Free Republic

A Bengals cheerleader was indicted Thursday on two charges of sexual abuse after she allegedly had a sexual relationship with a high school student at the school where she teaches.

The federal government can require tobacco companies to “reserve significant packaging space” for anti-smoking warnings and graphic images on their cigarette labels, a three-judge appellate panel ruled Monday. “We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati wrote in a ruling that was unanimous in some sections and 2-1 in others. Current tobacco-label warnings do not effectively inform consumers on these health risks, even though they include “the undisputed fact...

On the day after their basketball teams lost all self-control and sullied the reputations of their universities in the annual “Crosstown Shootout” game, the schools came back 24 hours later with punishments that further diminished the two. They took one of the worst on-court episodes in recent history and basically brushed it off with soft suspensions and hollow words. Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates dropped an unsuspecting Kenny Frease with a sucker punch to the face, then punched another player, then tried like heck to go after several more but was restrained. He got only six games. If I were a Cincinnati...

CINCINNATI — Eighth-ranked Xavier beat crosstown rival Cincinnati 76-53 Saturday in a game that featured a steady stream of trash talking and was called with 9.4 seconds left when the teams got into a brawl on court. Words escalated into shoving and swings as the final seconds ticked down. Both benches cleared and coaches pulled their players away. The referees called it.

Police and fire respond to a reported fire and explosion at Jerusalem Restaurant in the Clifton Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio near the University of Cincinnati campus on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011.

CINCINNATI - Kevin Malm lives in an apartment above the Jerusalem Restaurant and was home Sunday night when the front of the store exploded. "I was just sitting watching TV, I heard this loud boom, then like a little shake like an earthquake type thing," Malm said. "I saw dust coming up through the floorboard. I thought our tub fell through the ceiling," Malm and his roommate quickly tried to escape. "When we we came down the steps to leave, it was all dust. We couldn't see anything," Malm said. "That was kind of scary. We weren't sure if we...

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - A traffic advisory has been issued for Thursday, September 22, 2011. The right northbound lane (bottom deck) and the left southbound lane (upper deck) of the Brent Spence Bridge and the 4th Street Entrance Ramp (northbound) will be closed. Long delays are possible. Motorists are advised to use alternate routes if traveling through the area.

<p>CINCINNATI—Here in Hamilton County, where one in seven people lives beneath the poverty line and budget cuts have left gaps in the schools and sheriffs department, residents are bracing for more belt-tightening: rollback of a property-tax break promised as part of a 1996 plan to entice voters to pay for two new stadiums.</p>

He roamed the University of Cincinnati campus with a loaded gun. When his rage overflowed, the brainy microbiology major would open fire inside empty buildings, visualizing a wall clock or other object as a person who had done him wrong. By the mid-1970s, Bruce Ivins had earned his doctorate and was a promising researcher at the University of North Carolina. By outward appearances, he was a charming eccentric, odd but disarming. Inside, he still smoldered with resentment, and he saw a new outlet for it. Several years earlier, a Cincinnati student had turned him down for a date. He had...

A little more than a week ago, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to fund-raisers in two battleground-state cities, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Neither stop included the White House press corps; requests by local media to cover the events were denied by the vice president’s press office. The Democratic National Committee arranged all of the events for the Obama Victory Fund. A number of seasoned political reporters and former White House press-office staffers consider that lack of press coverage to be a dangerous precedent. “It would behoove the Obama administration to keep its promise of transparency even with fund-raisers,” agrees Jeff Brauer,...

When it comes to youth baseball, players are sometimes responsible for bringing postgame drinks and snacks for the team. Connor Echols, however, recently put a new spin on the tradition and brought an All-Star from his local Major League Baseball team, instead. In what may well represent the pinnacle of modern technological achievement, the 14-year-old Cincinnati Flames third baseman (@cecholzz) was able to lure Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips(notes) (@datdudebp) to his U-14 select team game last week by issuing a simple suggestion over Twitter ...

