Local

This article first appeard on Substack.

Three years ago, Ohio citizens gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures and placed an initiative (Issue 2) on the ballot to legalize adult-use marijuana.

Saturday, February 14, 7-8pm
Zoom

Speaker:
Tom Dillard, member of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the Vanguard League in the 1950s and 60s

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87630301989…
Meeting ID: 876 3030 1989
Passcode: 867737

Thursday, February 12, 7 – 8pm
Zoom

Join us for Powered By Love, Not Cages Community Call, where we'll write letters to our immigrant community in detention.

Together, we'll respond to the escalating ICE presence in our communities by extending care, love, and dignity to our immigrant neighbors in detention. In the face of fear and uncertainty, we’re choosing community, solidarity, and collective power.

On the call we’ll:

My neighbor thinks I hate Columbus City Council; that’s just not true.

Look at the recent ordinance passed December 2025 to regulate submetering companies in Columbus.

Submetering is out of control in Ohio and there are two bills in the state house to provide better regulation, but neither is going anywhere. While our state government does nothing some submetering companies are over-charging renters for electricity.

But Columbus City Council wasn’t going to ignore this challenge. Instead of waiting, they went to work and passed a new ordinance to:

1. Prohibit submetering companies from charging a tenant more than what is charged by a utility provider.

2. Cap administrative fees at $8 per billing cycle.

3. Prohibits late fees that are more than what a utility provider is charging, and

Wednesday, February 11, 6pm
Westerville City Hall,  21 S. State St., Westerville, OH 43081

Please join the Westerville Progressive Alliance in a silent candlelight vigil to honor and remember all victims of ICE.

Meet in front of Westerville City Hall Wednesday, February 11th a little before 6:00 pm. We will have candles or you may bring your own (real or battery-operated). 

Although our location might be noisy, we will gather silently. Brief words will be shared and then we will wordlessly shine our light and be in community with one another.

NO signs, noisemakers or musical instruments, please.

In 2025 Columbus was #1 for the number of homeless deaths in the state of Ohio.

The number of homeless deaths was twice that of the Columbus murder rate. The city is quickly catching up to the rest of the nation as poverty has become America’s 4th leading cause of death.

The elected leaders in Columbus City Hall appear determined to maintain that #1 ranking for 2026 by ignoring homelessness. Their time and energy is focused on building luxury apartments and using your tax dollars to support for-profit Women’s Volleyball.

January for Columbus homeless:
14 homeless deaths for January 2026.
13 male and 1 female.
8 White and 7 African American / Black
Manner of death: 3 homicide, 7 accidents, and 4 natural causes

Tuesday, February 9, 2026, 7:00 PM
Join John Bonifaz of Free Speech For People, to discuss impeachment and why it's important to talk about it (and for our representatives to talk about it). 

Join HERE.

Conservative voters support solar

Despite the culture war narrative, it appears that conservative voters overwhelmingly support the use of solar energy.

Conservative renewables advocacy group Energy Right recently surveyed 861 voters who identified themselves as conservative on the topic of energy affordability and solutions to stabilizing those prices, including solar PV.

In nearly every survey category, 50 percent of respondents or greater indicated that they would support solar development, especially when it benefited local agriculture, the economy, energy infrastructure and energy pricing. 58 percent said they supported increased solar development, 25 percent opposed it, and 17 percent were unsure.

This tracks with results from a similar poll conducted by First Solar where they polled 800 Republicans, Republican-leaning independents and Trump voters. A slight majority of right-leaning voters — 51 percent— surveyed said they favor the use of utility solar energy, with 30 percent opposing it and 19 percent declining to take a position.

Check out more events on the Free Press Calendar

February 8, 2026, 3PM to 4:30PM
Ohio Statehouse, McKinley Monument
If you’d like to volunteer a couple hours a week to fight ICE terror, you may also consider joining a Neighborhood Defense Unit near you in order to patrol and alert our communities of ICE activity. Email peoplesdefense.cbus@proton.me to get involved!

The local public hearing in the Aqua Ohio rate cases ─ previously postponed due to severe weather ─ has been rescheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9 at the New Albany Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Aqua Ohio is a regulated water and sewer utility serving thousands of consumers in communities across Ohio, including residents of Franklin and Marion counties.

The utility is asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to approve significant rate increases. Under Aqua’s proposal, some Franklin County consumers could see their monthly sewer bills increase by approximately $17 a month, or more than $200 per year – an increase of roughly 30% for certain consumers.

Additional details are available in Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) consumer alerts linked below.