On Saturday, October 2nd 2021 more than 1,000 people attended the Rally for Abortion Justice at the Ohio State House in Downtown Columbus as part of the 2021 National Women's March. Demonstrators in Columbus and at 600 other marches around the country showed up to support the right to access abortion care. The unpreceded Texas law banning nearly all abortions in that state shocked many advocates for reproductive health care.

Abortion access is under attack in Ohio as the 1st hearing for Ohio Senate Bill 123, a "trigger ban" that would criminalize abortions in Ohio, entered Senate Committee with support from two Republican sponsors on September 29th. Also the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear the Mississippi case which could overrule Roe v. Wade in the session starting this October 2021.

At the rally demonstrators held signs that read "My body, my choice" and "Anti-abortion laws are part of systemic racism," and "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?"

Sunday, October 3, 2021, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

It is entirely within the realm of possibility that hundreds of thousands of people have seen the amazing work of Ernest Withers, but didn’t know it. He was one of the most talented and prolific photographers of the modern-day freedom movement. A number of his images–including those of Martin Luther King, Jr., riding on an integrated bus in Montgomery, and the photo of Mose Wright, the extremely brave uncle of Emmett Till defiantly pointing his finger at the white man who kidnaped and killed the teenager–are beyond iconic. But Withers had a secret identity. A native black southerner, he was simultaneously an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in that same movement.

Ohio’s elected Republicans at all levels of government fail the public. It worsens rather than improves. They act against public health and safety; imitate reactionary policies in other states, often unrelated to Ohio; act unconstitutionally; misrepresent basic facts; and contradict the needs and wishes of their constituents. From free speech to voting rights and basic Covid protocols, they violate the law and common sense. While they consider themselves conservatives, they are actually right-wing radicals who violate the traditional respect for others and support for limited government (not wildly “banning” all they oppose). 

First, Republican state legislators create a public health crisis. They refuse to obey the state’s mask mandate or practice social distancing. They vote to override the governor’s and public health officials’ orders despite lacking expertise or any commitment to the public interest or general welfare. They expand gun “rights” while restricting abortion rights, ignoring experts’ testimony, federal and state laws, and the U.S. Constitution.  

When people hear the word “radiation" they most likely think of the horrible human and environmental devastation of Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima, and they are correct to think that. Scientists and the data have confirmed that exposure to radiation causes cancer and death—quickly or slowly, depending on the exposure and accumulation.

Yet, in Ohio and other oil/gas producing states like Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma, when the industry’s radioactive waste products are discussed, they are portrayed and classified as harmless by drillers and government officials. Thanks to investigative journalists, to scientific researchers not paid for by the industry, and especially to concerned community members, we now have more unbiased information to propose legislation for the protection of all people of Ohio and the natural environment. Records have been uncovered that the oil and gas industry has known for decades how dangerous this waste really is (America's Radioactive Secret).