The Columbus Dispatch
Funding, attendance shortfalls force staff reductions at COSI
The Center of Science and Industry has reduced staffing by about 15% in response to economic pressures. COSI, which moved to the Scioto Peninsula in 1999, has had to adjust over the years to shifting demographics, attendance, inflationary pressures...
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‘We didn’t scam anyone’
The glass double doors at the entrance of 161 Child Care in Columbus’ Northland neighborhood now have multiple signs warning there will be “no trespassing” tolerated and that police will be called if someone tries to enter. When four men first tried...
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CHARTING A COURSE
Jack Nicklaus’ name is everywhere in Columbus. It’s on the Jack Nicklaus Museum at Ohio State University. It’s on Jack Nicklaus Park in Upper Arlington. It’s frequently in the pages of The Columbus Dispatch. h Attentive drivers may have even noticed...
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Hundreds protest in downtown Columbus
Some light rain didn’t deter hundreds of protesters from rallying at the Ohio Statehouse on Jan. 8 in remembrance of a woman who was killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis and to demand that immigration agents leave Columbus. The protest...
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Gov. Dewine responds to fraud allegations at Somali day cares
Gov. Mike Dewine defended Ohio’s oversight of publicly funded child care as rumors spread about unproven fraud at Somali-run day cares. Dewine held a news conference Jan. 5 as allegations spread on social media about fraud at day cares in Columbus,...
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Homicides in Weinland Park ‘could’ve happened anywhere’
Tanya Long recalled her initial reaction to the double homicide Dec. 30, 2025, in her Weinland Park neighborhood as “absolutely unnerving.” North 4th and Summit streets have been the spines of the neighborhood sandwiched between Downtown and the...
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‘Significant areas for improvement remain’
The Columbus City school board offered Superintendent Angela Chapman pointed feedback in her annual evaluation, saying “significant areas for improvement remain” in her performance. In her second annual performance evaluation since she was hired as...
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Reporter Max Filby looking for Dispatch’s next big investigation
Max Filby is an investigative reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, where he has worked for more than six years. Fliby led The Dispatch’s “Invisible Killer” investigation into how federal, state and local leaders fail to protect Ohioans from radon — an...
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Life in spotlight
WASHINGTON – Usha Vance misses plenty about her old life. h She loved being a lawyer and had aspirations beyond working at a firm. She dreams of one day returning to Cincinnati and the home she shared with her husband, JD Vance, and their three...
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Stores Ohio lost in 2025 include Joann, Big Lots
Ohio lost a number of retail stores in 2025, including several based right here in the Buckeye State. Joann Fabrics, based in Hudson, Ohio, closed its doors completely. Columbus-based Big Lots appeared ready to close all its stores, too. However, new...
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Industry experts: Data centers to blame for spiking electric bills
Your electricity bills are higher, and experts say data centers are a key reason. The central Ohio region has seen one of the largest data center booms in the country, thanks to Microsoft, Google and Meta. There are a total of 217 data centers in the...
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STAGE IS SET
Ohio State players and coaches took the field at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for media day on Dec. 29 ahead of their New Year’s Eve College Football Playoff game against the Miami Hurricanes. The Buckeyes are looking to start a repeat bid as...
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‘It’s a blessing’
The kitchen buzzed with movement and purpose early on Christmas morning. h Lifecare Alliance volunteers swarmed tables and carts, hauling buckets of food into waiting cars. The air was unusually warm for the holiday and smelled like comfort food – a...
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U.S. forces hit Islamic State in Nigeria with ‘deadly strike’
President Donald Trump said on Dec. 25 that the U.S. military had attacked Islamic State targets in Nigeria, claiming the group had been targeting Christians. In a post on Truth Social, the president said he directed the military to launch a “powerful...
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Luxury car maker to pay Ohio millions in lawsuit over illegal emissions
Ohio will receive more than $2 million as part of a settlement with a major car manufacturer over environmental law violations, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. The multistate settlement with Mercedes-benz USA and Mercedes-benz Group AG will...
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Santa’s workshop comes to life
Santa Claus had a few extra elves to help with his toy-making, but it’s a bit south of the North Pole – in central Ohio. Creating everything from puzzles to a ring toss game, ducks that waddle and doll beds, the Woodworkers of Central Ohio (WOCO)...
