The top Columbus stories we're watching in 2025
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
To kick off the New Year, we've compiled seven of the newsiest topics we're keeping an eye on throughout the next 12 months.
What we're watching, in no particular order:
🚌 Transit plans keep rollin'
Work begins soon to implement the regional LinkUs infrastructure plan voters approved in November and the city's new Bike Plus plan.
- Expanded bus hours and a new fleet of rentable bikes and scooters debut this year and construction will begin on the "Capital Line" path.
Plus: We're still waiting on a decision regarding proposed Amtrak lines connecting our region to Cleveland and Cincinnati.
🏫 Education conflicts
New state laws impacting K-12 schools take effect this year.
- One bans transgender students using bathrooms that match their gender identity, starting in February, and another requires adopting a cell phone policy by July.
- This is also a school board election year. Those races have heated up in recent years.
Friction point: Separately, Columbus City Schools leaders must decide where to send students when five schools close as soon as 2026.
🇺🇸 Trump trickle-down
"All politics is local" takes on a new meaning as a second Trump administration begins.
State of play: From immigration to education and tariffs to transgender rights, the local impact of the president-elect's policies will be a focal point following his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Go deeper: Trump's first day frenzy: Everything he promised to do on "day one"
🏗️ Building the future
Leaders will develop a regional housing coalition this year to start tackling our affordable housing crisis more collaboratively.
Zoom in: In Columbus, the impacts of a zoning code overhaul and efforts to make downtown more livable should be in the spotlight.
💻 "Silicon Heartland" takes shape
Speaking of growth — if recent history repeats itself, expect more local tech investments in the New Year.
- By the end of 2025, Honda's new electric vehicle battery plant in Jefferson is expected to come online.
Yes, but: Ohio's biggest project ever, Intel's Licking County semiconductor plant, won't open this year like officials initially hoped. Construction is ongoing.
🚓 Police accountability
Two pending court cases could have big impacts on local policing.
The latest: Former police officer Adam Coy, Columbus' first to be found guilty of murder in the line of duty, awaits a sentencing hearing.
- Meanwhile, oral arguments are scheduled for next month in an Ohio Supreme Court case challenging the practice of withholding an officer's name following a fatal shooting.
Context: Last year was the second-most-deadly for local police killings in the past decade, with law enforcement officers from Franklin County fatally shooting 11 people.
🦦 What's new at the zoo
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's 10-year levy, which funds about 20% of its budget through Franklin County property taxes, expires at the end of the year.
- Officials haven't announced a renewal campaign yet, but they've been a little busy.
What's more: The first phase of a $35 million overhaul of the North America region is expected to be unveiled when the weather warms up.