A Senate committee has approved the nomination of Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Deborah Cook for a federal appeals judgeship in Cincinnati.

As OFCC PAC has been reporting for the past two months, once Justice Cook is confirmed by the full Senate, it will be up to Gov. Taft to name replacement for her on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Click here to read the full story from the Ohio News Network.

The Toledo Blade has written their latest editorial opposing concealed carry reform.

While their rhetoric about the threat to public safety is not new, their theories about why the House and Senate leadership are allowing the issue to come up, despite saying it wasn't a priority, are interesting.

As always, educated letters to the editor of the Blade may be emailed by >clicking here.

Sen. Lynn Wachtmann, a Republican from Napoleon, introduced SB24 on Wednesday, along with 9 co-sponsors, that would allow citizens to carry concealed weapons.

"It's substantially similar to the bill he introduced last year," said a Wachtmann aide. "The changes are minor and technical in nature."

OFCC PAC Commentary:
For those of you who are new to the history, SB130 is almost verbatim to the language that HB274 was "introduced as" before it received significant re-design, and includes FBI fingerprints. We believe SB24 will either be heavily modified in the Senate, or more likely, the Senate will wait for HB12 to be passed out of the Ohio House.

We applaud the Senate's efforts to keep the issue of legal self-defense via concealed carry reform on the forefront.

Special thanks to those OFCC and OFCC PAC supporters who took the time to contact their Senators encouraging co-sponsorship of this bill.

If you wish to review read the bill for yourself:
Click here for to view SB24 on the Senate's Internet website.

Cincinnati officers arrested almost 30 percent fewer suspects - about 18,000 people - last year, compared with 2000. Emergency calls increased more than 17 percent and violent crimes - murders, rapes and aggravated assaults, for example - jumped 40 percent.

Criminal cases in Hamilton County courts declined 20 percent between 2000 and last year. Arrests by city police drive the county court workload.

The decline in court cases is "the most conclusive proof I've seen" of a police work slowdown, said Hamilton County Court Administrator Mike Walton. "The police were not making arrests."

The increase in crime doesn't surprise Stefanie Sunderland, a Northside resident who has been crusading on behalf of her neighborhood. She sees it every day.

Officers are reluctant to go after big groups of African-Americans, fearing they'll be charged with racial profiling in the wake of a Justice Department civil rights investigation, Sunderland said. She barely sees a neighborhood officer who used to be the most aggressive cop she knew.

"I think what's happening is just appalling," Sunderland said. "Basically we have given people license to commit criminal acts in our neighborhood without repercussion.

"We might as well put up a sign in the neighborhood and say, "Welcome criminals."

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Due to the unconstitutional ban on carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense, Hamilton County, and the entire state of Ohio, are already hanging a sign that says "Welcome criminals".

And Bob Taft laments at the decline in revenue from tourism?

Click here to read the entire story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

17 taken recently in Butler Co.

By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A warning to suburban moms: Don't leave your purse in plain sight as you dash into a day-care center - not even for a minute, not even in a locked car.

Day-care operators are again seeing a surge in purse thefts from unattended cars in their parking lots - 17 in the past couple weeks throughout Butler County, Sgt. Thomas E. Kilgour, Hamilton police spokesman, said Wednesday. He says police in nearby communities also have been seeing a rash of similar incidents.

A year ago, police in West Chester Township, Forest Park, Mason and Sharonville said they were investigating more than 40 such cases.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for commentary, and a link to the full story.

A 31-year-old man was in serious condition Wednesday night at University Hospital after being shot four times in Avondale.

The man, whose identity was not immediately available, was approached by two or three people after he got out of his car in the 800 block of Blair Avenue about 9 p.m., said Cincinnati Police Sgt. Richard Sulfsted.Witnesses said they heard shouting, then some shots, Sulfsted said.

Two of the suspects left in the victim's car, which was described as a late 1980s model Chevrolet Suburban, blue with a wide gray stripe around it.

Meanwhile, in a state that allows (some) law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense, a shockingly different outcome occurred in this attempted car-jacking/ robbery:

The News, Buffalo, NY

Stopped in his car at a Buffalo, N.Y., intersection, Thomas Ortolano was approached by a gunman demanding money. The motorist reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun, sending the robber fleeing. Ortolano has a handgun permit, police said.

• Could the lifting of Ohio's unconstitutional ban on carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense have saved this Cincinnati car-jack victim?

Hamilton County authorities are still looking for the man who robbed the Graeter's Ice Cream parlor at 3301 Westbourne Drive, Green Township.

A black man in his early 20s armed with a handgun entered the store about 6:50 p.m. on Tuesday and demanded money from the cashier.

He took an undetermined amount of cash and fled on foot, heading south on Westbourne Drive.

Meanwhile, in a state that allows its law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense, a shockingly different outcome resulted when a man attempted to rob a laundromat:

Click on the "Read More..." link below for the full story.