s tweeting, right? Tweet them,” she joked to the crowd. Earlier in the morning, the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney kicked off its “Commit to Mitt Early Vote Express” statewide bus tour in downtown Cincinnati.  The tour started in Hamilton County before moving through Butler County and is scheduled to end the day in Preble County. The bus is scheduled to make its way through every region of Ohio during the early voting period and will serve as a mobile campaign headquarters, dispensing voter contact materials and featuring Romney campaign surrogates, according to a news release. At the convention center, Michelle Obama avoided some of the direct attacks employed by her husband or the Romney campaign, but used her 30-minute speech to counter some of the criticisms from the GOP nominee, recapping some of her convention speech. “Our families weren’t asking for much,” Michelle said of her own and Barack’s families. “They didn’t begrudge anyone else’s success, you know, they didn’t mind if others had much more than they did, in fact they admired it. That’s why they pushed us to succeed.” Her comment seemed to come in response to an attack that the Romney campaign levied against Barack Obama after his infamous “you didn’t build that” comment, where the GOP candidate argues that Obama and Democrats are fostering enmity among the middle class by stoking jealousy of rich, successful Americans like Mitt Romney. “Our families believed also that when you work hard and have done well and finally walk through that doorway of opportunity, you don’t slam it shut behind you,” Michelle Obama continued.  “No, you reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. You see, that’s how Barack and I and so many of you were raised. … We learned that the truth matters – you don’t take shortcuts, you don’t game the system, you don’t play by your own set of rules.” She went on to say that Americans are part of something bigger than themselves and obligated to give back to others, counter to the Republicans’ narrative of the individual pulled up by his or her own bootstraps. Danielle Henderson, 40, a teacher’s assistant from Cincinnati, said she was a fan of the first lady’s and joked that she wanted to know if Michelle was running for president in 2016. “Behind every good man is a good woman,” Henderson said. “Honestly, a woman is a backbone of the family.” She said she thought the first family was a good model for the rest of the country. Henderson’s mother-in-law Barbara joked that she was excited to see what the first lady was going to wear. “I see trends she sets trickle down to other politicians’ wives,” she joked.

It’s October. Tomorrow is the first day of in-person early voting in Ohio. Find your nearest polling booth at the secretary of state’s website here. Michelle Obama will be in Cincinnati tomorrow to support an in-person early voting push in Ohio. The state is considered vital for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign against President Barack Obama, but while national polling is close, Ohio is looking very bad for Romney. The Romney team seems to be banking on the debates to regain momentum, but, historically, debates have little electoral impact. The first debate is Wednesday at 9 p.m. A full schedule of the debates can be found here.  In more good news for Democrats, a recent poll by The Columbus Dispatch found Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is leading Josh Mandel, state treasurer and Brown’s Republican opponent for the U.S. Senate seat, by 10 points. The last Dispatch poll found the two candidates tied. The poll shows a long-term trend seen in aggregate polling of Brown gaining momentum and Mandel falling behind.   A former Republican Ohio state representative came out in support of Issue 2. Joan Lawrence came out for the initiative as part of Women for Issue 2, claiming the current system is rigged. If Issue 2 is approved by voters this election cycle, Ohio’s redistricting will be handled by an independent citizens committee. Currently, elected officials manage Ohio’s redistricting process, but the process normally leads to corruption in a process known as “gerrymandering” in which politicians redraw district borders in politically advantageous ways. In the First Congressional District, which includes Cincinnati, district boundaries were redrawn by Republicans to include less of Hamilton County’s urban population, which tends to vote Democrat, and instead include the more rural Warren County, which tends to vote Republican. CityBeat previously covered the issue and Republicans’ losses in court regarding Issue 2 here. Margaret Buchanan, The Cincinnati Enquirer’s publisher and president, left the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees Friday to avoid a potential conflict of interest in the newspaper’s reporting on the UC Board of Trustees. CityBeat and other media critics mentioned the conflict of interest in the past, particularly when former UC President Greg Williams suddenly resigned and Buchanan refused to comment on speculation around the resignation.  Cincinnati’s economic recovery is in full swing. For the second straight month, the area’s manufacturers expanded. The Cincinnati Purchasing Management Index, which measures manufacturing, went up from 54.6 in August to 58.8 in September. The index must be above 50 to signify growth; below 50 shows contraction. Cincinnati’s women-owned businesses are doing a lot more than some may think. They are responsible for 3,500 local area jobs. Ohio’s attorney general is devoting more money toward solving cold case homicides. Cold cases are old cases that have not been the subject of recent investigations but could be solved in light of new evidence. Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be filmed in southern and northeast Ohio. Nintendo’s Wii U is already looking like the top Christmas toy. Artificially intelligent gamer bots convinced judges they’re human more often than actual humans.

Opponents of Ohio's new restrictive election law have gotten it postponed until next year at the earliest, with a potential repeal of House Bill 194 in November ending it before it begins.

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