Andrew King

Crew ticket prices test fan loyalty Some Columbus fans say rising costs are changing how often they can attend matches.

The season ticket waitlist is no more. Plenty of tickets are available for the home opener. #Crew96 fans say they’re being priced out, but the team says it’s happy with “strong demand.”

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Les Wexner's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, explained Wexner is set to testify as pressure mounts over the Epstein files.

Ahead of his deposition today, we laid out the long and convoluted history of Les Wexner and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the growing pressure on Columbus leaders and organizations to distance themselves from Ohio’s richest man.

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A telling pair of headlines related to Columbus Wexner discourse.

ICE detainees report mistreatment at Butler County Jail Attorneys and state reps say conditions include poor food and lack of medical care.

Columbus attorneys and elected officials are hearing that immigrants swept up in December’s ICE operations are being held in poor conditions at the controversial Butler County Jail. Answers are hard to come by.

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Columbus leaders warn of "unwelcome" ICE presence One council member says: "If you don't feel safe, you should not leave your home."

ICE has ramped up Columbus activity. CPD and the city are not cooperating, but they don’t know what ICE is doing and haven’t been able to find out.

“We have not asked for and do not need this unwelcome intervention.”

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JT's Pizza brings back The Gobbler Thanksgiving pizza Catch this mashed potato and turkey pizza while it's available.

I ate The Gobbler. It was… really something.

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How two friends finished a "drunk marathon" around Columbus Their walk went viral on Reddit and left them extremely sore.

Hero @Tylerjoelb talked to OSU's drunken marathon walkers.

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Scoop: Planned Parenthood fights proposed termination of Medicaid agreements in Ohio Termination could impact thousands of Ohio patients.

The Ohio Department of Medicaid has moved to terminate Planned Parenthood's provider agreements, an "aggressive" step PP says it isn't aware of any other state taking.

"They just want to punish Planned Parenthood."

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I wrote about Ohio State's new AI era and one of the largest-scale artificial intelligence experiments happening right now.

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Ginther's "strategic" opposition to Trump policies "I'm not going to win a battle with the leader of the free world on social media," he says.

I talked to Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther about his increased opposition to the second Trump administration, and whether he has political aspirations beyond Columbus.

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Ohio's war against the spotted lanternfly is already lost Officials have shifted from eradicating to managing their threat to crops.

I still see a lot of talk about squishing the invasive spotted lanternflies. It’s a bummer, but we’ve already lost the fight against them.

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Columbus getting a pro football team in 2026 The UFL franchise will play at the Crew's old stadium.

The UFL team coming to Columbus will play at Historic Crew Stadium, not Lower. com Field as ESPN reported today. #Crew96

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A new Columbus Crew star is Palestinian — fans can't fly his flag Fans are seeking an exception to a league rule ahead of Wessam Abou Ali's arrival.

New Columbus Crew DP Wessam Abou Ali is a Palestinian international. It appears that #Crew96 fans will not be permitted to bring the flag of his nation into their stadium.

The @nordecke.com asked the Crew to ask MLS for an exception. It’s unclear whether they will.

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Columbus' November bond package balloons to $1.9 billion The bond issues are meant to fund a variety of capital improvements across the city.

Columbus will now be asking voters to approve $1.9 billion in capital improvement bonds this November.

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Columbus looks to close affordability housing gap The city's housing costs have yet to catch up to the price of construction.

I wrote about the tricky Columbus housing market and how a $500 million bond package this November will try to address it.

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Scoop: Revoked Ohio State student visas restored 12 international students had their visas revoked in March without warning or explanation.

Visas have officially been reinstated for a dozen international Ohio State students who had them revoked by the Trump administration without warning or explanation.

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The first women's sports bar in Columbus is taking shape Amy Cooper, a lifelong athlete and Columbus firefighter, is looking to open Raise the Bar.

I wrote about the efforts to create the first Columbus sports bar focused on women’s sports.

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Libraries urge Ohio to preserve dedicated funding Libraries stand to lose $100 million over the next two years.

The Ohio House is trying to eliminate a dedicated library funding mechanism from the state budget.

It would cost Ohio libraries $100 million over the next two years and force the Ohio Library Council to lobby for funding each budget cycle.

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Hey Collin, I’m trying to get in touch for a story. Could you shoot me a DM/email?

Thanks!

CCS apologizes after TransOhio says schools outed students The district reverted student names to match birth certificates.

Columbus City Schools updated every student’s name to reflect birth certificates, inadvertently outing and deadnaming kids in the process.

Asked why, CCS blamed laws that never mention student names in any capacity, then refused to explain or give interviews.

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Columbus! 🅿️

Have you experienced parking rate hikes, changes in parking agreements, full lots or anything else weird and notable over the last few weeks/months?

I’m looking into it! Hit me up here or at the email in my bio if you have anything to share/leads for me to follow.

Sports betting is a major Ohio moneymaker Axios takes a comprehensive look at sports betting's impact since the 2023 launch.

To commemorate March Madness, I dug into some different aspects of Ohio’s first two years of legal sports betting.

First up: The money, logistics and challenges that led to $330 million in tax revenue so far.

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Intel's new timeline for Ohio One conflicts with promised deadline The company is likely to miss a project deadline set by a state grant funding agreement.

After the latest delay, Intel’s proposed timing is openly in conflict with Ohio’s required timeline for the $600 million the state has already delivered.

Neither Intel nor the State have much of an explanation for why or whether that’s OK.

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Worthington restaurant sparks controversy with convicted murderer video Shakers Public House faced a wave of criticism and negative reviews.

Shakers Public House posted a video Tuesday featuring a man serving 54 years to life for murder.

Social media was…not pleased.

I called the owner to ask about how and why this happened.

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Crew refocuses community outreach on soccer education It's all connected, from the youngest kids to the Crew first team.

Some more #Crew96 preseason coverage:

When new ownership took over, staff found “a skeleton of a club.”

The new team started community outreach with pitch installations, but didn’t find it effective. Now they’re refocusing outreach around soccer education.

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Astor Park is behind schedule, but making progress The development near the Columbus Crew soccer stadium is underway.

Did some #Crew96 reporting ahead of the season opener.

First: Redevelopment around the stadium originally aimed to have 440 apartment units done by 2023. Instead, they haven’t even broken ground.

Here’s an Astor Park status update.

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Ohio is fighting a shortage of accountants The state is making it easier to become a CPA.

Did you know the country faces a crisis-level shortage of CPAs?

Ohio is the first state to take action aimed at easing the path to certification, and others seem ready to follow.

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A notorious intersection on Columbus' South Side is getting a facelift High Street and Thurman and Greenlawn avenues are misaligned.

Thurman/Greenlawn/High is one of Columbus’ most annoying intersections.

Don’t worry, the current construction there hasn’t changed the city’s plans to fix it.

…but it won’t be done until at least 2027.

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Bus Rapid Transit aims to change Columbus travel COTA is committed to building three BRT corridors beginning this year.

I wrote about COTA’s plans for Bus Rapid Transit.
- Why it’s different than other buses.
- Which cities it’s modeled after.
- Why we can’t just skip it and go straight to light rail.

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Axios Columbus

📬 Axios Columbus subscribers: Our newsletters are stuck in some traffic this morning, but for now you can read today's on our site:

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