Morning News and Stuff

John Cranley is calling for the city to halt progress on the streetcar after a report from The Cincinnati Enquirer

revealed the city’s construction bids are $26 million to $43 million over budget

. City Manager Milton Dohoney says the city might throw out the bids and start the bidding process again, but no final decision has been made yet. But Cranley argues the city has no leverage over bidders because it already bought the streetcars. In CityBeat ’s

in-depth look at the streetcar

, Meg Olberding, city spokesperson, said the cars had to be bought early so they can be built, tested and burned into the tracks while giving staff enough time to get trained — a process that could take as long as two and a half years. The city also cautions that sorting through the bids will take a few more weeks.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA)

landed a $2.5 million grant

to purchase seven new buses. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, yesterday announced SORTA had won the competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The new buses will replace old ones that are no longer good for service.

The Horseshoe Casino got approval from the state yesterday despite

fears of bankruptcy

surrounding the casino’s parent company. As a precaution, the Ohio Casino Control Commission is requiring Caesar’s, the troubled company, to undergo annual financial reviews and notify the commission of any major financial plans, including any intent to file bankruptcy. Caesar’s is currently $22 billion in debt.

Ohio legislators

have a lot of questions

about Gov. John Kasich’s new school funding formula. Kasich claims his formula levels the playing field between poor and wealthy schools, but Rep. Ryan Smith, a Republican, pointed out his poor Appalachian district is getting no money under the formula, while the suburban, well-off Olentangy Schools are getting a 300 percent increase. In a previous glimpse at the numbers for Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), CityBeat found the funding increases

aren’t enough to make up for past cuts

— largely because of the phaseout of tangible personal property reimbursements.

Another report found low-performing schools

could be forced to outsource teaching

. The new policy has aggravated some local officials.

Kasich’s budget will

apparently benefit

the state’s mentally ill and addicted. Mental health advocates said the budget will expand treatment, housing and other services. Most of the benefits will come from the Medicaid expansion.

CPS says it

will not lose any funding

over the state auditor’s attendance scrubbing report. The report, released Tuesday, found CPS

had been scrubbing attendance data

, but the school district claims errors were not intentional.

Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Chris Monzel

will give the State of the County address

later today.

Ohio Third Frontier

approved $3.6 million in new funds

to support Ohio innovation. About $200,000 is going to Main Street Ventures, a Cincinnati-based startup accelerator.

Cincinnati Art Museum named an interim curator:

Cynthia Amneus

.

Covington is getting a new city hall

.

New evidence shows lab testing on mice may not be helpful for humans. Apparently, mice and human genes are too different for treatments to be comparable.