Local
What we witness on the video footage released is more evidence of murder, a lack of urgency in providing trained medical care to a clearly pregnant and wounded woman, and a concerted effort to shield Officer Connor Grubb from accountability and criminal charges.
In the footage, you hear Officer Grubb repeatedly state “she tried to run me over” to other officers on the scene, as justification for killing Ta’Kiya, before a sheriff’s deputy informs him that he’ll get a lawyer for him and to stop talking. What is clear from the video is that she did not try and run him over, she turned the wheel as far away from him as possible before the vehicle began to slowly move forward and to the right, and Grubb had every opportunity to follow departmental policy and take evasive action instead of discharging his firearm into Ta’Kiya’s chest.
Despite recent House testimony by highly credentialed whistleblowers, we do not know if spacefaring extraterrestrial organisms have ever visited Earth. However, the mere possibility of their existence raises an important challenge for our continued exploitation of animals here on earth.
Sunday, September 10, 12:30-2pm
Hot Times Festival, 240 Parsons Ave., Main Street Stage
This special edition of Make Jazz Not War (formerly the JazzPoetry Ensemble) brings our irrepressible, irreverent, and downright exciting mix back to Hot Times. Michael Cox joins regulars Roger Hines, Brett Burleson, The Governor, and Michael Vander Does for American protest music that will get you out of your seat.
Hosted by Make Jazz Not War.
We just buried my ex-husband Darryl Mendelson. He had been battling leukemia for several months and finally succumbed on Thursday, August 24, 2023.
He had been a major player in some Columbus institutions, including Comfest, which he helped to create. Darryl, born Stephen Victor, was raised in Brooklyn with his brother Ro-z (Jeffery). I met them at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969. Darryl, Ro-z, Stan Bobrof, Charlie Einhorn and Steve Terkel had embarked from Columbus and were living on the bus called Progress. They had been traveling to pop festivals around the country and had established an encamptment at the bottom of “Acid Alley” at Atlanta. There were two other buses: Candy Watkins’ little bus Pathfinder and Wonderbread, which looked just like a loaf of bread, with all the spots. Four adults and four kids lived on that bus!
Saturday, September 9, 7-8pm, Hot Times Festival, 240 Parsons Ave.
Join us at the Hot Times Community Arts and Music Festival for the September Free Press Second Saturday Salon.
We’ll gather on the porch of the Health Department building: 240 Parsons Ave., between E. Main St. and Bryden Rd., on the lawn of Columbus Public Health.
• We’ll have a discussion of protest music and musicians playing some protest songs.
• We will also discuss the Ta’Kiya Young murder and the effort to stop qualified immunity for police.
We will be celebrating 46 Fabulous Hot Times Festivals! Art Cars, three stages, vendors, food, friends, family, and fun!
Hosted by The Columbus Free Press.
Late last year, two groups of Columbus immigrants sat down with researchers from the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) for private “listening sessions.” Ohio was one of seven states chosen by these national organizations.
Listening to immigrants, who are the real experts in immigration law and policy, themes emerged. Research findings are presented in a new report, “If The Parents Are Okay, The Children Are OK.” Next, CTAN and CLASP will move from listening and analyzing into action, incorporating parents’ recommendations into their advocacy plans.
In Columbus, parents said they were terrified about their kids’ safety going to and from school, and inside the classroom. On top of gun violence, stranger danger, and drugs that look like candy, they are contending with bullying, verbal attacks, and even ethnicity-based hate crimes.
Friday, September 8 to Sunday, September 10, 240 Parsons Ave. [northeast of the intersection of E. Main St. and Parsons Ave.]
The Hot Times Community Arts and Music Festival is scheduled for September 8-9-10, 2023.
This weekend-long celebration is a special occasion where the community gathers to celebrate peace, harmony, community unity, friends, family, and the arts.
Please enjoy your time at the festival, and upon leaving, take away with you a bit of happiness and friendship that is Hot Times.
Hosted by Hot Times Community Arts and Music Festival.
Thursday, September 7, 7pm, Tuttle Park [outside of the Tuttle Community Center], 240 W. Oakland Ave.
Join Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists for a discussion about how we fight for and win progress today — through reform or revolution?
This meeting will take place in-person outside of the Tuttle Community Center and online at tinyurl.com/CORSmeeting (using the Jitsi app).
Hosted by Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists.
Ta’Kiya Young’s death was a terrible mix of poor decisions, bad timing, and a lack of de-escalation training. But the bottom line is, Kroger is a $100 billion corporate monster – just ask their store employees – and shoplifting should never mean pulling a gun on a young mother and her unborn baby, let alone killing both.
The K9 attack in Circleville in one massive way mirrors Ta’Kiya’s death. The Free Press has heard from several law enforcement sources that the Ohio state troopers who pulled over Jadarrius Rose approached his semi with guns drawn. This was a mistake, these same law enforcement sources told us.
In this post-George Floyd world-on-edge, some younger African Americans panic in the presence of law enforcement. But as Cynthia Brown of the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity (OCEQI) has repeatedly told us, Ohio law enforcement lacks the skills to help change a life, and because of this, they instead take a life.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: 100 E. Main Street, Columbus 43215.
Suggested donation: $50.
RSVP by email to Constance@fgnlegal.com or text to 614-288-1082.