Search Results for: Columbus

Oct 7, 2021

Columbus Free Press: Beware the Brine

Members of OHCRN have called on Ohio’s Attorney General, Dave Yost, to open an investigation into the violation of Ohio law and the criminal actions of state officials and industry who were and are well aware that this brine is highly radioactive, yet still approve and allow it to be spread in Ohio communities.

Read More | Chemical Trespass, News from the Grassroots

Jul 30, 2021

Columbus Free Press: Stifling Democracy?

One citizen-led initiative makes it on November’s ballot but the other is denied By Free Press Staff The citizen-led ProEnergy Ohio ballot initiative is likely making Columbus City Council, the Mayor’s Office and the Columbus Partnership take serious pause. Many believed the initiative was doomed, yet it made it on November’s ballot. Unfortunately, another environmental… Read more »

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Apr 9, 2021

Columbus Free Press: Lawsuit To Protect Direct Democracy In Columbus During The Pandemic Dismissed By Court

A lawsuit seeking a temporary suspension of Columbus’ one-year petitioning time limit due to the pandemic was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio on April 14, 2021. The lawsuit was filed in June 2020 by our group, Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR), arguing that the city’s time limit during the COVID-19 pandemic was unconstitutional and placed a severe burden on ballot access for our initiative, which sought to ban harms from the fracking industry within Columbus and it’s watershed area.

Read More | Democratic Rights, Issues, News, News from the Grassroots

Jun 17, 2020

Lawsuit: Columbus, OH Must Take Action to Preserve Direct Democracy During the Pandemic

Press Release: Petitioners in Columbus file a lawsuit against the state of Ohio for unconstitutional limits on signature gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic in Columbus. The Columbus city charter imposes a one year time limit on signature gathering.

Read More | News, Press Releases

Jun 1, 2020

Press Release: Columbus Protecting Democracy During a Pandemic

Communities across the country are watching as their rights are violated in the name of Covid. Now more than ever we see people rising up to demand democracy.

Read More | News, Press Releases

Jul 22, 2019

The Columbus Dispatch: Letter: Budget section tramples on community, nature’s rights

Community members in Columbus, Ohio, call out the state legislators’ shameful efforts to quash Rights of Nature in the budget bill.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Feb 4, 2019

The Columbus Dispatch: Federal lawsuit seeks to stop elections boards from blocking ballot initiatives

Fighting to protect Ohioans’ right to citizen initiative, seven communities partner with CELDF to file a Civil Rights lawsuit in federal court.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Oct 12, 2018

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Supreme Court rules to keep anti-fracking initiative off the ballot

Community Rights organizing is growing in Ohio. In response, the state Supreme Court backs efforts to quash democratic rights, keeping a Columbus rights-based citizen initiative banning fracking waste disposal off the November ballot.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Sep 19, 2018

WCRS Community Radio Columbus: The Ohio Community Rights Conference & More

Bob Fitrakis and Dan Dougan with Community Radio Columbus interview CELDF’s Tish O’Dell on the upcoming Ohio Community Rights Conference – and the recent Ohio Supreme Court decision keeping Columbus residents’ rights-based citizen initiative off the ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 8, 2018

Columbus Community Bill of Rights: Corporate Lobbyists Attack the People’s Right to Vote on the Columbus Community Bill of Rights Initiative

Corporate lobbyist groups come out in force to argue against the people’s right to initiative in the Ohio Supreme Court. Columbus residents are unwavering in their stand to protect their community.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 31, 2018

The Columbus Dispatch: Letter: Citizen initiative would be important protection

In a LTE, a Columbus, OH, resident points out blockage of the people’s Community Bill of Rights citizen initiative banning fracking waste was led by an oil and gas ally on the Board of Elections.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 23, 2018

CCBOR PRESS RELEASE: COLUMBUS, OH, FRANKLIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS WILL VOTE ON CITIZEN INITIATED COMMUNITY BILL OF RIGHTS ORDINANCE HEADED FOR BALLOT

An oil and gas industry ally submits a protest to block a Community Bill of Rights initiative banning fracking waste from the ballot in Columbus, OH. CELDF attorney Terry Lodge presents arguments to defend the people’s right to vote on Friday, 8/24.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 6, 2018

Press Release: Columbus, OH, City Council Votes to Advance Fossil Fuel Extraction Ban to Ballot

Facing radioactive fracking waste, Columbus, OH, residents qualify a Community Bill of Rights initiative banning fracking activities from within the City. The measure protects rights to clean air, water, and soil.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success Story

Aug 6, 2018

Columbus Free Press: Columbus Community Bill of Rights Initiative Makes November Ballot

Columbus, OH, residents qualify their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking activities for the November ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Jul 10, 2018

