NEWS ROUND-UP -- TUESDAY AFTERNOON

by Michael Monks 
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BUSINESS CONTACT LISTS, PARKING LOTS TOPIC AT CITY HALL TONIGHT

The Covington City Commission will be session at 6:00PM for its caucus (non-voting) meeting. Among the topics to be discussed include a follow-up to the "business contacts list". You may recall that each commissioner and the mayor have committed to maintaining a list of existing businesses in the City and have promised to contact each of them to ask how they may be better served here. Also on the agenda is a discussion on a parking lot list and proposed changes to Kenton County's subdivision regulations.

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GOVERNOR BESHEAR TO PRESENT BUDGET TONIGHT

From the many previews of the speech, tonight's event will not be a celebratory one:

He is warning state agencies they should brace for spending cuts between seven to nine percent. Some agencies have already had to cut spending 25 to 30 percent.

WHAS 11 
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SEE ALSO: Kentucky universities brace for cuts and performance-based funding cn|2 
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SEE ALSO: Casinos are not a cure-all for state budgets Bluegrass Politics
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UPTECH IDEAS TO BRING FIFTY START-UPS TO NORTHERN KENTUCKY
This huge news was unveiled this morning at NKU:

“This is one of the most important moments in Northern Kentucky’s history,” said Adam Caswell, president of the Campbell County Economic Progress Authority and an UpTech co-founder.
Leveraging a $5 million investment fund, UpTech will nurture 50 tech start-ups in the region over the next three to five years. The startups will be selected by national technology experts from companies like Cisco, Summus Software, Procter & Gamble, Dell, Scripps Howard and CBS Studios.
Each startup will receive up to $100,000 in seed money and hands-on mentoring from a team of local companies picked to fit their specific needs. The start-ups will come in waves of 10 at a time beginning May 1 for an intensive six-month program.

NKU Grad Articles  

SEE ALSO: Coverage from WCPO 

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IF YOU MISSED THE ANNOUNCEMENT, YOU CAN WATCH THE WHOLE THING ONLINE! Click Here 

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COVINGTON POLICE SEEK WOMAN IN 2 LATONIA ROBBERIES WITHIN MINUTES

A young woman robbed a check cashing store and a pharmacy within minutes of each other in Latonia today. She got away with cash and prescription drugs. For details and more photos, click the link.

The River City News 

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KENTON CO JUDGE TO RULE ON LAWYER SUIT IN DIOCESE SEX ABUSE CASES

Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley has a couple of high profile cases on his hands, and in both of them, he needs a lawyer of his own:

Claimants received more than $60 million, after fees, from settlement funds contributed by the Diocese and its insurers. Chesley’s law firm and other lawyers were paid about $18.5 million in legal fees, or 22 percent of the awards to claimants.
Louisville lawyer David Ward, representing three claimants in the Diocese settlement, argued Tuesday that the issues being raised in the current litigation were never raised in the Diocese case because the claimants were never told what their lawyers were doing.
(snip)
Bartlett said he wondered about a connection between the allegations made by the Diocese plaintiffs and issues raised in a separate case related to a $200 million settlement for victims of the diet-drug known as fen-phen. “I can’t help but wonder about whether publicity about Chesley’s fen-phen problems has contributed to this case,” Bartlett said at Tuesday’s hearing. “It just seems to be very coincidental. ... This is not the fen-phen case.”

Business Courier/John Newberry  
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APPEALS COURT TO HEAR FEN-PHEN LAWYERS

The case that never ends:

Gallion and Cunningham, former owners of champion racehorse Curlin, were convicted in 2009 of illegally keeping $126 million, more than 63 percent of the settlement between their clients and the makers of fen-phen, American Home Products. A state judge in 2007 awarded $42 million to 431 former clients of the now-disbarred attorneys.

Stan Chesley's case involving the drug settlement is pending. He may also be disbarred.
Associated Press via Cincinnati Enquirer  
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PLANE FIRE AT CVG REQUIRES EVACUATION OF PASSENGERS
No one was hurt:

CVG officials say the fire occurred around 7 a.m. on a Delta flight en route to Minneapolis in Concourse B. The plane was still on the ground when the fire occurred. Crews quickly extinguished the fire.

FOX 19 
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URBAN CINCY: CVG SHOULD OFFER LOCAL MUSIC TO TRAVELERS
It's a suggestion to help capitalize on the World Choir Games:

Traveling can often be a stressful experience, especially international travel. On a recent trip to Chicago, I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by violin and guitar musicians after an otherwise unpleasant flight and arrival experience. The moment, while simple, was profound. I felt relaxed and welcomed to Chicago – something all travelers hope to encounter upon their arrival. To avoid the ‘bum on the street’ perception, airport officials should ask that musicians not leave open their instrument cases for tips, and simply pay the musicians an hourly rate. In my opinion, this would go much farther towards welcoming visitors to the Cincinnati region than any inanimate piece of art could ever do. At the same time, it would provide a reliable opportunity for local musicians to perform and get paid doing it.

