1 big thing: Help for housing developers

Illustration of quarters transformed into nails.

2. 🏒 Street hockey coming to Whitehall

A rendering of a municipal street hockey rink. 

3. Nutshells: Did you cashew that? 

Illustration of three smiling emojis, each on an outline of Ohio.

Look who’s hiring

4. Dems pitch constitutional amendment on abortion rights

5. Photo quiz: First responders recognized 

A statue of a police officer, firefighter and boy in a park. 

☔️ Today's weather: High of 75, low of 62, with a chance of thunderstorms.

✈️ Situational awareness: The Axios Columbus crew is in Washington, D.C., for the rest of the week for a retreat with colleagues from across the country.

We'll be focused on improving our newsletter writing but will still be in your inboxes Thursday and Friday mornings!

Today's newsletter is 877 words — a 3.5-minute read.

😴 Tyler is tired after climbing the famed "Exorcist Stairs."

✈️ Alissa is en route to Washington, D.C.!

❤️ Love our newsletters? Show your support by becoming an Axios Columbus member today.

Columbus

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Columbus. Written by Tyler Buchanan and Alissa Widman Neese.

Axios Columbus

1 big thing: 🤔 Cardboard gold ... or junk?

2. 🥵 What happened to spring?

3. Nutshells: Don't cut acorners

New jobs to check out

4. 🇺🇸 Paying tribute

A tribute to Ohio at the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. 

⛅️ Today's weather: Cloudy and warm with a high of 82. 

Situational awareness: The Columbus school board voted yesterday to place a $680 million bond issue for new facilities and a tax levy on the Nov. 8 ballot.

🎵 Sounds like: "Talkin' Softball" by Terry Cashman.

🎧 How It Happened: "Putin's Invasion Part V: The fight for the Donbas" is out this morning with a new documentary episode examining the fight for the Donbas — the eastern borderlands of Ukraine where the most intense fighting is now happening.

This is told through the eyes of a journalist who has been covering the war there and a soldier who has been fighting there, both since 2014. 

Today's newsletter is 521 words — a 2-minute read.

🧳 Tyler is moving to D.C. after this very Ohio-centric diner visit. 

📬 Alissa is looking for recommendations for what to see, do or eat during a free day in the capital.

🤔 Got a burning question? Reply to this email and Ask Axios. 

In a future newsletter, we'll answer your questions about Columbus, current events or whatever else is on your mind.

1 big thing: The baby formula crisis

2. What to do this weekend

Illustration of an animated neutral emoji changing into a smiling-with-sunglasses emoji.

3. Nutshells: Bouncing off the walnuts

Illustration of a buckeye nut bouncing across the screen.

Stop by to see who’s hiring

4. Photo quiz: Where's Gambrinus?

A statue of a portly king raising a beer. 

☀️ Today's weather: A sizzling high of 89. Thunderstorms, then partly sunny.

Situational awareness: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized COVID-19 booster shots for children ages 5-11 yesterday.

Meanwhile, all U.S. households can now order eight more free at-home rapid tests from the federal government. Learn more.

Today's newsletter is 715 words — a 3-minute read.

✌️ Tyler is wishing the best to Columbus Alive's Andy Downing on his last day as editor. 

😎 Alissa captured a "Pokemon Go" rarity, Bouffalant, while walking the streets of D.C.

1 big thing: A pandemic "what if"

2. Will Ohio catch the train?

3. Nutshells: Happy National Walnut Day!

Fresh openings from the job board 

4. Photo quiz: Where is this statue?

A statue of a firefighter and police officer in a municipal park. 

5. 1 helpful shop to go

Two men stand beside suit displays at a nonprofit offering low-income men with professional warddrobes. 

Happy Tuesday! Everybody got their spring cleaning done? 

😎  Today's weather: Another beautiful, sunny day with a high of 75. 

Situational awareness: John Clarke Jr., the man behind last year's Issue 7 clean energy ballot item, was convicted yesterday of falsifying a campaign finance report, per the Columbus Dispatch.  

Today's newsletter is 921 words — a 3.5-minute read.

🚂  Tyler is always seconds away from missing the train no matter which state he's in. 

🤔  Alissa is feeling skeptical about "Elemental," a newly announced Pixar film that sounds an awful lot like one of her favorite childhood TV shows.

📬  Check out other Axios newsletters, with topics ranging from science and sports to gaming and global politics.

1 big thing: 🍹 We tried the area's first "sober bar"

The front entrance to The Dry Mill, "The Sober Bar of Columbus"

2. The future of online school

A laptop with a shrugging emoji on the screen

3. Abortion rights protests continue

Protesters at the Ohio Statehouse holding signs including one reading "Abortion is healthcare."

