Beef, BMV, and Nazi Artifacts

Top of Mind

Columbus Is in a Beef with Beef

Beef prices are sizzling hotter than the grill, and Columbus restaurants are feeling the burn. The average retail price hit $9.69 a pound in July, up from $8.43 last year and just $6.09 in 2019. For chefs and diners alike, that’s no small jump.

Behind the spike: a historic drought that shrank cattle herds, rising costs for fuel and feed, and demand that’s “as high as it’s been in 40 years.” The result? Steaks, burgers, and brisket are still in demand, just a lot more expensive.

Chains and independents alike are adjusting. City Barbeque, born in Columbus and known for moving nearly 4 million pounds of brisket a year, has had to bump up its signature sandwich from $9.99 in May to $11.49 today. Some customers still indulge, but others are cutting back. “Profit margins remain tighter than ever,” said Rachel Demers, the company’s supply chain director.

Others are getting creative. Little West Tavern in Franklinton works directly with farms to buy whole animals, making every cut count. White Castle is nudging customers toward chicken and pork sliders. And even Taco Bell has leaned into chicken nuggets, a sentence no one thought would exist ten years ago.

Don’t expect prices to cool anytime soon. The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance doesn’t see relief until 2027, when cattle herds finally recover.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many pounds of beef does Ohio produce each year?
A. 500 million
B. 300 million
C. 40 million
D. 700 million

License to Speak: Ohio Loosens Plate Restrictions

In Ohio, you can cruise around with “STR8 PWR” on your bumper, but until last week, “GAY” and “MUSLIM” were deemed too “inappropriate” for the road.

That double standard just landed the Ohio BMV in federal court. On Sept. 9, two residents sued, arguing the agency violated their rights to free speech and equal protection by blocking their personalized plate requests. One plaintiff, William Saki of Lakewood, applied for a plate with “GAY.” Another, Cyrus Mahdavi of Strongsville, tried for “MUSLIM.” Both were immediately flagged by the BMV system, rejected as inappropriate.

The irony? At the very same time, the state had approved plates with terms like “STR8,” “STR8 PWR,” “ATHEIST,” and “HINDU.” The inconsistency made its way into the lawsuit, and within two days, the BMV folded. On Sept. 11, the agency admitted it had “erred in rejecting” the plates and agreed to unlock non-offensive terms from its database. It also promised to add clearer instructions for applicants who believe their requests were wrongly denied. A federal judge dismissed the case shortly after the agreement.

This isn’t Ohio’s first license plate showdown. In 2003, the BMV revoked a plate reading “RDRAGE” until a driver sued, forcing the state to adopt narrower guidelines. Those rules banned combinations that were profane, sexually explicit, advocated lawlessness, or could provoke a violent response. Still, the lines were never clear. Each year, the BMV rejects hundreds of applications: 827 in 2021, 758 in 2022, 777 in 2023, and 939 in 2024.

The agency faced another lawsuit just last year when Jeffrey Wonser of Heath sued after being denied “F46 LGB.” His case argued the letters stood for “F— the 46th president” and “Let’s Go Brandon,” but a judge dismissed it on a statute of limitations technicality. Wonser has since appealed.

Personalized plates have been part of Ohio’s culture since 1973, a rolling canvas of dad jokes, declarations, and occasionally, profanity. But every time the BMV tries to police what’s “appropriate,” it runs headlong into the First Amendment.

With the latest lawsuit, Ohio drivers won a little more freedom to put identity and expression on display, whether it’s pride, religion, politics, or just bad puns.

Lost to Nazis, Found in Newark: The 80-Year Journey of Two Paintings

Two small Dutch still-lifes, painted more than 500 years ago, survived centuries of history before disappearing into the chaos of World War II. Stolen by the Nazis in 1943, last seen inside Adolf Hitler’s Munich headquarters, they were thought lost forever. Until now.

