Five Things You Might Have Missed: 4-21

Top articles from this weekend's editions of The Blade

atrons smoke at Delaney’s in Toledo despite Ohio’s law that bans smoking in public places. Enforcing the ordinance remains elusive for many state and county agencies since the law went into effect nearly eight years ago.

1. Local taverns, patrons flout smoking law

At Delaney’s Lounge in West Toledo, the bar recently was full of patrons having a good time, including about five of them who were openly smoking — despite Ohio’s law that prohibits lighting up in public places.

Delaney’s is just one of about 37 bars that the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department has cited repeatedly for allowing patrons to violate the law.

“If you look at all of our facilities in Lucas County, this is a smidgen of what’s out there — it’s just 37 bars and restaurants out of 3,000 in the county,” said Eric Zgodzinski, director of environmental health services at the county agency. READ MORE

The New Jeep Renegade is on display at the Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland.

2. Renegade to be first Jeep sold, not built, in North America

The Fiat 500L was introduced to U.S. buyers with TV commercials that featured a Paul Revere character storming the colonial countryside on horseback, excitedly hollering that the Italians were coming.

The ads were clever and generally well received — but don’t bet on anything similar in touting Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ upcoming import to America.

We’re not talking Alfa Romeo or Maserati, here. This time, it’s a Jeep.

Starting late this year, the subcompact Jeep Renegade will begin arriving in U.S. dealerships. Fiat Chrysler plans to build the Jeep alongside the upcoming Fiat 500X at a Fiat plant in Melfi, Italy.

The Renegade will be the first Jeep to be sold in the United States that isn’t built in North America. READ MORE

3. Film feast: Major movies coming this summer

The Hollywood summer film schedule is much like the movies themselves: lots of stars and plenty of high-stakes battles.

Last summer, for example, there were nearly 20 franchise launches/sequels released in 16 weeks. Yet despite predictions of moviegoer fatigue and franchise cannibalism, the studios made $4.85 billion worldwide — a billion more than the fall-holiday season. That’s an increase of 12.7 percent from summer, 2012. Yes, ticket prices were up, but so, too, was audience attendance by more than 10 percent.

Instead of being overwhelmed by their movie choices, audiences approached the summer film season as if it was an all-youcan-eat cinema buffet.

So how does Hollywood make this summer’s sequel? In rather untypical fashion, it goes smaller. There are only 13 or so franchise launches/sequels, though there are plenty of major releases in the next four months. READ MORE

4. Ohio to invest $50M in Wisconsin real estate fund

Ohio’s government-run insurance fund for injured workers has agreed to put $50 million, the maximum its policy allows, into a Wisconsin-based real estate investment fund run by a major campaign “bundler” to Republican presidential candidates.

Ohio’s share would represent 11 percent of the $450 million Hammes Partners II fund that will be focused on health-care real estate and headed by former health-care consultant Jon D. Hammes. It’s a limited partnership spin-off of Hammes Company Health Care, founded by Mr. Hammes in 1991, that has seen success in managing, operating, and investing in health-care facilities.

Although the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation board approved the investment in November, no money has been disbursed, according to bureau spokesman Melissa Vince. The bureau decided to invest in real estate for the first time in 2011, with a goal of ultimately having 6 percent of its total investment portfolio in real estate. It’s currently at a little more than 5 percent. READ MORE

From left, Dr. Samina Hasan, Valerie Garforth, Kathleen Moorman, Nazife Amrou, Tom Mitchell, and Kim Thistlethwaite look over a sign at their planning meeting.

5. Greater Toledo and Northwest Ohio become a ‘compassionate community’

It’s time to make it official. Greater Toledo and Northwest Ohio will move from the column of “actively organizing to become compassionate communities” to “signed the Charter for Compassion.” It's one of 35 cities or neighborhoods in eight countries, the first geographic region to join, and the second Ohio location—Cincinnati is the other—to sign, according to charterforcompassion.org.

Many more areas, including entire states and countries, are engaged in the process to become recognized for their compassionate actions.

The Charter for Compassion had its start in 2008, when author Karen Armstrong received an award from the TED organization that included the granting of “a wish for a better world.” Her wish was to have a charter that “would restore compassion to the heart of religious and moral life,” as Ms. Armstrong put it in her book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. With the help of the Internet, the charter came into being in 2009 with suggestions from more than 150,000 people from 180 countries, which a group of religious scholars crafted into a pledge. READ MORE