360 Fireworks Party

Saturday, July 14, 2012

NEWS ROUND-UP -- SATURDAY 14 JULY

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks 
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JUDGE ORDERS BENCH BILLBOARDS OUT OF COVINGTON
The benches that adorn many Covington corners and feature advertisements for a good divorce lawyer and other commodities have been ordered by a federal judge to be removed by August 12:
But that order may be put on hold because a lawyer for the firm says the business plans to appeal the order.
City Solicitor Frank Warnock called the Friday decision by Covington-based U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning a hard-won victory after years of battling the family-owned Bench Billboard Company, based in Columbia Township.
The city for several years has sought to clear items it deems unsightly, including the company’s benches that contain mini billboards that serve as the benches’ backrests, from its sidewalks. The city last decade used similar regulations to clear its sidewalks of unauthorized pay telephones and vending machines.
However, the bench billboard company's lawyer believes that the decision to allow them to remain lies with TANK, not the City. Check out the full story at the link.
Cincinnati Enquirer/Mike Rutledge
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COVINGTON BUSINESS WEIGHS IN ON 911 FEE ON UTILITY BILL PROPOSAL
CORRECTION: In the original post, it was wrongly implied that the Covington Business Council opposes the 911 fee being collected on utility bills handled by Duke Energy. In fact, the Covington Business Council has not taken a position on the issue but was rather offering this statement as an educational tool on behalf of one of its members as the vote nears. The River City News regrets the misinterpretation of the statement.
As the Kenton County Fiscal Court prepares to vote on how to pay for a consolidated emergency dispatch center, the Covington Business Council offers this statement:
Later this month the Kenton County Fiscal Court is scheduled to vote on passage of an ordinance that seeks a service fee for enhanced 9-1-1 Dispatch Services. You may remember the Covington City Commission recently approved joining Kenton County in consolidating their dispatch centers.

This ordinance, if passed, would seek to levy a fee through Duke Energy Kentucky and Owen Electric Cooperative's Kenton County customers to pay for this service-an estimated annual increase of $72 per customer account. Additionally, this plan would require Duke and Owen to serve as the collection agent for the fee and then remit payment back to the Fiscal Court. The current method being used to fund 9-1-1 services is through a surcharge on land-based telephone lines with the monthly fee varying based upon the city where a person resides. With increased reliance on cellular telephone service, the land-based phone fee (which would be eliminated under the Court's plan) is a declining source of revenue to fund 9-1-1 services.

The Fiscal Court proposal is being strongly opposed by CBC-member Duke Energy Kentucky and by Owen Electric Cooperative. Both companies do not believe the Fiscal Court has the legal authority to impose a service fee upon their electric customers and then require them to serve as the collection agent for any such fee. The utilities have asked the county to seek an alterative funding and collection method. The Fiscal Court's position is that the utility service fee is the fairest way to spread the funding need to as many people as possible. Two other methods that have been discussed as possible options: 1. Increasing the ad valorem property tax to $48 per $100,000 assessed value; 2. Issuing a flat rate carfee on auto registration of $35 per car.
The CBC then encourages residents to contact the Kenton County Judge-Executive and the Kenton Co. Commissioners and to attend the July 24 meeting in Covington when the vote is expected to take place.
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REP. ARNOLD SIMPSON SPEAKS IN FRANKFORT ON LIQUOR SALES
State Representative Arnold Simpson (D-Covington) testified in Frankfort on Friday before the Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations as part of his effort to overturn the ban on liquor sales on Election Day. Via cn|2:

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Full story: cn|2 
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MEANWHILE... GROUPS GET BEHIND SIMPSON'S EFFORTS

Simpson said several organizations are backing his legislation, including the Kentucky Association of Counties, Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky Restaurant Association and Kentucky Retail Federation.
But the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems will fight the bill, its president, Don Cole, said in a telephone interview.
"This will create more problems than it helps," he said.
Cole said poll workers are not law-enforcement officials who are trained to handle alcoholics, and voters should feel safe when they go to the polls.
Full story: Herald-Leader/Jack Brammer 
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KY COUPLE ACCUSED OF TRADING PICKUP TRUCK FOR A BABY
Like something out of a bad country song, a couple in Laurel County stand accused of giving away their pick-up truck in exchange for a woman's baby. It wasn't even a new truck...

