Tag Archives: Ohio

This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, March 18th, 2024. Later in the program, local journalist Dave Askins of the B Square Bulletin reports on the city’s planned pilot program for use of tasers by Bloomington police officers. More in today’s feature report. That’s Deb Pekin from the USA International Harp Competition. She’s looking for host families willing to …

Earlier this week, Keith LaMar went on hunger strike at the Ohio State Penitentiary.  He has faced escalating harassment from administrators and guards as his execution this fall looms and as solidarity momentum builds on the outside.  This harassment extends to new arbitrary rules preventing him from wearing spiritually-significant jewelry and systematic interruptions during visits.  Keith is on death row …

This week, we feature interviews on Life After Lockup from the Kunta Kenyatta Files.  Kunta Kenyatta uses YouTube to speak to a range of people in Cleveland, Ohio, often featuring videos shot from the 107 Club, a half-way house and neighborhood hub.  He speaks with neighbors, former prisoners, and others, amplifying important voices and preserving memory of key struggles like the …

Keith LaMar, also known as Bomani Shakur, is a prisoner on Ohio’s Death Row.  He is facing execution in autumn 2023 after being framed in prison due to his advocacy for other prisoners and his refusal to snitch on others in the aftermath of the 1993 Lucasville Uprising.  He has consistently expressed solidarity with other Lucasville prisoners and has engaged …

This week we return to our conversation between Baye Sylvester and Focus Initiatives’ Jok Huerta. Both formerly incarcerated in Indiana, they described the circumstances that brought them to prison in a previous episode. In this segment, they talk about the way the prison system strips people of their humanity- and the struggle to retain one’s sense of self. You can …

Purdue University engineers have created white paint that can keep surfaces up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than their surroundings but without consuming energy. According to the researchers, the paint would reduce the need for air conditioning by absorbing nearly no solar energy. The critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale has been spared, at least for now, from exposure to …

The country might be locked down, but struggles inside prisons and out continue to develop chaotically and unexpectedly intersect with the COVID-19 crisis.  Prisoners in Stateville in Illinois report that they continue to suffer from a full lockdown, restricting their programming and access to phones.  Yet, guards are patting them down without washing their hands between each person, making transmission …

Across the country, politicians and businessmen are calling for the economy to reopen, regardless of the consequences.  At the exact same time, the corona virus is spreading nearly uncontrolled inside America’s prisons and jails, with concentrations of infections spiking from Rikers Island in NY to the Marion Correctional Facility in Ohio, where 73% of prisoners have tested positive.  As we …

In this episode, we read a statement by Keith Lamar, also known as Bomani Shakur, who just had his execution date set.  In his statement, Keith wrangles with the violent death the state of Ohio is seeking to inflict on him, but also with the vast challenges and ruptures that we as a whole face in the 21st century. While …

This week’s episode covers the situation in the Midwest. We hear from Ben and Aaron, who work on supporting prisoners in Ohio and Indiana, respectively. Ben informs about Ohio prisoners who are still facing repercussions from the 1993 Lucasville uprising. We’ve introduced Lucasville in previous episodes of Kite Line, including an early episode focusing on the case of Bomani Shakur …