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County treasurer hunts for pennies
The Franklin County Treasurer’s Office, which oversees the county’s more than $1 billion investment portfolio, is literally pinching pennies. Since the U.S. stopped minting pennies in November, it has become difficult to obtain the copper-colored...
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A LOOK BACK
At the end of 2025, Columbus Mayor Ginther is celebrating progress in the growing city on housing affordability and reducing crime. h City voters approved his bond package in November, which included a historic half-billion dollars for affordable...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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NEW CONNECTION
A massive flyover ramp connecting downtown Columbus and I-70 west to I-71 south has opened after years of construction, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced. The new ramp will eliminate the left lane exit on Interstate 70 west/i-71 south...
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RECOGNIZING A MOVEMENT
The Ohio Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission had grand plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, the COVID-19 pandemic foiled most of the 16-member...
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German Village drops lawsuit, but City Council OKS ordinance
The German Village Society has dropped its lawsuit against Columbus in a sign that city leaders and residents of the historic district have had productive conciliatory talks in the past week over how to handle the neighborhoods’ unique limestone curbs...
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Columbus is snowier than usual this month
If you think there’s been a lot of snow in Columbus, you’re not just seeing things. The city has already posted its snowiest December since 2013 with more than half the month to go. So far, Columbus has seen 10.1 inches of snow in December. The winter...
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Arena renovation plan latest step of evolution
On the day “Nationwide” Arena was named, Sept. 8, 1997, a company official praised the value and benefits the proposed $182.5 million future home of the Columbus Blue Jackets would have to a vibrant city. “It will have a 360-degree positive impact on...
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END OF YEAR SPECIALS!*
• 12 months No interest & No payments • FREE Gutters with Roof & Siding Replacement • FREE Leaf Relief Guards with Roof & Gutters
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‘My niece got killed right there in my front room’
The father of a 14-year-old boy arrested in the accidental shooting death of an 11-year-old relative told the Dispatch he left the gun out and is prepared to face the consequences. Amya Frazier died at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Dec. 8, days after...
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Ohio bill to restrict most hemp sales heads to desk of governor
Ohio is poised to restrict the sale of most hemp products and roll back legal rights afforded to marijuana users. The Ohio Senate voted 22-7 on Dec. 9 to pass the latest version of Senate Bill 56, which regulates hemp and changes the voter-backed...
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Dreams of a White House Christmas
While central Ohioans dream of an upcoming white Christmas, April Groff, of Pickerington, already had her Christmas dreams come true. Groff was one of 145 volunteers selected to help decorate the White House for the holiday theme, “Home Is Where The...
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‘I don’t want to leave’
If you walk down High Street at 10 p.m. on a Thursday, there’s a good chance you’ll hear the cacophonous belts of college students taking the mic at The Little Bar’s karaoke night. h And if you take the same route the morning of an Ohio State football...
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‘Bringing all of the pieces together’ ahead of opening
Randy Allen’s normal job at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is to handle the operating budget, but on Dec. 4, his job was to have a pretend medical emergency on an MRI table. Allen and other volunteers like him play an important role...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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KINDNESS CHAMPIONS
For the first time in the history of the Everyday Kindness Heroes program, two Kindness Champions were crowned. Out of five community-nominated finalists and five finalists chosen from past Dispatch reporting, or “Dispatch Picks,” Sean Mckay and...
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FULFILLING A NEED
Two overnight winter warming centers are now open in Columbus, but people experiencing homelessness have fewer options than they did this time last year as temperatures threaten to dip into the single digits. There were five overnight winter warming...
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CCS votes to slash jobs, shutter schools
The Columbus City school board voted Dec. 2 to slash jobs, cut district programs and close four buildings in order to patch a $50 million hole in its budget, capping a monthslong process. However, the board did not vote to remove school bus...
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READY FOR WINTER
After Columbus’ record-breaking snowfall on Dec. 2 led to schools closures across the region, city officials said they believed the clearing process was going as smoothly as possible despite the snow’s inconvenient early morning arrival. Mayor Andrew...
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‘PERFECT STORM’
The agencies that keep people fed, housed and healthy are facing a combination of challenges that they say threaten their very existence. Nonprofit organizations are having to make difficult choices: how many people can they serve, whether they need...
