The first wave of chorus frogs has emerged and are singing for mates in our vernal pools. A wonderful place to hear them is along the Wabash-Cannonball Trail. (Courtesy Photo/Art Weber)
TOLEDO – Everywhere there are signs that Mother Nature is awakening from winter’s slumber. The timing is about right; On Thursday, March 20, the astronomical first day of spring is on the vernal equinox.
Most of the early signs are subtle – buds swelling, skunk cabbage emerging, eagles nesting. More obvious is the growing song along Metroparks Toledo’s Wabash-Cannonball Trail, where vernal pools are welcoming chorus frogs and spring peepers settle in and serenade the opposite sex with their song.
We’re just in the opening act of their performance. The two species are small and blend in well with their environment. They may be difficult to see, but their loud songs are distinctive and easy to identify.
Chorus frogs have a loud quavering call, usually described as a fingernail running down a comb, only its tone and delivery can carry a kilometer away and it is heard day and night. In some Metroparks Toledo locations, approaching the pools can be deafening.
Spring peepers use a single high peep, described as sweet and melodious.
Both species will be performing for several weeks.
In future weeks, there will be others – 10 frog and toad species – each with its distinctive song. And then there will be our songbirds.
There’s so much to look forward to on Metroparks Toledo trails.
On The Flyby Sports Podcast, co-hosts and school rivals Chas McNeil and Max Alfonso dissect all of the matchups and schedules for the 2025 MAC Tournament on both the men’s and women’s sides.
For this episode, McNeil shares the news that Bowling Green has hired Ohio State and Tennessee Titan legend Eddie George to be their 21st head coach in program history, replacing Scot Loeffler, who left to pursue the quarterbacks coach job for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Main topic is MAC Tournament play and predictions, but they also recap the past two weeks of action for winter sports, including a playoff run by BGSU hockey and the start of MAC play for the baseball teams; and select their athletes of the week.
New episodes of the The Flyby Sports Podcast drop every Saturday.
New BGSU head football coach Eddie George, center, answers questions from the media while university president Rodney K. Rogers, left, and athletic director Derek van der Merwe listen listen. (TFP Photo/Scott W. Grau)
BOWLING GREEN – A run-of-the-mill introductory press conference hosted a small crew of local journalists, all eager to ask questions about the future to the new coach. But the introduction of 1995 Heisman winner and new Bowling Green head coach Eddie George on March 10 was anything but run-of-the-mill.
In fact, it mirrored a red-carpet event with a heavy focus on George’s well-known accomplishments over his long and successful career.
George was joined by hundreds of adoring Bowling Green and Ohio State fans lined with pictures, jerseys and footballs, hoping they would be lucky enough to get as much as an initial signed on their memorabilia.
BGSU head football coach Eddie George speaks during a press conference on March 10. (TFP Photo/Scott W. Grau)
“I saw the news on Saturday morning and my jaw hit the floor,” exclaimed Falcon fan Steve Leid. “Then yesterday at work, a friend of mine got a notification on his phone saying that it was a done deal, and wow, there has just been a buzz in the air ever since.”
Leid was clutching four images on printer paper; two were of the initial announcement released by BGSU and one was of a diving George hurdling a defender during his Ohio State days from 1992-1995. The final image was the most telling of the hire. It was a simple picture of George standing on the sidelines during his coaching time at Tennessee State University, which was the last place he coached, which was from 2021-2024.
Yes, the celebrity of the hire brings a lot of publicity to BGSU, as well as many recruits who will inevitably be excited to play for the all-time rushing leader for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
What George did at Tennessee State was exactly what got him hired. Through his four years at TSU, he was able to accumulate back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2016-2017, in addition to making the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2013.
“Urban Meyer and Dave Clawson both made the exact same remark to me, and I put this in my coaching profile: Someone who is always building on what we have and is not focused on what we don’t have,” BGSU’s athletic director Derek van der Merwe said.
New BGSU head football coach Eddie George, left, and athletic director Derek van der Merwe pose with a jersey.(TFP Photo/Scott W. Grau)
That was the key to this slam dunk hire by the Orange and Brown – someone who can succeed no matter the circumstances, a characteristic that George displayed time and time again in his playing and coaching career.
George’s first collegiate touchdown was scored in Columbus, Ohio against none other than the Falcons. With a mighty career sparked by that milestone at BGSU, it seemed almost fated that the legend would become a Falcon.
“It’s been so long…it was my freshman year and that was actually the touchdown that started ‘Touchdown Eddie.’ Flying in here to Ohio and coming back to this region, to this part of the country…it brought back just a rush of memories. The sunsets are different here and the community is so strong,” George said.
