On the longest night of the year, when Saturn and Jupiter connected in the galaxy, on the South Side of Columbus, a couple of dozen people gathered together at the Kossuth Street Garden to their Winter Solstice Event.

Kossuth Street Garden director Michael Doody posted on his Facebook page that the Winter Solstice is “The Return of the Sun” in the Inuit Tribe. The Garden was lit with Luminaries to bring light to the Garden. The approximate two dozen attendees each held a candle to commemorate those who we lost this year. The purpose of this year’s Winter Solstice Event was to honor the Frontliners of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and to fight to keep the Kossuth Street Garden alive.

The Kossuth Street Garden, in the Southern Orchards Neighborhood in South Columbus is the target of re-development by developers. The South Side Area Commission and the Southern Orchards Civic Association both approved the Zoning Variances for development on the site. In January, the Garden will head to the City of Columbus Division of Planning and Development.

On January 22, 2021 the world will declare nuclear weapons to be illegal under international law.

That is the date when the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into force. This amazing feat is the culmination of years of work by antiwar and human rights activists worldwide.

The United Front Against the Far-Right and Capitalist System! march and rally on Inauguration Day started at City Hall then marched across High Street to the Ohio Statehouse. The Ohio Highway State Patrol and the National Guard had the building surrounded with man (and woman) power along with Humvees and patrol vehicles. As speeches were made the "security detail" stared but did not flinch. Signs read “Black Lives Matter” and “We don’t want Biden, we want revenge!” The demonstrators encouraged people to continue the fight against the far right and fascism.

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Late on Inauguration Day, President Biden signed an Executive Order repealing the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy and directing federal departments to carry out the mission. The Department of Homeland Security announced it will suspend deportations for 100 days, starting January 22. This gives the government time to establish a new immigration policy, and for Congress to pass immigration laws that create pathways to citizenship for immigrants who are already home.

Lynn Tramonte, Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance responds:

From every immigration jail, let freedom ring! 

This 100-day pause is a sigh of relief for so many people in Ohio and beyond. After four brutal years of cruel and truly incomprehensible deportations, the U.S. Government seems ready to inject some common sense into the enforcement of civil immigration laws.

After it went public that black-owned bakery Bake Me Happy in Merion Village was on the receiving end of a racist and violent threat, another minority-owned restaurant came forward saying they too are dealing with racists making threats behind their cell phones.

Not to downplay their situation, but Bake Me Happy told Columbus police and the FBI they received threats over a single weekend. The popular and lauded Curry Up Indian Grill on Sawmill Road told the Free Press they’ve been targeted with racist calls for almost two years now, about six to ten times a month.

Curry Up owner Vishal Patel said he received a threat “just the other day.” And threats against minority-owned restaurants and businesses could be a much bigger problem than the police or public know.

Patel believes minority-owned establishments up and down Sawmill are also receiving threats, but the owners are too afraid or worried they may scare customers away if they were to go public.