Local
Although the world is experiencing severe global crises, there are new efforts underway to create a more effective means of coping with them.
The crises are clear enough. They include vast slaughter in horrific wars, worldwide climate catastrophe, massive population displacement, and deepening poverty.
Moreover, these disastrous situations are likely to worsen in coming years. Modern wars are fought with increasingly devastating weapons, and preparations for nuclear war have escalated to the level of global annihilation. Similarly, time is running out for saving the planet from an environmental cataclysm, which will surely lead to heightened displacement and poverty.
The Columbus Free Press lost a member of our community Saturday, November 15, 2025. Michael Eckhardt passed on to the spirit world after a courageous journey battling lung disease.
Michael wrote for the Free Press since the 1990s, covering Native American topics, particularly his work with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC). He served as Regional Director, member of the National and International Speakers Bureau, member of the LPDC Advisory Board, and his last position was being appointed a member of the LPDC Executive Council. Michael also represented the national LPDC at the 1995 United Nations Working Group for Indigenous People in Geneva. After that he was given the responsibility for maintenance and oversight of over 100 support groups worldwide.
California's sees record growth in battery storage
At the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Brazil, California Governor Newsom announced that California has reached a record level of battery storage, with 16,942 megawatts (MW) of capacity available. This is a massive buildout that's redefining grid reliability and accelerating the state's transition to 100 percent clean energy.
The new total marks an increase of about 1,200 MW in the past six months and a 2,100 percent surge in storage capacity since 2019. California has now built one-third of the storage capacity estimated to be needed by 2045 to reach its clean energy goals.
California has more installed battery capacity than every other jurisdiction on the planet except for China. Within the United States, California leads all states in installed storage capacity, followed by Texas which has roughly 9,000 MW of battery capacity.
Thursday, November 20, 7pm
Madison Township, 7083 Duvall Rd., Ashville OH, 43103
Protest outside the meeting of the Pickaway County Madison Township Zoning Commussion. They will be reviewing the last remaining land parcels for Anduril-1 Hyperscale facility.
Madison Township residents have been fighting this plant for a year - let's help them!
Local Columbus politics has officially “jumped the shark” and become a performance for the cameras. Like any blockbuster movie you need an endless budget (provided by the taxpayers), a script (distraction from mistakes and secrecy of purpose) and a master director: Shannon Hardin.
In any other sane world Emanuel Remy would have already stepped down from office, but the director wants to keep him in the cast to pretend to govern. Remy is just good enough to follow directions and not ask questions. The director will allow abusive behavior because he has unlimited money to pay off the victims and continue his reign. And that’s what it has all become. To Director Hardin we are just one of his movies.
Our local government is a stage performance riddled with dozens of positive and happy Facebook posts about how the Mayor and City Council love you. All cream and sugar; 24 hours a day paid for by your taxes.
Imam Ayman Soliman – the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain wrongly arrested by ICE earlier this year – spoke at an event in Columbus on November 15, telling an audience that even during the ordeal’s worst moments, there were activists who offered glimmers of hope that led to his release.
It was midnight on the day of his arrest when he was processed into the infamous ICE-contracted detention center in Butler County – a jail run by Sheriff Richard Jones, known as Ohio’s “mini-Trump.” From there, he may have been deported to his home country of Egypt. In 2014, he fled Egypt where he covered the Arab Spring as a journalist, and for that he was jailed and tortured.
“There was an officer who had a child that had been treated at St. Ann’s Children’s Hospital, and they remembered my face,” he said. “He looked at me during this terrible time and said, ‘I am sorry you are here. I just wanted you to know I watched the news at 11 pm and everyone is protesting on your behalf.’
“You have no idea what that meant to me.”
In response to the district’s ongoing budget shortfall and the possibility of additional school closures, the Columbus Education Justice Coalition (CEJC) and a broad coalition of parents, educators, students, and community members are demanding that the Columbus Board of Education adopt a new budget shortfall policy that centers transparency, equity, and community voice in all major financial and facility decisions.
Letters have been individually sent by educators, parents, students, and community members to Board members, urging the district to publicly discuss and consider the proposed Budget Shortfall Policy submitted by CEJC on September 8, 2025, and move toward formal adoption without delay.
The proposed policy calls for:
A robust and transparent analysis of all projected costs and savings for any proposed school closure.
Consideration of the full impact on students, families, educators, and communities, including staff and resource access.
Creation of a representative decision-making committee with students, parents, educators, staff, and community organizers from each school region and high school feeder pattern.
Tuesday, November 18, 7pm
Zoom meeting - please register
Jewish Voice for Peace event - Tom Hayes will reflect on his experiences as a participant in the Gaza humanitarian aid mission in late September. Following his kidnapping and imprisonment in Israel, Tom returned to his home in Columbus on October 12.
Tom is a long-time advocate of Palestinian rights and a documentary filmmaker. In the 1980s, he filmed in Palestinian refugee camps and has produced three long-form documentaries on the denial of Palestinians’ rights. His 1985 documentary “Native Sons: Palestinians In Exile,” narrated by Martin Sheen, follows the lives of three refugee families living in Lebanon’s camps. His 2015 film “Two Blue Lines,” explores the impact of Jewish settlement on the Palestinians, from before the creation of the state of Israel to the present day.
Hayes most recently co-directed “Voyage of the Handala,” an independent documentary about the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, premiering Oct. 27 at Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival in Spain.
Tom is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio.
