Ever since the Cincinnati streetcar has been envisioned, the mass transit project has been mired in misrepresentations driven largely by opponents and politicians. CityBeat has a breakdown of the misrepresentations
here
, showing some of the silliest and biggest falsehoods claimed by opponents and supporters.The national battle over gun control came to Cincinnati on July 4 when former Rep. Gabby Giffords
stopped at the Northside parade to call for new restrictions on firearms
. Giffords is part of a slew of national leaders calling for stronger regulations and enforcement for background checks — a policymore than nine in 10 Americans support
. Still, the call seems to be politically unheard so far: Federal legislation is stalled in Congress, and Ohio legislators areworking to loosen gun restrictions.
Facing city budget cuts, public access media organization Media Bridges is
shutting down by the end of the year
. The city picked up Media Bridges’ funding after the organization lost state funding that had been provided through an agreement with Time Warner Cable. But city officials claim the local funding was supposed to act as a one-year reprieve and nothing more — a claim Media Bridges was apparently never made aware of until it was too late. To justify the cut, the city cites public surveys that ranked budget programs in terms of importance, but a look at the citizen surveys shows the demographics were skewed against low-income people who make the most use out of programs like Media Bridges.Check out CityBeat’s editorial content for this week’s issue:
• German Lopez:
“Meet Daniela,”
the hypothetical victim of Republican policies at the state and national level.• Ben Kaufman:
“‘Enquirer’ Takes Questionable Approach to Covering Meyers Ordination,”
which analyzes the questionable apathy to a supposedly “illegal” ordination of a woman Catholic priest.• Kathy Wilson:
“Until It’s Time for You to Go,”
a look at the life story of South African leader Nelson Mandela and the hurdles he faced as he helped end discriminatory apartheid policies.If you’re headed to Fountain Square today, expect to see some images of bloodied fetuses and fetal limbs. An anti-abortion group is
showing a video with the gruesome visuals
as part of a protest against what it sees as “the greatest human rights injustice of our time.” The group defends its tactics by citing its First Amendment rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has so far refused to rule one way or the other on the issue, but, barring some restrictions for airwave broadcasts, the court typically protects all kinds of political speech as long as it’s not pornographic.The Cincinnati Police Department is
changing how it responds to calls
to focus on what it sees as the most important issues, such as impacting violent crime, youth intervention efforts, long-term problem solving projects, traffic safety and neighborhood quality-of-life issues. The biggest change will come with how the department reacts to minor traffic accidents: It will still respond, but it may not file a report.The so-far-unnamed Greater Cincinnati coalition working to reduce the local infant mortality rate
set a goal
yesterday: zero. It’s a dramatic vision for a region that, at 13.6, has an infant mortality rate more than twice the national average of six, as CityBeat coveredhere
.Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld announced in a statement yesterday that he will be gathering local leaders and health officials to encourage the state to expand Medicaid. The expansion, which CityBeat covered in further detail
here
, would save Ohio money and insure half a million Ohioans in the next decade, according to an analysis by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
Fish oils may increase the risk of prostate cancer
, according to a new study.A measure that would disallow employers from discriminating against gay and lesbian individuals
made it through a U.S. Senate committee
yesterday.
Cadillac’s Super Cruise could have the features to making self-driving cars viable
.A device trains blind people to
see by listening
.
