Local
Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 1:00 – 1:30 PM
Due to the number of executive orders, immigration raids, and other policy changes, Episcopal Migration Ministries is scheduling weekly immigration calls. EMM will share updates and resources and will be joined by the Office of Government Relations and the Chief Legal Officer.
Spanish interpretation will be available.
Mayor Ginther's and Columbus City Council's decades long continuation of granting tax abatements to wealthy developers and corporations have robbed hundreds of millions of dollars from our Columbus Public School coffers, let alone contributing to escalating property taxes that are forcing senior homeowners into foreclosure or having to unnecessarily sell their homes to unscrupulous investors. Columbus City Council will be voting tonight on two Enterprise Zone 10-year 75 percent tax abatements totaling $5.125 million.
With the upcoming Republican Party's state budget cuts in public education dollars a certainty, how in good conscience can a Democrat-controlled City Council located in the state’s largest public school district give away $5.1 million in property tax abatements in exchange for one company’s 15 $20-an-hour jobs and the other company’s 12 $24-an-hour jobs? These jobs will result in a meager $2,550 per month of City income tax revenue, or $30,600 annually, versus a property tax giveaway of $510,029 annually.
I don’t know where Blueprint’s 2005 record, 1988 stands in the history of Columbus records. I know it’s one of the best albums our city has ever released. I just haven’t made a ranking.
In the least, I won’t rank every Columbus record I like while reviewing a concert in Grandview. I know Blueprint’s 1988 is one of the most important records our city created. Blueprint performed Columbus Classic 1988 at Natalie’s. We were bumping a Rhymesayers Classic complete.
Natalie's was packed. I looked around. I understood why people attended. I worked with Blueprint’s Weightless Recording for years.
I promoted the original release party for 1988 with Blueprint’s label Weightless in 2005. I’ve seen Print at DJ PRZM’s events, Scribble Jam, Newport, Comfest, Skully’s, and Carabar etc. RIP PRZM.
I’ve watched Print in San Francisco, and various Illinois cities. I watched Detox and Blueprint every week for three years at Cafe Bourbon Street during So What Wednesdays. DAYMON DODSON RIP. Peace Sinkane.
A huge crowd braved the rain Saturday to go to the Ohio Statehouse and protest President Donald Trump and his administration. It was one of more than 50 such events scheduled for Ohio on Saturday and Sunday and more than 1,400 nationwide.
The Ohio Statehouse is in full swing, doing what it does best, which is to try to boost fracking of our beloved state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. However, push back DOES work -- we've already gotten positive changes into one bill, and we need to keep pushing.
The federal government is escalating its outrages, snatching people off the street, sending people to a prison in El Salvador, claiming the power to act outside all laws including the U.S. Constitution.
You can add your name to a petition from a big coalition pushing back here.
The U.S. Congress is advancing legislation to strip sanctuary cities and states of rights and protections, as well as legislation to specifically do that to the city of Washington, D.C.
Saturday, April 5, 12noon
Ohio Statehouse and many cities around the country and Ohio
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. Columbus is fighting back!
They're taking everything they can get their hands on—our health care, our data, our jobs, our services—and daring the world to stop them. This is a crisis, and the time to act is now.
On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!
Columbus, OH: Ohio Statehouse When: 12-2 pm, REGISTER
Westerville, OH: 21 S State St. When: 12-1:30 pm, REGISTER
Grove City, OH: 4035 Broadway When: 4-5 pm, REGISTER
President Donald Trump has said “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” He claims tariffs will restore American trade supremacy, bring lost jobs back to the United States, and most bizarrely, replace income taxes.
Tariffs can be a useful tool to regulate global trade in the interest of jobs, wages, labor rights, the environment, and consumers — if applied correctly.
Amid growing international chaos, it should come as no surprise that nuclear dangers are increasing.
The latest indication is a rising interest among U.S. allies in enhancing their nuclear weapons capability. For many decades, remarkably few of them had been willing to build nuclear weapons―a result of popular opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear war, progress on nuclear arms control and disarmament, and a belief that they remained secure under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. But, as revealed by a recent article in London’s Financial Times, Donald Trump’s public scorn for NATO allies and embrace of Vladimir Putin have raised fears of U.S. unreliability, thereby tipping the balance toward developing an expanded nuclear weapons capability.
Earlier this week on April 2, members of the Columbus branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) woke up expecting to participate in a long-delayed election. By 9am they were supposed to receive an email link. A link that would allow them to cast votes, decide leadership, and carry forward an institution with more than a century of movement memory.
But the link never came.
For hours, there was silence. Confusion circulated through inboxes, group chats, and whispered phone calls. Had the election been delayed again? Was there a glitch? Had someone forgotten to hit “send?”
It wasn’t until nearly noon – three full hours after voting was scheduled to begin – when members received an email from the NAACP’s national office. The message, sent twice, contained a memo from Ericka Cain, Vice President of Governance, Compliance and Training. It explained that a court had issued a temporary restraining order, halting the election.