The Columbus community galvanized after the police shootings in Ferguson and New York and held demonstrations in solidarity with those communities. Then, unfortunately, the issue of police killing unarmed black males was brought close to home with the deaths at the hands of policemen of John Crawford in the Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart and Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Several local groups joined the “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot” and “Black Lives Matter” movement. However, one group that has prevailed as the organization dedicated to keeping the issue in the forefront of the Columbus community and actively work towards solutions.
  That organization is “Columbus Effective Steps Towards Resistance,” founded in December 2014 by a group centered mostly on the OSU campus. They describe their group this way: “Effective Steps is a network designed to engage community groups and individuals in the Columbus area together to work toward ending police brutality.”

Matt Monta has been playing music in Columbus for a long time -- he used to play at the old High Street BW3 if your memory goes that far back. For the last several years he’s been playing with Righteous Buck and the Skull Scorchers and fronting The Smoking Guns, and as a result I’ve had a tendency to lump him in with the outlaw country scene that puts on the Johnny Cash tribute every year. Those guys play great music, but it’s not exactly a fountain of introspection and self-doubt.

Jazz is dead. No, it's just got gangrene. Jazz has arthritis and hemorrhoids. No, it's alive and well, quite regular and livin' it up in Toledo. No, it is the epitome of stuck. Yes, it needs a young blood transfusion. No, it needs a facelift, it needs to get ugly again or pretty or danceable. Blah blah bleeeeeach!

Strongwater located in East Franklinton as part of the 400 W. Rich St. renaissances transforming the industrial historical into the artisanal hip. Among their progressive innovations, they include some exciting vegan and gluten-free options for those promoting peace, seeking optimal health and supporting sustainable practices with their food purchases. If you have not adventured into the palatal pleasure that is jackfruit, Strongwater is a brave mainstream restaurant pioneer in Columbus whose menu offers this remarkable whole food plant that mimics “pulled pork”! Try the jackfruit tacos or buns; not only will your gut thank you, the animals and the environment will too since no one will have to die and since plants (compared to animals) use not a fraction of the precious water, nor pollute what is left of it with “effluence” (Hello again, contagion recalls and recurring toxic algae blooms).

 

By Benjamin Dangl

The craft-brewing wave sweeping the US makes drinking beer more fun than ever. Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery brews a beer from oysters, and the Delaware-based Dogfish Head uses an ancient beer recipe they dug up from 2,700-year-old drinking vessels in the tomb of King Midas.
  But as this trend spreads, there is another revolution going on that’s concentrating most of the world’s beer into the hands of a few mega-corporations. These so-called kings of beer are riding the wave of craft brewing enthusiasm, buying up smaller breweries, and duping customers along the way.

Amid the smell of donated bread inside the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center, I sought advice from fellow canvassers, working on the Columbus Community Bill of Rights, which aims to bring democracy to the decision of whether toxic fracking waste is allowed to be put into areas where it can negatively affect the health of Columbus residents.

Back in early 2010 Ohio stood at the cusp of modern 21st century technological revolution.

This year’s crop of Columbus School Board candidates may be the most distinguished in the city’s history. Those running include Eric Brown – former Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and 15-year school board member at Mayfield City Schools; Mary Jo Hudson – former Columbus City Council member and former Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance; Jim Hunter – a Harvard graduate; Bernadine Kent, former Columbus City Schools vice principal, teacher and the key whistleblower on two of the school district’s recent scandals; Tina Pierce – former college professor and administrator, and current educational consultant; Ben Tyson – Senior Manager of Community Relations at Easton Town Center; Robert Sharrah – internal auditor and fraud investigator; and the two incumbents Gary Baker and Shawna Gibbs.

“Columbus is safe from Fracking.  It’s all happening out in eastern Ohio, right?”

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