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The exclusion of certain countries from the U.S. “democracy summit” is not a side issue. It is the very purpose of the summit. And excluded countries have not been excluded for failing to meet the standards of behavior of those that were invited or the one doing the inviting. Invitees didn’t even have to be countries, as even a U.S. backed failed coup leader from Venezuela has been invited. So have representatives of Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, DRC, Zambia, Angola, Malaysia, Kenya, and — critically — pawns in the game: Taiwan and Ukraine.

What game? The weapons sales game. Which is the whole point. Look at the U.S. State Department website on the Democracy Summit. Right at the top: “‘Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, renew it.’ –President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.”

Wednesday, December 8, 6pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

Join us for our monthly huddle for all Fair Districts volunteers. Catch up on Fair Districts news, current actions, what’s next for our #fairmaps advocacy. Bring your questions!

RSVP for this event by using this link.

Hosted by Fair Districts Coalition, League of Women Voters of Ohio, and Common Cause Ohio.

The Columbus Dispatch is suffering a four-year free-fall in circulation/readership, according to documents obtained exclusively from the Alliance for Audited Media.

The Columbus market is rapidly becoming a news desert, that is a place where news readership is dwindling and where increasing numbers of residents are either uninformed or poorly informed about their communities, the state, the United States and other nations.

What people know about the world around them is increasingly random via social media such as Facebook and websites that often lack verification and editing. This may be affecting our politics adversely as people are increasingly motivated by imagery and personality cults rather than by facts, reasoning and science.

Until around 2006, Ohio's government and its political leaders were held accountable by the major Ohio daily newspapers, who often would ardently investigate wrong-doing. The Coingate scandal, where Ohio taxpapers' money was invested in rare coins, led by the Toledo Blade and the Dispatch, resulted in Democrats winning all but one state administrative office and control of the Ohio House.

The Columbus Dispatch is suffering a four-year free-fall in circulation/readership, according to documents obtained exclusively from the Alliance for Audited Media.

The Columbus market is rapidly becoming a news desert, that is a place where news readership is dwindling and where increasing numbers of residents are either uninformed or poorly informed about their communities, the state, the United States and other nations.

What people know about the world around them is increasingly random via social media such as Facebook and websites that often lack verification and editing. This may be affecting our politics adversely as people are increasingly motivated by imagery and personality cults rather than by facts, reasoning and science.

Until around 2006, Ohio's government and its political leaders were held accountable by the major Ohio daily newspapers, who often would ardently investigate wrong-doing. The Coingate scandal, where Ohio taxpapers' money was invested in rare coins, led by the Toledo Blade and the Dispatch, resulted in Democrats winning all but one state administrative office and control of the Ohio House.

I continue my examination of The Ohio State University. In this essay, I focus on several dimensions of public health. Ohio State has a large medical center and various public health programs. Yet they are not involved with the university’s public health endeavors. See my previous essays: “Colleges can learn from sports figures about mental health,”Inside Higher EducationSept. 13, 2021; “For Ohio State, bigger is not better,” Columbus Free Press, Sept. 16, 2021; “The decline of a once vital neighborhood: Columbus’ University District,” Columbus Free Press, Sept 14, 2021; “Columbus’ University District: Students and the institutions that fail them,” Columbus Free Press,Oct.

I continue my examination of The Ohio State University. In this essay, I focus on several dimensions of public health. Ohio State has a large medical center and various public health programs. Yet they are not involved with the university’s public health endeavors. See my previous essays: “Colleges can learn from sports figures about mental health,”Inside Higher EducationSept. 13, 2021; “For Ohio State, bigger is not better,” Columbus Free Press, Sept. 16, 2021; “The decline of a once vital neighborhood: Columbus’ University District,” Columbus Free Press, Sept 14, 2021; “Columbus’ University District: Students and the institutions that fail them,” Columbus Free Press,Oct.

Monday, December 6, 2021, 7:00 PM
Hello all you cultural creatives! Simple livers, renegades from the consumer society, green activists, arts and craft makers, yoga lovers, meditators – you know who you are! Join us for a meet and greet, a time to share what you are reading, watching, imagining, and doing to make the changes we need to get to an ecological culture. We can get there if we gather together, online and in person, learn from each other, and build a community that is inclusive, resilient, and way more fun than life in big box stores, traffic jams, and fast food. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for! Suggested price $5.00.  Simply Living.  More information and registration here.

Julie Whitney-Scott is the founder/Artistic Director for Mine 4 God Productions (M.4.G.P.) www.mine4godproductions.com and the Columbus Black Theatre Festival that will celebrate its 10th year July 8th – 10th, 2022 at the Columbus Performing Arts Center and July 16th – 17th, 2022 at The Abbey Theater of Dublin

Let’s Talk Theatre: Why did you start the Columbus Black Theatre Festival (CBTF) in Columbus, Ohio?
Julie: I started the CBTF because I wanted to see the stories of Black/Brown people on the stage. As a Black female playwright, myself, I found that there was no place for my work to be produced by the, what seemed to be, traditional theatre companies in Central Ohio. As I began to produce my own plays, I wondered how I could make a difference in my theatre community that would provide a place for other Black/Brown artists work to be seen, heard, and produced so that others could see themselves and the people that they lived with in society on the stage. The goal was to share their stories.

Older adults are experiencing more mental health issues like health-related anxiety and depression amid another wave of the coronavirus pandemic. With getting active being one great way to boost mood, the upcoming winter season can make things much more difficult.

For safety reasons, the names of the sources in this article are aliases.

This past Monday morning, students were shocked to find white supremacist propaganda spread around Ohio State University’s campus. Flyers saying “HAVE A WHITE CHRISTMAS” were pasted over mask mandate signs.

An OSU spokesperson told the Free Press the University “emphatically rejects racism and religious intolerance of any kind.” They said, “in accordance with the university’s policy on signage, the flyers were removed.”

This isn’t the first time white supremacist propaganda has been posted on OSU campus this school year. Flyers with lengthy and incoherent statements about immigrants and quotes from Hitler were found in September and students say this is a consistent occurrence. The constant presence of white supremacist hate groups on campus has many students worried for their safety.