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Ohio Officials Announce $50 Million in Alleged Fraud Cases

Ohio and federal officials announced charges against 14 people last week in a group of alleged fraud schemes tied to Medicaid, behavioral health services, COVID relief money, and online romance scams.

Altogether, prosecutors say the cases involve more than $50 million.

The announcement was made in Whitehall, where Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was joined by interim U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and federal prosecutors from Ohio.

The largest cases involve public health care money.

In Butler County, Robert Haley of Cincinnati is facing 31 felony charges. Prosecutors say Haley, a health care provider, allegedly billed Ohio Medicaid for more than 60,000 claims for services that were not provided. The alleged fraud totaled more than $12 million.

A few hours after the press conference, Ohio Medicaid said it had suspended payments to 49 home health providers. The agency said the billing patterns from those providers raised concerns and that investigations are ongoing.

The second major case involves behavioral health funding. Prosecutors say four people, including two employees of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, were federally indicted in the Southern District of Ohio for allegedly stealing more than $30 million from money meant for behavioral health services. The alleged fraud took place in 2024 and 2025.

Authorities said they identified 14 luxury vehicles and nearly $470,000 in three bank accounts connected to that casByrnes spent 23 hours in the Franklin County Jail before being released on bond Tuesday. He had planned to hold a post-release press conference at the Statehouse, but canceled it on the advice of counsel. A wise move, probably. When your legal situation involves elected officials, alleged harassment, and animated ogre anatomy, fewer microphones may be best.

After his release, Byrnes issued a brief statement thanking supporters and saying, “I believe that the facts presented in court will show that I’m innocent of the misdemeanor charge of telecommunications harassment.”

There are serious questions here about harassment laws, political speech, public officials, and how far online provocation can go before it turns into a criminal case. But there is also the unavoidable fact that an Ohio political blogger named The Rooster was arrested at the Statehouse over what may involve Shrek’s private swamp business.

From Shrek’s swamp to Ohio’s political swamp, this case has taken a journey no civics textbook was brave enough to predict.

Officials also discussed a separate indictment from May 26 involving four people accused of stealing more than $1.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds in 2021.

Another case, announced May 14 in the Northern District of Ohio, involves three people from Ghana charged in an alleged $15 million romance fraud scheme. Two others are awaiting extradition. Prosecutors say the group targeted 130 older Americans through social media and dating sites between July 2024 and April 2026.

In that case, authorities said they seized a house in Ghana, jewelry, and four luxury vehicles.

The announcement comes as Medicaid fraud has become a major political issue in Ohio. A 2024 report about alleged fraud among home health care providers brought renewed attention to billing practices in the program, especially in central Ohio.

Republicans have controlled Ohio state government since 2011, but state leaders are now publicly split over who bears responsibility for oversight failures. Legislative leaders have criticized Gov. Mike DeWine and former Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran, who left the administration last year, for not doing more to stop fraud earlier.

DeWine has issued an executive order allowing Medicaid to suspend payments when claims raise red flags. Lawmakers are also considering a Republican-backed anti-fraud bill introduced in March. That bill would require electronic visit verification for providers and would ban family members from being paid by Medicaid to provide personal care services, including care for disabled Ohioans.

The broader question now is how much of the alleged fraud is isolated criminal activity, and how much reflects weaknesses in state oversight systems.

Federal officials said the priority is not only recovering money after fraud occurs, but stopping questionable payments before they go out.

As Blanche put it during the announcement, “We’re not going to recover everything.” That leaves Ohio with a difficult and expensive problem: identifying fraud without cutting off legitimate care for people who rely on Medicaid, behavioral health services, and home health support.

For now, the investigations are continuing, the indictments are moving forward, and state officials are under pressure to prove that Ohio’s safety-net programs can protect both taxpayers and the people they were created to serve.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What’s the rainiest summer in Columbus, Ohio’s history?
A. 1992
B. 2008
C. 2026
D. 1958

Ohio’s Newest Absolute Unit Is a 576-Pound Bear

Ohio wildlife officials recently tagged a black bear in Ashtabula County that weighed 576 pounds, which is almost twice the average size of an adult male black bear.

In other words, Ohio did not just get a bear sighting. We got a bear who looks like he has a favorite recliner, strong opinions about property taxes, and a standing order at Texas Roadhouse.

The bear was collared by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife and researchers from the University of Dayton, who will now track his movements and behavior. Wildlife biologist Katie Dennison said she “didn’t expect to see a male bear this big” in Ohio, which feels fair. Most of us barely expect to see a bear in Ohio at all, let alone one built like a defensive tackle.

But this bear is not just a one-off woodland celebrity. He is part of a much bigger story happening across the state: black bears are coming back.

According to ODNR’s latest Black Bear Monitoring Report, Ohio had 537 reported bear sightings in 2025 across 69 counties, the most ever recorded in the state. That is up from 370 sightings in 2024, meaning the bears are not just passing through anymore. They are browsing Zillow, checking school districts, and strongly considering northeast Ohio.

For a long time, black bears were effectively gone from Ohio. By the 1850s, deforestation and hunting had pushed them out of the state, because settlers looked at a functioning ecosystem and immediately asked, “What if we made this worse?”

Now, as bear populations grow in neighboring Pennsylvania and West Virginia, they are wandering back into Ohio. ODNR estimates the state now has between 50 and 100 black bears, with consistent evidence that females are establishing permanent homes in northeast Ohio.

That last part matters. A wandering male bear is one thing. A female bear with cubs is a sign that the species is setting up shop. ODNR has confirmed black bears with cubs in Ashtabula County in 2016 and every year from 2018 through 2025. Females with cubs have also been documented in Geauga County for the past three years.

Translation: Ohio’s bear era is not theoretical anymore. It is here, and it may occasionally be standing in someone’s backyard trying to steal a bird feeder.

Central Ohio is not exactly Bear Country yet, but sightings are creeping closer. In 2025, a black bear was spotted near Pataskala for the first time in 20 years. Another was caught on a trail camera in Knox County, about 60 miles northeast of Columbus. Bears have also been reported near Cincinnati, Mansfield, Youngstown, Aurora, and across northeast Ohio.

So what should you do if you see one?

First, do not panic. Black bears are usually afraid of people and attacks are rare. They do not want to fight you. They do not want your drama. They mostly want berries, insects, trash, bird seed, and the satisfaction of knocking over something you thought was secure.

ODNR recommends staying calm, backing away slowly, giving the bear space, and making sure it has an escape route. Do not run. Do not climb a tree. Do not attempt the most Ohio sentence imaginable: “I think I can get closer for a video.”

If a bear is near your home, the real key is removing easy food. That means bringing in bird feeders, securing garbage, keeping pet food inside, cleaning grills, and protecting beehives or crops. Basically, stop turning your backyard into a Golden Corral for wildlife.

The return of black bears is strange, exciting, and honestly kind of encouraging. It means Ohio’s wild spaces are still connected enough for large animals to move, settle, and reproduce. It also means our relationship with nature may need to mature beyond “Look, a bear! Let’s ruin its day with flash photography.”

For now, the 576-pound Ashtabula bear is wearing a collar, wandering Ohio, and helping scientists better understand where the state’s recovering bear population is headed next.

And if the answer is “toward Columbus,” please start securing your trash now. We already have enough problems with raccoons acting like tiny landlords.

Gahanna Celebrates Juneteenth at Creekside

Gahanna’s Juneteenth celebration returns for its second year during the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival, honoring African American history and culture with music, dance, spoken word, games, and community.

The celebration takes place on the Creekside Stage, with games from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and the main program beginning at 7 p.m. Active and retired military members get in free with an ID, and kids 10 and under also get free admission.

New this year is a kid-friendly silent disco on the lower level of Creekside Plaza by the lagoon from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, sponsored by Pathways Financial Credit Union.

The event will also continue its live art mural tradition. Each year’s murals are preserved and placed around select Gahanna parks, keeping the celebration visible long after the festival ends.

Not a bad way to spend a summer evening: music at Creekside, art in the parks, and a celebration built around history, freedom, and community.

Dillon Beck Turns an Alley Into Art

Columbus artist Dillon Beck has built a reputation for making work that feels both futuristic and familiar. His paintings and murals sit somewhere between the real world and a video game loading screen, which is to say they look great in a gallery, on a wall, or apparently, wrapped around a mini golf hole in a Downtown alley.

Beck is a Columbus-based artist, muralist, and designer known for bold color, clean geometry, and work that blends graphic design with traditional painting. You may have seen his murals around town, including “Altitude” in Italian Village, a large public piece that turns stairways, elevation, and perspective into something that feels part cityscape, part dream sequence.

This summer, his work is showing up in a slightly more playable format.

Lafayette Lounge, a limited-time pop-up park between Jackie O’s and Pins Mechanical Co. Downtown, opened June 4 and runs through July 31. The alleyway at 150 E. Lafayette St. has mini golf, ping pong, yard games, local art, and free Thursday evening events.

At the entrance is a small putt-putt course designed by Beck, which feels like the right kind of Columbus summer project: public art, but with a putter in your hand.

The lounge is open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with free Thursday night programming from 6 to 8 p.m. Upcoming events include trivia, silent disco nights, and themed programming. It is also located in a DORA zone, meaning visitors can grab drinks from nearby spots like Pins, Jackie O’s, Slammers, or Wolf’s Ridge Brewing and wander over.

That is the best version of Downtown activation: take an underused alley, add local artists, games, seating, drinks, and a reason to stay awhile.

For Beck, it is another reminder that public art does not always have to be something you stare at quietly with your hands behind your back. Sometimes, it can be colorful, interactive, temporary, and wedged between a brewery and a bowling bar.

And honestly, Columbus could use more of that.

D) 1958! (its nice to look at things like this to get perspective sometimes!)

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The Rooster Spent a Night in Jail, Which Is Not a Metaphor

Ohio politics already has plenty of odd birds, but this week, one of them actually spent the night in jail.

D.J. Byrnes, better known online as The Rooster, was arrested Monday, June 1st, at the Ohio Statehouse by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for telecommunications harassment. Byrnes, a political blogger on Substack, is known for confronting politicians in the halls of Columbus City Hall, Ohio State University, and the Statehouse, which is to say he has made a career out of being exactly where public officials would probably prefer he wasn’t.

The case appears to center on an alleged text exchange with State Sen. Jerry Cirino, a Republican from Kirtland. According to Byrnes’ colleague Max Littman, the issue stems from Byrnes allegedly texting Cirino an image of cartoon character Shrek’s penis. The warrant says Byrnes sent photos to a victim identified as “J.C.” Littman also shared what he said was a text exchange between Byrnes and Cirino, including the image, followed by Cirino’s alleged reply: “I don’t know who this is, but I’m certain you’re a moron.”

Which, as legal filings go, is not exactly Brown v. Board of Education.The dry stretch is being helped along by a stubborn high-pressure pattern sitting over the region, the weather equivalent of a bouncer keeping rain clouds out of the club. Similar dry weather is affecting parts of the Midwest, with meteorologists pointing to an “omega block” pattern that can hold warm, dry conditions in place for days.

The good news: Ohio is not currently back in the drought panic zone that made last summer feel like someone left the state in an air fryer. The bad news: dry spells in early June can turn quickly if they stick around, especially for farmers, gardeners, and anyone who recently spent money on mulch and now feels personally threatened by the sun.

Still, after a spring full of rain, storms, and weather alerts that sounded like they were written by a nervous intern, a week of sunshine is not exactly a tragedy. It is rare, strange, and very Ohio that the entire country has rain somewhere in the forecast except us.

So enjoy it. Open the windows. Take a walk. Sit on a patio. Pretend you’re the kind of person who “really makes the most of good weather.”

Byrnes spent 23 hours in the Franklin County Jail before being released on bond Tuesday. He had planned to hold a post-release press conference at the Statehouse, but canceled it on the advice of counsel. A wise move, probably. When your legal situation involves elected officials, alleged harassment, and animated ogre anatomy, fewer microphones may be best.

After his release, Byrnes issued a brief statement thanking supporters and saying, “I believe that the facts presented in court will show that I’m innocent of the misdemeanor charge of telecommunications harassment.”

There are serious questions here about harassment laws, political speech, public officials, and how far online provocation can go before it turns into a criminal case. But there is also the unavoidable fact that an Ohio political blogger named The Rooster was arrested at the Statehouse over what may involve Shrek’s private swamp business.

From Shrek’s swamp to Ohio’s political swamp, this case has taken a journey no civics textbook was brave enough to predict.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What’s the rarest animal ever born at the Columbus Zoo?
A. Okapis
B. Bornean Orangutan
C. Dama Gazelle
D. Gold Fish

The Columbus Zoo Would Like You to Name a Baby Giraffe, and One Option Is Tim

The Columbus Zoo has a new baby Masai giraffe, and naturally, the public has been handed the sacred responsibility of choosing his name.

The male calf was born March 10 in the Heart of Africa region to 15-year-old Zuri, and after a few months of getting to know him, the zoo has narrowed the name choices down to four: BJ St. Pierre, Jasper, Patches, and Tim. Voting runs through June 15, with the winning name set to be announced on June 21, also known as World Giraffe Day.

Let’s review the candidates.

BJ St. Pierre is named after his father, Bobbie, with what the zoo calls “a distinguished twist.” Very elegant. Very country club. Very “this giraffe has opinions about linen.”

Jasper is inspired by the gemstone, a nod to the calf’s natural patterns. Solid choice. Respectable. Feels like he might own a bookstore.

Patches is the obvious cute option, since giraffes do, in fact, come pre-patched.

And then there’s Tim.

Now Tim holds a special place in my heart, it's my dad's name, and guys, I love my dad. He's the best guy ever and my hero.

… It's also the name of the guy I do onlyincbus with.

Now, while both Tims are important to me, one has taught me how to be a man and someone I aspire to be like every day.

The other… is like a weird older brother that I have to help at restaurants 

And while I care about both, this puts us in a difficult position. But Im genetically and emotionally obligated to insist you all vote for Tim! 

A baby giraffe. An endangered species. A rare, long-necked miracle of conservation born at one of the best zoos in the country. And they might name him Tim.

Is Tim the most majestic name for a giraffe? Maybe not. 

This giraffe could be Jasper, elegant and gemstone-coded. He could be Patches, cute and obvious. He could be BJ St. Pierre, which sounds like he summers in Nantucket and has strong opinions about boat shoes.

But Tim?

Tim is a working man’s giraffe.

Tim pays his taxes. Tim brings his own folding chair. Tim knows a guy who can fix your gutters. Tim may stand 18 feet tall one day, but he still feels like he would help you move a couch.

And frankly, that is the kind of guy Columbus needs right now.

The zoo says Masai giraffes are endangered, so this birth is bigger than a cute naming contest. It is part of a larger conservation story, and a reminder that these animals are becoming increasingly rare in the wild.

Still, Columbus now has a civic duty. Vote wisely. Vote daily. Vote with the seriousness this moment deserves.

Or vote Tim. For the zoo. For conservation. For dads everywhere. And for the onlyIncbus founder who now has a chance to share a name with a baby giraffe, which feels about as special as “local media” gets.

Father’s Day, But Make It Bourbon

If Dad doesn’t need another golf shirt, grill gadget, or mug that says something legally adjacent to “World’s Best,” Hilton Columbus Downtown has a better idea.

On Thursday, June 18 at 6 p.m., Hilton Columbus Downtown is hosting a Bardstown Whiskey Trail, a four-stop tasting journey through its signature bars. For $50 per person, guests will enjoy curated 0.5 oz pours from Bardstown Distillery at Gallerie Bar, Spark, FYR Short North, and Stories on High.

The lineup includes Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Rye Whiskey aged in cherry wood barrels, Bottled in Bond Wheated Bourbon, and Bardstown High Wheat Bourbon. Each guest also gets a snack, a keepsake tasting glass, a tobacco truffle, and a whiskey caramel bon bon.

Four bars. Four pours. One very solid excuse to call it a Father’s Day gift.

Ohio’s Data Center Boom Hits the “Wait, Are We Sure About This?” Phase

For the past few years, Ohio has been selling itself as the future of American tech.

Data centers. AI. Silicon Heartland. Server farms rising from former farmland like somebody asked ChatGPT to design a cornfield with no corn.

But this week, Ohioans showed up at the Statehouse to ask a pretty reasonable question:

What exactly are we giving up to power all of this?

At a June 1 hearing before a newly formed bipartisan Select Committee on Data Centers, more than 35 residents signed up to speak, with another 70 submitting written testimony. Their concerns were wide-ranging but familiar: water use, energy demand, tax breaks, loss of rural land, lack of transparency, and whether Ohio is building the future or just turning itself into a very large charging brick.

The pushback is no longer just a few neighbors yelling at zoning boards. A grassroots effort is now collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment that would ban large data centers. Organizer Jessica Baker said the movement is bringing together Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, farmers, environmentalists, and small business owners, which is impressive considering most of those groups can barely agree on what temperature to set the thermostat.

One of the most striking moments came from 12-year-old Samuel Menges of Lorain County, who told lawmakers he wants to be a farmer when he grows up and does not want Ohio to lose more farmland to massive developments. He warned about what could happen decades from now if natural waterways dry up, farmland disappears, and communities are left dealing with consequences no one fully studied at the start.

That is the uncomfortable heart of this story.

Data centers are not imaginary villains. They power the internet, cloud computing, AI, streaming, search, storage, and basically every modern convenience we pretend is weightless. But they are not weightless. They require land. They require power. They require water. They require public infrastructure. And in Ohio, they have also required a whole lot of public generosity.

According to the article, Ohio has the sixth-most data centers in the country, with 232 statewide and 137 in central Ohio alone. Meta’s New Albany data center, which is being expanded, sits on 766 acres, more than one square mile.

That is not “just a building.” That is a land use decision with consequences.

Even Gov. Mike DeWine has tapped the brakes, recently pausing a controversial data center tax break that reportedly cost nearly $1.6 billion last year.

Now lawmakers are trying to figure out what comes next. The committee is expected to hear from representatives from Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft on June 4, followed by local government officials, including representatives from New Albany, on June 8.

And that is where this gets interesting.

For years, Ohio leaders have talked about data centers like they are pure economic magic. New investment. New jobs. New relevance. The kind of thing that makes ribbon-cutting scissors tremble with excitement.

But the public is starting to ask for the receipt.

How much water? How much power? How much farmland? How many tax breaks? How many permanent jobs? How much local control? And who actually benefits when the servers hum, the lights stay on, and the bills come due?

Ohio wants to be part of the future. That part makes sense.

But maybe the future should have to answer a few questions before it gets another 1,000 acres and a tax incentive.

C) Dama Gazelle! Widely recognized as the rarest of all gazelle species.

Top of Mind

Ohio’s Rain-Free Flex

Ohio has found a new way to be weird, and this time it does not involve a highway sausage drop, a rogue deer, or someone driving into a building.

According to the National Weather Service, Ohio is the only state in the country with no rain in the forecast through June 5. That’s right. Out of all 50 states, Ohio looked at the sky, saw every other state getting at least a chance of precipitation, and said, “No thanks, we’re trying something.”

For most of this week, central Ohio is expected to stay sunny, warm, and agreeably pleasant. Highs will climb through the 70s and into the 80s, with dry air hanging around long enough to make your lawn start asking hard questions. It is the kind of forecast people dream about in February, right up until they remember they own grass, allergies, and outdoor plants with the survival instincts of a Victorian child.

The dry stretch is being helped along by a stubborn high-pressure pattern sitting over the region, the weather equivalent of a bouncer keeping rain clouds out of the club. Similar dry weather is affecting parts of the Midwest, with meteorologists pointing to an “omega block” pattern that can hold warm, dry conditions in place for days.

The good news: Ohio is not currently back in the drought panic zone that made last summer feel like someone left the state in an air fryer. The bad news: dry spells in early June can turn quickly if they stick around, especially for farmers, gardeners, and anyone who recently spent money on mulch and now feels personally threatened by the sun.

Still, after a spring full of rain, storms, and weather alerts that sounded like they were written by a nervous intern, a week of sunshine is not exactly a tragedy. It is rare, strange, and very Ohio that the entire country has rain somewhere in the forecast except us.

So enjoy it. Open the windows. Take a walk. Sit on a patio. Pretend you’re the kind of person who “really makes the most of good weather.”

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many miles of active railroad track are in Ohio?
A. 5,112 miles
B. 3,788 miles
C. 6,241 miles
D. 4,652 miles

Columbus’ Largest Pothole: The Hole Truth

After last week’s story and trivia about Columbus’ largest pothole, we couldn’t resist going back to the day Broad Street tried to eat a Mercedes.

It was the morning of July 9, 1986. Downtown Columbus was doing downtown Columbus things. Lawyers heading to offices. Traffic moving past the LeVeque Tower. Everyone is pretending West Broad Street was a normal road and not secretly a trapdoor.

Then, around 8:15 a.m., attorney Michael Schmidt was driving to work in his gold Mercedes 190E when the pavement in front of him started collapsing. Not cracking. Not buckling. Collapsing.

Beneath the street, a pair of century-old brick sewers had finally given up, taking a 40-by-30-foot section of West Broad with them. The road dropped 26 feet. Schmidt tried to swerve, but there are only so many evasive driving techniques available when the street becomes a sinkhole in real time.

The Mercedes went in, flipped once, and landed back on its wheels at the bottom of the crater.

Somehow, Schmidt walked away unhurt. He had been wearing his seat belt, which turned what could have been a tragedy into one of the most Columbus stories ever recorded. The car, sadly, did not survive. The $27,000 Mercedes was totaled, which feels fair after being swallowed by municipal infrastructure.

The hole became an instant attraction. People came downtown for days to stare into it. Food carts showed up nearby, because if Columbus sees a crowd, Columbus sees lunch. Newspapers around the world picked up the story, and the South China Morning Post ran the photo under the headline: “The hole truth: Mercedes bends.”

Perfect. No notes.

Schmidt handled the whole thing with almost unreasonable grace. He later helped promote seat belt use and only asked the city for $464.30, enough to cover his insurance deductible, a loaner car, and dry cleaning for his suit.

The Mercedes even got one last job before retirement. State Farm loaned the wrecked car to the Greater Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau for a promotional stunt called “Land Your Hole Convention in Columbus.” Attendees at a Dayton convention posed in the car in front of a painted backdrop of the crater, which is either brilliant tourism marketing or proof that 1986 had no adult supervision.

As for the actual hole, fixing it took 51 workers, 1,838 hours, 13 days, and more than $100,000. Afterward, the city stepped up its sewer inspections, eventually checking the full system every five to seven years.

So yes, Columbus has potholes. We all know that. We dodge them, curse them, and occasionally name them in our heads.

But only one became an international headline, a tourist attraction, a convention gimmick, and a reminder that under every normal-looking street, there may be a 100-year-old sewer quietly considering retirement.

Watch Out! Big Boy is Comthing Through

The last story this week is for Tim Trad!

Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive, is coming through Ohio this month as part of its 2026 coast-to-coast tour celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. The tour marks Big Boy’s first trip to the East Coast, with stops across 10 states and more than 50 whistle-stops along the way.

And yes, it is actually called Big Boy. Subtlety was not a major design principle when building a 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive.

Big Boy No. 4014 was built in the 1940s to haul massive freight trains over the mountains between Wyoming and Utah. Union Pacific originally had 25 of these locomotives, but only eight still exist today. No. 4014 is the only one still operating, after being restored in 2019 and brought back as a rolling piece of American industrial history.

It is hard to overstate how absurdly large this thing is. Big Boy is 132 feet long, weighs more than a million pounds, and looks less like a train engine and more like a steel apartment building that learned how to breathe fire. If you have ever stood next to a normal locomotive and thought, “Wow, that’s big,” Big Boy is here to make that locomotive feel insecure.

Ohio will get a few chances to see it. Big Boy is scheduled to make a whistle-stop in Euclid on June 8 from 2:30 to 3 p.m. at the Chardon Road Crossing, just north of Euclid Avenue. Later this summer, it will return for a major public display in Fostoria on July 14.

The whole tour is part history lesson, part engineering flex, and part “your grandpa is about to have the best day of his life.” It is also a reminder of just how much railroads shaped the country. Before highways, airports, and Amazon trucks treating every neighborhood like a delivery obstacle course, trains were the backbone of American growth. They moved goods, connected cities, and made places like Ohio central to the flow of people and commerce.

Now, seeing Big Boy roll through Ohio is less about transportation and more about spectacle. It is a rare chance to watch one of the most powerful steam locomotives ever built move under its own power, loud, massive, and completely unnecessary in the best possible way.

When Big Boy rolls through Ohio, people will gather near the tracks with cameras, lawn chairs, and the emotional energy of a child seeing a dinosaur. And honestly, fair. A 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive crossing the state under its own power is not something you see every day.

Big Boy is coming through Ohio.

A) 5,112 miles of track on 43 railroads

Top of Mind

Grandview Gets Its Own Little Portal to the Underworld

Grandview Heights had a very normal Memorial Day weekend until the ground decided to open a small side business at the corner of Fairview Avenue and Merrick Road.

The city closed the intersection on May 23 after a sinkhole formed near the sidewalk. According to Grandview Heights, the closure will remain in place until at least May 26, when crews are expected to evaluate the site and figure out what caused it.

A resident reported the sinkhole shortly after 1 p.m. on May 23. And while the hole appears to be near the sidewalk, the city closed the road out of caution due to safety concerns and forecasted rain.

Which is reasonable. If there is one thing you do not want to hear after the ground starts caving in, it is, “Don’t worry, more rain is coming.”

The intersection sits a few blocks southeast of the Grandview Heights Public Library, near West First Avenue. For now, drivers will need to find another route while crews inspect the site.

As for what caused it, the city does not know yet. Sinkholes can form when water erodes underground material, creating empty spaces beneath the surface. Over time, the ground above those voids can become unstable and collapse. Sometimes it happens slowly. Sometimes it happens all at once, which is rude, but efficient.

The good news is that the city caught it, closed the area, and is waiting for crews to assess the damage before reopening the road.

The bad news is that Grandview now has a reminder that even its sidewalks are apparently capable of drama.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: In 1986, Columbus had a sinkhole so massive it was nicknamed the “Big Hole” and the “world’s largest pothole.” Where did it happen?
A. High Street near Ohio State
B. West Broad Street in front of the LeVeque Tower
C. Cleveland Avenue near Linden
D. Third Street outside the Statehouse

Pilot Dogs Is Expanding Its Franklinton Home

Since 1950, Pilot Dogs has been helping people who are blind or visually impaired move through the world with more confidence, independence, and support.

Now, the long-standing Columbus nonprofit is celebrating a major expansion and renovation of its headquarters in Franklinton, which feels fitting for an organization built around one very simple idea: helping people move forward.

Pilot Dogs will host a ribbon cutting and open house on Thursday, May 28 at 11 a.m. at its headquarters at 625 W. Town St. The event will include remarks from CEO Jim Alloway, representatives from the Columbus Fire Department, a Co-Pilot Program participant, and a Pilot Dogs graduate.

For those unfamiliar, Pilot Dogs provides expertly trained guide dogs, orientation and mobility training, and other services for people who are blind or visually impaired. But before those dogs are ready to guide someone through busy sidewalks, crosswalks, grocery stores, airports, and every other daily obstacle course humans invented for themselves, they start as puppies.

That is where the Co-Pilot Program comes in.

Co-Pilots are volunteer puppy raisers who welcome Pilot Puppies into their homes from around 2 months old until they are about 16 to 18 months old. During that time, the puppies learn household manners, get real-world experience, and start building the habits they will need for advanced guide dog training.

The volunteers come from all over: college students, retirees, teachers, nurses, empty nesters, and regular people who looked at a puppy and thought, “Yes, I can handle this,” which is both noble and, depending on the puppy, deeply optimistic.

Pilot Dogs makes sure Co-Pilots are not doing it alone. Volunteers receive supplies, free veterinary care, boarding support, hands-on obedience training, and ongoing guidance from the organization. Also, technically not listed as a formal benefit but obviously included: puppy kisses.

The newly renovated facility will help Pilot Dogs continue that work from its historic Franklinton home, training guide dogs and supporting the people who will one day rely on them.

It is a big moment for a Columbus nonprofit that has spent more than seven decades doing quiet, life-changing work.

And now, with more space, more support, and presumably more very good dogs, Pilot Dogs is ready for its next chapter.

Two Central Ohio Massage Parlors Shut Down Amid Trafficking Investigation.

Two Central Ohio massage parlors have been shut down and boarded up after a court order tied to allegations of prostitution and possible human trafficking.

The businesses, Rejuvenation Spa at 5841 Karric Square Drive near Dublin and Red Bean Spa at 1066 Norton Road on Columbus’ west side, were searched and padlocked Thursday by investigators from Columbus Police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Authorities say both locations have now been declared public nuisances and hazards.

According to court records, the two spas had extensive histories of prostitution complaints and were allegedly connected by the same owners. The case is currently in Franklin County Environmental Court, where Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein and Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Shayla Favor filed a public nuisance complaint against the businesses, their operators, and property owners.

Klein called the reports of prostitution and possible human trafficking “abhorrent,” saying the city would continue cracking down on businesses that threaten public safety.

Which is legal-speak for: the “spa” part of the business model was apparently doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Court filings name six people connected to the spas, along with Red Beans Spa LLC and Du Wellness LLC. Investigators say the history at the locations dates back to 2019, with years of complaints, surveillance, and inspections raising red flags.

At Rejuvenation Spa, authorities say they received complaints involving possible trafficking, prostitution, and sexual imposition. In 2023, the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force and Columbus License Division inspected the business and found evidence that people were living inside the premises, which investigators described as a common warning sign in trafficking cases involving massage parlors.

By late 2025, similar reports began involving Red Bean Spa. From December 2025 through May 2026, the Human Trafficking Task Force conducted surveillance at both locations and observed activity they said was consistent with prostitution and possible human trafficking operations. Investigators also said they saw owners and staff transporting workers between the two businesses.

Court documents also describe online posts and reviews connected to the spas that authorities say pointed to illicit activity, including advertisements as recent as April 2026.

For now, this is a nuisance abatement case, not a criminal prosecution. But officials said criminal charges could still follow.

Favor said investigators documented “a pattern of deliberate, organized exploitation of vulnerable populations,” and warned that similar businesses in Franklin County are being watched.

Both spas remain padlocked under court order, with the defendants expected back in Franklin County Environmental Court next Thursday.

The larger story here is not just that two businesses got boarded up. It is that authorities believe these storefronts may have been used as cover for exploitation, hiding in plain sight behind strip-mall signage, soft lighting, and the kind of bland business names most people drive past without thinking twice.

Now, at least for these two locations, the lights are off.

Shadowbox Live Wants Your Canned Goods With Your 90s Nostalgia

Shadowbox Live is turning its next show into more than a night of music, theater, and carefully weaponized flannel.

The Brewery District theater is partnering with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective on a new initiative called Art Feeds the Soul, encouraging audiences to bring canned goods and essential items to every performance to help support local families facing food insecurity.

The program launches with Flannel: A 90s Rock Musical, Shadowbox’s new show built around the sound and mood of the grunge era. The production follows Chance, a Rolling Stone photographer who returns to his small hometown to face the family, friends, and past he left behind. Naturally, the soundtrack leans into Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, and the emotional damage of an entire generation that somehow processed everything through distorted guitars and oversized shirts.

Which, honestly, feels like the correct setting for a food drive. Nothing says “community support” quite like remembering a decade when everyone dressed like they were either starting a band or heading to a very intense bonfire.

To thank guests who donate, Shadowbox has created the 5/5 - 10/10 program. Bring five items, and you’ll receive a $5 gift card. Bring 10 items, and you’ll get a $10 gift card that can be used toward food and drinks that night.

Shadowbox has always billed itself as more than just a show. Between the curated galleries, the intimate theater setting, and the fact that the performers also help serve the handcrafted menu before curtain, it is already one of the more unique nights out in Columbus.

Now, with Art Feeds the Soul, that night out can also help stock shelves for families right here in the community.

So yes, go for the 90s rock musical. Stay for the food, drinks, and live performance. But maybe bring a few canned goods too.

Turns out flannel can still be useful after all.

B) West Broad Street in front of the LeVeque Tower

Top of Mind

Columbus Police Say They Broke Up a Juvenile Crime Ring

Columbus police say they disrupted a months-long organized crime spree involving 10 juveniles and one adult, with the group now facing 284 charges tied to stolen cars, stolen guns, credit cards, robberies, and vehicle break-ins across the city.

According to police, the group’s activity stretched from February to November 2025 and affected 551 victims. Investigators say the spree included 34 stolen vehicles, 76 stolen credit cards, 42 stolen firearms, $18,000 in stolen money, and thousands more in stolen merchandise.

So yes, this was a little more involved than “kids making bad choices.” This was a full-time operation with worse HR.

Police announced the charges at a press conference held at a Home2 Suites on Stelzer Road, one of the hotels where the juveniles are accused of repeatedly breaking into guests’ cars. Not exactly the brand activation Home2 Suites had in mind.

The investigation involved Columbus police’s Gang Enforcement Unit, Organized Crime and Property Crimes bureaus, and the NextGen Safety Initiative. Police said they used data analysis to connect suspects, track patterns, and link crimes through associations, repeat behavior, and social media activity.

The arrested juveniles had a combined 37 prior felony cases, and 35 of those ended with probation, restitution, or letters of apology. That detail is now central to the city’s argument that repeat juvenile crime needs stronger intervention before stolen cars and stolen credit cards turn into something far more dangerous.

The adult charged in connection with the spree, 32-year-old Tanisha Renae Jenkins, was the mother of two of the juveniles and aunt of another. Police said she was originally indicted on 25 felony counts and has since been convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Searches of six homes connected to the investigation turned up 37 firearms, only 17 of which had been reported stolen, along with seven machine gun conversion devices, 65 stolen credit cards, 25 vehicle key cards, and four automotive key programmers.

That is not teenage mischief. That is a criminal supply closet.

There is a bigger, uncomfortable question here: how does a group of teenagers rack up dozens of felony cases, hundreds of alleged charges, stolen firearms, key programmers, and more than 500 victims before the city gets to this point?

Columbus has spent the last few years talking about youth violence, car thefts, and repeat offenders like they are separate problems. This case shows how quickly they can become the same problem.

And once stolen cars, stolen guns, and organized crews overlap, the situation stops being a neighborhood nuisance and starts becoming a citywide warning light.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many Semi Trucks pass through Columbus a day?
A. 18,000 - 22,000
B. 13,000 - 17,000
C. 9,000 - 11,000
D. 0

The Murph Is Coming to Ohio State

On May 22, Buckeye Nation is invited to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for one of the most meaningful and punishing workouts in the country: The Murph.

It is free to participate. You get an official 2026 Murph T-shirt. There will be complimentary food and beverages while supplies last. Special Ohio State guests include Tom Ryan, head wrestling coach, and James Laurinaitis, linebackers coach.

So yes, you can technically say you went to Ohio State to run, do pull-ups, push-ups, squats, honor a Navy SEAL, and maybe get lightly humbled before most people have finished their coffee.

The workout starts at 9 a.m., with arrival at 8 a.m.

The Murph is simple in the same way climbing a mountain is simple:

1-mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 air squats
1-mile run

That’s it. Just a short little fitness errand from hell.

The workout is named for Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, during Operation Red Wings. Murphy left cover during a firefight to find a signal and call for help for his team, knowing the danger it put him in. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Before it became a Memorial Day tradition, Murphy called the workout “Body Armor.” Today, thousands of people complete The Murph each year to honor his sacrifice and remember service members who never came home.

And here’s the important part: you do not have to be the fittest person in the stadium to show up.

You can do it solo. You can do it with friends. You can scale it. Break up the reps. Take your time. Do the version your body is capable of doing.

Because The Murph is not really about being the fastest or strongest. It is about showing up, doing something hard on purpose, and remembering why it matters.

May 22. Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Arrival at 8 a.m. Workout at 9 a.m.

No entry fee. No easy reps. Just show up and give what you can.

Columbus Just Got Another $2.28 Million From the Forever Chemical Lawsuit.

Columbus just got another check in its ongoing lawsuit over “forever chemicals,” which is a nice reminder that sometimes the phrase “corporate accountability” actually comes with a dollar amount attached.

City Attorney Zach Klein announced that Columbus received $2.28 million more in settlement funds from major chemical producer DuPont, bringing the city’s total payout so far to more than $13 million.

The lawsuit is part of a broader effort by hundreds of cities across the country to hold major chemical companies accountable for producing PFAS, better known as forever chemicals. They earned that nickname by doing exactly what it sounds like: sticking around in the environment, water, soil, air, and the human body for a very long time. Charming little molecules. Truly terrible houseguests.

