News

This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame.

In April, the Biden administration announced changes to Title IX, the landmark civil rights law, that would explicitly protect LGBTQ+ student-athletes from discrimination for the first time in history. 

Since then, attorneys general in at least 22 states have sued the administration in an attempt to block the changes, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

In nine of those states, including Ohio, federal judges have specifically blocked the Title IX protections for transgender and intersex students from taking effect.

The Title IX amendments, which are still set to take effect in September in 40 states, triggered a cascade of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash across the country – including at the Ohio Statehouse, where conservative lawmakers have been rallying against the changes for months.

In a lopsided 88-2 vote (with 10 not voting, including Sen. Richard Durbin), the Senate passed S.870 – the so-called ADVANCED Act, a bill which quite literally takes the lid off of the nuclear safety box, both domestically and internationally.

So proud and confident were the Senators in nuclear power’s promises, rather than being introduced as stand-alone legislation, the 93-page bill had to be snuck into the three-page Fire Grants and Safety Act – a bill reasonably assured to pass at a time when huge parts of the nation are again in the process of burning to the ground.

Using the logic similar to that of an adolescent purchasing a first car (“If it’s red, fast, and a convertible – that’s it! What could go wrong?”), bill advocates trotted out the usual litany of at best contestable at worst discredited arguments for its passage: nuclear is clean and green, is needed to fight the climate crisis, creates jobs, and is over-regulated.

The German Village Society, in a letter sent on May 28 to the Mayor’s Office, City Council, and “Zone In” officials, has requested to not be a part of the City’s massive zoning code overhaul.

The Society’s request only covers those German Village properties on East Livingston Avenue, across the street from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Zone In has left the rest of German Village untouched, arguably Central Ohio’s most unique community.

The Society has yet to receive an answer from City officials. Put succinctly, Zone In seeks density with taller condominiums and apartment buildings in popular Columbus corridors, as high as 16 stories. Zone In has designated this part of East Livingston a “main corridor” where the properties are historically designated. But property owners have absolute ownership and can do as they please.

“Every block along Livingston in the Zone In proposal within our boundary already has historic properties either in place onsite or immediately adjacent, so the height restrictions stated in the Guidelines would be firmly in place,” stated the Soceity’s letter.

Central Ohio Starbucks workers at Neverland Drive and East Broad filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today, joining 18 other Starbucks stores across the country that also filed this week. The massive wave of union filings comes just days after Starbucks Workers United members wrapped a second round of national bargaining with Starbucks where the two parties continued to make significant progress toward a foundational framework for store contracts.

“If I go to my manager for help, nothing happens. If we all go together, Starbucks has no choice but to listen – that’s why we’re unionizing,” said Ash Wearly (he/him), a barista at the East Broad store (88 East Broad St.).

“This pride month we are showing up in solidarity with our partners who have paved the way for us. We are filing because we deserve a living wage, a safe and dignified work environment, and to be respected by Starbucks. We love our partners and want to make our store and this company a better place for all of us,” said Katherine Butler (she/her), a shift supervisor of eight years working at the Neverland Drive store (21 Neverland Dr. in Lewis Center).

Here is Mr. Simmons statement in its entirety:

“I am writing directly to our community once again to express a sincere apology of what has transpired. I am deeply sorry and ashamed.

I want to provide additional clarity to our community:

I can disclose the following three meetings:

7pm May 9th at the Fawcett Center: with President Christina Vera, Superintendent Dr. Anglea Chapman, Board Member Brandon Simmons. A version of this document dated May 9th is still in existence, Christina Vera and Angela Chapman provided feedback and suggestions that were placed in the document dated May 10th.

3:30 pm May 10th  at CEC Cabinet Room: with President Christina Vera, Superintendent Dr. Chapman, Board Members Jennifer Adair and Brandon Simmons. Additionally, Dr. Anglea Chapman invited staff from the Office of the Superintendent, the Communications Department, and an external participant. Prior to the May 10 meeting, Dr. Chapman distributed the May 9th document to her staff.

