Thoughts and prayers: Heartbreaking news out of Florida. Jane and I send our prayers to the school, the community, and the victims of this tragedy. — Rob Portman (@senrobportman) February 14, 2018 Rob Portman is up to $3,061,941 in donations from the NRA, an organization that exists to protect the profits of gun manufacturers, despite a…

A new documentary on Showtime is exploring the heroin epidemic that is gripping our country, state, and city. 'The Trade' tells an important story about heroin, from it's origins in the fields of Mexico, to its eventual destination in communities around the country. Featured prominently in the series is Columbus, and lengths law enforcement are…

America is in the grips of a deadly epidemic and Ohio is at the epicenter. The growing opioid crisis has deeply affected the Buckeye state, where opioids have claimed more lives per capita than anywhere else in the country. On August 10th, 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency. But since that…

Columbus has made the first cut for Amazon's HQ2, so it's probably time to start taking this seriously. The Columbus bid should still be viewed as a long shot, but making the top 20 of 238 bids is impressive, especially when considering what cities have been offering. So what did Columbus offer? Luckily for us, the…

Really stop and think for a minute about how Columbus residents don't get a legitimate opportunity to elect city council members. The audacity of how our city council sausage gets made is breathtaking. Zach Klein stepped down as City Council president after winning election to be Columbus City Attorney and so Council has appointed realtor…

As Columbus grows and develops, so too does it's widening "food deserts". I still remember hearing the term for the first time. I swirled it around my mouth a bit, tasted it. It seemed a pretty appropriate expression."Food desert". It's defined as "an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality…

Charter schools are in the news again today and it will probably not surprise you to learn they are still dumpster fires: "even when excluding dropout-recovery schools, the four-year graduation rate of charter schools in Ohio is just under 45 percent, faring worse than public schools in Ohio’s six largest cities. Schools in Columbus, Cleveland,…

Reuters dropped a bombshell report on Tasor usage in United States prisons yesterday, and it focused on incidents in Franklin County Jail. Serious warning, this is upsetting reading: Reuters documents 104 prisoner fatalities after corrections officers deployed Tasers, often with other force. Most inmates were unarmed, and many were handcuffed or pinned to the ground. Some…

Updated: January 3rd, 2018 to make clear that Park Street Cantina has not lost their license as of yet. The state has sided with city objections to liquor license renewals 21 out of 22 times since 2015, and that 22nd is still pending. The Ohio Division of Liquor Control should rule on Park Street Cantina's…

Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings ups the ante on awful in more ways than one. Some men, it seems, are inherently pillars of moral fiber. They recognize the consequences of their actions and they know the weight of the things they say is often just as heavy as the decisions that they make. Some say these…