Inside Pitch

Libertarian Jim Berns has filed petitions to run for Cincinnati mayor, setting up what will be the first mayoral primary election in the city since 2005.

Democrats Roxanne Qualls, a former mayor and now vice mayor, and former council member John Cranley have not filed their petitions yet, but are actively campaigning and raising money and plan to file petitions by the June filing deadline.

Berns' entry into the race guarantees a primary election in the city of Cincinnati on Sept. 10; and it will be a costly one.

Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, who has made illegal immigration an issue in most of his election campaigns, is opposed to both of the immigration reform packages proposed recently - one by President Obama and another by a bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators.

Both plans lay out a "pathway to citizenship" for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S.

On his blog, Chabot laid out his reasons for opposing both the Obama and Senate plans.

State Rep. Dennis Keene (D-Wilder) filed a bill in the Kentucky General Assembly Tuesday which he says will close a loophole that grants parental and visitation rights to convicted rapists if they seek those rights.

Kentucky is one of 34 states that has no protection for rape victims who become mothers as a result of the rape, Keene said.

Keene said he found out that Kentucky had no such law last summer when he read about a Massachusetts case of a 14-year-old rape victim dealing with this issue in the courts.