CINCINNATI —

A project to replace the skylight at the Cincinnati Library's downtown location is underway.

It is the first phase of the Downtown Main Library's building improvement project. Crews placed a construction crane directly underneath the skylight on E. 9th Street. As a result, 9th Street between Vine Street and Walnut Street will be closed to all street and pedestrian traffic. The project is expected to continue through December.

Anyone who wishes to visit the library is asked to enter through the Walnut Street entrance or through the garden gate. The Downtown Main Library's drive-thru and parking lots will be closed.

Later this month, work will begin to disassemble the book sculpture and fountain on the Vine Street Plaza, which will be moved into temporary storage so renovations on the plaza can begin.

Hamilton County voters passed Issue 3, a levy that increased property taxes, to pay for the library improvements in 2018.

CINCINNATI — Emilio Estevez feels the magic every time he returns to Cincinnati. So much so that it was the first topic to come up in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, published online this week.

"It’s so cool! I love being able to tell people in L.A. or New York, either come visit us to see what the hell is going on, or please stay away. One or the other," the actor and director said. "It's a really magical city."

In the interview, Estevez spoke about his local family roots. His mother was born here, and his father and fellow actor, Martin Sheen, was born an hour north in Dayton.

He said his "love affair" with the Queen City began a decade ago, when he was touring for his film "The Way."

"(O)ur last stop was in Cincy, and Kristen Schlotman, who runs the film commission, said, 'Hey, you should stick around and see what Cincy has to offer,'" he told the magazine. "And I did. That began the love affair back in 2010. And in the last 10 years, the city has just exploded."

In the time since, Estevez has become one of the city's most famous residents after buying a place in Over-the-Rhine. He shot and set his latest film, "The Public," in Cincinnati, with most of the story taking place inside the Downtown branch of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.

As an OTR resident, he recently get involved in city politics when he wrote a letter to Mayor John Cranley and City Council asking them to reconsider keeping the streetcar closed indefinitely after it was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"As much as I love to walk, it's getting hot now, and I know that I speak for many of the OTR residents who would like to get on the streetcar and ride to Findlay Market and other businesses that can use all of our help to get back on their feet during this pandemic," Estevez wrote late last spring.

Estevez went on to applaud the city's booming beer brewing scene, restaurants, night life and architecture.

"I call it the Paris of the Midwest. I didn’t coin that, but that’s how I feel about it," he said.

The magazine published the interview in anticipation of an upcoming "Mighty Ducks" reboot, "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers," which premiered on Disney+ Friday.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio —

After nearly five decades of blowin' in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

Howard Simon recently sent the album along with a letter to Heights Libraries apologizing for his tardiness, according to a news release from the library system outside Cleveland.

Simon checked out Dylan’s “Self Portrait” album in 1973 as an eighth-grader at a University Heights middle school. Simon says he found it between two other Dylan albums in his personal vinyl collection.

“As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years,” Simon wrote. “I am returning with the letter an overdue item by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing.”

His letter says the album cover is a little battered after traveling with him from University Heights to San Francisco with various stops in between, but the library says the records themselves remain in “great shape.”

Related video: Book returned to library in 2018 after 84 years

Simon also sent the library a $175 replacement fee for “Self Portrait” along with an album he recorded, “Western Reserve,” for possible inclusion in the library's collection.

The library bore no hard feelings, or sense that Simon wasted their precious time, essentially telling him in the press release don't think twice; it's all right.

“The funny thing about this is that we don’t charge overdue fines anymore–as long as we get the item back, we see no need to penalize people,” branch manager Sara Phillips was quoted as saying. “We’re grateful that Mr. Simon returned the record. I’d said we can now call it even.”