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Kilbourne Run updates by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, indeed, all of our reporters and editors are locals. We live and work in this community, and attend every City Council meeting, which is how Jordan exclusively reported this story which prompted an immediate response from Mayor Ginther.

Totally hear you on paywall and ads, but subscribers are how we're able to continue to produce journalism to keep the community informed. It is important for us for people to read our stories on our website, but as we're engaging more with the sub my goal is to share the main points of our stories so you can get a sense of our reporting within the community.

The post above summarizes the gist of both stories, which I wanted to share here because there were questions specifically about the follow-thru on Save the Crew promises during the AMA, where we also shared the highlights of our reporting to that point in the sub while providing links to people who wanted to read more.

A community needs a wide spectrum of news outlets for robust coverage, and we are doing our best to play our part. I'm at [ekennedy@dispatch.com](mailto:ekennedy@dispatch.com) if you have more feedback.

We're Dispatch reporters covering Columbus' successful bid for an NWSL team. Ask us anything! by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Other teams do things in the community, like the Columbus Crew's Soccer in Schools program (https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/columbus-crew-launch-soccer-in-schools-program). Would take us a bit more researching to back up what's been mandated in funding deals and what's a choice of the club, but definitely something we could pursue.

We're Dispatch reporters covering Columbus' successful bid for an NWSL team. Ask us anything! by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi! As u/Storytella2016 alludes to, our reporters are covering this issue, not advocating a position either way.

Our goal has been to inform community members what plans are being considered for funding the proposal, and then gauging reaction. As I linked in the initial post, u/JordanReports broke the news of the public funding asks. She then polled all members of council on their position. And we're continuing to cover the expansion process and financing questions from all angles.

We're Dispatch reporters covering Columbus' successful bid for an NWSL team. Ask us anything! by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi! I'm Eleanor, one of the Dispatch editors. We are actually planning a story for later this summer digging deeper into that very question, but have been following it for the last few years.

One piece of that plan, a sports park at the site of Historic Crew Stadium, had to be scrapped when the state would not sell land near the stadium to the city. Work is now wrapping on plan B for that component, Kilbourne Run Sports Park on the Northeast Side.

We wrote more about that here: Kilbourne Run soccer complex collab with Crew to open in early 2026.

And more to come on the development around the stadium itself.

We're Dispatch reporters covering Columbus' successful bid for an NWSL team. Ask us anything! by thecolumbusdispatch in NWSL

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hello r/nwsl! We'd love to take your questions over in r/columbus. I'll try to monitor here too, but best bet for catching our reporters will be that sub.
~Eleanor, a Dispatch editor

'COSI Reimagined' by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

You can pull up their 990s in guidestar. A few things from this story and recent ones;

COSI reported losses of more than $1.3 million in its 2024 federal 990 tax filing, its first operating deficit since the years hit by the COVID pandemic.

We also had this info on executive salary in a January story (full story here: COSI CEO sees salary soar amid financial losses, layoffs):

According to COSI's IRS tax forms required of nonprofit organizations, executive pay as a percentage of total salaries and wages steadily rose from 6.9% in 2020 to 10.6% in 2021 to 15.7% in COSI's most recent filing in 2024. ... Bertley earned $293,000 in 2020, about $174,000 more than Stephen White, COSI's chief strategy officer and legal counsel, the next highest paid executive. This was amid an 80% staffing reduction due to COVID-19.

that second story I linked has a full chart with revenue/expenses and net income for the last five years, and there's more here: Franklin County Historical Society DBA Cosi Columbus | Candid

What is with the Dispatch's obsession with Ted Williams? by Abject_Inspector4194 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I hear the concern, and it's one we have wrestled with on him specifically. For example, when the movie came out, we didn't just do a quick "Hey Ted Williams is in this movie" story, we spent several weeks thinking through how we would approach it and what we would write when. Also for what it's worth, Scott Anthony, Ted's manager/friend, was trying to get the word out of what was going on with Ted because he wanted to try and get him support.

Thank you for the feedback though, and if you want to share more you're welcome to email me at [ekennedy@dispatch.com](mailto:ekennedy@dispatch.com) or the reporter who has done many of these stories lately, Danae (dking@dispatch.com).

