Good morning all. Hope your Wednesday is going well. Let's talk news.
Tomorrow is the 15th anniversary of a tragic, but defining, moment in Cincinnati history — the police shooting of unarmed black 19-year-old Timothy Thomas in Over-the-Rhine and the subsequent unrest in that neighborhood and others. Today, we published a cover story taking stock of progress the city has made and the work left to do. You should pick up the issue and take a look.
Next week, community leaders, non-profit organizations and activists, some instrumental in the city’s historic Collaborative Agreement, are staging a five-day conference exploring the CA, policing in Cincinnati, future strategies for improving race relations and the concept of violence as a public health issue. The event is free to the public. Various events, from movie screenings to workshops and dialogues, will run April 11-16 at New Prospect Baptist Church, 1580 Summit Ave. You can register and find the entire schedule at www.communitypolicerelations.com
• Were you excited by news that Cincinnati is getting a bar where the beer is priced like stocks? I… only sort of understand the concept, but I heard some people were hyped on it. Those folks may have some more waiting to do, though. The state of Ohio has put the brakes on Queen City Exchange, which had plans to open on West Court Street this summer. The idea was that the beer would be priced dynamically, so that if you wanted a really popular brew, it would cost you more. This would probably work out well for me — I enjoy some weird beers — but I can’t imagine why you’d want this if you like popular brands. Anyway, Ohio liquor laws state that bar operators can only change their prices once a month. That’s not very dynamic, I guess, and certainly not at the pace the stock market changes. QCE’s owners are trying to work out the snag with the state now.
• Cincinnati City Council’s next election is more than a year away, but one new contender has already started campaigning. Former U.S. Senate Democratic primary candidate Kelli Prather has announced she’s running for a Council seat. The West Price Hill resident came in third in the Senate primary behind current Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld and the winner, former Ohio governor Ted Strickland. Prather did manage to rake in a decent 12.6 percent of the vote in the Senate primary, however — not bad given the fact it was her first political race. She runs a home healthcare business and is a survivor of domestic gun violence, both experiences she talked about on the campaign trail as influences on her progressive policy stances.
• If you needed any more evidence that body cameras are a vital part of modern policing, shedding light on what could otherwise be murky situations, here’s a graphic reminder. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters yesterday released body cam footage from the incident last week on I-75 where a knife-wielding man was shot and injured after lunging at an officer. In the video, Glendale Police Officer Josh Hilling pulls to the side of the highway and begins questioning Javier Aleman, who is walking along the median. When Hilling asks to pat Aleman down, Aleman draws a knife. Hilling shoots Aleman once in the abdomen, then pleads with him to drop the weapon for minutes as Aleman begs the officer to kill him. The standoff only ends when he collapses. Aleman, still hospitalized, is charged with attempted murder.
• Looks like underdog GOP presidential primary candidate John Kasich is taking some time off his full-time job running for president to moonlight at his part-time gig as governor of Ohio. Kasich today will give his annual State of the State address, where he’ll talk about the challenges and success Ohio has experienced this year. We wrote a lot about the state’s economic condition back in January, and that article might be a good primer as Kasich touts the Buckeye State’s economic recovery and miraculous job growth. Kasich will give his remarks in Marietta, one of the state’s first cities.
• Finally, let’s talk Wisconsin, where presidential primary front runners go to lose. Both Democrat favorite Hillary Clinton and Republican delegate leader Donald Trump took a beating there yesterday at the hands of upstarts U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, respectively. Sanders’ win in Wisconsin won’t do much to bridge the 200-plus delegate gap between him and Clinton, but it could give him the perception of momentum among voters in states like New York, where more delegates are at play. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Cruz’s victory is another moment in Trump’s continued slow slide. The Donald is still on top, but the firebrand Senator from Texas is catching up quickly.