The city of Cincinnati will be pairing up with a web-based lending platform to help out small businesses and startups. With the approval of the Small Business Advisory Committee, the city and SoMoLend will give up to $400,000 in loans to stimulate economic growth and job creation. The partnership will aid small businesses and startups through crowd funding, which connects multiple potential lenders so no single investor, including the city government, is carrying the a bulk of the burden. Since crowd funding gets more investors involved, it can also raise more money for promising startups and small businesses. Businesses will be picked through SoMoLend’s typical application process, which emphasizes startups and small businesses. Successful applicants usually have 15 or fewer employees, meet a few standards regarding business and personal finances and prove they actually need a commercial loan. In the past, businesses have raised as much as $1 million in loans with SoMoLend. Applicants will also have to go through the city’s application process. The city government will look at how many jobs are created, what’s the capital investment involved, how much the city will give relative to private lenders and other similar metrics. Even as the economy recovers, small businesses and startups are having a tough time getting loans in comparison to bigger businesses. So the focus on small businesses and startups is in part to bring beneficial fairness to the system, says Meg Olberding, city spokesperson. “Access to capital at all levels has to happen. And the city government feels like small businesses are key to growth in our local economy.” The partnership’s focus on startups is economically sound. Governments and politicians love to herald small businesses as the drivers of economic growth, but studies suggest startups are more deserving of the praise. A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that young small businesses, or startups, are the key drivers to economic and job growth.  As for why SoMoLend was picked over other platforms, Olberding says location and history played a role: “It’s a local small business, so it’s … demonstrating what we’re talking about. It’s also a demonstrated success in terms of bringing viable businesses to the market.” The partnership is part of an ongoing effort to spur small businesses and startups in Cincinnati. SBAC was created in 2012 to pave a clearer, better path that encourages such businesses in the city. SBAC reviewed, gave feedback and approved the new partnership earlier today.Councilwoman Yvette Simpson, head of SBAC, praised the partnership in a statement: “I am excited that the SBAC approved the city’s new partnership with SoMoLend today. By making city lending more efficient and expanding the network of small businesses receiving city assistance, this new partnership fits well into the SBAC’s goal of making Cincinnati a better place for small business.”

A Hamilton County judge ordered the Ohio State High School Athletic Association to back off a last-minute decision that blocked Walnut Hills senior Dontonio Wingfield Jr. from playing basketball this season. Walnut Hills is the top-ranked large high school program in Southwest Ohio this year. Judge Robert Ruehlmann said the OHSAA previously ruled Wingfield eligible under school transfer guidelines and should not have suddenly reversed course at the last minute. He described the Nov. 29 decision as a total change that came out of the blue.“I granted a restraining order that said he can play, and now there is agreement he can play,” Ruehlmann told CityBeat on Tuesday after an emergency hearing on the dispute.  “He is eligible and we’re done. The OHSAA has worked things out with his attorneys. It is over. He is playing.”Wingfield is the son of former University of Cincinnati Bearcats star Dontonio Wingfield, who left the university for the NBA after a single season. Wingfield Jr. is considered a the top prep shooting guard in Ohio this year. He has verbally committed to attend Ohio University in Athens.OHSAA officials, who in August told Walnut Hills there was no problem with Wingfield’s eligibility, notified the school by email last week that he used up his transfer options when he moved from Summit Country Day to Lockland High School. His lawyer, Terence R. Coates, said there has been some inadvertent paperwork errors involving transfer rules. “Dontonio planned to attend a four-year college and felt the academic regiment at Walnut Hills wouild best prepare him for being successful in college. His transfer was not motivated by athletics,’’ Coates said. He called the OHSAA ruling that made Dontonio ineligible “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."Meanwhile, the hearing on another student athlete, Winton Woods female guard Alexxus M. Paige, was delayed until Dec. 7 on procedural issues. Judge Ruehlmann said there is a likelihood the case might be settled by having Paige return to Withrow High School to finish her senior season this year. She had transferred to Winton Woods because of family issues. OHSAA ruled her ineligible for a year.

It will soon be official. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls will announce her mayoral campaign on Thursday at 10 a.m. Qualls has already announced her candidacy and platform on her website. Qualls will be joined by term-limited Mayor Mark Mallory, which could indicate support from the popular mayor. Right now, Qualls’ only known opponent is former Democratic city councilman John Cranley, who has spoken out against the streetcar project Qualls supports. As part of City Manager Milton Dohoney’s budget proposal, anyone who lives in Cincinnati but works elsewhere could lose a tax credit. The budget proposal also eliminates the property tax rollback and moves to privatize the city’s parking services, which Dohoney says is necessary if the city wants to avoid 344 layoffs. The mayor and City Council must approve Dohoney’s budget before it becomes law. City Council is set to vote on the budget on Dec. 14. Public hearings for the budget proposal will be held in City Hall Thursday at 6 p.m. and in the Corryville Recreation Center Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. Vice Mayor Qualls and Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan are pushing a resolution that demands local control over hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” activity. But the resolution will have no legal weight, so the state will retain full control over fracking operations even if the resolution is passed. Qualls and Quinlivan will also hold a press conference today at 1:15 p.m. at City Hall to discuss problems with fracking, which has come under fire by environmentalist groups due to concerns about air pollution and water contamination caused during the drilling-and-disposal process. Greater Cincinnati hospitals had mixed results in a new round of scores from Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group. In an effort to comply with cost cutting, the Hamilton County recorder is eliminating Friday office hours. The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments is looking for feedback for the Tristate’s transportation and economic plans. This year’s drought is coming to an end in a lot of places, but not southwest Ohio. The Ohio Senate passed a concussion bill that forces student athletes to be taken off the field as soon as symptoms of a concussion are detected. As the state government pushes regulations or even an outright ban on Internet cafes, one state legislator is suggesting putting the issue on the ballot. State officials argue unregulated Internet cafes are “ripe for organized crime” and money laundering. An Ohio House committee is set to vote on the issue today. If passed, the bill will likely put Internet cafes that use sweepstakes machines out of business. Ohio Gov. John Kasich could be preparing for a 2016 campaign. Kasich was caught privately courting Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul who spent millions on Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney’s failed campaigns for the presidency. The early meetup shows how valued super PAC funders are to modern political campaigns. State Democrats criticized the meeting, saying it was Kasich “actively positioning to be the next Ohio darling of the special interests.” Ohio Sen. Rob Portman had a bit of trouble giving a speech on the federal debt yesterday. Hecklers repeatedly interrupted Portman, a Republican, as he tried to speak. The final protesters were escorted out of the room as they chanted, “We’re going to grow, not slow, the economy.” Portman says his plan is to promote growth. But both Democrats and Republicans will raise taxes on the lower and middle classes, according to a calculator from The Washington Post. Tax hikes and spending cuts are typically bad ideas during a slow economy. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is facing the wrath of his tea party comrades. The far right wing of the Republican Party is apparently furious Boehner purged rebellious conservative legislators out of House committees and proposed $800 billion in new revenue in his “fiscal cliff” plan to President Barack Obama.To help combat fatigue at space stations, NASA is changing a few light bulbs. Does this dog really love or really hate baths? You decide: