Year in review: The top local news stories of 2025
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We packed a lot of news into our 2025 newsletters, and as always, we appreciate you coming along for the ride.
For our last issue of the year, we're looking back at some big themes and some of our favorite stories.
🏗️ The year started with big news from Anduril, before more Intel delays seized the development spotlight.
🏛️ We covered the second Trump administration's local impacts, from tariffs and the Ohio National Guard in D.C. to extensive federal budget cuts — and the longest government shutdown in our nation's history.
🌍 New immigration policies shook communities, slashed resettlement budgets and threatened international student enrollment.
- A year of surging ICE arrests culminated with "Operation Buckeye" beginning last week, which local leaders called "unwelcome."
🤖 AI continued to transform essentially everything: business, colleges, schools, crime, health care and even Donatos pizza.
✏️ State school policy received major and often confusing overhauls, with Senate Bill 1, a "Parents' Bill of Rights" and a "bathroom bill" taking effect.
- A local judge ruled our state's voucher system is unconstitutional, though the legal battle continues.
💰 A $1.9 billion bond package passed, funding Columbus housing efforts and other future projects.
⚖️ For the first time, an Ohio police officer was convicted of murder in the line of duty.
⚡️ We tracked Central Ohio becoming a data center hotspot, bringing jobs, but also increasing electricity prices and straining water supplies.
⛵️We explored our city's controversial namesake and pondered its identity.
😪 Ohioans with levy fatigue kept debating property tax reform.
👋 We said goodbye to Crew captain Darlington Nagbe and head coach Wilfried Nancy, plus some beloved restaurants like Chapman's Eat Market.
💵 And we examined sports gambling's impact on Ohio's pocketbook, people and teams, two years after legalization.
Yes, but: It wasn't all hard news. We had some fun, too.
🌎 We launched an international food tour without ever leaving Central Ohio.
🧗♀️ We climbed to new heights on Quarry Trails' via ferrata.
🐕 We sniffed out Columbus' outsized role in service dog training.
📊 You picked our best burger, month, and Metro Park.
🏳️🌈 LGBTQ+ trailblazers celebrated a decade of marriage equality.
🐘 The zoo welcomed not one, but two adorable baby elephants.
🇩🇪 The Schmidt's buffet came back.
🤫 We introduced you to silent book clubs.
♻️ Officials found new ways to recycle, reducing our landfill's footprint.
🛴 Veo became Columbus' exclusive scooter partner and we took a ride.
🏈 And, finally, the Buckeyes beat their rivals once again.
Plus: What made you click
These were the top 10 stories on our website this year, based on page views:
- Humans couldn't stop the spotted lanternfly. Wildlife might. — Sept. 19
- Ohio's war against the spotted lanternfly is already lost — Aug. 12
- "No Kings" protests target Trump in Columbus, nationwide — June 12
- A Columbus Zoo gorilla expert's take on the "1 gorilla vs. 100 men" debate — May 9
- Why Columbus doesn't have a pigeon problem: They're dinner — Oct. 22
- Proud Boys claim they'll infiltrate Easton Tesla protest — March 27
- Cedar Point and Kings Island feature new coasters in '25 — April 25
- Ranking the 2025 Ohio State Fair concerts — April 11
- HBO doc spotlights Ohio State sex abuse scandal — June 17
- Young adults are thinking about leaving Columbus — Dec. 8