Local
USDA announces it will discontinue funding solar projects
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will discontinue providing funds for solar and wind projects, through its Rural Energy for America (REAP) grant program. In recent years the USDA has provided over $4 billion to fund energy projects in rural and farming communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 added over $2 billion in funding for the program through Fiscal Year 2031. Post-IRA, over $1 billion in funds supported 6,822 projects from 2023 to 2025, contributing an estimated $2.75 billion to rural economic development.
The REAP grant program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and small rural businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. The program was officially created in 2008 through the Farm Bill when Congress combined an energy efficiency program with one that focused on renewable energy.
When trying to get a preview of what Zone In could do to Columbus’s most popular corridors and neighborhoods, it’s looking more and more likely this future of “density” will drastically alter Old North first.
Old North is also known fondly by many a campus kid as “North Campus,” but those who have spent a lifetime here prefer Old North. What remains of its early-to-mid-20th century buildings stretch from Lane and High to Glen Echo Ravine. And in this popular corridor the last morsels of old-school Columbus live on, such as Dick’s Den, the (new) Blue Danube, and Ace of Cups, for example.
But two large mixed-use developments separated by just a few hundred feet are moving forward on North High Street in Old North and there’s no way to stop them, says Seth Golding, an Old North activist and homeowner. Both developments also include apartment towers, and the tower proposed for Lane and High could reach 16-stories and not offer a single parking space, he says. Before Zone In, passed by City Council in 2024, the highest a developer could go on High Street near campus was six stories.
Congressman Mike Carey votes to cut Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, ACA insurance subsidies, medical research grants, foreign humanitarian aid, and much more. Ohioans will die. But while Carey meets with bankers and big donors, he won't meet with us. Carey doesn't care!
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM ET
Equitas Health, 750 E Long St, Columbus, OH 43203
Join Abortion Forward and OHIV for a Free Condom Project Packing Party! We will be packing safer sex supply kits to be mailed across Ohio. This is a part of OHIV's Free Condom Project. For more information on the project, visit their website here: https://ohiv.org/free-condoms/.
Snacks and beverages will be provided! Come pack kits and make pro-abortion community!
Many Americans believe that the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the United States’ illegal bombing of Iran, and the United States’ disastrous proxy war with Russia in Ukraine are too far away to do anything about. These Americans, however, overlook the fact that most of the weapons and other military technologies used by Israel to massacre Palestinians, to commit war crimes against Iran, and to waste Ukrainian lives in a completely avoidable war are manufactured in their backyards. Americans do not need to travel to Gaza, Iran, or Ukraine to save innocent lives in those countries, they could interfere with the manufacture of weapons and other military technologies right here in the United States. On February 7, 2025, for example, the State Department approved a $6.75 billion sale of thousands of bombs and bomb guidance systems to Israel and reported that the sale will come “from principal contractors The Boeing Company, located in St.
An upcoming neighborhood election that was supposed to be routine has unraveled into one of the sharpest legitimacy crises in recent memory, raising the question no one at City Hall seems eager to answer: is the North Central Area Commission’s (NCAC) 2025 election even valid?
At the heart of the dispute is whether the ballots that will be circulating for the August 30 vote hold any official weight at all. As of mid-August, the Department of Neighborhoods has not confirmed whether petitions were certified, ballots set, or candidates recognized as eligible under city rules. Without that step, the “ballot” may be little more than an internal exercise — a process residents are treating as real, even if the City has not stamped it with legitimacy. The absence of any formal certification leaves the commission operating in a vacuum, raising doubts about whether the election results will be recognized by the very city that created these bodies.
A 14-page complaint filed with the city by Area Commissioner Ciera Jackson alleges that NCAC leaders bent bylaws, extended deadlines, and slow-walked records — moves she says undermine the commission’s legitimacy.
On Monday, August 25, faith leaders along with Undivided, CAIR-Ohio (Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton), Young United Souls for Revolutionary Action (YUSRA), Ohio Immigrant Alliance, and other community advocates will hold a press conference in the Ladies Gallery of the Ohio Statehouse urging Governor DeWine to use the authority of his office to secure Imam Ayman Soliman’s release from detention, and ensure the restoration of his asylum status.
WHEN: Monday, August 25, 2025, at 11:00am ET
WHERE: Ladies Gallery, inside the Ohio Statehouse
After persecution and threats to his life in Egypt, Imam Ayman Soliman found his way to the US where he sought and was granted asylum. Imam Ayman, known as the "interfaith Imam," has since served and touched the lives of countless people and families, of all backgrounds and faiths. As a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he was locally renowned for his support of grieving families as he guided them through their children’s illnesses and, in some cases, passings.
August 21, 2025
Have you read “The Case for Military Intervention to Stop the Gaza Genocide“? I don’t mind promoting it to you, since I agree with most of it (and also consider most of it to do absolutely nothing to advance any case for military intervention to stop the Gaza genocide).
The enormous problem we face is not the people who care enough and are desperate enough to make this misguided proposal. The enormous problem is the usual one: corrupt, evil, malfunctioning, and sadistic governments abetted by great masses of people too busy, distracted, ignorant, or uncaring to try anything at all.
The first eight pages of 23 in the document linked above simply tell us that there is a genocide happening and that nothing thus far has worked to stop it. On this there can be no dispute, and anyone unaware or unengaged should immediately read those eight pages five times.
Saturday, August 23, 12noon-5pm, Whetstone Park, 3901 N. High St.
Come celebrate the nature of Columbus!
Food trucks, music, vendors, guided nature tours, art, a children’s area, plants for sale, and non-profits from all over the city! Visit columbusarborfest.com to learn more.
Hosted by Columbus ArborFest and Green Columbus.