Feature

You’ve come a long way baby. Medical marijuana is now legal in Ohio. A bill passed, establishing an industry that will serve a significant portion of the state’s patient population. Certified physicians will recommend cannabis to those with one of 21 medical conditions. The plant will be grown in giant warehouses, processed into oils and tinctures, tested for contaminants and sold in dispensaries around the state. With patient numbers estimated at over 150,000, the Ohio market may well exceed $200 million.

But we still have a long way to go. The roll out of Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program has hardly been smooth. As widely reported, marijuana will not be on the shelves by the program’s promised deadline of September 8th. Neither will it be tested as required in the legislation that begat the program. Processors have yet to be picked. Patients and caregivers must wait until September for cards. Further, hundreds of cities around Ohio have imposed moratoriums or even bans to keep medical marijuana businesses, and by extension, patients at bay.

The problems we face today can seem insurmountable. Who can even count all the good causes that require funding in order to address poverty, climate change, terrorism, money in politics, environmental degradation, species extinction, renewable energy, prison reform, health care, child care, on and on. Yet we are told by the economic establishment that at worst there is no money available, and at best we are constrained by the sheer volume of causes demanding our attention. It is tempting to despair or become cynical at prospects for the bold, transformational changes we need.

Enter MMT, or Modern Money Theory. It’s the new economics. With support from progressives, it could change everything.

Two Ohio Republican legislators recently introduced a bill that mandates all medical and mental health care providers, and teachers, disclose if the child they are working with identifies as LGBTQ - or else they’ll be criminalized as felons.

This bill turns care providers into spies, polices LGBTQ youth and puts them into dangerous situations. Suffering from gender dysphoria and seeking help is not a crime!

Sign the petition now to strike down Bill 658 and send a clear message to legislators: Stop targeting transgender youth

Many LGBTQ youth are homeless because of family rejection for their gender identity and sexuality. Transgender youth face added discrimination and violence. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Join us now to annihilate this bill that puts the safety and well-being of LGBTQ youth at risk.

On Tuesday, June 5, Mr. Nelson Peltz, Board Chairman of Wendy’s, International and Todd Penegor, Wendy’s CEO, announced their new initiative designed to ensure a steady supply of locally grown fresh produce by purchasing tomatoes and other fresh foods primarily from greenhouse growing operations in the United States and Canada. One might suppose this move would not only provide a better tomato supply, but also address the modern-day slavery, sexual violence and other abuses in fields in the U.S. and Mexico where Wendy’s had been purchasing their tomatoes. After all, what could be more farmworker-friendly than locally-grown greenhouse produce?

Yesterday, June 14, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence came to Columbus, ironically during Gay Pride week. LGBTQ groups protested his visit, hosting DJs and drag queens in a dance party to make the notorious homophobic uncomfortable.

The event, as reported on CNN, went this way: "Crowds converged on a small stretch of Gay Street -- you read that right -- outside the hotel where Pence was speaking to a separate group about tax reform. Videos posted to social media showed crowd members raising rainbow flags and dancing to loud music. They were celebrating the kickoff of Columbus' Pride Festival, but organizers also wanted to send a message to the vice president."

Pence could barely get a word out in his speech to a couple of hundred supporters at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus when protestors converged on the event shouting loudly about ICE raids and family separation. Pence was repeatedly heckled while he touted tax reform, attacked Ohio Democratic Senator Shsrrod Brown, and announced his support for candidate Troy Balderson, running for Republican Congressman Pat Tiberi's seat in the 12th district.

As summer starts to take over the Midwestern air, we’re approaching what is easily one of the best times in Ohio -- festival season. From the recent Nelsonville Music Festival to the Columbus Arts Festival on June 8-10 and the beloved ComFest on June 22-24, there really is something for everyone as Ohioans find themselves getting into the summer season spirit.

Growing up in Columbus allowed me to experience most of these festivals firsthand and appreciate them more and more every year. As a student at Ohio University, I saw how the entire Hocking Hills region would flock to the Nelsonville Music Festival, even during its humble beginnings. This year it was obvious that it appeals to people from all over the state and elsewhere as the concerts and musical acts have only gotten bigger and better. The economic benefits are proving to be invaluable to the Nelsonville area as well, as it’s become a tradition for performers and audience goers alike.

Blue Rock Station will conduct a five-day Solar Electric (Photovoltaic) Certification Workshop at Antioch College, 1 Morgan Pl, Yellow Springs, OH 45387 from June 25-June 29, 2018.  

Whether you are a home owner or a business owner thinking of installing solar electric (photovoltaics) on your site, or an architect or engineer who WILL be asked to give an informed opinion on PV by future customers, or someone who wants to join one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. – this workshop is for you.

You will work with a working PV system, dismantling and reinstalling it, troubleshooting and ensuring its proper operation. You will learn how to integrate battery backup. You will learn the various options such as grid-tied, stand-alone, micro-inverts and power optimizers. The course concludes with an industry-recognized certification examination. 

These days, some mighty big players are talking about cannabis, extracts and scheduling: U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

As background, all marijuana, aka cannabis, is illegal in the U.S. according to the feds. It’s position as “Schedule I” in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) codifies this, as do international treaties like one negotiated in 1971. This rusty political machine meanders change through multiple agencies, arriving at a website called regulations.gov where mere interested persons can submit comments for the WHO to consider. The question is, should or should not cannabis’ classification match modern reality?

Food Deserts.  The definition by Merriam-Webster is “an area where little fresh produce is available for sale.” In rural areas and urban areas alike, food deserts are a concerning problem in communities everywhere. Columbus is not immune to food deserts. Communities like the South Side and Franklinton are stepping up to bring fresh produce to their inner-city neighborhoods.

On April 17, residents and stakeholders of the Near East Side packed together in the Community Room of Poindexter Place for a meeting on the “State of Retail” for that neighborhood.

The idea of a grocery store in the Near East Side has been a long soap opera unfolding, since the launch of Partners for Achieving Community Transformation (PACT) in 2012. In 2013, the original blueprint proposal from PACT called for a grocery store on Broad Street, between Ohio and Champion. However, after vocal opposition from Near East Area residents, and guidelines that were cited in the City’s 2005 Near East Area Plan on commercial zoning, that idea was scrapped.

I work with the grassroots ballot initiative campaign, The Columbus Community Bill of Rights

We’re working to get 8,000 Columbus voter signatures before June 26, 2018 to put this City Ordinance on the November ballot, to stop toxic, radioactive Frack Waste Injection wells in the Columbus Watershed. This is Big!

When I read that one of my heroes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was coming to Northern Ohio to support former Congressman, Dennis Kucinich’s run for Governor, I decided to take a road trip.