It’s not intuitively obvious, but discarding DEI can result in even fewer medical professionals serving already underserved communities in rural Ohio. The Trump administration is doing its level best to eliminate DEI on the premise it fosters unlawful discrimination, but as Abraham Graber, Ph.D, points out, DEI promotes diversity and equity so as to achieve better outcomes, and that includes better outcomes in terms of getting more medical students interested in practicing medicine in rural Ohio.

There's been a longstanding problem in rural Ohio suffering from inadequate healthcare. Some counties have just a handful of doctors. Some counties don’t have a single doctor or hospital. What if you live in, say, Vinton County, and you need an oncologist? Well, like they say in the mob, “Fuggetaboutit.” You’re pregnant and need prenatal care? Same thing.

Who picks up the slack in these counties? EMT crews, but their services are only a stopgap.

The absence of medical care for these communities means the people in these areas are not as healthy as those who live in metropolitan areas, and they have shorter life spans.

To get more medical professionals in rural Ohio, we need a concerted recruiting program. And that means recruiting from the counties that are underserved, because the people who would want to practice in those counties will most likely come from those counties and not from the large metropolitan areas.

And here’s the challenge. If kids in those counties don’t see doctors and don’t see their friends becoming doctors, they’ll never even think about becoming doctors.

And for those few who might aspire to practice medicine, they likely don’t have the same life experience or education as others and, thus, face barriers when tested and suffer from the negative stereotype many have about rural Americans.

As Dr. Graber points out, if we want to start getting students in rural Ohio interested in and practicing medicine, we have to start thinking about how we find these young people. Focusing on test scores alone won’t get us where we need to be. We need targeted recruiting, and that’s DEI.

Bhuwan Pyakurel, a former refugee from Bhutan, resettled in the United States in 2009. He and his family moved to Ohio in 2014 and he became a U.S. citizen in 2015. They bought their first home in Reynoldsburg and immediately became involved in the community. Bhuwan and his wife, Dil, have been married for 14 years and they have two children, Aditi and Dev, both who attend Reynoldsburg Public Schools. Aditi loves reading and volunteers her time to raise funds to protect the environment. Dev loves sports and plays basketball and soccer, and enjoys skateboarding, karate, chess, and solving the Rubik’s Cube.

As a community leader, Bhuwan has worked with the Reynoldsburg Police Department and residents ever since he moved to the city. He believes education is the most important tool to bridge the gap and build trust between those in public safety and the community. Since 2015, Bhuwan has been a manager of interpretive services for Primary One Health, which operates 10 clinics in Central Ohio, and he also serves on the Board of the new Reynoldsburg YMCA. He has also served as President of the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio (BCCO). For Ward 3 residents and all of Reynoldsburg, Bhuwan’s plans include: helping keep Reynoldsburg residents safer by fixing sidewalks, roads and infrastructure and improving lighting, increasing the number of code enforcement officers in the City, boosting communications and transparency between City Council and citizens by using modern technologies, and making City government work better for the people of Reynoldsburg by holding regular town hall forums with constituents.

Bhuwan, who has a Bachelor of Science degree from North Bengal University in India, and the City of Reynoldsburg made history in November 2019 when he became the first Bhutanese American to be elected to public office in the United States.

After he and 120,000 fellow Bhutanese-Nepali’s were forcibly pushed out of Bhutan and their civil, human and political rights stripped away, Bhuwan says he will “always be grateful to this nation for giving me a second chance to live my life and enjoy these freedoms in the greatest country in the world.” Bhuwan deeply values his American citizenship and its inalienable protected rights, and he now works to “pay it forward” and create new opportunities for the people of Reynoldsburg.

If the mob were doing what President Donald Trump is doing, we’d call it a shakedown. By way of several executive orders, he has accused some of the largest law firms in America of unlawful misconduct and, on his own, determined they violated the law and issued punishment. But if the firms capitulate to his demands, they won’t be punished.

Joining us in this discussion is our friend and fellow lawyer, Jim Meaney.

The targeted firms are guilty of simply representing causes Trump can’t stand and represent some of the largest businesses in America, many of which do business with the federal government. These firms are given a choice: either do legal work for free—for groups that Trump likes—or be barred from entering federal buildings and lose their security clearances, while the government terminates its contract with their clients.

