Local
Over 100 people gathered on a cold Monday morning February 18th -- President's Day -- in downtown Columbus to protest what they called Trump's fake emergency on the border to justify his spending more money to build a wall. They marched to U.S. Senator Rob Portman's office to appeal to him to stop the fake emergency to stop the wall.
We believe it is time for every citizen and elected official to show up and find the courage to face the climate emergency. We urge you to seize this moment and stand with all of us by supporting the Green New Deal resolution.
The recent reports from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCS) confirm what our 2016 Democratic Party Platform had already declared - we are in a climate emergency and an urgent and immediate response is required. What is hopeful about these particular reports is that we have finally shifted from the abstraction of long-term timelines. They call for an emergency response now. This is the decade that matters.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY12) and our allies in the Sunrise Movement and The Climate Mobilization are leading the way forward with calls for real, bold, truthful action on climate; to turn away from gradualism. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has proposed a resolution calling for a new Select Committee for a Green New Deal.
Monday, February 18, 11am
LeVeque Tower, West Broad and Front Street, downtown Columbus
Trump declared a national emergency to fund a border wall for a fake crisis that he and his administration made up. Immigrants is what makes America Great and they aren’t a epidemic, they’re human. The true national emergencies we face are Reproductive Rights, Gun Violence, Climate Change, Infant Mortality, and the Opioid Crisis... oh and Trump.
On Valentine’s Day, Edith will have been in sanctuary for 500 days. At Edith's request, Solidarity with Edith Espinal, the Central Ohio Worker Center, and Columbus Mennonite Church have created a campaign to raise awareness and resources for Edith's ongoing fight to stay in the US legally. The campaign launches Monday, February 11 and runs through the end of the day February 14. Please share Edith's story on social media by using the resources at SolidarityWithEdith.org/valentines-toolkit, and following Edith on Facebook (@SolidarityWithEdith), Twitter (@LetEdithStay), and Instagram (@SolidarityWithEdith). Text "Edith" to 44-321 to give to Edith's campaign. Edith wanted us to pass this message along: (Sp.) Gracias por sus donaciones en este día del amor al ser humano. Para mi es importante tener su apoyo como comunidad. (Eng.) Thank you for your donations on this day of love for humanity. For me your support as a community is very important.
February 14-16
Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. 5th St., Dayton
This can't-miss conference offers up to three days of learning, sharing, networking, and breaking bread with 1,200+ sustainable farmers, gardeners, and local food supporters. It will feature:
• Nearly 80 informative workshops on sustainable farming, livestock, business, homesteading, and gardening on Friday and Saturday
• In-depth, full day Food and Farm School courses on Thursday
• Powerful keynote sessions with Elizabeth Henderson and Onika Abraham
• A diverse, three day trade show with 90+ exhibitors
• Made-from-scratch, local, organic meals
• Thursday evening socials and a Friday banquet
• Educational and fun kids' conference and child care options
• Easy access to downtown Dayton's attractions, dining, nightlife, and recreation
• On-site lodging, a raffle, book sales, and more!
Online registration is now closed. Guests can register in-person for the conference February 15-16. Tickets to the Contrary Farmers' Social, and Thursday's Food and Farm School classes will not be available for walk-in purchase.
Every day in the U.S., women fight to break the glass ceiling and rise to the top of companies and industries that were predominantly held by men. Forbes magazine published the Power Women 2018 edition showcasing women from around the globe who are changing the look of the future for young women and girls. Taking a look at these forerunners can inspire true feelings of inspiration.
Whether they are joining the Women’s March to leverage the political power of diverse women in their communities to fight for social change or are running a small business, women everywhere are advancing themselves into power positions. Sometimes, this includes heading into jobs that men are leaving, such as animal agriculture in the American West.
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, his brother, Robert Kennedy, the attorney general, lost more than most. For much of his adult life he had sublimated himself to his brother’s wishes. They talked several times a day in a kind of staccato shorthand that only each understood. Robert Kennedy had managed his brother’s U. S. Senate campaign in 1952 and his presidential campaign in 1960. In terms of a professional life, Robert’s wants and wishes were those of the President. RFK’s power was the president’s power. Personal and professional grief collided, and almost overwhelmed him. But concerned for his brother’s legacy, and contemptuous of his successor, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, he entered the 1964 race for the United States Senate for the state of New York.
The best place to start to understand the undemocratic nature of U.S. elections is to search “Paul Weyrich” and “Goo Goo” online. Weyrich, who states in the speech that “…I don’t want everybody to vote,” is co-founder of the Moral Majority, a religious right organization and ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is infamous for writing oppressive and anti-democratic “model” legislation – much it followed by Ohio’s Republican-dominated state legislature.
After the 2016 presidential election, a New York Times editorial pointed out that North Carolina’s “…Republican Party issued a news release boasting that cutbacks in early voting hours reduced black turnout by 8.5% below 2012 levels, even as the number of white voters increased by 22.5%.” A North Carolina federal appeals court struck down one of their most outrageous voter suppression laws noting that it targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision.”
Ohio’s former Secretary of State Jon Husted used similar racist voter repression tactics in our state. He cut back on early voting hours and eliminated voting centers in urban areas where minority voters are concentrated.
Two to three years ago city parking officials and the Mayor’s Office began crafting the current Short North Parking Plan. Homeowners in the Short North aren’t entirely sure when the city began this round of planning because the city tried to keep it a secret from many Short North residents, this according to the activist group Preserve Short North Neighborhoods.
The city’s newest plan to ease parking in the Short North began in late January and many neighborhood homeowners say it sacrifices their interests to appease high-end developers.
“There was an enormous amount of secrecy around this,” says Mark Bocija, the homeowner who started Preserve Short North Neighborhoods. “They had been meeting for over a year with no discussion to residents. In fact, people on the planning committee were told not to tell any residents about it.”
Bocija says representatives from the Short North Civic Association and the Short North Alliance were on the planning committee, and they too must have been told to not alert residents because they never did.
