Andy Downing
@andydowning33
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editor/director @matternews_ , formerly columbus alive (rip). "I praised your thin outlet in my essay." bylines @ new york times, p4k, stereogum, rolling stone
Columbus, Ohio
Joined May 2010
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Pinned Tweet
likely the most heartbreaking thing I've reported on.
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at the point in the pandemic where literally every decision you make is wrong
Stop wasting COVID tests, writes
@BenMazer
. Amid a national shortage, those at lowest risk from the disease should be cutting back.
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a school official was quoted in the dispatch two days ago saying that osu has "an unwavering commitment to freedom of speech"
OSU police say administrators deemed this as an event and asking everyone to leave.
Students are asking why.
“We’re students, paying tuition”
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when the tweet accidentally gives a look behind the social media scenes
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BREAKING: A young heir to a banana empire held the lead in early returns from Sunday’s presidential runoff election in Ecuador.
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this proposed columbus business is off to a fantastic start. zero notes.
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who cares if working from home is easier, more productive and entirely manageable if you're not also stimulating the economy at all times
@ABetterNY
Offices are still too empty and too many workers are at home – that has an impact on our economy and ripples across the entire city.
I’m putting a stake in the ground: It’s time to get back to the office. 2/
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the vape pen is an exceedingly weird detail to work into a tweet-length summary of the police shooting
UPDATE: Body camera footage released by Columbus police Tuesday shows an officer fatally shooting a 20-year-old who was sitting in bed and may have had a vape pen next to him as officers tried to arrest him.
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police account for far and away the largest chunk of the city's budget and columbus still set a record for homicides in 2021 so perhaps funding isn't the issue
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literally everything is a covid symptom but it’s individuals taking caution in trying to navigate daily life that are creating the problem and not the massive systemic failure that led to the test shortage
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the right-wing center for christian virtue purchased this building from gannett in july but hasn't changed the signage, so to passersby it just looks like the city's paper of record has taken a no stance on issue 1.
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no sense sitting on it, I guess: my last day at alive will be may 20.
I've enjoyed the hell out of the last nine (!) years. I'm sure I'll have more to say on it over the next couple weeks, but for now I'll just say thanks to everyone for reading along.
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NEW: A commercial vehicle hauling 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil from the East Palestine train wreck crashed in Mahoning County - dumping 20,000 pounds of the load onto the now-closed road and berm, per State Highway Patrol, gov office says
(Pix is piping at derailment site)
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rarely feel as helpless as a parent as when I read about school shootings and realize that we're never going to take any meaningful steps to curb guns and it's just some twisted lottery in terms of when it's going to hit your town
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ohio twice voted in favor of fair legislative maps. republicans ignored it and passed gerrymandered maps with seemingly zero recourse. telling people to vote isn’t enough.
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abc6 with two of the worst use of quotes I’ve seen in ages and both landing in the same sentence.
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just a failing, unserious country. legislating drag shows, literature and trans health care while letting kids continually be massacred with no response
Police now confirming SEVEN dead in this Nashville school shooting.
They say the shooter was a woman & appeared to be in be in her teens — armed with least 2 assault rifles and a handgun. She entered through the side door & was found on the 2nd floor — shot & killed by police.
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not in this gerrymandered-ass state I don’t
My message to the American people: You have the power to elect leaders who will defend and protect your rights.
And as the president said, with your vote, you can act. You have the final word.
So this is not over.
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hey I have an idea let’s put it to a vote.
DeWine: Abortion amendment too liberal for Ohio, but lawmakers should look at current law
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love when a business (1487 brewery) cites "bidenomics" in its closure notice barely a month after the former coo was sentenced for stealing more than $200k from the company.
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just614 hits high and gay at columbus pride and uncovers a hidden banner
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the last couple months have been... something. but I'm stoked to say that I've landed at
@matternews_
, where I'm helping reshape and run editorial coverage focused on the columbus community and the musicians, artists and writers who live and work here
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I'm not sure how other news orgs are handling this, but I made the decision to reference it as "the great replacement conspiracy" in all of alive's coverage because labeling it a "theory" grants it a validity it doesn't deserve
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columbus police have always made efforts to wall themselves off from accountability and criticism, as most police departments have, but it's gotten worse in recent months, at least from what I've seen.
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*record scratch*
*freeze frame*
“yep, that’s me…”
CCV President Aaron Baer: “Our hearts are broken not because we just lost an election but because Ohio’s women and families will bear the brunt.”