What’s the misconduct? Trump accuses the Paul Weiss firm of engaging in “harmful activity,” Perkins Cioe firm of “dangerous and dishonest activity,” and Susman Godfrey of working to “degrade the quality of American elections.”

What did Paul Weiss do? A partner in the firm brought suit against the individuals who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Perkins Coie represented the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, and Susman Godfrey represented Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case against Fox Corp.

What’s going on here is part of a much bigger plan—a unified attack on everything Trump hates. He is attacking universities and free thought. He is attacking the judiciary by approving the idea of impeaching judges who have ruled against his immigration policies. He’s dismantling multiple federal agencies.

At last count, nine firms have capitulated and struck deals with Trump. Four have filed suit in federal court and attacked his executive orders and have been successful in the early stages of litigation. In street parlance, we have nine “cavers” and four “fighters.”

The issue is, don't law firms have an obligation to see beyond themselves, to see beyond their own interest, and to see beyond their clients’ interests when the system itself is at risk? Nine firms have said no. Four have said yes.

Almost 200,000 Franklin County residents experience poverty every year. That’s enough to fill the Ohio State University football stadium twice. These residents face myriad challenges, among them: medical debt, lack of access to healthcare, adequate and affordable housing, and affordable childcare.

Danielle Sidner, CEO of Rise Together Innovation Institute, explains that RISE is on a mission to harness the collective power of people and systems to overcome structural racism in Franklin County that contribute to poverty. RISE was created by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners and business and community stakeholders and seeks to achieve equity for everyone.

Danielle talks with us about the challenges low-income residents face, but let’s look at just one issue here: medical debt. Low-income residents are ham-strung by medical debt they can’t afford to pay, and for fear of incurring more, they don’t see a doctor when they need to, which means they end up having worse health outcomes. And, of course, not seeing a doctor can mean an illness, which means time away from work and the loss of employment.

During the pandemic, we saw many organizations coming together and looking at innovative ways to relieve some of this debt. Locally, the Ohio Hospital Association in collaboration with the City of Columbus and some others, helped pay the medical debt of low-income residents and then forgave the debt.

Based on a study by Kaiser Permanente, once individuals are relieved of that debt, they go back to the doctor and then live healthier lives. They can contribute to society in the way that we all desire. But the process of medical forgiveness is largely a function of nonprofits, and while it works well for a limited number of people, it’s not a solution that remedies problems with our healthcare system

Want to learn more about RISE? Visit its website at https://www.rtiico.org/

President Trump has signed more executive orders in his first 10 days and in his first month in office than any recent president has in their first 100 days. Trump critics say the orders greatly exceed his constitutional authority.

Those orders range from tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada, to pauses on foreign aid and crackdowns on illegal immigration to bans on transgender people serving in the military and the use of federal funds for gender-affirming medical care for minors.

Court challenges to Trump’s policies started on Inauguration Day and have continued at a furious pace since Jan. 20. The administration is facing some 70 lawsuits nationwide challenging his executive orders and moves to downsize the federal government.

The Republican-controlled Congress is putting up little resistance, so the court system is ground zero for pushback. Judges have issued more than a dozen orders at least temporarily blocking aspects of Trump’s agenda, ranging from an executive order to end U.S. citizenship extended automatically to people born in this country to giving Musk’s team access to sensitive federal data.

Executive Actions: 108, Executive Orders: 73, Proclamations: 23, Memorandums: 12

Mark Brown, Constitutional Law expert and professor at Capital University Law School talks with us about the constitutionality of executive orders. Mark holds Capital's Newton D. Baker/Baker & Hostetler Chair. He joined the faculty in 2003 after having taught at Stetson University, the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University.

Mark has authored and co-authored works in various books and academic journals, including the Boston College Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Hastings Law Journal, the Iowa Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, the American University Law Review, and the Oregon Law Review, as well as others. Prior to academia, Mark clerked for the Honorable Harry Wellford, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He also served as a Supreme Court Fellow under the Chief Justice of the United States during the 1993 October Term.

Mark's research interests include Constitutional Law and Constitutional Litigation, courses he also teaches. He has also taught Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, and Criminal Procedure. His public interest litigation presently focuses on public access to the political process.

Most Americans go to church expecting to hear about salvation, morality and scripture. They don't anticipate hardball political endorsements. But some churches thrive on delivering politics from the pulpit.

