In 2025, Cincinnati found itself at the intersection of national political forces and deeply personal local consequences. Immigration enforcement split families, police violence and its aftermath tested public trust, neo-Nazi demonstrations rattled communities and state lawmakers reshaped higher education from the ground up. These are the news stories that didn’t just dominate CityBeat headlines this year, but revealed how power, policy and protest collided in everyday life across the region.
Sheriff and Evendale Police Attempt to Identify Nazis, Salvage Trust After Feb. 7 Rally
In February, a group of masked neo-Nazis waving swastika flags staged a coordinated rally on an overpass near the historically Black community of Lincoln Heights. The demonstration was met with a swift counter-protest by community members, who confronted the group and burned one of the Nazi flags left behind. Law enforcement drew sharp criticism for allowing the demonstrators to leave in a U-Haul largely unidentified — issuing only traffic citations and even escorting one neo-Nazi demonstrator back to his car — while later asking the public for help identifying them. CityBeat reporting highlighted the legal tension at the heart of the response: hateful ideology and intimidation are protected speech unless tied to specific criminal acts, limiting officers’ ability to intervene. As KKK flyers later appeared in Cincinnati neighborhoods, the rally and its aftermath became a defining moment in 2025’s reckoning over extremism, community safety and how police respond when hate groups test the boundaries of the law.
UC President Calls ‘Biological’ Bathroom Signs an ‘Error,’ Promises to Keep DEI Programs For Now
In early 2025, University of Cincinnati President Neville Pinto apologized after “biological sex” bathroom signs appeared on campus, calling them an error while attempting to reassure students that UC would keep its diversity, equity and inclusion programs intact as long as legally allowed. The bathroom signs quickly became a social media focal point for Ohio Senate Bill 1, the state’s new higher-education law restricting DEI initiatives, limiting faculty labor actions and reshaping how public universities operate. As pressure from Republican state leaders mounted, UC later closed its campus inclusion centers, signaling that the law’s impact would be deeper and faster than many students and faculty initially believed. Across Ohio, universities grappled with confusion, anger and fear as administrators balanced compliance with the law against student safety, academic freedom and institutional values. At UC, the bathroom-sign controversy came to symbolize a year of upheaval in higher education, as campuses became front-line battlegrounds in the state’s escalating culture-war politics.
HamCo. Deputy Hit, Killed by Father of East Price Hill Shooting Victim
In May, Cincinnati Police fatally shot 18-year-old Ryan Hinton in East Price Hill during a stolen-vehicle investigation, but the body-camera footage of the encounter was so blurry that the critical seconds remain contested and fueled public scrutiny of police use of force.
What propelled this story to the national stage came the next day when Rodney Hinton Jr., the teen’s father, allegedly ran over retired Hamilton County Deputy Larry Henderson — just hours after reviewing body camera footage of CPD shooting and killing his son. The tragic escalation led prosecutors to charge Hinton Jr. with aggravated murder and seek the death penalty.
The two cases quickly became a flashpoint beyond the courtroom: Ohio’s attorney general called on lawmakers to ban crowdfunding for violent-crime defendants amid online fundraisers for the family of Ryan Hinton and Hinton Jr., and platforms like GoFundMe removed some pages under pressure. Meanwhile, the widow of Deputy Henderson filed a civil lawsuit against the Hinton family, amplifying the legal and emotional fallout of the intertwined deaths.
Taken together, the fatal shooting, the deputy’s death and the policy backlash underscored deep community tensions over police transparency, violent crime and the boundaries of public support.
Emerson Colindres Deported to Honduras, Mother and Sister Still in the U.S.
In June, 19-year-old Cincinnati high school graduate Emerson Colindres was deported to Honduras by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite having no criminal record and having lived in the region since age 8 — a removal that shocked his family, classmates and local advocates who had rallied to stop it.
His deportation came after a routine ICE check-in and contradicted federal assurances that enforcement would focus on violent criminals, highlighting a Trump administration accelerating efforts to carry out the largest mass deportation of non-citizens in U.S. history. Colindres’ mother and younger sister were ordered to leave the U.S. after his detention, underscoring the family separations such policies can trigger.
Locally and nationally, the Colindres story became emblematic of a broader immigration enforcement landscape that fueled large regional protests over Colindres’ deportation, the targeting of immigrants in East Price Hill and the arrest of Egyptian asylee Ayman Soliman. CityBeat’s Madeline Fening, who was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest, chronicled the year of immigration enforcement through her series Welcome to the ICE Age. With years still ahead in Trump’s second term, the series — and the enforcement it documents — is expected to continue into 2026.
Despite Landslide Loss, Mayoral Candidate Cory Bowman May Be Considering Another Run
In November, a Republican pastor, coffee-shop owner and half-brother of Vice President JD Vance mounted an improbable bid for Cincinnati mayor. Cory Bowman stepped into the arena against two-term incumbent Aftab Pureval, running on public safety concerns and tapping national attention from a Downtown brawl, recorded parts of which went viral on social media and conservative news outlets.
Despite spirited rhetoric from Bowman and his supporters, Cincinnati voters handed Pureval a landslide reelection victory — the mayor secured roughly 78% of the vote to Bowman’s 22% — reaffirming the city’s deep Democratic lean. Bowman’s campaign was notable, not just for its outsized national profile, but for how the city’s police union seized the opportunity to endorse Bowman and slam city leaders for sidelining CPD Chief Teresa Theetge. In the weeks after Election Day, Bowman signaled he may consider another run, suggesting his mayoral effort could be the start of a longer political trajectory rather than a one-off challenge. The Cincinnati mayoral contest underscored how municipal elections increasingly intersect with national narratives and partisan identity, even in officially nonpartisan contests.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Dec. 24 print edition.
This article appears in Dec. 24-Jan. 6.