Ohio
Part of Ohio could’ve been named Metropotamia. Here’s what happened instead
How did Cincinnati become Porkopolis? The not-so-pretty tale
Cincinnati has long been called the Queen City. For a time, though, it was known by a less flattering nickname – Porkopolis.
Before Ohio was a state, the vast, largely uncharted expanse between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, up to the Great Lakes, was known as the Northwest Territory.
Many parties, including the British, French, Spanish, Native American tribes and Eastern states, had previous claims to portions of the territory.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 settled the matter by organizing it as the Northwest Territory and laying the groundwork for the expansion of the United States.
The ordinance was among the most significant legislation created by the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, which governed the U.S. from 1781 to 1789, before the federal government was established by the U.S. Constitution.
Jefferson’s plan for westward expansion
Prior to the American Revolution, to strengthen British and Native American relations, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade expansion of the colonies west of the Appalachian Mountains – an area considered an “Indian reserve.”
The British ceded that land in the 1783 Treaty of Paris following the Revolutionary War, and the new nation was ready to expand west.
The Confederation Congress pressured other states to relinquish their claims on the territory, such as Virginia’s declared boundaries extending “from Sea to Sea.”
Thomas Jefferson proposed the lands west of the Appalachians be divided into 10 states that would be equal to the original 13 colonies.
He suggested interesting names: Sylvania, Michigania, Cherronesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia. What is now Ohio would have been part of Metropotamia, Washington and Saratoga.
Although a slave owner himself, Jefferson also proposed there be no slavery in the states after 1800.
Congress cut out the state boundaries, exotic names and slavery clause before passing the Land Ordinance of 1784.
Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the territory
That ordinance was superseded by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created incorporated territories led by a governor, a secretary and three judges chosen by Congress.
The Northwest Territory was designed to be carved into “not less than three nor more than five States.” Article 5 outlined a three-stage process for a state to be admitted to the Union. Once a district acquired 60,000 inhabitants, it could apply for statehood.
Slavery was not permitted in the territory. Article 6 states: “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
The 13th Amendment used a similar phrase in abolishing slavery in the U.S. in 1865.
The Northwest Ordinance did have a clear fugitive slave clause, though, which allowed enslaved people who had escaped to be taken back to slavery.
Article 6 effectively made the Ohio River the dividing line between territories that prohibited or permitted slavery.
Setting the path to statehood
Under the Land Ordinance of 1785 (a different ordinance than Jefferson’s plan), the land in the Northwest Territory was subdivided into a rectangular grid system of 6-mile townships. The surveyed tracts were sold to individuals and speculative land companies.
John Cleves Symmes bought 311,682 acres between the Great Miami and Little Miami rivers, an area known as the Symmes Purchase, and resold tracts to settlers, such as the pioneers who founded Columbia, Losantiville (Cincinnati) and North Bend.
Most Native American tribes refused to acknowledge treaties signed after the Revolutionary War regarding lands north of the Ohio River that the tribes inhabited. This led to great conflict between the indigenous people and the settlers.
Military expeditions launched from Fort Washington in Cincinnati engaged forces led by Shawnee chief Blue Jacket and Miami chief Little Turtle all across Ohio until Gen. “Mad Anthony” Wayne won a decisive victory in the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
The peace treaty between the U.S. and Native American tribes really opened up the Northwest Territory for more settlers.
Rather than following the European colonial model, the Northwest Ordinance set a clear path to statehood and equality within the federal government.
Ohio in 1803 became the first new state from the territory, followed by Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837) and Wisconsin (1848).
Writing of the Northwest Ordinance in “The Law in Southwestern Ohio,” Frank G. Davis said, “By leading the Territory step-by-step to statehood, or rather statehoods, it set the pattern for the political and legal development of the entire continental U.S.”
PAULDING, Onio (WANE) – From the coastline along Maine to the Washington State shore, Jesse Ward is riding his bike across America.
The 4,300-mile trip is along the northern part of the United States.
The trip started on May 6 in Bangor, Maine. He hopes to reach his final destination of Anacortes, Washington in early August.
WANE 15 ran into Ward in Paulding, Ohio last week. He was almost back to his hometown of Payne, Ohio to visit family along his quest.
Ward, who now lives in Ashville, North Carolina, got into cycling in college and decided to go for a coast-to-coast trip about five years ago.
“As I was looking at different routes, following the Northern Tier route, I noticed that it actually went through my hometown, so that was pretty appealing, and it’s going through a lot of states I’ve never been to or thought about, so I thought that would be a great way to discover and see the country,” Ward said.
A tradition of cross-country rides is to dip the bike tires in one ocean at the beginning of the journey and dip them in the other ocean at the end. From Bangor, Ward rode to Bar Harbor, Maine to see the ocean before heading west again.
“I’ve never been to the Pacific, so I’ll swim, and I know that they have quite a few ferries that go up to the islands there, so I want to go discover some of that stuff too, but probably take a day off,” he laughed.
His road bike is designed to absorb road vibration and carry heavy loads. It also has 27 gears to help with climbs.
Ward is staying at hotels, AirBnBs and camping along the way.
He pushes through the challenges,
“Rainy days with lots of climbing are the hardest,” he said. “Back in New Hampshire and Vermont, I had about two and a half days of rain, and I had the most climbing during that spell as well.”
And he soaks in the majestic moments along the way.
“Niagara Falls, definitely. I went over to the Canadian side and saw the falls from there, and it was first time I’ve ever done that, so that was a really rewarding experience, like just felt like, you know, the peak of the mountain. It’s like you’re here. This is a really good, finale for that section of the country,” he said.
