Good morning Cincy. Here’s the news today.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters yesterday announced he would not seek a third trial for former University of Cincinnati Police officer Ray Tensing in the shooting death of unarmed black motorist Samuel DuBose in July 2015. Deters told reporters at a news conference that while his feelings about the case haven’t changed — he believes Tensing murdered DuBose — he thinks it would be impossible to get a conviction. DuBose’s family says they’re devastated by that decision, and local elected leaders have expressed dismay at the outcome. Local activists plan to rally to protest the lack of conviction for Tensing Saturday on Fountain Square at 5 p.m. You can read our full coverage of Deters’ decision here.
• The man who led Cincinnati’s streetcar efforts and helped manage massive riverfront development project The Banks is leaving the city for greener pastures. John Dietrick, the streetcar’s project director, was vying to replace retiring Cincinnati Parks Director Willie Carden but was passed over for that job. Now he’s headed to St. Mary’s County, Maryland, where he’ll be the county’s public works and transportation director.
• The board of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority voted to make cuts to three Metro bus routes with the fewest riders, according to a news release sent yesterday. Buses seeing reductions in service: Route 1, which goes from the Museum Center in Queensgate to Eden Park in Walnut Hills, would see its weekend routes ended but still run through the week. Route 28, which goes from the East End to Milford, would also see its weekend service cut. Route 50, which runs out to Sayler Park, would see cuts to off-peak and weekend service to neighborhoods Riverside and Sedamsville. SORTA says other routes can pick up the slack for these cuts and that the move would save about $523,000 a year. The transit authority will hold a public hearing on the proposed cuts Aug. 23 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Duke Energy Convention Center.
• Take a look at plans for the downtown Kroger store and 18-story residential tower planned for the corner of Central Parkway and Walnut Street. City leaders and Kroger executives announced the ambitious project for the first grocery store downtown in decades last month. Next steps will come when the project’s architect, GBBN, goes before the city’s Historic Conservation Board July 24 for approval. The project sits partially in the Court Street Historic District, meaning the city will have a say in the project’s look. Will the board approve? Some preservation advocates are praising — or at least not outright criticizing — the preliminary design.
• Debris from the Western Hills Viaduct fell off of the span’s upper deck yesterday, causing damage to a truck’s windshield and leading the city to close the lower portion of the bridge for a few hours. The 85-year-old bridge was last rehabbed in 1977, and city and county officials say it’s nearing the end of its lifespan. A replacement for the bridge is expected to cost more than $300 million. Major maintenance is planned for the bridge until funds can be nailed down for a replacement — something that hasn’t been an easy lift. City officials say the bridge is functionally safe at this point, but will need replacing in the coming years.
• U.S. Sen. Rob Portman became the fourth GOP Senator to say no to an effort by Republican leadership to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement for the health insurance law in place. Republicans have tried and failed twice to pass legislation that would simultaneously repeal the ACA, or Obamacare, while replacing it with a more conservative model for managing the nation’s health care system. Those pieces of legislation would have cost roughly 20 million Americans their health care coverage over the next decade, according to numbers released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. But Portman says simply repealing major parts of the ACA is “not appropriate” and that he will not vote for that measure. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has pushed efforts to repeal the ACA, needs at least 52 votes to pass the legislation — meaning he can afford to lose only two of the chamber’s 54 Republicans. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a conservative Republican, also pushed back against the effort to repeal the ACA yesterday in an op-ed in The New York Times. Kasich has called for a bipartisan approach to dealing with the healthcare law.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2017.