Today is Columbus day, are banks and schools closed?

yes at least in new york they are

they are open in cincy

The spoiled California State workers have the day off.

Well, the schools in Illinois are closed and there is no mail service. I'm guessing the banks are closed too.

Yeah, most. It's a holiday and day's rest. Although I don't really appreciate Columbus too much, at least we can just take advantage and rest for a little bit. most likely places that aren't privately owned are closed.

In America, yes, they are.

I went to both the bank and school today but we got no mail, Wisconsin I think that its interesting that different cities and states have different ways of celebrating national holidays;

Public schools - yes, they are closed. Probably many private schools are closed too. Many banks are open (they are private), but the Fed is closed as most of other federal government institutions.