Feature

Almost 40 years ago, I attended The Ohio State University. I was so proud that when I was presented with different options for my graduate studies, I chose OSU and prayed to be admitted. My prayers were answered. Ever since, Columbus has been my home. My children are Buckeyes.  That was a no-brainer in our family. So proud that while working overseas, myself and other Buckeyes formed an OSU Alumni Club with many activities. We even created social media groups for those of us who attended OSU. In other words, I am a Buckeye to the bone as well as my entire family. At one point, my daughter Jana, while my wife was at work, asked that we remodel her room with an OSU theme. Sure enough, we went to Sears, bought scarlet and gray paint and painted her room and furniture with OSU colors. The Lantern has articles with our names, mine and my children, being cited on so many issues, domestic and international. OSU St John Arena was selected for the “Town Meeting” planned by President Clinton where he sent his national security team —National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Defense Secretary William Cohen and Secretary of State Madeline Albright, when he planned to bomb Iraq.

Happy 420!!! There is much to celebrate this year. Full legal adult use in Ohio! Home grow! Possible rescheduling, better still descheduling! Reproductive rights! Ohio accomplished much in 2023 that we can crow about in 2024.

But we didn’t do it alone. They say many hands make light work. It takes a village. In truth, to arrive where we are today required thousands of our fellow citizens coming together over a span of 50+ years. What we did last year, began in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and so forth.

And, we climbed proverbial mountains to get there. The tears. The fears. The heartbreaks. The impediments. The injustices. Yet, here we are, still standing, better than we ever were before.

Despite countless obstacles, we should still show gratitude for what we have and what we gained. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to us, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to our advancement, we should include all things in our gratitude.”

Did you know that the upcoming total solar eclipse is intimately connected to the Octagon at the Newark Earthworks?

East of Columbus sit the Newark Earthworks, designed and built by those we call the Indigenous Peoples of the Hopewell Culture, who thrived throughout the Midwest around the years 1-400 CE. The Newark Earthworks are one of the earthwork constructions that were recently enrolled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, now called the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. They have been recognized as a “masterpiece of human creative genius.”

Another component of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is at Fort Ancient near the Little Miami River, and the remaining components are sites around Chillicothe along the Scioto River. All of these sites show that these Indigenous Peoples were experts at observational astronomy, for the Earthworks are designed and built to recognize the movements of the heavens. For instance, there is good evidence for a Great Hopewell Road that ran from Chillicothe to Newark and aligned with the Milky Way at the summer solstice. These were special locations.

Two South Side area commissioners resigned recently from that position after getting pushback from City officials for raising awareness about “Zone In Columbus,” a project that could lead to big changes at the Great Southern Shopping Center and other parts of Columbus, as well.

Earlier this week at Columbus City Council’s Monday public meeting, the zoning chair for the Greater Hilltop Area Commission, Rachel Wenning, told Councilmembers that so far, the zoning code overhaul is being “intentionally rushed” so to “avoid public input.”

After her testimony, Councilmember Nick Bankston scolded her, suggesting she was being conspiratorial.

Union stage crew workers have spent the last 1,300 days fighting one of the largest live entertainment companies in the Midwest for a fair contract. Yet fair wages, health and welfare benefits are still being denied to the workers who set the stage for highly lucrative live performances night after night.

Live entertainment is designed to excite and thrill audiences. At its best, live music fosters a sense of community created by shared experience and passionate performances of genuine human emotion. Behind all of this is a tremendous amount of hard work by working class folks with exceptional and unique skills.

When the curtain comes down and the lights come on and the last of the crowd filters out, an army of stage crew workers is still hard at work, turning around the venue for the next night’s show. Work in the live entertainment industry is hard by any standard, with typical days starting at 8 am and often continuing past closing time to 3 am or later.

Union stage crew workers have spent the last 1,300 days fighting one of the largest live entertainment companies in the Midwest for a fair contract. Yet fair wages, health and welfare benefits are still being denied to the workers who set the stage for highly lucrative live performances night after night.

Live entertainment is designed to excite and thrill audiences. At its best, live music fosters a sense of community created by shared experience and passionate performances of genuine human emotion. Behind all of this is a tremendous amount of hard work by working class folks with exceptional and unique skills.

When the curtain comes down and the lights come on and the last of the crowd filters out, an army of stage crew workers is still hard at work, turning around the venue for the next night’s show. Work in the live entertainment industry is hard by any standard, with typical days starting at 8 am and often continuing past closing time to 3 am or later.

Franklin County is poised to elect its first-ever African American county prosecutor this year, but just days before the Democrat primary vote, many African Americans and others in the community are still weighing their options and unsure who is best for the position in this post-George Floyd era and out-of-control gun violence.

But the fact that whoever wins the Democrat primary for prosecutor in the year 2024 will likely be the first ever African American prosecutor for as diverse as Franklin County is speaks for itself.  

“Way overdue,” says former City Council candidate Adrienne Hood who lost a son to the guns of Columbus police. “It will bring cultural awareness that cannot be learned in books of the selection is someone who truly is committed to changing the office thru not only diversity but also accountability.”

Small mammals called fishers have reappeared in Ohio after being chased from the state by 19th-century hunters. The return of the fishers clears up an old mystery in Ohio archaeology.

One of the most spectacular ancient earthworks in Ohio is the animal effigy in Granville, west of Newark, which was ignominiously named “Alligator Mound” for reasons that remain mysterious and hilarious. Obviously, there were no alligators in ancient Ohio. My theory is that some young white child told her or his daddy that the mound looked like an alligator, the name stuck, and this became alligator baggage that the archaeological authorities still carry.

Student leaders from universities across Ohio held a press conference on Friday to launch their Ohio Young People's Platform, a collective vision and shared strategy for Ohio's future. They simultaneously launched an accompanying coalition of student organizations that will be organizing around the platform together, called the Ohio Young People’s Platform Coalition.

XENIA — It’s not every day that Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes gets to take money seized by the police from local criminal enterprises and put it towards good causes in the community. 

When he does, however, he said he wants to make sure it ends up in the right hands. 

Prosecutor Hayes was on-site at Emerge Recovery & Trade Initiative on Monday for a tour and a check presentation to the local faith-based nonprofit, which recently opened the first treatment center of its kind in the world. Emerge is located at the former Greene County Career Center, at 2960 W. Enon Road in Xenia Township. 

Of the approximately $60,000 in money seized by Greene County law enforcement in 2023, ten percent went to Emerge. Staff members were also on site to give the prosecutor a tour of the facility and the men's recovery housing area, which opened last summer and now houses dozens of men who are learning vocational skills to re-enter society in long-term recovery as productive members of the community.