Erlanger-based Sterling Cut Glass will break ground next month on a 56,000-square-foot facility in the CirclePort Business Park, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Earlier this month, a 3,000-foot pedestrian bridge and path atop and carved into the earthen levee between the Purple People Bridge and Daniel Carter Beard (Big Mac) Bridge. It's the first leg of the Riverfront Commons project, an effort to create more accessible walking and biking routes on the souther banks of the Ohio River. And it represents a tenacious community-driven effort to better connect Northern Kentucky's cities. Reports the Cincinnati Enquirer:   

This is a symbol of what can be accomplished when public officials get together and work toward a common goal," said Roger Peterman, chairman of the Riverfront Commons Committee, a member of Southbank's board of directors and chairman of the Northern Kentucky Port Authority. The $1.2 million path connects the restaurants, condominiums and apartments along Riverboat Row with the Purple People Bridge and with Newport on the Levee. Eventually, it will be one piece in an 11.5-mile multi-use path that stretches along the Ohio River from Fort Thomas in the east to Ludlow in the west.

Read the full story here.  

The jobless rate in Greater Cincinnati dropped to 5.8 percent in March, its lowest level since 2008.

Northern Kentucky University will soon build a $97 million Health Innovations Center.

Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport's newest carrier has more than doubled its flight load less than a month after beginning operations. Allegiant launched in February with two flights per week to Ft. Myers and two flights per week to Orlando. Allegiant will begin flying two-day-a-week service from CVG to Tampa on Thursdays and Sundays starting on May 15, while flying seasonally to Myrtle Beach on Mondays and Fridays starting May 30 and ending August 11. Read more here.

Communities in Northern Kentucky, Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati-Dayton region have submitted a bid for a federal designation through the U.S. Manufacturing Communities Partnership. The designation, if granted, would brand the region as an "aerospace corridor" and make it easier to win bids for assistance from government funding programs.  The region has among the highest concentrations of aerospace-related companies and workers in the nation, with more than 100,000 people employed in supply chain businesses such as metal stamping, tooling and materials.  Read more about the designation bid here.

For the past two years, UpTech has helped launch 15 companies, giving them seed funding, office space and connections with mentors and potential strategic partners. Now, UpTech wants to help its successful companies keep growing and accessing capital. In the process, it may well change the face of startup funding in Northern Kentucky. UpTech soon will start raising money for its third fund, which could be up to six times larger than the accelerator's first two funds that raised $800,000 and $750,000, respectively. In addition to providing seed funding for UpTech's third class of startups, the new fund will offer additional capital to other promising young companies in the region that need money to grow. Those investments will include follow-on seed rounds, which typically reach up to $2 million, and early stage rounds, which typically range between $3 million and $6 million. "We've recognized we have to grow each stage of funding," UpTech co-founder Casey Barach said. "A larger fund for UpTech and other companies is the next step." Read the full story here.