Local

Sunday, July 19, 2026 - 03:30pm
Goodale Park

The Flock audit finally came out, and if you’re as pissed as we are, come out to Goodale on 7/19 at 3:30 to make some noise and fight back!

Rally against surveillance!

Three months ago on April 7, 2026, Will Klatt, who sits on the Clintonville Area Commission, made a public records request to the City of Columbus regarding the “Zone In” initiative. The first substantive response was not provided until July 6, 2026 – approximately 90 days later. That delay is well beyond what Ohio’s Public Records Act requires. Ohio law requires public offices to make records available within a reasonable period of time, and a delay of this length, absent a compelling explanation, appears inconsistent with those statutory obligations. Klatt intends to pursue legal action on Monday (7/20) against the City of Columbus.

After more than three months without receiving the requested records, I believe the City has failed to comply with its obligations under Ohio’s Public Records Act (ORC 149.43). The request relates to records connected to the Zone In Columbus zoning code update, including materials, data, and communications used in the development of that process.

Haga clic aquí para español - Click here for Spanish

I will never forget a college student named Matt who worked with me part-time shortly before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One day, just for fun, I asked him if he could name the five states that border Ohio. He looked at me and said, "Are you trying to make me look stupid?"

I replied, "Not at all. I'm just testing your knowledge and thought it would be fun to play a little trivia."

He relaxed and then asked, "Is Michigan one of the states?"

I smiled and said, "You're right, buddy!"

Matt later told me that he had never been outside Ohio. I was truly saddened.

Nevertheless, most Americans value staying informed. However, keeping up with the news, elections, and current events can be more time-consuming and exhausting than ever. Even so, many Americans still believe that staying informed is an important part of their civic duty.

Friday, July 17, 2026 - 11:45am
On the plaza in front of the Ohio State Capitol

This Saturday, July 18, will mark EIGHT YEARS since the last execution in Ohio.

To mark this occasion and add to the mix of available colorful images and video used by the media covering this issue, please join with Ohioans to Stop Executions, Death Penalty Action and others.

We'll make brief statements, offer prayer, and everyone can participate in tolling our bell 56 times to symbolically "note the 56 times Ohio fell short of our highest ideals by unnecessarily killing prisoners." 

Wear your OTSE or other anti-death penalty t-shirt if you have one! This is a VISIBILITY ACTION!  If you are clergy, wear your identifying items.

Editor's Note:
Today, the Our City, Our Say coalition submitted over 23,000 signatures for a petition to amend the Columbus charter so that only residents from each district will elect their member of Columbus City Council. 

Currently, Columbus has city council districts in name only, electing all 9 city council members through at-large voting in citywide elections, a system that favors candidates selected by political insiders and backed by big money. However, Our City, Our Say is committed to building a system where every neighborhood and vote matters by putting the power in the hands of the people of Columbus. 

“Submitting these signatures and getting this amendment on the ballot in November proves that organizing can overcome the entrenched power of concentrated wealth that has long dictated the terms of politics and governance in Columbus,” said Maitland Neff, a volunteer signature gatherer who collected over 1,500 signatures. 

Thursday, July 16, 10:15am
Columbus City Hall, 90 W. Broad St.

We're meeting at City Hall tomorrow morning to turn in the more than 23,000 signatures you've helped us collect over the last few months. Can you join us?

Our City Our Say will submit petition signatures to the Columbus City Clerk in support of its proposed charter amendment. Before the filing, organization leaders and supporters will be available to discuss the initiative, the signature collection effort, and the next steps in the ballot qualification process.

BRING (optional): We'll have signs on hand for supporters, but you are also welcome to bring your own. If you represent any coalition partner organization(s), please feel free to wear your organization and/or union swag!

Our City, Our Say is a broad, nonpartisan coalition of your neighbors. We’re coming together to build a city that belongs to all of us by shifting power from Columbus insiders to the people and neighborhoods in Columbus.

Ohio is home to some of the most respected healthcare institutions in the world. Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked among the world's best hospitals, while The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is nationally recognized across multiple specialties. Yet despite these achievements, Ohio ranks near the bottom nationally in overall health value—worse than any other state in the Midwest—and some communities experience life expectancies that rival those of the world's poorest countries.

How can a state renowned for world-class medicine fail so many of its citizens?

NATIONAL WEBINAR, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15: Building a Movement to Stop ICE Killings, with Karina Garcia and organizers from Houston and Maine

Register: bit.ly/stopicekillings 
Less than one week after ICE’s murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, ICE fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, ME. These deaths are not coincidental; they are the direct result of the Trump administration’s war on working-class immigrant communities, which now demands that ICE agents arrest 2,000 people each day.

After the people of Minnesota organized two general strikes to drive out Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration shifted tactics to try to keep ICE “out of the headlines” because they are afraid of the mass movement. But ICE’s aggressive approach has continued with new tactics and an additional $38 billion of funding granted by Congress in June 2026. We can and must stop this ICE terror by reigniting the mass movement that they fear.

Justice is often measured in volumes of law, but for those of us fighting on the front lines of democracy, it is measured in days—and today, we have reached 220. ​It has been 220 days since final briefings were submitted in Brown v. Dave Yost (Case No. 2:24-cv-01145) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. For more than seven months, the constitutional challenges safeguarding the "Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights" initiative have sat in a judicial vacuum. To the casual observer, this silence might appear to be a standstill. To us, it is a clarion call. ​

I am the architect of a new era of accountability, and I am rising to take my power back. I do not see this delay as a defeat; I see it as a crucible. ​When the traditional mechanisms of government stall, the void is often filled by apathy. But the Heartbeat Movement Inc. was not founded to be silent. We were founded to ensure that when the Fourth Estate—the independent press—is needed most, it is there to demand transparency. We are the architects of our own movement, building structures of justice that bypass the bottlenecks of institutional delay. 

Haga clic aquí para español - Click here for Spanish

Following is a statement from Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, in response to the latest fatal shooting by ICE in Biddeford, ME, as well as ICE agents’ murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo last week. 

Pull ICE off all streets in all communities, NOW. They enforce CIVIL laws. There is no reason they should be allowed to invade our communities with guns.