According to the city, companies like DuPont knowingly produced these chemicals despite the risks and failed to properly warn the public. Over time, PFAS can build up in people and the environment, potentially causing health problems and contaminating water sources.

Klein’s argument is simple: Columbus residents should not be the ones paying for future water infrastructure upgrades if corporations helped create the problem.

“Companies like DuPont made the mess, and now it’s time to pay up,” Klein said.

For now, Columbus says its water still meets or exceeds all drinking water standards. The city’s Water and Power division operates a Water Quality Assurance Laboratory that has been monitoring chemical levels for years.

But the concern is what comes next. Columbus provides water not just to the city, but to more than 20 surrounding suburbs. If future technology upgrades are needed to keep PFAS out of the water supply, those costs could be significant. The settlement money is meant to help protect ratepayers from footing the entire bill.

More money may still be coming.

So no, this is not panic-button news about Columbus water suddenly being unsafe. It is more of a “good thing we’re paying attention before this becomes wildly expensive” story.

The takeaway: Columbus has now secured over $13 million from chemical companies tied to forever chemicals, with more potentially on the way.

Which feels fair. If a company helps create a problem that lasts forever, paying for it should probably last a little while too.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Has Entered Its Semi Truck Era

Ohio drivers have spent years treating work zones like optional obstacle courses with orange barrels. Now, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is trying something harder to ignore: a semi truck.

OSHP is using a seized semi along the Ohio Turnpike to help catch drivers speeding through work zones. The truck was originally taken under the Ohio Drug Offender Law and is usually used for recruitment and education. But troopers realized it could also be useful for sitting high above traffic and watching everyone pretend the work zone speed limit is just a light suggestion.

Here’s how it works: two troopers ride inside the semi. One drives and operates the speed radar. The other radios information to nearby troopers on the road. Those troopers then spot the vehicle, follow it, wait for confirmation from the semi, and make the traffic stop.

Basically, it is a group project, but instead of making a PowerPoint, everyone gets a speeding ticket.

And there are plenty of tickets to go around. In 2025, OSHP issued 2,142 work zone speeding citations along the Ohio Turnpike. More than half were for drivers going 20 miles per hour or more over the limit, which is not “running late.” That is auditioning for a construction-zone safety video.

The Ohio Turnpike says it welcomes the extra enforcement, especially with more than 1,000 workers expected to be out in 2026 as pavement replacement continues. Some crews are protected by barriers, but others are separated from traffic by little more than cones, barrels, and a collective prayer that everyone remembers how physics works.

As summer travel season begins, officials are asking drivers to slow down and plan for delays.

Add a few minutes. Watch the signs. Respect the work zones.

Or don’t, and find out that the giant semi next to you is not just hauling vibes.

B) 13,000 - 17,000

Top of Mind

May Already Gave Us One Full Moon. Now It’s Coming Back for Attention.

May is not done showing off.

Earlier this month, we got the Flower Moon, the first full moon of May. It peaked on May 1, but looked full across the first weekend of the month, rising low in the east, climbing high around midnight, and giving Ohio one of those rare sky moments that did not involve storm warnings, pollen counts, or someone asking if it was “supposed to be this windy.”

Now, May is lining up round two.

On May 31, we get a second full moon. That makes it a blue moon, not because it will actually turn blue, but because it is the second full moon in the same calendar month. The phrase “once in a blue moon” exists for a reason, and that reason is mostly calendar math pretending to be magic.

Most months only get one full moon because the lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days. But when a full moon lands right at the beginning of a 31-day month, the calendar has just enough room to sneak in another one before the month clocks out. May 2026 happens to be one of those months, which feels dramatic, unnecessary, and very on brand for spring in Ohio.

This second full moon is also a micromoon, which sounds like something NASA would announce right before cutting to a budget hearing, but it simply means the full moon happens near apogee, the point when the moon is farthest from Earth. The moon’s average distance is about 238,855 miles, but during a micromoon, it is farther away than usual, making it appear slightly smaller and dimmer than a typical full moon.

Will you notice the difference with your own eyes? Probably not.

Unless you are an astronomer, a telescope person, or the kind of guy who says “actually” before every sentence, the May 31 moon will mostly just look like a full moon. Which is fine. The moon does not need to be bigger to be impressive. It is already a giant glowing rock controlling the tides while the rest of us struggle to control our inbox.

The first full moon of the month, the Flower Moon, gets its name from the seasonal bloom of wildflowers across much of North America. Different Indigenous tribes have used different names for May’s full moon, including Strawberry Moon, Mulberry Moon, and Moon Before Pregnancy, depending on region, harvest cycles, and cultural tradition. Which remains a much richer naming system than our current approach of calling every apartment building “The Meridian” and hoping nobody asks follow-up questions.

The May 31 blue moon will peak early in the morning, around 4:45 a.m. Eastern, but like most full moons, it will appear full the night before and the night of. The best viewing plan is simple: get away from bright streetlights, avoid tall buildings and trees, and look toward the eastern horizon around sunset.

In Columbus, that means your best view probably will not be from a Short North patio wedged between string lights, traffic, and someone loudly explaining natural wine.

Try a park, an open field, a quiet neighborhood street, or anywhere with a clear view of the horizon. You do not need a telescope. You do not need special glasses. You do not need to understand orbital mechanics, though someone nearby will absolutely try to explain them anyway.

So as May winds down, take the win. Go outside. Look up. And Enjoy!

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What is the most money that has ever been raised by a Columbus mayoral candidate?
A. 1.2 million
B. 3 million
C. 4.6 million
D. 2 million

The Murph Is Coming to Ohio State

On May 22, Buckeye Nation is invited to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for one of the most meaningful and punishing workouts in the country: The Murph.

It is free to participate. You get an official 2026 Murph T-shirt. There will be complimentary food and beverages while supplies last. Special Ohio State guests include Tom Ryan, head wrestling coach, and James Laurinaitis, linebackers coach.

So yes, you can technically say you went to Ohio State to run, do pull-ups, push-ups, squats, honor a Navy SEAL, and maybe get lightly humbled before most people have finished their coffee.

The workout starts at 9 a.m., with arrival at 8 a.m.

The Murph is simple in the same way climbing a mountain is simple:

1-mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 air squats
1-mile run

That’s it. Just a short little fitness errand from hell.

The workout is named for Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, during Operation Red Wings. Murphy left cover during a firefight to find a signal and call for help for his team, knowing the danger it put him in. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Before it became a Memorial Day tradition, Murphy called the workout “Body Armor.” Today, thousands of people complete The Murph each year to honor his sacrifice and remember service members who never came home.

And here’s the important part: you do not have to be the fittest person in the stadium to show up.

You can do it solo. You can do it with friends. You can scale it. Break up the reps. Take your time. Do the version your body is capable of doing.

Because The Murph is not really about being the fastest or strongest. It is about showing up, doing something hard on purpose, and remembering why it matters.

May 22. Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Arrival at 8 a.m. Workout at 9 a.m.

No entry fee. No easy reps. Just show up and give what you can.

Columbus’ 2027 Mayor’s Race Has Already Started. Voters Just Haven’t Been Invited Yet.

The 2027 Columbus mayor’s race is still more than a year away, but City Hall has apparently decided that is close enough to start acting weird.

Mayor Andrew Ginther is building a major financial head start ahead of a possible fourth-term campaign. According to campaign finance reports, Ginther has raised about $368,000 so far in 2026 and has more than $1.3 million on hand.

That is not just a campaign fund. That is a warning sign with direct deposit.

In politics, money does not just buy ads. It buys gravity. It tells donors where the power is, tells challengers how steep the climb will be, and tells everyone else in City Hall who is still holding the biggest stick.

Right now, that person is Ginther.

His most likely challenger, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, has not officially announced a run, but he has been widely viewed as a potential candidate. So far this year, Hardin has raised about $51,000 and has around $300,000 on hand. If this becomes a race, Ginther is currently outraising him about seven to one and sitting on roughly a $1 million advantage.

That is less of a gap and more of a canyon with yard signs.

City Attorney Zach Klein is also hovering around the conversation, despite saying he would support Ginther after the mayor announced he would seek another term. Klein raised about $87,000 so far in 2026 and has roughly $1.1 million on hand.

Klein may not be running, but $1.1 million is not exactly “I’m just here to help” money.

The money matters because this is not just some far-off hypothetical election. The tension is already showing up in how City Hall operates. Ginther and Hardin have been increasingly at odds, most recently over the public funding deal tied to Columbus’ future professional women’s soccer team and the use of McCoy Park for the team’s training facility.

Hardin criticized the mayor’s handling of the deal and said the community was not properly consulted. Ginther accused Hardin of putting political ambition ahead of the community and argued that council revisions made the deal worse.

So, you know, very normal coworker vibes.

But underneath the political drama is a much bigger question: who gets to define the next version of Columbus?

A fourth term would give Ginther more than a decade in the mayor’s office. That means 2027 would not just be another reelection campaign. It would be a referendum on the Columbus he has helped shape: a bigger, faster-growing city with major development deals, rising housing pressure, public safety challenges, transit debates, downtown investments, and neighborhoods that are still trying to figure out whether all this growth is actually for them.

For voters, that is the part that matters.

The next mayor will help decide how Columbus handles housing, policing, public transit, sports facilities, parks, development incentives, homelessness, and whether longtime residents feel like they are part of the city’s future or just watching it get built around them.

Columbus city elections are technically nonpartisan, but Democrats currently hold every elected office at City Hall. So if a real mayoral fight happens, it likely will not be about party labels. It will be about power, growth, trust, and who voters believe should control the next chapter.

For now, Ginther has the money advantage. Hardin has the speculation. Klein has the cash pile. And Columbus has more than a year to pretend it is not already being dragged into another election cycle.

The race is not official yet.

But the money is moving, the alliances are forming, and the public disagreements are getting louder.

Which means Columbus’ 2027 mayor’s race has already started.

Voters just have not been formally invited yet.

ProMusica Ends Its Season by Getting Classical Music Slightly Undressed…

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra is closing its 47th season this May at the Southern Theatre with two programs that sound fancy, dramatic, and, in one case, a little scandalous if you do not read past the title.

First up is NAKED CLASSICS: Appalachian Spring on May 15 at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Paul Rissmann. Before anyone gets too excited, no, this is not that kind of naked. This is classical music stripped down intellectually, not legally. Rissmann breaks apart Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring with images, sound bites, musician interviews, and storytelling before ProMusica performs the full work.

Basically, it is the director’s commentary before the movie, except with fewer explosions and more violins.

The next two nights, May 16 and 17, Music Director David Danzmayr leads Copland & Shostakovich, a season finale built around two very different 20th-century moods: American optimism and Soviet emotional devastation. Light stuff.

The program features Creative Partner and violinist Vadim Gluzman performing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a dark, powerful piece not often performed by chamber orchestras. To balance that out, the orchestra will perform Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which brings enough wide-open American feeling to make you briefly forget about rent, inboxes, and the construction cone that now legally owns your street.

The evening opens with Shostakovich’s Waltz II and closes with Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz, giving Danzmayr, who is Austrian, the chance to waltz the season home properly.

So whether you are a classical music regular, someone who only recognizes Appalachian Spring from PBS, or just a person who enjoys sitting in a beautiful old theater while talented people do impossible things with string instruments, this is a strong way to spend a May night in Columbus.

ProMusica closes the season May 15 through 17 at the Southern Theatre. More information is available at promusicacolumbus.org.

B) 3 Million dollars were raised by Mayor Ginther for his 2015 campaign.

Top of Mind

A Scare at the Zoo

A Saturday trip to the Columbus Zoo turned into something much uglier this weekend after the park received what officials believe was a false active shooter and bomb threat.

The threat came in around 2:18 p.m. through a security dispatcher, prompting the zoo to evacuate guests and staff. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office arrived within about 10 minutes and swept the grounds. No suspicious items were found. Guests, staff, and animals were all safe.

So yes, the penguins are fine. The flamingos are fine. The humans, however, are once again stuck living in the era where a family trip to see gorillas can be interrupted by some anonymous coward with a phone.

Columbus Zoo President and CEO Tom Schmid said law enforcement found “no traces of any bombs of any kind,” and officials believe the incident was a swatting call, not a legitimate threat. Around 5,000 people had been at the zoo throughout the day.

The zoo stayed closed for the rest of Saturday, but employees were allowed back inside to care for the animals. It reopened Sunday morning at 9 a.m., and anyone who was there during the evacuation will receive free admission to come back another day. A rain check for giraffes is nice, even if the reason for needing one is completely absurd.

Columbus was not alone. Akron Zoo and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo were both evacuated Sunday after receiving similar false bomb and active shooter threats. Toledo Zoo was also reportedly targeted Friday, along with zoos and aquariums in other states, including Louisville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Zoo officials said they had run a safety drill earlier in the week and another exercise Saturday morning because of the recent wave of threats across the country. That preparation helped the evacuation go smoothly, according to Schmid.

“This is part of life now around the country, around the world,” Schmid said, noting that threats like this are becoming more common.

And that may be the most depressing part of the whole thing. The Columbus Zoo handled the situation well. Law enforcement responded quickly. Everyone got out safely. The animals were cared for. The plan worked.

But the fact that there even has to be a plan for this at the zoo says a lot about where we are.

A place built for kids, school trips, animal lovers, and dads pointing confidently at meerkats while calling them prairie dogs became the latest target in a national swatting trend.

Thankfully, this one ended with no injuries, no explosives, and no real threat.

Just another reminder that the modern world has found a way to make even a zoo day feel slightly dystopian.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: While this week’s been cold, May 10, 1966, was the coldest May Day in Columbus history. How cold was it?

A. 43 degrees
B. 29 degrees
C. 25 degrees
D. 31 degrees

Meijer Wants Your Old Baby Gear, and Your Garage Probably Does Too

If you have an expired car seat sitting in your garage like a plastic monument to a past version of your life, Meijer has good news: it’s time to let it go.

From May 6 through May 19, Meijer is bringing back its Baby Gear Recycling Event for the third year in a row, giving families across the Midwest a chance to drop off used, expired, or damaged baby gear at participating stores.

That includes car seats, booster seats, strollers, and travel systems. Basically, if it once transported a baby and now lives in your basement collecting dust, this is its moment.

Since launching the program in 2024, Meijer says more than 30 tons of baby gear have been recycled, including nearly 18 tons during last spring’s event alone. That is a lot of old car seats avoiding the landfill, and probably a lot of parents finally reclaiming one corner of the garage.

Here’s how it works: bring eligible baby gear to the marked drop-off area near the customer service desk at your local Meijer. In return, you’ll get a special offer code in your mPerks account for 25% off one item in the Meijer baby department. The coupon can be redeemed from May 6 through June 2. Apparel is excluded!

Meijer says the event is part of its broader commitment to sustainability and community support. Corporate wording aside, this is one of those programs that actually makes practical sense. Baby gear expires, breaks, gets outgrown, or somehow multiplies in storage. Recycling it properly keeps bulky plastic and metal out of landfills while giving families a little help on whatever baby item they inevitably need next.

So if you’ve been waiting for a sign to finally get rid of that car seat from three growth spurts ago, this is it.

Your garage gets cleaner. The landfill gets spared. And somewhere, a stroller with one bad wheel finally gets to retire with dignity.

Ohio Hits May, Immediately Asks for a Jacket

May in Ohio is supposed to mean patios, flowers, and convincing yourself that a 68-degree day counts as “basically summer.” Instead, Columbus kicked off the month with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal, which is not spring. That is April filing a formal complaint.

According to meteorologist Aaron White, an upper-level low pressure system over eastern Canada pushed the jet stream farther south, dragging colder air into the Midwest and giving Ohio a truly uninspiring start to May. Highs across the state were stuck in the 40s and 50s Friday and Saturday, which is less “spring weekend” and more “forgotten February bonus round.”

It even got cold enough for snowflakes to mix in with rain in parts of northeast Ohio. Nothing says “Mother’s Day is coming” like wondering if your windshield scraper retired too early.

The average high for Columbus this time of year is around 70 degrees, so yes, if you felt personally betrayed by the weather, you were correct. Overnight lows also dipped near or below freezing in some spots, forcing gardeners across central Ohio into their annual panic sprint of covering plants with old bedsheets and hoping for the best.

The good news is this cold pattern is not expected to stick around forever. Warmer air returns Monday, with highs climbing into the mid-70s. The bad news, because this is Ohio and joy must be rationed, another storm system moves in Tuesday and brings more rain along with cooler air for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

By the weekend and into next week, the pattern should start to break down. But forecasters say it may take until the second or third week of May before central Ohio sees a more consistent stretch of highs in the 70s and 80s.

So basically, spring is here.

It’s just buffering.

North Market Is Turning 150, Which Is Basically Ancient in Restaurant Years

North Market Downtown is turning 150, and instead of quietly accepting a plaque and moving on, they’re throwing a full-on anniversary party.

The 150 Year Celebration: 150 Years Fresh is a special anniversary edition of North Market’s signature Apron Gala, bringing the historic market to life after hours for a chef-driven night of food, drinks, music, and very strong “Columbus actually has cool stuff” energy.

Guests will stroll through the market and enjoy exclusive bites and sips from North Market’s local merchants, plus fine wine, craft beer, specialty cocktails, and live entertainment. The night will also feature world-renowned producer and DJ RJD2, with Ryan Fey of The Grill Dads serving as master of ceremonies.

And because this is the Apron Gala, guests are encouraged to wear their most creative apron for a chance to win a prize. Finally, a formal event where looking like you’re about to aggressively prep onions is not only accepted, but encouraged.

The celebration is also a thank you to the community that has supported North Market for nearly 150 years, and to the independent merchants who continue to make it one of Columbus’ most important gathering places. Long before every neighborhood needed a “food hall concept,” North Market was already doing the real thing: local food, independent businesses, fresh ingredients, and a place where Columbus could actually bump into itself.

Proceeds from the event support North Market Downtown’s nonprofit mission to preserve and strengthen the market, nurture local entrepreneurship, champion independent businesses, and keep fresh food and meaningful experiences accessible to the community.

So yes, it’s a party. But it’s also a celebration of one of Columbus’ oldest and most beloved institutions.

150 years of local. 150 years of fresh. 150 years of North Market still being cooler than whatever “elevated dining concept” just opened in a former bank lobby.

C) 25 degrees (burrrr)

Top of Mind

Ohio State’s First-Round Factory

Ohio State just had one of the best NFL Drafts any college football program has ever had, which is a polite way of saying the rest of the country should maybe check on its player development departments.

