Julie Irwin Zimmerman
How Catholic Are We?
A meditation on the power and slowly waning glory of Catholicism in the Queen City.
Mr. Obergefell Goes To Washington
All Jim Obergefell wanted to be was John Arthur’s husband. Now his name is on a Supreme Court case that could transform the future for the nation’s same-sex couples and make him a gay rights pioneer.
#NoNewsIsBadNews
Balkanized neighborhoods. Political apathy. Regional ennui. Click-bait coverage. What happens when a city loses its newspaper? We may find out sooner than we think.
The Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Crime Lab
There are times when the crime lab at the Hamilton County Coroner's Office functions like an episode of CSI: NY. Take, for instance, the case of the Hilton Netherland Plaza security guard who was stabbed to death December 7 in a stairwell of the hotel.
#PrezOnBoard
Even before trustees tapped him as the school’s new president, Santa Ono was a campus rock star. But does the tweeting, Bearcat-loving, Ivy League–trained scientist have what it takes to lead the University of Cincinnati into the big leagues?
Old College Try? Meet New College Try
For three years, Antioch College—that famous little lefty school in Yellow Springs—was shuttered and in shambles. Now it's reborn, thanks to free tuition, alumni with tool belts, and a handful of students and faculty who are making it up as they go.
Jane Portman
Jane Portman, wife of U.S. Senator Rob Portman, is the mother of three almost-grown children, a volunteer tutor and driver for Meals On Wheels, as well as a former MBA student, communications professional, and White House intern. Her admirers say she is also proof that her famously disciplined husband can’t possibly be boring. On a late July day I met Portman, who is 52, at her house along the Little Miami River in Terrace Park. Her whole family was home—her husband and younger son Will had just returned from a training ride for an upcoming bike race, and her older son Jed and daughter Sally wandered in and out. In an age when political wives are a subject of avid curiosity in pop culture circles—as television series like The Good Wife and Political Animals and Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel American Wife show—Jane Portman projects a decidedly more down-to-earth profile. With son Will standing in as her handler (that’s a joke, though he did sit in on the interview), she talked about the ideal chicken coop, her so-so first date with her husband, life inside the Beltway versus Cincinnati, and what the future holds for her. What new adventures may lie ahead for her husband, who reportedly has been vetted by the Romney campaign in its search for a vice-presidential running mate, had yet to be determined at press time.
Schoolhouse, Rocked
Before Columbine, there was Clay Shrout. In the spring of 1994, the Ryle High School junior murdered his family and then held his math class at gunpoint. But time hasn't erased the scars.
