Feature
Recently, I attended a town hall meeting with the three candidates running for District 7 Columbus City Council. The residents at the event live in District 7 and love Columbus. They love our city so much that they took their valuable time and energy to attend and ask questions. Unfortunately, nobody had the courage to tell them that THEIR VOTE DOESN’T MATTER to Columbus City Council.
Our Republicans in the state capital rule Ohio with “gerrymandering” mixed with a generous amount of hate and a dash of religion. Jealous as always, Columbus City Council has their own upside-down version of “Gerrymandering” that they are proud to call “Citymandering.”
Sure, the residents of District 7 will vote in the primary election Tuesday, May 6, but so will EVERYONE ELSE IN COLUMBUS. My wife and I live on the Far East side. We have no clue what’s important to the residents of District 7. Yet, our votes will count just as much as theirs. It’s just like “gerrymandering,” but for Democrats instead of Republicans.
Columbus celebrated the 55th Anniversary of Earth Day on Sunday, April 27, for the first time at Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula.
About half of all waters in the United States are too polluted for swimming, fishing, or drinking.
That, according to advocates, is why we need the Great Lakes and State Waters Bill of Rights, a new law which was introduced into the New York legislature by Assemblyman Patrick Burke (District 142) on March 19th.
Four GOP Senators Resist IRA Tax-Credit Repeal
Four Republican U.S. Senators have added their names with 21 Republican congressional representatives in support of retaining the renewable energy benefits outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act or the IRA.
The latest letter from Senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Thom Tillis from North Carolina, John Curtis from Utah and Jerry Moran from Kansas expressed their support for continuing the renewable energy policy set forth in the Inflation Reduction Act, IRA.
Senators Murkowski, Tillis and Moran voted Nay for the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Curtis is a freshman senator from Utah elected in 2024.
There was no mention that President Trumps’ executive orders repealed the existing renewable energy agreements.
The republican senators carefully ask for “a targeted, pragmatic approach”.
House committees will soon begin the process of budget reconciliation in conjunction with Senate panels.
A father is not supposed to bury his children. It goes against the natural order of things and when parents lose their children, it is a tragedy that shakes a parent to the core, not if you live in Palestine. That's exactly what happened in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip yesterday when the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) killed 6 brothers from the Abu Mahadi family by bombing their vehicle as they traveled to aid displaced people through a charity. Their elderly father has to bury his 6 sons, including his youngest of 10 years old.
The men were not carrying weapons, nor were they resisting. They were civilians. The six brothers and their friend were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit their vehicle in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday. Ibrahim Abu Mahadi mourned his sons as their bodies were brought to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to Gaza ambulance service. Their elderly father has to bury his 6 sons after he conducted the janaza prayers. AP reports saw the mangled and bloodied car as relatives wept over the bodies.
The “Columbus Way” is notorious for co-opting the ideas of grassroots activists for its own gain. Just ask former mayoral candidate Joe Motil, and it has happened again. This time to the “Saint of Sullivant Avenue,” the moniker the Free Press gave to Esther Flores who has worked tirelessly to help Hilltop and Franklinton “street sisters and brothers” in their struggle with addiction to illicit street drugs.
Flores, a registered nurse, runs the 1DivineLine2Health “harm reduction” drop-in at 2424 Sullivant Avenue. She’s been helping the addicted and all the challenges they bring, such as human trafficking, violence, homelessness, and disease, since 2015. She had the courage to be a Sullivant Avenue harm reduction pioneer and has risked everything to help thousands, many of whom are women and their children.
A handful of peace and anti-nuke activists held signs and passed out literature outside the Columbus Metropolitan Club Wednesday, April 2 to voice their opposition to Anduril’s proposed Arsenal-1 plant in the Rickenbacker area in Pickaway County near Columbus. Connor Brogan, Arsenal-1 Project Leader was scheduled as a featured speaker at the Metropolitan Club event, titled "Central Ohio Builds BIG!"
Hundreds of people showed up at the Easton Tesla dealership in Columbus on March 29 for a protest against Elon Musk and his influence on the US government. Though it was promoted for Proud Boys to show up, there were only a handful of counterprotesters proclaiming love for Elon.
U.S. Farmers Sue Trump Administration
Several U.S. farmers and some nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration last Thursday, claiming that it is illegally withholding funding from the Department of Agriculture.
The USDA has withheld REAP grant funding https://www.epa.gov/grants as it conducts an agency-wide spending review.
Five farmers involved in the suit say that they were awarded grants through the USDA's Rural Energy for America, REAP program, to install solar panels on their farms.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 25, 2025 2:00 P.M.
WHERE: The Ohio Union (facing the South Oval) / 1739 North High Street
WHAT: A coalition of students and Columbus community members will rally at the Ohio Union on Tuesday afternoon to protest The Ohio State University President Walter “Ted” Carter's Administration and his preemptive compliance to far-right policies as well as the state of university’s investments, student housing, repression of campus activism, and the right of staff and faculty to organize. The protest will raise awareness about these issues and encourage President Carter to act on students’ demands.
WHO: Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, Rising Tide Columbus, the Tea, Protect DEI OSU, the Trans Experimental Action (TEA) Party, DEI Defense at OSU, OSU student protesters, Columbus community members.
Ohio Climate Youth for Climate Justice is a youth-led movement organizing radical action to address the climate crisis with the focus and urgency that the issue deserves.