Urban Cincy/Randy A. Simes  
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LOCAL CONGRESSMEN & ENVIRONMENT GROUP DIFFER ON KEYSTONE PIPELINE
The controversial plans to build an oil pipeline from Canada through America lead to different reactions from GOP Congressmen Davis & Boehner and the National Resources Defense Council.
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Geoff Davis:

One action that could be taken to immediately open the door to 20,000 jobs is approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The proposed pipeline would transport 500,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada to oil refineries in the U.S. A group of House Democrats even wrote to President Obama in support of the pipeline noting the 20,000 direct jobs and that the project would “spur the creation of 118,000 spin-off jobs.” Recognizing the positive economic impact of the project, it has won broad support from business groups to labor unions. Read more about the project including the letters of support at http://transcanada.com/keystone.html.

John Boehner: 

Here’s why: as The Hill notes, the Keystone project will help create at least 20,000 new American jobs in the short-term and “hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs” long-term. “That’s 500 workers for each of the 17 pipeline segments, 100 workers for each of the 30 pump stations, 600 jobs at various construction camps and 1,000 jobs focused on management and inspection,” as well as “7,000 manufacturing jobs at companies that make key components of the pipeline.”

NRDC: 

The oil industry is pulling a bait and switch scam with Keystone XL – offering it as a path to economic and national security when the pipeline is mostly meant for export. According to the State Department, only 20 permanent jobs will be created by the pipeline. Even the pipeline company acknowledged that only “a few hundred permanent jobs’ will be created. Claims the pipeline will created 100,000 jobs are false. The U.S. State Department estimates no more than 6,000 temporary construction jobs will be created over the two years. We need better from Republicans when it comes to a jobs plan than a single project with jobs that won’t last.

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PHARMERICA: BUSINESS AS USUAL UNTIL FTC RULES ON OMNICARE
The Louisville-based institutional pharmacy firm is a target for a takeover by Covington Cincinnati-based Omnicare:

“We are in the middle of a hostile takeover right now,” Culotta said during his presentation. “We don’t really know. … We are like the last car on a freight train. We are sort of being whipped around there.” As Business First reported last week, shares of Covington, Ky.-based Omnicare fell last week after The New York Post quoted an unidentified source saying that the Obama administration might block the $716 million takeover deal and that a decision could be announced by the end of this week.

Business First/Ed Green  
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KENTUCKY'S STATE BEEKEEPER IS FIRED
New Agriculture Commissioner James Comer is firing everybody down there:

State apiarist Phil Craft held his position for 12 years, under both Democratic and Republican commissioners. When Agriculture Commissioner James Comer took office, he laid off 16 of the office’s political appointees, including Craft. Comer’s office says Kentucky isn’t eliminating the state’s beekeeping program—he just wants to appoint his own people to positions. But the dismissal of an experienced, nationally recognized and admired apiarist is raising eyebrows in the agricultural community. It also has people asking why the state beekeeper is a politically-appointed position.

In other news, Kentucky has a state beekeeper?
WFPL/Erica Peterson  
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Image via

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NKU PROFESSOR CREATES NEW TYPE FONT

It's called 'Apposite':

Tobias Brauer, associate professor of visual communication design at Northern Kentucky University, has spent the last “four to five” years working on his first typeface. “It’s a giant endeavor,” Brauer said. “A really long process.”
(snip)
Brauer chose the name “Apposite” for its dictionary definition: highly pertinent, strikingly appropriate, relevant. “The best typefaces are reflective of their time,” Brauer said. “That idea fascinates me. How can it represent a time period?”

There's an exhibit showcasing the new typeface at NKU. For details and more of the story, click the link below.

Tobias Brauer

Cincinnati Enquirer/Jackie Demaline 
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BEN KINGSLEY FILM TO SHOOT IN NKY
Exciting:

“A Doll’s House” will begin shooting in late January in Cincinnati, the state announced this morning. After Kentucky had granted a tax incentive in November, Kentucky announced that production would take place “between Louisville and Northern Kentucky.” In additon to Oscar-winner Kingsley (“Gandhi,” “Schindler’s List,” “Sexy Beast” ), the film will star Jena Malone (“Pride and Prejudice,” “Into the Wild”) and Julian Sands (“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) and Michele Martin.

Cincinnati Enquirer/John Kiesewetter 
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SEE ALSO: The last big movie to shoot here, George Clooney's The Ides of March, is available on DVD today!