The Columbus Coalition of Reason (Columbus CoR) is hosting their fourth annual “Flying Spaghetti Monster Benefit Dinner,” featuring -what else - a delicious spaghetti dinner with vegetarian, gluten-free and take-out options. The event will take place Thursday, November 5 from 6 until 8:30 pm (serving food until 8:00) at the First UU Church, 93 West Weisheimer Road in Clintonville.
Admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children aged fourteen and under, with proceeds going to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. In addition, there will be people collecting canned and boxed goods for the Foodbank. Guests can also participate in both a silent auction of handmade pieces by local artists, and a raffle for items donated by community members and local businesses.
Entertainment for the evening will include live music and brief comments from community members. For the children there will be a variety of supervised games and activities.

A bipartisan group of Columbus residents, led by Whitney Scott, unveiled citizens’ latest effort to reform Columbus City Council. The group, Represent Columbus, seeks to move Columbus City Council from its current setup with seven members, all elected in citywide elections (at large), and form a 13 member council, with three members elected at large and 10 elected by their neighbors in each of ten districts to be created and revised every ten years by an independent apportionment board.

Why did the press (The Columbus Dispatch) agree to meet the press on Sept. 26 at a forum sponsored by the Columbus Metropolitan Club?
  The answer was obvious to those of us in attendance. It was all about doing public relations. Yet the Dispatch chose not to cover the event. Columbus Business First did.

  The brass at the Dispatch are afraid that the cuts and changes they are making will be perceived by central Ohioans as cheapening the product and will lead to even more defections by readers (the Dispatch lost 10 percent of its print readers in the past year), and maybe advertisers, too.

  That is why interim publisher Jim Hopson (recently replaced, see below) and editor Alan D. Miller brought their song and dance to the Athletic Club luncheon.

Good journalism promised while leaner

Community Shares was established in 1993 by a group of nonprofits for the purpose of fundraising on their behalf through workplace giving campaigns. Through these campaigns, each individual donor gets to decide which charity or charities will receive their donation based on which organization is working on the issues and causes they care about most in their community.
  There are nearly 60 member agencies working on local issues in the following categories: Animal Welfare and Rights, Civic Involvement and an Inclusive, United Community, Civil Action and Social Justice, Ensuring Affordable, Accessible Housing, Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition, Fostering Literacy, Education and the Arts, Healthy Lifestyles and Choices, HIV/AIDS Care and Support, Preservation and Environmental Protection, Promoting the Potential of Individuals Violence Prevention and Safety, and Youth-Focused Services. The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, the non-profit organization that published The Free Press through the years, is a founding and current member of Community Shares.

The young woman hands me a hot pink tee shirt and a clipboard. “Please sign your support for funding Planned Parenthood.” She smiles broadly and continues, “I’m testifying tomorrow!” Chelsea Golferman was referring to the Ohio House of Representatives hearings which began Tuesday, October 20 for House Bill 294 to defund Planned Parenthood. In spite of the House panel limiting individual testimony to 90 seconds, women are signing up to testify that Wednesday.
  “I first went to Planned Parenthood because I couldn’t afford to go to a private practice,” Golferman says. “I kept going because I got good health care. And I’ve never had an abortion.” You hear that a lot from women and families who use Planned Parenthood as a healthcare resource.  

  Demonstrators gathered on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse on that warm autumn evening to make clear the importance of Planned Parenthood in Ohio. It was a good turnout; several hundred people, young, old, women and men, mostly white that evening though Planned Parenthood is a mainstay for diverse and ethnic communities.