Groundhog Day

Top of Mind

Springfield is bracing, and it deserves better than guesswork

Springfield is heading into February with a lot of families holding their breath.

Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation is set to end at 11:59 p.m. local time on Feb. 3, which could strip legal work and residency protections from thousands of Haitian residents who built lives here legally under the program.

What comes next is the part that is keeping people up at night: local officials have heard talk of a possible U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation beginning as soon as Feb. 4, potentially lasting weeks, but the reporting is consistent on one point. Nothing has been confirmed, and details are thin.

And that uncertainty is not a minor inconvenience. It is destabilizing. When a city is asked to stay calm while also being told a major federal enforcement action could arrive with little notice, the result is fear, rumor, and people making contingency plans for scenarios no one will even put in writing.

City leaders are trying to do the basics: keep the community steady, coordinate with schools and partners, and reduce the risk of confusion. The city passed a resolution requesting that federal officers remain identifiable, faces uncovered, and credentials visible, after past incidents involving masked people who were not ICE. They cannot force it. They are asking anyway, because residents should not have to guess who is showing up at their door.

Even Mike DeWine has called the TPS change a mistake, pointing to Haiti’s conditions and the real fallout for Ohio communities, including families with U.S.-citizen kids.

And if you want to understand why nearby cities are reacting too, look at Dayton. Businesses and residents joined a national day of action protesting ICE operations and the broader climate around enforcement. It is not “politics” to people on the ground. It is neighbors trying to protect neighbors.

If you’re in Columbus, Dayton, or anywhere else in Ohio watching this unfold, here’s the simple truth: Springfield is not a headline; it’s a community. Thousands of Haitian families moved there legally, found work, enrolled kids in school, opened businesses, joined churches, and helped keep the city running. That’s not “a situation.” That’s your neighbors.

So standing with Springfield can look like the basics: don’t spread unverified rumors, amplify confirmed updates from the city and trusted local reporting, and support the local groups doing real work on the ground. And if federal enforcement does arrive, the message should be clear: we can disagree about policy without treating families like collateral damage.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: How many animals are at the Columbus Zoo

A. Over 10,000
B. Over 5,000
C. Over 20,000
D. Over 15,000

Meet the best Ohio State coach you may not know

At Ohio State, coaching greatness is usually reserved for people with headsets, laminated play sheets, and the ability to say “establish the run” with a straight face.

So let’s commit a small act of campus rebellion and talk about Nadine Muzerall, the most dominant coach in Columbus, you probably do not hear enough about. While the rest of the state argues about spring games and punters, she has been turning Ohio State women’s hockey into a national problem since 2016.

When Muzerall arrived, Ohio State had never made the NCAA tournament. Since then, the Buckeyes have stacked conference titles, lived in the Frozen Four, and won two national championships. Not “competitive.” Not “on the rise.” Actual hardware.

And this is where it gets hard to ignore, even if you have never watched a full period of hockey. This winter, five current Buckeyes are headed to the 2026 Winter Olympics, representing three countries. That is not a fun fact. That is a pipeline.

The Olympian pipeline is not a metaphor

Here’s the current roster heading to Italy:

• Joy Dunne (USA)

• Sanni Vanhanen (Finland)

• Hilda Svensson (Sweden)

• Jenna Raunio (Sweden)

• Mira Jungåker (Sweden)

And it’s not just them. Ohio State says twelve current and former Buckeyes will compete in the 2026 Games. Twelve. That’s not “a couple alumni made it.” That’s “Ohio State is basically running a national team annex.”

How she does it

Muzerall’s whole deal is demanding excellence without losing the human part. Tough love, yes. Also real investment. She’s the kind of coach who will back you publicly, coach you brutally, and then make sure you have what you need to actually get better.

The details matter. She stays in close contact with national team staff, takes feedback, and turns it into specific training plans. Not vibes. Not speeches. Actual development. The result is players who improve fast, play with edge, and show up ready for the highest level.

She even brought in a Navy SEAL to work on mental toughness, because apparently the only thing harder than college hockey is convincing your brain not to melt under pressure.

Ohio State has plenty of elite programs, but women’s hockey might be the cleanest example of what a modern powerhouse looks like when it’s built on purpose. Recruiting reach, player development, a defined culture, and results that show up in championships and Olympic rosters.

It’s also just objectively wild that one of the most dominant runs in the entire athletic department is happening on ice, and half the city still couldn’t name the coach.

So here’s your reminder: if you like winning, if you like Ohio State, or if you just enjoy excellence without 300 callers debating “heart,” women’s hockey is right there. And Nadine Muzerall is the reason.

Pizza Boxes, Super Bowl, and Your Cardboard Problem

More than 12 million pizzas get ordered on **Super Bowl Sunday, which means your group chat is about to do what it always does: spend $84 on food, watch commercials, and generate a small mountain of cardboard.

To keep at least some of those boxes out of the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill, SWACO is teaming up with dozens of local pizzerias to slap tens of thousands of reminder stickers on carryout boxes, because cardboard is one of the biggest items we throw away, even though it’s wildly recyclable.

If you needed a sign to recycle your pizza box after the game, congrats. It’s literally going to be stuck to the lid.

https://www.swaco.org/m/newsflash/home/detail/380

Columbus Zoo vs. The Cold That Wont Leave

While the rest of us were doing the annual Central Ohio winter routine (complain, scrape windshield, pretend we “like seasons”), the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has been running a full-on animal wellness operation behind the scenes.

According to WSYX, the zoo stocked up on extra food and medicine, had a backup generator ready to keep heating systems online, and generally acted like a place responsible for thousands of living creatures instead of just a fun Saturday plan.

Some animals got upgraded to “nope, you live inside now.” The zebras and donkeys were locked in during the cold stretch.

The flamingos, meanwhile, are receiving the kind of spa treatment most of us cannot even get with insurance. Keepers are using Epsom salt foot baths to protect their legs and feet because for long-legged birds, one bad injury can turn into a serious problem.

And then there’s Bubba, the 79-year-old Aldabra tortoise, who apparently has “tortoise snugglers.” Volunteers trained to hang out with him and Sonny in the colder months, talk to them, and even play music. Columbus really is a city where someone’s dream job is soothing an elderly tortoise with a playlist, and honestly, good for them.

The zoo says the animals are doing fine, even with a water main break on Friday that did not affect them. The zoo is set to reopen Monday after a ten-day weather closure, its longest outside the pandemic.

Trivia Answer

A. Over 10,000 isnt that incredible