Local
Fifteen or so of us from the Columbus Mennonite Church and elsewhere gathered yesterday (2-22-2026) at 2:00 p.m. at the Target store at the Graceland Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio for a "Sing Down the Doors" protest.
Yesterday's event had been hosted by the recently-formed Columbus chapter of a North American organization named Mennonite Action.
Mennonites, fellow Christians, and friends across North America are holding public, nonviolent disruptive worship services at Target stores across the United States to call for Target to end its complicity with ICE.
Every February, we rediscover inventors. We share portraits, post quotes, and remind one another of names that were overlooked. For a moment, history expands. Then March arrives.
Granville T. Woods held more than fifty patents related to electrical systems and rail communication. His work improved how trains operated and communicated, helping shape the transportation systems that connected American cities. His innovations mattered — yet most people have never heard his name.
Not because his work was small, but because patents do not build monuments. A patent proves invention. A textbook preserves information. But neither guarantees visibility. If a story does not take up space, it can quietly fade from public view.
That is the difference between recognition and presence. We can say someone mattered and still fail to make their story visible. When history occupies real space — a building, an exhibit, or a restored artifact — people encounter it differently. It becomes part of the landscape. It becomes harder to overlook.
Scale changes memory.
Friday, February 20, Blendon Township used $150,000 in taxpayer money to send Connor Grubb out the door with a clean record. This is a man who drew his weapon on an unarmed pregnant woman over a shoplifting allegation, positioned himself in front of her vehicle to manufacture a threat, and fired through her windshield. Ta'Kiya Young and her unborn daughter died because of his decisions. He is responsible for this tragedy. Blendon Township is responsible for enabling it.
They cleared him internally. They reinstated him unanimously. They paid him to leave in good standing. Three times this township had the chance to say that killing Ta'Kiya Young was wrong. Three times they said it was fine. No apology. No policy change. No step taken to ensure this never happens again. That is not closure. That is a pattern.
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) says Grubb's name was "smeared in the media," but they know the truth. His name was in the media because he shot an unarmed pregnant woman unjustifiably. The only smear here is on Blendon Township's record and on the FOP for defending him, and they put it there themselves.
In an new video, Lynn Tramonte of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA) explains how ICE’s tactics for making arrests mimic the behavior of criminals, and the agency has a history of employing violent and sexual offenders. The two facts are intrinsically linked. She says:
Only one person now reigns over atomic safety regulation in the United States: Donald Trump.
Trump has personally invested in the latest “nuclear renaissance” being boosted by the “Epstein Billionaire” class.
As part of the atomic push, the Trump Media & Technology group is joining a $6 billion deal with TAE, a California’-based tech scam pushing fusion energy to power future data centers.
https://tae.com/trump-media-and-technology-group-to-merge-with-tae-technologies
Without a hint of concern for an obvious conflict of interest, Trump has also taken full control of the “regulation” of atomic power reactors, fission and fusion, small and large, present and future.
Trump recently became the first President to fire a chairman of the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission that oversees the safety of 94 US commercial nukes.
My brother, Arturo Brito, entered the United States from Venezuela and applied for asylum. He passed his “credible fear interview” and was granted parole, that allowed him to live legally in the U.S. while his asylum case moved forward.
Thank you for your interest in joining the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition (OVRC) Friday general membership meetings. We are a non-partisan network of local, state, and national voting advocates committed to modernizing our elections, ensuring that our elections are secure, and improving voter access for all Ohioans.
Feel free to reach out to mlewis@commoncause.org if you have any questions.
We look forward to having you on the OVRC team!
Thursday, February 19, 2026, 6:30 – 8:00 PM. 19
Central Ohio Worker Center will share a basic training on your 4th amendment rights as well as canvassing/outreach tactics for businesses. We can work to make a plan to reach out to as many businesses as possible, provide some resources for them, and offer additional trainings.
More information and registration for the online training here.
Columbus is rich in wonderful immigrant owned and run shops. Let's do what we can to ensure they have the resources and support they need to keep themselves, their workers, and their customers safe.
We'll share a basic training on your 4th amendment rights as well as canvassing/outreach tactics for businesses. We can work to make a plan to reach out to as many businesses as possible, provide some resources to them, and offer additional trainings.
We hope that everyone will leave with knowledge and practice of 4th amendment rights, including:
Check out more activist events here
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, noon
First Congregational Church ( E. Broad next to Art Museum)
On Ash Wednesday Clergy and people of Faith will meet at First Congregational Church ( E. Broad next to Art Museum) at noon to join in their Service of Ashes. After worship our group will gather at the Social Justice wall. From there we will cross Broad street to vigil at the ICE office for an hour. This will be a peaceful non violent vigil.
Please bring your stole and collar if you can and any appropriate signage. There will be no civil disobedience just a request for repentance and humane action towards our immigrants.
All people of faith are welcome.
Collective iftar is the name for the evening meal that Muslims break their fast with after sunset every day during the month of Ramadan. This year, the first day of Ramadan will fall on Wednesday, February 18.
Joy McCorriston, who is a professor of anthropology at OSU, was the first person in Central Ohio to organize a collective iftar for the local Muslim community. That was right after the 9/11 terror attack and her Church St. James Episcopal Church of Columbus has been hosting such an event every year since then.
Professor McCorriston, who speaks Arabic, has also lived and worked as a consultant in Oman, Syria, and Yemen. In a personal note, years later, her firstborn son has attended the same high school with my youngest son and became good friends ever since.