The voters of Toledo are to be congratulated! By more than a 2 to 1 margin of victory, they abolished any jail terms and penalties for possession of marijuana up to 200 grams. Toledo’s Issue 1, The Sensible Marijuana Ordinance passed on September 22, 2015, establishes complete decriminalization for misdemeanor marijuana offenses. Sensible indeed! The Free Press wishes Columbus would come to its senses soon.
   Campaign manager Sean Nestor, Ohio Green Party Political Director, was correct when he told the Toledo Blade that: “I do think what we have is pretty potent as far as protecting cannabis users. We feel this is important even on a national scale.”
   One big difference between Toledo and Columbus is that their mayor and city councilmembers believe in citizen’s initiatives and democracy. Had this effort been attempted in here, Columbus City Council President Andy Ginther backed by City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer would have dreamed up a technicality to keep the people from voting on the measure.

“88 Like We Bringing the Rooftop Back.”- Iggy Azealia or Nas

“I didn’t meet Rakim til later with Scott/I remember we were jammin’ at the Rooftop.” - Krs-One

Columbus Hip Hop holds a special regard for Bernie's Distillery similar to how people in New York discuss LQ or the Rooftop or L.A people speak on the Good Life. The talent nurtured at the Short North Record Store Groove Shack in the mid-90’s called the grimy dive-bar home when MHz, Weightless, S.A. Smash and J. Rawls rose to worldwide prominence.

  Bernie’s was a home that had character to hold up to the talent-level thanks to a crew of deejays (the Fonosluts) and the location’s campus slum punk rock nature. (The Fonosluts were Detroit transplant DJ PRZM, DJ Lo-zone, DJ Pos 2 and host So What?)

  This month presented itself to reflect on the weekly Fonosluts Hip Hop event that existed from ‘99-2005.

  First off because Bernie's is set for not-to-exist after December 31, 2015.

  Secondly, it was the last Daymon Day in this form.

The Table was an exciting new discovery in vegan options located in the Short North on the south side of 5th Ave directly across the street from Brothers Drake. They have a comfortably eclectic atmosphere of with variety of mismatched dinning tables, chairs and dinner plates and interesting lighting fixtures. Friendly and informed staff, regarding vegan needs, and delicious food made a great overall experience. A friend and I went for dinner and enjoyed the squash ribbons starter, and veganized versions of the beet gnocchi and the curried chickpeas. They even made us a special dessert with a variety of apples and the entire meal was loaded with flavor.

That little smoke-filled room where our despair and paranoia incline us to imagine a small number of evil people run the world clearly forgot to keep an eye on the Republican Party.

A popular movement has struggled to stop such looming disasters as the NAFTA-on-steroids Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but the ouster of John Boehner as Speaker of the House puts stopping anything into play. While scholarly studies deem the U.S. government to be an oligarchy, based on whom it actually serves, petty partisan squabbling just might come riding to the rescue of democracy -- accidentally of course.

Boehner wasn't insufficiently right-wing for the other Republicans in the House of Representatives, he was just insufficiently obstinate and insufficiently anti-Obama. The new Speaker's mandate will be to oppose to the death anything Obama supports. Obama could publicly throw himself behind keeping Guantanamo open, and the place would be shut by Thursday.

It’s no secret to anyone who lives here — especially those who have ever wandered into Kafé Kerouac or the Laughing Ogre and seen the shelves of local indie comics — that Columbus has a thriving community of cartoonists and comic artists. But Bone creator Jeff Smith and comics journalist Tom Spurgeon want to let the world know what a great little city we have here, and in doing so they want to make Columbus a destination for the cartoon and comic arts.
  On October 1-3, they’re hosting the first Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), a multi-venue celebration that will encompass The Wexner Center For The Arts, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, OSU’s Hale Hall, the Cultural Arts Center and Columbus College Of Art And Design. Aside from two ticketed events — conversational panels featuring Jeff Lemire and Bill Griffith — all events, panels, and workshops are free and open to the public.