Having just learned that two thirds of adolescents aren't using condoms when having sex, this new information is both unsurprising and alarming:

The number of Central Ohio teenagers and young adults infected with HIV has exploded 45 percent in just three years. Of all the Franklin County women living with HIV, nearly three-quarters are African American. As dozens of countries commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, Central Ohioans need to be reminded that the epidemic continues right here at home.

The Ohio Department of Health reports that HIV infections in Central Ohio match the dramatic increases nationwide, especially in African Americans, youth, and women.

Wrap it up, people!

September 15th marked the 45th anniversary of a brutal, racially-motivated church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., that killed four black girls. I can't help but recall that act of homegrown terrorism when hearing the news that a chemical irritant was sprayed into the children's room of a Dayton, Ohio, mosque Friday. The 300 people inside were celebrating the last 10 days of Ramadan at the time; children and babies were being held in the room while their parents prayed. A child saw two men spraying something into the window before everyone started coughing and tearing and had to leave the building. Police are investigating. [DDN]

Faced with a November election that will surely bring out a record voter turnout, local state and election boards are paying heed to a new study that suggests ballot redesigns are necessary to ensure that famous mistakes of previous elections are avoided.

Problems with confusing paper ballots in 2002, absentee ballots in 2004 and touch-screen ballots in 2006 led thousands of voters to skip over key races or make mistakes that invalidated their votes, according to the study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

"In the big election meltdowns … where thousands of votes were lost, ballot design was the primary cause," says Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center.

Voting officials in Ohio, a swing state, are scheduled to be schooled by some "ballot design experts," who are raking in the big bucks this year, I'm sure, in order to avoid some common mistakes in the fall. [USAT]

Sixty-seven residents in the majority black neighborhood of Coal Run in Ohio have just been awarded a total of $11 million by a federal jury, which found that a the local government had denied them public water service because the were black. Each plaintiff was awarded between $15,000 and $300,000 to cover monetary loss and pain and suffering that occurred between 1956 and 2003, when the town finally received public water. Prior to 2003, residents were forced to dig wells, collect rain water or haul water for cisterns in order to cook, clean and bathe.

CONTINUED »

BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS "An off-duty reserve Wakeman [Ohio] police officer was arrested Friday after allegedly assaulting and screaming racist remarks at his estranged wife's roommate. Wakeman police officer William Hodge, 35, of Sheffield Township, is accused of punching and threatening a 26-year-old Lorain man outside an elementary school Friday morning. … The incident took place at about 8:50 a.m. Friday at Vincent Elementary School in Lorain where Hodge's 32-year-old wife, Dawn Hodge, and her roommate, Byron Hendon, were dropping off Hodge's children and several children Dawn baby-sits, a police report states. Hodge saw the van, approached it and threw his police uniform and badge at his wife, allegedly saying, 'I'm already going to jail, so you should take these.' He then pointed at Hendon and said 'you're (a) dead nigger' … "

They said she had to do it to stay in the race, and Hillary Clinton, after winning Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island last night, did it. So she's staying in. And Democrats should prepare for this battle to go all the way to the convention, which is an extremely tiring prospect for me. You? I didn't even stay up to watch the returns last night — a definite sign that my enthusiasm for the constant grind of the election is waning. Plus, now that Mike Huckabee has finally dropped out of the race and John McCain is basically the nominee, he will begin campaigning for president, while Hill and Barry are still grappling for the nomination. Not a good look, analysts say.

CONTINUED »

• Even after the contests in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont are decided tonight, Hillary Clinton warns of a long, long road to the nomination. Oh. Yay. [NYT]

• How to present Bill Cosby with special Black History Month Air Force Ones. [KATC]

• 50 Cent, Floyd Mayweather, Wrestlemania, whatever, whatever, and whatever. [XXL]

• She who giveth (big) shall taketh away viewers from other shows. [SP]

• Oops! Police officers should really turn the camera's off before letting loose with the death threats and racial epithets. [GN]

IT'S ALL ABOUT (THE) RACE Tomorrow's the make-or-break day for Hillary Clinton, and, as can be expected, things are getting very tense between the New York senator and the unlikely front-runner, Barack Obama. Current polls have Obama pushing a slight lead in Texas, which was supposed to be Hillary "Ruler of All Latinos" Clinton's domain, and Clinton with a slight lead in Ohio. Clinton has implied that she will not drop out of the race if tomorrows contests don't swing in her favor. [NYT]

• Get bank accounts, people! [FC]

• If you had a really lonely Valentine's Day… [PR]

• Tanzania got a $698 million grant to help fight malaria during Bush's visit this weekend. [CNN]

• Ohio's not looking too good for Barack Obama. [ND]

• Yes, the fashion industry is racist. All over the world. [SM]

• Picket lines? Beyonce doesn't care about no stinkin' picket lines. [LAT]

• Officials at a Colorado school realized that it probably wasn't part of the dream to always send a segregated group to an annual MLK event. [CBS4]

• Hillary Clinton invokes MLK's legacy in Compton. The candidates need to stop "invoking" him, period. But with the holiday around the corner, it's probably unavoidable. [LAT]

• One would expect this sort of behavior from a German "gangster rapper." [PR-I]

• Racial strife in Ohio! [NYT]

• There are ways to teach kids lessons about nooses without actually placing one around a child's neck. I would hope. [BET]

• Schools no longer teach about the Little Rock Nine, says a member of the historic group. But I blogged about it! [CT]

• Alright, Master P is starting to really annoy me. [ABC7]

• A few more reasons why Clarence Thomas sucks and needs to get over it. [WP]

• In 1995, Ohio lawmakers requested a study analyzing whether or not blacks are treated more harshly in courts. Twelve years later, the study has mysteriously never been conducted. But c'mon, Ohio, I doubt you really need a study to answer your question. [ABJ]