Local
When the activist and preservation group Community Improvement 614 wanted to know more about LinkUS plans for West Broad Street, a federal engineer spoke up, saying, “You won’t recognize West Broad when we’re done, it will look completely different.”
This was a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) engineer talking candidly, and also on that call with Community Improvement 614 were officials from the City of Columbus and COTA, the Central Ohio Transit Authority. Others heavily involved with LinkUS are the Columbus Partnership and MORPC {Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission), and construction on West Broad for LinkUS’s first “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) line is scheduled to begin in 2026 with its accordion buses running by 2028.
Community Improvement 614 hastily formed last summer after realizing LinkUS could drastically alter West Broad.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025, 6:00 PM
Schiller Park, 1069 Jaeger St., Columbus
Israel is trying to deflect global outrage by promising more aid, but we know the truth: starvation, blockade, and mass killing are not accidents. They are weapons of genocide. Even if trucks move tomorrow, this is not a solution. It’s a PR cover for genocide and the the world must not look away.
Bring signs, Kufiyahs, Flags, pots and pans.
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This action alert references three protection programs operated at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance: the Ohio Immigrant Hotline; Detained Immigrant Phone Buddy Program; and Immigrant Accompaniment Program. Our resource website is OhioIsHome.org.
We couldn’t offer these programs without volunteers and financial support from people like you! Make a tax-deductible donation to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance here or follow the directions below to volunteer with the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
Email ltramonte@ohioimmigrant.org to sign up for our email list.
Between deep Medicaid cuts and a ballooning budget for an increasingly fascistic Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the recently passed federal budget contained grim news for just about everyone in the country. While MAGA-land rejoices at the bill’s passage, recent climate-related disasters show that everyone will suffer under this “Big Beautiful Bill”. The legislation guts Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), eliminating tax credits for renewable energy and electric vehicles — a move that will cost Ohio billions in investment and thousands of jobs. Even Trump’s most rabid white nationalist supporters will live in the hotter, more disaster-prone, and volatile climate system that this climate rollback will help to usher in — right along with the rest of us.
The deadly Texas floods have receded, leaving lost and shattered lives. Donald Trump tells us not to politicize the moment, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt calling the floods “
Senate Bill 63 would ban ranked-choice voting statewide and withhold state funding from cities who want to use it.
I attend downtown’s Jazz And Ribfest for an hour every year. I attend because I absorb legendary musicians in nature. While I’m impressed our city attracts various vendors who’ve won BBQ competitions. they don’t sell anything I eat.
Hip Hop is why I’m vegan. Wu Tang Wu Tang Wu Tang Wu Tang Wu Tang. “No Pork on my fork. I don’t dine on swine.” Several Wu members are Vegan.
I visit the Jazz and Ribfest because I’ve seen Ramsey Lewis and Roy Ayers. Thanks, Hip Hop. I browse the Jazz and Ribfest’s website every year. Whomz the legend were playing in 2025.
Mavis Staples Sunday. Kenny Lattimore Friday. I didn’t attend Kenny Lattimore. The weekend rained. Sunday, it rained. I debated – is this worth leaving my building if it’s raining?
The Staple Singers, MAVIS STAPLES!
Six weeks into Columbus’s self-declared “Summer of Safety,” the headlines are bloodier than the branding suggests. Two youth-involved mass shootings. A spike in gun seizures from teens. Millions of dollars spent—and still, no public accounting of whether any of it is working.
Columbus officials announced a historic $28.2 million investment in youth violence prevention this year. Yet despite repeated public records requests, direct interviews, and community testimony, it remains unclear how much of that money has been disbursed, who it has helped, and whether it’s had any impact on the escalating violence.
In Spring 2025, Mayor Andrew Ginther and Public Safety Director Kate McSweeney-Pishotti announced Columbus would allocate $28.2 million in federal and local funds for youth-focused summer programming. The stated goal: curb youth violence by investing in prevention, jobs, recreation, and mentorship.
“We have 112 programs that are receiving some level of funding, whether it be $5,000 or $500,000,” said McSweeney-Pishotti, in a July 10 interview with ABC6/FOX28 Columbus.
Asawin Suebsaeng at Rolling Stone is out with a vital article that explains who Ayman Soliman is to his friends, community, and the families at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital — and why the government’s “case” against him isn’t a case at all. See excerpts below and read the full piece.
The kind of person Ayman is
CALL TO ACTION: Show Up to Stop Taxpayer-Funded Genocide
Thursday, July 24
-2:00 PM
Franklin County Treasurer’s Office, 373 S. High St., First Floor Auditorium
Are you heartbroken and outraged watching the ongoing starvation and slaughter of children in Gaza? Do you feel helpless watching your tax dollars continue to fund war, apartheid, and genocide?
This is your chance to DO something.
In February, Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan made the decision not to reinvest $5 million of our public funds in Israel Bonds — a move applauded by community members committed to human rights.
But now, Israel’s economy is being artificially propped up. War profiteering, booming weapons and surveillance industries, and an inflated stock market could all potentially help improve Israel’s credit rating — making it more likely that public officials could consider reinvesting in genocide.
We must show up and say: NO MORE!