Despite saying he would embrace the state of Ohio, there was one crucial location in the state that the coach alluded to which would be a priority in the most hated way.
“I don’t embrace it,” he said about the Toledo rivalry. “There’s only one thing that we are going to do. Put that ball in the dirt and let them feel the iron fist,” George proclaimed.
The first true test for the Buckeye and Titans legend will be on Aug. 28 when the Falcons will play their first game of the 2025 season against Lafayette at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Bowling Green.
To get a true taste of the rivalry, it will be a bit longer: The home game is scheduled for Oct. 11, the first time that George will battle his new “team up north.”
“What I do know is that we are going to play fast, we’ll be physical, we’ll be disciplined and we will let the scoreboard take care of itself,” George told the media, fans and BGSU. “That’s the goal; we will be physical.”
New BGSU head football coach Eddie George, center, answers questions from the media while university president Rodney K. Rogers, left, and athletic director Derek van der Merwe listen listen. (TFP Photo/Scott W. Grau)
Neezy’s Freezes opened in October. It used to be Sundaze. (TFP Photos/Mary Helen DeLisle)
BOWLING GREEN– If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Though perhaps cliché, this expression is proving true for Neezy’s Freezes, a new ice cream store in Bowling Green.
Neezy’s Freezes, formerly the ice cream shop Sundaze, opened in the fall, adding a new chapter to the ice cream venue’s history.
While to some it may seem strange to establish a new ice cream place in the same venue as one that previously failed, Neezy’s Freezes owner Deniz Ilgin is working to ensure Neezy’s is successful.
Deniz Ilgin (TFP Photo/Mary Helen DeLisle)
Ilgin had the patio area renovated, the parking lot repaved, added to the kitchen and repainted and decorated the interior of the store. But renovations aren’t the only way Ilgin is setting Neezy’s Freezes apart from Sundaze.
Ilgin has co-ownership with her parents, who also ownReynolds Garden Cafe in Toledo. Ilgin believes their experience and guidance will help set her business apart.
“They have so much passion for what they do. That comes across in the food, which I think draws people in,” said Ilgin.
While the venue uses the ice cream machines previously used by Sundaze, Neezy’s Freezes offers more than just ice cream, serving coffee drinks, hot dogs, burgers, barbequed beef, french fries, cookies, cakes and more.
Despite all of Ilgin’s hard work, starting a small business is not without its challenges.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, 18 percent of small businesses close within their first year, 50 percent close after five years, and approximately 65 percent close by their 10th year in business.
While this could be seen as a bleak statistic, Ryan Holley, assistant professor in the College of Business at Bowling Green State University and small business owner, said small business closure or failure is not always because a business couldn’t establish itself; sometimes it’s because the owner is more interested in maximizing profit than in establishing a community staple.
“The small business owner might have a mom-and-pop restaurant, and that’s their entire character, what defines them as a person. Their identity is in this restaurant, where the entrepreneur is just OK. It’s an asset. Let’s sell it,” Holley said.
Ilgin falls into the former category, meaning her desire for the business’s longevity could improve her chances of success.
“I had always worked in my parents’ restaurant, and I really liked that. I liked being able to talk to people and have interpersonal interactions every day instead of being at a desk. And I really like the community that you can build when you own your own business,” Ilgin said.
Holley also highlighted why small businesses may have a tougher time succeeding than large corporations.
“When you take on ownership of a small business, you are responsible for everything. You are the marketing department, the human resources, the operations, the finance. Larger businesses have an ability to attract specialized talent,” Holley said.
“Whereas a small business, you don’t have that, and you might not have access to the same education or depth of knowledge,” he noted.
Neezy’s Freezes is located at 21018 Haskins Rd. More information about the restaurant can be found on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
ICE’s rhetoric labels every immigrant a criminal, but sheriffs already have the authority to arrest people who commit crimes; they do this every day. And while the vast majority of the people who commit crimes are U.S. citizens, of course law enforcement arrests people born in other countries. What the jail board voted to do instead is to start incarcerating people who are not accused of crimes.
ICE detention is technically “civil” confinement, but it takes place in a criminal jail. You read that right. ICE is one of the few agencies that has the authority to put people in criminal jails while they are navigating a civil legal process. They have the authority but they don’t need to use it. It’s a choice made through political considerations rather than what’s good for our communities.
Incarcerating someone is a serious decision. It’s separation from their family, job and home. If it seems inhumane to put people navigating a civil process in a criminal jail, that’s because it is.
During the first Trump administration, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance worked with Ohio families dealing with a loved one’s detention and deportation. Maryam Sy interviewed 255 individuals and we wrote a book about their experiences with Suma Setty at the Center for Law and Social Policy.
