Same-sex wedding prohibition backed

Congress should outlaw gay marriage with a constitutional amendment, Hamilton County commissioners opined on a 2-1 vote Wednesday. "(Gay marriage) is going to cost us money," Commissioner John Dowlin said. "I would imagine there's going to be more divorces, more child-support claims, more things of that nature. Plus, there's the issue of what do you do about medical insurance." Dowlin authored the resolution calling on Congress to pass an amendment that's been introduced defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Fellow Republican Phil Heimlich voted with him. Democrat Todd Portune voted against it. Gay marriage is not a matter the commissioners need weigh in on, Portune said*

St. Ursula moving senior tea indoors

It took the mating call of a red-eyed bug to change an 83-year-old tradition at St. Ursula Academy in East Walnut Hills. When this year's 178 graduates gather today in their formal dresses, hats and gloves for the annual senior tea, it won't be on the lawn and in the parlors of their East Walnut Hills campus - as it has since the tea began in 1911. Thanks to the arrival of the 17-year Brood X cicadas, this year's gathering has been moved to Seton Hall on the College of Mount St. Joseph's campus in Delhi Township. There, the girls - roses in hand - will greet mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, alumnae and friends in receiving-line fashion.

The expert speaks at Museum Center

Dr. Gene Kritsky, a cicada expert and Cincinnati Museum Center adjunct curator, will speak on the history of periodical cicadas at 7:30 p.m. today in the Reakirt Auditorium, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., West End. Kritsky's talk will include how cicadas became known as locusts and why they were considered a plague when European settlers in North America first encountered them. The lecture is free to the public.

Awareness Day recalls sweeps

A homeless-awareness day will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 12 in Covington's Goebel Park at 5th and Philadelphia streets. Lunch, clothing, personal-hygiene items and information about services for the homeless will be available at the park. There will also be a speech on homeless issues. The event is a way of remembering the city's sweeps of homeless camps and a 2002 homeless march, which drew hundreds concerned about the way homeless were being treated, according the Recovery Network of Northern Kentucky. People who have been homeless organized the event with the support of the Recovery Network and the Northern Kentucky Homeless and Housing Coalition.

TRAFFIC WATCH

The following streets will be closed at 6 p.m. Friday for Taste of Cincinnati: Central Parkway between Plum and Main streets; and Race, Vine and Walnut between Court and 12th streets. Parking within the closed area is prohibited. The streets will be reopened 5 a.m. Tuesday.