Flu surge in Ohio, downtown protests, and community support in Columbus

Good morning, this is Columbus Local Pulse for Thursday, January 8, 2026. We wake up today watching our health and our weather. State health officials tell us flu is hitting Ohio harder than usual this winter, driven by a strain some are calling a superflu. Hospitals across the state are seeing close to two thousand flu related hospitalizations so far this season. Doctors remind us it is not too late to get a flu shot, and that it can still help keep us out of the hospital, especially for our kids and older neighbors. As we head out, we are looking at a cloudy, chilly January day across Columbus, with temperatures hovering in the 30s and a damp feel that could bring light drizzle later. We keep the coats, hats, and an umbrella handy. Roads around I 70, I 71, and the Innerbelt should stay wet but not icy. Through the rest of the week, we stay seasonably cold with on and off clouds and a chance of light snow showers this weekend. From City Hall, we are still feeling last night’s energy downtown, where protesters marched from the Ohio Statehouse to City Hall along Broad Street, calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave central Ohio. According to ABC 6, more than one hundred people took part, holding a candlelight vigil and promising more demonstrations in the days ahead. Columbus police kept things peaceful with their dialogue team present. On the economy, we hear mixed but mostly steady news. A central Ohio economist, speaking at the Columbus Metropolitan Club, predicts our region will add roughly eight thousand jobs this year, slower than last year but still growing. He expects Columbus to keep outpacing the national average, even as higher interest rates and tariffs make things harder. For our own job market, that means opportunities, especially in health care, logistics, and tech around the Polaris corridor, Easton, and the Intel corridor to our east, but maybe fewer big hiring bursts. Real estate agents around neighborhoods like Clintonville, Weinland Park, and Grove City report listings still moving, but at a calmer pace. Mortgage rates remain higher than we were used to a few years ago, so buyers are looking a bit longer and negotiating more, and sellers are trimming prices by a few thousand dollars to get attention. We keep an eye on schools and sports. Area high school basketball teams are deep into league play, with several Columbus City League and OCC teams picking up big wins last night on courts from Marion Franklin to Upper Arlington. On the crime front, Columbus police report no major overnight incidents downtown, but they continue to investigate recent violence in neighborhoods just east of High Street. Detectives are asking anyone with information on recent shootings near Weinland Park to come forward. We talk about this carefully, knowing families are directly affected and communities are still healing. Looking ahead, we have some brighter community notes. Local venues along the Short North This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.