Andrew King

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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Central Ohio immigrants face uncertainty and fear Immigrants, support organizations worry about ICE raids and a potential funding freeze.

Central Ohio organizations that help refugees and other completely legal immigrants are bracing for the loss of millions of dollars that helps those immigrants resettle and stay off the street.

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Anduril promises major job growth for state tax breaks The autonomous weapons manufacturing plant will open near Rickenbacker.

I tracked down some details of Columbus’s massive Anduril project, including:
- Requirements, safeguards and economic math behind $450 million in tax breaks.
- Where it will actually sit.
- How soon they’ll be cranking out drones.

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Columbus leaders troubled by federal funding threats City government and nonprofits are concerned about the attempted freeze.

City and nonprofit leaders in Columbus are confused and concerned about whether their federal funding is at risk thanks to yesterday’s Trump administration funding freeze memo.

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Columbus' James Beard Award semifinalists for 2025 The list includes a local bar, bakery and chef.

Can Columbus finally get a James Beard award?

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Columbus' bus stop saga is set for a resolution in the New Year Greyhound and Barons will return downtown starting Jan. 3.

My colleague Alissa broke this story this morning.

A few hours later, other media outlets were asking the same questions.

This afternoon, the Whitehall special prosecutor assigned to investigate Andrew Ginther announced that there’s “no probable cause” for charges.

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Hottest ticket of Crew season moved to Cleveland Columbus fans will have to make a five-hour trip to see Messi.

Oops! All Haslams.

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Path to Fort Rapids redevelopment hinges on city funding An investor wants to build affordable housing on the abandoned site.

I’ve been to Fort Rapids and have written about it before (I even went to a wedding reception there!) and the amount of drama around this property still blows my mind.

“NFL running back Jamal Lewis bought it for a minute” had to be a throwaway hyperlink in this mess.

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Local recipes for holiday party showstoppers Try these Columbus favorites you can make at home.

Did you know a bunch of recipes from Columbus restaurants are out there ready for you to steal and impress people?

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Columbus taking new approach to bike, scooter rentals The city hopes a single vendor will make money and be more efficient.

Among a variety of differences in the new Columbus bike/scooter plan:

The city will go from spending money on CoGo to making money on Veo. And they say it’ll help meep scooters out of the way.

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Enforcement of Ohio's new "bathroom bill" unclear, critics warn The law is part of a wave of anti-trans legislation at the state and federal levels.

Ohio’s “bathroom bill” takes great pains to define “biological sex” and various words for bathroom, but doesn’t say a word about enforcement or penalties for non-compliance.

That uncertainty is a “double-edged sword” for those worried about the safety of trans kids.

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