NO MORE FLOCK

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COLUMBUS SHUTS DOWN ITS FLOCK CAMERAS

Columbus spent most of the summer trying to convince residents that its Flock camera network could be controlled.

Then one of its own officers allegedly searched the same license plate more than 270 times.

Now all 65 city-controlled Flock cameras are being covered with black bags.

Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered Columbus Police to immediately suspend use of the automated license plate readers after an investigation found Officer Melvin Tellis had repeatedly searched one vehicle between November 2023 and December 2024. Police say the searches do not currently appear to have been connected to a legitimate investigation.

Tellis has been relieved of duty while the investigation continues.

For anyone who has been following this newsletter, this is now chapter three of a story that has gotten progressively harder for the city to defend.

Earlier this summer, Columbus audited nearly 19.6 million Flock searches dating back to 2023 and identified as many as 15,577 searches that could have been immigration-related. Most came from outside agencies, including federal law enforcement and departments participating in ICE's 287(g) program.

That created an obvious problem for a city that has prohibited using city resources for civil immigration enforcement since 2017.

That does not mean Columbus is about to build 119,000 apartments. Zoning does not build anything. Developers, financing, demand, infrastructure and approximately 47 meetings eventually do that.

What it means is Columbus would legally allow dramatically more housing to be built on land where the current code makes that difficult or impossible.

The city started this process in 2024, when the first phase of Zone In changed rules along many of Columbus' major commercial corridors. That included allowing taller and denser buildings in certain areas and removing requirements that officials argued were making housing more difficult and expensive to build.

Phase 2 goes much bigger geographically.

Mayor Andrew Ginther called zoning an "invisible force" shaping where homes get built, where businesses invest and how neighborhoods evolve. That is a pretty good description of why something this boring on paper matters so much in real life.

Columbus is growing quickly, but land is not appearing alongside the new residents. The choice is increasingly between building more densely in existing parts of the city or pushing development farther outward into Central Ohio.

And this still is not the part of Zone In that will generate the biggest neighborhood fights.

Columbus responded by shutting off nationwide sharing. Then statewide sharing. Mayor Ginther proposed cutting data retention from 30 days to seven, requiring permission before outside agencies could access Columbus data, adding regular independent audits and canceling plans for 11 more cameras.

The argument was basically that Flock was powerful, but Columbus could build enough guardrails around it to make the system safe.

Then those guardrails apparently failed to catch one of the most concerning examples of potential misuse yet.

The suspicious searches were reportedly discovered after journalists analyzed Flock records, not through the city's own audit.

That seems to be what finally changed the conversation.

Ginther, who had defended keeping the cameras just days earlier, said the allegations had “shaken my trust.” The city's 65 cameras were suspended, then physically covered so they could no longer collect vehicle data.

The cameras are not technically gone yet. Columbus has a two-year, $228,000 contract with Flock that expires in December. But even before this latest investigation, seven of the nine members of Columbus City Council were reportedly leaning toward ending it.

There is still a public-safety argument for keeping the technology.

Columbus Police says Flock assisted investigations in roughly 60% of the city's homicides last year. The system has helped officers locate stolen cars, suspects and missing people by allowing investigators to trace where vehicles have appeared around the city.

That effectiveness is also exactly what makes the privacy question so difficult.

A network capable of helping police reconstruct where a murder suspect traveled can also reconstruct where almost anyone traveled if someone with access decides to search for them.

For months, Columbus has been debating whether that power could be responsibly controlled.

For now, the city appears to have its answer sitting along Columbus roadsides inside 65 black plastic bags.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Ohio technically wasn’t formally admitted to the Union until what year?

A) 1803
B) 1812
C) 1865
D) 1953

SHADOWBOX IS GOING FULL SPOOKY SEASON

Shadowbox Live is getting an early start on Halloween this year, and honestly, we respect the commitment.

This summer and fall, the Brewery District theater is rolling out two very different shows that both feel perfectly built for spooky season.

First up is Screamers, a nightmare-fueled mix of sketch comedy and live music featuring nine original comedy sketches and nine songs pulled from artists including The Doors, Livingston, Sweet, Jonathan Coulton and Badflower.