A Corbin couple is accused of trading a woman a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup truck for her infant child, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said.
Officers with the department arrested Jeremy and Jamiee Brown on Thursday on charges of human trafficking, according to a release from Root's office. The couple had the baby, now 6 months old. The baby was placed in the care of state child-welfare workers, the release said.
The Browns allegedly made the trade soon after the baby was born. Root's office started investigating based on information from a confidential source, and officers were able to find the pickup truck.
The baby's mama originally fled Florida because she was wanted on meth charges. Sad, sad story all around.
Herald-Leader/Bill Estep
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But wait...
The mother has been located in the plains:
“I know she don’t care and she thinks it is their baby. She feels she gave it to them. The way they went about it was wrong,” Richard Haas said.
Kaminskey told Haas she’s in Kansas.
“She told me that she has already talked to the detective and that they can come and get me. This is where I’m at,” Haas said.
WKYT
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QUICKIES
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Pregnant woman killed on I-471 was not wearing a seatbelt WKRC
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PHOTO: SUV crashes on top of car in Covington parking garage WXIX
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More channels may soon be dropped by Insight Cable, including FOX News, the Food Network and several others Courier-Journal
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New KY law aims to curb scrap metal thefts Cincinnati Enquirer
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Personnel Board votes to open investigation into former Commissioner of Agriculture/UK basketball star Richie Farmer Bluegrass Politics
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Coal operators are being watched from above State-Journal
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13 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever Washington Post
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450,000 email passwords have been breached (Yahoo, Gmail affected) Business Courier
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Drought is affecting fish in KY streams press release
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Weekly newsletter from the Kenton Co Library click here 
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Anthony Davis joins the US Olympics Team Courier-Journal 
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UK will play no games in Louisville's Freedom Hall next season, and apparently very few people  are upset about that Herald-Leader 
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Miss Kentucky Pageant is stressful with a purpose Herald-Leader 
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VIDEO: Miss KY Pageant preparations Herald-Leader 
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FRANKFORT PAPER TAKES AMBIVALENT STANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The State-Journal takes on the medical marijuana legislation proposed by a state senator from Louisville in a meandering, ambivalent editorial:
However, perceptions of harmlessness can be misleading. When the so-called “Miami Cannibal” allegedly attacked a man and literally chewed off his face in May, some suspected the assailant was under the influence of “bath salts,” a synthetic drug, or some hard narcotic. But the Huffington Post reported tests found no such substance in his system. Instead they detected traces of marijuana. The suspect had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia, believed to be aggravated by pot use.

If medicinal marijuana is ever approved in Kentucky, there will need to be tight restrictions to ensure users don’t exploit the law for recreational purposes, as drinkers did during the Prohibition era with prescriptions written to purchase booze from drug stores.

Smoking, the delivery method by which the typical marijuana user absorbs the leaf’s purported benefits, is problematic. Frankfort, Franklin County and many other communities in this tobacco-growing state decided after long deliberation that smoking should be prohibited in public buildings. Marijuana smoke contains some of the same compounds as tobacco smoke.
So, Kentucky's marijuana crop should remain illegal in all ways because... people's faces will get chewed off? Wow. Click on the link not for the full editorial, which is awful, but for the amazing comments.
State-Journal 
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SHOPPING MALL TURNS 60, RETIRES
The first indoor shopping mall in America was first envisioned sixty years ago, but did you know that there has not been construction on a new one anywhere since 2006?
Gruen’s idea transformed American consumption patterns and much of the environment around us. At age 60, however, the enclosed regional shopping mall also appears to be an idea that has run its course (OK, maybe not in China, but among Gruen’s original clientele). He opened the first prototype in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956, and the concept spread from there (this also means the earliest examples of the archetypal American mall are now of age for historic designation, if anyone wants to make that argument).
At the mall’s peak popularity, in 1990, America opened 19 of them. But we haven’t cut the ribbon on a new one since 2006, for reasons that go beyond the recession. As we imagine ways to repurpose these aging monoliths and what the next generation of retail should look like, it’s worth recalling Gruen’s odd legacy. He hated suburbia. He thought his ideas would revitalize cities. He wanted to bring urban density to the suburbs. And he envisioned shopping malls as our best chance at containing sprawl.
"He said great quotes on suburbia being 'soulless' and 'in search of a heart,'" says Jeff Hardwick, who wrote the Gruen biography Mall Maker. "He just goes on and on with these critiques. And they occur really early in his writing as well. So it’s not as if he ends up bemoaning suburbia later. He’s critiquing suburbia pretty much from the get-go, and of course the remedy he offers is the shopping mall."
Full story: The Atlantic Cities
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DOWNTOWN COVINGTON BINGO IS THRIVING
Out of curiosity, I went with my mama to Pike Place Bingo on Pike Street Friday night... and had an awesome time! The place was packed and probably is most nights that it is open. 


