Three out of every ten workers in Ohio perform essential jobs that literally keep us alive and our communities functioning. And if anyone needs reminding, food and agriculture workers – the people who literally put food on our tables – are paid less than a poverty wage. 

According to a new report from Policy Matters Ohio and Essential Ohio, essential workers’ median pay is 12.9% less than that of workers in nonessential jobs. Meanwhile, essential workers’ risk of contracting COVID and bringing it home is far greater.

“Ohio’s essential workers have shown up throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to do the work that has gotten us through the crisis so far,” said Michael Shields, report author and researcher with Policy Matters Ohio. “It’s time for Ohio policymakers to show up for them, with safe workplaces, pay that dignifies their vital work, and a voice on the job.”

MEK is a curious hybrid creature that pretends to be an alternative government option for Iran even though it is despised by nearly all Iranians.

One might ask if Washington’s obsession with terrorism includes supporting radical armed groups as long as they are politically useful in attacking countries that the US regards as enemies? It is widely known that the American CIA worked with Saudi Arabia to create al-Qaeda to attack the Russians in Afghanistan and the same my-enemy’s-enemy thinking appears to drive the current relationships with radical groups in Syria.

When the Palestinian Olympic delegation of five athletes - adorned in traditional Palestinian attire and carrying the Palestinian flag - crossed into the Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium during the inauguration ceremony on July 23, I was overcome with pride and nostalgia. 

I grew up watching the Olympics. All of us did. Throughout the month-long international sports event, the Olympics were the main topic of discussion among the refugees in my refugee camp in Gaza, where I was born. 

Unlike other sports competitions such as football, you did not need to care about the sport itself to appreciate the underlying meaning of the Olympics. The entire exercise seemed to be political. 

Thursday, August 5, 7pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

We’re screening “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” as part of the fourth installment of the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio film series, “Movies, Mifepristone, and Misoprostol.”

Mifepristone and Misoprostol are safe drugs that provide life-affirming care: abortion. As Democratic lawmakers push the FDA to make these drugs more accessible, join us for a movie screening that focuses on the right to bodily autonomy.

On Thursday, August 5, at 7pm, we’ll be screening “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a film with an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery, and compassion.

A 1963 landmark meeting that helped change the course of civil rights in America provides the centerpiece in the world premiere of “When Your Soul Cries,” a two- act drama by Columbus playwright Rich Bloom.

Bloom said the play is being produced by Stage Right Theatrics  Aug. 13-15 at the Abbey Theater in Dublin.

 “This is the very first play I’ve written, and I am humbled that Stage Right would deem it worthy to premiere this summer,” Bloom said. “Naturally I am excited and apprehensive, but I believe the play’s message resonates loudly given the racial divide that still exists in this country. On that one day in May,” he said, “black lives not only mattered, they made a difference.”

The four-hour gathering, Bloom said, took place on May 24, 1963 between Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a passionate group of black activists. Both sides had agreed to keep the meeting “a secret,” but anger, frustration and disillusionment undermined that agreement.