News
This article originally appeared in the Buckeye Flame
Members of the Ohio House voted 65-28 to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto on Ohio House Bill (HB) 68 Wednesday evening – taking one step closer to banning healthcare for transgender people under the age of 18 and preventing transgender girls from competing in sports from kindergarten through college.
DeWine announced the veto during a press conference last week, where he instead proposed a set of new administrative rules restricting access to healthcare for all transgender Ohioans.
The Proud Boys in their bee-suits with mass-shooter guns slung over shoulders will be at the Ohio Statehouse on January 6, 2024 to commemorate the US Capitol insurrection, this according to the Ohio Right Watch of Cleveland, which is “keeping an eye on the far-right in Ohio”.
“We literally just wanted to have an event to memorialize Ashli Babbitt and show her family support and be able to simultaneously be much needed attention to J-6 political prisoners. That’s all this event is,” said Columbus resident Jay Deets in a rambling and conspiratorial video recently posted online in response to anti-fascists calling for a counter protest.
Who Deets is and what influence he has over local right-wingers is not fully known by the Free Press. But his MAGA vitriol for “antifers” is loud and clear. While his inside information that the Patriot Front and the neo-Nazi “Blood Tribe” will also show sounds legitimate.
For several years now the winter solstice event at Serpent Mound, where candles or luminaries were placed so to outline the Native American effigy mound, has been canceled and this year will be no different.
Serpent Mound is within a privte park in Peebles, Ohio, but under control of the Ohio History Connection (OHC), and it was the OHC which made the decision in 2017 to end the event at the suggestion of Native Americans. Most notably the Shawnee, who claim ancestral stewardship of the effigy mound, which is the largest on the planet. Fascinating is how one of the Serpent’s coils aligns with the winter solstice sunrise while its head aligns with the summer solstice sunset.
Every citizen of Columbus should be alarmed by the recent actions of two local politicians. One politician—who was up for re-election in November-directly contacted a judge to influence a pending civil matter in which he was named a party. And that judge then failed to disclose the full details of such ex parte action until after the election.
As Mayor, Andy Ginther is a party to City of Columbus v Wilson 845 LLC et al 2023 EVH 060592. As disclosed by Judge Stephanie Mingo on December 8, Ginther called the personal cell phone of Judge Mingo with specific needs on the case.
We always hear politicians talk about the need for accountability and full transparency in government. This is the exact opposite for both elected officials.
The timeline as indicated in court filings is important:
Today’s announcement by Environmental Court Judge Stephanie Mingo that she would recuse herself from hearing the City of Columbus v. Wilson 845 LLC (Greyhound/Baron’s) case should be of no surprise. And the residents of the Hilltop neighborhood who have been trying to do everything in their power to shut down the Greyhound/Barons bus terminal on North Wilson Road since July can thank their newly re-elected Mayor Andrew Ginther for breaking the law.
As Mayor, Andy Ginther is a party to City of Columbus v Wilson 845 LLC et al 2023 EVH 060592. As disclosed by Judge Stephanie Mingo on December 8, Ginther called the personal cell phone of Judge Mingo with specific needs on the case.
WSYX ABC 6 broke a story today claiming “Court docs accuse Columbus mayor of pressuring judge to shutdown Greyhound Barons bus terminal.” https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/columbus-ohio-mayor-accused-of-ex-parte-conversations-with-judge-central-ohio-elected-offical-greyhound-baron-bus-terminal-case.
Ginther and his administration believe they are outside of the law and permitted to influence judges as they please. This is just one more proven example of corruption that runs rampant at City Hall and why I campaigned to create an Office of Anti-Corruption if elected.
Today, the Ohio Student Association condemned the House Higher Education Committee’s passage of Senate Bill 83 — the Higher Education Destruction Act — with a vote of 8-7.
The Ohio House Higher Education Committee’s sudden passage of SB 83 this morning has left students feeling horrified and betrayed. Certain politicians have claimed that SB 83 was written with the interests of students in mind, but since students have made it clear that this bill is in direct opposition to their interests and lawmakers are still moving it forward, that claim rings hollow.
For months and months, students have organized testimony workshops on campus, written and submitted testimony, sent letters, met with legislators, and organized direct actions on their campuses and at the statehouse in opposition to SB 83.
Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan announced the purchase of $2.5 million in Israel Bonds effective October 16 despite S&P lowering its credit rating for the state of Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. This is after $4 million purchase of Israel Bonds was announced in February. Franklin County’s total holdings of Israel Bonds is now $25 million – the largest of any of the 15 Ohio counties that purchase Israel Bonds.
“This is a solid show of support for the State of Israel,” Jay Schottenstein, chairman of Israel Bonds Central Ohio Advisory Council and CEO of American Eagle, said in a press release.
Back in September during a roundtable hosted by the Environmental Professionals Network, the executive director of Columbus’s Metro Parks, Tim Moloney, told the audience his “full-time job now is working on RAPID 5 projects”.
A surprising statement for some fans of Columbus’s Metro Parks, which is regarded as a public agency. Surprising because RAPID 5 claims it’s a public/private endeavor – led in part by high-end developers – seeking to connect more people to nature.
The lingering and disturbing question these Metro Parks fans have about RAPID 5 is: Does it have plans for putting ugly condos and soulless retail within the Metro Parks themselves? One RAPID 5 design shows a gondola winding its way through two Metro Parks where passengers can disembark for a brewery that is also within the Metro Park.