Check it out some time.
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COVINGTON ARTS GROUPS AWARDED GRANTS FROM KENTUCKY
From a press release:
The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded more than $1.7 million in operational support funding to 104 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations for fiscal year 2013, through the Kentucky Arts Partnership (KAP) grant, the agency announced today.
The KAP grant provides support to nonprofit organizations offering year-round arts services and programs directly for the benefit of the public. The competitive grant process funds applicants based on operating revenues, a panel review of applications, and funds available for the program.
Local groups awarded funds:
  •  Kentucky Symphony Orchestra ($19,623)
  • The Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center ($30,697)
  • Behringer-Crawford Museum ($18,328)
  • My Nose Turns Red Circus Theater ($3,954)
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DYING KENTUCKY MAN'S WISH FULFILLED THROUGH LARGE TIP
From the clip description:
My brother passed away July 7, 2012. His final wish in his will, if he left enough money, was that we have pizza and give the waiter or waitress a $500 tip. Aaron never had much money , and he didn't have enough to make this happen, so I started a website and took donations. On July 10 we were able to make his wish come true for the first time.
We think he just wanted to provide a random act of kindness and generosity for someone he thought was under appreciated; the kind of thing that would make a lasting impact they would never forget. If you want to keep his legacy going, please feel free to donate. So far we have collected over $1000 so we will definitely be doing this again, for another random waiter or waitress, very soon! Each time we have $500 we will do it again, even if that means going out to eat multiple times a day.
Watch this:
If you want to give to the website's fund to keep passing out random acts of kindness, click here.
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COME GET A PET TODAY IN MAINSTRASSE VILLAGE
Click to enlarge
| WHOA! THAT'S A LOT OF SUNFLOWER!
This was submitted by reader David Klein who lives in Peaselburg.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/13/2257480/groups-pushing-for-removal-of.html#storylink=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

Friday, July 13, 2012

NEWS ROUND-UP -- FRIDAY MORNING 13 JULY

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks 
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NO SUCH THING AS FREE PARKING IN AN URBAN DOWNTOWN
From a piece titled Why an urban Downtown and lots of free parking spots are mutually exclusive published in Las Vegas Weekly:
Donald Shoup, UCLA economist and genius of all things parking, notes that there’s no such thing as “free parking.” Parking takes up valuable real estate, and mandating parking increases the cost of development, just as mandating a hot tub in every condo would push up the cost of housing. The city sharply curtailed with parking requirements for new buildings Downtown. Let’s keep it that way.
City parking meters are not priced according to any rational scheme. In a free market, price is the interplay of supply and demand. The price of the parking meters, by contrast, is arbitrary, like the price of bread in the old Soviet Union. Ideally, higher demand spots would fetch higher prices, and vice versa, and with rational pricing all the spots on a block would be taken except for one or at most two, which allows for the circulation that business owners desire.
Because the meters aren’t rationally priced, people cruise around looking for underpriced meter spots, which creates traffic.
Full story: Las Vegas Weekly
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RISING COST OF HEALTH CARE, PENSIONS CONTINUE TO HIT CITIES
Covington has been dealing with this issue and three California cities have gone bankrupt over it (and other issues)in the past two weeks, but larger cities like Philadelphia are struggling, too:
For the $3.589 billion budget for the 2013 fiscal year, employee benefits have jumped to $1.116 billion – $629 million for pensions and $487 million for other benefits.
While the city budget grew by only 16.15 percent over the last decade, employee benefits obligations grew by more than 111 percent. This trend is likely to continue.
Full story: The Atlantic Cities
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DON'T MISS THURSDAY'S NEWS
Guilty plea in case that involved dismembered legs found on Hands Pike; Killer fakes his death in KY only to show up on his own YouTube channel; Plans are announced to rebuild playground destroyed by fire; Plus, why we're not supposed to call Cincinnati "The Queen City" anymore. Click it.
The RC News: Thursday Evening Round-Up |
QUICKIES
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Pregnant woman, unborn child die after crash on I-471 Cincinnati Enquirer 
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Fatal crash on I-75 Thursday also, this time near Walton Cincinnati Enquirer 
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Governor Beshear tells federal government that he is creating the health care exchange WBKO 
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Beshear uses Governor's Mansion to raise funds for daughter-in-law's horse competition Herald-Leader 
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MORE SUCCESS NOTED AT COVINGTON SHELTER (AND A REQUEST)
From the Emergency Shelter of NKY:

