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This article first appeared on the Ohio Capital Journal

As promised, supporters of an anti-gerrymandering amendment have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to intervene regarding language the Ohio Ballot Board approved for the November ballot, saying the language violates the Ohio Constitution.

A brief filed Monday with the state’s highest court cites constitutional provisions that dictate the way in which titles and language can appear on Ohio ballots, according to the court document written by attorneys for Citizens Not Politicians, the authoring group for the redistricting reform.

The ongoing debate over redistricting in Ohio highlights a critical issue within the democratic process: the manipulation of ballot language by people in power to influence voter perception. This tactic is part of a larger national trend where biased ballot language is used as a tactic to defeat citizen-led initiatives. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is attempting to exploit the Citizens Not Politicians ballot language in an attempt to consolidate power and limit democracy.

On Thursday, civil rights leaders and advocacy groups released the following statements to the media condemning the biased ballot language released by LaRose: 

“Public service should be a calling, where elected officials honor the sacred trust instilled in them, but the language presented to the Ohio Ballot Board on redistricting is another sad example of politicians abusing their power.  This is another obvious attempt by Secretary of State LaRose to use his power to mislead voters, and as civil rights organizations, we believe the public will not buy it.” – Bria Bennett, Communications Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.

August 13, 2024 - Today marks a solemn victory in the pursuit of justice for Ta’Kiya Young and her unborn daughter, whose lives were tragically and unjustly taken at the hands of Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb. Grubb now faces four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. On August 1st, Ta’Kiya and her family would have been celebrating her 22nd birthday. Instead, we remember and honor her, not as a footnote, but as the true victim in this tragic and unnecessary encounter, and as the actual beneficiary of the right to utilize Marsy’s Law, alongside her unborn daughter.

This indictment speaks to the resilience and persistence of those who demand accountability when gross misuses of power occur. Contrastingly, Connor Grubb and his partner are not victims. To use Marcy's Law to cloak officers from facing the consequences of their actions is an insult to every victim of police violence, an inversion of justice and moral accountability.

 Klutch Cannabis, one of the Midwest’s premier vertically integrated cannabis companies, announced that its Ohio dispensaries were among the first to receive Dual Use Dispensary licenses from the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control on Friday, August 2. The licenses will be effective on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Sales to eligible adults will begin at 10 AM Tuesday morning at the following locations:

The Citizen by Klutch in Canton – 401 Cherry Ave NE, Canton, Ohio 44702

The Citizen by Klutch in Lorain – 5152 Grove Ave, Lorain, Ohio 44055 

Both stores are open from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days per week.

Tuesday, June 30, Franklin County agreed to a historic  $7 million settlement with the family of Casey Goodson Jr., resolving the civil claims arising from the  tragic events of December 4, 2020. This settlement marks a significant step in the pursuit of justice for  Casey and his loved ones. 

Since that fateful day, Casey's family has endured immense pain and hardship, navigating a long and challenging journey toward justice. Over three years have passed since Casey was senselessly murdered  by former Sheriff's Deputy Michael Jason Meade. Throughout this period, the family has remained  steadfast in their fight for accountability and reform. 

The settlement allows Casey's family to resolve their civil claims against Franklin County, enabling them  to concentrate fully on the upcoming murder retrial of Michael Jason Meade. While no amount of money  can ever compensate for the loss of Casey, this settlement is a crucial acknowledgment of the profound  impact his death has had on his family and the broader community. 

In a recent public radio interview, an Ohio oil and gas industry spokesperson claimed fracking was safe and environmentally friendly.

The statement raised the interest of Save Ohio Parks steering committee member Jenny Morgan, who filed a records request with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to see if the claim was true. She received thousands of ODNR reports on inspecting and cleaning up Ohio oil and gas accidents over the last nine years.

Morgan was so disturbed by descriptions of methane gas leaks and radioactive fracking wastewater spilled into area waterways that she started a daily accident report on Facebook, summarizing, dissecting and posing questions about cleanup and mitigation.

She found that thousands of fracking-related accidents and cleanups happening nearly every day over the last nine years challenges the Ohio gas and oil industry’s claims that fracking is environmentally friendly.

Once again, Ohio is trying to pawn off one of its worst politicians on the country. It’s long been a strategy of the Buckeye State to get rid of our crumb-bums by getting them elected to national office. Consider William Henry Harrison, who did the country a favor by catching pneumonia on his way to inauguration; James A. Garfield, whose assassin was smart enough to shoot at point-blank range; William Howard Taft, who aided the nation’s poets by rhyming with graft; and Warren G. Harding, whose cronies from his Ohio hometown were so corrupt that they sold off the country’s first petroleum reserve privately for kickbacks.

Columbus “heat islands” are in full effect for yet another summer, but many in the community may not be aware there’s a burgeoning movement of young African American activists who are focusing their attention to climate change and seeking to reverse the damage it’s doing to our urban neighborhoods.

Kwesi Low is one of these activists (pictured above on left). He works with former Congressional candidate Morgan Harper to help run her grassroots organization Columbus Stand Up. The 41-year-old also helped run her 2020 Democrat primary campaign against Joyce Beatty, kickstarting his transition from purely community organizing to electoral politics.

Intriguing and eye-opening is how that primary in some ways mirrors the impact climate change is having on urban neighborhoods. Low admits Morgan underperformed in Ohio’s urban areas where support should have been overwhelming, but never materialized.

“No Rail, No Vote” was recently posted to r/Columbus Reddit, foreshadowing a potential grassroots effort to derail the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA)’s November 0.75 percent sales tax levy for rapid transit bus corridors or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

The LinkUS Mobility Initiative is the billion(s) dollar plan to increase Columbus’s public transit mobility options other than motor vehicles so to address the huge population spike regional leaders are predicting over the next twenty to thirty years. Estimates have varied widely, from $2 to $8 billion, on what the final LinkUS cost to taxpayers will be.

Initiated in 2020 by both COTA and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Committee (MORPC), the plan has designs on five Columbus corridors, such as West Broad and Olentangy River Road.

This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame.

In April, the Biden administration announced changes to Title IX, the landmark civil rights law, that would explicitly protect LGBTQ+ student-athletes from discrimination for the first time in history. 

Since then, attorneys general in at least 22 states have sued the administration in an attempt to block the changes, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

In nine of those states, including Ohio, federal judges have specifically blocked the Title IX protections for transgender and intersex students from taking effect.

The Title IX amendments, which are still set to take effect in September in 40 states, triggered a cascade of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash across the country – including at the Ohio Statehouse, where conservative lawmakers have been rallying against the changes for months.