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We are back talking about Columbus police wearing body cameras and placing cameras on patrol cars, so we can catch the rare instance when a cop goes wrong, publicize it and get justice.

No doubt there has been wrong-doing by police elsewhere in the country and one bad cop is one too many, but ...

We need to think long and hard about the additional pressure we would put on Columbus' Finest by forcing them to record every moment on patrol. Will they be forced to stop and think about the ramifications of the camera instead of acting quickly to fight crime?

Does that have negative consequences for the public?

If we are going all in on cameras for cops, why stop there?

Why not require all public employees wear cameras and record their workdays?

It might cut down on wrong-doing and waste of public money.

Better yet add elected public officials to the camera-wearing menagerie.

There would not have been any Redflex skullduggery if Columbus city officials has been wearing them when those red-light camera deals were made.
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On Wednesday, May 3 supporters of Palestine from across the state testified before the Ohio House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee in opposition to House Bill 476, bipartisan legislation that would prohibit state agencies from contracting with a companies or individuals who are boycotting Israel or divesting from Israel.

“We are opposed to HB 476 because it violates our free speech,” said Don Bryant from the Cleveland area, one of the 14 who testified. “To outlaw BDS is to outlaw a non-violent form of resistance against the oppression of the Palestinians.”

BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) is an economic strategy for pressuring Israel to end its occupation and colonization of Arab lands in Palestine, dismantle the Gaza Wall, and recognize full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel.

On April 25, 2016 the NAACP Columbus Unit and Columbus City Schools (CCS) sponsored a Community Education Forum at The Neighborhood House, Inc.

At the start of the meeting the community was informed that the CCS district mission is to “Ensure that each student is highly educated, prepared for leadership and service and empowered for success as citizens in the global community.” To achieve this mission, the CCS focuses on three key principles: 1) That each student reaches their full potential to continue education, serve in the military, go to college, start a business, enter the workforce as lifelong learners. 2) That the district create a safe student centered, innovated learning that recruits, develops and retains world class talents. 3) That the district is accountable to our community and to our customers and that we’re confident in the district in maintaining itself through strategic, responsible, and transparent leadership.

Shadowbox Live has staged several music retrospectives that were both entertaining and enlightening. The result is that troupe patrons have a leg up anytime the conversation turns to Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd or even the Beatles.

With its current musical revue, Front Street Funk, the emphasis is more on “entertaining” than on “enlightening.” I can’t say I walked away with much new insight into the genre that gave “Papa” a “Brand New Bag.”

Then again, that could be partly my fault. Maybe I missed some of the information the show doled out between tunes because I was so busy tapping my foot, watching fellow patrons dance and, at one point, actually dancing myself.

Yes, you heard that right: Audience members were dancing. One thing that distinguishes this show from its predecessors is that Shadowbox sets aside floor space for patrons who can’t resist the call of the syncopated beats, wah-wah guitars and joyous horns.

Kona Grill aims to please their customers with their agile menu adaptations to suite specific, avoidant requirements and still provide a splendidly satisfying dining experience. If you enjoy being transported to the tropics in atmosphere and flavors, Kona’s spectrum of sensory offerings is the place for you. They surpass their conventional dining service level peers by offering a clearly identified vegan and vegetarian menu for their patrons, which is (surprisingly) still an uncommon feature of most mainstream restaurants. I enjoyed an appetizer of vegan sushi and meal of specially requested grilled vegetables, with tofu and macadamia nuts.

Calling itself Columbus’ Green Renaissance Network, Saturday April 23, marked the “Earth Day BirthDay” of Columbus’ newest Low Power FM Radio station, WGRN-LP 94.1. Victoria Parks, volunteer programmer for WGRN, answered some questions for the Free Press giving us the skinny on WGRN:
FP: Where can our community tune-in to WGRN-LP and what is Low Power FM radio?

Calling itself Columbus’ Green Renaissance Network, Saturday April 23, marked the “Earth Day BirthDay” of Columbus’ newest Low Power FM Radio station, WGRN-LP 94.1. Victoria Parks, volunteer programmer for WGRN, answered some questions for the Free Press giving us the skinny on WGRN:

FP: Where can our community tune-in to WGRN-LP and what is Low Power FM radio?

Central Ohio activists Marilyn Welker, Bob Hart, Ellen Baumgartner and Chuck Lynd were among the 400 people arrested on the steps of the US Capitol during the “Democracy Spring” – one of the largest civil disobedience actions since the Vietnam War protests, demanding a democracy that works for everyone. They were supported by another Central Ohioan, Kathleen Gmeiner. Between April 11th-18th, 1,300 people were arrested. 

A coalition of student organizations at Ohio State University (OSU) occupied Bricker Hall, the administrative building, on April 6 to #ReclaimOSU and demand that school officials release information about the university's investments and respond to campaigns by Real Food Challenge (RFC), United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) or OSUDivest.

Manuel Cuellar-Rocha remembers his first Cinco de Mayo on the Ohio State University campus. The fourth-year design major from Dayton does not recall it fondly. “Ohio State doesn't necessarily aid you much with getting used to campus life...you get thrown into the fishbowl with all the other students. I just kept thinking, 'Man, I can't wait until I see someone that looks like me.' I felt extremely intimidated...I truly understood what it meant to attend a predominately white institution.”

Before long, he saw an eye-opening example of racial stereotyping that personified the unfriendly climate toward Latinos on campus. “My first semester when I got here there was a senior crawl,” he says. “A student organization designed the t-shirts for the senior crawl, which happened to be on Cinco de Mayo. On the shirt, they had a figure wearing a sombrero, crawling. When people had an issue with that shirt, no one could understand the view of the minority who saw that shirt and were disgusted. I don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and I sure as hell don't celebrate it crawling wearing a sombrero.”