Morning News and Stuff

A small group of Over-the-Rhine homeowners is

preparing for a possible lawsuit and other actions

should Mayor-elect John Cranley try to cancel the $133 million streetcar project. Ryan Messer says the fight is about protecting his family’s investment along the streetcar route. Streetcar supporters plan to host a town hall-style meeting in the coming weeks to discuss possible actions to keep the project on track, including a referendum effort on any legislation that halts construction of the ongoing project. While Cranley

says canceling the streetcar is at the top of the agenda

, questions remain about how much it would cost to cancel the project, as CityBeat covered in further detail

here

and

here

.

As Cincinnati debates canceling the streetcar project, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is

evaluating transit systems around the state

to encourage more efficiency and cost effectiveness. The agency is particularly focused on how different transit services are dealing with rising demand and shrinking budgets. But if that’s the case, ODOT might carry some of the blame: When Gov. John Kasich took office, ODOT’s Transportation Review Advisory Council pulled $52 million from the Cincinnati streetcar project despite previously scoring the streetcar the highest among Ohio’s transportation projects. The Kasich administration also refused $400 million in federal funding for a statewide passenger light rail system, and the money ended up going to California and other states that took on light rail projects.

Cranley’s other major campaign promise is to stop the city’s plan to lease its parking meters, lots and garages to the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority, but the Port

intends to finalize the lease by the end of the month

— before Cranley takes office in December — by selling bonds that will finance the deal. The outgoing city administration

pushed the parking plan through City Council in a matter of months

for an upfront payment of $92 million. But following unsuccessful litigation and a due diligence process, the Port Authority

cut the payment to $85 million

, and the city is now responsible for paying $14-$15 million to build a new parking garage that the Port was originally supposed to finance under the deal. Cranley and other opponents of the parking plan say it gives up too much control over the city’s parking assets, while supporters argue it’s necessary to modernize the assets and help fund economic development projects.

Several of Cincinnati’s power brokers and building owners are

working on a plan

that would create a retail corridor in the city’s center and hopefully keep Saks Fifth Avenue in the city. Some of the efforts apparently involve financial incentives from the city, according to details provided to the Business Courier .

In the past decade, Ohio students

have shown limited improvement

in reading and math scores.

The Cincinnati area could become the largest metropolitan area without an abortion clinic following new regulations imposed by the state budget signed into law in June by Gov. Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature. CityBeat covered the regulations and the rest of the state budget in further detail here.

The Hamilton County Association of Chiefs of Police

released a report outlining stricter guidelines for Taser use

. Attorney Al Gerhardstein, who has led lawsuits on behalf of families who lost loved ones after they were Tased, told WVXU he’s encouraged by the report, but he said he would also require annual tests of the devices and a ban on chest shots.

The Cincinnati branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is

filing a federal complaint

against the DHL Global Mail facility in Hebron, Ky., after DHL allegedly fired 24 of its employees on Oct. 9 in a dispute over prayer breaks.

Cincinnati’s Horseshoe Casino

reported $18.2 million in gross revenue in October

, down from

$19.8 million in September

. The revenue reduction also cost Cincinnati’s casino the No. 1 spot, which is now held by Cleveland’s Horseshoe Casino. For Cincinnati and Ohio, the drop means lower tax revenue.

The Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Center

plans to close its physical space

, but it’s sticking around as a virtual organization and will continue hosting Pride Night at Kings Island. A letter from the center’s board of directors stated that the transition was based on a need to “evolve with the times.”

The U.S. Senate

passed a bill

that would ban discrimination against gay and transgendered workers, but the bill’s chances are grim in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both Ohio senators — Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman — voted in favor of the Senate bill. CityBeat previously covered efforts in Ohio to pass workplace protections for LGBT individuals

here

.

Watch a homeless veteran’s aesthetic transformation, which apparently helped push his life forward:

The popular video of a baby’s reaction to his singing mom

might actually show conflicting feelings of fear and sociality

, not sentimentality.

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