4. Nutshells: This too shell pass

Illustration of a pattern of buckeye nuts, increasing and decreasing in size in diagonal waves.

New jobs to check out  

5. ✈️ Round-trip disappointment

A crowd of Ohio State Buckeye football fans. 

Happy Monday! You can handle whatever this week throws at you. You've got this.

⛈️ Today's weather: More storms. High of 74, low of 54.

💰 Situational awareness: The city launched a new Financial Empowerment Center to provide free financial counseling. Schedule an appointment. 

Today's newsletter is 880 words — a 3.5-minute read.

🤝 Tyler is in Washington, D.C., to solve all our country's problems. I'll let you know how it goes. 

🧳 Alissa is most definitely (not) going to pack her bags early before she leaves for an Axios retreat on Wednesday morning.

To ensure this newsletter reaches your inbox, please add columbus@axios.com to your contacts. If you use Gmail, just drag this email to your "Primary" tab. For other mail clients, check out this page.

These four baseball cards share something in common. Can you guess it? 

I found them among thousands of other baseball, football, basketball and Pokemon trading cards unearthed during a recent attempt at spring cleaning.

The intrigue: At first, I thought I'd stumbled upon cardboard gold.

The trading card industry exploded during the pandemic, Axios' Jeff Tracy wrote last year, as sports fans stuck at home lived vicariously through their cards. 

Yes, but: It turns out most of my collection is worthless. 

Card makers oversaturated the market with junk in the late 1980s and 1990s, which is around when the four cards above featuring MLB players from the Central Ohio area were produced — sorry fellas.

Included are Pat Borders and Paul Householder of Columbus, Allan Anderson of Lancaster and Kent Mercker of Dublin.

The intrigue: Mercker, a Dublin Coffman graduate, followed up an 18-season pitching career by becoming a pickleball sensation. 

📬 Hey, collectors: My loving, well-organized wife would love it if any Axios Columbus readers want to make an offer on thousands of sports cards. 

If you're interested, email columbus@axios.com.

Meanwhile, I'll be taking my Pokemon cards to a local card shop, as it turns out there's a greater market for Pikachus than Paul Householders (sorry again, Paul). 

Where to go: Should you discover a card collection of your own, or want a fill of nostalgia, here are three card shops to check out:

Hartman's Sports Card Shop on Morse Road. 

Unearthing cardboard gold and junk

What to do with your collection of sports and Pokemon cards.

Four former MLB stars with a shared connection. Photo: Tyler Buchanan/Axios 

Sports

These four baseball cards share something in common. Can you guess it? <ul><li>I found them among thousands of other baseball, football, basketball and Pokemon trading cards unearthed during a recent attempt at spring cleaning.</li></ul>

👋 Tyler here. Our Axios company retreat doesn't start until tomorrow, but I got to Washington, D.C., a few days early strictly for professional reasons. 

By that I mean to watch baseball, eat a dozen panini and generally solve the nation's problems. 

🚄 It only took a few hours to prove my axiom about being an Ohio traveler:

A tweet reading, "Being an Ohioan is just traveling to other states and getting jealous at their passenger trains."

Between the rail lines: For several years, I've written about Ohio's lack of passenger rail connecting our biggest cities. 

Numerous Columbus residents and activists have told me variations of: I would love to take the train to a Cleveland Browns/Cincinnati Reds game, have a few drinks, then head back home that night. 

Driving the news: My trips to and from Nationals Park this past weekend convinced me those people would follow through if given the option.

The ride into town: Our train gradually filled with fans sporting the Nationals' red, white and navy blue.

Then came the mass exodus at the Navy Yard-Ballpark station, a mere quarter-mile walk from the stadium. 

Afterward, my train car back to the hotel included a few passengers who … enjoyed the park's refreshments as much as the Nationals' 13-6 win over Houston, let's just say.

They were boisterous, but I didn't mind. It sure beat any of them driving home drunk. 

Catch up quick: The national bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law last year includes billions of dollars toward passenger rail expansion.

Amtrak has proposed a "3C+D" line connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, along with a new link between Toledo and Detroit.

A proposed spot for the local station is the Greater Columbus Convention Center. 

What's next: This project is in the early planning stages and Gov. Mike DeWine has asked the state rail development commission to analyze its cost and feasibility, we reported last month.

A ride on D.C.'s Metro shows what Ohio could have

Amtrak has proposed a "3C+D" line connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

An Amtrak train departing a station. An Amtrak train departing a station. 

