New Underground Railroad sites recognized in Central Appalachia / pg. 4
US Headlines
Ax Ohio Tax pushes amendment to abolish property tax
Fatal avalanche, civil rights leader dead
FINN SMITH NEWS STAFF WRITER
FINN SMITH NEWS STAFF WRITER
The Committee to Abolish Property Taxes, or Ax Ohio Tax, is a grassroots organization campaigning for a state constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to remove the property tax in Ohio completely.
16 Mon_________________
17 Tue__________________ ‘Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson dead at 84
THEPOSTATHENS.COM
FEBRUARY 24, 2026
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 24
Happy Presidents Day!
Megan Moroney’s new album ‘Cloud 9’ ascends / pg. 8
Leonard Gilbert, a committee member and a resident of Mentor in Lake County, said the movement began about 10 years ago when he published an editorial on the topic in the News-Herald. Since then, Gilbert has been working with a colleague, Brian Massey, founder of the Committee to Abolish Ohio’s Property Taxes.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a strong leader of the Civil Rights Movement, died Tuesday at the age of 84. The two-time presidential candidate was a protege of Martin Luther King Jr., according to The Associated Press. Jackson was a strong supporter of voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care both in the U.S. and internationally. He was suffering from health challenges in his final years, enduring progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological disorder that affected his speech and mobility. The civil rights leader continued fighting for justice after the movement, even appearing at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024. He protested against racial injustice during the Black Lives Matter movement and backed a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the AP reported. Organizations request protection of voter data from the FBI Personal voter information was seized by the FBI from an elections warehouse outside Atlanta. A coalition of organizations, including the NAACP, filed a motion Sunday stating the government’s seizure of ballots and election documents breaches residents’ right to privacy, according to the AP. The filed motion requests the judge put reasonable limits on the usage of the information seized, prohibiting its use for voter roll maintenance, election administration or immigration enforcement. According to the AP, Fulton County has been continued, pg. 2
Sneakthief returns to Athens, debut LP in the works AARON DICK FOR THE POST Sneakthief, an Athens-bred and Columbus-based band, will perform at The Union, located at 18 W. Union St., Wednesday as part of the Locals Only showcase series. Doors open at 8 p.m., with music starting at 8:30 p.m. The entry fee is $5, and attendees must be 18 or older.
continued, pg. 8 Photos by Maddie Culbs Photography | Provided by Sneak Thief
Ohio’s upset over Notre Dame highlights Space U Classic CHARLIE FADEL SPORTS EDITOR Ohio (9-5 overall) saw its red-hot start cool in Orlando at the Space U Classic, hosted by the University of Central Florida, finishing 2-3 across five games. The Bobcats fell twice to Penn State but rebounded with a steady win over Charleston Southern and capped the weekend with a statement upset against Notre Dame, showcasing both their resilience and offensive potential despite the uneven stretch. Ohio finished 2-3, losing twice to the hosts and losing in six innings to Penn State, but a win over Charleston Southern and a huge upset against Notre Dame were highlights of the weekend.
THURSDAY The Bobcats started the weekend with just one game on Thursday night against the host team in UCF. Ohio’s ace pitcher Skipp Miller went the distance in this one, allowing just 4 runs in a game that saw the offense stifled, as the final score ended 4-1. Ohio went 1-2-3 to start the game, and UCF answered with an RBI double from Sierra Humphreys to get on the board first. Humphreys would hit in the Knights’ second run of the game in the third inning with another RBI double. continued, pg. 7
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Sneakthief plans to bring material from its debut record back to where it all began: Athens. The band formed in 2018 but welcomed new members over the years. Wednesday’s show marks a homecoming of sorts for the band, which got its start playing Athens venues before relocating to Columbus.
Ohio outfielder Belle Hummel (22) bats against Miami at the Ohio Softball Field in Athens, April 18, 2025. (ETHAN HERX | FOR THE POST)
For the Record | Epstein was a eugenicist of America’s making NYLA GILBERT ASST. ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR We should be angrier about the content within Jeffrey Epstein’s files. There should be more anger about applications in Immigration and Customs Enforcement camps, the foster care system and stigmatizing kids who age out of the system. We should be angrier about the wealthy stealing the autonomy of babies and children before they are even old enough to know what autonomy means. This country has a history of cruelty at the hands of the animalistic menagerie of the
top 1%; however, the elite don’t have the right to monopolize our freedoms. “Hitler credited America with helping formulate his ideas on eugenics, and he admitted he’d studied the laws of US states to familiarize himself with selective reproduction and other eugenics issues,” author James Morcan said in his book “Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories.” In the past three months, more than 3 million documents regarding Epstein were released by the Department of Justice, with
millions more being held due to their grotesque nature. However, there is a revelation, and an almost “uncanny valley” inhumane behavioral aspect of the files revealed by reading with a historical lens. Epstein discussed eugenics, genetic engineering, cloning and his own personal “baby farm” in detailed discussions akin to the tactics and guide of enslavers. In the article “Epstein’s sinister plot to seed the human race with his DNA,” the Telegraph details the recent “revelations” that Epstein had
plans to make the 7000-acre Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, a facility where he “ would ‘seed’ children with his own DNA.” On top of this, the Telegraph found Epstein had engaged in various email exchanges about the generic inferiority of African Americans. In one email exchange with German cognitive scientist Joscha Bach, Epstein implies wanting to genetically engineer African Americans to be “smarter.” continued, pg. 5