Everyone who read the adventures of Peter Pan knows the directions to Neverland – first star on the left and straight on ‘til morning. But after a heavy night of bourbon swilling directions can get a little muddled up, especially when your truck starts making that weird whining noise as you’re pushing it off your neighbor’s lawn. All the stars start running into each other, and the next thing you know you’ve cruised right past Neverland and arrived in a strange region where the towns have names like Abilene and Dogpiss.

This is ‘Murica, a place where heavily armed work comp fraudsters order 50 Big Macs while seated on a Wal-Mart scooter parked in the back of their cousin’s girlfriend’s truck while flags cover the sky and Lee Greenwood rolls around naked in the street screeching for beer money. A bacon-soaked world where there are always plenty of bottle rockets at the trailer park, and where misguided promiscuity is never hindered by literacy.

Finally. Dare I say, FINALLY, hemp has arrived in Ohio. After decades in the shadows, confused with its more popular cousin marijuana, hemp is getting the attention it deserves. It owes this glow to two important developments.

First, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, aka 2018 Farm Bill.At the end of last year, an amazing transformation, right out of left field, found U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hastily shepherding hemp through Congress. While agricultural in title, the text within was revolutionary.

Hemp-became-legal!

Erasing 70 years of prohibition, this remarkable plant reclaimed its long-lost domicile as a seamless source for food, fuel, concrete, clothing, cosmetics, and, yes, CBD. The bill removed hemp from the definition of marijuana as a strictly controlled substance so long as THC content falls below 0.3%.

The Columbus Police Department (CPD) is out of control. And, they are getting away with murder. Within recent years, the CPD has shown excessive and lethal force which has left several citizens dead or wounded.  Among the dead are Tyree King, Jaron Thomas, Henry Green, Donna Dalton – all victims of excessive force and brutality.

To add insult to bleeding injury all offending officers (except for one) were not charged and were returned to the force. The CPD has refused to charge their officers and they are the only entity that is allowed to review their action other than a grand jury if they kill someone.

Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther, fearing CPD or Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) backlash, has ceded his power and oversight to the police alone. Likewise, City Council is too busy counting its kickbacks from downtown developers shows little concern over excessive force by the police. There is no willingness to demand accountability from offending officers. Citizen efforts demanding justice and responsible law enforcement leadership have been ignored or papered over.

Columbus City Schools has had its share of issues and most local media love to kick our city schools while they’re down.

Recently, our region’s conservative radio station 610 WTVN and its most prominent local personality, Joel Riley, criticized Columbus City School teachers about how many sick days they take. He repeatedly cited recent research by Ohio State professor Vlad Kogan who found on average, each city school teacher took 14 sick days per school year.

So, who exactly is Vlad Kogan? He’s a father of two children who attend Columbus City Schools and he regularly shows up to school board meetings.

He’s a professor, as mentioned, but he’s also a researcher for The Education Governance & Accountability Project at OSU, something he doesn’t reveal to local media when presenting unflattering data about city school teachers.

The Education Governance & Accountability Project is funded with a $630,000 grant from the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, which is committed to supporting high-quality investigation of education through its research programs.

Wednesday, April 3, 11am-2pm
OSU Ohio Union, 1739 N High St.
Students for recycling will be giving out 144 FREE reusable water bottles this year to help end the plastic waste problem at Ohio State.
In order to take one, you can bring in 5 plastic water bottles or participate in our recycling game to learn about recycling in the Columbus area. Water Bottles will be given out on a first come first serve basis.
It will take place in the lobby of the Student Union.
Come join us to get a free water bottle and talk about recycling!! Hope to see you there!