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On Tuesday night, a Free Press reporter was driving on 71 South and began descending the Greenlawn Avenue exit where the now shuttered Thurns’ butcher shop is directly to the right. As some know and often see, on the left side of the exit in a narrow area of gravel is a male houseless person and his dog. For several years now they have set up a make-shift artist camp here.

His paintings and sketches ask for kindness and a handout in a quirky loving way. As one recent sign stated, “Needing a Space Ship to leave Earth.”

The Free Press reporter rolled down his window and asked: “We’re you not able to get a bed tonight at a shelter?”

The artist quickly replies: “No! They don’t take pets.”

His plight in bone-chilling temperatures is just one of several stories to emerge this week showing how chaotic and challenging it is to protect the community’s houseless from severe cold. Some houseless refuse to leave their tent at night fearing their belongings will be taken. Houseless couples refuse to be separated, as warranted by some shelters. And there is one warming center which does allows pets, it is on the Eastside.

This article originally appeared in the Buckeye Flame

Members of the Ohio House voted 65-28 to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto on Ohio House Bill (HB) 68 Wednesday evening – taking one step closer to banning healthcare for transgender people under the age of 18 and preventing transgender girls from competing in sports from kindergarten through college.

DeWine announced the veto during a press conference last week, where he instead proposed a set of new administrative rules restricting access to healthcare for all transgender Ohioans.

This commentary was originally published on January 3rd, 2024 in the Buckeye Flame.

In 2023, the Ohio legislature passed just over a dozen bills, and many of those were trivial or ceremonial, like naming a highway.

But they made sure to have 25 hearings on anti-LGBTQ+ bills, mostly targeting youth. 

Now legislators are coming back early from their holiday vacations solely to take healthcare from kids. 

Introduction

This post raises the question of whether President Biden’s quest for re-election in 2024 will be negatively affected by his pledge to continue America’s support for Israel and its war on Gaza.

President Biden has put his 2024 re-election at risk by supporting Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza.

Early in this war, Biden unequivocally supported Israel’s military response to the Hamas attack on southern Israel. In just over a week after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Biden met with Netanyahu to express his and America’s unequivocal and unconditional support for Israel

(https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1206832708/biden-israel-trip-mideast-peace).

This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Friday vetoed HB 68, a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care in the state of Ohio and prevented trans female athletes from participating on women’s sports team in K-12 and college athletics. 

“I cannot sign this bill as it is currently written,” DeWine said, repeatedly asserting that the “government does not know better than parents.” 

The Ohio legislature passed HB 68 on December 13, sending it on to DeWine for his signature. The governor had 10 days after receiving the bill to make his decision. The Republican-led state legislature needs a 3/5s vote to override the veto. 

In the briefing, DeWine explained that he used those 10 days to have conversations with those affected including: bill sponsor Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), physicians and counselors who provide gender-affirming care, detransitioners and medical personnel he met during visits to children’s hospitals in Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati. 

This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Friday vetoed HB 68, a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care in the state of Ohio and prevented trans female athletes from participating on women’s sports team in K-12 and college athletics. 

“I cannot sign this bill as it is currently written,” DeWine said, repeatedly asserting that the “government does not know better than parents.” 

The Ohio legislature passed HB 68 on December 13, sending it on to DeWine for his signature. The governor had 10 days after receiving the bill to make his decision. The Republican-led state legislature needs a 3/5s vote to override the veto. 

In the briefing, DeWine explained that he used those 10 days to have conversations with those affected including: bill sponsor Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), physicians and counselors who provide gender-affirming care, detransitioners and medical personnel he met during visits to children’s hospitals in Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati. 

The Proud Boys in their bee-suits with mass-shooter guns slung over shoulders will be at the Ohio Statehouse on January 6, 2024 to commemorate the US Capitol insurrection, this according to the Ohio Right Watch of Cleveland, which is “keeping an eye on the far-right in Ohio”.

“We literally just wanted to have an event to memorialize Ashli Babbitt and show her family support and be able to simultaneously be much needed attention to J-6 political prisoners. That’s all this event is,” said Columbus resident Jay Deets in a rambling and conspiratorial video recently posted online in response to anti-fascists calling for a counter protest.

Who Deets is and what influence he has over local right-wingers is not fully known by the Free Press. But his MAGA vitriol for “antifers” is loud and clear. While his inside information that the Patriot Front and the neo-Nazi “Blood Tribe” will also show sounds legitimate.

For several years now the winter solstice event at Serpent Mound, where candles or luminaries were placed so to outline the Native American effigy mound, has been canceled and this year will be no different.

Serpent Mound is within a privte park in Peebles, Ohio, but under control of the Ohio History Connection (OHC), and it was the OHC which made the decision in 2017 to end the event at the suggestion of Native Americans. Most notably the Shawnee, who claim ancestral stewardship of the effigy mound, which is the largest on the planet. Fascinating is how one of the Serpent’s coils aligns with the winter solstice sunrise while its head aligns with the summer solstice sunset.

The “Lighting of the Serpent” was put on by Friends of the Serpent Mound, an eclectic mix of Peebles’ locals – both Native and non-Native – who take great pride in protecting and promoting the effigy mound. The event was a highlight for this region during the winter. A place in Ohio seemingly lost to time, as there is limited things to do coupled with a stagnate economy.

This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame

After more than three years and hearing hundreds of witnesses at the Ohio Statehouse, lawmakers have passed legislation that bans healthcare for transgender youth and prevents transgender girls from competing in sports from kindergarten through college.

After receiving a favorable report from the Senate Government Oversight Committee during its fourth hearing, an amended version of Ohio House Bill (HB) 68 passed 24 to 8 during a full Senate vote Wednesday afternoon. 

Wednesday evening, the Ohio House voted 61 to 27 to concur, endorsing the Senate’s amended bill and sending it to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature.

Every citizen of Columbus should be alarmed by the recent actions of two local politicians. One politician—who was up for re-election in November-directly contacted a judge to influence a pending civil matter in which he was named a party. And that judge then failed to disclose the full details of such ex parte action until after the election.

As Mayor, Andy Ginther is a party to City of Columbus v Wilson 845 LLC et al 2023 EVH 060592. As disclosed by Judge Stephanie Mingo on December 8, Ginther called the personal cell phone of Judge Mingo with specific needs on the case.

We always hear politicians talk about the need for accountability and full transparency in government. This is the exact opposite for both elected officials.

The timeline as indicated in court filings is important: