NEWS ROUND-UP -- TUESDAY MORNING 14 AUGUST

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

| 

FACEBOOK: The River City News

@theRCnews on Twitter  

|

by Michael Monks 

Email Michael

|

BRENT SPENCE BRIDGE CLEARS FEDERAL HURDLE, WIN FOR COVINGTON

The design has been approved, but without funding:

“It’s like having a green light, but no car to drive through it,” said Mark Policinski, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, the region’s top transportation planning agency.

And it looks like Covington will retain its Fifth Street exit:

The FHWA report reveals a win for Covington. The plan has been modified to include a Fifth Street exit ramp off northbound I-75. Originally, the plan called for the elimination of the Fifth Street exit, requiring motorists traveling northbound to exit at 12th Street. Access to Covington has been a major concern for city leaders and the public, and the report said the decision to keep the Fifth Street exit was in response to public comments.

Full story: Cincinnati Enquirer/Jason Williams 

|

COVINGTON BANK ROBBED, SUSPECT DIES AFTER JUMPING FROM BRIDGE

Wow. Via WCPO:

The man allegedly robbed the Fifth Third Bank on West Fourth Street in Covington at about 6:30 p.m. Police say a Covington police officer spotted the suspect walking in downtown Covington and tried to talk to him. That's when the suspect took off and ran across the bridge to Ohio. The man then jumped off the bridge and died instantly, according to authorities.

More with a video report: WCPO 
|
DON'T MISS MONDAY'S NEWS!
Three candidates for Covington School Board have joined together to run as a slate; Story of a bullied Covington teen that took his own life is now part of an anti-bullying video; Plus. word is that the Mike Fink is going to reopen...soon. Those stories and more at the link.

Full story: The RC News: Monday Round-Up 

|
QUICKIES
|
Duke Energy shareholder sues over ousted CEO's $44.5 million exit agreement Business Courier 
|
Delta comes to terms with Comair employees Business Courier 
|
Gas prices see biggest jump of the year WLWT 
|
Judges to review grandparents visitation law Cincinnati Enquirer 
|
We're Number Ton! Kentucky among most obese states WFPL 
| 
POSSIBLY RELATED: Driver slams into Krispy Kreme truck WKYT 
|
Best places to live in the future? KY is third from the bottom 
:-( Business First 
|
POLITICS
|
Kentucky legislator worried about Sharia law:

The bills are motivated by claims that Islamic Sharia law and laws of other nations are creeping into American courtrooms. Sharia is a the Islamic moral and religious code that is part of the legal systems of many Muslim nations. It deals with issues ranging from divorce, custody to diet and fasting. (State Rep. Kim) King (R-Harrodsburg) said she’s not singling out any foreign law or culture but addressing the concerns that a constituent brought to her.

Full story: Cincinnati Enquirer/Scott Wartman 
|
Former Agriculture Commissioner/UK basketball star wants his child support payments reduced now that he is out of a job Courier-Journal 
|
Gov. Beshear's Chief of Staff to be remembered Wednesday press release 
|
Lt. Gov. Abramson's remarks about Fancy Farm draw more criticism WFPL 
|
Good news for the NKY river cities from State Rep. Dennis Keene:

Great news for our region. The Kentucky Department of Transportation has informed me that they will be issuing a check to the City of Dayton in the amount of $79,399 and the City of Newport will receive $1883.02. These funds are left over municipal road bond funds to be used for road and bridge rehabilitation.

|

Political observers are thrilled about the upcoming Vice Presidential debate which will be held in Kentucky WFPL 
|
LOL: Your Republican to Explain Why Paul Ryan is a Good Choice The Onion (satire)
|
KY EAGLE SCOUT RETURNS MEDAL BECAUSE OF GAY BAN
A Kentucky attorney is returning his eagle scout medal to the Boy Scouts of America over the organization's ban on gays:

Attorney Jackson Cooper, 32, of Louisville, Ky., said in an open letter that he was unsure if any of his fellow Scouts were gay. “But I do know that my now-deceased mother, a lesbian, would not have been allowed to serve as a den mother if her orientation had been public knowledge,” he wrote. “The thought that I have invested such a large part of my life with an organization that would have turned my own mother away breaks my heart.”

Full story: Associated Press 
|
SKECHERS SHOES FEDERAL CASE SETTLEMENT OK'D IN LOUISVILLE
A federal judge in Louisville has tentatively OK'd a settlement in the case against Skechers shoes and the company's allegedly misleading ads about its "Shape-Ups":

An undetermined number of people will be able to get a maximum repayment for their purchases — up to $80 per pair of Shape-Ups; $84 per pair of Resistance Runner shoes; up to $54 per pair of Podded Sole Shoes; and $40 per pair for Tone-Ups.

Full story: Associated Press 

|

LICKING RIVER TRAIL IS "AN URBAN OASIS"

Covington's newest addition to outdoor enjoyment gets a profile in today's Cincinnati Enquirer:

Phase II plans are to move north toward Randolph Park at Ninth Street. Ultimately officials want the trails to extend from the Ohio River, where the Riverfront Commons walking/biking path is planned, south to Interstate 275, including pieces along the shores of Campbell and Kenton counties. “We think that the trail’s going to be built piece by piece,” in $100,000 segments, Williams said. Proposed parks along the Greenway could raise total costs to $10 million or $12 million range, she said.