We have a guest who has secured an apartment in Covington and will move in the 3rd of the month. He is in need of these basic items: twin or double bed, chest of drawers, table/chairs, end tables and a sitting chair. If you have these items to donate, please email me at emergencyshelter@yahoo.com I am able to pick up after August 3rd if items are not too large. 
Our guest, Ed that needed the bike for work hopped on the bus early this morning with his bike in tow for his orientation day at his new job. Thanks for all of you who responded and a big thank you to the Powers family who donated a bike and lock to Ed.
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"HUGE NEWS" FOR DEVOU PARK FROM THE GUYS ON THE TRAILS
From the Devou Park Trails:
Rotary Grove Lane has been closed off to motorized use. This is huge for Devou. It gives yet another passage way for self propelled activities. The asphalt still remains, yet the cars are gone. Rotary grove lane dissects the Lewisburg Trail. First road crossing coming down. Rotary lane can now act as another motor-less way to access the top of the park. We are fired up!!
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DANIEL BOONE'S DESCENDANTS HELP PROMOTE BOONE'S TRAIL IN KY
From the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Agencies of Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet are applauding an effort by the national Boone Society to develop and promote the historic Boone Trace through eastern Kentucky. This famous road, which followed trails used by Native Americans and buffaloes, was used by thousands of settlers traveling to Kentucky and beyond, launching the westward movement.
Properly developed, marked and promoted, the trace could become an economic engine stimulating tourism in the region, proponents say.
The Boone Society, a national organization of Boone family descendants, interested genealogists and historians, is working to identify, restore and preserve the trail blazed in 1775 by Daniel Boone, who was then an agent of the Transylvania Company. Known as the Boone Trace, the 117 mile trail entered Kentucky at Cumberland Gap near Middlesboro, crossed the Cumberland River at Pineville, ran northwest past London, and ended at Fort Boonesborough near Richmond.

Upon further progress in the Boone Society’s development efforts, the Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism and the Kentucky Department of Parks will assist the Boone Society with promotion of the Boone Trace and its historical significance.
There are four state parks and one national park within the Boone Trace corridor: the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Pine Mountain State Resort Park, Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site, Levi Jackson State Park, and Fort Boonesborough State Park. 
In 1915, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) placed 12 stone markers along the trail to highlight its historical significance. These and other historical markers placed along the route since that time will be the focus of an effort by the Boone Society to list the Boone Trace on the National Register of Historic Places.
For more info, click here.
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COVINGTON PARTNERS GOF OUTING SET FOR MONDAY
The Covington Partners 3rd Annual Golf Outing at Traditions Golf Club is Monday, July 16. There is still time to register your foursome for a fun filled day of great golf at a world class course. Contact Margo Willman at (859) 392-3172 or margo.willman@covington.kyschools.us to reserve your space today!


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HOW THE FUTURE WAS VIEWED ALL THE WAY BACK IN... 1979
Some of the predictions are pretty spot-on:

  • Flat screen TV. No longer a bulky box, TV screens have shrunk to a thickness of less than five centimeters.  
  • Mail slot. By 1990, most mail will be sent in electronic form. (The year was a little off, but still...)
  • Domestic robot rolls in with drinks. (OK, so we're all still waiting on that one...)
Check out the predictions with a terrific cartoon at the link.
BoingBoing 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