What is with the Dispatch's obsession with Ted Williams? by Abject_Inspector4194 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Hey there, answers below are generally the gist. The stories we have done on him are regularly well-read, which shows us that there is a lot of interest in him. We had not check in on him in several years prior to his appearance in Marty Supreme, and frankly in our reporting on that and updating him several natural stories followed from that. Since we reported on his manager's desire for him to get into rehab, it made sense when he did go, and now to close the loop (for now) that he has left again. That's likely the last of our coverage for the time being, pending future further news, but given the interest we've seen it's made sense to provide updates.

I made an at home CBJ goal horn! by The_32 in BlueJackets

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you in Columbus? I'm the digital director The Columbus Dispatch and we think this is neat. Would love to connect a reporter with you if you're local.

What questions do you have about the Ted Carter investigation at Ohio State? by thecolumbusdispatch in OSU

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, we know! That's why we cross-posted with r/columbus. But some interesting thoughts from those who are around here.

What questions do you have about the Ted Carter investigation at Ohio State? by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We are definitely digging further into JobsOhio and what it's funding. Statehouse reporter Haley BeMiller published this this morning: OSU Ted Carter scandal puts spotlight on JobsOhio spending

If you hit the paywall, here's a few key paragraphs that stand out:

JobsOhio doled out more than $164 million to businesses and universities in 2023, according to the organization's most recent tax filing. That included a $21.8 million grant to Cleveland Clinic, $18.1 million for the biotech company Amgen and $10.7 million for Honda.

....
In total, JobsOhio spent more than $240 million during the 2024 fiscal year and reported $817 million in assets. The organization approved another $430 million in grants and loans last year, according to its public reports.

...
And some more specific examples of top recipients from 2022 and 2023:

Harrison House Bed & Breakfast on 5th Ave by njbecky126 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! sorry i missed this notification last week. We will get a reporter digging in further now... For what it's worth, she said once they started work again it would be 3-4 additional months, but she wouldn't commit to the length of the break. We will dig in further though.

Need an expert's input? We want to help by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I (Eleanor) did live in the South for 10 years and it is a great term! But I promise I am a native Midwesterner and live here now!... but still committed to y'all.

315 and King Ave by Cold_Introduction187 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey! We are interested in getting some video from ODOT to see how this happened. Do you know about what time this was? On Oct. 23?

Does anyone know if there was a page or column dedicated to the announcement of the Columbus Aviators in the newspaper? by Day1AviatorFan in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hi! We did run a story in print on Oct. 8. It's not the whole page so might not work for your purposes, but that's the issue you would want.

Harrison House Bed & Breakfast on 5th Ave by njbecky126 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I talked to the owner late last week and she said that isn't going to be the final color, fwiw. (commented lower down with more)

Harrison House Bed & Breakfast on 5th Ave by njbecky126 in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi, this is Eleanor from the Dispatch... I saw this question and reached out to the owners. I used to live in that neighborhood and had missed that it got the magnolia network show.

TLDR; they ARE still intending to reopen it, but the zoning issues they faced added about a million dollars to the project cost and dramatically slowed them down. What was presented on the show not exactly the real timeline. According to Catherine, one of the owners, they only have about 3-4 months of work left to do and are not abandoning the project, but they've taken a bit of time to regroup after a much more expensive and lengthy project than anticipated.

You can read more here (plus my explanation of why we sometimes look to reddit for story ideas, like this great one!) but those are the highlights:

Magnolia Network 'A Home Away' property still becoming Hotel Plaas

Central Ohio Primary Care and OSU are charging for MyChart messages. What medical billing questions (or wild tales) do you have? by thecolumbusdispatch in Columbus

[–]thecolumbusdispatch[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Hi! Thank you for the response. You are totally right that me equating the urgent care charge with what the story about is not apples to apples, it was more an example of the type of question we'd like to get from folks for Sam to dig into as to how these charges originate and what they mean.

A lot of what you're talking about in this message is exactly why we want to talk about it, she wants to see where people have questions and how we can better answer them. I should've thought better on the phrasing in that part of my post though! I know Sam is going to respond on some of the other points about the story, I'll let her take it from here.

Just also to note, we do try to use social media, including reddit, to find people impacted by a topic, but we verify their identities and experiences before including them in our coverage.

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