The show leans into everything strange, creepy and ridiculous about Halloween while still keeping the high-energy rock-and-comedy formula Shadowbox has built its name around.

Screamers runs through Nov. 14, giving you plenty of time to turn it into a fall night out.

Then there’s Speak of the Devil, opening Sept. 10 and running through Nov. 15. The 90-minute production is a full tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, with 20 songs including Crazy Train, Paranoid, No More Tears and Iron Man. Racksquared Spring Street, which is located downtown. Expect heavy metal, dance, theatrical production, and enough dark energy to make it feel especially appropriate once October rolls around.

And if you haven’t been to Shadowbox before, it is a little different from your standard theater experience. The performers are not just on stage. They are part of the whole operation, helping create the atmosphere, serving food and drinks, and turning the night into something that feels more like a full experience than simply sitting down for a show.

Shadowbox also offers its Art for All program on select Thursday performances, allowing guests to choose an admission price that fits their budget, starting at $20.

If your fall calendar could use a little less pumpkin patch and a little more rock, comedy, and controlled chaos, Shadowbox Live has two very good excuses to spend a night in the Brewery District.

Tickets HERE:

LES WEXNER RETURNS TO OHIO STATE

Les Wexner returned to an Ohio State Wexner Medical Center board meeting on Sept. 1 for the first time in more than a year.

Six months earlier, he had spent nearly six hours answering questions under congressional subpoena about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Less than two weeks before the meeting, Wexner announced he was stepping down as chairman of the medical center board.

And when he finally returned?

Ohio State gave him a standing ovation.

Wexner had not attended a board meeting since May 2025. He missed the first two meetings of 2026 and had attended only one meeting in all of 2025, despite serving as chairman.

When he addressed the room, he apologized for missing meetings, but then offered a defense that is hard to ignore coming from the person leading the board.

“For me, the least productive time, and this is 40 years of history with Ohio State, is in board meetings.”

He also told members:

“Even if I’m not at meetings, my head goes with me everywhere I am.”

Ohio State leadership did not use his return to publicly distance the university from him.

Quite the opposite.

Incoming board chairman Robert Schottenstein praised Wexner’s decades of involvement with Ohio State and told the room:

“There is no better Buckeye.”

Wexner then received a standing ovation.

That applause came while questions surrounding Wexner’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein are once again very much alive.

Earlier this year, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Wexner and questioned him for hours about the relationship, including Epstein’s involvement in his finances, property and personal affairs.

Wexner has denied knowing about or participating in Epstein’s crimes and has not been charged with any crime connected to Epstein.

But Epstein was not some distant acquaintance.

He managed major portions of Wexner’s financial life, held extraordinarily broad power of attorney over his affairs and lived in a Manhattan townhouse previously owned by Wexner. Their relationship has been examined for years because of just how much access and authority Epstein was given.

That scrutiny has also followed Wexner back to Ohio State.

Students, faculty and others have called for his name to be removed from university buildings, including the medical center that still carries it.

So when WOSU caught Wexner leaving the meeting and asked what he thought about those calls, he did not offer a defense of his legacy or explain why his name should remain.

He said:

“I don’t think about it.”

Then he got into his vehicle and left.

Wexner is technically stepping down as chairman, but he is not disappearing from Ohio State. He will remain connected to the medical center as chair emeritus while Robert Schottenstein takes over the board.

And that is what makes this story harder to brush aside as a simple leadership transition.

One of the most powerful men in Columbus spent more than a year largely absent from the board he chaired. He was then subpoenaed by Congress and questioned for hours about Jeffrey Epstein. He returned to the institution bearing his name while people inside and outside Ohio State continue asking whether that name should still be there.

Inside the meeting room, the response was not distance.

It was applause.

“There is no better Buckeye.”

Standing ovation.

And outside the room, when asked about people who want his name removed:

“I don’t think about it.”

Trivia Answer D. Ohio had operated as a state since 1803, but Congress discovered during the 150th anniversary that the formal admission resolution had never actually been completed, so it was fixed retroactively in 1953.