Local

Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 12:00 – 1:00 PM
While it’s important for you to recycle, it’s also important to Recycle Right. By taking just a few minutes to recycle the right way, you help reduce pollution, contribute to cleaner water, conserve limited natural resources, support our economy, and reduce central Ohio’s reliance on landfills. SWACO is here to help you recycle right, answer common recycling questions, and provide the necessary tools and resources you need to make recycling right convenient for your household.  Register here. 

Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and 37-year community advocate who is  circulating petitions to run for mayor in the 2023 May primary election states that, “As a [former] school board member, president of City Council and mayor, Andy Ginther’s decades-long practice of handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax abatements to corporate Columbus and luxury real estate developers has defunded public education to the point where CEA members have said enough is enough. If those on the receiving end of tax abatements and TIFs paid their fair share of property taxes, a bargaining agreement between the CEA and School Board would have been settled by now.”   

Motil continues, “The CEA’s decision to strike has been a longtime coming. Ginther, City Council and School Board members for too long have sacrificed much-needed property tax revenue and the educational needs of our city’s public schools and children, to fill the bank accounts of developers and  provide corporate welfare to our city’s wealthiest and most 'beloved' companies.”      

Dennis Kucinich on Pulling the Plug on FirstEnergy Corporation
Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 7:00 PM

Columbus teachers are now on strike. In an overwhelming showing of solidarity and determination, 94 percent of members of the Columbus Education Association (CEA), the union that represents over 4,500 teachers and staff of Columbus City schools, voted in favor of a strike during a dramatic mass meeting of CEA members held Sunday night. Thus, after many months of failed negotiations with the Columbus Board of Education, the strike officially commenced at 12:01 AM on Monday, August 22. This is the first time teachers in Columbus City Schools have gone on strike since 1975.

Monday, August 22, 2022, 7:00 PM
For over 25 years schools have been struggling with an unconstitutional funding formula. Columbus students deserve a world class education, safe and healthy schools, and well-paid teachers who create learning environments where all students can thrive.

At the federal, state, and local level there are challenges and opportunities to fully and fairly fund our schools that we can build power collectively to win.  

For the first time since 1975, Columbus City School (CCS) teachers over the weekend voted to strike and now the entire nation is paying attention.

On CNN this morning, its bottom-of-the-screen news ticker is telling the story of how Columbus – considered one of the last American-boom towns with Intel poised to invest billions into the region – can’t provide all of its students air conditioning, among other head-scratching short comings for Ohio’s largest school district.

On Day 1 of the strike teachers were picketing out in front of the Columbus school’s admin buildings at 3700 S. High Street, among many other locations.

Overnight, teachers and supporters took to Reddit and other online platforms seeking solidarity and action from the public.

There is truth in the old saying that “you can’t sue City Hall”—especially with any likelihood of either winning more than your costs or winning at all. That’s what attorneys who I’ve consulted tell me. This is true despite the fact that the “mayor,” City administrators and senior staff, City-appointed commission members, and City Councilors blend an exceptional combination of ignorance or dismissal/neglect of city, county, state, and federal laws.

Of course, they follow the lead of the State of Ohio where the Governor owns stock in corporations in which the State invests, the Lieutenant Governor accepts a paid position on a private-for profit Board of Trustees (rationalizing it as “educational” [but to whom?]); and the Attorney General and Secretary of State regularly express ignorance of State laws, State Constitution, and federal Constitution. So too do Republican senator and representatives especially but not only with collusion with corrupt firms like First Energy.

As predicted, Nan Whaley’s campaign is stuck in the mud having gained no ground and perhaps lost some to Mike DeWine in the three-and-a-half months after the May 3 primary. Only two-and-a-half months remain until the Nov. 8 election.

The Emerson College poll released by the pollster Aug. 18, showed Gov. DeWine, the GOP nominee, solidly ahead by 49% to Dem nominee Whaley’s 33%. The margin of error was 3.2% meaning that there is a high probability that DeWine has a 52.2% to 45.8% support while Whaley’s backing fluctuates between 36.2% and 29.8%.

The only other respectable poll in the gubernatorial race, The USA Today/Suffolk Poll, taken shortly after the primary, showed DeWine ahead by 15%, 45% to 30%, with a margin of error of 4.4%.

Any way you slice it, Whaley has not closed the gap in three months and may have lost some. The failure to gain has set off alarm bells among prominent Ohio Democrats who increasingly fear that Whaley’s campaign is cratering and will take the rest of the ticket down to an ignominious defeat on Nov. 8.

From the American Friends Service Committee
Recent Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 47 Palestinians, including 16 children, and injured hundreds more. While a ceasefire is welcome, the violence of Israel’s ongoing blockade and military occupation continues to impact 2.2 million people living in Gaza. The blockade has gone on for more than 15 years, with devastating effects.

Restrictions on the import and export of goods from Gaza has led to unemployment rates of 45%, even higher among women and youth. The Gaza economy has been destroyed, and today, over 80% of people depend on international assistance to survive. That means that even when the bombs stop falling, the deprivation continues.

People are unable to rebuild or make repairs to damaged homes. They also lack reliable access to health care, clean water, electricity, and vital services.  

Mental health, suicides and addiction were serious problems before the pandemic, and the fallout threw gas on a raging fire.

Thankfully, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), with help from the federal government, rolled out ‘988’ back in July, a nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline. Ohioans in all 88 counties can now call or text 988 for free 24/7 crisis support.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” said Gov. Mike DeWine back in July.

“The 988 program is the front door into Ohio’s behavioral healthcare response,” stated OhioMHAS in a press release.

This mental health hotline, which was previously the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, fielded nearly 80,000 calls from Ohioans in 12 months prior to the 988 roll out. OhioMHAS is predicting 988 could receive 200,000 calls from Ohioans for its first year.