City of Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil states, “Incumbent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s runoff election loss yesterday is part of a pattern across the country. In one term, she lost the unprecedented diverse backing that elected her four years ago. Voters in cities east and west, north and south, large and small are rejecting new leaders and handpicked politicians who are joined at the hip with developers and corporations. Chicago voters overwhelmingly made it clear that those who are not delivering on their promises to provide safe neighborhoods, truly affordable housing, fixing our crumbling infrastructure, solving homelessness, and quality of life for all no longer will remain in office.”           

Motil says, “Last year’s Los Angeles, California mayoral election loss by businessman Rick Caruso, who spent over $100 million on his campaign, is also a sign that money by itself isn’t going to fool Columbus voters. We see similar patterns in New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, even Cleveland and Cincinnati.  

GREEGREE #127 starts with the great ANDREA MILLER of the Center for Common Ground as she explains her legendary organization’s grassroots work in the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court  race. 

Because the Court in WI is evenly divided (3-3) between progressives v. conservatives, this oddly timed (April 3) election will have huge impact.  

As Andrea explains, a woman’s right to choose is on the line, as is redistricting, voter registration and much more in a state that could well decide the 2024 presidential campaign.

We hear further from KARLA SAND in Minnesota, who gives important detail on the unexpected victory of KEITH ELLISION for the AG office in Minnesota.

DR. RUTH STRAUSS asks Andrea about the Virginia election that has now sent the state’s first woman of color to the US Congress.

DOROTHY REIK and CYNTHIA PAPERMASTER also add to our discussion, in particular about the potential US Senate candidacy of Rep. Barbara Lee, the only Congressperson to vote again the Afghan War.

The reasons why a loved one takes their own life is an agonizing question a bereaved family has to deal with for the rest of their lifetime. But if a person decides to take their life at their place of employment, it’s a distinct possibility the stresses of the job played a role.

On the Westside of Columbus, sandwiched between Upper Arlington and Hilliard, is a mostly industrial area where one of the region’s largest employers – the United Parcel Service or UPS – has a massive hub. A 90-acre packaging distribution center to be exact, which employs roughly 800 full-time and part-time workers, and processes over 60,000 packages an hour. The hub’s address is 5101 Trabue Road and can be seen driving west on I-70.

Late last December, a full-time UPS employee, believed to be an assistant manager, took their own life at the hub while on the job. A large Columbus police presence showed, and according to several UPS workers there that night, the incident was severely traumatizing.

The United States and Ohio commit relentlessly to limit children’s reading and literacy. Led by Ohio State University’s anti-academic, anti-children’s learning, and profiteering Reading Recovery—where there is nothing to “recover,” let alone reading--Ohio swings wildly from over-dependence on—you pick the misleading jargon name—phonetics, “balanced reading,” “whole word,” “look-see” to now tilting at the windmill of so-called phonics.

In this, Ohio follows a national shift. Despite DeWine’s constant refrain, Ohio is never a leader, especially in education where the needs of children never come first. (See, for example, my “State legislators and critical race theory,” Letter to the Editor,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 27, 2021; “Ohio Education Promotes Racism and Restricting Equity, Again,” Columbus Free Press, Oct. 27, 2021; “DeWine whines about critical race theory,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Dec. 11, 2021; “The State of Ohio assaults its own children: The war on those least able to defend themselves,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Mar. 6, 2022;