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Nuclear power is uniquely vulnerable to global events such as hostilities, climate change and now, suddenly – pandemics.  Worldwide, nations with nuclear power are finding themselves in emergency situations as the coronavirus spreads.  Workers at the plants and in the control rooms are in close quarters. They are becoming ill.  And the pool of people who are trained to do the specialized work is small.

Nuclear reactors (power plants) are at the same time vulnerable to a host of other unexpected events, such as flooding and loss of electricity to their sites.

And how do you do an emergency evacuation under pandemic conditions? 

There’s an array of signs directing you to a makeshift collection depo at the back of the parking lot. At some points during the previous week cars were lined up to hand over whatever Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) they could scrounge up.

This donation site at 610 Ackerman Road is for OSU Hospitals, a bulwark of the healthcare industry, many of its opulent towers not far from here.

The strongest have stumbled, and the littlest of things, a mask with a rubber-band for a strap, are desperately needed by our frontline healthcare workers.

Legend has it a 20-something Rod Serling had drafted future episodes of The Twilight Zone at a North Campus diner, perhaps the precursor to the ole Dube, why not Dick’s Den?

Thursday, April 2, 1-2pm
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Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change.

Bill is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized 20,000 rallies around the world, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology, together with the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Society of Family Planning, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, released the following statement:

“As hospital systems, clinics, and communities prepare to meet anticipated increases in demand for the care of people with COVID-19, strategies to mitigate spread of the virus and to maximize health care resources are evolving. Some health systems, at the guidance of the CDC, are implementing plans to cancel elective and non-urgent procedures to expand hospitals’ capacity to provide critical care.

Professionals who work on the front lines of protecting the rights of people held in Ohio detention centers, jails, and prisons are calling for swift action to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks.

“U.S. immigration detention facilities are the perfect arrangement to cause an explosion of COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Laura Chambers-Kersh, a family physician based in Beavercreek. Detainees live in “cramped, overcrowded quarters with limited access to basic preventive measures like soap and water, hand sanitizer, and the ability to social distance,” she said in a March 24 press conference.

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.