I’ve never had a phobia about clowns, but I have to admit that a jealous clown with a knife gave me a few tense moments during the premiere of Pagliacci.

The “Opera on the Edge” production is staged in Shadowbox Live’s Backstage Bistro. Because much of the action takes place in the midst of the restaurant’s tables, I found myself just inches away from the skirmish that erupts when Canio (Clay Hilley) learns his wife, Nedda (Emily Brand), is having an affair.

Even though I assured myself that the actors were pros and that Canio’s knife was merely a stage prop (at least, I hoped it was), the scene was still a little scary.

But think about it: How often does opera offer such a visceral thrill to casual fans like myself? The experience illustrates the appeal of these co-productions of Shadowbox and Opera Columbus.

Just as they did with earlier productions of La Boheme and The Merry Widow, the troupes have shortened the opera, translated it into English and presented it in an informal setting, thus making it more understandable and accessible.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision allowing DUI defendants the right to challenge their breathalyzer test is a victory for adults who responsibly consume alcohol and never get behind the wheel when they have had too much, say local and state defense attorneys.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 affirming a lower court’s decision to deny prosecution a Cincinnati man’s breathalyzer test as evidence because the state of Ohio refused to hand over computer data showing the breathalyzer machine the man tested on – the Intoxilyzer 8000 – maybe unreliable and has accuracy issues.

While the case, City of Cincinnati vs. Daniel Ilg, is about challenging the Intoxilyzer 8000, it is equally about a defendant’s right for discovery of evidence.

Since 1984 a controversial Ohio Supreme Court decision, State vs. Vega, has denied any DUI defendant the right to challenge any state-certified breathalyzer machine they tested on, and the City of Cincinnati cited Vega when it refused to hand over the computer data to Daniel Ilg’s attorney.

“...we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the Pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you. That's why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.” 
― R.J. Palacio

Will precinct-by-precinct, 15 minute-by-15 minute election night results that are available only to the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, compromise the security of the statewide election?

In Ohio’s notorious 2004 presidential election, called by pollster Lou Harris “one of the most corrupt in U.S. history,” one of the signs of election tampering was the impossible results flowing from precincts in Republican rural Ohio. In Cyde, Ohio they initially reported 130 percent voter turnout.

In Perry County, one precinct came in at 120 percent, another at 114 percent. In Miami County, the Concord Southwest precinct claimed 679 out of 689 voters cast ballots overwhelmingly for Bush. They later admitted to The Free Press that only 549 people signed into the polls and that the other votes had been the result of bad computer tallies.

Now with Ohio’s new election night reporting system it is easier than ever to stack the deck and bring in the cybervote at the precinct level.

Secretary of State’s strange secret software patches suspected purpose to steal election

The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, allowed Ohio’s notoriously racist voting laws to remain in place during the 2014 election. Ohio Secretary of State (SoS) Jon Husted has embraced the new Jim Crow policy of limiting access to the polls by poor, elderly and black voters.

Husted, under a twisted version of “equality” has limited Ohio’s nine major urban areas to having only one early voting site each, guaranteed to create long lines as it did in the 2004 and 2012 elections. In 2008, then-SoS Jennifer Brunner allowed the Franklin County Board of Elections to establish five early voting centers in the greater Columbus area.

Last week, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld federal Judge Peter Economus’ historic ruling protecting African American voting rights in Ohio. In a September 4, 2014 opinion, Economus held that the actions of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted violated both the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by erecting illegal barriers to keep minorities and the poor from voting in the Buckeye State.