Local
Recently, I attended a town hall meeting with the three candidates running for District 7 Columbus City Council. The residents at the event live in District 7 and love Columbus. They love our city so much that they took their valuable time and energy to attend and ask questions. Unfortunately, nobody had the courage to tell them that THEIR VOTE DOESN’T MATTER to Columbus City Council.
Our Republicans in the state capital rule Ohio with “gerrymandering” mixed with a generous amount of hate and a dash of religion. Jealous as always, Columbus City Council has their own upside-down version of “Gerrymandering” that they are proud to call “Citymandering.”
Sure, the residents of District 7 will vote in the primary election Tuesday, May 6, but so will EVERYONE ELSE IN COLUMBUS. My wife and I live on the Far East side. We have no clue what’s important to the residents of District 7. Yet, our votes will count just as much as theirs. It’s just like “gerrymandering,” but for Democrats instead of Republicans.
Saturday, May 3, 1-3pm, King Arts Complex
867 Mt. Vernon Ave.
English
This year, we’ll be at King Arts Complex again and are excited to bring in valuable resources from our community, delicious food, and entertainment! We’re excited and hope you are, too. After all, it’s all to celebrate you — the workers!
We’d love you and your organization or business to help sponsor May Day, or for individuals to make a Community Solidarity Donation.
Last year, we had 300 meals for participants and ran out! Help us feed our community again this year with a donation $25, $50, or $100 today here.
Español
Este año, estaremos una vez más en el King Arts Complex y estamos entusiasmados por traer valiosos recursos a nuestra comunidad, deliciosa comida y entretenimiento. Estamos entusiasmados y esperamos que usted también lo esté. Después de todo, ¡se trata de rendir homenaje al trabajador!
Dr. Bob Fitrakis and Dan-o Dougan spin tunes that use the word "fire" including Fire and Ice, Fire on the Mountain, Ring of Fire, Girl on Fire, Jump into the Fire, and more!
Listen live at 11pm Friday, May 2 and 9 streaming at wgrn.org or on the radio at 91.9FM
and
Monday at 2pm streaming May 5 and 12 at wcrsfm.org or on the radio at 92.7 or 98.3FM
Tax policy experts and lawmakers have long circled 2025 as a year to prepare for. What makes it so significant?
For one thing, Federal COVID money to states is expiring, straining state budgets at the same time the economy is starting to weaken. For another, Republicans in Congress are working to increase and extend President Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations — while cutting trillions from health care, housing, and education programs for everyone else. And it all up and you get a fiscal tsunami.
While major tax policy changes are being made and discussed in Congress, this is also happening in the states.
How is Donald Trump managing to receive $1 million bribes (by a more polite name, of course) for a dinner at his Florida lair?
What is Elon Musk using to offer voters in state elections $1 million for their votes?
How is Vivek Ramaswamy flooding televisions in Ohio with his campaign for governor over a year out from any election?
What is spreading like an epidemic into local races like those for mayor of Boston and New York — with Andrew Cuomo in New York seeming to skirt the rules by using this entity as if it were his campaign, and one billionaire dumping $1 million into attacking a candidate in Boston?
I recall seeing a sign in a yard in my small hometown of around 12,000 residents. “No matter where you are from,” it said, “we’re glad you are our neighbor.”
It was positioned defiantly, facing a Trump sign that had been plunged into the neighbor’s yard across the street. It poignantly illustrated the tensions in my rural Ohio town, which — like many similar communities — has experienced a rapid influx of immigrants over the last 20 years.
The sign’s sentiment was simple yet profound. I found myself wondering then, as I wonder now, when compassion had become so complicated. It seems everyone has become preoccupied arguing over the minutiae of immigration that they’ve missed the most glaring and essential point: We are neighbors.
When establishment Democrat Tiara Ross, City Council candidate showed up for the Free Press’s recent candidate forum for the District 7 primary, it came as a mild surprise.
Did she know anti-establishment Democrat Joe Motil is a regular writer for the Free Press? Our blistering criticism of the out-of-control, tax-abated and mostly unaesthetic development establishment Dems have forced into our most popular neighborhoods?
Certainly, the Free Press wanted Ross to be there, and here she was. But also to our surprise was who else unexpectedly showed. A broadcast reporter from Channel 10 (WBNS). And this is what we’ve come to know about Ross. She wasn’t going to let the other two candidates appear on the 11 o’clock news without her.
In some ways Ross reflects a growing cadre of modern-day political office seekers and holders. There’s a distinct and disingenuous difference between her public and not-so public persona.
When you’re living in a foreign land, human connections can be as precious as they are rare. Maybe that’s the message of Constance Tsang’s debut feature film, Blue Sun Palace.
Then again, maybe it’s not. Writer/director Tsang doesn’t force an interpretation on you, any more than she tells you what to think of her characters, all Chinese or Taiwanese immigrants eking out a living in Queens, New York. She merely invites you to sit back and watch their stories unfold.
In the case of one of them, their story doesn’t unfold nearly long enough.
We first meet a young woman named Didi (Haipeng Xu) when she’s sharing a restaurant meal with Cheung (Kang-sheng Lee), a somewhat older man who seems to be a good friend and maybe a future boyfriend. The two clearly enjoy each other’s company, and Didi even invites Cheung to spend the night after he misses the last bus home.
The next morning, however, the couple’s relationship seems less certain. When Cheung begins talking about possibly sharing a home someday, Didi jokingly shuts him down, saying her ultimate plan is to move to Baltimore and open a restaurant with her friend Amy (Ke-Xi Wu).
On April 26, 2025 WOSU Public Media reported, “Columbus campaign reports show donations from councilmembers, out-of-state residents.”
When questioned about the majority of his campaign contributors coming from of out-of-state, Columbus City Council candidate Jesse Vogel stated:
"What we're doing is trying to garner support of individuals who are excited about the potential of our campaign collective to make collective change rather than from a handful of politicians who are working to maintain the status quo.”
Although WOSU “estimated about half of his contributors came from out of state,” after a thorough review of his Annual and Pre-Primary finance reports, 56 percent of his contributors were from out of state and if you include contributors from outside of Central Ohio, but in Ohio, that number jumps to 60 percent.
The WOSU article also includes some “prominent names” as contributors to Mr. Vogel’s campaign. Two prominent newsworthy names not mentioned are those of Dan McCarthy and Laurel Dawson who donated $250 each to Vogel’s campaign.
Central Ohio Rank and file Educators (CORE), a group of unionized educators, are holding a national day of action for May Day, in coordination with local groups and national movements by 50501 and Indivisible. The “Fight for Public Education” action will be at the Ohio Statehouse May 1 4:30-7 pm and prioritizes fair and full funding of Ohio public schools and protections for students and families.