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We are witnessing a shift in warfare that should alarm every advocate for justice. The recent threats to target desalination plants infrastructure providing over 90 percent of the drinking water for millions of civilians move us past traditional conflict and into the realm of "Water Bankruptcy." ​The United Nations has warned that we have entered an era where water systems in many basins can no longer recover. In this fragile state, the deliberate destruction of water infrastructure is not a "strategic strike"; it is a death sentence for non-combatants. Because these nations have less than a week of water in reserve, the collapse of these plants would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe dehydration and disease within days. ​

The economic cost: Who really pays? As we witness the rapid escalation of "Operation Epic Fury" in Iran, we must look beyond the headlines. In just over 30 days since this conflict began on February 28, 2026, the shift in our global and domestic economy has been calculated and devastating. ​

As I have testified previously to this City Council, I have been a supporter of local women’s sports since the 1970’s when my sister Rose and her partner played for the historic Columbus Pacesetters Women’s Professional Football Team. I attended Columbus Quest women’s basketball games in the mid-90’s and I was an assistant girls’ softball coach for several years. I am a fan of the WNBA and women’s basketball and women’s sports overall.

It is quite clear that the mayor and this city council have been preparing to the lure a professional women’s soccer team to Columbus for some time now when you consider the amount of taxpayer money you all have expended to the sport recently. $30 million for the 62-acre Kilbourne Run Park in which 35 acres are dedicated to soccer fields. $113.9 million for Lower.Com field. And now you want to give away McCoy Parks, 30 acres of publicly owned park
land to one of the country’s richest professional sports owners, who has an estimated worth between $8- $10 billion to build his “Haslam Sports Group Training Facility” that will serve his National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise.

Green Columbus has been organizing Earth Day volunteer events and celebrations for over a decade.

Earth Day is a great way to give back, and there are dozens of Earth Day volunteer opportunities during Earth Day Columbus 2026 celebration throughout April!

The service opportunities will be happening across central Ohio with thousands of volunteers working together to make our communities greener and cleaner.

Be part of the largest volunteer event around Earth Day in the United States.

Plant trees, pick up litter, work in public gardens and parks, or pick one of many other opportunities to do your part!

Sign up for volunteer opportunities, and/or commit to beautifying the Earth in your own way from late March until early May.

Leaders in the Black community of Columbus, Ohio, who support a change to the Columbus City Charter to move to true district representation have filed an urgent request for council action, to City Council President Shannon Hardin.

In a letter dated March 26, 2026, the group of Black community elders, activists and leaders say: “We are concerned that another citizen initiative petition (Our City, Our Say) may violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by retaining the current residential districts and turning them into electoral districts. While this looked like a simple fix to them, we note that although our city is economically and racially segregated, none of those residential districts have a majority-Black electorate. Thus, adopting those boundaries for this new purpose of defining an electorate unlawfully dilutes the votes of the city’s geographically-concentrated Black citizens. We submitted our proposed petition simply to pressure test the question for them of whether having a district map in a council change petition meets the single subject test – which the city attorney confirmed for us. 

Deadline: April 6, 2026

Ohio's primary election is May 5. The last day to register is April 6. Find statewide candidates here. For a list of central Ohio candidates, look here. General election info can be found here.

Go to the Ohio Secretary of State Office website to register to vote or to check your current registration. You never know if your voter registration has been purged.

At the site you can also change your address.and request an absentee ballot.

Early voting in Franklin County will begin April 7 at 1700 Morse Road. See the Franklin County Board of Elections website for dates and times.

Baladna: Palestine Society of Columbus held an afternoon poetry reading featuring author and filmmaker Hind Shoufani, with readings by Mandy Shunnarah and Sara Abu Rashed.

The event took place at Zora’s House in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, April 4, 2026.

About 60 community members and students attended. A Q&A session followed the readings.

During the discussion, one audience member asked whether any of the panelists had suffered harassment or retribution from Israeli officials in response to their activism during visits to their homeland in Palestine.

Hind Shoufani shared that she had been detained and interrogated for about five hours by the Israeli Shabak—officially known as the Israel Security Agency and counterintelligence service.

Attendees enjoying the afternoon poetry reading at Zora's House today presented by three Palestinian guests. Photo credit CFP writer Mahmoud El-Yousseph

Gorilla Biscuits and Negative Approach playing the Newport on a Friday Night are an interesting exploration into Hardcore Punk’s continued evolution. 

Turnstile’s recent Grammy wins included the Metal Performance Award for “Birds.” This started a conversation about where is a Hardcore song also a metal song.

Gorilla Biscuits, and Negative Approach won’t answer this question. Both these pioneering bands would answer why Turnstile’s culture is both critically acclaimed, and loved by people who mosh.

Negative Approach is a legendary Hardcore band from Detroit formed in 1981. Negative Approach were a bridge between The Stooges, Hardcore, and Steve Albini. In 2026, Negative Approach took the Newport Stage filled people of all ages and backgrounds. Everyone looked punk in various years, and clothing styles.

This article first appeared online at Reel TIme with Richard Ades.

There was a time when Americans could watch political dramas like Two Prosecutors—set during the Stalinist purges of 1930s Russia—without feeling like we’re foreseeing our own future.

Since the film was written and directed by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa (who adapted the story from a novel by Georgy Demidov), the obvious assumption is that it’s meant as a metaphor for Putin’s Russia. But given the prevalence of authoritarianism around the world and in our own backyard, that’s not necessarily the case.

Loznitsa himself has said the film has wider significance. “None of the existing societies, no matter how advanced and democratic, are immune to authoritarianism and dictatorship,” he told an interviewer. “This is why I believe that the great purges of 1930s still need to be studied and reflected upon.”

Volunteer applications are now open! CLICK HERE to sign up.

In a world that feels a little all over the place, one thing stays steady: this community. And when thousands of people gather to celebrate it, ComFest First Aid shows up. With open hands, steady hearts, and fucking ton of sun screen.

Our role has always been simple and powerful: help take care of each other. Whether that means a bandage, a bottle of water, or just a calm presence in the middle of the chaos, we’re there to help keep ComFest safe, healthy, and happy.

Since that first Community Festival in 1972, this has never just been an event. It’s been a living, breathing example of mutual aid, radical care, and people showing up for people. And 54 years later, that spirit is still going strong (and so are we).

So if you’ve got the skills, the heart, and a willingness to jump in when it matters, we’d love to have you with us.

Sign up, show up, and help us take care of our community.

Columbus Mayor Ginther and City Council are obsessed with building density through Columbus’s most popular corridors and passed “Zone In” to make this happen. They are also quietly pushing for sprawl and greater density – and a data center – within the Big Darby Creek Watershed. 

They won’t be passing another law, however. Instead, they will tweak the Big Darby Accord, the non-legally binding land agreement made in 2006 amongst 10 jurisdictions such as Columbus, Hilliard, Prairie Township and others. The Accord covers the western fourth of Franklin County and protects two of the nation’s most biologically rich rivers from encroaching development. That of course being the Big Darby and Little Darby. In its current form the Accord calls for clustered development, lots of open space, and caps on housing numbers.

Columbus City Council is expected to vote on the “Big Darby Accord Master Plan Amendment” this spring and make no mistake, it will pass 9-0.