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A BETTER DEAL
Everything is getting more expensive, but maybe not real Christmas trees. The Real Christmas Tree Board reports that of wholesale growers surveyed, 84% said they do not plan to raise prices for the season, which typically begins the day after...
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How the Dispatch’s local politics reporter works her beat
Editor’s Note: Beat notes is a weekly feature from Dispatch journalists who share what’s been happening in their area of coverage and upcoming events. This week we hear from Jordan Laird, who covers government and politics. They say all politics is...
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It just got easier to build a guest house
Columbus is making it easier for residents to build accessory dwelling units, those apartments or small houses sometimes called in-law suites or granny flats. The Columbus City Council voted 9-0 at its meeting on Nov. 24 to reduce red tape around...
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This Thanksgiving is special for former combat medic who is fighting PTSD
LANCASTER − Thanksgiving is extra special for U.S. Army veteran and former combat medic Mark Egger. He completed treatment at the Veterans Administration hospital in Chillicothe for post-traumatic stress disorder earlier this year. Egger, 51, said...
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‘ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS’
To Jolie Braun, cookbooks aren’t just a practical resource for collecting recipes. They are a peek into our personal histories and collective culture. “Cookbooks offer all of these different windows into our history,” said Braun, a curator of modern...
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Do renters have a right to live in a radon-free home?
Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans rely on public housing to keep them from becoming homeless – yet as Marlene Carey discovered, the agencies meant to provide refuge don’t always share the full story with their tenants. Carey felt relieved when she...
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Is your child exposed to radon at school?
Whether Ohio students are inhaling an invisible killer in the classroom is a matter of miles, school funding and district priorities – something Kim Tolnar knows all too well. A 1983 graduate of Marion’s former River Valley High School, Tolnar spent...
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Central State gets approval to spend $1.2M on critical issues
State lawmakers agreed to give $1.2 million to Central State University to start fixing a dormitory fire alarm system, restrooms in six buildings and heating and cooling systems in four buildings and do a full assessment of all campus...
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A SALUTE TO VETERANS
Actor, director and producer Matthew Modine, who starred as Marine Pvt. J.T. “Joker” Davis in the 1987 war film “Full Metal Jacket” and who is also pictured below right, delivers the keynote address Nov. 11 before the crowded Veterans Day Ceremony at...
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Guiding their paths
It’s eighth period at Eastmoor Academy High School in late October, and Keima Harris has a plan and a deadline for the last 52 minutes of her school day. h The plan? Talk to as many seniors as she can about applying for college. h The deadline? Well,...
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Permanent memorial for murder victims planned
In a storage room in the basement of Columbus’ Michael B. Coleman Government Building, on a wire shelf below a pile of shovels, is a half-filled bucket of padlocks etched with messages. There are colorful combination locks, bike locks, and heavy-duty...
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END OF YEAR SPECIALS!*
• 12 months No interest & No payments • FREE Gutters with Roof & Siding Replacement • FREE Leaf Relief Guards with Roof & Gutters
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Travelers brace for worse to come
Some travelers heckled Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as he stopped Nov. 7 to talk with travelers and Transportation Security Administration workers after reducing flight operations by 4% at 40 major...
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IN THE PRESENCE OF A LEGEND
Canal Winchester resident Katherine Chipps has seen Paul Mccartney in concert several times, but one particular show left an indelible mark on her. Mccartney was playing a sold-out gig at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena in October 2017 when a poster...
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Ross wins narrow City Council race
Tiara Ross bested Jesse Vogel in a photo finish in the sole contested race for Columbus City Council, according to unofficial results. The two Democrats were running in a nonpartisan race to represent District 7. They emerged from a three-way primary...
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Property taxes on local voters’ minds
Jeffrey Mendes has lived in North Linden his entire life. He purchased his childhood home in 2017 and admits he hasn’t done much in terms of renovations. But that doesn’t mean his home value — and therefore, his property taxes — have stayed...
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New proposal floated for Cooper Stadium
The Depression-era Cooper Stadium was for decades the place in Columbus for minor league baseball, concerts and special events. And even with gutted bleacher seats and a field of weeds replacing dreams of glory, the defiant structure seems to yearn for...
