Cincinnati Edition

Dr. Ashish Vaidya will be sworn in as Northern Kentucky University’s sixth president on Friday, March 29. He began his tenure as NKU's president on July 1, 2018, and selected a spring 2019 Investiture Ceremony to allow himself time to understand the campus culture and the region.

It's officially spring, flowers are in bloom, lawns are just starting to turn a deeper shade of green and the weeds are beginning their mission to take over our yards. But there is still a chance we could experience hard frosts before the warm weather finally settles in.

A chickenpox outbreak has swept a Northern Kentucky school. There are 32 cases of illness at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Assumption Academy in Walton. The Northern Kentucky Health Department now says unvaccinated students must stay home until 21 days after the onset of rash for the last ill student. In rare cases chickenpox can be deadly, especially for infants and pregnant women.

The Louder Than a Bomb poetry slam, started in Chicago in 2001, was created to give young people a forum to speak out and to be heard. The poetry contest was brought to Cincinnati in 2015, enabling young people in our region to hear one another’s stories and share experiences through spoken word performances.

As the Cincinnati Reds mark 150 years this season, the Findlay Market Parade celebrates its 100th anniversary. The parade starts this Thursday at noon, followed by the Reds opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ballpark. Game time is 4:10.

Cincinnati Reds radio broadcaster Marty Brennaman is starting his 46th, and last, year with the club. His voice has been the sound of summer for Cincinnati baseball fans since 1974.

Rumors of a sex trafficking ring operating in Portsmouth, Ohio, have been widespread for decades. After a year-long investigation, The Cincinnati Enquirer releases a report on drug use and prostitution in the town of 20,000 on the Ohio River, about 100 miles east of Cincinnati.

With 21 parks and preserves covering 17,666 acres, Great Parks of Hamilton County is the largest land holder in the county. Established in 1930, the park system completed its first-ever Comprehensive Master Plan this January. The plan will guide parks, facilities, programming and services over the next 10 years, through 2028.

Northern Kentucky's largest city is in the midst of a noticeable renaissance. Downtown Covington is now home to dozens of new restaurants, small businesses, bars and residential projects. It's a far departure from the downward trend the city experienced starting in the 1970s when it was noted by the federal government as one of the nation’s most distressed.

Since 1993, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's Barrows Conservation Lecture Series has brought a slate of esteemed naturalists and scientists to Cincinnati to address wildlife issues and global conservation efforts.