Editor's Note:
Today, the Our City, Our Say coalition submitted over 23,000 signatures for a petition to amend the Columbus charter so that only residents from each district will elect their member of Columbus City Council. 

Currently, Columbus has city council districts in name only, electing all 9 city council members through at-large voting in citywide elections, a system that favors candidates selected by political insiders and backed by big money. However, Our City, Our Say is committed to building a system where every neighborhood and vote matters by putting the power in the hands of the people of Columbus. 

“Submitting these signatures and getting this amendment on the ballot in November proves that organizing can overcome the entrenched power of concentrated wealth that has long dictated the terms of politics and governance in Columbus,” said Maitland Neff, a volunteer signature gatherer who collected over 1,500 signatures. 

Thursday, July 16, 10:15am
Columbus City Hall, 90 W. Broad St.

We're meeting at City Hall tomorrow morning to turn in the more than 23,000 signatures you've helped us collect over the last few months. Can you join us?

Our City Our Say will submit petition signatures to the Columbus City Clerk in support of its proposed charter amendment. Before the filing, organization leaders and supporters will be available to discuss the initiative, the signature collection effort, and the next steps in the ballot qualification process.

BRING (optional): We'll have signs on hand for supporters, but you are also welcome to bring your own. If you represent any coalition partner organization(s), please feel free to wear your organization and/or union swag!

Our City, Our Say is a broad, nonpartisan coalition of your neighbors. We’re coming together to build a city that belongs to all of us by shifting power from Columbus insiders to the people and neighborhoods in Columbus.

Ohio is home to some of the most respected healthcare institutions in the world. Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked among the world's best hospitals, while The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is nationally recognized across multiple specialties. Yet despite these achievements, Ohio ranks near the bottom nationally in overall health value—worse than any other state in the Midwest—and some communities experience life expectancies that rival those of the world's poorest countries.

How can a state renowned for world-class medicine fail so many of its citizens?

NATIONAL WEBINAR, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15: Building a Movement to Stop ICE Killings, with Karina Garcia and organizers from Houston and Maine

Register: bit.ly/stopicekillings 
Less than one week after ICE’s murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, ICE fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, ME. These deaths are not coincidental; they are the direct result of the Trump administration’s war on working-class immigrant communities, which now demands that ICE agents arrest 2,000 people each day.

After the people of Minnesota organized two general strikes to drive out Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration shifted tactics to try to keep ICE “out of the headlines” because they are afraid of the mass movement. But ICE’s aggressive approach has continued with new tactics and an additional $38 billion of funding granted by Congress in June 2026. We can and must stop this ICE terror by reigniting the mass movement that they fear.

Justice is often measured in volumes of law, but for those of us fighting on the front lines of democracy, it is measured in days—and today, we have reached 220. ​It has been 220 days since final briefings were submitted in Brown v. Dave Yost (Case No. 2:24-cv-01145) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. For more than seven months, the constitutional challenges safeguarding the "Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights" initiative have sat in a judicial vacuum. To the casual observer, this silence might appear to be a standstill. To us, it is a clarion call. ​

I am the architect of a new era of accountability, and I am rising to take my power back. I do not see this delay as a defeat; I see it as a crucible. ​When the traditional mechanisms of government stall, the void is often filled by apathy. But the Heartbeat Movement Inc. was not founded to be silent. We were founded to ensure that when the Fourth Estate—the independent press—is needed most, it is there to demand transparency. We are the architects of our own movement, building structures of justice that bypass the bottlenecks of institutional delay. 

Haga clic aquí para español - Click here for Spanish

Following is a statement from Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, in response to the latest fatal shooting by ICE in Biddeford, ME, as well as ICE agents’ murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo last week. 

Pull ICE off all streets in all communities, NOW. They enforce CIVIL laws. There is no reason they should be allowed to invade our communities with guns. 

Everything is free - bring what you don't want and take what you do want. 

One on the East Side at the lot at 494 Liley Ave from noon till 3pm. I

And in North Linden from noon to 2pm on the lot at E Weber and McGuffey.

Back from the Brink: Addressing the growing threat of nuclear war

Saturday, July 11, 2-4pm (doors open at 1:30pm)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Rd., Columbus

Speaker: Ira Helfand, MD, two-time Nobel Peace Prize laureate, of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Gatherirng of progressive activists and interested community members, socializing, networking and refresments. Co-sponsored by the First UU Church, Ohio Nuclear Free Network.

Free and open to the public. 

Registration not required, but available here: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/973068/.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article appeared on this site that had included speculation outside of the original author's intent.

Whitehall’s election recall effort stands as a clear example of why some refer to our local politics as “a cesspool.” And why the “debate” which played out online and in conversation sounded and looked more like a real-time trashy reality TV show than actual civic engagement. 

Conversely, our political reality, national and local, is increasingly looking, both literally and figuratively, more like The Apprentice. Add the advent of AI generated memes, a newly revitalized Columbus NAACP, and an ongoing feud between its leader, Sean Walton, and that of the local Fraternal Order of Police, and what you ended up with is an embarrassing mess Whitehall and the FOP made of the whole political and civic process.

At the same time, some might argue that the Whitehall recall was the result of rapid growing pains, something most Central Ohio suburbs are experiencing. 

Thursday, July 9, 2026, 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Zoom

Usually every second Thursday.  Join fellow advocates from across Ohio to hear what is going on at the Ohio Statehouse, ways to get involved, ask questions, and share what is going on in your community. All are welcome! 

Register here.