In the first 11 picks of the 2026 NFL Draft, four Buckeyes came off the board. Carnell Tate went No. 4 overall to the Tennessee Titans. Arvell Reese went No. 5 to the New York Giants. Sonny Styles went No. 7 to the Washington Commanders. Caleb Downs went No. 11 to the Dallas Cowboys. Four Ohio State players in the top 11 picks of the same draft. The last school to pull that off was Michigan State in 1967, back when NFL scouts were probably still writing reports with fountain pens and describing players as “stout fellows.”

That is not just good. That is historically annoying if you are anyone else in the Big Ten.

And somehow, the draft turned into a weird little Ohio State reunion inside the NFC East. Reese, Styles, and Downs all landed in the same division, meaning three former Buckeye defensive stars will now spend the next few years trying to make each other miserable on Sundays. It is beautiful, really. College teammates are becoming professional enemies. The American dream, but with better shoulder pads.

Tate’s selection is its own kind of flex. He went fourth overall, tied for the highest-drafted wide receiver in Ohio State history, and he was not even always the biggest name in his own receiver room. That is not a knock on Tate. That is the problem with Ohio State football right now. The depth chart looks less like a college roster and more like a waiting room for first-round picks.

Ohio State finished the draft with 11 total players selected, the most of any school this year. That included four first-rounders, three more second-rounders, and another handful of names spread across the later rounds. Over the 2025 and 2026 drafts, Ohio State had 25 players selected, tying Georgia for the most draft picks over two years. So yes, the “developed here” slogan is doing a little more than just looking nice on a recruiting graphic.

The bigger number, though, is 99.

Ohio State now has 99 all-time first-round NFL Draft picks, more than any other college football program in the country. USC sits second at 87, which is still impressive, but also far enough back that Buckeye fans can say it with the relaxed confidence of someone who knows the scoreboard is not particularly clos

And the 100th could already be walking around campus.

Jeremiah Smith is still at Ohio State and is widely viewed as a future top-five pick if he declares next year. Which means the Buckeyes may not only become the first program to hit 100 first-round picks, but they may do it with another wide receiver. Because apparently, Columbus is now just a luxury factory for NFL pass catchers, linebackers, safeties, and whatever else Ryan Day decides to ship out next.

For Ohio State, this draft was not just a recruiting pitch. It was the recruiting pitch. Four players in the top 11. Eleven were drafted overall. Ninety-nine first-rounders in program history. And the next one is already waiting in the wings.

At this point, the NFL Draft is less of a graduation ceremony for Ohio State and more of an annual alumni networking event with Roger Goodell awkwardly handing out hats.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many deer live in Ohio

A. 1.2 million
B. 750,000
C. 550,000
D. 980,000

Worthington’s Deer Cull Ends, For Now…

Worthington has officially wrapped up its first deer culling season, which means the city’s most suburban sentence of the year is now complete: federal sharpshooters removed 100 deer from neighborhoods, parks, and private properties.

The program began in January after Worthington spent years studying its growing deer problem. Residents had been complaining about property damage, deer-vehicle crashes, over-browsed yards, and the general sense that the deer had stopped acting like wildlife and started acting like a loosely organized HOA. The city adopted a no-feeding ordinance in 2022, then created a Deer Task Force in 2023, eventually landing on targeted removal as part of a long-term management plan.

The actual culling was carried out by professional markspeople from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services. Over eight nights in January and February, they removed 100 deer, meeting the city’s 2026 goal. Worthington says there were no incidents involving people, pets, or property, and more than 4,200 pounds of venison were donated to the Worthington Resource Pantry.

Still, this was not exactly a quiet little city program that everyone politely nodded through.

Before operations began, Worthington resident Kevin Callinan sued the city after learning culling could happen within 200 feet of his property. He said his concern was not necessarily the deer management itself, but safety and the possibility that his children could witness deer being killed near their home. A Franklin County judge granted a temporary order blocking deer removal within 1,000 feet of Callinan’s home, adding a legal wrinkle to a program that already had plenty of emotional antlers sticking out of it.

And Callinan was not alone in feeling uneasy. Some residents supported the plan, arguing the deer population had gotten out of control and was creating hazards for drivers, homeowners, and even the deer themselves. Others were less thrilled about high-powered rifles being used inside city limits, even by trained federal professionals. Which is fair. “Don’t worry, the government sharpshooters are only operating after dark near your backyard” is not exactly the kind of sentence that calms everyone down at the neighborhood meeting.

Worthington officials say the program was based on best practices used in other communities and shaped by years of public input. According to the city, 73% of residents who responded to community surveys supported the use of firearms by trained experts as a deer management tool. That number became a major part of the city’s case for moving forward.

This week, the city released its post-season report, and one detail stood out: private land was “crucial” to the operation’s success. The city says 136 property owners expressed interest in participating. Federal workers determined 30 properties were suitable, 22 owners signed agreements, and sharpshooters ultimately used 10 private properties. Deer were also removed from two public sites: Olentangy Parklands and Walnut Grove Cemetery.

That private-property piece matters because the city says sharpshooters saw fewer deer in open parkland while snow lingered on the ground from a late-January storm. In other words, the deer did what deer do best: avoided the obvious places and made the humans work for it.

Worthington now plans to continue deer management next year. The city says reducing the population will take several years before it reaches a maintenance phase, which is municipal-speak for “this is not going away after one winter.”

So for now, Worthington’s first deer cull is over. The city hit its target. The pantry received thousands of pounds of venison. Some residents feel safer. Others still feel unsettled.

And the deer, at least the remaining ones, have learned the most important lesson in central Ohio wildlife management: avoid cemeteries, private yards, and any committee-approved plan involving the USDA.

South Side Thrive Is Connecting the Dots

Columbus loves the word “revitalization,” which usually means someone found an old building, painted it black, called it mixed-use, and waited for the coffee shop to arrive.

But on the South Side, South Side Thrive Collaborative is doing a quieter kind of work: connecting residents to the resources they actually need.

The nonprofit network focuses on the overlapping issues that shape daily life in the neighborhood, like housing instability, food access, healthcare, transportation, employment, safety, and economic mobility. Because if someone is worried about rent, childcare, getting to work, and a health issue all at once, a glossy “opportunity” flyer is not exactly going to fix things.

South Side Thrive brings together local organizations, businesses, health and human service groups, and residents to help families move forward. Its goals are simple: stable housing, better health, economic mobility, and stronger community connection.

The collaborative began forming in 2016, when groups including Mid-Ohio Food Collective, United Way of Central Ohio, Reeb Avenue Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Community Development for All People decided the South Side might benefit from organizations actually coordinating with each other. Revolutionary, apparently.

Today, South Side Thrive helps residents find support for food, childcare, healthcare, legal help, workforce training, mental health, transportation, and more. Basically, it is trying to make the maze of social services feel less like a government escape room.

This year, the city leaned further into the work. Mayor Andrew Ginther highlighted a Parsons Avenue effort that brought city crews into the corridor to fill potholes, pick up trash, inspect businesses, address safety issues, and monitor code violations. The city also awarded South Side Thrive a $165,000 grant to help keep safety and cleanliness efforts going after the crews leave.

That part matters. Because cleaning up a corridor for two weeks is nice. Keeping it clean after the cameras leave is the actual test.

The South Side deserves safer streets, better sidewalks, cleaner corridors, healthier food access, stronger businesses, and more job opportunities. It also deserves to remain a place where longtime residents can afford to live and benefit from the improvements happening around them.

No single nonprofit can undo decades of disinvestment. But South Side Thrive is doing something Columbus needs more of: connecting the dots.

Because thriving is not just a slogan. It is whether people can stay housed, stay healthy, get to work, find help, and keep showing up.

B) 750,000
Texas has the most with over 5 million deer!!

Top of Mind

Leatherlips is one of those names in central Ohio that people recognize,

usually because they’ve driven past the giant stone face in Dublin, but the actual story is far darker than the roadside version. Šaʔteyarǫnyes, better known to settlers as Leatherlips, was a Wyandot leader remembered for his integrity, so much so that white settlers said his lips were “like leather” because he would not lie. He was a signer of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and, like Wyandot chief Tarhe, favored keeping peace with the United States rather than joining a broader Native war effort.

That choice made him a marked man. By 1810, Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, were trying to build a Native confederacy to resist further U.S. expansion. Leatherlips opposed that push toward war and was accused of witchcraft, a charge historians have long treated as political cover for a deeper fight over land, power, and whether accommodation with Americans had become surrender.

The end came near what is now Dublin. A small Wyandot party arrived to carry out the sentence, while local settler John Sells tried to intervene. One early retelling says Sells even offered a horse worth $300 to save Leatherlips, but the offer was rejected. Leatherlips then dressed in his finest clothes, prayed, and was killed by tomahawk on June 2, 1810.

And that is the part worth lingering on. Central Ohio still tends to tell this story like a tragic local legend, but it was really a story about the collapse of Native control over this land. Leatherlips was not killed because history is quirky and dramatic. He was killed because Native nations were being cornered into impossible choices: fight the United States and risk annihilation, or negotiate with it and risk being branded a traitor by your own people. Ohio was being carved up either way.

Today, Dublin memorializes him with the 12-foot limestone sculpture at Scioto Park, a striking monument and a reminder of how Columbus suburbs love to pave over the past and then commission a tasteful sculpture about it later.

Some versions of the story add one more detail, and it’s too good not to mention. According to local folklore, settlers tried to save Leatherlips by offering to tear up the treaty in exchange for his life. There’s no solid evidence that part actually happened, but it has survived anyway, which feels very Ohio: a mix of land theft, tragedy, and one last dramatic flourish passed down as it might somehow soften the ending.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many indigenous groups lived in Ohio?

A. 40
B. 60
C. 80
D. 100

Office Space

Columbus has spent the last few years hearing the same gloomy office story: empty desks, remote work, and downtown buildings, wondering if anyone still remembers how elevators work. But for the first time in a while, the numbers are moving in the right direction. Office vacancy in Columbus fell to 20% in the first quarter of 2026, down from a peak of 22.6% two years earlier, while asking rents climbed to $22.80 per square foot. That does not exactly mean downtown is back to 1999, but it does mean people are choosing Columbus, and companies are still willing to bet on being here.

And the comeback is not being led by sad fluorescent cubicles and a coffee pot from 2007. It is being driven by the nicer stuff. The kind of office space with rooftop terraces, better restaurants, lounges, updated lobbies, and enough polish to make employees feel like returning to work is not a punishment. Huntington Center, still one of the crown jewels on Capitol Square, has become the poster child for that shift. After major upgrades, including a living wall, tenant lounge, and rooftop terrace, the building has stayed roughly 85% occupied. Turns out people are more willing to come back to the office when the office does not feel like a hostage situation.

That is really the larger story here. Columbus is not winning because office culture has suddenly become beloved again. It is winning because the city is slowly figuring out that people want experience, not just square footage. The newest Class A space is getting snapped up faster, older buildings are either struggling or being rethought entirely, and downtown is being pushed toward something more mixed, more livable, and frankly more interesting. Office towers that no longer make sense as offices are becoming apartments. New projects like the conversion of 280 Plaza show that the future of downtown may be less about getting everyone back to their cubicle and more about putting more actual life on the street.

Yes, there are still real headwinds. Financing is tough, major projects like the Capitol Square Renaissance plan have been paused, and not every old building has the bones for a glamorous second act. But even that tells you something important: Columbus is not out of ideas, it is just in the awkward middle part of reinvention. The city is still attracting tenants, still converting dead weight into something useful, and still building the kind of downtown where offices, housing, restaurants, trails, and transit all feed off each other.

So maybe the optimistic version is this: downtown Columbus is not dying, it is editing. Shedding the buildings and layouts that no longer work, rewarding the ones that do, and slowly becoming a place people might actually want to spend time in after 5 p.m. For a city that has spent years trying to prove it is more than a government district with lunch specials, that is real progress. And if the buzz is returning one rooftop terrace at a time, honestly, we will take it.

And Now For The Weather

Just in case you got emotionally attached to the 70-degree fakeout, central Ohio has one more little prank lined up. A freeze warning is in effect early this morning, April 20, with temperatures around Columbus expected to dip to about 35 degrees overnight and frost possible by morning. So yes, your plants are once again being asked to survive an identity crisis. Cover sensitive vegetation, protect outdoor plumbing, and maybe do not let one sunny afternoon convince you that winter filed its paperwork and left for good.

The good news, because Ohio refuses to commit to a bit for more than 24 hours, is that the cold snap does not last. Monday tops out around 53, then Tuesday jumps to 74. Wednesday lands near 75, Thursday pushes 82, and Friday gets up to 83 with a chance of showers. In other words, we are speed-running all four seasons again, and by the end of the week you will be choosing between a patio drink and a thunderstorm warning.

A) 40
I feel like we did this one when I wrote about the hairy river…

Top of Mind

The Fire That Stopped Thurman

One of Columbus’ most iconic burger spots is suddenly off the grill.

The Thurman Cafe, the German Village institution that’s been around since 1942, has no reopening date after an electrical fire caused extensive damage on April 12. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The restaurant said it was grateful the fire happened during the day, so someone was there to catch it before things got even worse.

A few hours after the fire, Thurman told customers it is still too early to say when it will reopen. Which is fair. You do not take a fire, a damaged building, and 80-plus years of history and just reopen by next weekend.

And that is why this one stings. Thurman is not just a restaurant. It is one of those Columbus places that feels bigger than itself. A landmark. A tradition. A place people assume will always be there until something like this reminds you that even the city’s classics are not indestructible.

Here’s hoping one of Columbus’ most legendary burgers makes it back soon.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many wildfires happen in Ohio each year?

A. 100-300
B. 200-400
C. 450-800
D. 1000-2000

Fake It Till You Make It to Federal Prison

For a few years, Tyler Bossetti sold the internet a very specific dream: easy money, fast returns, real estate wealth, and the kind of lifestyle content that makes people think financial freedom is apparently just one Facebook video away. This week, that dream got a little less aspirational and a lot more federal. Bossetti, a 31-year-old Columbus social media influencer, was sentenced to 72 months in prison after prosecutors said he orchestrated a $20 million real estate Ponzi scheme through his company, Boss Lifestyle LLC.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bossetti pulled in more than $23 million from investors across the United States and abroad between 2019 and 2023. Dozens of those investors ended up losing more than $11 million. His pitch was simple and suspiciously effective: short-term real estate investments with guaranteed returns of 30 percent or more. Because if there is one thing the internet has taught us, it is that nothing says “totally legitimate investment opportunity” like a guy online promising absurd returns while also looking a little too comfortable in luxury branding.

Prosecutors say Bossetti used social media, especially Facebook and YouTube, to market the program, then used investor money less like a steward of capital and more like a man speed-running a “boss lifestyle” starter pack. Court documents say he spent victim funds on rent for a downtown Columbus condo, frequent travel, a $150,000 Mercedes SUV, and cryptocurrency investments. So, in the end, the real estate empire turned out to be less “wealth building” and more “fund my content-friendly lifestyle until the FBI notices.”

And because apparently just running a Ponzi scheme was not ambitious enough, Bossetti also admitted to helping file about 14 false 1099-INT forms, reporting interest income investors never actually earned. Prosecutors said he told investors their returns had been reinvested when they had not. Which is a pretty bold interpretation of bookkeeping, even by influencer standards. He was charged in April 2025, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to wire fraud and aiding in a false tax filing, and was sentenced on April 10, 2026.

The broader message from federal prosecutors was not subtle. Announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace said the office would aggressively pursue people who cheat the tax system or steal from private citizens. Fair enough. But the Bossetti story also feels painfully modern: a scam built on aesthetics, confidence, and the kind of online personal branding that can make fraud look motivational if you slap enough hustle language on it. Columbus has produced plenty of influencers over the years. This one just turned out to be influencing people straight into financial ruin.

Your Phone Is the Problem, Apparently: Ohio Republicans Want to Put Sports Betting Back in the Casino

Three Ohio lawmakers looked at the state’s booming sports betting industry this week and decided the real issue was not that people are gambling too much. It’s that they’re doing it from the couch.

State Reps. Gary Click, Riordan McClain, and Johnathan Newman unveiled the “Save Ohio Sports Act,” a proposed crackdown that would gut much of what made sports betting explode in Ohio in the first place. Their plan would ban mobile betting altogether, cap in-person wagers at $100, block credit card betting, outlaw bonus bets, restrict gambling ads, and wipe out prop bets, parlays, mid-game bets, and all college sports betting. In other words, Ohio legalized sports betting in 2023, watched everyone immediately download an app, and now some lawmakers would like to stuff the whole thing back into a casino and pretend the last three years were just a weird phase.

To be fair, they are not exactly inventing the concern out of thin air. Supporters say the bills are about addiction, mental health, and the growing sense that sports have become one giant live-action parlay slip. They also pointed to the Cleveland Guardians scandal involving Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who were charged in a federal sports betting and money laundering conspiracy after prosecutors alleged they took bribes to rig certain pitches for bettors. Each faces multiple charges that carry serious prison exposure if convicted. That kind of story tends to make “integrity package” sound a little less dramatic and a little more necessary.st another month in Columbus where living here costs a little harder than it did before.

But here’s the part that makes this all very Ohio: lawmakers are proposing to torch one of the state’s most successful new revenue streams while admitting that is exactly what would happen. Ohio’s sports gaming revenue report shows more than $1 billion in 2025 taxable revenue, and the Ohio Casino Control Commission says sports gaming revenue is taxed at 20 percent. According to reporting on the bill rollout, 98.6 percent of that 2025 revenue came from outside casinos, which is a polite way of saying from phones. So yes, the state may have discovered that the easiest way to make money off gambling is to let people do it wherever they already are, which is usually on the couch pretending they understand a six-leg same-game parlay.

And this push is not happening in a vacuum. In January, Gov. Mike DeWine said signing Ohio’s sports betting law was the biggest mistake of his governorship, saying addiction among young men had become a huge problem and that he underestimated the flood of advertising that would follow legalization. He has not, at least yet, said whether he supports this new package specifically. Still, the political mood has clearly shifted from “let it ride” to “maybe we should not have turned every commercial break into a gambling intervention waiting to happen.”

Ohio gets to have the argument it probably should have had before the apps launched, the ads multiplied, and every sporting event became a finance seminar for guys named Kyle. Is sports betting a manageable form of entertainment, or did the state accidentally build a very efficient addiction machine with a tax benefit? Lawmakers are betting they know the answer. Fittingly, that may be the safest wager anyone in Ohio makes all year.