We talked to fathers whose children became depressed, and even suicidal, after their parents were detained. We talked to mothers trying to hold down jobs and care for young children while they worried about the future of their families. We talked to families in foreclosure. We saw loving relationships fracture due to the stress of detention and deportation. We talked to men who were deported in straight jackets, unable to make themselves board a plane to a country that had tortured them.
These Ohioans had been in the U.S. for 10 and 20 years or more. Some fled genocide. Some had been able to buy homes, open businesses and even employ Americans. These are the people CCNO is agreeing to detain and help deport. As Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarresaid, when announcing his opposition to the ICE contract, “Nobody has a viable solution to what will happen to these children. Until they figure it out, I will not support mass deportations.”
Another thing to know is that people can simultaneously be eligible for deportation and eligible for a green card. For example, many of the people we work with are married to U.S. citizens. They applied for green cards and are waiting for the process to conclude — that can take decades because of how our laws were designed. The government has a choice about whether to allow them to continue to pursue that status, or put them in line for deportation. During the first Trump administration, and now in the second, the government chose the path of breaking up families.
Finally, the CCNO board should have been told that immigration detention is indefinite. There’s no time-limited “sentence” like in a criminal case. Executive director Dennis Sullivantold board members that the average length of stay would be 40-45 days. But that is based on Biden-era figures, which included people who were deported quickly at the border.
That’s not how the Trump administration operates. They are arresting people who can’t immediately be deported, like people who have appeals pending. According to the American Immigration Council, people with cases in immigration court are often held for six months or longer.
During the first Trump administration, we worked with individuals who were detained for 12 months or more — some up to four years — in Ohio county jails. These jails are not set up for long-term incarceration. But, they are required to provide medical care. The Butler and Morrow County jails tried to scrimp on medical costs and were sued. Judge Sarah D. Morrison, a Trump-appointee, blasted the Morrow Jail for creating an “unconstitutionally acceptable environment,” in a case brought by the ACLU of Ohio.
Earlier this year, the ACLU of Ohio and other organizations sent a letter to counties outlining their legal obligations under ICE contracts. It doesn’t appear that anyone, other than Sheriff Navarre and Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken, read it. A 2020 lawsuit against Butler County Jail, which is based on civil rights violations by corrections officers, remains pending.
The CCNO board will soon find itself at the center of family separations. It’s not too late to choose a different path, one that focuses on local needs, instead of engaging in a federal political battle that will harm our community members.
Everyone in Ohio — whether we were born here or somewhere else — wants the same thing. To live in a safe place and take care of our families. Said an Ohio father who was deported after months in an Ohio county jail, “I’m a human, like everybody else. Nobody [is] better than nobody, man.”
On this episode of Behind the Byline, host Jaden Jefferson has a conversation with Jim Ickes. Ickes is an attorney with Zuber Lawler, a national cannabis law firm.
Ickes is the Cannabis News columnist for the Toledo Free Press. He’s also the podcast host for Going Global for Global Cannabis Times, and is on the board of directors for the Cannabis Beverage Association.
Talking points include:
why Ickes termed the cannabis industry MAGAjuana
the explanation of the 2018 Farm Bill, Ohio SB 56 and Ohio HB 160
the high cost of doing business in the cannabis industry
the rise of beverages that contain hemp
de-stigmatizing cannabis usage
New episodes of the Behind the Byline drop every Wednesday.
Hemp and alcoholic beverages: Cycling Frog has 5mg THC and 10mg CBD; High Level is a Toledo distillery and contains no hemp; Botanical Brewing Company’s Delta 9 is 10 mg hemp-derived legal 3%, brewed in Florida.(TFP Photo/Lori King)
In 2018, the Agriculture Improvement Act, commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, was enacted, removing low-dose cannabis plants from the Controlled Substances Act by defining hemp as cannabis with no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.
This bipartisan legislation established a clear legal framework for hemp-derived products, enabling the emergence of a new consumer category—low-dose hemp-derived THC beverages.
I’ve coined the term “MAGAjuana” to describe this phenomenon, reflecting the bipartisan coalition that supported hemp legalization—leading to a thriving national market for low-dose, responsibly regulated THC beverages.
The Rise of Low-Dose THC Beverages
Since the passage of the farm bill, states have taken different approaches to regulating hemp-derived THC products. Some, like Minnesota, have embraced a structured regulatory framework that allows the sale of low-dose THC beverages (up to 5 mg per serving) in general retail settings, including bars and restaurants.