NEWS ROUND-UP -- THURSDAY EVENING 12 JULY

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks 
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DAY PLANNED TO HELP REBUILD SIXTH DISTRICT PLAYGROUND
The playground that burned at Sixth District Elementary School in Austinburg will get some TLC from the community on Saturday, July 21. The playground renovation and beautification project that was planned before the fire will proceed as scheduled, but with a larger mission. The event will run from 11:00AM to 2:00PM and will feature the following activities: 
  • Adopt a Plant Make a donation to the renovation efforts by purchasing a plant and then placing it in one of the the commemorative garden plots
  • Soak the Superintendent For just two bucks you'll get three chances to dunk Covington Independent Public Schools Lynda Jackson and other community leaders
  • Share your ideas There will be an interactive booth to share ideas on what should be at the rebuilt playground
  • Volunteer Sign Up and Donations If you have experience in construction, landscaping, planting, and/or painting you can sign up for upcoming community build events
  • Make a donation!
There will be plenty of opportunities for the kids, so bring them! The event is sponsored by the Covington Independent Public Schools, Keep Covington Beautiful, the Center for Great Neighborhoods, and Gateway Community & Technical College.
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MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER; BODY PARTS WERE FOUND IN COVINGTON
Remember the gruesome tale of some dismembered legs being found near Hands Pike in South Covington (SEE: Dismembered Parts Found in South Covington May Belong to Ohio Murder Victim)? One of the men accused in the crime has pleaded guilty:
The Champaign County Prosecutor's Office said 26-year-old Matthew Puccio's pleas came during a court hearing Wednesday. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 20 for killing 21-year-old Jessica Rae Sacco.
FULL STORY: WLWT 
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CONVICTED KILLER FAKES DEATH, EMERGES ON YOUTUBE
A convicted killer that faked his death by jumping off the Carrollton-Prestonville Bridge, even leaving behind a suicide note, is believed to be the producer behind some new YouTube videos:
"We searched approximately 10 hours that day, trying to make a recovery of Mr. Meisberger. By the end of that evening, it was under the impression by the Boone County Water Rescue that Mr. Meisberger was not in that river. So, we began working on the theory that this might be a staged event," said Carrollton Police Chief Michael Willhoite.
Then, two weeks later, Willhoite said his department was tipped off about a YouTube video, and police said the man speaking in it is Meisberger.
It's one of five posted to a Facebook page in Meisberger's name.
One status reads, "I am alive and a fugitive on the run!" And in the video, the man said he's not going back to prison.
Read the full story: WLKY 
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Here's one of the YouTube videos:
Former America's Most Wanted celebrity from 1992, Wade Russell Meisberger, from Madison, Indiana is a fugitive on the run from a corrupt plot between government officials and other high ups from the small Indiana town. Meisberger has been forced from being successful to destroying him, causing him to loose his son... and finally run for his life. He has evidence to prove his statements that they have framed him to violate his probation and send him back to prison for 18 years due to a loop in his sentence discovered by his Monroe County Probation Officer.
More videos believed to be from Meisberger here: YouTube 
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DON'T MISS THURSDAY MORNING'S NEWS
A website is launched to fight against proposed cuts to Covington's fire department; Covington business community to gather today for update on changes to bridge project; Plus, an auction for a dream trip to the top of the Suspension Bridge. Click it.
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QUICKIES
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Ludlow Police search for a missing older man WXIX 
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CVG operations back to normal after security scare Cincinnati Enquirer 
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Pot use among teens in region is up Cincinnati Enquirer 
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Support veterans with this new Kentucky license plate press release 
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NKY rubber plant to add 60 jobs press release 
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Gov. Beshear applauds US Secretary of Agriculture for drought response press release 
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A critical take on former UK basketball star and former KY Commissioner of Agriculture Richie Farmer's induction to the KY High School Basketball Hall of Fame Insider Louisville 
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US Rep Ben Chandler (D-Versailles) to skip his Party's national convention State-Journal 
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ATTORNEY GENERAL CONWAY WARNS AGAINST UTILITY SCAM From a release:
