Local
The Free Press and the wider community are mourning the loss of Tim Wagner, who left us unexpectedly on October 19, 2026 to move toward Nirvana. It’s difficult to imagine life without Tim Wagner in it – he was a driving force behind many social justice activities, a spiritual comrade and very good friend of the Columbus Free Press. The prayer ceremony on Zoom by the local Buddhist Center, Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling (KTC), drew over 50 people last night.
Hundreds gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on Saturday, October 17, 2026 for the No KIngs - Vote Early rally.
Billionaires have built their doomsday bunkers. Columbus City Council celebrates professional sports for women and the destruction of McCoy Park. They have literally become cheerleaders for distraction instead catalysts for change.
When you vote November 3 you’re not just voting YES for Issue 8 and NO for Issue 9.
You’re voting against a City Council that has lost the ability to lead.
Their Climate Action Plan 2050 is an insult to the reality outside your kitchen window. This is a climate emergency with “heat domes” cooking the city and extreme weather such as tornados. Chicago and Ann Arbor have taken this threat seriously, but City Council plants a “pollinator garden” outside City Hall.
Without a massive investment into adapting our infrastructure Columbus will not be successful for the future. Unfortunately, there are no adults making decisions inside City Hall anymore.
Columbus voters are looking at two ballot issues to change Columbus City Council’s structure on the November 2026 ballot. While Council is now being attacked for submitting a counterproposal to the citizen ballot initiative, council was in fact responding directly and appropriately to protect the interests of Black Columbus, as requested by Black community leaders.
The current council configuration is a strange system where each member must reside in one of nine “residential districts,” and all members are subject to citywide (at-large) elections. While originally promised by the city to be a “best practice,” it never was. It was a poorly conceived proposal, cynically adopted by the council which was expecting to face a citizen ballot initiative to reform council’s structure to 3 at-large and 10 from districts along with campaign finance restrictions. The weird system council hurriedly put on the ballot that is no in place needs to be changed.
The Ohio Election Protection Coalition is seeking volunteers for election protection at the polls this fall.
They are hosting a series of trainings for volunteers.
The choice between Issues 8 and 9 have never been more important to our future, but thanks to Columbus City Council we now have a new level of confusion.
We have a citizen-led Issue 8 that would give Columbus the democracy that we deserve (because City Council refused to do that at the last charter review) and an exhaustive Issue 9 designed to serve the rich and powerful.
Issue 8 is the result of the Our City, Our Say citizen initiative making the nine Columbus City Council true ward-based seats. Each city district would have candidates running who live in the district, and only the people living in that district can vote for them. The ward-based voting is in contrast to the current system where you must live in the district to run to represent that district – but the voting is “at large” and the whole city votes for every seat.
CELEBRATING OUR 2026 HONOREE: CATHY COWAN BECKER
Sunday, October 18th, 2026 | 4:00 - 7:00 PM
Bob Crane Community Center, 3200 Tremont Rd., Upper Arlington, OH 43221
MY Project USA is proud to honor Cathy Cowan Becker with the Chrys Gee Activist Award at the Youth Excellence Awards 2026, recognizing her extraordinary commitment to grassroots activism, environmental justice and community leadership across Central Ohio.
REGISTER: https://tinyurl.com/MYPAwards2026
For more than a decade, Cathy has been a dedicated voice for social and environmental justice, mobilizing communities and advocating for meaningful change.
• Co-founder and Board President of Save Ohio Parks, leading efforts to protect Ohio's public parks, natural resources and wildlife
• Former Executive Director of Simply Living, advancing sustainability, environmental education and community engagement
Saturday, October 17, 2026 - 04:30pm
Ohio Statehouse
We’re coming together for a rally and march to show that we know what to do to make sure America never has a king: VOTE EARLY. We’ll be carrying signs saying WHY we are voting, WHEN & WHERE we are voting, and WHO we are bringing with us.
We have to leverage every ounce of our energy to make sure we turn out in this election like we have never done before, and reject Trump and his party so completely there’s no shadow of doubt about the result.
Please register now and share the sign up link with ALL your friends.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is here to correct the record, once again, about Sheriff Jones’ immigration lies. We are asking all media outlets to verify his claims before reporting them as fact.
In an interview that aired on September 25, Sheriff Jones told CBS he helped the government deport “close to 7,000” people during Trump’s second term. In an interview published by WCPO on September 23 and the Journal-News on September 30, Jones claimed that “approximately 6,000 people had been deported from the Butler County Jail during the roughly 18- to 19-month period preceding the interview.”
Neither of these figures is true.
The email below was sent at 8am on Friday, Oct 16:
Oct 16, 2026
Dear Mercedes and Ciera:
It's been months since Council Ross first became aware of the threat of private equity buying all of the single family homes in Columbus. We're waiting for her committee to solve this threat.
1. We have spoken at meetings asking for your help.
2. I wrote an article (Feb 27, 2026): https://freepress.org/article/private-equity-consuming-columbus
3. Jordan McLaughan created a website: https://www.evictprivateequity.com/
In my own neighborhood private equity bought a home and turned into a AirBnB rental. Therefore, the value of my home is affected. This is her committee. We need her help.
What makes it frustrating are the immense number of Instagram videos Council Ross has time to record; instead of addressing this challenge. She is Chair of the Housing, Homelessness, and Building Committee; that should probably come first?