Local

Wednesday, April 27, 7pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

This bill has passed the House and is already before the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee now. They could hear it at any time. We need to act now! Join us for a discussion on what the bill will do, why the secrecy, and how it can affect every Ohioan.

H.B. 434 states that its proposed activities are an essential governmental function and that it addresses matters of public necessity. It repeals the Ohio Department of Health’s authorization to regulate and oversee entities dealing with radioactivity.

Eight of the bill’s 14 pages are taken up creating a convoluted process for getting board members onto the Nuclear Development Authority.

As if this were not enough to ensure that the public will be shut out of involvement and oversight of activities, today’s amendment would move the Authority under the auspices of the Ohio Department of Development.

Bringing back memories of the 1992 Rodney King trial, thirty years later almost to the day, a jury in Ohio’s federal court failed to convict the Columbus police officers guilty of 23-year-old Henry Green’s 2016 murder. In fact it was the second time in a month a mostly all-white jury refused to find Columbus police liable in the death of an alleged suspect, as was the case for former Vice cop Andrew Mitchell when he was on trial for killing Donna Dalton.

News reports about the April 26 verdict reveal much too brief and outrageously misleading accounts of the incident that led to Green’s death.

On Spectrum News, a reporter discussed the recent trial and lauded its verdict, lamenting the suffering of poor brave police officers in the city who have to confront such street violence. What’s more, those in attendance this week believe an overwhelming police presence within the federal courtroom possibly intimidated jurors.

Part One

The shame of the city

What happened to the University District?

The area adjacent to The Ohio State University in the middle of Columbus, Ohio, was once a distinctive, mixed neighborhood of owner-occupiers and their boarders and renters in small, scattered, private rooming houses and single-family homes. Over several decades it was transformed into the dominance—numerically, culturally, socially, politically, and economically—of large, for-profit landlords with young-adult student tenants. For 18 years I’ve been co-owner of a 107-year-old, architect-designed house in the district whose history partly reflects this transformation; it morphed from dual-family to multiple student renters and back to single-family status. The 2021-22 period crystalizes the 40-year history of this landmark neighborhood’s decline.

Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) recently completed soil sampling near the Austin Master Services oil and gas waste handling facility in Martins Ferry, OH and had the soil sent to Oak Ridge Laboratory in TN, a certified governmental testing facility for radiological analysis. We shared those results at a press event on April 4th. The samples were taken along the public roadway in front of the main gate of the facility, and compared to the background samples taken at a park and cemetery about a mile away, the results were over 10 X's background level radiation. Compounding the problem is the fact that before the radioactive waste facility came to town, the site was an old steel processing facility that released millions of tons of pollutants into the environment for decades. This facility is within 1,000 feet of the nearest pumping wells for drinking water for Martins Ferry, Bridgeport, and other communities.

Monday, April 25, 2022, 5:45 PM
We had bad weather luck twice, so now we have a shelter! It's the first shelter, near the parking lot when you first arrive at Whetstone.  Bring a snack or drink to share. We will chat and hang out, but also have a meeting. Comment in this event if you have things you'd like added to our agenda.  Location: Whetstone Park, Shelter 1.  Facebook. 

Sunday, April 24, 5-6pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

UUJO’s Environmental Justice Team presents “Connecting the Dots” on Sunday, April 24, focusing on community gardens in rural and urban Ohio and their impact on food justice, access to healthy sustainable food, resilience, and mitigation of food deserts.

Pam Roberts, Executive Director of Together We Grow Gardens, will share resources and ideas for creating community gardens that provide greater equity and food justice. Come and share your successes and questions about community gardening!

“Connecting the Dots: Planet, People, Power” was launched by UUJO: Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio in September 2021. We meet monthly to provide a platform for issues of environmental justice along with actions that can be performed during each meeting. Our monthly topics are driven by you and the immediate areas of environmental injustice that you are confronting right now.

RSVP for this event by using this link.

I don’t know if it’s supply and demand. I don’t know if it’s Covid. I don’t know if Trump, and his friends are waging economic sanctions within our country for criticizing the January 6th attack. I don’t know if someone wants to punish Chairman of the Budget Committee Bernie Sanders for tweeting criticism of wealthy companies by name. I don’t know if this correlates with the raised wages at places like Kroger, and Walmart.

I don’t know if this correlates with the fact Russia invaded Ukraine. Our country is supplying Ukraine with weapons which appears there is some sort of conflict between our country and Russia.

I don’t know if Republican Governor Abbot blocking agriculture shipping which cost our country $240 million dollars had something do with it.

http://www.cnn.com/2022/04/17/opinions/greg-abbott-texas-border-policies...

Texas governor reversed this costly block which Texas Agriculture’s Commission called "Political Theater."

On Wednesday, April 20, members of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice and Sunrise Columbus disrupted The Ohio State University’s 2022 signature Earth Day event: “Time to Act on Climate Change” at the Ohio Union’s US Bank Conference Theater.

Organizers dropped banners and led chants when President Johnson, a planned speaker and award recipient at the event, began her speech.

The students demanded that OSU completely divest from fossil fuel companies immediately and reinvest the money into the Columbus community.

“It’s time for President Johnson to address the realities of the crisis and leverage her power to tangibly act on climate change,” said Catherine Adams, a student organizer and a freshman at OSU. “We have tried asking nicely. We have tried to meet with President Johnson, but she continues to make empty promises rather than sitting down with us and working towards real solutions for our community.”

Friday, April 22 - Earth Day
Saturday, April 23, 12-7pm - Earth Day Festival downtown
Join us at Genoa Park for our annual Earth Day Celebration! This family-friendly event will feature local music, food, and drinks from a diverse array of vendors. Genoa Park is a 2.07-acre urban park along the west bank of the Scioto River located between Broad and Rich Streets,
Vendors & Children’s Activities 12-5pm
Bands, Food Trucks & Beverages: 12-7pm
Entry: Free!