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Museum to share stories of complex’s community
Reita Smith is a walking history book. While the 89-year-old historian and Columbus Near East Side native walks with a slow gait and has to be conscious of how far she treks before getting too winded, her mind is as sharp as ever. She can tell you who...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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JOINING THE HERD
The Columbus Zoo has welcomed another baby elephant and it’s now available for public viewing. The baby elephant is a boy calf born to Phoebe, who was pregnant for about two years. He has yet to be named. He joins a herd of elephants at the zoo that...
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‘I love Brutus’
A little rain wasn’t going to stop Buckeye fans from coming out to celebrate their favorite mascot’s 60th birthday. Nearly 2,000 Ohio State fans gathered at Ohio State University’s Recreation and Physical Activity Center on Oct. 29 for Brutus...
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Auditors shine light on fiscal problems at Central State University IN TROUBLE
Central State University’s finances and its building maintenance can be summed up this way: A big mess. h A year ago, the Ohio Department of Higher Education put Central State on a fiscal watch because of several financial issues. A financial...
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Food banks get a lift amid SNAP uncertainty
As the central Ohio community prepares for the potential loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits Nov. 1, The Columbus Foundation announced a $500,000 investment into 21 food banks across the region. Food banks are expecting a...
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EXPLORING PATHS
If you had to describe the work that Taylor Miller and Craig Smith do as Grove City High School’s college advising managers, they would tell you it boils down to the “3 Es”: enroll, employ and enlist. h Miller and Smith both work with I Know I Can, a...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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INFLATION PERSISTS
Inflation rose again in September, revealing the persistence of rising prices as the job market showed signs of cooling and consumers begin to think about the holiday season. Consumer prices increased 3% from a year earlier, slightly up from 2.9% in...
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Downfall of a chain
When she saw that the latest owners of Hot Chicken Takeover began ordering Hidden Valley Ranch, Dana Neer knew it was all coming to an end. h Successive buyers who came to town with grand plans and impressive resumes had already done away with some of...
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Columbus backs public arts plan, but will it really spend millions?
Should Columbus set aside 1% of its annual capital budget, about $29 million, for public art like murals, sculptures, monuments and performances? The Columbus City Council unanimously voted 9-0 at its Oct. 20 meeting on a ceremonial resolution to...
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Judge gives high school athletes in Ohio NIL win
High school athletes in Ohio can profit from their name, image and likeness — at least for now. A Franklin County judge ruled in favor of one of the top high school football players in the country, granting an order that temporarily halts a state...
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How prosecutors influence Ohio’s death penalty cases
When she took office in January, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich became the first Democrat in nearly a century to serve as the county’s elected prosecutor. Pillich is also Catholic. And like many Catholics, she has moral misgivings about the...
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JUSTICE REVISITED
Ashford Thompson suffers from a serious mental illness. h Doctors hired by defense attorneys and prosecutors reached that consensus in the case of Thompson, who is sitting on death row for killing a Twinsburg officer in 2008. Under a new state law,...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you.
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Family of 73-year-old killed by her neighbors’ pit bulls sues Pickaway County dog warden A hole in their lives
A year ago, two pit bulls viciously attacked Jo Ann Echelbarger as she crouched over her garden plot, ripping her apart as her disabled husband helplessly watched from their screened in porch. The dog owners are now serving prison sentences and a...
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Police release bodycam footage of officer fatally shooting man
The Columbus Division of Police allowed members of the media to view body camera footage of a police sergeant’s fatal shooting of an armed robbery suspect during a weekend foot chase. An unidentified Columbus police sergeant shot and killed Tashawn...
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Former water park may undergo transformation
It’s been a long, complicated slog for the once popular Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort, a shell of which tens of thousands of motorists pass daily along Interstate 70 on the Far East Side. There was its opening in May 2006, a small fire 10 years...
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ADAMH is asking voters to approve ‘modest’ tax boost
In the five years since the Franklin County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board last asked voters to approve a levy, the organization has taken a new approach. ADAMH built the Franklin County Crisis Care Center and opened the first section Sept. 2;...
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Grant to expand child care training to Spanish speakers
Children milled about inside the colorfully decorated Head Start classroom, taking turns brushing their teeth and playing with blocks, the melodic sound of the teacher’s voice commending them on their clean chompers. “Muy bien,” Fernanda Duran said...
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