“The overall news is pretty good.” That was the message that Dr. Bill LaFayette preached at the Creekside Conference and Event Center as the 18th Annual Groundhog Day Economic Forecast Breakfast took place on January 30 in Gahanna.

LaFayette, who is the founder and CEO of Regionomics, an economic consulting firm based out of Columbus, gave the Keynote Presentation to an audience of approximately 200 attendees.

LaFayette gave a presentation, which was very positive and encouraging for the most part on job growth and economic development.

“I’ve been giving these speeches for 15 years now,” LaFayette said. “They’re fun now. For the first time, I don’t have to tell you to ‘brace for impact’. Things are good, both locally, and nationally.”

According to LaFayette’s 2015 Regionomics Columbus Forecast, the unemployment rate in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which covers ten counties, is four percent even, compared to that of Ohio (4.8 percent) or the United States as a whole (5.4 percent). “Hiring has reached a pre-recession peak,” LaFayette added. In contrast, LaFayette added that the unemployment rate numbers only count the people who are actually actively looking for work, as the labor force itself continues to decline.

“The labor force started to fall in the Recession, and has continued falling ever since. The share of people in the labor force is the lowest since the late 1970s,” LaFayette said. “The four percent unemployment rate is real.”

Despite the labor force drop, employment is projected to surpass one million in 2015. 80,600 jobs were added to the Central Ohio region from January 2010 to June 2014, according to the numbers LaFayette presented, with a 9.2 percent increase in jobs.

In regards to the economy for Gahanna, LaFayette said, “The economy in the 43230 zip code (which serves most of Gahanna) is widely diversified, more diversified than in many zip codes in Central Ohio”.

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Welcome to Conscious Voices, a weekly program dedicated to bringing you alternative points of view and to challenging popular assumptions in order to help you be better informed and civically engaged. I'm Evan Davis, your host for this edition. Well, if we are to believe the media reports, "calm" has returned to Ferguson, Missouri after nearly a week of nightly protests since the verdict of the grand jury investigation of the killing of Michael Brown, who was Black by police officer Darren Wilson, who is White. In an earlier edition of this program I criticized the media for reporting on clashes between demonstrators and police in Ferguson by saying that "violence erupted at demonstrations", or that "demonstrations turned violent", when as countless videos and witness accounts revealed, it was nearly always the police who initiated the violence, in the form of tear gas and rubber bullets which were used to disperse crowds of erstwhile peaceful protesters. Moreover, the violence in this particular chain of events started with the shooting of Michael Brown. But even that analysis fails to take in to account the much longer history - one that includes a decades-long legacy of institutionalized racism in the state of Missouri and the U.S, in general, some of the hallmarks of which are increasing racial segregation in places like Ferguson and East Cleveland, the sight of another questionable police killing of an un-armed, or nearly un-armed Black youth by white officers in just the last week. Ferguson has gone from being around 40% Black just a couple of decades ago to being over 70% Black today, which its over-all population hasn't changed. Its police force, however, remains over 90% white, with most of those officers residing in other Saint Louis suburbs. Unemployment in Black communities remains much higher than the reported national average, yet expenses are high as ever.

In my assessment, the transfer of control of the Senate probably doesn't portend drastic changes - at least not immediately. The Republicans probably won't try to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, though a few promised their supporters they would. If they try, Obama will veto it, and they still won't have enough votes to override the veto. Likewise, they won't be able to push through major policy changes in the short term - but that's not really the danger here. The two remaining years of Obama's presidency will be measured not so much in terms of terrible policies he'll have prevented, but, rather, in terms of badly needed policies that now will have virtually no chance of passing. With Republicans in control, we will never see progress on climate change or carbon emissions. There will be no Federal jobs bill. or sensible gun law reform. nor restoration of funding for essential programs like education , or subsidies for renewable energy.

Bryan Curtiss, Writer

Sharing success was the theme of this year’s State of the City Address in Columbus. However, three barriers – homelessness, unemployment, and education, were the focal points of Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s 15th Annual State of the City Address on Wednesday night.

In what was a reality check for most people in attendance at the Battelle Grand Ballroom of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the city’s homeless was one of the big topics of the State of the City Address, and Coleman made it a goal to "rebuild the lives of the homeless."

"Columbus is a community of stark and sobering contrasts. Some bask in the glow of our success while others struggle every day just to see the light," Coleman remarked about the homeless population in the city. Columbus has a high poverty rate, with some neighborhoods having over 30 percent unemployment rates. The Median Household Income for Columbus residents is $ 8,000 below National Average.

