Nearly 50 years of uranium enrichment have brought serious radioactive contamination to what was once lovely countryside at Piketon, Ohio. The misidentified Portsmouth Nuclear Site (PORTS) at Piketon is operated by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE.) The DOE unbelievablely brought reprocessed high-level radioactive waste to the site and ran it through the enrichment buildings for years, contaminating PORTS with plutonium and other transuranic elements – some of the most dangerous entities on earth.

Cleanup of the site has begun, but it has uncertain funding and may not be completed for years. The DOE is violating its own requirements by refusing to perform an Environmental Impact Statement to determine the necessary depth of cleanup.

The Southern Ohio Diversity Initiative (SODI) was designated by the DOE as an Ohio nonprofit Community Reuse Organization in 1997. The purpose of SODI is ‘to advance, encourage, and promote the industrial, economic, commercial, and civic development of Pike, Jackson, Ross, and Scioto Counties.” They are looking to bring new industry to the PORTS site.

I am an attorney and guardian ad litem (GAL) in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. An important part of my job is protecting the rights of adults and minors who live in Ohio, and in my city.  Every day I strive to advocate for the best interest of children, and protect the Constitutional rights of parents and children in Ohio.  

My work is not easy and it does not pay well. I do not have benefits, and for many years I could not even get health coverage. I am not really complaining; I love my work as well as my freedom and independence. I love representing everyday people from my city. As a GAL and defense attorney I see people on the worst days of their lives and try to give them hope that things are going to get better. They often do. I visit my clients in prison, jail, mental institutions, and in their homes. My clients are babies, school aged kids, teenagers, trafficking victims, parents, adults with misdemeanor and felony cases.

JP Morgan Chase is one of Central Ohio’s largest private employers with over 20,000 workers, and several told the Free Press they’ve been told to expect raises and a one-time cash bonus this year as a result of the tax bill corporate giveaway. Fifth Third Bank and Wells Fargo have also promised to boost salaries and issue bonuses, and even Walmart has said it will increase its starting hourly wage from $9 to $11, which as far as the Free Press is concerned, is still peanuts.

Nevertheless, it’s a start. But other industries have been deafeningly silent about raising pay, such as the fast-food industry. There are nearly four million fast-food workers nationally, and in Columbus they account for about seven percent of the employment or about 80,000 workers, this according to the progressive non-profit Policy Matters Ohio.
 

The recent reshuffling of candidates around the Ohio Republican Party’s statewide slate isn’t just the usual face-saving, self-serving game of political musical chairs that we’ve grown accustomed to from our state’s longtime ruling party. It’s another clear signal from the Buckeye contingent of the GOP that they intend to protect their power at all costs and procure more of what they’ve given us for over twenty years -- the same.

Wednesday, Jan 31, 7-9pm
Summit on 16th United Methodist Church, 82 E 16th Ave.
You don't set 10,000 people free without training a few volunteers. If you're ready to stop ~talking~ about making change and start taking ACTION, this is for you. 

The Ohio Student Association and partners are launching a ballot initiative that would change felony drug possession charges to misdemeanors and make it possible for thousands to apply for release from prison, get their records expunged, and return to their jobs and families. The savings from not locking up people who are addicted to drugs will be invested in drug rehab programs that are actually proven to work. 

We want a criminal justice system that is aligned with our values and ACTUALLY rehabilitates people into society, but we're not going to get that without a fight. 

We need 600,000 signatures across the state to get the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative on the ballot in November 2018, and we can't do it without you.