Following a sound study in 2010, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) told Franklinton residents at an area commission meeting that stretches of SR-315 and I-70 were once again eligible for a sound wall.

This was a re-confirmation, as ODOT had said in 1993 that Franklinton was eligible considering it was a “pre-existing” neighborhood, meaning the community was there before the freeways. And surely deserving of a sound wall, as SR-315 cuts through the middle of Franklinton’s eastern end while its southern end is almost entirely bordered by I-70.

Nevertheless, back in 2010, ODOT said the project could start in 2013 and be completed by 2023. Between this time, residents called ODOT for an update. There are more cars than ever on these freeways, they said, and the public health impacts are real. ODOT responded, saying there was a new plan in place. They were going to expand I-70 and the sound wall would be installed when this project would be completed.

When Donald Trump talked about immigrants eating people’s pets during a 2024 presidential debate, he was carrying on a longtime Republican campaign tactic: Win the votes of White Americans by scaring the hell out of them.

According to Andrew Goldberg’s documentary White With Fear, this strategy can be traced back at least as far as the 1968 presidential campaign. Even though the controversial Vietnam War was still raging, we learn, the campaign of Republican Richard Nixon focused mainly on race.

Among the film’s many interviewees is author Rick Perlstein (Nixonland), who explains that the GOP worked to recapture the White House by tapping into many White Americans’ hatred of Blacks. This was done largely through innuendo and dog whistles.

When Nixon pledged to support “law and order” and fight crime, for example, it was understood that he was talking specifically about Black crime. The candidate’s subtext was hard to miss when he made statements such as referring to Black-majority Washington, D.C. as “the crime capital of the world.”

Alejandro thought that driving full-time for Uber offered freedom — flexible hours, quick cash, and time to care for his young son. But that promise faded fast.

“There are hours when I make $20,” he told me. “And there are hours when I make $2.” As his pay dropped, he pawned his computer and camera, began rationing his insulin, and started driving seven days a week just to break even.

Alejandro, whose real name is withheld for his privacy, is one of millions of workers powering a billion-dollar labor model built on legal loopholes.

Anti-democracy lawmakers are attacking our rights, and they are moving the legislation forward so fast that Ohioans are barely getting a chance to get the facts and speak up.

Well, here are the facts.

SB 153 and HB 233 are an attack on volunteers who put boots on the ground, collecting signatures for our democracy. These are our grandmothers and grandfathers, our parents, our family and friends and our coworkers, all who spend their weekends and spare time collecting signatures and fighting for workers’ rights and voters’ rights.

Volunteers who collect signatures would be forced to sign away their 5th Amendment constitutional rights, potentially subjecting them to politically motivated investigations. “Compensated” circulators would be required to wear badges, but “compensated” is defined so broadly it even applies to volunteers who receive free pizza or a t-shirt.

Those are the facts.

SB 153 and HB 233 are an attack on our democracy and our freedoms.