Good morning all. Here’s a quick news rundown, listicle style.
Wondering why the NAACP is holding its national convention in Cincinnati again, just eight years after it hosted future president Barack Obama here? Leaders with the civil rights organization say it’s because the city is an “effective community.” Here’s a big quote from NAACP CEO Cornell Williams Brooks: “We receive a transcendental welcome in Cincinnati that is not extended in a generic city for a generic convention.” Read more here.
• Would local law enforcement agencies use a robot armed with bombs to kill a suspect in a standoff? They won’t say. The horrific shooting during a rally for racial justice of 11 Dallas police officers, including five who died, set off a wave of debate last week. One of the most unusual details about that incident was the fact that Dallas PD used a robot armed with explosives to kill the sniper suspected in the attacks. That’s been highly controversial, with big questions about whether such a tactic was appropriate and in line with constitutional due process requirements.
• Travel stories about Cincinnati from national publications are always kind of funny and off, but as they go, this one in The New York Times about doing Cincinnati on a budget isn’t that bad. Yeah, the author wasn’t overly impressed with our chili, but he did have enough sense to go to Camp Washington Chili and proclaim it better than other kinds. I agree. And when in Over-the-Rhine, the author at least nodded to the controversial gentrification and displacement going on there. Worth a read.
• Wanna see the inside of the newly renovated downtown YMCA? Here you go. Spoiler alert: It’s fancy, and I want to get a membership now. HUGE bonus points for the indoor track, which is a very hard-to-find thing these days.
• Hollywood films just keep lining up for the Queen City. The latest: John Travolta is making a movie in Cincinnati about the life of mob boss John Gotti. The film is set in New York City, which seems to be a touchstone for many of the movies that end up filming here.
• U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a progressive Democrat representing Ohio, is usually not shy in his appraisal of Republicans. But this week, they’ll be on his home turf during their convention in Cleveland, and Brown has pledged not to talk trash while they’re there. This must be some kind of weird Ohio hospitality thing. Tbh, I don't get it. Can you imagine LeBron James promising not to dunk on folks during home games?
• Finally, if you have any interest in our justice system and how it operates, you absolutely have to read this GQ piece on the process by which the police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice was investigated by then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty. The entire incident and its aftermath bring up huge, troubling questions about the roles prosecutors and grand juries play in our justice system.
