Feature

Yesterday, March 22, was a big day for labor in Columbus. Striking Starbucks workers shut down two locations, unions crowded two Statehouse hearings, and Wex Arts workers won their union, a struggle that took over two years.

Starbucks Strike

Not only have several major Columbus-based developers taken leadership roles for RAPID 5, but two major international developers are also playing a significant part in the reshaping of Central Ohio’s five major waterways and Metro Parks. AECOM, for example, which is helping design the newest Mall of Saudi (Riyadh North), has been tasked by RAPID 5 to envision the future for Alum Creek.

But a cursory look at AECOM’s future for Alum Creek (pictured above) suggests they will be more focused on East Main Street, specifically the stretch entering into Bexley and Capital University where the giant abandoned grain silos remain.

The American-based AECOM is referred to as a “global infrastructure consulting firm”. RAPID 5’s other major international firm is the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a research arm of the National Association of Realtors, with offices in Hong Kong and London. Those keeping a close eye on RAPID 5 have told the Free Press both ULI and MORPC (Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission) are the leadership behind RAPID 5.

Ohio’s non-residential solar industry – also known as utility-scale solar energy – is entering into a boomtime. Across the state’s vast farmlands massive solar panel farms are coming online, under construction or in a planning phase, with several of these projects a few miles west and southwest of I-270.

According to the Ohio Power Siting Board (a state office), just three solar farms are currently operational, but 11 are under construction and 22 are in a planning phase.

The Highland Solar Farm in southern Ohio, for example, will be a 300-megawatt facility built on 3,500 acres and expected to produce enough clean energy to power over 49,200 homes. What’s more, Ohio may someday be home to the nation’s largest solar panel farm if Microsoft’s Bill Gates – one of Ohio’s biggest land owners – decides to build it in Ohio.

Two-day event to talk unexplained sightings, strange phenomena in the shadow of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

The UFO Heritage Team

What does our government know about UFOs? What does the evidence say about why they are here? And, ultimately, are we alone in the universe?

Many Ohioans may scoff, but what can’t be denied is the Buckeye State’s intriguing history regarding UFOs. Consider the UFO flap that swept Ohio in 1973 during Halloween, or how UFOs have often been reported near the state’s Native American Earthworks.  

In February 2023 the subject of UFOs was thrust into the headlines with reports regarding strange objects being shot down over the United States and Canada. Equally unsettling is how US Air Force pilots have witnessed UFOs off both coasts on near daily basis.

When people in the Columbus, Ohio area think about the Arnold Sports Festival, it’s usually about how much revenue it generates over the three-day weekend it takes place over the first weekend of March every year.

That is especially true with local merchants, local media and elected officials.

Everyone seems to have their own piece of the Arnold Schwarzenegger money pie that reportedly generates about $51 million each year.

What you won’t hear from those local merchants, local media and elected officials is how many caskets and cremation urns it has generated.

There is way too much revenue to pocket to care about the rampant steroid use that has gone on with “The Arnold” among its bodybuilders, strongman competitors (men and women) and other strength events.

There has not been any credible testing of Arnold competitors for steroids and other illegal substances since Schwarzenegger and former FBI agent Jim Lorimer founded the event in 1989.

Lorimer passed away on November 24, 2022.  

The Dispatch quoted current Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther in the story announcing Lorimer’s death at the age of 96.

No period of our history has had more books written about it than the US Civil War. However, the diplomatic struggle, international aspects of this fight, has not been included. That gap in our historic record has now been magnificently filled by Dan Doyle’s A Cause of All Nations (2015, Basic Books).

While not a history of battles and heroic generals, this topic may sound like a dry, uneventful read, it is anything but! It is a page turner, covering a key, central, but previously uncovered, chapter in our nation’s struggle against secession and slavery. For the slave-holding Confederacy, the ability to gain international recognition was a struggle for survival. The Union, on the other hand, had to block recognition of the Confederacy if the Union was to survive.

Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin is quoted as stating that the Confederacy would either “win the war peacefully overseas or lose it by arms at home!”

It was a contest at which the arrogant slaveowners proved to be woefully short of skills.

The United States and Ohio commit relentlessly to limit children’s reading and literacy. Led by Ohio State University’s anti-academic, anti-children’s learning, and profiteering Reading Recovery—where there is nothing to “recover,” let alone reading--Ohio swings wildly from over-dependence on—you pick the misleading jargon name—phonetics, “balanced reading,” “whole word,” “look-see” to now tilting at the windmill of so-called phonics.

In this, Ohio follows a national shift. Despite DeWine’s constant refrain, Ohio is never a leader, especially in education where the needs of children never come first. (See, for example, my “State legislators and critical race theory,” Letter to the Editor,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 27, 2021; “Ohio Education Promotes Racism and Restricting Equity, Again,” Columbus Free Press, Oct. 27, 2021; “DeWine whines about critical race theory,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Dec. 11, 2021; “The State of Ohio assaults its own children: The war on those least able to defend themselves,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Mar. 6, 2022;

On Thursday night at Studio 25, a small art gallery in downtown East Palestine, a meeting hosted by River Valley Organizing was held regarding the Norfolk Southern derailment disaster. This meeting included scientists who came to town to test and attempt to explain the dangers facing the small town in Eastern Ohio, as well as residents and lots of media.

It was too packed to get in, but it was announced out loud that there were dangerous levels of toxins exposed to the area. That may seem obvious, but the railroad company hasn’t really been saying much of anything out loud or admitting to much of anything. They referred to the plastic explosive catalyzed demolition of a train car full of chemicals a “controlled release.” 

The only control they had was the detonation button. The safety and well-being of the people who live in the area doesn’t not seem to be their priority. In a town where the safety of just existing is up in the air (an activist canvassing the area was quoted as saying, “after three hours, I could feel my skin burning.”), the company offered a meager two thousand dollars for residents to permanently relocate. 

City of Columbus Mayoral candidate Joe Motil states, “ The last of the three 24/7 warming shelters that were created to remain open from mid-December until March 15 closes its doors tomorrow.” The Community Development for All People on the city’s south side made an announcement today stating, “The city of Columbus has unexpectedly terminated its funding for winter overnight warming centers. Community Development for All People is one of the recipients of that funding, and as a result of the city’s decision, the last night of our warming center will be Thursday February 23. We do not support the city’s decision. We are concerned for the impact it will have on the community members that have been staying with us each night and for the staff who worked so hard to make our warming center a safe and welcoming place. Columbus must have a better safety net for those experiencing homelessness.”     

February 15, Desiree Tims, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio, condemned House Joint Resolution 1 (HJR1), a proposed constitutional amendment that increases the passage thresholds of new amendments to 60% of the vote, up from a simple majority.  

“HJR1 is a blatant power-grab by special interests and corrupt politicians, which seeks to undermine our democracy and silence the voice of the people,” said Tims. “This amendment shreds our costitution as we know it and is a direct attack on the rights of Ohio voters. We condemn it in the strongest terms possible.”

A similar proposal from the last General Assembly, HJR6, failed to receive enough support in the Ohio legislature and eventually died in lame duck session. HJR1, however, contains more limits to citizen-driven ballot initiatives and creates unnecessary burdens to signature gatherers.