Hey Cincinnati! Things are looking up. It’s Friday. The weather is going to be, as the kids say, bangin' this weekend, bro. Wait, the kids don’t say that anymore, do they? This is why I write about news. Let me get back in my lane.
Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach has a new job — running Living With Change: The LC Foundation. Jessica and Chris Cicchinelli are launching that nonprofit this weekend, inspired by the journey the family undertook when the couple’s daughter revealed she is transgender. LC will work to train educators about transgender issues as well as raise money for Children’s Hospital’s Division of Adolescent and Transition Medicine. Seelbach has been one of the city’s most vocal proponents of trans rights and trans awareness. The new organization he’s leading will have business smarts behind it: Chris Cicchinelli is the president and CEO of Cincinnati-based romance aid company Pure Romance. The Cicchinellis are also throwing in $500,000 to launch the foundation and have pledged $2 million overall to the effort.
• If you thought you’d make it through at least one day this week without some soccer-related news, well, sorry about that. On Monday, it’s reported that Major League Soccer will announce its approval of a team in Miami owned by soccer superstar David Beckham. That announcement won’t directly affect FC Cincinnati’s chances of scoring a franchise this year — the league has been planning for the Miami team separately for a while now — but it’s one less spot FCC could get down the road if it doesn’t win the one remaining expansion slot up for grabs this year. FCC is pitted against Detroit and Sacramento for the nod from MLS. Nashville has already grabbed the other expansion franchise MLS is offering this year.
• Some inter-party drama at a party for a Republican Party staffer for you: What did Greater Cincinnati’s State Rep. Bill Seitz say about his party mate, Middletown’s Rep. Candice Keller, at a recent going away party for a GOP staffer? Something offensive, Keller says. Seitz and other lawmakers reportedly made other comments disparaging Keller’s far right politics, as well as putting down other female colleagues, according to sources at the Tuesday event. Keller has in turn reported those comments to Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Cliff Rosenberger. Democrats have seized on those comments, too. State Sen. Cecil Thomas, for instance, has called for a probe into what was said at the party. Seitz sent a letter yesterday to Rosenberger apologizing for his comments .
• Oops. A law enforcement officer in Dayton, Ky. left an assault rifle unattended while responding to a domestic situation Wednesday afternoon. Photos show the AR-15 leaning against the wheel well of a vehicle as an underage individual with a backpack walks by. Dayton Police Chief David Halfhill says that was a “mistake” made during a call in which a man who had recently lost his job came out of his house with a gun and fired a round into the air. Both Dayton and Bellevue Police were responding to the domestic situation, and it’s unclear which department’s officer left the rifle lying around.
“It is unfortunate that this incident happened, but we as police officers are human and do make mistakes,” Halfhill said in a press release. No one was harmed in the incident.
• Ohio Gov. John Kasich has named a replacement for retiring Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neil, a Democrat who is leaving the bench to run for governor. Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Mary DeGenero will fill out O’Neil’s term, which ends in January next year. DeGenero is also a declared candidate for the spot’s next six-year term, and her appointment gives her a distinct advantage as the incumbent. Her appointment makes the court entirely Republican and majority female.
• Here’s a national bombshell brought to you by The New York Times: President Donald Trump sought to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller back in June, but was restrained by the White House’s lawyer, who threatened to quit if he did. Mueller is investigating allegations that Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election and obstructed justice during investigations into foreign meddling in the presidential contest.