C) 450-800

Who would have thought!

Top of Mind

Ohio Would Like to Put Your Future on a Worksheet

The Ohio Senate has advanced a bill that would require public schools to teach students a state-approved path to adulthood: graduate high school, get a full-time job, get married, then have children. That framework is known as the “success sequence,” and Senate Bill 156 would require the Department of Education and Workforce to create standards and a model curriculum around it for students in grades 6 through 12. A related House bill, HB 269, also ties the sequence to character education.

On paper, the whole thing sounds harmless enough. Graduate. Work. Build stability. Nobody is arguing that chaos is the better life plan. The problem is that this takes one statistical pattern and tries to turn it into a moral roadmap, as if poverty is mostly the result of poor sequencing and not wages, housing costs, childcare, medical debt, layoffs, or the many other ways life tends to ignore neat little charts. The bill analysis itself frames the sequence as research-based and intended to reduce poverty in adulthood.

And once you drag that out of a policy memo and into a real classroom, the message gets uglier. Because the kids hearing it are not abstract case studies. They are being raised by single moms, divorced parents, grandparents, foster families, blended families, and every other version of a family that exists in the real world. A lesson like this does not just promote stability. It quietly tells a lot of students that the family they came from is something to overcome.

That is what makes this feel so distinctly Ohio right now. Faced with structural problems, the state keeps reaching for behavioral lectures. Less “how do we make life more affordable?” and more “have you considered arranging your adulthood in the approved order?”

What Ohio is really teaching here is not how life works. It is which lives the state finds easiest to approve of.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What is the average household size in Ohio (household size is how many people live in the house)?

A. 2.37
B. 3.76
C. 4.18
D. 2.95

Ohio Just Found Another Hole in the System

The Ohio House has passed House Bill 217, also known as Andy Chapman’s Act, which would require law enforcement agencies to enter missing-person cases into NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, within 30 days of a report being filed. The bill passed unanimously and now heads to the Senate.

NamUs is a national database built to help law enforcement, coroners, and investigators connect missing-person reports with unidentified remains and other case information across jurisdictions. The Ohio House says the bill is meant to strengthen investigations and support families, and the legislation itself explicitly requires agencies to enter information relating to missing-person reports into NamUs.

The unsettling part is not the reform. It is learning this was not already required.

The bill’s analysis notes that agencies would take on some additional administrative work to enter and remove information from the database. That is true. Paperwork exists. But it is hard to read that and not immediately think about the families on the other end of those delays, waiting while critical case information sits outside a system specifically designed to connect the dots.

Sometimes the most revealing laws are not the sweeping ones. They are the ones that expose a lapse so obvious, so basic, that the real shock is not what lawmakers are doing now. It is what they were not doing before.

The Cost of Existing in Columbus Is Back on Its Bullshit

For a brief moment, Columbus drivers got a little breathing room. As of April 6, AAA put Ohio’s average gas price at $3.751 a gallon. But if that felt like relief, it was the flimsy kind. The recent dip came after a run-up, and seasonal pressure is still there as fuel markets shift into their more expensive spring and summer pattern.

At the same time, AEP Ohio customers are also looking at higher electric costs after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved changes in the utility’s distribution rate case. PUCO said its order increases AEP Ohio’s base distribution revenues by $11 million, a much smaller number than the $97 million the company originally sought.

That matters because AEP had floated a very different version of this story earlier in the year. In January, the company said a proposed settlement would decrease distribution rates overall and cut the average residential electric distribution bill by about $1.22 per month for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours. That was the optimistic version. PUCO’s final order was less generous.

The exact monthly impact is still fuzzier than it should be, but the broad message is not: customers should expect more pressure, not less. And that is kind of the whole mood of living here now. Nothing is ever framed as one huge blow. It is always a string of manageable little nudges. Gas ticks up. Utilities shift up. Groceries remain disrespectful. Insurance continues whatever dark ritual insurance uses to generate new numbers.

No grand collapse. No emergency sirens. Just another month in Columbus where living here costs a little harder than it did before.

Ohio Has Entered the Clipboard Phase of Democracy

Election season is back in Ohio, but not the loud part yet. Not the attack ads, the fake concern, or the candidates suddenly acting like they have always cared deeply about your county. This is the quieter phase, where democracy mostly looks like forms, deadlines, county offices, and the slow reappearance of campaign signs at every busy intersection.

The May 5 primary is the first real checkpoint. Ohio’s official voting calendar set April 6 as the voter registration deadline and April 7 as the start of early in-person and absentee-by-mail voting for the 2026 primary. The Secretary of State’s office has also been pushing reminders that the window is open and the machinery is already moving.

And this primary is not filler. Statewide races are on deck, and by the time most people feel surrounded by mailers, texts, and signs zip-tied to every plausible patch of public attention, the funnel is already doing its work. This is where the ballot starts taking shape. Not in November, when everyone is suddenly awake, but now, while the process still looks boring enough to ignore.

That is always the trick. Democracy in Ohio rarely arrives with fanfare. It arrives through a county website. Through a deadline. Through some candidate named Mike texting you like you served together in a minor war.

Soon enough the ads will start yelling. For now, the state is still in its quieter form: deadlines, lists, and the slow construction of a ballot that will pretend to surprise you later.

A) 2.37

Ohio's average family size is determined by the U.S. Census Bureau through the American Community Survey (ACS), which divides the total number of people living in family households by the total number of family households. A family is defined as a householder and related persons (by birth, marriage, or adoption).

Top of Mind

Looking for Love, Finding Federal Charges

If dating apps weren’t already bleak enough, Ohio has now delivered a fresh reminder that sometimes “hey beautiful” is less a pickup line and more the opening act of a felony.

Two Ohio men have now been sentenced or pleaded guilty in separate romance-fraud schemes that drained millions from victims across the country, many of them elderly, grieving, or simply lonely enough to believe the person on the other side of the screen actually meant it when they said, “I can’t wait to build a life with you.”

Edward Amankwah, a 45-year-old from Westerville, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder nearly $4.3 million through online romance scams. According to federal prosecutors, he and his co-conspirators created fake dating profiles, built emotional relationships with victims, and then started asking for money. In total, the broader group laundered nearly $12 million. Because apparently catfishing is no longer just about fake abs and old photos. Now it comes with international wire transfers.

The stories from the victims are brutal. One person sent $131,400 to someone pretending to be a military member who needed money to retire early. Another transferred $70,000 to a supposed mine owner in China to help with operating expenses. Which is a sentence that should raise alarms immediately, but that is the thing about scams like this. They do not work because people are stupid. They work because people are emotionally invested, and by the time the story stops making sense, the damage is already done.

Amankwah has agreed to pay about $4.9 million in restitution and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Then there is Richard Opoku Agyemang, a 41-year-old Cincinnati man who was sentenced in March to 41 months in prison for his role in a separate romance scam that caused more than $2 million in losses. Prosecutors said victims were tricked through fake profiles using stolen photos and false identities, then manipulated into sending money for made-up emergencies like medical bills. Agyemang laundered the proceeds through accounts he controlled, sending money across the U.S. and overseas.

The victims in that case were reportedly elderly or recently bereaved. Some maxed out credit cards. Some sold homes and cars. Some drained 401(k)s and life insurance policies. Which takes this story from “internet scam” to something much uglier: a business model built around identifying people at their most vulnerable and treating their trust like an ATM.

Agyemang was also ordered to pay nearly $1.4 million in restitution to identified victims, plus more than $20,000 to the Small Business Administration for fraudulently obtaining COVID relief funds. So yes, he allegedly folded pandemic loan fraud into a romance scam, just in case the résumé needed another line item.

There is something especially grim about these cases because they do not just steal money. They steal time, trust, and whatever fragile hope someone had left that another person might actually care about them. That is the real damage. The money matters. But so does the humiliation, the isolation, and the fact that many victims now have to live with the memory of being emotionally dismantled by someone who never existed in the first place.

Modern dating is hard enough without having to wonder whether the love of your life is actually a money-laundering operation in Westerville.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: What is the most Popular Dating App in Ohio

A. Hinge
B. Bumble
C. Christian Mingle
D. Tinder

Ohio House Passes Bill Targeting Public Drag Performances

The Ohio House has passed House Bill 249, legislation that would ban certain drag performances from taking place in public and open the door to misdemeanor and felony charges tied to performances in front of minors. The bill now heads to the Ohio Senate, where lawmakers are devoting more time to policing gender expression than addressing the everyday costs that are actually squeezing most Ohioans.

Supporters insist the bill is about protecting children from obscene performances. That is the sales pitch. The actual language is broader and far murkier. HB 249 would prohibit “adult cabaret performances” outside adult cabarets, then expands that definition to include performers who present a gender identity different from their sex assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetics, imitation body parts, or other physical markers.

The legislation lumps drag performers in with topless dancers, strippers, go-go dancers, and exotic dancers, while carving out an exception for legitimate film, theater, or artistic performances that are not obscene or harmful to juveniles. Which sounds reassuring until you remember vague carve-outs are usually where panic, confusion, and selective enforcement go to thrive.

That uncertainty is the point critics keep hammering. Not because the bill clearly defines every possible violation, but because it does not. It leaves performers, venues, businesses, and community groups trying to guess where the line is, who gets targeted, and whether hosting anything remotely gender-nonconforming is worth the legal risk. The punishment ranges from a first-degree misdemeanor if a performance happens in front of a juvenile, to felony charges if it is deemed obscene. That is a lot of criminal exposure built on language that still seems designed to make people squint.

Democrats said exactly what this looks like: another culture war bill dressed up as child protection. Rep. Dontavius Jarrells called it an attack on transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio said it does nothing to make Ohio safer, but could absolutely cost the state money, chill economic activity, and scare already vulnerable people further into the shadows. Even beyond the civil rights concerns, there is the practical issue that businesses and event organizers may simply decide Ohio is not worth the hassle.

And that is before the lawsuits start. Similar laws in other states have already been blocked in court as unconstitutional restrictions on free speech and expression. So if this bill becomes law, Ohio could be spending taxpayer money defending legislation that was shaky from the start. House Speaker Matt Huffman says the bill is constitutional, though he also admitted it will almost certainly end up in court. Which is a fun way of saying: we know this will be expensive and messy, but onward.

At its core, this bill is not really about obscenity. Ohio already has laws dealing with obscenity. This is about who gets to exist comfortably in public, who gets labeled dangerous for how they dress, and which performances lawmakers find acceptable when children are nearby. And for a legislature that keeps insisting it is focused on serious issues, it is spending a remarkable amount of time worrying about drag queens.

Ohio’s Prison Drug Pipeline Came With Drones, Dead Birds, and DoorDash Energy

Turns out the future of crime in Ohio is not particularly elegant. It is a guy in the woods with a Facebook Marketplace drone, a bag of fentanyl, and just enough confidence to believe he had invented prison DoorDash.

That is essentially what happened in Ohio in 2021, when Cory Sutphin joined a drug-smuggling ring that used drones to deliver contraband directly into state prisons. Cell phones, fentanyl, meth, Suboxone, pills, all of it flown over prison walls and dropped into recreation yards, onto rooftops, and in at least one case, straight to an open cell window, where a hand reached out and grabbed the package like it was a late-night takeout order.

Sutphin, now serving nearly five years at Chillicothe Correctional Institution, said he started as a driver and quickly realized the money was absurd. One early trip to the prisons in Chillicothe brought him $1,200 for less than three hours of work. So naturally, instead of seeing that as a warning sign, he quit his welding job and leaned in. Over about seven months, he says he made roughly $100,000. Child support, divorce lawyer, expensive nights at the bar, Jordans, gold chains. You know, the classic financial planning portfolio.

And this was not amateur hour. Sutphin taught himself to fly drones, scoped out launch points using Google Maps, and kept dozens of backup drones ready to go in a spare bedroom in case one crashed. He said he got past prison drone detection systems about half the time. When the packages needed camouflage, the crew got creative. Drugs were stuffed into empty chip bags so they looked like litter in the yard. One package was disguised using a dead bird carcass, because apparently someone in this operation watched one too many heist movies and thought, yes, this is the move.

Another drop involved a fishing line and sinker attached to a package left on a prison rooftop, so the recipient could pull it down the side of the building, which is both inventive and deeply embarrassing for everyone involved.

The broader ring fed a black market inside Ohio prisons that did real damage. These were not harmless side hustles. The drugs fueled addiction, violence, and chaos inside facilities already filled with people trying, at least theoretically, to survive incarceration and maybe even come out better. Sutphin said he used to think the whole thing was victimless. Prisoners wanted drugs; he brought them drugs, end of story. But now, from inside, he gets to watch the consequences up close: people lying to family members for money, inmates incapacitated while high, bodies convulsing, drooling, unable to move. A front-row seat to the destruction he helped build.

Investigators finally caught a break in May 2021, when a Phantom 4 drone crashed inside Toledo Correctional Institution. Along with phones, fentanyl, and Suboxone, it carried a micro SD card with practice footage showing a bearded man flying the drone in a neighborhood while children played nearby. That led police to Robert Faulkner of Columbus, and from there, the whole operation began to unravel.

Troopers traced phone calls, checked prison lines, mapped cell data, reviewed Amazon deliveries, pulled trash, installed GPS trackers, and matched fingerprints and DNA from confiscated packages to Sutphin, Faulkner, and Charles Gibbs. From May to October, investigators tied the group to 11 intercepted drone drops at five state prisons. Sutphin claims that was only a fraction of the actual number. He estimated there were closer to 100 to 120 drops, with 50 to 70 successful deliveries across eight or nine prisons.

So yes, Ohio had an airborne prison drug network operating at scale, and it was apparently being held together by burner phones, electrical tape, and the kind of decision-making that only makes sense if you are already high.

When police raided Faulkner’s house in November 2021, they found more than $319,000 worth of illegal drugs, along with weapons, cell phones, and drones. Altogether, the case produced more than 100 felony charges. All three men took plea deals. Sutphin got four years and 11 months. Faulkner got 15 years. Gibbs got 10.

Now Sutphin says what he did was “stupid and foolish,” which feels like a strong understatement for a man who once took his children on a road trip to pick up pounds of fentanyl and meth, while stopping for ice cream along the way to keep things fun.

There is something very Ohio about this story. Not the drones, necessarily. The improvisation. The bleakness. The fact that modern technology somehow made prison drug trafficking more efficient than public transit. It is a story about easy money, addiction, stupidity, and the way people convince themselves they are just getting by while making life worse for everyone around them.

The most depressing part is not even how elaborate the scheme became. It is how casual it all sounds in retrospect. A drone here, a package there, a dead bird, a bag of drugs, a prison yard, repeat. Like any other delivery business, just with a much darker customer base and a slightly higher chance of ending in a felony indictment.

D) Tinder and the Demographics for tinder in Ohio is 61% men and 39% woman…

Top of Mind

Wintersville: The Tiny Ohio Town That Accidentally Won the Weed Economy

There are a lot of places you’d expect to dominate Ohio’s recreational marijuana market.

Columbus, maybe. Cleveland, obviously. Cincinnati, if it could stop arguing with Northern Kentucky for five minutes.

But Wintersville?

No offense to Wintersville, a village of fewer than 3,700 people tucked near the Ohio River, but this is not exactly the kind of place you expect to become one of the hottest cannabis markets in the state. And yet, since recreational marijuana sales began in Ohio in August 2024, this tiny Jefferson County village has quietly turned itself into a full-blown marijuana boomtown.

That’s right. While bigger cities were busy being bigger cities, Wintersville was out here doing what every good small town hero does: minding its business, staying weirdly efficient, and making an obscene amount of money off people crossing state lines for gummies.

The setup is almost too perfect. Wintersville sits near both West Virginia and Pennsylvania, two neighboring states where recreational marijuana is still illegal. So now, people from Pittsburgh, the West Virginia panhandle, and beyond are making the pilgrimage to this otherwise quiet village to stock up on vapes, tinctures, flower, and edibles like it’s some kind of green-tinted retail oasis.

And the numbers are absurd.

Wintersville’s two dispensaries have sold more marijuana than Cleveland, a city with roughly 100 times the population. They are outselling Akron too, because apparently population density matters less than geographic luck and a nearby border full of people who would also enjoy legally purchasing a gummy bear that makes laundry feel profound. Wintersville now ranks seventh among more than 100 Ohio local governments that are home to dispensaries.

This is the part where the underdog movie music swells.

Because Wintersville is not some flashy growth machine. It’s an old mill town. The population has declined for decades. Like many Appalachian-adjacent communities, it has spent years watching the industries that once sustained places like this shrink, move, or disappear entirely. And now, in one of the strangest economic plot twists Ohio has produced in recent memory, weed is helping write the comeback story.

Since August 2024, the village’s share of state marijuana tax revenue has totaled about $1 million. For context, that is an enormous amount of money for a place this size. Local officials are now talking about using it to create a perpetual investment fund to support infrastructure and future community projects. In other words, while half of Ohio is still debating whether legal weed is morally acceptable, Wintersville is over here trying to fund sidewalks and water lines with it.

A true public servant knows opportunity when he sees it.

And yes, this story gets even more Ohio.

Before becoming mayor, Mike Petrella actually started one of the village’s first dispensaries. Later, he sold it to Greenlight, a Missouri-based company. So naturally, the man helping steer Wintersville’s marijuana-fueled civic future is also someone who helped build its cannabis economy in the first place. In any other state, this would sound like the pilot episode of a prestige drama. In Ohio, it is just called local government.

To be fair, Wintersville didn’t do this through hype. There are no flashy brand campaigns here, no neon “green rush” nonsense, no self-important speeches about disruption. In fact, local officials say the dispensaries are quiet, secure, and rarely cause problems. Calls for service are rare. The village administrator described them as some of the most secure places in town. Which is honestly beautiful. The accidental hero of this story is not chaos. It is competence.

And that might be the most surprising part of all.

For years, marijuana opponents sold the public on visions of disorder, danger, and moral collapse. But in Wintersville, the dispensaries are not blowing up the community. They are helping fund it. They are bringing in outside money, supporting local revenue, and creating a tax stream that may eventually outpace the village’s income tax collections. Not bad for a product half the state used to talk about like it was satanic oregano.

Of course, there is still tension in the background. Transporting marijuana across state lines remains illegal under federal law, even if enforcement is murky. And local leaders are nervous the state could eventually change how tax revenue is distributed, because nothing says Ohio governance like finally finding a revenue stream that works and then immediately worrying the statehouse will snatch it back.

But for now, Wintersville is winning.