Coleman then told the struggles of two homeless people living in the Faith Mission Shelter while striving for a better life for themselves. One was of a technical worker who ended up homeless due to loss of income, and another was of a dislocated worker, who chose to stay in Columbus, rather than relocate to another city.

“Sharing our success means ensuring our residents have roofs over their heads and strong neighborhoods to live in,” Coleman said.

"Homelessness is becoming a bigger problem in this city than in this city's history," Coleman added. This winter alone, there have been an estimated 1,200 homeless residents in the city, with approximately 150 of them being turned away from overcrowded shelters, left to "fend for themselves".

Coleman proposed that $ 1.1 Million will be used to combat homelessness, partnering with the Community Shelter Board on the nation’s first case management system of customized intensive individual care.

‘GH’, ‘Americans’, ‘Candelabra’, ‘Newsroom’, ‘Y&R’ Lead Bryan Award Nominations

July 8, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The 13th Annual Bryan Awards were admitted into General Hospital in Port Charles, New York on Monday night, where the long-running daytime drama received a leading 31 Bryan Award Nominations, including Best Soap, when the nominations for the Bryan Awards were announced live on "The DJBC Happy Hour" radio program in Columbus, Ohio.

GH, which was almost cancelled last year, turned 50 in April, and leads in overall nominations for the second straight year. The show has eight of the twelve Guest Acting nominees for Daytime (four each in Guest Actor and Actress). Not far behind GH in the Daytime races is "The Young and the Restless", which celebrated its 40th Anniversary in March. Y&R has 24 nominations, including three for Lead Actor, and posthumous nods for Jeanne Cooper (Lead Actress) and Bonnie Franklin (Guest Actress) who both passed away this spring.

Joining GH and Y&R in the Daytime Soap category are the other two network soaps "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Days of Our Lives", which have 18 and 14 nominations, respectively. The online revivals of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live", which debuted in late April, received only one and two nominations respectively.

In the Primetime field, the race is on in the New Series category, as that race appears to be Russians vs. Newsmen, as "The Americans" edges "The Newsroom" as the two most-nominated dramas and first-year programs with 24 and 20 nominations, respectively. "The Americans" is F/X's drama about KGB agents posing as married travel agents in the early 1980s, and "The Newsroom" is HBO's sleeper hit drama about the production of a cable news show.

Rain once again put a damper on the headlining acts at the Nelsonville Music Festival Saturday night. Wilco did take the stage eventually, but by then I was snug in my back-up-plan hotel room.

Nelsonville Pro-Tip #2: Always have a back-up plan.

Most of the day was bright and full of sound, though. Here's a few snapshots. Audio snippets are coming in the next entry.

Wheels on Fire - Still my favorite Athens band, making their third consecutive appearance at the festival. A three-piece this time.

Jonathan Richman - Jonathan strummed, danced, and exhorted us to engage fully in life.

Sharon Van Etten - a much more personable and cheerful stage presence than her music would lead you to expect.

Calexico's Horn Players - I opted for this shot over the full band photo. These guys were good. Lots of sound checking and audio-tech strife prior to this brief but very good set on the main stage.

The Porch Stage was the place to be at the Nelsonville Music Festival, as a string of loud rockers of various genres took over after mid-day. There is a sampling of clips from various sets below.

The rain we had all been fretting about arrived in time to push the headliner, Cat Power, back to a 10:30 start. A fearless and soggy bunch took in her set and blistering sets by Screaming Females and the Reigning Sound.

Unfortunately The Coup had to abbreviate their set in order to get everything done before 2 a.m.

Rested (a bit), showered, back at it again...

The Nelsonville Music festival is in full swing. Thursday night offered up some of Athens' finest local acts, including Hex Net, Unmonumental, D-Rays, and the Makebelieves.

Headliners Gogol Bordello killed it. I don't have any pictures from their set, but trust me. They set the stage on fire. Jeff Tweedy should just turned the bus around right now and head back to Chicago, for Gogol Bordello will not be topped.

Nelsonville Pro Tip #1: If you actually want to sleep, request Family Camping when you pull into the campsite. Our campsite rules and it even has wifi.

Some snapshots:

Unmonumental - Featuring Stuart's Opera House's own Brian Koscho

Hip-swinging salsa from Los Hacheros - Catch them again on the main stage today at 4:30

Hex Net

Wild Belle

The Makebelieves

tonight's show is a tribute to the activist mohamed haroun, the journalist tahar djaout, and the singer cherifa.