Porkopolis

Election Preparations for Tuesday

Ohio polls open on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. To make sure you're prepared for your day in the booth, the ACLU of Ohio is making some resources and reminders available. Don't wait until Tuesday to get ready — do it this weekend.

Here are a few tips and tidbits from the press release:

• If you're still waiting in line at 7:30 p.m., officials must keep the polls open until you vote.

• Not sure where you vote?  Call your local Board of Elections (BOE) to find out your polling location (in Hamilton County that’s 513-632-7000) or click here.

Daily Beat

Kaldi's on the move?: Kevin Osborne is reporting just below here in Porkopolis that Findlay Market is close to landing Kaldi's as a tenant. The move would really hurt the Main Street district, which continues to struggle. At least Kaldi's remains in Over-the-Rhine.

CityBeat to run MidPoint: We're thrilled here at the old alt weekly homestead to announce that CityBeat will stage the MidPoint Music Festival beginning this fall. The six-year-old festival will be held the final weekend of September as before, but other changes are brewing.

McCain trying to sway Ohio: Sen. John McCain is trying to win over voters tired of the Iraq War.

Clinton hanging on: Walter Shapiro of Salon reports from Hanging Rock, Ohio, on the "twilight" of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Postcards from Ohio: Good national media story on Tuesday's Ohio primary from The Nation.

The Banks get its money: Looks like the long-delayed riverfront project will break ground on April 2.

Music as torture and daydream: Mike Breen previews tonight's CD release party with local singer-songwriter Greg Mahan and talks to the CIA about what songs they use to soften up prisoners before interrogation.

— John Fox

Kaldi's Ponders Move to Market

A longtime fixture of Over-the-Rhine's Main Street Entertainment District is in negotiations to possibly move to Findlay Market.

The owner of Kaldi's Coffee House & Book Store has been in talks about leaving the 1200 block of Main and reopening at the historic market since December but nothing has been finalized, the market's operators said.

“We’ve been talking to Kaldi’s since before the holidays,” said Bob Pickford, president and CEO of the Corporation for Findlay Market. “We’re looking over some paperwork. There are still some unresolved issues.”

Riveiro Campaign Hits The Streets

The recently announced campaign of a person who wants to challenge State Rep. Dale Mallory (D-Mount Airy) for the 32nd District seat in Ohio's House of Representatives is seeking volunteers.

Jason Riveiro, Ohio deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Hispanic rights group, announced Wednesday that he would run as an independent candidate against Mallory. His campaign will be collecting signatures of registered voters this weekend to qualify for the November ballot.

Got Toxins?

We're not talking the nuclear-waste-dump variety, but the average household stuff: pesticides, solvents, pool chemicals and motor oil, just to name a few. According to Hamilton County’s Household Hazardous Waste Program, most homes contain 60-100 pounds of hazardous products.

’Tis the season — or almost the season — for cleaning out the garage, basement, shed and/or barn, so don’t give those mayonnaise jars full of dirty oil the toss by burying them in a trash bag. Don’t pretend they aren’t going to a landfill and might end up in the drinking water or serve as some other form of pollutant. Just make a pile to drop off at one of the free hazardous waste drop-off sites offered by Hamilton County.

It’s not that hard to do and it only takes a little bit of time. The two sites are:

Willie's Rant Might Violate Elections Deal

Bill Cunningham's recent remarks might do more than embarrass likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain -- they also might violate the settlement that WLW's owner made in 2004 to settle an elections complaint.

Clear Channel Communications, which owns WLW (700 AM), agreed then to settle a complaint filed jointly by Dr. Jean Siebenaler and David Little with the Ohio Elections Commission. Siebenaler was the Democratic opponent of Republican Phil Heimlich in the 2002 race for a seat on the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, and Little was her political consultant.

Siebenaler's campaign alleged Heimlich and Clear Channel violated state elections law when Heimlich served as a talk show guest host for about a month in February 2002 on another Clear Channel station, WKRC (550 AM), after Heimlich already had filed as a candidate in the commission race.

Daily Beat

Red meat gets bloody: The Bill Cunningham brouhaha continues, as Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters takes responsibility for booking Cunningham as the warm-up act for Sen. John McCain's Cincinnati appearance Tuesday. Deters tells The Enquirer he agreed with everything Cunningham said, though McCain denounced the comments strongly after his rally.

The Enquirer's front-page story today picks up the theme I discussed yesterday — that Cunningham embodies the conservative base of the Republican Party that already feels alienated from McCain and that McCain's harsh reaction to Cunningham's "red meat" comments will only further alienate right wingers. Sen. Mike DeWine, McCain's Ohio campaign chairman, basically said conservatives have nowhere to go with their November vote besides McCain and doesn't seem worried.

Name game: Speaking of Barack Hussein Obama, Salon has a good feature on Semitic names in American history.

Art for Change: Local artists and musicians host an event in Over-the-Rhine tonight to create one-of-a-kind "Obama for President" yard signs.

Learn about climate change: Also tonight, Imago hosts a free screening of the documentary Marching for Action on Climate Change.

— John Fox

Artists Fling Paint for Obama

A local graphic designer and several musicians will help keep up with demand for Barack Obama yard signs by holding an "Artists for Obama" event today in Over-the-Rhine.

Among the people scheduled to attend are local music performers FreekBass and the Buffalo Killers.

Designer Angie Wilson is organzing the event. Participants are invited to create their own unique version of "Obama for President" yard signs that will be distributed throughout Greater Cincinnati.

CPS Superintendent Search Goes Public

"We want the leader of our school system to be everybody's Superintendent," is the quote given by Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education President Eve Bolton in a press release announcing how the search will be carried out. The schedule includes "community engagement" in gray blocks of text to indicate when the public will be involved. It began on Feb. 11 and runs through April 1 with "Conduct engagement strategies."

A community advisory group will be created to advise the school board on the candidates to be interviewed for the position.

"Members of this group, to be appointed by March 1, will include representatives of the faith-based community; parents and families; Labor Council; neighborhood groups; civil rights organizations; city of Cincinnati/other municipalities in the district; service organizations; business groups; and higher education," the press release says.

Does this strike you as a smart PR move in an effort to improve the board and district's reputation and/or pass the levy (see my news story "Good Urban Schools" here), a clusterfuck waiting to happen or something else?

— Margo Pierce

One Mallory Faces Competition

First-term State Rep. Dale Mallory (D-Mount Airy) will face a competitor this fall after all.

Jason Riveiro, Ohio deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Hispanic rights group, announced today that he would run as an independent candidate against Mallory for the 32nd District seat in Ohio's House of Representatives in November. Riveiro, 27, is an Over-the-Rhine resident who works as business development director for The Spanish Journal, a newspaper serving the region's Latino residents.

Riveiro recently was selected as CityBeat’s 2007 "Person of the Year" for his work spearheading an effort last summer by LULAC and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to persuade WLW (700 AM) to take down its "Big Juan" billboards throughout the city. The groups said the billboards contained imagery that was offensive and degrading to Hispanic residents.