That's So Cincinnati

Cincinnati Enquirer City Hall reporter Sherry Coolidge and Executive Editor Beryl Love talk with Congressman-elect Greg Landsman about the transition to Congress. The duo also touch on other city matters making news.

It's not the Christmas season just yet, although the signs are there. There was snow on Saturday and frigid overnight temperatures. The ice skating rink at Fountain Square has been drawing crowds since even before it got cold. And now the Fountain Square Christmas Tree has arrived. 3CDC's Christy Samad tells listeners everything that went into picking it.

Jeff Brantley loved the Cincinnati Reds long before he was a pitcher for the team and even longer before he started calling games in the team's broadcast booth. When Brantley was growing up in Alabama, he and his dad would listen to famed Reds' broadcasters Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennaman calling the games while sitting in the family car, coasting up and down the driveway – it was the only way to get decent reception. So when Brantley joined the Reds as a player from 1994 to 1997, it felt like a homecoming, even if Cincinnati wasn't actually home. Hear what he had to...

With the addition of the Blackburn sisters – Elizabeth and Caroline – to the Bengals’ leadership team, the fourth generation of the Brown family has taken its place in the front office. Enquirer Bengals beat wrtier Kelsey Conway drops into this week’s That’s So Cincinnati podcast to chat with the Blackburns, along with co-host Beryl Love. Find out what was on Elizabeth’s to-do list when she took over as directory of strategy and engagement and what Caroline’s biggest pet peeve is when it comes to working with her sister.

If you asked Cincinnati chef Jose Salazar when he moved to Cincinnati in 2008 from New York City if he'd someday have an eponymous restaurant, two other restaurants, and be spending 90 hours a week opening his brand new Columbia Tusculum bodega, he'd have said no, that's not the plan. But here he is, 14 years later, doing all of that. Loving all of that. Salazar joined The Enquirer's That's So Cincinnati podcast to talk about his new venture, Daylily, the New York-style Bodega he opened in partnership with Deeper Roots Coffee; his sobriety journey; and all things Cincinnati.

As Frank Marzullo celebrates his 15th year as a meteorologist at Fox 19 this month, he shared with The Enquirer where he found his love of weather reporting, how weather technology has changed the profession and just how accurate he thinks the Farmer's Almanac prediction of a cold and snowy winter for Cincinnati this year will be. Marzullo, who grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, said his interest in weather was sparked by a childhood trip to the grocery store with his grandparents. The sky was dark, but there was a rainbow, a funnel cloud and hail. He was curious and...

Fritz, the Cincinnati Zoo's new baby hippo, has spent the days since he was born on Aug. 3 at his mom Bibi's side, nursing, swimming and getting used to his surroundings. This week he did something new: He met his world-famous big sister, Fiona. Head hippo handler Wendy Rice tells That's So Cincinnati listeners how it went and so much more about Fritz.

The effort to force  a stadium naming-rights deal between the Cincinnati Bengals and Paycor was so secret it had not one, but two code names.

Internally Paycor called the deal Project SoFi, a nod to the name of the stadium where the Bengals played in the 2022 Super Bowl. Norwood-based Paycor was already a team sponsor, so talking about the Bengals' Super Bowl appearance wouldn't seem out of the ordinary. 

Meanwhile, the Bengals' internal code name for the deal was Project Lightening, a name Elizabeth Blackburn, the team's director of strategy and engagement, came up with. It's a...

If it's a high-profile national trial, chances are Cincinnati-based veteran courts and crime reporter Angenette Levy is there. 

The Law & Crime network host and correspondent has been on the ground in Wisconsin for the Kyle Rittenhouse, in Virginia for Johnny Depp-Amber Heard and in Minnesota for Derek Chauvin trials in the past year. 

And a big reason why Levy's been there: Courts in those states allow cameras in the court room. 

Levy, the former Local 12 reporter and anchor, is outspoken about the need for federal courts to begin following most state courts and allow cam...

You think you were surprised at everything you heard in the P.G. Sittenfeld trial?

So was the guy who oversaw the public corruption investigation into the former Cincinnati city councilman and other Ohio politicians. And David DeVillers was part of a team of prosecutors who helped convict Saddam Hussein on war crimes and genocide. 

"The biggest thing coming into becoming the U.S. Attorney ... it wasn't the murders and the terrorism and the cartels, it was the corruption that was the biggest surprise for me," DeVillers, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District o...

