Reporters tell all on Cincy's hot topics, from Kroger to parking woes

There was no better way to celebrate International Podcast Day last week than to hold a special episode of "That's So Cincinnati," featuring two of The Enquirer's best: City Hall reporter Scott Wartman and business reporter Alex Coolidge. Wartman and Coolidge joined "That's So Cincinnati" following

Scott Wartman discusses Cincinnati regulating parking lots

Cincinnati City Council will consider increasing parking safety requirements to curb crime

With most gun thefts occurring from vehicles, Cincinnati leaders will consider beefing up security requirements for parking lots, including more cameras, barriers and better lighting.

A majority

of the Cincinnati City Councilvoted to require parking lots to have more cameras to deter crime, particularly gun theft from cars. Cincinnati City Council's budget committee voted 8-1 for the ordinance despite objections from several parking lot owners, including the Chavez family, prominent political donors in the city.

The final vote took place at the full council meeting on Sept. 30.

Read Wartman's reporting here.

Alex Coolidge on Kroger's egg protests, pulling Red Bull and Boar's Head from shelves

Animal activists participate in a demonstration Sept. 23 outside Kroger's headquarters on Vine Street in downtown Cincinnati to urge the grocery chain to honor what they say its commitment to transition to cage-free eggs.

If you've driven downtown this summer or follow local news, you've likely seen the egg protests in front of Kroger, the Cincinnati-based supermarket giant.

Last week, nine out-of-town protesters were briefly jailed after blocking the entrance to the headquarters of the nation’s largest traditional grocer – some were even chained to the front door. So what's their beef with Kroger's eggs? Well, the grocer backed out of a 2016 promise to switch to selling only cage-free eggs by 2025. Four years ago, the company quietly scaled that goal back to 70% cage-free by 2030.

The Sept. 23 arrests marked the most dramatic moment in a summer-long protest campaign outside Kroger headquarters over the company's cage-free egg policies. There was a brief toning down of demonstrations after downtown residents and shopkeepers began complaining about the noise.

Boar's Head deli meats are a premium product prominently displayed in several Kroger stores. But lately they're starting to disappear in some Cincinnati area stores.

As for Red Bull and Boar's Head being removed from shelves, Coolidge was all over the breaking news.

Early this month, the grocer confirmed to The Enquirer that it stopped seeing the popular energy drink at all its stores and fuel centers nationwide. The last of the product by the Austria-based beverage company was sold in August and its coolers and displays were removed from stores as of Aug. 31, company officials said.

Neither company revealed why Red Bull was removed, but the brand's disappearance follows thepartial vanishing act by premium deli meat brand Boar’s Head in some Kroger stores across Greater Cincinnati. It also comes as Kroger's new CEO Greg Foran has vowed topush back against higher prices from food companies and other suppliers as lingering inflation weighs on shoppers. On a Sept. 11 conference call, Foran said he wouldn't tolerate vendors "using inflation" to boost their sales when customers were clearly "under pressure."