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just incredible maturity on display from ohio republicans here
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the idea of this being "incomprehensible" coming from columbus of all places is certainly something.
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that’s enough of the crying video in the timeline I think
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This might not have happened without the exhaustive efforts of Goodson's mom, Tamala Payne
The Ohio sheriff's deputy who fatally shot Casey Goodson Jr. in the back five times was charged with murder. Jason Meade, who is white, shot Goodson, who was Black. The case is largely unexplained and involved no body camera or dash cam footage.
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here for news orgs passive aggressively writing “ohio state university” in tweets about the trademark
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hard not to walk away from this piece and the $50 million smart columbus blew through and not think it has been a complete failure — especially in light of how the grant was initially sold to the public.
Smart Columbus spent $50 million on transportation. What worked and what's next?
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gannett killing alive rather than investing in a pair of staffers to keep it running speaks to the total lack of corporate support we had over the last 2-plus years of attrition. honestly I’d be shocked if a single exec knew a thing about the pub aside from the $ cutting it saved
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the browns treatment of watson from ownership on down created even more space for this.
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the mlk mural that appears in the cpd black history month cruiser promo video also includes ty’re king, shot and killed by cpd in 2016 at age 13.
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the
@jasonisbell
show
@adiavictoria
was set to open here in columbus this weekend has been pushed back to jan. 27, but please still read about the fearless musician behind one of my favorite 2021 albums
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fascism isn’t subtle
The bill, which would prohibit books depicting sexual or gender identity, proposes up to 30 days imprisonment for librarians who refuse to remove banned titles.
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I know I’m not exactly partial but holy hell is the alive-sized hole in columbus arts and music coverage beyond massive
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big news with the staff at the wexner center for the arts announcing its intent to unionize
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“I am interested in the pursuit of projects that … will allow me to see the world through the eyes of my younger self, where I was more susceptible to being swept away by wonder and whimsy.”
always a pleasure to chat w/
@NifMuhammad
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"I’m just singing over and over and over, and thinking that’s almost it, that’s almost it. ... You know that moment is going to happen. Like, sometime soon, it’s going to hit you."
hope you enjoy reading
@JasonIsbell
with
@maggiesmithpoet
as much as I did
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v. cool to see this at the same time artists are canceling tours because the road has become financially unsustainable.
BREAKING: Ticketmaster-Live Nation reports record quarterly earnings of $6.2 billion, fueled by an all-time high in combined ticket and fee charges. Ticketmaster fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket.
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“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to live now as the kind of person I am, who has all of these feelings and curiosities at a time when everything feels tremulous."
Always a pleasure to catch up with
@theferocity
.
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unwavering you say
OSU students arrested, charged with criminal trespass during campus protest over Gaza war
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"In my teens and 20s, I grew up feeling like I knew everything, and to know everything was to get to a sort of freedom or salvation. But it is getting older that brings me happily to a place of realizing I don’t really know anything." -
@NifMuhammad
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not sure why yet but feels like this photo is worth keeping in the drafts
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the letter writer:
Letters: Dave Yost 'not double dipping. He works for his pay.'
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“Sinzae Reed had a support system. Sinzae Reed had a community. He was a loved human being.”
A scene from the community press conference centered on Sinzae Reed, 13, who was shot and killed by Krieg Butler outside of the Wedgewood apartment complex in October.
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there are still multiple Ms in this tweet
I’m definitely up for a wager,
@GovWhitmer
. We welco❌e
@UMichFootball
to Colu❌bus, but I’ll bet you 🍕 fro❌
@AdriaticosCbus
, root beer fro❌ ❌ansfield’s own Stewart’s, and crea❌ puffs fro❌
@SchmidtsCbus
that
@OhioStateFB
will send your tea❌ home with a defeat. 🏈🏈
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“Drag queens have been around for centuries, and we’re not going anywhere,” Corey Williams said. “If their goal is to get rid of these events, to get rid of us, to make us cave and hide, it’s not going to work. We will never, ever go back in the closet.”
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so little trust in police to prevent violence that they're trying to place a curfew on the city's primary entertainment district.
JUST IN:
@MayorGinther
is asking businesses in the
@shortnorth
to close at 12 AM on weekends, starting this weekend.
Food trucks to close at midnight by executive order.
@ColumbusPolice
are also adding officers to the area & enforcing parking restrictions/youth curfew.