As of June 12, Ward was about half way finished and in Iowa. When his trip is over, he plans to take a train from Seattle back to Charlotte.
“Then I’ll either bike back home or I have some friends with trucks. They can come pick me up,” Ward laughed.
Multiple days of strong storms target the Midwest
From serious dangers in North Dakota on Tuesday to Illinois on Thursday, this week could cause major weather problems across the north-central section of the country.
The summer weather in Ohio could be hot with a mix of rainy and dry conditions, recent storms have hit the Buckeye State as summer looms. Those storms led to flood warnings in Franklin County after Memorial Day and flooding risk near Cincinnati in June.
Where exactly is all the moisture coming from? What is causing the cloud cover and rainy days? Here’s what we know.
Why is it raining so much in Ohio? The climate is ever-changing
The Earth keeps getting warmer – and it’s bringing precipitation to the Buckeye State.
As the atmosphere gets warmer, evaporation increases, which brings increased humidity, average rainfall,the frequency of heavy rainstorms as well as droughts, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency also states that the average annual precipitation in the Midwest has increased by 5% to 10% over the last half century, rainfall during the four wettest days of the year has increased by 35%, and water flowing in most streams during the worst flood of the year has increased by 20%, according to their data from 2016.
Spring brought repeated storm systems to Ohio, Great Lakes
As the region moved into spring, the Great Lakes have remained a focal point for severe weather stretching from Minnesota to Pennsylvania.
That’s because warm, moisture-rich air lifting north from the Gulf repeatedly collides with lingering cooler air across the northern part of the country, creating a persistent corridor for storm development, said AccuWeather Meteorologist Chad Merrill.
Nearly every week since early March 2026, the Storm Prediction Center has outlined multiple consecutive days of severe weather threats in the Great Lakes, driven by a recurring setup in which the jet stream positions the region along a storm track where unstable air and Gulf moisture overlap. Combined, those conditions allow storms to organize quickly and intensify as they move across the region.
“I think we’ve seen it before, but not this time of the year,” Pastelok said of the early spring storms. “Keep in mind. The Gulf hasn’t even been opened up … That’s what’s unusual for this time of year.”
Why severe weather has targeted the Great Lakes
The active weather patterns across the Great Lakes and central U.S. earlier this year was not driven by a single anomaly, but by a series of large-scale atmospheric factors that repeatedly aligned and reset in similar positions.
At the center of that setup is the jet stream – the fast-moving river of air that steers storm systems across North America. When it becomes more amplified, dipping sharply south in some areas and bulging north in others, storm systems can slow and repeatedly track along the same corridors rather than spreading more evenly across the country.
Another key ingredient is the status of El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions, Pastelok said. ENSO happens when the temperatures of the Pacific Ocean are transitioning from La Niña, which brings cooler sea surface temperatures, to El Niño, which brings cooler ocean temperatures. Both can influence atmospheric weather across the U.S., according to NOAA.
“What was different is that we’re seeing El Niño coming on a little faster,” Pastelok said. “The La Niña weakened very, very fast, and so the overall positioning of the jet stream may tend to be farther north than it usually is for this time of the year.”
Cincinnati Children’s is expanding its access to care across the region, including in Northern Kentucky.
The health system reported in its latest Community Impact Report, released to the public June 9, that six new locations opened in 2025, including facilities in previously underserved communities such as Clermont and Clinton counties. Rural areas often have limited access to specialized and emergency care, placing residents at a higher risk of health challenges and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here are the new locations:
- Brandon and Kelly Janszen Union Building, 2015 Children’s Way, Union, Kentucky.
- Crestview Hills Urgent Care, 2765 Chapel Place, Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
- Children’s Eastgate, 4315 Ivy Pointe Blvd., Union Township, Ohio.
- Loveland Primary Care, 10554 Loveland-Madeira Road, Loveland, Ohio.
- Wilmington Primary Care, 1150 W. Locust St., Suite 500, Wilmington, Ohio.
- New Richmond School-Based Health Center, 1135 Bethel-New Richmond Road, New Richmond, Ohio.
Cincinnati Children’s is one of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the Midwest. The medical professionals at the system’s more than 50 sites provided care in 1.75 million encounters with patients during the July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025 fiscal year, spokesman Barrett Brunsman said.
Some locations are first of their kind
In Boone County, the Brandon and Kelly Janszen building opened at the hospital’s Union location in April 2025, becoming the first in Northern Kentucky to offer both primary and specialty care, including offering behavioral health counselors, lab services, X-ray and ultrasound.
In Kenton County, the hospital opened its first urgent care in Northern Kentucky in July 2025 as part of renovations at the Crestview Hills location, offering residents access to pediatric providers on evenings and weekends.
In Ohio, the Eastgate location opened in October, combining specialty clinics, outpatient surgery and an urgent care center in “the first of its kind on the East Side for Cincinnati Children’s,” where some main campus surgeons and providers now see patients, Brunsman said.
Two primary care centers also opened in 2025: Wilmington, the only primary care in Clinton County dedicated exclusively to children from newborns through teens; and Loveland, which offers closer care to families who once drove farther.
Cincinnati Children’s also introduced the New Richmond School-Based Health Center in September 2025, after reporting over 7,000 patient encounters in 2023 from the village’s ZIP code, including 2,375 without an identified primary care provider, Brunsman said. The new health center is within walking distance for 1,000 middle and high school students, and is open to their families and other children in the community.
The school-based center was funded by a grant from Ohio’s Appalachian Community Innovation Centers program, obtained by New Richmond Schools. Across the other five new locations, Cincinnati Children’s invested around $141 million in renovations, design and acreage, the hospital noted.
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