Cycling Frog Wild Cherry has 5mg THC and 10mg CBD and is an adult use consumable hemp product. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
Minnesota 2022 Law: Minnesota set the standard for integrating hemp-derived THC into mainstream retail while ensuring product safety, testing and responsible consumption. Just two years in, the market has already generated over $200 million in sales, showing the economic potential of a well-regulated system.
Missouri SB 54 – Pending: Missouri lawmakers have proposed a bill to allow up to 5 mg THC per serving in retail stores, while keeping higher-dose products in dispensaries. If passed, Missouri would adopt a hybrid approach, recognizing the public demand for THC beverages while maintaining a regulated marketplace.
Low-dose THC beverages are gaining popularity as an alternative to alcohol, creating economic opportunities for bars, restaurants and retailers while providing consumers with new social and wellness choices.
Kentucky SB 202: This state bill is a more balanced regulatory approach. While Ohio’s HB 160 seeks to heavily restrict low-dose hemp-derived THC beverages, Kentucky is moving in a different direction. The Kentucky Senate recently passed SB 202, a bill that creates a regulated market for cannabis-infused beverages with clear licensing requirements.
Key provisions of Kentucky’s SB 202 includes:
Legalizes cannabis-infused beverages with up to 5 mg THC per serving
Implements a three-tier distribution system, similar to alcohol regulation, requiring licensed manufacturers, distributors, and retailers
Restricts sales to package liquor stores in wet territories only, banning sales in bars, restaurants and grocery stores
Requires licensing and regulation by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
Mandates a study by the University of Kentucky Cannabis Center on the safety, distribution, and effects of cannabis beverages
Includes an emergency clause, making it law upon the Governor’s signature.
Ohio HB 160 is Ohio’s move to shut down low-dose THC beverages. While Kentucky is creating a structured regulatory framework for cannabis beverages, Ohio is moving toward prohibition. HB 160, recently introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives, proposes severe restrictions on hemp-derived THC products, effectively eliminating the state’s emerging low-dose cannabis beverage market.
What HB 160 Would Do:
Caps THC content at 0.5 mg per serving and 2 mg per package, making current low-dose THC beverages illegal overnight
Repeals Ohio’s existing hemp laws (Chapter 3780) and consolidates regulation under Chapter 3796, treating hemp-derived products the same as marijuana
Restricts THC beverage sales to licensed dispensaries only, removing them from bars, restaurants, and general retail stores
Introduces new taxes on adult-use cannabis, signaling a broader move toward state-controlled cannabis sales while eliminating hemp-derived competitors.
If passed, HB 160 would end Ohio’s low-dose THC beverage market before it fully develops, cutting off small businesses, farmers and retailers from participating in one of the fastest-growing consumer industries in the country.
HB 160 would shut Ohio out of a global market shift
Beyond local economic impact, restricting low-dose THC beverages will have ripple effects on Ohio’s alcohol industry, bars and restaurants.
Botanical Brewing Company’s Delta 9 is 10 mg hemp-derived legal 3% and brewed in Florida.(TFP Photo/Lori King)
American alcohol brands are being removed from Canadian stores due to the growing U.S.-Canada trade war, making domestic growth strategies more critical. Cannabis beverages are an emerging revenue stream that alcohol companies and hospitality businesses need to offset lagging beer and liquor sales.
Restricting these products in Ohio closes doors for bars, restaurants and alcohol companies seeking to compete in a rapidly evolving market.
Ohio needs a balanced approach. The 2018 Farm Bill created a clear legal framework for hemp-derived products, and many states are taking measured steps to ensure product safety while supporting economic growth. HB 160 does not enhance consumer protections—it restricts retail access to low-dose THC beverages while favoring dispensary-only sales, even though Ohio’s state-licensed cannabis businesses already have the ability to produce and sell these products using cannabinoids derived from cannabis plants within the regulated supply chain.
Instead of imposing unnecessary restrictions, Ohio should consider a balanced approach that:
Ensures consumer safety through testing and labeling
Maintains retail access to responsibly regulated low-dose THC beverages
Supports both dispensaries and general retail in providing consumer choices
The future of MAGAjuana in Ohio
Ohio is at a crossroads. It can embrace the growing market for low-dose THC beverages, supporting small businesses, economic development, and consumer choice—or it can pass HB 160 and shut down an industry that is flourishing in other states.
The 2018 Farm Bill set the stage for regulated hemp-derived products, and Ohio’s response will determine whether it moves forward with the national market—or gets left behind.
By contrast, Kentucky’s SB 202 provides a model for regulated cannabis beverage sales, striking a balance between market opportunity and oversight. If Ohio continues down the path of HB 160, it risks ceding market leadership to its neighbors and shutting out local businesses from a billion-dollar industry.
