Local

Sunday, May 24, 2020, 7:00 PM.  Our Social Safety Net:  We are terribly lacking.  

Join SPAN Ohio for a webinar with Melinda St. Louis of Public Citizen and Alex Lawson of Social Security Works. Melinda St. Louis is the Director of Public Citizen’s Medicare for All Campaign. For the past 20 years, Melinda has led multiple campaigns that challenge corporate power and promote economic justice and human rights, including fighting Big Pharma greed in global trade agreements.  The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated exactly why health care should not be tied to employment and why a strong system of public health is a necessity for survival. Public Citizen has teamed up with other groups to push the agenda for Medicare for All by getting endorsements from city and county councils.   

Thursday, May 21, 2020, 2:00 - 3:15 PM
The General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church invites you to participate in a new webinar series, “COVID-19: Pre-existing Disparities Exposed.” We will hear from experts and learn how to take action for a long-lasting change towards a more just post-COVID-19 world. More information and registration here.

Vegans can live an enjoyable life eating the foods we were raised on in this nonvegan society using the amazing vegan alternatives we have been provided with in the modern, ever-evolving, 100% plant-based marketplace we have today.

Twenty years ago, we ate a more whole foods, an 100% plant-based diet that did not have such remarkable and comparable processed alternatives. While it was, undoubtedly, a much healthier way to eat, it required that we “give up” many of our favorite things and was much more like deprived martyrdom from the nonvegan perspective.

Perhaps this is more convenient and allows us not to feel the selfish notion of being deprived of our favorite and familiar comfort foods, yet that has never really been what veganism was focused on.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine captured the national spotlight in early March when he issued bold directives that moved the state to the forefront of battling the COVID-19 pandemic. DeWine pushed for Ohioʼs spring primary election to be postponed and changed to mail-in ballots. He banned mass gatherings and ordered the closure of schools, theaters, gyms, bowling alleys, bars, and restaurants.

Ohio #HB242 - a bill to ban local communities from banning single-use plastic) today at #OhioStatehouse.

Testimony by Carolyn Harding:

To Chair Manning, Vice Chair Brenner, Ranking Minority Leader Maharath, and all members of the Local Government, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee.

I’m Carolyn Harding, artist/activist, concerned citizen.

Once again state law makers, you, some of you, are sponsoring law to preempt communities from protecting the health and welfare of their people and environment.

I am aghast that you use Ohioans’ tax money to take away communities’ rights to protect their people and environment, by copying and pasting template preemptive law to ban towns, villages, communities from banning plastic bags and single-use plastic containers.

We all know oil and gas lobbyists are at your doors daily, making sure the Korean and Thai funded #PTTGlobalCracker #PetroChemicalHub and the #AppalachianStorageHub have no local municipalities hindering their potential profits by making #Plastics from #FrackedGas.

A growing number of Ohio employers have discovered a tool to scale back operations while avoiding layoffs: Worksharing. Ohio’s shared work program allows employers to reduce employee hours by up to half. Workers then receive unemployment compensation proportionate to the hours they don’t work. Employees keep their jobs and benefits, employers avoid hiring and training new workers when demand recovers.

The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services (ODJFS) said May 7 that some 511 Ohio employers are participating, covering 24,247 employees. Altogether, ODJFS has approved 827 plans, up from just 67 on March 15. Another 95 plans covering 2,819 employees are pending. An employer may have more than one plan, and cut hours by different amounts in different operations.

“This mini-explosion demonstrates that shared work could be a valuable tool for employers of all kinds,” said Zach Schiller, Policy Matters Ohio research director. “Moreover, it can also be used by employers to bring workers back to work.”

City Council this week approved of two new Community Reinvestment Areas or CRAs, one for Grandview Crossing and one for Northland. They also extended the boundaries of the Linden CRA. These CRAs now make developers eligible for a 15-year 100% property tax abatement. 

Furthermore, City Council approved a $6.7 million tax abatement for Kaufman Development’s Gravity Project 2 in Franklinton.  

I do not have an issue with the creation of the Northland CRA and extending the boundaries of the Linden CRA as long as tax incentives are used primarily to benefit true affordable housing for low-to-middle income residents, and keeps gentrification in check.  

But at a time when people are struggling to survive, the Mayor and City Council must be out of their minds for approving the Grandview Crossing CRA and the Kaufman Gravity 2 abatement.  

Wednesday, May 20, 2020• 8:00 - 10:00PM • EDT (US & Canada)  

Join us for a free teach-in on "Building the Peace Movement." Bring your questions and suggestions. We'll hear briefly from a number of key speakers before moving into Q&A. 

50th Anniversary : 1970-2020, Remember Kent State, Jackson State, and all the victims of wars.  

Host:  
David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War  

Speakers:  
Leonardo Flores, Latin America Campaign Coordinator CODEPINK 

Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence    

Andy Shallal, Busboys and Poets  

Medea Benjamin,  CODEPINK  Co-founder 

Rich Whitney, Green Party Peace Action Committee 

Sponsors include:  

Cleveland Peace Action  

Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime outspoken critic of City Hall’s tax abatement policies, testified at this evenings Columbus City Council meeting against the creation of the Grandview Crossing Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). The creation of a Grandview Crossing CRA will more than double the amount of property eligible for this 15-year 100% real property tax abatement. Just 3 months ago, Thrive Companies (previously known as Wagenbrenner Development) was given a $4.2 million 10-year 75% property tax abatement for their Grandview Crossing development.          

Today at 6pm, an infectious disease expert and an advocate for Ohio immigrant families will address the COVID-19 crisis before the Morrow County Health District during their monthly board meeting. Members of the public and media are invited to attend the meeting via Zoom. See this Facebook Event for information.

The Morrow County Jail, which houses county inmates as well as civil Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees from around Ohio, has become the first 100% COVID-positive ICE facility in the nation. Sadly one man, Oscar Lopez Acosta, has already died after contracting the virus there. 

Last week, an additional eleven men were released from ICE custody in Morrow due to an ACLU of Ohio lawsuit.