Local
It’s no surprise the pro-Trump, police-state apologists at WSYX (ABC Channel 6 news) have infiltrated the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Running the Sheriff office’s media relations office is former WSYX reporter Maria Durant who refuses to answer whether Sheriff Baldwin is reviewing or making changes to Procedure No. 802:1.8.
If you’re not in the know, Procedure No. 802:1.8 is the Sheriff office’s “ICE Notification” protocol. Or as the Ohio Immigrant Alliance refers to it, “One of the broadest ICE cooperation policies in the country.”
This is from a recent Dispatch article: “Jail staff notifies ICE for a list of reasons. This includes when the detainee speaks little English, does not have a government-issued identification, requires consular notification or simply was born outside of the U.S.”
This article first appeared here.
Yesterday, Vivek Ramaswamy posted an outrageously long, rambling tweet about the desperate need for voter ID laws in Ohio.
Chris Quinn of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, "What a fascinating report about ICE detainees in Ohio, that completely flies in the face of what president Donald Trump said his immigration policy is about." He was talking about Ohio Immigrant Alliance's new detention data report, which found only 5% of the nearly 8,000 people locked up in Ohio immigration jails during the first 15 months of Trump's second term had been convicted of violent crimes.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 12:00 PM
Zoom
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/2026spotlight-05
Columbus Metropolitan Library and our Local History & Genealogy division are hosting this free virtual event.
Ask questions and live chat with LH&G staff and guest speakers from your computer or mobile device.Join our Black Heritage Special Collections Librarian Nicole Sutton for this month's afternoon talk about Black History in Columbus. We will have a conversation with special guest Edward Roebuck using photographs and materials from the library's digital collection, My History, to give context to the past.
PPG Industries has operated a manufacturing facility at 559 Pittsburgh Road in Circleville for decades. Beneath that facility, and spreading west toward the Scioto River, sits a plume of 1,4-dioxane — a synthetic industrial chemical the EPA classifies as a probable human carcinogen. The plume has been there since at least August 1998. That is the earliest data in the monitoring records. Nobody knows how long it was there before anyone started looking.
This is not a secret. Ohio EPA knows about it. PPG knows about it. The monitoring has been ongoing for 27 years. The documents are public record.
What is not being talked about is what those documents actually show.
WHO: Innovation Ohio & the Committee to Protect Health Care
Speakers include:
Michael McGovern, President of Innovation Ohio
Dr. Camilla Curren, Internal Medicine
Dr. Laurel Barr, Emergency Medicine
Dr. Erika Boothman, OB/GYN
WHAT: A press conference on the impending reconciliation budget and other votes in the U.S. Senate
WHEN: Wednesday, May 20 at 11 AM
WHERE: John W. Bricker Federal Building: 200 N. High St. Columbus, OH 43215
Dear Columbus,
Consider this a love letter, even if it begins with a harsh reality.
A little over a week ago, a police officer stood in front of cameras and lied. He lied loudly into a microphone, attempting to plant evidence on my character by fabricating the cost of my suit and the brand of my shoes, all to set up a rehearsed line calling me a “poverty pimp.”
For those unfamiliar with the term, a “poverty pimp” is someone accused of profiting personally from the communities they claim to serve. It has clear historically racial undertones and that is without question. It is a slur designed to discredit the messenger before the message lands and before change can actually be achieved. It is a term and tool of distraction.
Over the past few months, Mount Vernon Avenue on the city’s Near East side, has welcomed a new house of worship in the form of the St. James Christian Center located where Unity Baptist Church once sat. Previously located off of 161 in a shopping center area, the St. James Christian Center now resides in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood. Once thriving thoroughfares, Mount Vernon Avenue and Long Street formed the basis of the Bronzeville community, a neighborhood that fashioned itself a city within a city that had its own mayor and city council.
This article first appeared here
Ohio’s Republican Statehouse supermajority plans to to give themselves a lengthy Summer break this year, so they’re trying to cram several months of evil into just a few weeks.
If you have some free time today (5/17/26) or tonight, there are many key bills that need public testimony!
Just go to TakeActionOhio.com, click on a bill that interests you, and take the actions listed.
For example, if you want to testify against the bill to ban diversity efforts in k-12 public schools(!!), click on “SB 113 and HB 155”:
In the current political climate, the Fourth Estate must act as more than a witness; we must serve as a digital powerhouse for transparency and a guardian of constitutional fidelity. As federal civil rights protections are systematically rolled back, the battle for institutional accountability has shifted decisively to the state level.
In Ohio, our only definitive call to action remains the power of the citizen-led ballot initiative.
The Gubernatorial Litmus Test
The 2026 race for the governor’s mansion is a critical juncture for our state. We must demand that any candidate seeking to lead Ohio publicly declares their stance on the five active citizen-led ballot measures. A true constitutionalist does not fear the people’s right to direct legislation; they embrace it as the ultimate check on government overreach. We are calling on all candidates to endorse these measures as a demonstration of their commitment to the "consent of the governed."
The Five Essential Pillars of Accountability
To restore the balance of power, we must support the following five measures: