Local

A bill passed yesterday will extend vote-by-mail until April 28th.

There is no shortage of good journalism even in the profession's weakened state.

There is a shortage of people paying careful attention to what is happening around them and of people making intelligent, fact-based, well-reasoned decisions based on the news and information they consume.

And there is a shortage of those who can tell fact from fiction and who can process lies, exaggeration and opinion without being unduly swayed by them.

If everybody subscribed to the New York Times and looked at its print front page or its web home page on Saturday March 21 -- and took it seriously -- we would be well on our way to getting out from under the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.

A paid subscription was not necessary to read the Times's coverage online because the paper has made it free as a public service.

The Times published on page one in print and at the top of its news feed online three color-coded maps of the United States based on information supplied by two Columbus University researchers, Sen Pei and Jeffrey Shaman.

On February 13, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther made a stunning announcement in his annual State of the City address: Columbus would transition its electricity supply to 100% renewable energy by 2022 through a program called Community Choice Aggregation.

“Not only will this help our climate goals and commitments, but it will drive workforce development and job creation in the clean-energy sector for our city and region,” Ginther said.

It was the exact case that Ready for 100 Columbus, a group of local climate activists, has been making to city government for the past three years.

Ready for 100 is a campaign of the Sierra Club asking cities to commit to 100% renewable energy. So far 162 cities, 13 counties, eight states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have all made this commitment. In Ohio that includes Cleveland, Cincinnati, Lakewood – but so far not Columbus.

As the novel coronavirus sweeps through America, about eighteen percent of workers have either lost their jobs or have seen their hours reduced as many businesses have closed or laid-off staff.  There seems to be little end in sight:  some economists predict that unemployment in the United States could reach up to thirty percent by the second fiscal quarter of 2020.

Around 12:15am on Sunday, March 22, a burglar decided to break into a much loved downtown Columbus restaurant, Indian Oven, 427 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH 43215.

The burglar drove to the restaurant and broke the glass door at the side of the restaurant, and proceeded to loot the store of its contents. The suspect took a cash register, bottles of liquor, and numerous additional items while the store was unoccupied. Below, you will see images of the break-in, including the face of the suspect himself. Police arrived at the location quickly and are searching for the suspect.

Other restaurant owners in the area should be aware. Those of us at Indian Oven realize that at this time of crisis, many criminally-minded individuals have taken note of the fact that there are far less people around to witness their crimes and are taking advantage of the opportunity. Yellow Brick Pizza nearby in Old Towne East had its door broken recently too.

In the opinion of our highly respected City Auditor Megan Kilgore regarding the impact COVID-19 will have on Columbus’s economy, Ms. Kilgore states, “The likely scenarios are not good and will require federal, state, and local stimulation to rebuild businesses’ balance sheets and turn things around for our most vulnerable workers.”

Since March 3, when nearly the entire Arnold Sports Festival was shut down, our Mayor and City Council has taken steps to mitigate the spread of the virus.

They have temporarily halted all city meetings, closed recreation and senior centers, passed a $1 million emergency human services fund, created an additional $12,000 senior citizens relief fund, established a COVID-19 Resource web site, ordered city employee travel restrictions, relaxed various street parking violations, and suspended parking ticket fines and penalties.

Mayor Ginther has also signed a declaration of a State of Emergency for Columbus granting him emergency powers to suspend certain city codes and regulations, and to control purchasing and contracting requirements to assure the public’s health and safety.

The federal government, upon enactment of this Act, will work with all 50 states to ensure safe, fair, and transparent elections; and appropriate all federal funds necessary to the states for an expedited and effective implementation of a safe and easy voting process herein:    

Section 1: On Friday, October 1, every registered voter in America will be mailed a paper ballot, as coordinated by the individual state and local election boards.  

Section 2: Monday, October 12, every state will open geographically diverse certified voting centers throughout the state in order to ensure a safe, easy, and transparent election process. 

Section 3: The addresses of the voting centers will be widely published on the internet and in local newspapers, magazines, and other print, television, radio and social media.

Section 4: The voting centers will be large, and located in safe, well-known, well-lit, easily accessible locations, with ample parking and certified handicapped access.

Are you reading the Free Press online while "sheltering in place?" It's astonishing how fast life changed. Governor DeWine listened to the science of epidemiology and to Ohio Public Health director, Amy Acton, now a local shero for her knowledge and empathy. Instantly, the 24 hour news cycle was gifted with a hydra-headed crisis and a mission to tell the stories and their impacts on our elections, the economy, health care, self care, poverty, food access, energy use - our way of life, really, here, in other states, and in countries around the world. 

Business as Usual: Interrupted! A virus, smaller than a bacteria, invisible without an electron microscope, whose relatives cause the common cold and influenza, is so contagious that a global pandemic now threatens our way of life. Perhaps only for a matter of months if we are able to flatten the rising curve of infections, but the aftermath is hard to predict. As Yogi Berra put it, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

UFCW Local 1059, the union representing 18,000 grocery and food distribution workers throughout Ohio, is asking Governor Mike DeWine to designate their members as First Responders during the pandemic.

“We have sent a letter to Governor DeWine and want him to reclassify our UFCW members as First Responders,” says Randy Quickel, President of UFCW Local 1059, based in Columbus. “What that would do is give them the ability for free childcare and the ability, if indeed there are gloves and masks, give them gloves and masks. Right now, we don’t have a lot of that accessible.”

Gov. DeWine has said the state will open emergency childcare centers for “essential service” workers. But he hasn’t clarified whether this will include grocery store workers.

Minnesota and Vermont designated grocery store workers “emergency personnel” earlier this week, meaning they will receive free childcare.

Quickel also told the Free Press that Kroger, Meijer, other grocery stores, food processing plants, and food warehouses, should immediately increase wages during this time.