As part of American Craft Beer Week, I spoke with Mike Stuart, local beer expert and owner of The Brew Professor blog.

In the past few years, craft beer production has been blossoming around the Greater Cincinnati area.  To help celebrate Craft Beer Week and to benefit local-area charities, many of these local beer makers have organized some great events.

If you wonder why there's a large crowd at Horseshoe Cincinnati tonight, it's because the casino is holding its first outdoor concert. The Killers will play to a sold-out crowd at The Shoe, the one-acre concert space at the entrance of the casino.  The gates open at 6:30 and the opening act takes the stage at 7:30.  The Killers open a 19-week concert series at The Shoe that includes Willie Nelson, Earth, Wind and Fire, Billy Idol and many others. 
 

The Cincinnati Health Department (CHD) is putting the public on notice that proposed budget cuts will have a direct effect on services. A meeting is scheduled for May 28 to discuss the layoff of 18 employees and what the cuts will mean.

CHD Spokesman Rocky Merz says over the last five years the department has had to eliminate more than 100 positions. The latest cuts come from a city budget proposal to cut 9% of the CHD's budget.

Fewer rat trapping and bed bug inspections

The 2013 Taste of Cincinnati winners are out. The annual food festival is Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27. Organizers expect the event will draw 500,000 people.

*2013 Best of Taste Awards*

*Appetizer*

1st Place: Crab Rangoon, Thai Taste
2nd Place: Cuban Black Bean Soup, Silver Ladle
3rd Place: Risotto Balls, Pompilios

*Entrée*

Hamilton County Commissioners still aren't happy with the City of Cincinnati's responsible bidder program for Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) construction projects.

The board is drafting replacement language and, to show he means business, commissioner Chris Monzel is considering a restraining order forcing the city not to award any MSD contracts until the issue is resolved.

The key issue is a clause requiring companies bidding for sewer work to have certified apprenticeship programs with graduates.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory's budget plan released Wednesday reduces the number of police and fire department layoffs.  But 53 firefighters and 49 police officers would still be out of work in early June.  

Mallory said he believes the public safety layoffs are unavoidable.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections is referring two people to the prosecutor's office for possible illegal voting, but the bigger question appears to be whether more than three dozen people who each voted a provisional ballot and absentee ballot are in the wrong.
 

A new location for the Cincinnati Police Department’s District 3 headquarters could be announced within the next two to three weeks.

Officials have narrowed the list of possible sites down to four locations.

Those are: