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A major hazardous byproduct of oil and gas operations, called “brine,” poses a pressing problem because of its long-term radioactivity and the extreme volumes produced each year.
Billions of gallons of this waste have been injected into Class II injection wells throughout Ohio and millions of gallons have been spread on Ohio roads as a deicer and dust suppressant.
Several activist groups in Ohio have been working to educate the public and elected officials about the dangers of spreading oil and gas waste brine and to ban this practice for the benefit of current and future generations, and nature.
Each year in Ohio, several billion gallons of a substance, called “brine”, is produced from oil and gas wells. This byproduct, euphemistically called “brine,” is actually toxic and radioactive waste. While it is true that it has a high concentration of salt, it is well known that oil and gas brine contains heavy metals including Cadmium, Arsenic, and Lead, and dangerous compounds such as Benzene.
On July 14 th of 2021, Congressman Tim Ryan, who defeated progressive Morgan Harper in the Democratic Senate primary, was celebrating. In a press release, Ryan’s office commemorated his ability to work with “House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) and colleagues on the subcommittee” in securing committee approval for a $65 million upgrade to the M1 Abrams Battle Tank.
However, before this press release, Ryan had previously been the benefactor of sustained campaign contributions from General Dynamics, one of the world’s largest defense contractors and the manufacturer of M1 Abrams, which has been built in Lima, Ohio, since the 1970s.
What’s making some Ohio progressives – who haven’t fled to Austin or Portland – take a serious pause post primary is the discouraging results by both Morgan Harper and Nina Turner.
The belief that young lefties have been fleeing “Red State Rising” Ohio for more than two decades was further solidified as both Harper and Turner were overwhelmed by establishment Dems Tim Ryan and incumbent Rep. Shontel Brown.
Nina Turner was endorsed by both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but she could only muster 34 percent of the vote. Harper fared worse against Tim Ryan – who’s sounding more and more Clinton-esque by triangulating on the issues and political tribes – as she garnered roughly 18 percent (90,000 votes).
No doubt a mix of special interests and fear of Trump both worked against Turner and Harper.
Both were targeted as being “too woke or liberal” even though many of Harper’s policies are simply common sense. Pushing for more electrical vehicles, easier access to mental healthcare, and eliminating the Senate filibuster.
This past Saturday morning, as a cool rain fell in the Near East of Columbus, a small group of get-out-the-vote canvassers huddled under a tree waiting for US Senate candidate Morgan Harper to show and give a pep talk.
Ohio’s most consequential statewide primary vote in recent memory was three days away, and her campaign workers had planted several fluorescent pink signs with “Morgan Harper” framed by the outline of Ohio.
Not far from here in an aging red-brick apartment building – that was once affordable – a window squeaked open. From inside someone shouted, “Who’s running?”
The group of canvassers and campaign workers sighed. If there’s one primary candidate that’s going to truly represent the Near East with meaningful policies, it’s Morgan Harper. But once again it appears the monster that is APATHY has risen to marginalize who is arguably the best candidate in both the Democrat and Republican primaries.
Bringing back memories of the 1992 Rodney King trial, thirty years later almost to the day, a jury in Ohio’s federal court failed to convict the Columbus police officers guilty of 23-year-old Henry Green’s 2016 murder. In fact it was the second time in a month a mostly all-white jury refused to find Columbus police liable in the death of an alleged suspect, as was the case for former Vice cop Andrew Mitchell when he was on trial for killing Donna Dalton.
News reports about the April 26 verdict reveal much too brief and outrageously misleading accounts of the incident that led to Green’s death.
On Spectrum News, a reporter discussed the recent trial and lauded its verdict, lamenting the suffering of poor brave police officers in the city who have to confront such street violence. What’s more, those in attendance this week believe an overwhelming police presence within the federal courtroom possibly intimidated jurors.
The jury deliberated for eighteen hours over three days but could not reach a verdict in the trial of Andrew K. Mitchell for murder or voluntary manslaughter in the death of Donna Dalton (aka Castleberry) in August 2018 during a botched prostitution arrest. Dalton’s family alleges it was a kidnapping by a corrupt vice cop that went terribly awry.
Mitchell can be tried again with a new jury. Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack released a statement. “The State of Ohio will be carefully reviewing all available options to bring finality to this matter and will make a public announcement in several days.”
His next trial for kidnapping and other lesser charges, including witness intimidation, will begin this September in Federal Court. These charges are related to Dalton’s death because the alleged victims were also sex workers. The US Attorney alleges Mitchell kidnapped women under the guise of an arrest and then forced his victims to engage in sex acts for their freedom. He will remain in custody pending that trial.
A Hilliard City Council member aligned with “America First” is now linked to a serious. privacy breach of Hilliard students.
When the vice president of Hilliard’s City Council, Republican Omar Tarazi, recently requested all disciplinary records of Hilliard City School students over the previous five years, he was accidentally also sent the students’ identities, roughly 4,200 names, a serious privacy violation to say the least.
Especially when you consider the data was copied to school board members and that Councilmember Tarazi admitted to forwarding the data to “a number of others who were similarly interested in looking at the data,” as he told the Columbus Dispatch. Hilliard is increasingly becoming one of Central Ohio’s most diverse suburbs.
One serious question is, did Tarazi send the data to politically like-minded friends (some MAGA?), and did these friends then do the same?
Former Columbus Division of Police officer Andrew Mitchell shot and killed Donna Dalton (aka Castleberry) on the morning of August 23, 2018, shooting her three times. He was a 54-year-old vice cop. She was a 23-year-old sex worker. When he asked her for sex services and she quoted him a fee of $25, he attempted to arrest her. She then stabbed him in the hand with a knife.
The jury that was seated yesterday in his murder trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court learned before the trial began that those facts are not in dispute.
They will not, however, learn that the City of Columbus settled a civil lawsuit brought by Dalton’s estate for over one million dollars in November of 2020.
They will also not learn that Mitchell is facing trial in September in Federal Court for kidnapping and rape of two other sex workers, witness intimidation, removing evidence, and lying to the FBI. At least two jurors were dismissed during the jury selection process for having knowledge of the charges in the Federal case.
Free Press hero Cynthia Brown has been unwavering since 2017 in her fight to change or end qualified immunity for law enforcement in the state of Ohio, which if successful, could remove the legal shield police have from being sued civilly by victims of excessive force.
Indeed, Brown has been knocking on Ohio Statehouse office doors of those who have the power to make change, but behind these doors are lawmakers who progressives believe would never want to end qualified immunity for police.
“They control the Statehouse, right? So no laws are going to be passed unless you have Republican support,” says Brown who founded the nonprofit De-Escalate Ohio Now! HeartbeatMovement Inc. “We were the only organization that was invited to the Statehouse during the George Floyd protests to talk policy.”
Brown says progressives want to end or change qualified immunity as well. Some of the nation’s most prominent progressives, in fact.
“Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, they really want to end qualified immunity,” she says.
Despite shifting dates, Ohio is preparing for a primary that will leave an indelible mark on politics nationwide.
Rob Portman’s decision to retire in 2021 created an open Senate seat that multiple politicians are competing to fill. With Ohio remaining solid red for the past two presidential elections, and serving as the location for a contentious special election last year, the results of the primary elections are expected to be a referendum on many things.
For Republicans, it will indicate how firm Donald Trump’s grasp is on the Republican Party. For Democrats, whether moderate liberals or the growing progressive vanguard, is the future of electoral success.