Morning News and Stuff

Have any questions for City Council candidates? Submit them

here

and we may ask your questions at this Saturday’s candidate forum.

Early voting for the 2013 City Council and mayoral elections is now underway. Find your voting location

here

. Normal voting hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., although some days will be extended.

The ongoing federal government shutdown is

keeping thousands of Ohioans from going to work

. The federal government closed its doors yesterday after House Republicans refused to pass a budget that doesn’t weaken Obamacare and Senate Democrats and the White House insisted on keeping President Barack Obama’s signature health care law intact. Without a budget, non-essential federal government services can’t operate.

As part of a broader campaign to reduce Cincinnati’s high infant mortality rate, the city yesterday

launched another effort

that aims to educate parents in the city’s most afflicted zip codes on proper ways to put their babies to sleep. According to the Cincinnati Health Department, 36 babies died from unsafe sleeping conditions between 2010 and 2011. Cradle Cincinnati plans to help prevent these deaths by reminding parents that babies should always sleep alone, in a crib and on his or her back. The education effort is just one of many to reduce Cincinnati’s infant mortality rates, which in some local zip codes have been worse than rates in third-world countries.

Ohioans who tried to use Obamacare’s online marketplaces on opening day yesterday

likely ran into some website errors

, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is asking participants for patience as they work out the glitches, which appear to be driven by overwhelming demand. The problems weren’t unexpected, given that software launches are often mired in issues that are later patched up. “We’re building a complicated piece of technology, and hopefully you’ll give us the same slack you give Apple,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

told reporters at a Sept. 30 briefing

.

Domestic violence arrests in 2012 were down from the previous year, but law enforcement officials

say they need more help

from lawmakers to bring down the number, which remained above 41,000, even further. Officials claim a law on teen dating violence, which, among other things, allows protective orders on accused abusers who are under 18 years old, has helped, but advocates argue protections need to be strengthened. CityBeat covered the advocates’ efforts in further detail

here

.

The Ohio Libertarian Party asked lawmakers at a hearing yesterday to

loosen restrictions

in a bill that seeks to limit ballot access for minor political parties. The bill, which is sponsored by State Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), requires minor parties to gather an estimated 100,000 signatures every two years to remain on the ballot, which Libertarians say would be difficult and expensive. Instead, Libertarians would like that provision to require the signatures every four years. Libertarians also asked lawmakers to allow voting thresholds, which give minor parties automatic recognition in Ohio if they get 3 percent or more of the vote, to apply to more than the gubernatorial race. Seitz said he’s open to the changes.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced yesterday that the Bureau of Criminal Investigation exceeded its goal of testing 1,500 rape kits in the program’s first year. In total, the agency has tested 1,585 out of 4,053 submitted kits. The program allows local and state law enforcement to analyze and match DNA evidence to verify criminal allegations. So far, it has led to 505 DNA matches.

Cincinnati

could make an offer by the end of the year

for a currently unused section of the Wasson Way railroad line that the city plans to convert into a five-mile bike and hike trail.

Three more downtown buildings

will house apartments

. Although the buildings aren’t directly on the streetcar route, the developer said that public transportation, along with bicycles, will play an important role in promoting the apartments because they won’t have dedicated parking.

The Greater Cincinnati Green Business Council is offering an

energy benchmarking toolkit

that allows small and medium-sized businesses to see how they can improve their environmental performance.

Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati is the No. 1 hospital for delivering babies in Ohio

.

The number of induced abortions in Ohio rose between 2011 and 2012 but ended up at the second lowest levels since 1976, according to the

Ohio Department of Health

.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is

putting more than $3 million toward purchasing new vehicles and equipment

that should help elderly and disabled residents across the state.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

approved the first “artificial pancreas”

to help diabetics better monitor and control their insulin levels.