News

As police violence continues against Ohioans, the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity (OCTEQI) believes the only way to end police violence is to change policy. And the only way to change the policy that allows police violence is by putting a citizen-led initiative on a state ballot to end qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that allows public officials to escape consequences for unreasonable behavior even when they violate someone’s rights. It has become a barrier to justice for victims of police misconduct. 

The OCTEQI is a voice for the unheard democratic people who have lost their lives to police violence. Franklin County, for instance, has one of highest rates of fatal police shootings in Ohio and the U.S. Now is the time to end the systemic injustices that for decades have shielded law enforcement officers from responsibility when they have harmed civilians.

State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) today responded to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s plans for another statewide voter purge clouded in darkness that will happen two weeks before voting in the upcoming presidential election. The Cleveland-area lawmaker sent a third letter to LaRose’s office after his refusal to provide public records requested related to LaRose’s quiet 2023 purge of nearly 27,000 people from Ohio’s voter rolls six days after November absentee ballots were sent out and reiterates a demand for transparency and cooperation with the public to ensure that no voter is incorrectly removed from the voter registry.   

“The secretary of state seems more excited about canceling Ohio voters than providing answers and transparency to his process, which seems plagued by politics and inexperience. That’s why I’ve repeatedly asked for an official audit and public records so we know exactly what’s going on, ”said Rep. Sweeney in her letter to Sec. LaRose’s office. “ The problem with purging is that it has removed eligible voters. That’s unacceptable. We need answers.” 

The “Old Amateurs” of Columbus – also known as those who do most of the hard work in the community – have not been invited by City officials to take personal tours beginning this week of the “Zone In” gallery which opened downtown at 141 N. Front Street. The gallery offers an opportunity for the public to see and comment on the zoning overhaul which could radically change Columbus’s major corridors.

To the City’s credit, members of our LGBTQ+ community, recent immigrants, and the arts community have been invited (pictured above). But those at the head of the line for a personal tour are “Young Professionals,” who are coveted by “Zone In Columbus” considering they’re the few who will able to afford the tiny condos and apartments in the tall towers which “Zone In” will green light for high-end developers to build in Columbus’s major corridors.

About 700 students, faculty, & community members held a 6-hour protest at Ohio State University campus yesterday. Protesters called OSU to divest investments from companies with links to Israel.  The protest ended when nearly 70 police officers and Ohio State High Patrol brutalized protesters while they were performing "Isha" Muslim prayers and arrested nearly 40 protesters, including students, faculty, one Jewish protester, and community members. There were 20 members who were not affiliated by OSU. Those were parents and other family members of the protesters who came to support the students and be there for them in the event of arrest.  After all, it makes no difference if they were students, faculty or not. OSU is public university and is supported by our tax-payers money. 

Columbus is a massive flat concrete and asphalt pancake on vast prairie land with one million new residents projected by 2050. Building new Metro Parks is essential to give the community more things to do and connect them to nature.

The good news is two new Metro Parks on the Far South Side are scheduled to open at the end of this year.

Under construction behind the Great Southern Shopping Center is the Great Southern Metro Park on the banks of the Scioto River. A bike trail down the river will connect to downtown. The Bank Run Metro Park was mapped out close to Big Walnut Creek within the Village of Lockbourne near several large dormant quarries now filled with rainwater once owned by Shelly and Sands Inc., a mining company.

Unfortunately, the two new parks may have some bad news baggage as well. Because a few Metro Park fans are wondering: Will the parks have a massive “mixed used” property connected or even in the park itself?

Sam Randazzo was once the Chair of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission.

Now, at 74, he’s dead by apparent suicide. 

As is the “Nuclear Renaissance.” 

Dating back many years, we often encountered Sam at energy hearings in Columbus. He was always personable and friendly as we exchanged handshakes and smiles. 

That we were totally on opposite sides of the issues was like an inside joke between us.

But he was there to lobby for the fossil/nuclear industry while we were demanding Ohio get its energy from wind and solar—which it could be doing today except for Sam and his corporate bankrollers’ highly effective back channel arm twisting.

Randazzo was always highly paid…TOO well paid, which is what led to his death in a Columbus warehouse owned by a shell company he controlled.

Apparently it was a suicide, though one can never be entirely sure when there are millions of bucks flying around in bribes. 

Because unbeknownst to us and even some of those paying him, Sam played both sides of the fence. 

The City and its development offices have been working to overhaul the zoning code since 2021, but some local housing advocates say City officials made the changes “blind” in some respects, after they decided not to use area and neighborhood land use plans as guides.

“Zone In Columbus” – which was formally voted into existence Monday night by City Council – could radically change Columbus’s major corridors as the region continues to experience population growth with some estimates saying nearly 90 new residents a day are moving here.

But a few critics say “Zone In Columbus” is mostly about building taller apartment buildings with no parking options in these major corridors so to create more density. For example, “Zone In Columbus” states Clintonville and its High Street corridor are being “underutilized”.

Every time there is a solar eclipse that affects Ohio, the old story of Tecumseh’s alleged eclipse predictions of 1806 and 1811 is recycled. Often, some historian attempts to correct the popular myth by saying that it was not Tecumseh, but his brother Tenskwatawa, “the Shawnee Prophet,” who predicted the two eclipses, thus building the cult that regarded Tenskwatawa as a genuine shaman, rendered into the English title “Prophet. “The Shawnee Prophet’s movement did spread, largely on the myth of the eclipse prediction, becoming a major basis of modern syncretic Native American religion. The myth of these “prophecies” has been greatly amplified by the novelist Allan Eckert, whose highly-fictionalized outdoor drama Tecumseh still plays in Chillicothe, Ohio, using the prophecy motif to turn Tecumseh into a Jesus figure.

Representatives of Israel Bonds maintain frequent and close contact with Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan and members of her staff, according to emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Columbus Free Press.

This relationship has proven quite lucrative for Israel Bonds. Franklin County currently holds at least $33 million in Israeli debt, at interest rates ranging from 1.2 percent to 5.74 percent.

Israel Bonds is the common name for the Development Corporation of Israel, the US company that manages the sale of debt securities for the state of Israel.

Members of its regional office based in the Cleveland area are on a first name basis with the staff of the Franklin County Treasurer’s office. In addition, recent reports indicate a close personal relationship between Treasurer Brooks Sullivan and Israel Bonds investment staff.