Local

Friday, March 14, noon
Ohio Statehouse, Broad and High Streets
Part of a nationwide call to stand up for veterans rights in the midst of the federal cuts to the VA program.

The U.S. Energy Administration (EIA) or the EIA recently released electric generation data from 2024. 

Solar and wind grew nationwide at the same time that coal continued its long-term decline. Natural gas had small increases and remains the country's top fuel for producing electricity. Natural gas power plants generated 43.3 percent of the country's electricity last year, up from 43.2% in 2023. Utility-scale renewables, wind, solar, and hydropower, were 22.7 percent, up from 21.4% percent. Nuclear was 18.2 percent, down from 18.5 percent. Coal accounted for 15.2 percent of electric generation, down from 16.1 percent.

EIA projects this trend will continue in 2025 as wind and solar dominate new generation sources. EIA also projects that solar plus storage will account for 81 percent of all new electrical generation in 2025. Wind will provide 12 percent of new generation surpassing natural gas accounting for about 7 percent.

Nuclear and Coal Stagnant and Declining

Welcome to AmeriKKKa, the home of White mass shooters and land of “No black lives matter.” We have been taught that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but I’m having a hard time believing that statement in light of what happened to pro-Palestinian student activists Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia University and Liu Lijun, a grad student at University of California, Los Angeles, CLA- Mahmoud is a green cardholder and Miss Lijun is on a student visa. These are dark days in America.

Two days ago, petition demanding the immediate release of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil has garnered nearly 900,000 signatures after his detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Saturday.

Not everyone obeys illegal and immoral orders. Sometimes trends even develop, tipping points are reached, in which people disobey en masse and set things right.

Large numbers of U.S. government workers are refusing to email Elon Musk, many are speaking out against illegal directives, and some are suing the billionaire leader of the DOGE fiasco.

What starts with refusal to censor basic English words or bury scientific data could develop into refusal to disappear political enemies.

We need to encourage civil disobedience before it is too late.

Click here to tell federal workers you support defying unlawful orders.

“We affirm that migration is a basic act of being human.” So begins a letter to state and local officials, signed by 80 institutions and 2,500 Ohioans from 69 counties. “Our state is made better, stronger and more vibrant by the countless contributions of immigrants and refugees.” List of counties is at the end of this press release.

The federal government has unleashed an assault on people who came to Ohio to contribute and take care of their families. Ohioans expect elected officials to lead from a place of compassion and common sense, instead. The petition lays out the actions they want Ohio city and county officials to take:

Despite spring break in full swing at campuses across Ohio, including the Ohio State University, Ohio University, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University,  dozens of students gathered at the Ohio Statehouse to testify against Senate Bill 1, a controversial higher education bill currently under consideration in the Ohio House. The bill would consolidate university governance in the hands of the government, censor what students can and can’t learn, gut our professors’ labor rights, and ban any program, office, or scholarship deemed to be “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” 

At noon Wednesday, March 12, a volunteer with Indivisible Central Ohio will present a staffer in Senator Moreno’s Columbus office with the below attached invitation requesting the Senator's attendance and participation at their town hall on March 22nd at 2PM.

At 12:30 PM, Ohio Progressive Action Leaders (OPAL) and Indivisible Central Ohio will host their weekly Wednesdays at Bernie's protest rally outside of Senator Moreno’s Columbus office to demand the Senator attend (or hold his own) in-person town hall during the upcoming Senate recess.

As Trump’s largest campaign donor Elon Musk takes a chainsaw to our federal government and wreaks havoc on Ohio and our country, Ohioans want their Senators to explain why they have failed to stand up for their constituents. Ohio citizens are frustrated by their inability to convey their concerns and get answers from either of their United States Senators. Senator Husted has yet to open a single office in Ohio, and Senator Moreno hasn’t shown his face publicly in the state. 

WHEN:

Approximately 100 students and community members gathered outside OSU Hillel Wednesday, March 5 in protest of former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was set to speak to students and members of the hillel community. The demonstration was part of a growing wave of opposition against Bennett’s U.S. university tour, which has faced backlash at multiple campuses. Just a day prior, more than 200 students at Columbia University protested his appearance.Then a day after the OSU protest, over 100 protested his appearance at the Harvard Business School on March 6, 2025. Naftali Bennett is currently on a U.S. university tour, organized by Hillel International’s Teach-In Tour 2025, in an effort to shape narratives about Israel and its policies amid growing student activism. His presence on college campuses comes at a time when student movements are increasingly challenging Israeli state policies and advocating for Palestinian rights.

Similar to local Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices and programs, Columbus’s 21 area commissions could someday be shuttered by those in power, several housing advocates and activists told the Free Press.

While fundamentally different, DEI offices and area commissions share similar missions: They are pro-people by giving one and all a chance to speak out against those who control the strings and pocketbooks.

From the Near East to the Hilltop to the Far South Side to the Far West Side, these 21 area commissions are resident-based and strictly recommending bodies, they have no legal authority. But they have a consequential purpose: To represent their neighborhood(s) when City officials try to force unwanted development into their community. Commissions are also committed to preservation and enhancement of parks, streets and traffic. And during this time of unprecedented growth, logic suggests these commissions are needed more than ever.

Tuesday, March 11, all day

March 11, 2025 is the 14th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

It's time for our annual boycott of grid electricity as a protest against nuclear power and to remember the victims of the Fukushima meltdowns, past, present, and future. March 11 is the 14th anniversary of the nuclear disaster that contaminated so much of Japan, rendering parts uninhabitable forever. That is a fate that could await any community near a nuclear plant anywhere in the world.

That's why, for the 24 hours of March 11, Fukushima Day, people will be boycotting grid power as much as possible. There are four Levels, from simple conservation through to putting more power on the grid using solar or wind than your household uses that day.