Local
Saturday, June 7, 2-4pm, Upper Arlington Public Library [Friends Theater], 2800 Tremont Rd.
DEI stands for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” In our nation today, there are significant changes taking place within identified DEI programs on all different levels: companies, organizations, universities, schools, government, and more. Whether DEI programs are worthwhile or not is a topic worth learning more about and discussing by using “The Braver Angels Way.”
Some believe that these programs are essential to achieving fairness in our society. Some believe these programs have created more division and even furthered discrimination.
Join us for a discussion on this timely topic. There will be three panelists who will help us understand differing perspectives. A non-partisan panelist will provide a helpful overview of the purpose of and what is involved in DEI. Two other panelists will discuss the pros and cons of DEI programs from their knowledgeable and differing perspectives:
• Cindy Burack, Political Theorist and Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio University
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First Things First
We want to take a moment to say we know this has been a really hard week. So many Ohioans have been grappling with bad news that dramatically affects their lives. For example, in the last few days alone:
Trump is building a giant database of our personal information with the help of tech giant Palantir.
Trump intends to use the company’s mass data-collection technology to compile master lists of Americans’ personal data, including everything from bank account records to disability status to medical claims, without their consent. Trump could then use these vast datasets to abuse the law, persecute his adversaries, and advance his political agenda.
The Trump administration has already awarded Palantir, founded by Trump mega-donor Peter Thiel, more than $895 million in government contracts.
Former Palantir employees have warned, “Combining all that data, even with the noblest of intentions, significantly increases the risk of misuse.”
Let’s put a stop to this mass data collection before it’s too late. Tell Congress to oppose Trump’s surveillance scheme and Thiel’s data collection cash grab.
US Solar Industry Continues Growing
The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, reveals that the mix of renewable energy sources produced over the first three months of 2025, provided nearly a third of the total U.S. electric generation.
Utility-scale solar expanded by 43.9 percent in the first quarter of this year. Small-scale rooftop solar increased by 11 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by over one third and was 6.8 percent of the total U.S. electric generation for this first quarter, up from 5.3 percent a year earlier.
This means that energy generated from solar surpassed the output of the nation's hydroelectric plants, which was 5.7 percent. This is a first in our nation's history.
Biofuels Demand More Land than Solar Generation
US Solar Industry Continues Growing
The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, reveals that the mix of renewable energy sources produced over the first three months of 2025, provided nearly a third of the total U.S. electric generation.
Utility-scale solar expanded by 43.9 percent in the first quarter of this year. Small-scale rooftop solar increased by 11 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by over one third and was 6.8 percent of the total U.S. electric generation for this first quarter, up from 5.3 percent a year earlier.
This means that energy generated from solar surpassed the output of the nation's hydroelectric plants, which was 5.7 percent. This is a first in our nation's history.
Biofuels Demand More Land than Solar Generation
The Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus (“CGMC”) is proud to present their Pride Month concert “35-n-Thrivin’” on June 28th and June 29th at the Davidson Theater in the Vern Riffe Center. The show consists of songs by well-known LGBTQIA+ artists and is a celebration of CGMC’s 35th anniversary season.
Brayton Bollenbacher, CGMC’s Artistic Director, said the Chorus’ 35th anniversary brought to mind renowned LGBTQIA+ artists, including Tracy Chapman, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Chappell Roan and Ricky Martin, and the notable music they were working on before the age of 35. “As we are celebrating our 35th season, I was curious to see what Queer musicians were doing when they were 35 years old,” Bollenbacher said. “This concert is really celebrating music by the amazing artists that they created prior to being 35 years old.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Trump administration has been using television, social media, and AI-generated digital graphics to advance its policies. This particular thought experiment started when my friend and I were watching the evening news. There was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem prancing triumphantly in front of detainees in the CECOT concentration camp in El Salvador where Venezuelan immigrants had been deported. Noem was dressed to kill for the occasion with a designer outfit and a $50,000 Rolex watch. The dynamics of the event were telling. She scolded the detainees like they were 10-year olds caught smoking and, curiously, she did not target gang activity but rather illegal immigration as the cause of their plight.
Following a sound study in 2010, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) told Franklinton residents at an area commission meeting that stretches of SR-315 and I-70 were once again eligible for a sound wall.
This was a re-confirmation, as ODOT had said in 1993 that Franklinton was eligible considering it was a “pre-existing” neighborhood, meaning the community was there before the freeways. And surely deserving of a sound wall, as SR-315 cuts through the middle of Franklinton’s eastern end while its southern end is almost entirely bordered by I-70.
Nevertheless, back in 2010, ODOT said the project could start in 2013 and be completed by 2023. Between this time, residents called ODOT for an update. There are more cars than ever on these freeways, they said, and the public health impacts are real. ODOT responded, saying there was a new plan in place. They were going to expand I-70 and the sound wall would be installed when this project would be completed.
The calendar turned to 2023, and there was still no sound wall or even a hint the 70-expansion project was in the works. Franklinton residents once again reached out to ODOT.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Please join us for an in-person and live-streamed event. Together, we’ll hear from key experts—like international tunnel expert Brian O’Mara—about the latest on Line 5 and learn how to take action at this critical moment. The federal administration has fast-tracked the Line 5 tunnel permit, and your voice is more important now than ever!
Line 5 is an outdated oil and gas pipeline that poses unacceptable risks of a spill, especially as it travels along the lakebed through the Straits of Mackinac in a four-mile section known as the dual pipelines.
Bill McKibben, who has been advocating for a shutdown since the beginning of this movement, will make a virtual appearance with a special message.
When Donald Trump talked about immigrants eating people’s pets during a 2024 presidential debate, he was carrying on a longtime Republican campaign tactic: Win the votes of White Americans by scaring the hell out of them.
According to Andrew Goldberg’s documentary White With Fear, this strategy can be traced back at least as far as the 1968 presidential campaign. Even though the controversial Vietnam War was still raging, we learn, the campaign of Republican Richard Nixon focused mainly on race.
Among the film’s many interviewees is author Rick Perlstein (Nixonland), who explains that the GOP worked to recapture the White House by tapping into many White Americans’ hatred of Blacks. This was done largely through innuendo and dog whistles.
When Nixon pledged to support “law and order” and fight crime, for example, it was understood that he was talking specifically about Black crime. The candidate’s subtext was hard to miss when he made statements such as referring to Black-majority Washington, D.C. as “the crime capital of the world.”