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They’re at it again. Despite a year and a half. Despite a half billion dollars. Despite record opposition to a similar bill, the Ohio General Assembly is once again pushing forward with its wet dream of legislatively killing last year’s Issue 2 that legalized adult use marijuana. So, what’s a seasoned activist to do? How about submitting written testimony to the Judiciary Committee, followed by reworking that same testimony into an article for the Columbus Free Press. Then, everyone can to see, hear, read, digest, and abhor the legislature’s total lack of understanding of what mandatory minimum sentencing means to sick, dying, and disabled patients.

President Biden left behind an economy that was pretty healthy, conventionally speaking. Unemployment was low and wages were rising, but stubbornly high costs of living opened a door for Donald Trump’s political comeback.

Exactly why has the City of Columbus and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) removed large areas of tree canopy and brush from Columbus over the past several years? According to some homeowners and activists in Franklinton, ODOT accidentally let the cat out of the bag. Telling them during a meeting it was because “homeless live there.”

Other Franklinton homeowners refute ODOT’s slip-of-the-tongue explanation, saying there is no conspiracy against the unhoused, instead they contend ODOT lied during the meeting to conceal the truth. Which is that ODOT and its private contractors failed to follow their protocols due to incompetence and laziness.  

Nevertheless, in April of 2024, ODOT with help from local contractors, removed roughly six acres of trees and brush off the slopes of SR-315 and I-70 within Franklinton. Incidentally, ODOT’s contractors also at that time cut down $30,000 worth of City of Columbus trees planted on a city easement between city and ODOT property. Rosalie Hendon, Columbus’s City Forester, has requested ODOT pay to have them replaced.

When establishment Democrat Tiara Ross, City Council candidate showed up for the Free Press’s recent candidate forum for the District 7 primary, it came as a mild surprise.

Did she know anti-establishment Democrat Joe Motil is a regular writer for the Free Press? Our blistering criticism of the out-of-control, tax-abated and mostly unaesthetic development establishment Dems have forced into our most popular neighborhoods?

Certainly, the Free Press wanted Ross to be there, and here she was. But also to our surprise was who else unexpectedly showed. A broadcast reporter from Channel 10 (WBNS). And this is what we’ve come to know about Ross. She wasn’t going to let the other two candidates appear on the 11 o’clock news without her.

In some ways Ross reflects a growing cadre of modern-day political office seekers and holders. There’s a distinct and disingenuous difference between her public and not-so public persona.

On April 26, 2025 WOSU Public Media reported, “Columbus campaign reports show donations from councilmembers, out-of-state residents.”

When questioned about the majority of his campaign contributors coming from of out-of-state, Columbus City Council candidate Jesse Vogel stated:

"What we're doing is trying to garner support of individuals who are excited about the potential of our campaign collective to make collective change rather than from a handful of politicians who are working to maintain the status quo.”

Although WOSU “estimated about half of his contributors came from out of state,” after a thorough review of his Annual and Pre-Primary finance reports, 56 percent of his contributors were from out of state and if you include contributors from outside of Central Ohio, but in Ohio, that number jumps to 60 percent.

The WOSU article also includes some “prominent names” as contributors to Mr. Vogel’s campaign. Two prominent newsworthy names not mentioned are those of Dan McCarthy and Laurel Dawson who donated $250 each to Vogel’s campaign.

Although the statement that “power grows out of the barrel of a gun” was made by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, it’s an idea that, in one form or another, has motivated a great many people, from the members of teenage street gangs to the statesmen of major nations.

The rising spiral of world military spending provides a striking example of how highly national governments value armed forces. In 2024, the nations of the world spent a record $2.72 trillion on expanding their vast military strength, an increase of 9.4 percent from the previous year. It was the tenth year of consecutive spending increases and the steepest annual rise in military expenditures since the end of the Cold War.

thank you sammy roth for this important piece.

it's horrifying to see apostles of hate like vance, trump, bannon et al trashing the vital humanitarian creed for which this great pope worked in such good faith. it's clear that if jesus himself came back to preach the loving gospel he created, the MAGA hordes would have him again crucified. 

it's also horrifying to see the ecological nightmare california's utilities have imposed on us. the fires that ravaged pacific palisades were clearly climate induced, then sparked by their incompetent in ability to safely maintain power lines. 

had los angeles been rightfully covered in solar panels, connected with micro-grids, as would best be for our economy and much more, those fires would never have happened.

Despite much lofty rhetoric portraying the United States as a democracy (in which the people rule), this nation, in fact, has often resembled a plutocracy (in which the wealthy rule).

The confusion owes a great deal to the fact that the United States, at its founding, was somewhat more democratic than its contemporaries.  In the eighteenth century, European nations, governed by kings, princes, and other wealthy hereditary elites, usually provided a contrast to the more unruly, less hidebound new nation, where some Americans even had the vote.

Even so, the overwhelming majority of Americans didn’t have the vote, which was largely confined to property-owning or tax-paying white males―about 6 percent of the U.S. population in 1789.  Women (comprising about 50 percent of the population) were, with very few exceptions, denied voting rights.  And slaves (about 18 percent of the population) lacked both voting rights and citizenship.

After over a month of withholding information surrounding public investments in Israeli Bonds, the Franklin County Treasurer’s Office finally released the county investment reports for February and March of 2025. These reports, alongside discussion at the meeting of the Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) on April 17, 2025, confirmed that Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan has decided not to reinvest holdings from Israeli Bonds that matured on February 1, 2025 into additional Israeli Bonds. 

Video of meeting

Andy Ginther’s 41-minute State of the City Speech given yesterday was as usual heavy on campaign rhetoric, self-promotion and empty promises rather than admitting or even hinting at his failures and mistakes.

Ginther emphasized that LinkUS Columbus is critically important to the growth of Columbus yet he continues to exclude the essential services of regional bus transportation providers as partners of LinkUS Columbus.    

Ginther stated, “How lucky are we to lead and shape the future of this incredible place.” Of course, the mayor was referring to his major campaign contributors, developers, power brokers, and the 80 member Columbus Partnership.