This little village, with its hometown-heart slogan and old-school Ohio bones, has become one of the most successful marijuana markets in the state not because it reinvented itself into something trendy, but because it happened to be in exactly the right place when the laws changed and had just enough vision not to waste the moment.

And honestly, that is a very Scarlet Letter kind of hero.

Not polished. Not glamorous. Not the place anyone would have picked.

Just a tiny river town quietly smoking the competition

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: The first major rock 'n' roll concert and generally considered the world's first rock concert, was the Moondog Coronation Ball in Ohio in what year?

A. March 21st, 1952
B. February 18th, 1949
C. April 29th, 1898
D. June 3rd, 1969

Columbus Has a Billion-Dollar Music Economy, and We’re Still Acting Like It’s a Side Hobby

Columbus loves to call itself a growing city. A city on the rise. A city of momentum, cranes, and endless presentations about the future.

And according to a new economic impact study from Music Columbus, one of the things already helping carry that future is music. Not in a cute, “support your local band” way. In a real-money, real-jobs, real-tax-revenue way.

The study found that Columbus’ music economy, including the local music industry and music-influenced tourism, generated more than $1.3 billion in output, nearly $800 million in value added, $380 million in earnings, and 9,244 jobs in 2024. It also estimates the city realized about $5.6 million in tax revenue from that activity.

Which is a nice reminder that music is not just a vibe. It is payroll.

For years, Columbus has treated music like a bonus feature. We talk about development, jobs, sports, tech, housing, logistics, and then somewhere near the bottom of the brochure it says, “also, there are concerts.” But this report makes clear that venues, artists, festivals, studios, promoters, and the spending around them are already functioning like a serious economic engine.

A lot of that money is coming from people who do not even live here.

The study estimates that music-influenced tourism alone accounted for $840.5 million of the total impact and supported 6,263 jobs. It also found that 5.1% of Columbus tourism spending, or about $418.3 million, was attributable to music, including more than $161 million in lodging, $101 million in food and beverage, and $60 million in entertainment and recreation spending.

So yes, that out-of-towner in a black band tee spending too much money in the Short North is technically participating in economic development.

The study’s bigger point is that Columbus has been underselling this for years. Music is woven into the city’s identity, but it is still oddly muted in the way Columbus markets itself. The report notes that while Experience Columbus does include live music on its website, the city still does not treat music as a central pillar of its tourism brand. That is pretty incredible for a city that loves branding itself as innovative, creative, and culturally alive.

And here is the catch.

The report argues that Columbus is largely a city of audiences and artists, not a major music production hub like Nashville. It compares the city more to Austin, where live music demand drives the ecosystem. But it also says what local musicians already know: Columbus is not yet deep enough to support lots of full-time artists. Local musicians on average derive only about one-fifth of their income from music, and 68% of census respondents work another job outside music.

In other words, Columbus loves live music. Columbus does not always love paying the people who make it.

That tension runs through the whole study. On the strength side, Columbus has major venues, festivals, affordability, a young population, and a strong audience base. On the weakness side, the report cites a lack of leadership unity, weak business and government support, no central event calendar, a “sports-first mentality,” and an “identity crisis” around music.

“Sports-first mentality” might be one of the most Columbus phrases ever written.

Because of course this city has spent years acting like the only sounds that matter are marching bands, goal horns, and 100,000 people pretending a noon kickoff is a spiritual experience. Meanwhile, music has been quietly filling hotels, feeding bars and restaurants, supporting jobs, and making the city more attractive to the same young professionals every economic development person claims they want. The report explicitly says music matters for talent attraction and retention in a modern economy.

The recommendations are straightforward.

The study says Columbus should launch a real music-focused visitor marketing campaign, create a branded music and entertainment district, and invest in Music Columbus or a similar organization so someone actually has the resources to execute a long-term strategy.

It also estimates that for every additional percentage point of tourist activity tied to music, Columbus could generate another $168 million in annual economic impact and support more than 1,250 jobs.

That is the sort of number cities usually pretend to care about very deeply.

There is even a built-in funding angle. The report notes that arts and culture tax sources are expected to generate $24.6 million for the arts in 2025, up from $22 million in 2024, and suggests some of that growth could help support a stronger music strategy.

So this is not really a story about whether Columbus likes music. Obviously it does.

It is a story about whether Columbus is finally ready to treat music like infrastructure instead of decoration. Like industry instead of ambiance. Like a real part of the city’s economic future instead of something nice to mention after the serious stuff.

Because the punchline here is that Columbus has spent years trying to become a more interesting, competitive city, and one of the best tools for doing that has been playing onstage the whole time.

And now there is a report politely telling us the band has already started.

We should probably stop standing in the lobby.

Gambling Awareness Month

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month and here in Ohio, nearly 1 in 5 adults are considered at-risk for problem gambling – that’s about 1. 8 million people around the state of Ohio. Unfortunately, young adults are among the fastest-growing groups that are seeking help, especially since sports betting options have expanded over the past two years. “March Madness can be a perfect storm for problem gambling,” said Derek Longmeier, executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio. “There are dozens of games, constant betting opportunities and what starts as fun can escalate quickly into a problem.” Longmeier also noted the rise of and lack of regulation of prediction markets – where instead of stocks or products, you buy a guess about the future – can add even more challenges for people trying to navigate that fine line between entertainment and gambling harm. The good news is that Ohio has several great resources for people who are worried about their gambling or betting or those of a loved one, they can visit Pause Before You Play or call Ohio’s Problem Gambling Helpline. Trained and understanding specialists will answer 24/7 at 1-800-589-9966 or text 988.

A) March 21st 1952

Top of Mind

Ohio State’s Latest Leadership Seminar: How to Resign in Under a Week

It was quite a week at Ohio State University, if your favorite genre is institutional panic with a side of board-approved embarrassment.

In the span of just a few days, Ohio State held a board meeting with President Ted Carter, learned he had been carrying on an “inappropriate relationship” with someone seeking public resources for her personal business, accepted his resignation, launched an investigation, and then promoted Provost Ravi Bellamkonda to the top job. Efficient, if nothing else.

For a university that loves to market itself as a global model of excellence, this was less “best damn university in the land” and more “HR emergency with a marching band.”

Carter resigned on March 9, a little more than two years into the job, after disclosing to the board that he had, in the university’s words, an inappropriate relationship with someone seeking state support for her business. In his statement to the campus community, Carter said he “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership,” which is one way to describe a scandal that detonated so fast the board went from glowing performance reviews to presidential replacement in what felt like the length of a long weekend.

And let’s pause there for a moment. In August 2025, the same board gave Carter rave reviews, a 4.5% merit raise, and a bonus worth nearly $400,000. Seven months later, they were meeting on a Saturday to figure out how to usher him out the door. That is not a leadership transition. That is a fire drill in scarlet and gray.

The details only got messier from there. JobsOhio said it believes the situation may be connected to Carter’s relationship with Krisanthe Vlachos, host of The Callout Podcast, a veterans-focused show Carter appeared on multiple times and was even listed on as a cohost. JobsOhio had paid $60,000 to sponsor a four-episode pilot series, though only one episode was actually completed. By the next day, the state’s private economic development arm was publicly trying to claw the money back, which is never exactly the sign of a clean and healthy arrangement.

So, to recap: Ohio State’s president resigns over an inappropriate relationship tied to a person seeking public resources, JobsOhio gets pulled into the orbit, tens of thousands of sponsorship dollars are suddenly in question, and the university has to speed-run a presidential succession before the week is over. Just a normal, stable stretch for one of the largest public universities in the country.

And if you’ve followed Ohio State long enough, this all feels depressingly on brand. This is a university that can build a national football empire, launch billion-dollar initiatives, and brand every square inch of human existence in Block O, but somehow still cannot stop turning the president’s office into a two-year stress position. Carter himself had only been in the role since January 2024, after Kristina Johnson’s own short and messy tenure. At this point, the most unstable thing on campus may not be the administration’s politics or priorities, but the actual presidency.

Which is saying something, because Carter’s tenure was not exactly quiet. Under his watch, Ohio State dismantled DEI programming under pressure from the state, established the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society to address so-called liberal bias, and cracked down on student protests over the war in Gaza. Critics on campus blasted his leadership as top-down, repressive, and unaccountable. Supporters could point to athletic success and strategic planning. But no amount of football glory or polished administrative language changes the fact that he left under a cloud of scandal, with the university once again forced into damage-control mode.

And now it’s Ravi Bellamkonda’s turn.

Ohio State moved quickly to elevate the provost, because when your house is on fire, the first thing you do is find the nearest person already holding a clipboard. Maybe Bellamkonda brings stability. Maybe he lasts longer than the last two presidents. Maybe Ohio State finally gets a leader whose tenure is defined by something other than political pressure, internal drama, or abrupt resignation.

But for now, the takeaway is simple: at one of the richest and most powerful institutions in the state, the adults in the room once again managed to make leadership look like a frat house problem with better salaries.

Ohio State may still know how to win championships.

Running the university is apparently another matter.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: This has nothing to do with the Letter but how much a big mac (just the sandwich) in 2008

A. $4.50
B. $2.87
C. $3.57
D. $5.25

Ohio’s Economic Development Strategy Has Apparently Expanded to Include Bigfoot

While Ohio State was busy speed-running a presidential scandal, northeast Ohio was dealing with a different leadership crisis: multiple people claimed to see Bigfoot stomping around Portage and Trumbull counties like he was on a regional listening tour.

Over the course of just a few days in early March, witnesses in places like Mantua, Garrettsville, Windham, and Newton Township reported seeing huge upright creatures, usually described the same way: dark hair, long arms, somewhere between 7 and 10 feet tall, and making deep grunting noises in the woods. Which, to be fair, is also how some people describe men at Buffalo Wild Wings during March Madness.

According to Jeremiah Byron of the Bigfoot Society podcast, this may be what enthusiasts call a “flap,” which is a sudden cluster of Sasquatch sightings in a short period of time. And if that sounds fake, please know that “flap” is a real term in cryptid culture, which means there are people who have spent enough time discussing Bigfoot to develop industry language.

What makes this especially rich is that the current setup is only a few years old. Voters The stories are, admittedly, incredible. One witness in Mantua claimed to see a 9-foot-tall Sasquatch in broad daylight. Another reported hearing deep footsteps and “vibrating grunts” before spotting an 8-foot figure moving between trees. In Garrettsville, hikers described a black-haired creature with broad shoulders, long arms, a musky odor, and a grunt so dramatic it sounds like Ohio’s forests are now doing immersive theater. In Newton Township, one man said his German Shepherd completely lost it after a large black shadow crashed through the woods behind his home at 4 a.m.

No physical evidence has turned up yet. No clear photos. No video. No tuft of hair. No giant footprint that can survive more than one news cycle. Law enforcement agencies also said they have not received much in the way of formal reports, which is probably for the best, because there is no quicker way to test a dispatcher’s patience than calling 911 to report a suspiciously enormous woodland gentleman.

Still, the legend persists because Ohio is an ideal place for this kind of thing. We are a state full of woods, fields, weird little towns, and just enough regional melancholy to make “what if there’s an 8-foot ape-man out there” feel almost plausible. This is also the same state that has given us the Loveland Frog, the Melon Heads, Orange Eyes, and enough ghost stories to fill a Buc-ee’s parking lot. Bigfoot is not an outlier here. He is part of the brand portfolio.

And maybe that is the real charm of the whole thing. In a state constantly trying to sell itself through business incentives, sports, Intel chips, and carefully scripted growth language, there is something refreshing about Ohio still being, at heart, a place where several people can look into the woods and say, with total sincerity, “I know what I saw, but I don’t know what I saw.”

That may not be science. But it is very Ohio.

Columbus Will Gather This Summer to Celebrate the Pickle, a Food We Have Somehow Turned Into a Lifestyle.

Columbus has hosted a lot of festivals over the years. Arts festivals. Jazz festivals. Beer festivals. Taco festivals. Mac and cheese festivals. Entire weekends dedicated to standing in the sun while paying $14 for something served in a paper boat.

So naturally, the next step in our civic evolution is Pickle Palooza.

On June 27, Huntington Park will host the national pickle-themed food and drink festival, which is exactly what it sounds like: an evening dedicated to pickle-inspired food, craft beverages, live music, games, and what can only be assumed will be a deeply unsettling number of adults willingly competing in pickle-eating contests in public.

The event is being produced by Outlier Events, the group behind other traveling food spectacles like Mac and Cheese Fest, Taco & Tequila, and Donut & Beer. Which means they have correctly identified the modern American business model: take one ingredient, add alcohol, a DJ, and VIP tickets, and watch people sprint toward it like it’s cultural enrichment.

And honestly, they may not be wrong. Organizers say the first Pickle Palooza in Grand Rapids sold out in just three hours, which means there is either enormous untapped demand for pickle-based entertainment, or the Midwest has finally become too powerful.

Columbus attendees can expect pickle-themed food from local vendors, including fried pickles, pickle pizza, and surely several other menu items invented by someone who looked at a cucumber in brine and thought, let’s see how far we can push this. Drinks will include beer, cider, cocktails, and nonalcoholic options, all sampled through tokens that come with admission, because no festival experience is complete until you are doing beverage math with a commemorative lanyard around your neck.

There will also be live music, a DJ set, and games, because apparently eating pickles at a baseball stadium now requires the atmosphere of a bachelorette party and the logistics of a county fair.

And yet, this makes perfect sense for Columbus. We are a city that loves an event. We love a theme. We love a food item elevated just enough to become an outing. We are spiritually the kind of place that sees “pickle festival at Huntington Park” and says yes, that feels right, that feels like summer, that feels like something I will absolutely complain about paying for and then attend anyway.

So if you have ever wanted to spend a warm June evening surrounded by brined enthusiasm, competitively crunchy energy, and the kind of crowd that treats a tasting cup as a personality trait, Columbus will soon have your moment.

The pickle’s time has come.

And apparently, it came with platinum admission.

C) 3.57 I was on the phone with my buddy writing the letter, and we were guessing the price, so I thought it would be fun for the letter.

Top of Mind

Frank LaRose Just Sent 8 Million Ohioans’ Voter Data to the DOJ, Because Apparently That Felt Like a Great Idea

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has now handed the U.S. Department of Justice a copy of the state’s voter registration database, meaning the personal information tied to nearly 8 million Ohio voters is no longer just sitting in Columbus. According to reporting and public statements, the data shared included names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license or state ID numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Because when people register to vote, they naturally assume that information might someday get gift-wrapped and shipped off to Washington in the name of “election integrity.”

LaRose says Ohio was simply complying with a federal request as the Trump administration pushes states to turn over detailed voter records. That broader effort has already sparked alarm across the country, and not just from the usual partisan corners. Federal judges in California, Michigan, and Oregon have all recently rejected similar DOJ attempts to force states to hand over unredacted voter data, with courts questioning both the legal basis for the requests and the privacy risks involved. One federal judge warned that centralizing this kind of information could chill voter registration altogether, which feels like the sort of thing you might want to think about before uploading half the state’s personal data into the national bloodstream.

Critics in Ohio are calling the move exactly what it looks like: reckless. State Rep. Allison Russo said Ohioans deserve confidence that the private information they provide to participate in democracy will actually stay protected. That confidence is, at best, wobbling. And it is not hard to see why. If you told the average voter that signing up to cast a ballot might also mean their identifying data gets handed to a federal administration openly obsessed with voter fraud mythology and citizenship crackdowns, they might reasonably decide democracy sounds like too much paperwork and not enough privacy.

The official defense is that the DOJ promised to use the records only for legitimate governmental purposes and that data protections are in place. Wonderful. We are apparently doing government now on the honor system. This is the same federal push that has raised concerns in multiple states that voter data could be repurposed for immigration enforcement or other political fishing expeditions. Ohio, meanwhile, did not wait to be dragged into court. We just opened the door and offered the whole file cabinet.

And that is really the part worth sitting with. Voting is supposed to be one of the most basic acts of citizenship in a democracy. It should not come with the creeping suspicion that your personal information is being passed around like a legislative casserole. Ohio likes to brag that it is the “gold standard” of election administration. But if the gold standard now means handing over sensitive voter data because the DOJ asked nicely, then maybe the bar is not gold. Maybe it is just lying on the floor. 

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: Which city smokes the most weed in Ohio?

A. Columbus
B. Cleveland
C. Cincinati
D. Akron

Districts

Columbus spent years congratulating itself for finally creating council districts, only to end up with a system where the people in a district can still get outvoted by people who do not live there. Which is how District 7 voters chose Jesse Vogel, and Columbus as a whole chose Tiara Ross instead. If that sounds less like representation and more like a group project designed by committee, you are not alone. That outcome has now helped spark two separate efforts to change how City Council elections work before voters head back to the ballot in November.

Both proposals go after the same basic problem: Columbus calls these “districts,” but under the current system, every voter in the city gets a say in every district race. So the Hilltop can help pick Downtown’s representative, Downtown can help pick Linden’s, and everyone gets to pretend this is normal. One proposal from the coalition Our City Our Say would keep the current map for now and simply move Columbus to a true ward-style system where only residents of each district vote for their own council member. A separate proposal led by Jonathan Beard would do that too, but it would also redraw the map entirely, arguing the current lines undercut Black political power and fail to create enough majority-minority districts.

And that is where this stops being a simple good-government cleanup and turns into a very Columbus fight. On one side is the argument that the most obvious fix is the clean one: let each district choose its own representative and worry about redistricting after the 2030 census. On the other is the argument that if the map itself is flawed, then locking it in for four more years just preserves a different kind of dysfunction, especially for Black Columbus. In other words, Columbus may be on the verge of having two ballot campaigns built around the same basic message: this system is broken, we just disagree on whether to fix the engine first or the steering.

What makes this especially rich is that the current setup is only a few years old. Voters approved the city-backed hybrid system in 2018, it went into effect in 2023, and already people are trying to rip it back open because reality had the nerve to test the theory. Turns out residents do not love being told they have district representation when their district’s preferred candidate can still lose to the larger city machine. A shocking development, apparently, for anyone who has ever met a voter.

At the heart of this is a very basic question Columbus has not fully answered: what are districts actually for? If they are just branding, a nice way to make City Council look more neighborhood-friendly while keeping citywide power dynamics intact, then the current system is working exactly as designed. But if districts are supposed to mean local accountability, actual neighborhood representation, and council members who answer first to the people they live among, then this whole thing has been a civic costume from the start. November may give voters the chance to decide whether they want real districts, new districts, or just another round of Columbus making democracy more complicated than it needs to be. 