The paintings resurfaced not in Paris or Berlin, but in Newark, Ohio, listed in an auction catalog alongside abandoned bank safe-deposit contents, valued at a few hundred dollars each. Researchers with the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, tipped off just days before the auction, quickly recognized them. They match records of works stolen from the Schloss family, a Jewish household in Paris whose 333-piece collection was looted by Nazis and collaborators.

The still-lifes, delicate bouquets painted by Ambrosius Bosschaert around 1600, had once been marked for Hitler’s grand “Führermuseum” that was never built. Inventory codes scratched on their backs (S-16 and S-17) matched Nazi records. Even the paper labels were consistent with French archives.

Had they gone unnoticed, the paintings might have sold for less than $4,000 combined. Instead, the auction house halted the sale after Monuments Men founder Robert Edsel arrived in person. If their authenticity is confirmed, the works, valued up to $1 million each, will be returned to Schloss descendants.

How did Nazi-looted art end up in central Ohio? Historians suspect a U.S. soldier may have carried them home in a duffel bag. While Eisenhower ordered troops not to take cultural artifacts, many ignored the directive. Decades later, as veterans pass away, families continue to stumble across banners, books, and paintings that once belonged to European families.

“Hundreds of thousands of cultural objects looted during World War II are still missing,” said Anna Bottinelli, president of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation. “Some are in the United States, tucked away in attics, hanging on walls and stuffed in unopened boxes.”

For Newark’s Apple Tree Auction Center, the discovery turned a routine sale into a page out of history. For the Schloss family, it’s a reminder that even after 80 years, stolen culture can still find its way home.

Columbus Schools Consider Cutting High School Busing

The yellow bus might soon stop rolling for thousands of Columbus high schoolers. Facing a mounting financial crisis, Columbus City Schools is weighing a plan to cut transportation for grades 9-12, a move that could save the district $7.2 million a year.

At a Sept. 11 board and committee meeting, members voted to recommend removing the policy that requires busing for high school students. Longer-term changes, like adjusting school start and end times, could push savings past $20 million.

CCS already spends more on transportation than any other big-city district in Ohio, about 6.2% of its budget, compared to 2 million bus miles in Cleveland and 600,000 in Akron. Columbus buses travel nearly 9.5 million miles a year, fueled in part by the district’s popular school-choice lottery system that lets students attend specialty programs across the city.

Under state law, the district is only required to bus students in K–8 who live more than two miles away, plus students with qualifying IEPs. High school busing is above and beyond the mandate, a perk the district now may no longer afford.

Board members say one option is to partner with COTA to carry older students, though concerns remain about reliability and safety. “Once it’s done, it’s done, and then it becomes a COTA issue, and that’s not okay,” board member Christina Vera said.

The financial backdrop is grim. CCS began deficit spending this year and projects running out of cash by 2029 unless major cuts continue. The district has already voted to slash up to $50 million from its annual budget, which could include layoffs and more school closures.

Vice President Jennifer Adair framed the dilemma bluntly: “We’ve got to decide whether it is more important for us to use the money we have available to transport kids above the state minimum, or if it is more important to have services and staff in our classrooms.”

For now, Columbus parents are left with the question no one wants to ask: Will the wheels on the bus keep going round and round, or stop at eighth grade?

ReSlice: A Pizza Night with Purpose

Columbus’s favorite excuse to eat too much pizza is back, this time with a new name and a new location. ReSlice, a reimagined take on the classic Slice of Columbus event, will take over COhatch Polaris on Wednesday, September 18, from 6–9 p.m.

13 local pizza shops will be serving up their best slices, from tried-and-true classics to creative toppings that spark debates stronger than pineapple ever did. Attendees get to sample them all while supporting the Development Board of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

It’s part competition, part community gathering, and all about good pizza for a good cause.

Get Tickets HERE

Trivia Answer

A) 500 million pounds…That’s about 1 billion dollars worth of hamburgers.