Gateway Community and Technical College in Northern Kentucky showed off the region's green goods with its first-ever Green Energy Showcase.The event was held Oct. 1 in Florence at Gateway's Boone Campus. The Green Energy Showcase included exhibits by local and regional energy providers and industry including Bowlin Group LLC, Duke Energy, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives (East Kentucky Power and Owen Electric) and General Cable.The free event was funded, in part, by a $393,000 three-year grant that the college received from the U.S. Department of Labor. High school and college students, energy industry workers and college faculty were among the groups the showcase was geared toward.

Company to invest $95.8 million, expand manufacturing footprint Governor Steve Beshear announced that ZF Steering Systems LLC will undergo a major expansion in Northern Kentucky, investing $95.8 million over the next three years. The growth is a result of increased demand for the company's new and existing products and involves constructing two new buildings and creating 374 new full-time jobs over the next three years at its facility in Florence, Ky.

Gateway Community and Technical College, Northern Kentucky's leader in publicly supported career and technical education, threw open the doors of its new Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) on Oct. 29 and invited the public to come look at this gem of workforce preparation and development.Dozens of business, government and community leaders streamed into the sparkling new facility to see firsthand the simulated factory floor, advanced welding lab, mechatronics trainer and other state-of-the-art equipment used to teach advanced manufacturing skills to both new students and those already in the workforce.The center's dedication is the culmination of five years of planning, funding, designing and building. The cement hadn't yet set on Gateway's Boone Campus in 2005 when college officials, community leaders and manufacturers began a joint effort to plan an education and training center to meet the region's needs for skilled manufacturing workers.

In a few weeks, more than 500 of the world's top athletes will be flying into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. During their international flight, they'll travel in first class, business and coach accommodations. They'll be served an in-flight meal and drink service will be generous. The only thing is, they'll have to stand for the entire nine-hour flight. It's okay, though. They're used to it, being horses and all.

The first Downtown skyscraper in 20 years gets her crown, a contemporary theatre group creates Cincinnati's first LGBT Theatre Festival, a pioneering vegetarian eatery gets a new life and the completion of the nation's first K-12 arts school are just some of the things Soapbox will be watching in 2010.

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