Local
Anti-ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) activists shut down city streets around ICE headquarters in downtown Columbus, attempted to occupy the ICE office, and erected a two-story wooden tripod structure in front of the building with a sign reading "ICE RUINS LIVES HERE" on Monday, July 9. Local Columbus Sanctuary Collective activist Ruben Castilla Herrera said: "ICE was created and it can be demolished, it can be abolished and we're going to make it happen." Demonstrators held signs reading "Abolish ICE" and chanted "No Borders, No Wall!"
Monday, July 9, 9-11am, Ohio Statehouse
ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is not just tearing apart families of undocumented people at the border. Here in Ohio, that agency is actively working to target, harass, and criminalize immigrants, directly furthering the Trump regime’s cruel white nationalist agenda.
On Monday, July 9, at 9am, we will rally to #aboliceICE outside the Ohio Statehouse.
Bring signs, bring friends, bring family.
You’ve come a long way baby. Medical marijuana is now legal in Ohio. A bill passed, establishing an industry that will serve a significant portion of the state’s patient population. Certified physicians will recommend cannabis to those with one of 21 medical conditions. The plant will be grown in giant warehouses, processed into oils and tinctures, tested for contaminants and sold in dispensaries around the state. With patient numbers estimated at over 150,000, the Ohio market may well exceed $200 million.
But we still have a long way to go. The roll out of Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program has hardly been smooth. As widely reported, marijuana will not be on the shelves by the program’s promised deadline of September 8th. Neither will it be tested as required in the legislation that begat the program. Processors have yet to be picked. Patients and caregivers must wait until September for cards. Further, hundreds of cities around Ohio have imposed moratoriums or even bans to keep medical marijuana businesses, and by extension, patients at bay.
My recent absence from The Columbus Free Press was thanks to a family trip to the land down under. I temporarily escaped the tire fire that is modern America and headed to Australia where the kangaroos run free and the government hasn’t run amok.
Saturday, July 7, 2-6pm
1021 E. Broad St - backyard
WCRS is hosting a live afternoon of reggae music with live DJs interviews, food and drinks (beer sales to benefit the station) and a charity auction. It is an excellent opportunity to meet people from the local reggae scene, tour the WCRS studios and kick back and enjoy the weekend following the 4th of July.
Admission is free, so come down July 7th and support community radio. The studio is located behind 1021 E. Broad St and the parking lot behind the station is free to use. If you can't make it in person you can tune in to the event via radio at 92.7 & 98.3 or on-line via WCRSfm.org
As the midterm election heats up in Ohio, it’s time to recognize the important role minor political parties play in our bellwether state, as well as across the nation. Although commonly referred to as third parties or alternative parties, the ideas behind these groups are popular and can have a major impact in the future of our nation’s political landscape as the millennial generation continues to look for its voice.
For example, in my personal experience I always considered myself a Democrat -- I turned 18 in August 2001 and was an adult for one month before we entered a post-9/11 world. During my formative college years I quickly grew to resent the Bush administration and their war mongering, socially conservative, anti-civil liberty agenda. But as the Democrats eventually took power in 2008, I started to realize that they had a similar corporate, anti-populist agenda that differed from my own and I looked elsewhere for where exactly I fit in. I took my political activism seriously and knew that my generation had a lot of work to do to make a difference in the future we were inheriting.
Friday, July 6, 7-9:30pm
Gateway Film Center, 1550 N High St
Based on the bestselling book by Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated) and narrated by co-producer Natalie Portman, Eating Animals is an urgent, eye-opening look at the environmental, economic, and public health consequences of factory farming.
Tracing the history of food production in the United States, the film charts how farming has gone from local and sustainable to a corporate Frankenstein monster that offers cheap eggs, meat, and dairy at a steep cost: the exploitation of animals; the risky use of antibiotics and hormones; and the pollution of our air, soil, and water.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/Y-z4Mpql6Ls
Join us for a special panel discussion with Columbus Vegan Meetup immediately following the screening.
Friday, July 6, 6-11pm, Saturday, July 7, 2-10pm, Sunday, July 8, 2-10pm
Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave.
Tickets: $10 to $20; free 13 years old and under.
There will be special group/senior rates and day passes.
mine4godproductions.com
Friday, July 6
Comedian Tasha Neal-Harris. 6pm. Tasha wrote and directed "The Wicked Imagination of a Teenage Kid" which premiered this past June at the Gateway Movie Theatre in Columbus.
The Stoopby Jasmyn Green. Dealing with a group of youth from Brooklyn, NY who have to deal individually with grief and mourning when the youngest of their group dies.
Saturday, July 7
Just You And Mefree theatre workshop for youth 13-18 years old. 11am-1pm. Facilitator Shenise Brown is a Theatre Roundtable award winning actress, Excellence in a Female Lead role 2018, for her role in 12 Angry Women a SoArts Production.
Thursday, July 5, 11am-1pm
Ohio Statehouse, Broad and High Street
Hosted by Church and Community Development For All People and Ohio Hispanic Coalition - Coalición Hispana de Ohio
The rally will be held on the west plaza of the Statehouse at 11:00 am on Thursday, July 5. The speakers will be children from multiple CDF Freedom School sites throughout Ohio. RSVP at http://bit.ly/WhereAreTheKids