“Data centers should be lowering our bills, not raising them” is one of the latest headlines from Heads Up, Ohio! — a newsletter that aggregates news stories from around the state, with a focus on intersectional politics, as well as job and grant opportunities. Heads Up, Ohio! was started by villagers Kumar Jensen, pictured above, and Savannah Brantley. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Villagers launch newsletter, featuring intersectional and statewide stories
- Published: August 27, 2026
In the era of information overload, it can be easy to lose the interconnectedness of issues faced by seemingly disparate communities. That’s why locals Kumar Jensen and Savannah Brantley have created Heads Up, Ohio!, a weekly newsletter that offers a synthesis of news stories from around Ohio.
The News recently spoke with Jensen and Brantley, who said the idea for Heads Up, Ohio! came from a desire to get information all in one place.
“When I lived in Chicago, the local NPR Station, WBEZ, did a daily news summary called The Rundown and I relied on that pretty heavily,” Jensen said. “It’s like five articles from the day’s news, some national, but mostly Chicago-focused with some other tidbits.”
Like The Rundown, Heads Up, Ohio! gives an overview of stories from the week, along with employment and grant opportunities. As for content, Jensen said they wanted to curate something that would be helpful for people interested in intersectional politics.
“I’m in a lot of spaces in Ohio where they explicitly talk about race, equity, immigration, reproductive justice and environmental justice,” Jensen said. “I felt like there was a lack of overlap in those conversations in a public way.”
Jensen, who owns a consulting business called the Baseline Institute, said the newsletter is a natural product of work they had already been doing. According to the Baseline Institute website, Jensen works with organizations that are interested in “furthering community power building through the support and development of accountability systems.”
“Since 2022 my work has been focused in Ohio, so I began connecting with organizations and leaders who were doing the work here,” Jensen said. “That snowballed into figuring out how I could help facilitate those conversations through the Baseline Institute.”
While conceptualizing the newsletter, Jensen said they asked Brantley to come on board to assist with writing and editing. Brantley, who recently graduated from Ohio Wesleyan with a degree in creative writing, said this is her first foray into political writing.
“It’s been good for me,” Brantley said. “I never thought about myself as a political person, but I’ve had a lot of experience with systems growing up and during both high school and college.”
Each week, Jensen and Brantley set to work synthesizing news stories from around Ohio into short summaries to keep readers apprised of developing and new stories. For example, the July 13 issue features stories about harm reduction vending machines, the affordability crisis and an electric company’s request to reduce safety standards in Ohio.
“There’s probably always going to be a utility or energy piece in there,” Jensen said. “I’ve also spent a fair amount of time supporting reproductive justice work, so that’s also featured pretty consistently.”
Since taking on the role of curating stories in addition to editing the newsletter, Brantley said her pieces focus on news she wants to be able to research more deeply.
“I got really interested in women and other marginalized communities and doing this work helps to understand those movements in Ohio,” Brantley said.
Both Brantley and Jensen said Heads Up, Ohio! has given them an opportunity to share news without any oversight that may dissuade them from editorializing about topics they are passionate about.
“We aren’t trying to be a traditional newspaper,” Jensen said. “I don’t have the same constraints and influences on my speech.”
Also tucked into each newsletter are grant funding opportunities and employment opportunities based in Ohio. The opportunities are rooted in the types of stories often found in Heads Up, Ohio!, such as a service coordinator for the Ohio Women’s Alliance or a sustainability project manager for the City of Akron.
“For me, including employment opportunities and funding is the practical side of it,” Jensen said. “I don’t want to just have the newsletter be sort of punditry, criticism and analysis.”
Another feature of the newsletter is sharing opportunities for people to meet in-person to discuss issues and their intersectionality.
“Everybody’s trying to stay in their lane, but that’s not really working for us right now,” Jensen said.
To that end, Heads Up, Ohio! recently co-hosted a meet-up to talk about some of the issues Jensen and Brantley write about.
“The goal for the newsletter is to start conversations,” Jensen said. “Let’s discuss things in real life.”
But the biggest benefit of the newsletter and the ensuing conversations is the feeling of connection that comes out of them, Brantley said.
“Having these intersectional conversations brings people hope.”
To read Heads Up, Ohio!, go to http://www.headsupohio.beehiiv.com
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