The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus anti-fracking initiative makes fall ballot, might not hold up legally

Residents in Columbus, OH, successfully qualify a Community Bill of Rights initiative for the November ballot. The measure bans fracking extraction and waste from within city limits as a violation of democratic and environmental rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Feb 3, 2018

Columbus Free Press: Overturning Ohio HB 463 – Dismantling a corporate state and building something new

CELDF stands by Ohio residents. Together, the people succeeded in overturning unjust law, and today they are ramping up their efforts to advance democratic and environmental rights across the state.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Aug 18, 2017

Columbus Free Press: Corporate State Says Democracy is Too Expensive

While the oil and gas industry declares democracy is “too expensive,” CELDF’s Tish O’Dell looks at the bigger picture, including the cost of the corporate state.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 9, 2017

CCBOR Media Release: Columbus Water Protectors Deliver Anti-Fracking Petitions to City Hall

Columbus, OH, residents to deliver more than 10,000 signatures to City Hall on Friday. Residents are working to place a Community Bill of Rights banning toxic fracking waste on the November ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Jan 28, 2017

Columbus Free Press: Corporate State Attempts to Choke Off Citizens’ Initiatives

As prior people’s movements have taught us, when unjust government promotes unjust laws, we must promote local laws advancing rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 14, 2016

Columbus Free Press: Ohio residents stand with Standing Rock, protest Nexus pipeline

OHCRN members from across Ohio staged street theater and spoke out in support of the Standing Rock Sioux in front of the state house. Residents are fighting fracking, pipelines, and other infrastructure, to protect air, land, and water, as the corporate state tries to block them.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 9, 2015

Columbus Free-Press: Community Rights Network Calls Out Jon Husted for Blocking Anti-fracking Initiatives

Ohio residents don’t take “no” for an answer, protesting Ohio Secretary of State’s recent decision to remove three county Home Rule charter initiatives that ban fracking infrastructure projects from the November ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 2, 2015

Stow Sentry: Backers of fracking-related ballot issues protest at Columbus event featuring Jon Husted

Residents from across Ohio protest outside a luncheon where Ohio Secretary of State Husted is speaking today. Mr. Husted is attempting to block Home Rule county charter initiatives in Athens, Medina, and Fulton Counties from being on the November ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jul 25, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – Ignorance as License

Anti-intellectualism is as American as hot dogs.

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Houselessness, Rights of Nature, Water Privitization, Worker Exploitation

Jul 10, 2023

How Do We Speak for the Trees When Our Human Right to Free Speech is Cut Down? 

In our legal system, one is either a legal subject (humans and corporations) or a legal object (nature)

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of Nature

Jan 16, 2023

Guest Blog: Badges and Incidents of Slavery

The challenge: How to overcome the white dominance/Black subordination relationship. How to decolonize.

Read More | Blogs, Democratic Rights

Nov 17, 2022

Press Release: Back to the Future — Ohioans Still Poisoned After All These Years

“The spreading of toxic and radioactive well waste brine on Ohio roads and other surfaces threatens all Ohioans,” stated FaCT Brine Education Committee Chair, Ron Prosek.  “You could be living or traveling anywhere in Ohio and potentially be exposed to this dangerous material.  This is one of the most reckless practices that the State of Ohio has ever allowed.”

Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Press Releases

Nov 18, 2021

Newsletter: Ohio Update

Ohio communities have worked hard over the past eight years, proposing charter amendments and ordinances recognizing local self-governance and rights of nature.

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May 29, 2021

Ohio

Every Ohioan retains an inalienable right to participate in community local self-government in the place where they live. But every Ohioan is denied the full enjoyment of that right, and many are denied it completely. State laws that deny the authority of community governments to protect their health, safety, welfare, and quality of life violate… Read more »

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Apr 18, 2021

ADVISORY: Oral Arguments in Civil Rights Appeal Advancing Rights of Nature and Local Democracy in Ohio

Oral arguments in a federal civil rights case against the State of Ohio have been scheduled. Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature laws and other measures protecting local democracy from corporate special interests. Plaintiffs are petitioners for local initiative campaigns that were all successfully qualified various measures that were blocked from the ballot.

Read More | Community Rights, Democratic Rights, News, Press Releases

Nov 10, 2020

CELDF REPORT: What Wasn’t Voted On (2020)

A new Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund report details the repression of ballot initiatives in 2020.

Read More | Blogs, News, Publications, Resource Links, Resources

Oct 15, 2020

Observing Revolution: Ohio

A 2020 organizing update from Ohio featured in our fall newsletter.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs

Oct 9, 2020

Defending ‘Peaceful Change’: Friend of the Court Briefs Representing Over 500,000 Supporters Filed in Ohio Civil Rights Lawsuit Appeal

Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature and corporate control ballot measures, sued the Ohio Secretary of State and Boards of Election officials in trial court for repeatedly keeping binding citizen-proposed laws and charters off the ballot. Several national organizations have filed amicus briefs in support of the appeal.

Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & Blogs

Oct 6, 2020

CENSORING THE BALLOT: Civil Rights Appeal Filed to Defend Rights of Nature and Local Democracy in Ohio

Ohioans are taking a stand against evasive and oppressive tactics used by the State to suppress local ballot measures and stifle democracy. Plaintiffs from seven counties have filed an appeal to the Sixth Circuit in a federal civil rights case against the State of Ohio.

Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & Blogs

Aug 9, 2020

WANTED: Local Officials Willing to Fight the Corporate State to Protect People and the Environment During a Pandemic

The system is constructed to disempower communities, to the detriment of people and the planet. That is why we need to fight back and why we need local elected officials with courage to fight with us… not against us! A guest blog by Ohio organizer Tish O’Dell.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs

Oct 1, 2019

The Blade: Lake Fed Up

This Toledoan calls out Ohio government officials: actions speak louder than words, and promises to protect Lake Erie ring hollow when the state approves factory farm permits.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 29, 2019

Media Release: EXPOSED: Chamber of Commerce Wrote Ohio Law Banning Rights of Nature Enforcement

Investigation by Ohio citizens finds the Ohio Chamber of Commerce drafted Ohio legislation language to stop Rights of Nature enforcement.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Aug 22, 2019

Bloomberg Environment: Tif Over Local Control of Aquifer Pours Into Ohio High Court

The Ohio Farm Bureau and corporate agribusiness urge the Ohio Supreme Court to block Williams County voters from casting ballots on the people’s own initiative.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jul 22, 2019

Press Release: Ballot Access Stymied in Ohio and Washington

The corporate state attempts to strip democratic rights in Ohio and Washington state. CELDF supports communities as together they fight back.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Jul 18, 2019

Media Release: Ohio Legislature Bans Rights of Nature Enforcement

While Rights of Nature grows in Ohio, the state legislature tries to ban its enforcement. Undeterred, Ohio communities continue advancing laws to protect ecosystems based on rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Jul 1, 2019

Press Release: Major Developments for Lake Erie Bill of Rights

Rights of Nature is hot in Ohio, where Toledoans take action to protect the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, another community advances an initiative to recognize the rights of a water ecosystem, legal cases continue, and more.

Read More | News, Press Releases

Jun 27, 2019

Media Release: Anti-Rights of Nature Language Snuck into Ohio State Budget Bill

State of Ohio inserts anti-Rights of Nature language in the budget bill. In an era of climate crisis and growing efforts to advance ecosystem rights, Ohio government is on the wrong side of history.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

May 28, 2019

Press Release: Multi-Prong Attack by State of Ohio Against Rights of Nature

Ohio Attorney General files complaint to overturn Lake Erie Bill of Rights on behalf of industry, arguing there is a right to pollute.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

May 9, 2019

Media Statement: The First State in U.S. History Has Mentioned Legal Rights of Nature

Today, the Ohio House adopts provisions to block communities and local governments from enforcing recognized legal rights for ecosystems.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Apr 6, 2019

Toledoans for Safe Water: Campaign Finance Report Sheds Light on Corrupt Corporate Influence Against the Lake Erie Bill of Rights

BP Corporation was the sole monetary donor behind the campaign to quash the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The measure won with 61% of the vote.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 19, 2019

Media Release: Lake Erie and Local Residents File Court Motions to Defend Rights of Lake

Lake Erie files a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by industry to overturn the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Feb 4, 2019

News Release: Ohio Community Members File Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit

Communities from across Ohio file a federal lawsuit against local Boards of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State for multiple rights violations – including the right to vote.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success Story

Aug 28, 2018

Press Release: Lake Erie Bill of Rights Blocked from November Ballot

Growing efforts to stifle voting rights continue in Ohio as local government blocks Toledo residents’ Lake Erie Bill of Rights from the November ballot.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Aug 24, 2018

Press Release: Franklin County Board of Elections Denies Residents the Right to Vote

The Franklin County, OH, Board of Elections strips 560,000 Columbus citizens of their right to vote on a rights-based ballot measure to protect the community from fracking waste.

Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases

Mar 27, 2018

Dick McGinn – A Life of Service

CELDF, OHCRN, and Ohio communities grieve the loss of Dick McGinn, and celebrate his life and contributions. He was a passionate leader in growing Community Rights in Ohio.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Feb 13, 2018

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich supports Community Rights state constitutional amendment

Columbus Free Press covers Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich and his support for a Community Rights state constitutional amendment.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story