Ohio Said Yes to Weed. Now It’s Getting Weird About the Drinks.

Just when Ohio finally figured out how to let adults buy weed without acting like the sky was falling, the state has found a new hobby: going to war with THC seltzers. Two Cincinnati breweries, Fifty West and Urban Artifact, are now suing Ohio over Senate Bill 56, arguing that Gov. Mike DeWine used his veto pen to turn what lawmakers passed as a temporary sales window into an outright ban on hemp-derived THC drinks. In other words, the legislature handed the industry a runway, and the governor came in with scissors.

The dispute is not over whether Ohio wanted rules. It is over whether DeWine rewrote the law on the fly. According to the lawsuit filed in the Ohio Supreme Court, the enrolled version of SB 56 would have allowed hemp beverages, defined there as drinkable cannabinoid products, to be manufactured, distributed, and sold in Ohio through December 31, 2026, with products sold in-state capped at up to five milligrams of total THC per serving. The plaintiffs argue DeWine’s line-item veto erased that carveout and flipped the bill from regulation into prohibition.

And yes, this matters beyond a few trendy cans in brewery coolers. Starting March 20, 2026, hemp products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container can only be sold in licensed Ohio dispensaries, which means the corner market, bottle shop, brewery, and bar lose access to a product category that has been one of the few bright spots in an alcohol industry that has spent the last few years getting body-slammed by shifting consumer habits. Court filings say the ban threatens millions of dollars in losses, layoffs, and, in some cases, existential harm to the businesses involved.

DeWine’s side says this is just good policy. His administration has argued that allowing THC drinks to stay on shelves through most of 2026 would confuse consumers and clash with a broader crackdown on intoxicating hemp. Ohio Senate Republicans have echoed that line, saying the law is about oversight, accountability, and ending the sale of unregulated intoxicating hemp outside licensed dispensaries. Which is a very polished way of saying Ohio looked at a product people were buying legally and decided the only place you should get it now is somewhere with much harsher barriers to entry.

There is also a referendum effort brewing in the background, because apparently one court fight was not enough. Opponents of SB 56 have been gathering signatures to put the law on hold and let voters decide its fate in November. If that effort succeeds, the law gets paused. If it fails, the restrictions move forward in late March. So Ohio consumers may soon learn whether their THC drink is a regulated product, a political football, or just another thing the state managed to make dramatically more complicated than necessary.

And that is the real Ohio magic here. Voters approved legal marijuana in 2023. Businesses built products around the state’s hemp gray zone. Lawmakers wrote one thing. The governor trimmed it into something else. Now breweries are in court, advocates are chasing signatures, and consumers are left standing in the beverage aisle wondering why a state that finally entered the 21st century on cannabis is suddenly acting like a cherry-lime THC seltzer is a threat to civilization. 

A) Columbus: $4.7 million, Cincinnati: $2.5 million, Dayton: $1.2 million, Canton: $1.1 million, Akron: $877,000, Cleveland: $803,000

Top of Mind

Compost Me, Columbus

Ohio has two official exit strategies right now: burial or cremation. Very traditional. Very “choose your fighter.” But a state senator is trying to add a third option that sounds like a campfire story your weird uncle tells at Thanksgiving: human composting.

Senate Bill 323, introduced by Sen. Louis Blessing III (R-Colerain Township), would legalize natural organic reduction, aka “terramation,” aka “turn me into dirt, respectfully.” The process uses a specialized vessel to speed up decomposition into soil in about a month. Families can keep the soil, or donate it for conservation work, because nothing says “legacy” like becoming a small but meaningful contribution to reforestation.

Blessing’s pitch is basically: this is a personal choice, it’s already legal in 14 states, and Ohio’s funeral laws are stuck in an era when “innovation” meant a nicer casket handle. The bill wouldn’t force anyone to do it or require any town to build a facility. It would just set rules for licensing and operation, and yes, it includes the very Ohio sentence: facilities must be kept “clean and sanitary,” and humans and animals have to be reduced in separate chambers. (We cannot believe we have to clarify that either, but welcome to legislation.)

A human-composting company called Earth Funeral told lawmakers they’ve already heard from 2,000+ Ohioans who want this option, and that families are currently having to drive bodies across state lines to fulfill final wishes. The estimated cost is $5,000 to $7,000, which puts it right in the same “expensive but somehow still cheaper than a full funeral” zone as everything else related to dying.

The Catholic Conference of Ohio reportedly has concerns, tied to beliefs about keeping remains whole, which is fair. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to process the reality that the state is debating whether your final form should be urn, box, or bag of premium garden soil.

Anyway, if you’ve ever wanted to haunt your enemies as a ficus, Ohio might be getting you closer.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many countries are competing in this years Arnold Festival

A. 80
B. 102
C. 96
D. 37

The Arnold: Columbus’s Annual Invasion of Biceps and Hotel Bookings

The Arnold Classic: Columbus’s Annual Reminder That Humans Can Be Forklifts

Every March, Columbus hosts the Arnold Sports Festival, which is basically what happens when you combine the Olympics, a bodybuilding show, and a Costco sample aisle, then drop it all inside the Convention Center and say “good luck.” It’s loud, crowded, and full of people who look like they were carved out of granite.

Here’s the part that always surprises outsiders: this whole thing is deeply Columbus.

Arnold’s relationship with Central Ohio traces back to 1970, when he competed here and later called that contest “the most important event of my life,” because it was the first time he beat Sergio Oliva on neutral ground. From that trip, he built a friendship (and eventually a business partnership) with Worthington’s Jim Lorimer, and the handshake logic was simple: keep bringing big bodybuilding to Columbus, then eventually build a Columbus-based event that became the Arnold.

Now it’s not just bodybuilding. It’s a full-on sports festival with competitors and fans pouring in from everywhere.

How big are we talking?

• 105,000 attendees came through in 2025, with visitors from all 50 states and 80+ countries, according to Experience Columbus.

• The event is expected to generate around $15.6 million in direct visitor spending (that is, money spent by visitors in the local economy).

• It’s also a hotel monster. Reporting around the event has cited 8,400+ hotel rooms booked for the weekend.

• On the “this is why restaurants love it” front: Experience Columbus pegged the 2024 festival at $16 million in direct spending and anticipated 100,000+ people in town.

And that’s the Arnold as a single event. The really funny part is how it lands in the city calendar like a wrecking ball.

In early 2025, Columbus hosted the Arnold the same weekend as the NHL Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium, and Experience Columbus said the two events combined for nearly $40 million in direct visitor spending in that first-quarter window. Axios framed it as a roughly $35 million weekend overall, with the Arnold contributing the familiar $15.6 million chunk of that.

What makes it feel even bigger than the numbers

• The Arnold is not just “come watch something.” It’s also “come buy something.” The Arnold Expo has been known to hit 1,000+ vendor booths in recent years, according to the Convention Center’s own event notes.

• The official Arnold site describes the 2026 expo as “hundreds of booths” and positions it as the heart of the weekend.

• If you ever wonder why downtown feels like it’s running at 1.5x speed that weekend, it’s because you’re not just hosting spectators. You’re hosting competitors, coaches, vendors, brands, and entire friend groups who think “vacation” means “bulk creatine and a posing oil budget.”

So yes, Columbus gets its annual economic boost, its annual congestion headache, and its annual reminder that somewhere inside the Convention Center there is a person warming up to lift something that should legally require a forklift.

And outside, the Arnold statue just stands there… quietly judging your posture and your choices.

Bogey Inn: The Dublin Golf Fantasy That Got Sent to the Rough

Remember that big Rise Brands plan to turn the old Bogey Inn site in Dublin into a shiny, golf-themed entertainment campus? The one with the renderings, the optimism, and the implied promise that Memorial Tournament week would become an even bigger carnival?

Yeah. That plan is dead.

Rise Brands has scrapped the redevelopment concept for the property at 6013 Glick Road, pulling the plug on a proposed 3-acre entertainment destination that was supposed to include indoor and outdoor bars, live entertainment, food options, and a 36-hole putting course (27 outdoor holes + 9 covered holes), plus a covered bar.

And the biggest plot twist: it wasn’t killed by a lack of imagination. It was killed by math and logistics.

The company’s new CEO, Hana Hesselgesser (who stepped into the role in January 2026), told The Dispatch the project simply wasn’t feasible at that location. The issue wasn’t demand, or branding, or “people don’t like fun anymore.” It was the unsexy stuff: significant site-related hurdles, including the fact that the property spans multiple municipal jurisdictions, which turned “let’s build a campus” into “let’s spend a great deal of time and money trying to make the land itself cooperate.”

That’s the part worth underlining: Rise didn’t just shrug and walk away. They apparently burned real time and cash trying to finalize site improvements, then finally looked at their business model and said, “Not here.”

Which is a very grown-up move, and also extremely disappointing for anyone who enjoys the idea of Dublin becoming a year-round festival of putting, patio beers, and Memorial Tournament overflow energy.

Because this was supposed to be timed perfectly. Rise’s plan had the redeveloped site opening during the 2026 Memorial Tournament in June, leaning into the location’s proximity to Muirfield Village and the property’s history as a Memorial week party spot.

So what now?

Officially: Rise says they’re no longer moving forward with the golf concept at that particular location, and the future of the site is unclear. Hesselgesser did say she’s still excited about bringing a golf-related concept into the Rise Brands family somewhere else, so this might not be the end of “Rise does golf,” just the end of “Rise does golf here.”

In other words, the Bogey Inn didn’t get revived. It got value-engineered out of existence by zoning gravity.

And if you’ve ever wondered what Columbus-area development looks like in 2026, it’s that: everyone has a dream, then the site says, “Cool. Now do it across three jurisdictions.”

A. 80! The Olympics have 96 countries that compete!

Top of Mind

Milano Cortina Is Here, And Ohio State Women’s Hockey Has Been Building To This!

The Winter Olympics are underway in Milano Cortina, and Ohio’s biggest footprint is exactly where you’d expect it: women’s hockey.

Ohio State has five current players in the tournament, plus a deep list of alumni spread across multiple national teams. It’s a reflection of what the program has become under coach Nadine “Muzzy” Muzerall: a place that consistently produces the kind of players who end up on Olympic rosters, not just highlight reels.

The Buckeyes on the Olympic ice

Current Ohio State players

• Joy Dunne, United States
  

• Sanni Vanhanen, Finland (2022 bronze medalist)
  

• Hilda Svensson, Sweden
  

• Jenna Raunio, Sweden
  

• Mira Jungåker, Sweden
  

Ohio State alumni

• Cayla Barnes, United States (gold 2018, silver 2022)
  

• Hannah Bilka, United States
  

• Jenn Gardiner, Canada
  

• Sophie Jaques, Canada
  

• Emma Maltais, Canada (gold 2022)
  

• Natalie Spooner, Canada (four-time Olympian)
  

• Andrea Brändli, Switzerland
  

Joy Dunne’s Olympic moment

One of the best storylines in the group is Joy Dunne, who put “The Olympics” on paper as a third-grader and is now living it as a 20-year-old on Team USA.

She’s the points leader and an assistant captain for one of the nation’s top programs, a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, and part of Ohio State’s 2024 national title run. Her coach wasn’t surprised. Dunne’s family is full of high-level hockey players, and Muzerall has known her since she was 10.

Dunne’s reaction to making the team was simple and honest: overwhelmed, emotional, grateful, grounded.

A program built for this stage

Ohio State women’s hockey has had an Olympian at every Winter Games since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. This year’s group is a high-water mark: a single-Games program record for Olympic representation, with Muzerall having coached most of them.

The on-ice dominance is real. Under Muzerall, the Buckeyes have won two national titles (2022, 2024), reached six Frozen Fours, and built a culture players consistently describe the same way: demanding, supportive, and relentlessly competitive.

And yes, they’re doing it in the classroom too

Ohio State’s women’s hockey program has also been one of the most consistent academic performers on campus. The team has won the Varsity O academic award for a large roster team four years running, and the five current Olympians carry a combined 3.8 GPA. It’s not a throwaway detail. The program standard is clear: elite on the ice, serious about the rest.

When to watch

Tomorrow (Feb. 19): Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Game — 1:10 p.m. ET (USA Network, Peacock)
The bronze medal game is at 8:40 a.m. ET.

If you want, I can tighten this one even further into a clean, newsletter-ready block (same info, fewer lines) or add a short kicker that tees up your next story.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: Where is the oldest curling club in Ohio with dedicated Ice

A. Troy
B. Bowling Green
C. Warrensville Heights
D. West Chester

Your Local Olympics: Columbus Curling Club

to bring that energy back to Earth, without buying a single piece of expensive outerwear you’ll wear twice.

The Columbus Curling Club has been around since October 2004, and it’s one of the few places in Ohio with dedicated curling ice. It’s social, surprisingly strategic, and perfect for this exact moment when everyone is already watching the sport and saying, “Wait… I get it now.”

Learn to Curl: Feb. 15–28

The club is running Learn-to-Curl sessions Feb. 15–28, built for beginners. You’ll learn how the game works, get coached through the basics, and actually play. It’s a great winter activity because it’s active, it’s indoors, and it comes with instant camaraderie.

Late Night Special: Weeknights (Mon–Thu) 8:30 p.m., starting Feb. 18, are $40 for Learn-to-Curl.

One of only four dedicated curling clubs in Ohio

Dedicated curling clubs are rare. Columbus is one of four in the state, alongside Mayfield, Cincinnati, and Bowling Green.

Group option, if you want to bring people

They also offer corporate and daytime outings: 2 hours on the ice with instruction, plus 30 minutes in the warm room afterward for hanging out (extra time can be added).

If you’re looking for one very seasonally correct thing to do while the Olympics are still fresh, this is it.

Goodwill Is Moving Into Big Lots’ Old Spot (And Making It Big)

Westerville is getting a new Goodwill this spring, and it’s taking over a very specific kind of Ohio real estate: the former Big Lots building at 60 E. Schrock Rd.

This one is retail-only and clocks in at 13,000+ square feet, which will make it Goodwill Columbus’s largest retail store to date.

Goodwill says a public grand opening celebration is coming with the usual lineup: prizes, giveaways, music, and more details “in the coming weeks.”

Why they’re doing it (besides the obvious: we all love a deal)

Goodwill Columbus has been in expansion mode, with this becoming the fourth opening since 2023, following locations including Clintonville and Brice Road.

And the bigger point behind the stores: Goodwill Columbus says it has served more than 100,000 individuals since 2020, hitting a goal they originally set for 2030 five years early.

A quick clarification Westerville will ask immediately

This new Schrock Road location is Goodwill Columbus, and it’s separate from the Marion Goodwill Industries store on Northgate Way.

Why this is a very time-appropriate activity

It’s winter, it’s thrift season, and a new, bigger Goodwill means more aisles for the sport we all pretend we’re above but absolutely are not: finding something absurdly useful for $6 and acting like we discovered it in Paris.

(Grand opening date pending. Your spring plans may now include “Schrock Road.”)

Enemy No. 1 Returns: Ohio Just Put The Whole State Under Lanternfly Quarantine

The spotted lanternfly has officially reached the “we’re not messing around anymore” stage.

As of Feb. 17, 2026, the Ohio Department of Agriculture issued a statewide quarantine across all 88 counties, expanding what used to be an 18-county quarantine.

What a statewide quarantine actually means

This is not a “nobody can leave the state” situation. It’s a “certain stuff can’t leave the state without paperwork” situation.

Under the quarantine, regulated items like trees and nursery stock cannot be moved out of Ohio unless they’re covered by a compliance agreement, permit, or inspection certificate showing they are free of spotted lanternfly.

Translation: if you ship plant materials for work, business, or agriculture, Ohio wants you checking loads so we do not export this problem to someone else.

Why the state cares

Spotted lanternflies feed on a lot of plants, but officials keep circling back to the same big concerns: grapes and vineyards, plus other agriculture and specialty crops.

They also love the tree-of-heaven, which is itself invasive and basically serves as the lanternfly’s favorite hangout.

C. Warrensville Heights opened its doors in 1962…the oldest in the USA, is Milwaukee Curling Club, which opened in 1845

Top of Mind

Springfield is bracing, and it deserves better than guesswork

Springfield is heading into February with a lot of families holding their breath.

Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation is set to end at 11:59 p.m. local time on Feb. 3, which could strip legal work and residency protections from thousands of Haitian residents who built lives here legally under the program.

What comes next is the part that is keeping people up at night: local officials have heard talk of a possible U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation beginning as soon as Feb. 4, potentially lasting weeks, but the reporting is consistent on one point. Nothing has been confirmed, and details are thin.

And that uncertainty is not a minor inconvenience. It is destabilizing. When a city is asked to stay calm while also being told a major federal enforcement action could arrive with little notice, the result is fear, rumor, and people making contingency plans for scenarios no one will even put in writing.

City leaders are trying to do the basics: keep the community steady, coordinate with schools and partners, and reduce the risk of confusion. The city passed a resolution requesting that federal officers remain identifiable, faces uncovered, and credentials visible, after past incidents involving masked people who were not ICE. They cannot force it. They are asking anyway, because residents should not have to guess who is showing up at their door.

Even Mike DeWine has called the TPS change a mistake, pointing to Haiti’s conditions and the real fallout for Ohio communities, including families with U.S.-citizen kids.

And if you want to understand why nearby cities are reacting too, look at Dayton. Businesses and residents joined a national day of action protesting ICE operations and the broader climate around enforcement. It is not “politics” to people on the ground. It is neighbors trying to protect neighbors.

If you’re in Columbus, Dayton, or anywhere else in Ohio watching this unfold, here’s the simple truth: Springfield is not a headline; it’s a community. Thousands of Haitian families moved there legally, found work, enrolled kids in school, opened businesses, joined churches, and helped keep the city running. That’s not “a situation.” That’s your neighbors.

So standing with Springfield can look like the basics: don’t spread unverified rumors, amplify confirmed updates from the city and trusted local reporting, and support the local groups doing real work on the ground. And if federal enforcement does arrive, the message should be clear: we can disagree about policy without treating families like collateral damage.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many animals are at the Columbus Zoo

A. Over 10,000
B. Over 5,000
C. Over 20,000
D. Over 15,000

Meet the best Ohio State coach you may not know

At Ohio State, coaching greatness is usually reserved for people with headsets, laminated play sheets, and the ability to say “establish the run” with a straight face.

So let’s commit a small act of campus rebellion and talk about Nadine Muzerall, the most dominant coach in Columbus, you probably do not hear enough about. While the rest of the state argues about spring games and punters, she has been turning Ohio State women’s hockey into a national problem since 2016.