Attorney General Jack Conway warns Kentucky consumers not to fall victim to a new identity theft scam involving the payment of utility bills. In this latest scam, fraudsters claim that President Obama will pay consumers' utility bills for one month through a new federal program. "Although there are government programs that provide home energy assistance, this is not one of them," General Conway said. "This is a scam designed to gain access to a consumer's personal and financial information and to steal their identity. Never provide your Social Security number or sensitive personal information to someone you do not know." Scam artists are using in-person solicitation, flyers, social media, phone calls and text messages as part of this multi-state scheme. Consumers are told that President Obama has approved special funding through the Federal Reserve Bank for utility bill assistance. The scam artists then solicit personal information such as a Social Security number from the victim and provide them with a fraudulent bank routing number to use when paying their utility bills online. Customers who use this number are led to believe that their utility bills are paid and even receive payment confirmation notices. Payments are later rescinded as a result of the fake account numbers. General Conway's Office of Consumer Protection has received no complaints from consumers about this scam and is not aware of any victims in Kentucky. Victims have been reported in California, Illinois, Tennessee and Texas. Residents who are in need of home emergency assistance may be eligible for financial help through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is administered in Kentucky through the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Community Action Agencies across the state. For additional information on the Kentucky LIHEAP program visit http://chfs.ky.gov/dcbs/dfs/liheap.htm or call 1-800-456-3452.
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LOCAL RETAIL COULD BE DESTROYED BY AMAZON SAME-DAY DELIVERY 
By often being immune to local sales tax (though it collects taxes from Kentucky residents and those in other states), Amazon is able to offer virtually unbeatable prices, even compared to national chains like Wal-Mart, but it's really going for local, independent retail's jugular with its push for same-day delivery:
Why would Amazon give up its precious tax advantage? This week, as part of an excellent investigative series on the firm, the Financial Times’ Barney Jopson reports that Amazon’s tax capitulation is part of a major shift in the company’s operations. Amazon’s grand strategy has been to set up distribution centers in faraway, low-cost states and then ship stuff to people in more populous, high-cost states. When I order stuff from Amazon, for instance, it gets shipped to California from one of the company’s massive warehouses in Kentucky or Nevada. But now Amazon has a new game. Now that it has agreed to collect sales taxes, the company can legally set up warehouses right inside some of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation. Why would it want to do that? Because Amazon’s new goal is to get stuff to you immediately—as soon as a few hours after you hit Buy. (Disclosure: Slateparticipates in Amazon Associates, an "affiliate" advertising plan that rewards websites for sending customers to the online store. This means that if you click on an Amazon link from Slate—including a link in this story—and you end up buying something, Amazon will send Slate a percentage of your final purchase price.) It’s hard to overstate how thoroughly this move will shake up the retail industry. Same-day delivery has long been the holy grail of Internet retailers, something that dozens of startups have tried and failed to accomplish. (Remember Kozmo.com?) But Amazon is investing billions to make next-day delivery standard, and same-day delivery an option for lots of customers. If it can pull that off, the company will permanently alter how we shop. To put it more bluntly: Physical retailers will be hosed.
Full story: Slate 
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STOP CALLING CINCINNATI "THE QUEEN CITY"!
Because now and forever it shall be known as The City That Sings:
In an email to reporter Ryan Clark, who wrote about Cincinnati’s newest sister city, Quinlivan objected to the use of “Queen City” in the story’s first paragraph. The process for rebranding the city began after Quinlivan said she talked with Dan Lincoln, president and CEO of the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. Images of the Cincinnati 2001 riots, which had tarnished the city’s reputation, were fading. “We finally had a blank slate where people didn’t associate anything with us,” Quinlivan told the Enquirer this morning. “And with the World Choir Games, we have a great opportunity with international visitors and the media to redefine ourselves.”
Full story: Cincinnati Enquirer/Carl Weiser 
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SEE ALSO: The transformation of Cincinnati's Washington Park is covered nationally in The Atlantic Cities 
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THIS WEEKEND IN THE RIVER CITIES...
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Colored Pencils exhibit opens at Carnegie on Friday The Carnegie 
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Check out what's happening this week at The Madison Theater Click Here 
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Bellevue will soon join Covington & Newport in boasting of an ArtWorks mural Click Here 
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Also in Bellevue:
Fireworks and music at the park on Saturday!
Click to enlarge
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SPORTS
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Anthony Davis rejoins US Olympics basketball team after Blake Griffin suffers injury USA Today 
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NKU BASKETBALL SEASON TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
In case you don't know, NCAA Division I basketball is now in Northern Kentucky as the NKU Norse join the most elite rank of intercollegiate athletics next season. Get your season tickets now! Details: Click Here 