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the urban meyer era at osu needs to be more fully autopsied
My first team meeting. (True story 2017) This photo was presented to us via PowerPoint to institute our building wide rule of “no hoods” in the building
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the way I held my breath reading the first half of this tweet
Iggy Pop, frontman of groundbreaking rock outfit the Stooges and long considered a forefather of punk, has been named a recipient of the 2022 Polar Music Prize
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at the same time matt dolan, whose family owns the guardians, has put more than $10 million into his ohio senate campaign, or nearly a third of the team's total payroll for this season
Embarrassed for your fan base…be better. If you can’t, sell ur team to somebody that wants to show the fan base and baseball they’re at least trying to compete. Sorry unacceptable
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one year removed from this interview exchange with the mayor of canal winchester
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the concert scene here is already hurting and this isn't going to help matters any.
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another option would have been to not do this
Introducing ‘History 1’ – our newest cruiser to celebrate the achievements of African Americans & recognize their roles in our history. Be on the lookout for ‘History 1’ in your neighborhood & at community events during February.
#BlackHistoryMonth
#ColumbusPolice
#ColumbusOhio
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is there a law in columbus broken more regularly than the 45 mph speed limit on i70 coming into downtown
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there should be a special place in hell for job posts that ask you to attach a resume and then make you manually enter your full work history via the application site
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three best in ohio awards (on top of a dozen other wins) for our tiny pub is pretty unreal. not a bad way to send it off into the sunset.
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this is a far more damning, dangerous, ill-formed proposition than the black history month police cruiser
Could 'Jump Out Boys' be returning to Columbus? Police proposing new specialized gang unit
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Coming Tuesday from Matter News and Columbus Monthly:
The Long Shadow of Vice
Four years since the disbandment of a corrupt police unit, Columbus continues to feel the aftershocks of the scandal. This is the story of how the squad went astray, plus a look at what replaced it.
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hey
@kentstate
this is gross as hell. maybe don't try to use incredibly sensitive features to try and "increase brand awareness" around your university
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flipping the cpd “number of days without a breach of public trust” sign back to zero
Columbus police officer who had sex with woman on duty destroyed body cam footage, feds say
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“In modern America, we are conditioned to think that inconveniences to automobile drivers are a threat to economic growth. The data has other ideas.”
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one of the reddit comments in the multiple posts on this was something like “I can’t believe those Charlottesville nazis came to our town” as if we don’t home grow these types
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“Since I’m living here, I need to really commit to a new version of learning and loving this city that isn’t rooted in this cheerleading approach … I think choosing a place back requires some accountability of that place.”
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wrote about ceiling tiles from the dube turning up at a grandview consignment shop and ended up talking to the new owner, who hopes to reopen the restaurant as the blue danube in the next three months, pending permit approval.
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What’s a still from a movie or TV show that will completely devastate anyone who has seen it, but seem completely unremarkable to anyone who hasn’t?
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I understand there are character counts for web headlines but I’d have made every effort to make this read Casey Goodson rather than Black man.
Mistrial: Jason Meade jury can't reach verdict in murder trial involving death of Black man
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signing off at alive with a look back at the last nine (!) years
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absolutely wild who gets to claim patriotism and under what circumstances
'Patriot Shutdown': Protesters threaten to block highways to protest COVID vaccine mandates
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“no attractions”
Columbus, Ohio has no landmarks, attractions, native accent, or defining characteristics. it's a collection of 25 or so suburbs and small towns. theoretically, it could devour the entire country
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one of my favorite-ever alive emails also stands alone as a poem
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the way I flinched scrolling past this
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understaffing the public records unit is a choice, since cpd has, uh, quite the healthy budget. ignoring interview requests from the dispatch (in which questions were even provided in advance!) is also a choice.
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your periodic reminder that cpd has never offered a public correction to this tweet
This bus was stopped yesterday at Broad St. & 3rd due for obstruction of traffic. There was a suspicion of supplying riot equipment to rioters.
Detectives followed up w/a vehicle search today & found: bats, rocks, meat cleavers, axes, clubs & other projectiles.
Charges pending.
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I’m all for more and alternative medias but selling the idea that alive (among other pubs) is somehow less local because we’re under gannett is wild. the two of us on staff live and work here, and crush ourselves daily to cover as much as we can.
Some of our city's biggest publications like the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus CEO, Columbus Monthly, and Columbus Alive are all owned by the largest media conglomerate in the country. Gannett, which is based outside of Ohio, now owns most of Ohio's newspapers.
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there's a community press conference this sunday at wedgewood apartments hosted by a group seeking justice for sinzae reed, the 13-year-old shot and killed by krieg butler, 36, in october. butler was initially charged with murder but claimed self-defense and was released.
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