Photo: Luke Sharrett/AFP via Getty Images

Transportation

👋 Tyler here. Our Axios company retreat doesn&#x27;t start until tomorrow, but I got to Washington, D.C., a few days early strictly for professional reasons. <ul><li>By that I mean to watch baseball, eat a dozen panini and generally solve the nation&#x27;s problems. </li></ul>

News

Otto Beatty Jr. is leaving a legacy made of wool and leather.

Driving the news: County leaders and his wife, U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus), celebrated yesterday's opening of the Otto Beatty Jr. Men's Shop at 711 Southwood Ave.

The store provides professional attire for those in need to use in job interviews and work meetings.

Beatty, a former state representative, died last year at the age of 81. 

Much of his wardrobe was donated to the shop. 

Details: The shop is located at IMPACT Community Action and will provide other employment services to residents.

It's being operated in partnership with other nonprofits, according to a news release, including the Nehemiah House of Refuge and Dress for Success — the latter of which provides professional clothing for local women.

Franklin County also chipped in federal pandemic recovery funds. 

What they're saying: "Otto wholeheartedly believed that dressing in professional attire can change how a person feels about themselves and how they are perceived by others," Congresswoman Beatty said in the news release. 

New shop offers professional attire to men in need

The shop pays tribute to the late Otto Beatty Jr.

Impact Community Action CEO Robert "Bo" Chilton, left, and Nehemiah House of Refuge Executive Director Terry Byrd pose with professional menswear at the new Otto Beatty Jr. Men's Shop. Photo: Fred Squillante/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network

Otto Beatty Jr. is leaving a legacy made of wool and leather.Driving the news: County leaders and his wife, U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus), celebrated yesterday&#x27;s opening of the Otto Beatty Jr. Men&#x27;s Shop at 711 Southwood Ave.

Ohio Democrats are seeking a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights should Roe v. Wade be overturned. 

Why it matters: The constitutional amendment would override Republican efforts to restrict abortion access and put the question before voters. 

Details: The process requires three-fifths approval in both the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate before it gets to voters.

Between the lines: Democratic lawmakers concede this is a longshot effort, given the Republican supermajorities in both Statehouse chambers. 

The hope is to rally support from activist organizations and gear up for the backup plan, a citizen-initiated amendment that bypasses the legislature. 

Yes, but: That is a much more arduous route to the ballot box.

It would require organizers to gather more than 400,000 signed petitions from half of Ohio's 88 counties.  

Catch up quick: Ohio does not have a trigger law in place to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is struck down, though there are active proposals to enact one. 

A 2019 "Heartbeat Bill" prohibiting abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected was blocked from taking effect because of Roe. 

Ohio Dems pitch constitutional amendment on abortion rights

The amendment, if successful, would be placed on an upcoming ballot.

Protesters in front of the Ohio Statehouse. 

Protesters at a "Ban Off Our Bodies" rally at the Ohio Statehouse. Photo: Courtney Hergesheimer/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network

Abortion-rights movement

Ohio Democrats are seeking a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Why it matters: The constitutional amendment would override Republican efforts to restrict abortion access and put the question before voters.

Politics

Kids in Whitehall will soon have the chance to lace up and play free hockey.

What's happening: The city is building a street hockey rink in John Bishop Park thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation. 

As with an earlier project in Westerville, the Jackets plan to offer hockey clinics, equipment and youth and adult leagues.

Whitehall is chipping in $60,000 toward the new rink. 

Details: Once completed this fall, the rink will round out a city park already featuring baseball and softball fields, a splash park and an inclusive, ADA-compliant playground. 

What they're saying: The new rink is meant to introduce children to a sport that can have an expensive barrier to entry compared to other sports with casual play opportunities like basketball and soccer, Whitehall city administrator Zach Woodruff tells Axios. 

"With street hockey, you just need shoes and a stick."

Street hockey rink coming to Whitehall

The rink is supported by a grant from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A street hockey rink in a municipal park. 

A rendering of the new street hockey rink being built in Whitehall. Courtesy of the City of Whitehall 

Hockey

Kids in Whitehall will soon have the chance to lace up and play free hockey.<ul><li>Street hockey, that is.</li></ul>

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Tyler Buchanan

Stories

Unearthing cardboard gold and junk

Street hockey rink coming to Whitehall

Ohio Dems pitch constitutional amendment on abortion rights

A ride on D.C.'s Metro shows what Ohio could have

New shop offers professional attire to men in need

Newsletter editions

🍼 Formula fixes

⚾️ Treasure trove

🏘️ Developer diversity investment

🦠 Preventable tragedies

🍹 A bar without booze