Trial attorney Steve Goodin, a former Cincinnati City Councilman, joins "That's So Cincinnati" podcast to provide legal analysis on the public corruption trial of former Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld.

Goodin, of Downtown-based Graydon Law, has been in the courtroom to watch most of the proceedings since the trial began June 21. 

Asked after the prosecution rested its case on Wednesday what he thought the outcome might be, Goodin said: 

“I have thought from the beginning that there was a pretty strong likelihood of him being convicted. I still feel that way after having heard the evid...

When Sheree Paolello signed a contract to be a reporter at WLWT-TV News 5 she saw Cincinnati as a stepping stone to a bigger market like Chicago or New York.

But that contract became two contracts. Then an offer to anchor came along.

So she stayed.

This month marks her 20th anniversary at WLWT. Paolello told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast there's no other place she'd rather report the news.

Paolello grew up in St. Leon, in Dearborn County. She graduated from Northern Kentucky University and went on to be a crime...

Western & Southern Financial Group top executive John Barrett joins "That's So Cincinnati" and discusses his big, bold idea to potentially build a new Downtown arena.

FC Cincinnati co-CEO Jeff Berding joins to discuss the crunch-time decision to sign the agreement with FIFA in order for Cincinnati to move forward with its 2026 World Cup bid.

Khisha Asubuhi came to Cincinnati to coach basketball in 2003 and soon noticed Southwest Ohio's strong pride in its private, Catholic high schools.

Where's the love for the city, suburban and rural public schools, she wondered?

It was a thought that eventually led to the best-selling T-shirt at Originalitees, an apparel shop that Asubuhi opened in 2009.

She told the story behind the "Product of Public Schools" apparel as this week's guest on The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast.

Asubuhi, a Columbus native, played basketball at Cincinnati State and Indiana University. She returned to...

Jean-Robert de Cavel is never far from a kitchen – whether it's at his restaurant Le Bar a Boeuf or at home with his wife and daughter.

And at 60, he told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast, not even cancer will stop him. Jean-Robert said he remains in chemotherapy after first being diagnosed in 2018 with leiomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer.

“I will never be cured," Jean-Robert said. "I just have to be strong. I keep very positive. My medical team says, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s working.’ Never, ever give up.”

The Cincinnati...

Pete Rose, who sees himself as an ambassador for the Cincinnati Reds, is defending team owner Bob Castellini amid the club getting off to one of the worst starts in Major League Baseball history. 

But baseball's all-time hits leader says he's doesn't blame Reds fans for being upset and wearing bags over their heads calling on Castellini to sell the team.

"If I'm managing the Reds and I get off to a 3-22 start, I'm going to wear a bag over my head because I'm embarrassed," Rose told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast.

"I...

It's been a busy few months for the MadTree Brewing. 

One of Cincinnati's most successful craft beer breweries has taken on challenges like never before – opening its first full-service restaurant and jumping into the hard seltzer game.

MadTree marketing manager Trevor Self joined The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast to offer a behind-the-scenes look at why the Oakley-based company decided to open Alcove restaurant in Over-the-Rhine and launch a line of vodka soda called "Sway."

MadTree, founded in 2013, held off on branching out beyond beer making, even as competitors started making seltzers and hard lem...

Ohio lawmaker Jean Schmidt talks in-depth about why she's leading the way on House Bill 616. The Clermont County Republican also talks about her return to politics, changing her stance on the death penalty, mentoring women struggling with substance abuse and marathon running.

Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a member of one of the great political dynasties in American history, questioned whether he could even get elected in today's hyperpartisan political climate.

In a rare interview these days, the 80-year-old Republican told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast that he'd be known as a "RINO" – Republican in Name Only – if he were still in politics.

"I'm not sure there's much of a center-right ... on the Republican side," Taft said. "It could be a big challenge for someone like me to get elected as a Republican. There's no middle lane out...

Teresa Theetge comes from a big West Side police family.

Her father was a Cincinnati Police captain. Two of Theetge's uncles were high-ranking officers in the department. Four of her seven siblings became officers at various local departments. Her son is a Boone County Sheriff's Office deputy.

Even her 10-year-old grandson – one of eight grandchildren – told her if a career in Major League Baseball doesn't work out, he wants to be an officer, too.

So when Cincinnati interim City Manager John Curp appointed Theetge as the city's interim police chief on Feb. 16, Theetge had plen...

Joe Deters returns to "That's So Cincinnati" podcast -- and the Hamilton County prosecutor doesn't mince words.