NEWS ROUND-UP -- THURSDAY MORNING 12 JULY

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks 
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WEBSITE LAUNCHED TO COMBAT PROPOSED CUTS TO COVINGTON FIRE DEPT
"Don't Lose Your Covington Fire/EMS Protection" says a new website launched this week in an attempt to rally the public against recommended cuts to public safety in the City. Some highlights offered at the site:
  • OSHA has federal mandates that state firefighters must have a 2 man team in order to enter a structure fire and a second 2 man team on stand-by for their safety. This is referred to as “2 in – 2 out”. If a fire engine arrives with only 3 personnel this mandate cannot be met and the firefighters will have to remain outside until more arrive. With no ambulances and only 21 personnel/day this will happen more frequently. The most affected neighborhood would be South Covington (Company #5). The next due company is 10 minutes away and with no firefighting ambulance, there would only be 3 total firefighters until the next due arrived.
  • In order to combat this, the City suggested using mutual aid from Taylor Mill to supplement staffing in South Covington. Taylor Mill is a majority volunteer fire department and has no guarantee of how many (if any) firefighters they could provide. Should citizens of Covington pay the tax rates set by the city and have their fire protection provided by another fire department that is staffed with volunteers?
  • Other recommendations in Management Partners report: Elimination of all fire apparatus at Company #5 (Hands Pike)
    Elimination of Ladder Truck #7 (Latonia), leaving only 1 Ladder Company in the City.
    Using 3 mostly volunteer fire departments as mutual aid with no reduction in taxes.
    Elimination of full-time Safety/Fire Inspection officer.
    Accepting these recommendations could reduce daily staffing to as low as 16 firefighters/day.
The website then urges citizens to contact the Mayor, City Commissioners, and City Manager to voice opposition to the proposed changes. Check out the website at the link below.
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COVINGTON BUSINESS COMMUNITY TO DISCUSS NEW BRIDGE TODAY
City Hall welcomes Covington's business community to City Hall today at 1:30PM. Representatives of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the City of Covington will be on hand to discuss the City's desired changes to the design of the Brent Spence Bridge project. Check out the link below where City Manager Larry Klein seems to be more comfortable with the originally proposed concept as transportation officials have tried to assure the City that drivers will have ample opportunity to come to (and know they are coming to) Covington.
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WHO SHOULD GET THEIR NAME ON A BRIDGE?
Brent Spence was a worthy gentleman, but who else should have the honor of a bridge named after them? An interesting story via The Atlantic Cities:
Another obvious problem with naming things after living people is that their reputations are subject to change. Koch seems to be avoiding controversy, but former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani notoriously erred in naming the Manhattan Detention Complex—colloquially known as "The Tombs"—after Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in 2001. The Bernard P. Kerik Complex quietly reclaimed its former name in 2006, when Kerik pleaded guilty to ethics violations. (He is currently serving four years in federal prison on other charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud.) Of course, that minor bureaucratic hurdle is nothing compared to what's going on in Egypt right now, where there were 388 schools named after deposed president Hosni Mubarak, and another 160 named after his wife Suzan, not to mention highways, streets, and a central Cairo Metro Station.
Full story: Click Here 
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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
A Covington Police officer alerts tenants and saves them from a building fire...
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Covington School Board chooses Kenton Co. Sheriff's Office over Covington Police to serve as school resource offices in money-saving effort...
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Pregnant lesbian and her partner booted from Kentucky park after kissing; Covington native lives a dream after buying a steamboat and sailing down the Mississippi and Ohio (video); Plus, with the large number of people who just don't seem to care, can city dwellers ever really have nice things? 
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All of those stories are at the link below!
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HOUSE GIVES FAMILY A SECOND CHANCE AT HOME
After her home in Newport was shot up, a Covington educator knew she had to move her three kids somewhere else. How a house gave a family a second chance at home, and several young adults a second chance at life, at the link.
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ALSO: HONK will show off another finished home in Covington Thursday afternoon:
In its first partnership with The Brighton Center, Housing Opportunities of Northern Kentucky (HONK) recently completed the major rehab of 330 E. 18th St., a two-bedroom home in Covington’s Austinburg neighborhood. This project, like all HONK projects, is made affordable for a family looking for a homeownership opportunity.

“This house had seen better days before we started on it,” says David Hastings, HONK’s Executive Director. “It had been through foreclosure and was really in need of significant investment. Now we’re standing in a home that has been fully rehabbed, with new mechanicals, new insulation, an extra half bath added, a new roof, and all new finishes.”

“While we used some of our own volunteers, staff, and other subcontractors on this home, it was Brighton Center’s Construction and Manufacturing Technologies Program that really made a difference here,” says Steve Lutkenhoff, HONK’s Construction Manager. “This has worked out so well, we are hoping this partnership can continue so we can help even more local families become homeowners.”

The house on E. 18th is one of four HONK has completed on this street in the last 8 months. Another was recently built by HONK just around the corner. Funding for 4 of the 5 homes has come through a federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant to the City of Covington through the Kentucky Department for Local Government.

