Afi Scruggs
Freelance ReporterAfi Scruggs is an award-winning writer/journalist and author who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Her career started in 1983 as a freelancer in Richmond, Virginia. After that, she worked at newspapers in Washington, D.C., Jackson, Mississippi, and Dayton, Ohio, before settling in Cleveland.
Her articles and columns have appeared in the Washington Post, and on washingtonpost.com, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the U.S. edition of the Guardian, USA Today, and Essence magazine. Her audio segments have been broadcast on American Public Media's “Marketplace Money,” WBUR’s “Only A Game,” and on local northeast Ohio NPR affiliates.
She’s also written three books: “Jump Rope Magic,” published by Scholastic; a genealogical memoir, “Claiming Kin: Confronting the History of an African-American Family”; and an essay collection entitled “Beyond Stitch and Bitch: Reflections on Knitting and Life.”
Afi has a doctorate in Slavic linguistics from Brown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian from the University of Chicago. She’s also a prolific bass player.
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Northeast Ohio students start returning to school this week, just as the delta variant has turned the state into a COVID-19 hotspot. Whether students will be required to wear masks in the classroom depends on which district they attend. -
Ohio has become an increasingly "red" state as Republicans have scored significant wins over Democrats. It's up to Summit County Councilwoman Liz Walters, who recently took over as chairwoman of the Ohio Democratic Party, to lead the effort to change that. -
Although there were some hiccups with curbside voting this election season, voter advocates believe improvements can be made to make this service more accessible to Ohio voters. -
A "Celebration of Democracy" event was held at Cleveland's Public Square to recognize successful voter turnout. -
Some voters in parts of Cuyahoga County endure a two-hour wait in line to vote in person at their local polling sites Tuesday. -
Ohio law is clear when it comes to political messaging on clothing. -
An Akron man requested an absentee ballot. It never showed up. -
Early, in-person voting is underway in Ohio with many voters encountering long lines at boards of elections. The state is also seeing a record number of mail-in votes. -
Secretary of State Frank LaRose has said Ohio county boards of elections can only accept ballots at one drop box. The appeals court rules he could allow more. -
In Ohio, any registered voter can vote absentee, either by mail or in person at their county board of elections beginning Oct. 6. Given concerns about coronavirus, more folks are expected to opt for the mail this year. More than 1 million voters have already submitted a vote-by-mail application, though the deadline to ask for the mail-in ballots isn’t until Oct. 31.
