Email
PrintA movie about Buster Douglas?
Buster Douglas: Movie in the making? File photo.
Buster Douglas’s story finally might make it to the big screen. Insider hears that Angelo Pizzo, the writer of Hoosiers and Rudy, is working on a script about the Columbus boxer’s legendary 1990 upset of Mike Tyson in Tokyo. John Johnson, Douglas’s manager at the time of the fight, declined to talk about whether a movie is in the works.
Bloomberg, one of the few growing media businesses these days, raided the Dispatch Statehouse bureau recently. James Nash will relocate to Sacramento, California, and Mark Niquette will remain in Columbus as an Ohio correspondent for Bloomberg. Dispatch editor Ben Marrison said in an e-mail in mid January he didn’t know whether he would fill the vacancies.
The King Arts Complex soon will lose one of its pioneers. Larry James, the president of the organization for nearly 18 years, will step down from his role at the near east side institution in June. The prominent lawyer, who will become president emeritus, says the King center is in good shape (its budget has grown from $120,000 to $1.2 million under his leadership), and he’s looking to devote more time to his legal career and other artistic interests, such as the Lincoln Theatre, which he helps guide as chairman of its board of trustees. “And then I have a marriage,” says James with a laugh. He’s married to former Nationwide executive and community leader Donna James.
Old ties apparently are pretty strong with David Yost. The Ohio auditor’s recently appointed chief of staff, Brenda Rinehart (née Dodrill), is the wife of ex-Columbus mayor Buck Rinehart, whom Yost worked for as press secretary. Moreover, Brenda Rinehart wasn’t an obvious choice to be the auditor’s top administrative aide. The former Columbus human services director has been out of the limelight, for the most part, since her tumultuous time at City Hall, when her relationship with Rinehart became a public scandal in the early 1990s. Since then, she’s worked as an assistant U.S. attorney, dropped out of the workforce to spend time with her family and, most recently, served as administrator for New Hope Church in Powell. Still, Yost’s aides say their boss likes Rinehart’s diverse background, which includes experience with both local and state government in addition to her legal skills (Yost and Rinehart went to law school together at Capital University after their City Hall days). “She covers all the bases,” says Yost spokeswoman Carrie Bartunek.
Power couple Curt Steiner and Jan Allen spent part of January in Florida planning their next career steps. Steiner announced on Jan. 11 his departure as Ohio State’s top lobbyist after six years—soon after his wife left the governor’s office as a top aide to Ted Strickland, who, of course, lost his re-election bid to John Kasich. Allen, a well-connected Democrat, will team with Debbie Phillips, press secretary in the Celeste administration and founder of Women on Fire, to grow the organization nationally. (She describes it as “providing inspiration, strategies and support to dynamic women making a difference in the world.”) Steiner, a well-connected Republican, will start a statewide strategic communications business, The Steiner Strategy Group, focusing on public affairs. It will be similar, he says, to three other operations he either owned or ran before joining OSU. Allen also will assist Steiner as an adviser. As for leaving OSU, he says, “This is the longest time I’ve spent in a job . . . and if someone was going to manage the budget work at the General Assembly, that would be a two-year sign-up.” He says he and university president Gordon Gee began to talk about his plans a few months ago and reached a “mutual understanding.” Steiner calls Gee “a friend as long as we are on this earth together. He’s been a great mentor. He’s Uncle Gordon.” Steiner also says Ohio State will be a client of his business “on a project basis.”