Sure, pastors are citizens, too. And so in other venues, such as op-eds, blogs, books, and other places of influence, a pastor may speak his mind. Even so, he must jealously guard that influence and always speak winsomely. As a gospel minister, he shouldn’t make politics more important than his pastoral duties.

The tax code prevents religious institutions from serving as political machines, a concept in keeping with the separation of church and state our founding fathers envisioned. Pastors cannot make declarations to favor or oppose any candidate from the pulpit. They cannot take money from the collection plate and give it to support a candidate. And if they want to participate in any partisan activity in their personal capacity, they must make sure it is done in a manner indicating it is separate from their religious institution.

The Rev. Dr. Timothy C. Ahrens began his ministry as Senior Minister of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in downtown Columbus on January 23, 2000. A church known for its witness to social justice since its birth as an abolitionist congregation in 1852, Rev. Ahrens is the fifth consecutive senior minister from Yale Divinity School and is a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ.

Rev. Ahrens is a 1980 graduate of Macalester College with a double major in Religious Studies and Political Science. Since January 2000, under his leadership, First Church has doubled in membership during an era when seven downtown churches have closed their doors. Rev. Ahrens earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in May 2015. His thesis was entitled: “Young and Growing Stronger: Creating a Model of 21st Century Prophetic Witness Leaders with a New Generation.” He is currently working on two books.

The judicial system moves at glacial speed, and it isn’t inclined to accept that it’s flawed. Its shortcomings are most glaring with criminal cases.

If a convicted person is able to come upon new evidence that wasn’t available during the trial, no matter how significant the evidence may be, the process of getting a new trial is slow and doubtful. There’s no guarantee a new trial will be granted.

The first step is for the trial court judge to just agree to a hearing on whether a new trial is warranted. And judges have the discretion to deny that hearing. Shouldn’t it be mandatory that a hearing on new evidence be granted?

Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly has been an advocate for improving the system. He questions why prosecutors oppose a mandatory hearing. “They should welcome legislation like this because if the claim doesn't have any merit, they can demonstrate that at the hearing. So it's not something that should be feared.”

Justice Donnelly also advocates a more transparent approach to plea agreements. Generally, these discussions are held with the attorneys and the judge in the judge’s chambers. No record is made, and the judge is not bound by anything agreed to by the attorneys. So, while the attorneys may think they reached an agreement on sentencing and that the judge is onboard with their agreement, the judge can award something completely different at the sentencing hearing.

Perhaps worse is the disparity that exists in sentencing. “With the same lawyers and the same facts, you can conduct a sentencing hearing and walk out with an outcome of probation,” Justice Donnelly explains. “You could take those same lawyers and walk 15 feet across the hall in front of another judge, do it again, and have an outcome of 30, 40, 50 years in prison. And that's just a fact.”

Two hours before Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce was to be the keynote speaker at the Columbus VA annual MLK lunch, an organizer told Mr. Boyce he could not mention DEI topics or anything deemed "politically charged" due to President Donald Trump's executive orders limiting DEI in the federal government. Unwilling to compromise his values, Kevin withdrew from the event.

“It was an insult to demand that I restrict my comments to not include equity and inclusion, I can’t separate diversity from the memory of Dr. King,”

Kevin Boyce believes that the opposite of poverty is justice. With funding provided by Franklin County Board of Commissioners and the City of Columbus, the Rise Together Innovation Institute is on a mission to harness the collective power of people and systems to disrupt structural racism and issues of poverty.

Kevin’s father was killed when he was just 7 years old. He credits his mother and grandmother for inspiring his success – and thanks teachers, coaches and his grandmother for convincing a judge to give him a stern warning, not time in juvenile detention, after a street fight landed him in court. He was 16. The brawl began with Kevin defending a bullied friend but ended with a charge of aggravated rioting. His unblemished record, accolades from teachers and coaches and a heart-felt letter from grandmother, resulted in a second chance.

Today, Kevin's oldest son attends Brown University on a scholarship. “When I think that I grew up in a house that didn’t always have electricity or running water, and now I have a son attending an Ivy League school, I hope I can use my abilities to help other kids get the opportunities they need to succeed,’’ he said.

Kevin became the first in his family to earn a college degree – a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo. It’s there he met political science professor Jack Ford, who would later serve as minority leader of the Ohio House of Representatives. Seeing Kevin’s affinity for public policy and passion to improve his community, Ford talked Kevin into coming to Columbus with him. He eventually rose to become Ford’s chief of staff.