With a shortage of coins in circulation because of the coronavirus shutdowns, local businesses have sought new ways to create a flow of pocket change to keep operations afloat.
For nearly a month, Whitehall Turkey Hill store manager Dustin Anderson said the store was short-handed on coins, prompting employees to hang signs on doors and cash registers notifying customers.
Read MoreA collaboration among several Franklin County agencies received a $900,000 award for a new safety model to combat domestic violence and protect victims.
The 2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office for Violence Against Women, will establish the Blueprint for Safety model through September 2023, Franklin County and Columbus officials announced Tuesday morning.
Read MoreThe Franklin County Board of Elections and local Republican Party are pushing for more GOP poll workers needed for the November election.
The Board of Elections, requiring 5,600 poll workers, has filled 4,833 positions, with 1,044 Republicans occupying those roles as of Thursday. There are 2,297 and1,492 Democratic and unaffiliated poll workers, respectively.
Read MoreFranklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce led another in a series of virtual town hall discussions Wednesday on issues affecting the local community, and guests Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and City Council President Shannon Hardin were asked to describe 2020 in one word.
Beatty, whose 3rd Congressional District encompasses a large sector of Columbus, described 2020 as "explosive."
Read MoreBefore greeting his co-workers and beginning a workday at Ohio State Cancer University's James Cancer Hospital, Abood Sohub is met with a thermometer "gun" just inches from his head, a procedure now commonplace in a world wrestling with the effects of COVID-19.
Across area hospitals, grocery stores, dental offices and local gyms, these devices, known as non-contact infrared thermometers, are used as an initial defense against potential COVID-19 carriers who have a fever. The thermometer gun measures a person’s surface temperature without making contact with their skin.
Read MoreAfter two years of contention, the Franklin County commissioners signed off Tuesday on a plan to support early voter outreach efforts for the general election.
The $420,000 allocation was approved by two of the three members of the Board of Commissioners, John O’Grady and Marilyn Brown. Commissioner Kevin Boyce voted against the resolution, expressing concerns over outreach to minority publications and senior residents.
Read MoreThe Franklin County Auditor’s Office has partnered with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity to help eliminate inequalities in the housing appraisal process.
On Monday, Auditor Michael Stinziano and researchers from the Columbus-based Kirwan Institute held the Making of Metropolitan Inequality conference, the first of a two-part series aimed at discussing the policies that created redlined communities and suggestions on what’s next.
Read MoreFranklin County commissioners have approved a $5.4 million grant to help nonprofit organizations suffering from revenue losses and unanticipated expenses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Resiliency Grants, funded by federal CARES Act dollars, will serve as a lifeline for nonprofit groups throughout the county, said Jodi Andes, county board spokeswoman.
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