When Muzerall arrived, Ohio State had never made the NCAA tournament. Since then, the Buckeyes have stacked conference titles, lived in the Frozen Four, and won two national championships. Not “competitive.” Not “on the rise.” Actual hardware.

And this is where it gets hard to ignore, even if you have never watched a full period of hockey. This winter, five current Buckeyes are headed to the 2026 Winter Olympics, representing three countries. That is not a fun fact. That is a pipeline.

The Olympian pipeline is not a metaphor

Here’s the current roster heading to Italy:

• Joy Dunne (USA)

• Sanni Vanhanen (Finland)

• Hilda Svensson (Sweden)

• Jenna Raunio (Sweden)

• Mira Jungåker (Sweden)

And it’s not just them. Ohio State says twelve current and former Buckeyes will compete in the 2026 Games. Twelve. That’s not “a couple alumni made it.” That’s “Ohio State is basically running a national team annex.”

How she does it

Muzerall’s whole deal is demanding excellence without losing the human part. Tough love, yes. Also real investment. She’s the kind of coach who will back you publicly, coach you brutally, and then make sure you have what you need to actually get better.

The details matter. She stays in close contact with national team staff, takes feedback, and turns it into specific training plans. Not vibes. Not speeches. Actual development. The result is players who improve fast, play with edge, and show up ready for the highest level.

She even brought in a Navy SEAL to work on mental toughness, because apparently the only thing harder than college hockey is convincing your brain not to melt under pressure.

Ohio State has plenty of elite programs, but women’s hockey might be the cleanest example of what a modern powerhouse looks like when it’s built on purpose. Recruiting reach, player development, a defined culture, and results that show up in championships and Olympic rosters.

It’s also just objectively wild that one of the most dominant runs in the entire athletic department is happening on ice, and half the city still couldn’t name the coach.

So here’s your reminder: if you like winning, if you like Ohio State, or if you just enjoy excellence without 300 callers debating “heart,” women’s hockey is right there. And Nadine Muzerall is the reason.

Pizza Boxes, Super Bowl, and Your Cardboard Problem

More than 12 million pizzas get ordered on **Super Bowl Sunday, which means your group chat is about to do what it always does: spend $84 on food, watch commercials, and generate a small mountain of cardboard.

To keep at least some of those boxes out of the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill, SWACO is teaming up with dozens of local pizzerias to slap tens of thousands of reminder stickers on carryout boxes, because cardboard is one of the biggest items we throw away, even though it’s wildly recyclable.

If you needed a sign to recycle your pizza box after the game, congrats. It’s literally going to be stuck to the lid.

https://www.swaco.org/m/newsflash/home/detail/380

Columbus Zoo vs. The Cold That Wont Leave

While the rest of us were doing the annual Central Ohio winter routine (complain, scrape windshield, pretend we “like seasons”), the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has been running a full-on animal wellness operation behind the scenes.

According to WSYX, the zoo stocked up on extra food and medicine, had a backup generator ready to keep heating systems online, and generally acted like a place responsible for thousands of living creatures instead of just a fun Saturday plan.

Some animals got upgraded to “nope, you live inside now.” The zebras and donkeys were locked in during the cold stretch.

The flamingos, meanwhile, are receiving the kind of spa treatment most of us cannot even get with insurance. Keepers are using Epsom salt foot baths to protect their legs and feet because for long-legged birds, one bad injury can turn into a serious problem.

And then there’s Bubba, the 79-year-old Aldabra tortoise, who apparently has “tortoise snugglers.” Volunteers trained to hang out with him and Sonny in the colder months, talk to them, and even play music. Columbus really is a city where someone’s dream job is soothing an elderly tortoise with a playlist, and honestly, good for them.

The zoo says the animals are doing fine, even with a water main break on Friday that did not affect them. The zoo is set to reopen Monday after a ten-day weather closure, its longest outside the pandemic.

Trivia Answer

A. Over 10,000 isnt that incredible

Top of Mind

Operation Buckeye Is Not Public Safety

The Scarlet Letter does not fuck with ICE. We do not support ICE’s actions here. Not the scale, not the tactics, not the fear it injects into neighborhoods that already carry enough stress without federal agents turning daily life into a scavenger hunt for survival.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, more than 280 people in central Ohio were detained in a single week, Dec. 16 to 21, during what ICE called Operation Buckeye. Local advocates and service providers say the fallout has been immediate and brutal: people not coming home, cars found abandoned, frantic calls to legal offices from spouses trying to figure out where someone was taken and what happens next.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance reported that at least 214 people were arrested and in detention as of Dec. 24, and said the real number is likely higher. They also found that 93% were men and 80% appeared to be Latino. If you are looking for the part where this feels “targeted” and “precise,” keep looking.

ICE has tried to frame the operation as a crackdown on people with serious criminal backgrounds, listing a handful of examples in a release. But what they have not done, at least publicly, is answer the most basic question: how many of the 280+ people detained actually had criminal records. Without that, the messaging reads less like public safety and more like PR.

Meanwhile, the people on the ground in Columbus are describing something else entirely. Attorneys and immigration service workers say they saw a sudden spike in “ICE reports,” including traffic stops and detentions that left families scrambling. Some clients are now afraid to go to routine ICE check-ins, even though missing them can make things worse. Some parents have stopped sending their children to school. Not because they do not value education, but because they are terrified that a normal day could end with a family separated.

Then there is the detention piece, where the story gets even darker. An analysis from advocates said 137 detainees were taken to Butler County Jail, with others sent to facilities around the state. Butler County Jail has been flagged for overcrowding, with reported population numbers far above recommended capacity. People detained there have reported packed cells and inadequate conditions. This is not a “process.” It is a pressure cooker.

And if you want the simplest version of why we reject this kind of operation, it is this: when enforcement depends on fear, it stops being about safety and starts being about power. You do not build trust by making people scared to drive to work, pick up their kids, or answer the door.

Columbus deserves better than a policy that treats entire communities like collateral damage. Ohio deserves better than “Operation Buckeye” as a brand name for human misery. And if local leaders say this makes the community less safe, we are inclined to believe the people who actually live here.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: This snow sucks. How many days till spring

A. 100
B. 52
C. 68
D. 10

Why Cars Hit Buildings in Columbus, Ohio

Mezcla is going to be closed for a minute. . .

Why Does this Happen

If it feels like cars are crashing into Columbus buildings at an alarming rate — that’s because they are. So far this year, 37 vehicles have made surprise entries into Central Ohio storefronts, porches, living rooms, and lobbies, blurring the line between traffic pattern and demolition derby. It’s become such a recurring spectacle that you half expect to see “Drive-Thru Closed” signs at coffee shops without drive-thrus. But here’s the kicker: that number might only scratch the surface.

Instagram post

Does this happen elsewhere?! YES.

In April 2022 The Storefront Safety Council completed an exchange of data and methodologies with an arm of Lloyd’s of London, the largest insurance market in the world. Lloyd’s found that their data was valid and credible and that their collection methodology gave them such high confidence that their collection of data concerning vehicle-into-building / storefront crashes should be used by researchers and risk managers as “source data” given the lack of any other available data sets involving private property accidents in the United States.

Lloyd’s concluded in their remarks that the data, as complete as it is, reflects only a fraction of the total of storefront crashes that occur every single day: At the most conservative, it appears that the SSC database captures 1 in 12 incidents (8.33%)

Storefront crashes occur more than 100 times daily, and if we are only tracking 8%, that means the problem is actually WAY bigger than we thought…

So what now? Well, unless every building in Columbus suddenly installs bollards and barriers like a presidential motorcade route, we’re left relying on better data, better planning, and the occasional miracle. The Storefront Safety Council may be tracking the tip of the iceberg, but the real fix will require more than spreadsheets. Until then, if you're opening a business in Central Ohio, maybe skip the corner unit and ask your insurance rep about “vehicular incursion coverage.” It's apparently... a thing.

Columbus Ended 2025 With Its Lowest Homicide Total In Nearly 20 Years

Columbus ended 2025 with a rare headline that actually deserves to be said out loud: the city recorded 81 homicides, the lowest total since around 2007, according to city leaders. That does not mean the work is done, but it does mean something moved in the right direction, and for a city that has carried heavy years lately, that matters.

Mayor Andrew Ginther and Police Chief Elaine Bryant also pointed to something families want almost as much as prevention: answers. Bryant said detectives solved 69 homicide cases from 2025 and cleared 30 more from previous years, which is a meaningful sign that more people are being held accountable and more families are getting closure than they were before.

There are other indicators moving the right way too. Bryant said felonious assaults are down by about 500 cases over two years, and city leaders credited stronger community cooperation, including a record number of tips coming in to help investigations.

And the city is leaning into what seems to be working. Leaders highlighted an 18-month pilot program in South Linden and Milo-Grogan that treated non-fatal shootings with the same focus as homicides. Police said they solved about 75% of those non-fatal shooting cases in the pilot area, compared to roughly 46% of non-fatal shootings typically being solved, and the program is expected to expand in 2026.

Now, the hard truth that belongs in the same paragraph as the progress: domestic violence homicides remain a major exception to the overall decline. Ginther said the city is “not going in the right direction” on that front, and he framed it as a community issue that cannot be solved by police alone.

That is the glass-half-full version too, even if it is painful: the city is identifying the problem clearly, saying it plainly, and acknowledging that it will take more than enforcement to fix it. If Columbus can reduce violence in one area, it can put that same focus, funding, and coordination into the places where danger hides behind closed doors.

So yes, take the win. Columbus earned it. Then take the lesson: progress is real, but it has to be shared by everyone, everywhere, including at home.

Trivia Answer

B. 52 days till spring.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures; there isn't a lot of room for funny gifs when it comes to these subjects.

Signing Off

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why, right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

MLK Day is a reminder that this wasn’t just a beautiful sentiment; it was a strategy. In a world that feels louder, harsher, and more allergic to nuance by the day, his point still lands: truth does not need a weapon to win, and love is not soft when it is disciplined. If we’re going to honor him, it can’t just be with quotes and a day off. It has to be with the kind of courage that stays human, even when it would be easier to be cruel.

Top of Mind

Why We Call It “Gubernatorial” (And Why It Sounds Like A Victorian Illness)

As Ohio heads into a governor’s race in 2026, you are about to hear the word “gubernatorial” said with the confidence of someone who also uses “aforementioned” in a text message. It is one of those political words that feels like it was invented specifically so insiders can sound like they have a lanyard. And yes, it is objectively weird that we get from governor to gubernatorial instead of the very normal-sounding “governatorial,” which is a word that looks right, sounds right, and would save all of us from this spelling situation.

Here’s what happened.

“Governor” came into English through French back in the 1300s, basically meaning what it means now: a person responsible for governing something. But English, being English, later circled back during the Renaissance and borrowed from Latin too, because nothing says “intellectual glow-up” like grabbing the same concept twice in different outfits. The Latin form gubernator (governor) did not really stick around as a common noun in English, but its adjective form did. That is how we ended up with gubernatorial.

Now here’s the part that makes the word slightly less ugly and way more interesting.

The Latin gubernator traces back to Greek roots tied to steering a ship, specifically the idea of a helmsman, someone literally holding the wheel and keeping things pointed in the right direction. That metaphor is so perfect it almost feels unfair. Because if you have ever watched Ohio politics for more than ten minutes, you know the state is basically a large vessel where everyone is yelling directions from the deck while somebody tries to steer through fog.

Even better, that same Greek root is connected to cybernetics, the study of systems, control, and feedback loops. So every time a talking head says “the gubernatorial race,” they are accidentally referencing ancient ship navigation and the science of controlling complex systems.

Which is honestly the most accurate description of governing I have heard in years. Also, the word has enemies. A lot of them.

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage reportedly calls “gubernatorial” stilted and suggests writing “the race for governor” or “the campaign for governor” instead. Which is a very New York Times thing to say, because yes, it is stilted, but also, have you met political people?

Stilted is their love language. And if you think the dislike is modern, it is not. There is a long tradition of people complaining about “gubernatorial,” as if it personally ruined their day. Even serious language writers have taken shots at it over the years, because it sounds pompous even when used correctly. So why do we keep it? Because it is useful. It is the single-word adjective that headlines and election nerds can slap onto anything: gubernatorial debate, gubernatorial field, gubernatorial fundraising, gubernatorial chaos. And, as some editors will tell you, it is sometimes genuinely shorter and cleaner than repeatedly writing “race for governor,” especially when space is tight.

Now, the practical part: Ohio’s primary is May 5, 2026, and the general election is November 3, 2026. If you live in Columbus, that means the next year is going to be full of state-level decisions that land directly on your doorstep, whether the topic is schools, housing, transit, jobs, or whatever fresh policy idea shows up wearing a “common sense” hoodie.

So yes, we are going to cover the governor’s race heavily. And we are going to do it in plain English whenever possible. But every once in a while, we are absolutely going to say “gubernatorial,” because it is election season and we deserve one silly word that also secretly means “the person steering the ship.”

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many governors has Ohio had?

A) 70
B) 60
C) 80
D) 50

COSI’s New Exhibit: Executive Compensation

COSI just laid off 15% of its staff this month, citing attendance and funding changes.

Which is a bleak sentence for a place that basically runs on school field trips, sticky fingers, and the annual tradition of parents realizing “membership is cheaper than leaving the house in January.”

And yet, if you want to understand what’s been happening inside our beloved science museum over the last few years, you don’t need a microscope. You need a calculator.

COSI’s nonprofit tax filings (under its legal name, the Franklin County Historical Society) show a financial roller coaster:

• 2020: net income of -$2.6M
  

• 2021: net income of +$6.1M
  

• 2023: net income of +$524K
  

• 2024: net income of -$1.35M

So yes, “turbulent” is fair. But here’s where it gets spicy (or, in COSI terms, where the chemical reaction starts bubbling).

In 2020, COSI reported $481,951 in “Executive Compensation” and $6,415,925 in “Other Salaries and Wages.” That means exec comp was about 7% of payroll (exec comp divided by exec comp + other wages).
pushing exec comp to about 10.6% of payroll.

By 2024, executive compensation was reported at $1,770,443 with $9,517,658 in other wages, making exec comp about 15.7% of payroll.

That is a real trend. And it lands differently when the same institution is simultaneously telling the public it had to cut jobs.

Then there’s CEO compensation.

COSI’s filings list Frederic M. Bertley at:

• $292,978 in 2020
  

• $378,966 in 2021
  

• $427,476 in 2023
  

• $484,142 in 2024

So while the museum’s finances went from “pandemic disaster” to “temporary comeback” to “back in the red,” the CEO line kept doing what it does best: trending up and to the right.

Also, Bertley is not just running COSI. He’s listed as the CEO of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum too. Which is impressive, if you’re into the “two CEO titles at once” lifestyle. The rest of us are still trying to answer emails before lunch.

None of this is to say COSI is evil. It’s to say that when a family museum starts laying people off while executive pay becomes a bigger slice of the payroll pie, people are going to ask questions. And if the goal is to inspire curiosity, congratulations, mission accomplished.

Want the real hands-on experience? Open the filings, and start poking around.

FYR Turns Up The Heat In The Short North

Columbus restaurants love a “new menu” announcement. Usually, it means two new apps and a cocktail with rosemary on fire.

FYR Short North actually did the thing.

Inside the Hilton Downtown at 402 N. High St., FYR rolled out a reworked menu built around wood-fire cooking, with a heavy lean into Ohio-sourced ingredients and seasonal flavors.

What’s new

The highlights are basically a greatest-hits list for anyone who enjoys dinner with a little drama:

• Wood-oven crab cake

• Wagyu Royale with citrus-fed Australian Wagyu and Ohio Raclette

• Ora King salmon

• Local vegetables

• Bone marrow whipped potatoes, which feel like a dare

They’re also running a dry-aging program for meats with bourbon basting, because FYR would like your steak to taste like it has a personal brand.

New chef, same obsession with fire

The menu is led by Executive Chef Zachery Warn, a 25-year veteran with time in Napa and Vegas kitchens. His pitch is simple: respect the ingredient, then cook it like it owes you money.

Dessert and cocktails got the memo

Dessert and drinks keep the theme going:

• Build-your-own banana split
  

• Basque cheesecake with toasted meringue and smoke chocolate ganache
  

• Martinis made with fire-roasted ingredients

If you go

Open 4 to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Bottom line: if you want a downtown dinner that feels like an event without being stiff, FYR is making a case.

Brutus Pulled A Heist In Orlando And Got Away With It

If you were worried Ohio State might go a full week without winning something, relax. Brutus Buckeye is a national champion again.

On January 17, Brutus took first place in the Division IA Mascot competition at the 2026 UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando. It’s his first mascot national title since 2019, which is both a fun stat and a reminder that time moves faster than you think, especially when your main hobby is watching a large nut do backflips.

Here’s the part most people don’t realize: mascots don’t just show up, wave, and accidentally knock over a kid’s nachos. To even make nationals, schools submit an entry video, get scored out of 100, and only the top 10 get invited to perform live. That video score makes up half of the final score, so yes, there is an entire serious judging system devoted to costumed chaos. This year, Brutus’ video came in fourth, behind a stack of heavy hitters, including Minnesota’s Goldy Gopher.

Then came the live performance, a 90-second skit written by the spirit squad and coaches. The theme: bank heist, with Brutus on a mission to steal the championship ring. Because if you’re going to compete for a national title in mascot division, you might as well commit to a plot that sounds like a direct-to-streaming action movie called Fast and Furriest.

Ohio State’s head mascot coach Ray Sharp gave the most important reminder in all of this: there’s a whole support team behind Brutus, and they put a ridiculous amount of time into getting this right. Which makes sense. The margin between “national champion” and “guy in a suit doing the worm” is apparently a lot of practice, props, choreography, and crowd work.

Final standings in Division IA Mascot looked like this:

1. Ohio State, Brutus Buckeye

2. Minnesota, Goldy Gopher

3. Tennessee, Smokey

4. Cincinnati, Cincy Bearcat

5. Auburn, Aubie the Tiger

6. Wisconsin, Bucky Badger

7. Alabama, Big Al

8. Penn State, Nittany Lion

9. Oklahoma, Boomer

10. Texas, Hook Em

So yes, Columbus can officially brag about another national title, and this one came from a giant nut committing a staged felony in Florida. If that isn’t the perfect summary of college sports culture, nothing is.

Trivia Answer:

A) 70 Gubernatorial