Full story: Cincinnati Enquirer/Mike Rutledge 
|
LIBRARIES TEAM UP FOR BOOK EVENT
Rick Robinson's latest thriller Writ of Mandamus (which I have read and you should buy IMMEDIATELY) features Covington prominently in the storyline with one of its key plot points happening right on Main Street. Now the three library systems in NKY are teaming up to highlight the work:

The library systems of Boone, Kenton, Campbell and Grant counties are teaming up for the annual reading program. Committee chair Amy Foster, manager of the Boone County Public Library’s Scheben branch, said the program began in 2007 as an initiative to get everyone in the Northern Kentucky counties reading and talking about the same book. The desire to support a local author was one of the major reasons Robinson’s book was selected, she said.

Full story: Cincinnati Enquirer/Stephanie Salmons 
|
COVINGTON ROTARY CLUB CHANGES LEADERSHIP
The Covington Rotary Club's new board of directors:

\

More pictures: Covington Rotary @ Facebook 

|

COVINGTON SCHOOLS MENTOR TRAINING TONIGHT

Help one student, change two lives. Learn how to be a mentor in the Covington Independent Public Schools (students return next week!) during a training session tonight at Holmes Middle School (classroom 1320) running from 6:00PM - 7:30PM. Call 859.392.3188 for more information.

|
COVINGTON QUICKIES

|

Holmes football team builds for a bigger finish this season Cincinnati Enquirer 

|

Which local high school football games will be on your TV each week? Click: TBNK 

|

Have you weighed in on the most awesome stuff in Covington? The list is being compiled so hurry up! Awesome Collective of Covington 

|

Covington's Wolf & Company Bistro review by Polly Campbell Cincinnati Enquirer 

|

XANADU IS A HIT AT THE CARNEGIE

|

Good review: City Beat 

|

Mixed review: Cincinnati Enquirer 

|

Overview: Behind the Curtain Cincinnati

A BRIDGE TOO FAR: COVINGTON FIGHTS FOR EXITS

by Michael Monks 

Email Michael

FACEBOOK: The River City News

@theRCnews on Twitter 

|   

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

| 

"This is by far the most important meeting in Covington about the Brent Spence Bridge in several years," said City Manager Larry Klein at the start of a packed public meeting inside City Hall. Covington's elected leaders and administrators hoped to create a unified message from Northern Kentucky's largest city as the region embarks on one of the biggest infrastructure project in its history, a new bridge between Cincinnati and Covington that may eliminate an important exit ramp to the Kentucky riverfront. 

|
Fifty percent of the traffic that comes into Covington from northbound Interstate 75 does so at the 5th Street exit which would disappear under the plan recommended by transportation departments from Ohio and Kentucky. Instead, northbound drivers would exit at 12th Street and then use a collector road to get to 5th. Heading south from Cincinnati the issue is of even more concern to Covington as drivers would have to begin to exit near the Museum Center in preparation for an exit at 5th Street in Kentucky. 

|

The loss of an exit ramp, while possibly the most significant, is not the only trouble facing Covington as the bridge project moves forward. Important access to Devou Park would be compromised, Goebel Park would lose its basketball court and possibly its swimming pool, and the Lewisburg neighborhood could yet again be gutted in the name of interstate progress. "When the original highway went in it cut Lewisburg off from the rest of the city and this new development only makes that void worse," said Beth Johnson, Covington's historic preservation officer.

|

HERE IS A LOOK AT THE ISSUES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:

|

ACCESS TO DOWNTOWN COVINGTON

Covington wants to ensure that a collector road is guaranteed on the northbound side of the interstate at the 12th Street exit so that traffic can continue on to 5th Street. Also, it wants amplified access to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge so that traffic can be mitigated during afternoon rush hour traffic on 4th Street allowing drivers to choose the Clay Wade Bailey to access the interstate in Cincinnati. Additionally, Covington's leaders want a direct ramp from I-75 to 9th Street.

|

LEWISBURG

Twenty-three properties will be completely removed while twenty properties will be partially affected. Most of the homes being removed are on Crescent Street which would no longer be a through-street and would have double cul-de-sacs. The homes to be removed are indicated in red in these photos:

Suggestions by the city include demolishing noncontributing buildings, emphasizing a facade grant program for the neighborhood since it is an under appreciated gateway into the city, and also the creation of a Charles Zimmer Memorial Path that would be pedestrian and bike oriented in honor of the former hardware store owner who was dubbed Mr. Lewisburg in his day.

|

DEVOU PARK

Access to Devou Park from Lewis Street would be closed creating more traffic on Baker Street according to the city which also said the street is not designed or equipped for through traffic. The proposed solution by city staff is to make Monatgue a two-way street with an off-street parking option. 

|
GOEBEL PARK

Suggestions for a revamped Goebel Park include a new pool and pool house, a "sprayground", a fruit and vegetable garden, a pond, and new parking. Check out the photo for details: 

|

There are two public meetings scheduled on both sides of the river in a couple weeks: Tuesday April 24 at Longworth Hall and Wednesday April 25 at the NKY Convention Center (parking is free that inside the RiverCenter garage). Both meetings are from 5:00 to 8:00PM. The focus of the presentations will be the recommended plan but Covington's alternate suggestions will be display with a "not recommended" label. The public will be able to submit comments through a court reporter who will be present at both meetings.