Good morning all. Here’s your news today.
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump came to Cincinnati last night, drawing thousands to his downtown rally as early voting continues in our vital little corner of Ohio. I watched it on live stream because my press credentials are still pending approval by Trump's campaign. I can’t imagine why. Did a campaign staffer Google my name and see this? Or this? Or maybe this? (You should read that last one. It’s new and has some very important stories in it). Or maybe they're just too busy. Anyway, Trump decried the allegations about sexual misconduct leveled against him in recent days as lies and promised to restore America’s industrial might after defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. And oh yeah, he promised to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
• If you’re looking for even more high-profile politicking, you’re in luck. Former president Bill Clinton will be making a public appearance at Washington Park today at 2:30 p.m. He’ll be stumping for Hillary, riling up the Democrat base to get out the vote.
• Former UCPD officer Ray Tensing, who is charged with murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of unarmed black motorist Samuel DuBose last summer in Mount Auburn, appeared in court this morning for a pretrial hearing before his trial starts in earnest later this month. That hearing was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., but was delayed for more than an hour. Tensing, his attorneys and court officials met in a nearby conference room until about 11 a.m.. It’s unclear what caused the delay. Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 21 and jury selection for the trial begins Oct. 25. Tensing was charged in DuBose’s death after body camera footage showed him shooting DuBose in the head at a traffic stop. Tensing says he feared for his life at that stop and was dragged by DuBose’s car. The footage shows that DuBose’s car didn’t begin moving until after he was shot, however. Tensing was fired from UCPD following the incident and his indictment.
• The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County could move operations out of the north building of its main branch downtown, and may sell that building or convert it into retail or convention space. The Library Board of Directors Facilities Committee on Tuesday approved the move after a space utilization study by GBBN found that the library’s south building could accommodate all of the main branch’s services. The north annex currently contains the library’s Maker Space and other services, but will be “repurposed” according to the board’s meeting minutes. The decision comes ahead of a larger facilities plan that includes an estimated $54 million in capital projects for the library. Among the plans: moving forward on a central and separate operations center for the library and some $18 million in maintenance work for some of the library’s branch facilities.The Library's whole board will need to give final approval.
Employees received an e-mail from library administration about the decision on Tuesday. According to that e-mail, no staff reductions are part of the plan.
“At today’s Board meeting the Library Board of Trustees took initial steps toward the Library’s most significant Facilities Plan ever,” it reads. “The result of 18 months of work by members of Senior Leadership and architects, the Plan will address many Facilities needs of our Library. The final piece then is what to do with the North building. This is still to be determined but there are many options ranging from selling the building to help cover the cost of the maintenance/renovations/replacements to adding retail and conference/event space to be managed by the Library.”
• Guess what? More politics! Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and his 2016 election challenger, former Democrat Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, will be debating today at noon. Portman has a big lead over Strickland, but has run into some choppy waters of late for his support — and recently, withdrawal of that support — for Trump following the revelation via video that the presidential candidate made lewd comments about groping and kissing women in 2005. Strickland has hit Portman over that support and last-minute back-tracking, as well as his involvement with the trade policies of the Bush administration and his vote for NAFTA in the 1990s. Portman, meanwhile, has been hammering Strickland on Ohio’s economic record while he was governor. Strickland oversaw the state during the Great Recession, a stretch when tens of thousands of jobs fled the state or disappeared all together. So basically what I’m telling you is watching these two guys argue is gonna be an interesting way to spend your lunch break.