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The Columbus Charter Review Committee is considering possible recommendations for changing Columbus City Council. City officials announced the committee just weeks before the August 2, 2016 special election on Issue 1. Columbus voters in that election turned down a citizens' initiative to expand the size of council and add district representation. Before the vote, city officials said the committee would use a better process for studying reforms of council.
The committee sees problems with the present council of seven members all elected at large. They recognize that council's size is smaller than in similar cities. They likely think each council member cannot be familiar with all of Columbus' more than 200 neighborhoods. And they're concerned that some areas have had no representative on council for decades.
Hero: Nina Turner
“We can't have testimony without a test, and we are being tested right now for whether or not we've got courage enough, hope enough, fight enough and love enough to do what is necessary. Donald Trump's election was a wake-up call—it's up to all of us to keep our mission for social, economic and political justice alive,” pronounced former Ohio State Senator and Minority Whip Nina Turner, chosen as this month's Free Press hero for resurrecting the true legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in her rousing speech at his memorial on January 14. King's legacy, above all else, is activism in the name of social justice and Nina Turner is calling for a new mass movement of the people.
Heroes: Hundreds protesting at airports after Muslim ban
Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 12 PM - 2 PM at the Ohio Statehouse.
We are gathering together in opposition to President Donald Trump's unlawful attack against the entire Muslim community and refugees worldwide. The recently signed executive order, the "Muslim Ban", prevents Muslims from a select set of Muslim-Majority countries in the Middle East and Africa to enter the United States, and also poses a threat to permanent residents (green card holders). Come out and show your support!
Do you prefer to have your cinematic guilt and grief delivered with a Boston accent? If so, you might enjoy the Oscar-nominated Manchester by the Sea. (Well, maybe “enjoy” is the wrong verb, since Jimmy Fallon accurately described it as “the only thing from 2016 that was more depressing than 2016.”)
If, on the other hand, you prefer to have your guilt and grief delivered in Spanish—and leavened with a faint ray of hope—you might try Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta. It’s not a great film, and it’s certainly not the director’s best, but it does have its charms.
Fans of Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) won’t be surprised to learn that the central character is a woman going through a very rough time. They also won’t be shocked to discover that the film shows the influence of an earlier filmmaker—in this case, Alfred Hitchcock. Many scenes are tinged with a feeling of ominousness that’s reinforced by Alberto Iglesias’s relentlessly Hitchcockian score.
Oddfellows Liquor Bar in the Short North launched into the scene and created more vegan community buzz for bar food options. Cara Woodhouse has made great strides in developing a surprisingly comprehensive vegan brunch food selection in her “Classy Brunch Party” buffet for an affordable $8 that runs 10am to 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday. You can find uncommon vegan options that include home fried potatoes, pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and if you need a gluten-free accommodation, there is a quinoa and kale green salad and often a soup or chowder.
Yes, Officer, I am under the influence.
Of the following:
Two cups, Bigelow's peppermint tea, probably four full teaspoons white sugar.
Two fat Stauf's porcelain cups, moka java coffee, ten packets (at least) brown raw sugar.
One 12-oz.can Mountain Dew.
Two king-size Reese's Cups.
Madonna's 1989 hit, 'Express Yourself" which she performed at the Women's March last Saturday.
Becalmed, I am ready to start my column.
Having finished consuming caffeine, chocolate and sugar only a few minutes ago, Express Yourself has been mentally greeting me every morning since last Saturday. And why not? It's a really good, maybe even great '80s Madonna pop song, catchy as a cold on a rainy day and way more enjoyable. The chorus flows, the messages are good. Hey, I was an '80s feminist once upon a time!
Baby
B-b-b-baby
Do you believe in love?
Come on, girls!
I've got something to sing about
and it goes something like this...
On January 14, 2017, 36-year-old Jaron Thomas called for help, as he had done several times before by the advice of mental health professionals. Jaron, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was struggling with hallucinations. He was a gifted hip-hop lyricist, having at one point worked with well-known artist Bizzy-Bone. He knew that he needed help and had calmly asked for a medic on the 911 call obtained by the family. He expected to be admitted for treatment, in his hometown of Columbus, but the response he received instead was from officers with the Columbus Police Department. It is unclear what transpired, but the result was inexplicable injuries and brain damage.
According to the family’s legal team Walton and Brown, LLP, “Several Columbus Police officers responded to the scene. Jaron was hospitalized with severe brain damage, head contusions, a blood clot near his sternum, at least one broken rib and other injuries.”
Surrounded by his close-knit family and a host of loved ones and friends, this loving father of three fought for his life. He lost the battle on January 23rd, roughly one week after his brutal and tragic encounter with police.
Columbus Oligarchy and Franklin County Democratic Politicians Defend Our Racially Biased System – Embracing Racial Superiority as “The Columbus Way”
In recognition of Black History Month, as Board Chair of The Columbus Free Press, I explore the racist origins and dubious legality of Columbus’s at-large system of electing its city council, in hopes of educating Columbus citizens about the current environment.
In August 2016, Columbus residents placed on a Special Election ballot a citizen-initiated proposal to change the form of our government from an at-large city council, where all council members are elected in citywide elections, to a form with a mix of council members elected at-large (three) and by district/ward (10). While the Columbus city charter has been amended over 70 times, each time the amendments have been requested by Columbus City Council. This marked the first time citizens had ever successfully placed a charter initiative of our own making on the ballot. And the vitriol of the ruling class to this display of citizen disobedience and imprudence came out immediately.
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The day after inauguration day, on January 21st, over one million people converged on the capitol to make their voices heard at the Women's March on Washington.
I went there to inquire what some of them thought about loving kindness. I suspect that if politically-organized loving kindness is espoused and carried out, activism becomes more immune to infiltration, cooptation, and in-fighting. A social movement based in loving kindness makes it harder for the corporate media and authoritarian politicians to convince the general public we are to be feared, hated and repressed. This article also asks some important questions of our readers.
This week, the Senate will vote to confirm Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma Attorney General who has spent a sizeable chunk of his tenure as Attorney General organizing other states to sue the very agency he's slated to lead.
This is a problem for America, and Ohio.
The Environmental Protection Agency protects the water, air, rivers, lakes, streams, forests, prairies, mountains, and coastlines we all love. And equally as important, the EPA ensures that big polluters like the fossil fuel industry, big utilities, and their allies, do not abuse our lands and leave the little guy to pay the price either economically or with less secure public health.
Pruitt's place at the helm of the EPA threatens to take all the work we've done to develop this agency off course. He does not believe in science or climate change, and this fundamental lack of understanding is not a good foundation for continuing the work to preserve our clean water, clean air, and preserved lands in the United States.