The City of Cincinnati today unveiled plans for a new, shortened street car route which would run from Findlay Market to Fountain Square, but misses some major points of interest, including the Cincinnati Riverfront. The new route, which can be viewed by clicking here, would begin with a 3.1 mile track in the first phase with 16 stops on Main, Elm, 12th, Race, and Walnut Streets and Central Parkway. It stops at Fountain Square, and would not take riders to key tourist points like the Duke Energy Convention Center, US Bank Arena, Great American Ballpark, The Banks, or Paul Brown...

Two local families are dealing with loved ones lost over the weekend due to allegedly drunk drivers. The first crash early Saturday morning in South Fairmount killed a three year old boy and leaves his mother in the hospital. The second crash late Sunday night in Hamilton killed a woman. Local 12's Rich Jaffe says there are some other unusual and sure to be controversial similarities between the cases as well. This morning, Rodolfo Temaj Felix walked into a Hamilton County courtroom for arraignment. He's charged with the hit and run accident Saturday morning that killed three year old Shakir...

Green Township is being singled out because federal investigators believe the housing authority blocked new public housing there for at least the past two years. More public housing for the poor is likely headed to Green Township and some other communities as part of a deal to resolve a discrimination complaint against Cincinnati's housing authority.

The Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney says no charges will be filed against a sheriff deputy whose son died while playing with a gun. Four year old Aiden Mehlbauer was hit with a bullet in the stomach and died last Wednesday. Police say Aiden Mehlbauer and his twin brother, Mason were in the basement of their home playing around 4 p.m. that afternoon. Their mother told investigators she was upstairs helping her six year old daughter with her homework. The boys were apparently in an office area currently under construction in which the boys' father, Greg Mehlbauer, a Franklin County Sheriff's...

CINCINNATI, OH - A man has been arrested for hitting a pregnant woman in the head with a hand gun. Jerome Smith, 27, was arrested February 1st, however, the attack happened on January 29th. happened on the 29th. The police report states a man with "Genius" tattooed on his forehead attacked Tiera Bryant, who is eight months pregnant.

The Big East's football expansion plans leave the conference with 17 universities, including non-Football members. That's a terrible number for scheduling; the only way the basketball teams can schedule an even number of games is if they play every other team only once. 18 teams would allow three divisions of six teams each. Any team would play the other five teams in its division twice, and one half of the twelve other teams in the conference. 18 sounds like worsening the problem of too many teams, but having three divisions could actually restore some rivalries, and return the conference to...

A troubling headline at the Cincinnati Enquirer: Schism develops over Catholic campaignA 'schism' is a clear break in the Church as a response to heresy. 'Heresy' is a clear rejection of a dogma of the Church. Rich Leonardi, of Ten Reasons, is quoted: "The groups funded are consistently highly political and always political in one direction." And... "You end up with these very hard left groups with a very partisan agenda." Does that indicate a charge of 'heresy'? It's debatable. Tony Stieritz, director of social action at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, whose office Mr. Leonardi claims "sponsored a talk by a...

The nearest I ever got to Sparky Anderson in person was four years ago. At a funeral. I'm not even close to making this one up. Larry Sherry, the 1959 World Series MVP for the Los Angeles Dodgers (Anderson was once a minor league infielder in the Dodger organisation, before spending a miserable season as a good-glove-bad-bat Philadelphia Phillies infielder), had died after a long bout with cancer. I wrote a pleasant little tributary to the old righthander and, within hours of its publication, I received a pleasant communique from Sherry's son-in-law. He thanked me for the kind words and...

It's absolutely the perfect metaphor. There is a saying that goes "Give a man a fish and he'll eat today. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat tomorrow."It's been long recognized that Democrats have no interest in teaching anyone how to fish. They want to keep people hooked and on the line for as long as possible. They pander to the lowest common denominator.They pander to illegal aliens as future voters. Democrats have done nothing but make society worse and more dependent. The great achievement of the Democratic Party in the 20th century was to create vast government bureaucracies...