It’s been a busy month for me, saving the Commonwealth. Preston Garvey has had me running around founding, building and then defending new settlements so people can finally have a place to call home in the post-nuclear wasteland. Robotic gumshoe Nick Valentine has been helping me figure out who kidnapped my son and shot my husband in cryogenically-frozen blood while being frustratingly unromanceable for a guy named “Valentine.” And Paladin Danse and the Brotherhood of Steel have… been told to take their power-armored bigotry and bugger off, mostly.

It’s All Natural is the only totally exclusively vegan and vegetarian market in Northeast Columbus (Gahanna just off of Morse Rd in the Cherry Bottom Shopping Center). They focus on vegan, organic, locally made, non-GMO foods and offer many kosher, gluten-free, sugar-free and tree-nut free options such as peanut-free peanut butter. They are also currently phasing out all non-vegan items so there are several items on sale to move them out if you want to get some good deals on honey or buttermilk pancake mix.
   When you want something new on the vegan market, this is the place that has it first.
   Vegan Egg Alternatives: Want to try the latest algae-based vegan egg replacer mixes by Follow Your Heart, or the chia and chic pea egg replacer by Neat, or The Vegg nutritional yeast and rice milk-based French Toast Kit or Scrambled eggs mix, or the Orgran Gluten-Free egg replacer or the seasoning spice packs for those who still prefer tofu; it’s all available at It’s All Natural.

This past November 7, 2015 a historic moment took place in Columbus. Fifteen African American Columbus residents were sworn in as the first Board Members of the Columbus Civilian Community Board (CCCB). They will hold this position for one year and were approved by residents of Columbus who have been meeting on a weekly basis for months before the induction ceremony.
  Khari Enaharo, a board member and the originator of this movement states that the main goal of the CCCB, known by some as the Triple CB, is to “minimize conflict and maximize cooperation to produce constructive outcomes between Black people and others in our communities.”
  Deborah Muhammad, also a board member says her main goals are to “be an example of the Code of Conduct that we are going to implement in our communities, becoming more unified and cleaning up our communities and making them safe.”

As Columbus struggles with issues of public trust in government caused by the conduct or misconduct of elected officials,The Columbus Free Press takes a look at our local election system as evidenced by the 2015 election cycle. Recent years have provided some of the biggest public failures, including allegations and convictions of elected officials, including the school data scrubbing scandal, NCLB school tutoring fraud scandal, unvoted Nationwide Arena public purchase, undisclosed tax abatement and continuing financial losses, inflated priced home sales to foreign nationals, Redflex bribery scandal and the continuing F.B.I. public corruption investigations.
   All this begs the questions, 1) does our electoral system produce the best pool of candidates and elected officials possible?, and 2) is it appropriate for citizens to find and demand better ways to ensure honesty and competence in local government?  Communities across the country are wrestling with the same questions, and some are finding answers and working toward solutions.

The 2015 Election and Campaign Financing

The morning after Election Day 2015, I woke up suddenly. My mind was racing, “This isn’t right. This isn’t right. Something’s not right.” As an analyst, I’m used to working with mass quantities of data; I’m used to looking at patterns of numbers. Sometimes these differences just leap out at me. Such was the case on that morning.
  The prior evening, Issue 3, which would have legalized marijuana in Ohio while according growing rights to just ten properties, went down in flames. Just 34 percent of voters supported the measure; a crushing 65 percent opposed it. So said Ohio’s election officials when the vote was called at 9:41 pm.
  The defeat had opponents jumping for joy. Issue 3’s “deeply flawed, monopolistic approach failed garner broad support” said one. It “would have made a handful of rich celebrities and businesspeople even richer” mused another. Meanwhile, those who understand the sordid history of Ohio elections were witnessing the repeat of a troubling pattern.