Rogue Machine’s first play of its 16th season is a worthy, thought provoking addition to the canon of what is arguably Los Angeles’ best theatre company. There’s an expression that was popularized by second-wave feminists in the sizzling sixties that “the personal is political,” and playwright Juan José Alfonso’s Middle of the World skillfully succeeds in synthesizing both. This one-act drama mixes race, romance, class, idealism, egoism, age and more as Glenn Joyner (Christian Telesmar), a 30-ish African American who works in New York’s financial sector, enters the backseat of a rideshare at JFK Airport. 

House and Senate negotiators released a tax proposal that would improve the Child Tax Credit for about 80% of families with low incomes who now do not receive the full credit and lift an estimated 400,000 children above the poverty line.

Two more Columbus of Division of Police officers were arrested for stealing and dealing illicit drugs, the second such arrest over the previous three years.

John Castillo, 31, of Grove City, and Joel Mefford, 34, of London, Ohio, were taken into custody on Thursday by the FBI. Both are alleged to have stolen cocaine from houses suspected of drug trafficking, and Mefford was also accused of stealing a large amount of cocaine from the Columbus police property room. Whether the two were working in tandem was not revealed in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio, press release.

In 2021, two Columbus police narcotics officers assigned to the Division’s cartel unit were arrested by the FBI for dealing cocaine and fentanyl. Both Marco Merino, 44, and John Kotchkoski, 33, pled guilty and are now serving lengthy sentences.

Friday, February 2, 2024, 4:30 PM
Bicentennial Park, 233 S. Civic Center Dr.

Contact: Mark D. Stansbery, 614-252-9255 or walk@igc.org

Hosted by Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, Jewish Voices for Peace and others.