While the focus of the celebration will be on the Open House at 330 E. 18th St., two additional homes recently completed by HONK will also be open for the public during the same time at 334 E. 18th (a rehab project) and 618 E. 17th St. (new construction).
Click to enlarge
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QUICKIES
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Another municipality will file for bankruptcy protection NPR 
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Southern Air is closer to a deal at CVG Airport Cincinnati Enquirer 
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Wait, what? President Barack Obama is the "smallest government spender" since Eisenhower? Who's reporting this? Wait, Forbes? Interesting:
So, how have the Republicans managed to persuade Americans to buy into the whole “Obama as big spender” narrative?
It might have something to do with the first year of the Obama presidency where the federal budget increased a whopping 17.9% —going from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. I’ll bet you think that this is the result of the Obama sponsored stimulus plan that is so frequently vilified by the conservatives…but you would be wrong.
The first year of any incoming president term is saddled—for better or for worse—with the budget set by the president whom immediately precedes the new occupant of the White House. Indeed, not only was the 2009 budget the property of George W. Bush—and passed by the 2008 Congress—it was in effect four months before Barack Obama took the oath of office.
Accordingly, the first budget that can be blamed on our current president began in 2010 with the budgets running through and including including fiscal year 2013 standing as charges on the Obama account, even if a President Willard M. Romney takes over the office on January 20, 2013.
Full story: Forbes 
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VIDEO: Rep. Geoff Davis on voting to repeal "Obamacare" YouTube 
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Kentucky story raided for selling bath salts WKYT 
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Personnel Board to consider overturning merit hire pushed by KY Democratic leader Courier-Journal 
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POVERTY HITS KENTUCKY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Things are bad in Allen County, Kentucky:
"We see kids who come from backgrounds of no electricity no running water sometimes," says Principal of the Allen County Intermediate School, Randy Cook.
So, to help those children, the schools have something called Family Resources.
In Allen County schools, kids can get necessities like food, clothing and school supplies.
"Not that their families don't love them, but in our hard times right now those families are doing everything they can to take care of them," says Cook, "and we're just going to go that extra step to help them."
Full story with a video report at the link.
WKYT
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COVINGTON'S BAKER-HUNT, PHOTOGRAPHER HONORED BY CHARITABLE GROUP
From a press release:

Mary Fisk-Taylor, president of PPA Charities, the charitable arm of Professional Photographers of America (PPA), has announced that Matthew Andrews Photography in Covington in conjunction with The Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center, is one of 48 PPA members to earn the designation as an “Operation Smile Studio” for 2012. This honor was given to those photographers who donated $240 or more through the organization’s first “Celebration of Smiles Day” that raised $46,581 to benefit Operation Smile, its charitable partner. Operation Smile provides free surgeries for children around the world who suffer with cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformations.
“These funds will go a long way toward meeting our 2012 goal of raising $120,000 for this wonderful organization,” Fisk-Taylor said. As of July 1, PPA Charities’
2012 fund-raising total stands at $72,180. Because Operation Smile’s medical professionals and support staff volunteer their services, it costs only $240 to provide a simple cleft lip surgery to a child in desperate need. Therefore the funds raised by PPA members so far in 2012 means that over 300 smiles will be saved.
By donating enough to save a smile, the studio is eligible to compete in a drawing for an opportunity to document an Operation Smile mission.
The Celebration of Smiles Day promotion provided consumers with the opportunity to receive a mini-session and a 5x7 professional portrait in exchange for a donation to Operation Smile of only $24; therefore, for every 10 sessions photographed by a participating studio, another smile could be saved by the volunteer professionals of Operation Smile. The official date for the first Celebration of Smiles event was April 21, but studios that had commitments on that date were allowed to conduct the fundraiser on alternate dates in April or May.
Next year’s Celebration of Smiles Day is scheduled for April 6, 2013.
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WAYS TO HELP OUT IN COVINGTON:
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From the Emergency Shelter of NKY:
One of our guests has a job starting at a warehouse this weekend near Wal-Mart in Ft. Wright...2nd shift. TANK does not run that late to get him back to our shelter. Do you have an adult bike that is in good working condition that you would like to donate to someone in need to hold down a job? If so, email Rachael Winters at emergencyshelternky@yahoo.com
From the West Latonia Neighborhood Association:
Hey folks!!! WE are looking for any interested persons to help watering up at the park.. the new plantings need to be watered at least every other night and we need to do this at least up through September. Please contact Julie Plageman if you are available and interested in helping! 859-816-7230.....  
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DREAM TRIP TO THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE MAY SOON BE AUCTIONED
Now, this sounds like fun. From the Roebling Suspension Bridge Facebook page:
Anyone out there interested in Climbing to the Top of the RSB. I have the authority to Auction one trip for 6 people to spend 1 hour at the top on a mutually agreeable date before Oct 29 2012. I am trying to find a way to execute that auction and reach businesses, groups, families, photographers, fans and friends of the RBS. I would start the bidding at $500 (a tax deductible contribution to the Covington Cincinnati Suspension Bridge Committee) to help fund the pier lighting, phase 2 of the Light Up History Campaign. Someone could organize a group of people and come up with the highest bid? Or maybe a business is looking for a unique way to reward its staff/ employees, local artist and photographers would have a filed day! Oh, the winner will also receive an $80 Gift Card to Blinkers Tavern. Give me some feedback please.
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LOL: RON PAUL MAKES STOP IN WHIMSICAL JALOPY