The May 14th press conference is a direct result of the document and this meeting. 

CSA – CAOA – UPDATES & OTHER TIDBITS

There’s a lot to report regarding the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In fact, federal full legal has reemerged in the form of the proposed Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), first introduced in 2022 and reintroduced in May this year. Updates below join a few other tidbits.

CSA (AKA CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT)

After obtaining a shocking leaked Columbus City Schools Board of Education strategy document [READ LEAKED DOCUMENT], which details plans to use racial divides to attack opponents of school closures and hide information from taxpayers, members of the community and Columbus City Schools Union leaders sent the following open letter to the Board of Education this morning:

An Open Letter to Columbus City Schools Board of Education Members,

We have obtained a document titled “Taking Control of the Task Force Narrative” (enclosed), dated May 10, 2024. We believe this document to have been presented by current Columbus City Schools Board of Education member Brandon Simmons and shared in at least one private meeting with other Board members. This document outlines a communications strategy for the Board of Education regarding the Superintendent’s Community Facilities Task Force which includes plans to:

Community Festival (ComFest) is back in Goodale Park Friday, June 28 through Sunday, June 30, 2024. 

ComFest will feature over 150 musical performances, social activism and community-oriented programming over three days. In addition to the line-up of the city’s best live music spread over five stages, workshops, KiDSART, live comedy, poetry readings and other programming will be featured throughout the park. The much-loved Street Fair also returns with one-of-a-kind vendors, arts and crafts, local food and community organizations. 

New at ComFest this year will be a singer/songwriter/troubadour stage and a Silent Disco.

ComFest has partnered with Seventh Son Brewing Co. for a special ComFest brew that will be featured all weekend. A portion of the sales will benefit ComFest’s Community Grants Program. Also new for 2024 will be a non-alcoholic beer option.

ComFest is “Powered by Community” and volunteer opportunities are available. Give a shift and get chips for ComFest beverages and food and your very own volunteer T-shirt.

Dear AG Dave Yost,

Ohio AG Dave Yost wants to criminalize free speech. Last week, he issued a "legal fatwa" where he threatened to invoke a 1953 law better known as "anti-KKK" against 41 brave OSU students and faculty who were arrested last April 25. Reason? The protesters were calling for their university to divest from Israel and an end to the Israeli genocide and starvation in Gaza. Simply put, he will charge OSU students & faculties fourth degree felony charge under his silly unheard-of law.
 

By cracking down on OSU students for protesting against genocide after 14,500+ slaughtered Palestinian children and billions in US aid, weapons, and political cover, that makes AG Yost as complicit.

Contrary to AG Yost "Yo Yost" TV campaign commercial in which he promised to protect Ohioans' religious freedom, AG Yost ordered his troops to attack students while they were praying and violate Muslim students' religious rights as they were exercising their First Amendment's rights at OSU campus. Furthermore, students and faculties who were arrested were subjected to illegal, inhumane, and degrading treatments such as: 

A recreational dispensary on wheels – a weed truck if you will, which may or not be completely state sanctioned – has been rolling around Columbus for some time now and the Free Press decided to go Cheech & Chong-ish and chase down some product. 

After glimpsing the THC truck in the Near East and Far East over the previous two months, it was spotted at a gas station catty-corner to Eastlawn Cemetery. 

We spent $100, and our first review of this roving THC vehicle is “Meh” on the vapes and “Yay” on the edibles. The truck’s driver and co-worker will go unnamed. They insisted what they were selling was the real deal. Not the headache inducing Delta-8 products sold these days at nearly every city market or bodega. 

Delta-8 THC, unlike regular THC, has been fully legal in Ohio since 2018 through a Statehouse bill after Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act in the same year which allowed hemp products to be sold as long as they have .3 percent THC or less.