The Free Press Second Saturday Salon will present an Earth Day Birthday celebration and awards event for WGRN 91.9 FM community radio on Saturday, April 13, 2024. WGRN will honor it’s “Producer of the Year,” Felice Thomas, and “Volunteer of the Year,” Board member Joe Keehner.

The doors will open at 5:30 with light refreshments, socializing and an awards ceremony. It is followed by a 7:00 PM concert by folk musician Tom Neilson. It is free and open to the public.

The celebration and awards event will be held in Beach Hall at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 93 West Weisheimer Rd. in Columbus. For information, contact: spatzer1959@gmail.com.

WGRN is pleased to present the “Producer of the Year” award to Felice Thomas, one the first local producers to join the station. Her program has run on WGRN since 2016 and she has been a tremendous supporter of the community radio station.

The Bronzeville Communications Network is thrilled to announce its official launch event, taking place at the historic Lincoln Theater in Columbus, Ohio, on March 22, 2024, from 2 to 4 p.m. This groundbreaking initiative is set to revolutionize the way the Bronzeville community communicates, fostering rapid and effective information exchange.

The event will be a gathering of the minds, featuring community stakeholders, area school administrators, local politicians, and community members, all coming together to witness the unveiling of this innovative network. The Bronzeville Communications Network aims to enhance connectivity within the community, ensuring that information is shared quickly and efficiently, thereby strengthening the bonds within the community.

Our goal is to empower the Bronzeville community through enhanced communication; says Bob Lentz for the Bronzeville Communications Network. By launching this network, we are taking a significant step toward ensuring that every member of our community is informed, engaged, and connected.

As Bernie Moreno’s gloating victory speech droned on and on like a used car salesman can do, Ohio looked forward to not one significant MAGA race but two, and the US Senate could shift if Sherod Brown were to lose.

It can’t possibly get any worse, but wait until Moreno floods local media with hateful anti-immigration ads. In a 2022 GOP Senate primary which he lost, Moreno spent what he described as the most expensive political ad campaign ever for an Ohio primary.

“They’re changing our nation. Let’s stop them,” Moreno said during the commercials. “Build the wall and make English our official language.”

Demonizing hard working immigrants is MAGA’s only policy – if it can even be called as such. Sticking up for immigrants – as diverse as Franklin County has become – of course will be the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, which once again will call on all people of faith and good conscience to denounce these attacks.

“Immigrants make enormous contributions and keep Ohio industries like agriculture, protein processing, and manufacturing alive,” says Ohio Immigrant Alliance director Lynne Tramonte.

A couple of years ago, the iconic gate to the infamous World War II-era extermination camp at Auschwitz was stolen. As far as I know, the “crime” has not been solved. At the top of that gate was this classic bit of Nazi propaganda, proclaimed to the millions of doomed incoming victims: “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Makes One Free).

 “Arbeit Macht Frei” is a pretty good summary of what is otherwise known as “the Protestant work ethic” that started in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. Right-wing nationalists, anti-communist, pro-capitalist, pro-war, anti-Semitic, racist and religious reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther would have agreed that “Arbeit Macht Frei” supported their dogmatic teachings about fulfilling one’s patriotic duty to the state, the church or the industry that employed the people. 

 Following Hitler’s fascist takeover and the total destruction of Germany’s liberal democratic government in 1933, Germans were indoctrinated to believe that it was their patriotic duty to defend the Nazi’s Thousand Year Reich by any means necessary, including laboring, killing or dying for the cause.