Columbus Monthly / January 2012 / Diane Menashe on the Discovery Channel

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Diane Menashe on the Discovery Channel

The Discovery Channel plans to bring exonerated murder suspect Nick Robinson and his former attorney Diane Menashe to New York in January for an interview for the program “On the Case with Paula Zahn.” Menashe says producers are putting together an hour-long episode devoted to Robinson’s remarkable story, the subject of a Columbus Monthly feature a few years back (“The wrong man,” February 2005). Robinson, accused of killing 38-year-old Rhonda Boggs, faced a possible death sentence until Menashe, her co-counsel Kort Gatterdam and private investigator Matt Sauer punched holes in the case against Robinson, who falsely confessed to the murder after a grueling 10-hour interrogation at the hands of the Pataskala police. The defense team also uncovered evidence that pointed to a new suspect, Chris Williams, who’s now serving a life sentence for killing Boggs. Menashe says Robinson is living in Lancaster and remains married to his wife, Debbie, who stood by her husband during his ordeal. “They went through a lot,” she says. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if they separated.” Coincidentally, this will be Menashe’s second appearance on the Discovery Channel. In 2010, “Forensics: You Decide” featured an Urbana murder case she was involved in.

Former astronaut Ron Sega has joined the small fraternity of space travelers with strong Columbus ties. A Cleveland area native and a graduate of Ohio State, Sega has been shuttling between Columbus and Colorado since accepting in 2010 a three-year appointment at OSU as the vice president and enterprise executive for energy and the environment. (He also maintains a leadership role at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.) Insider recently asked Sega if he’s had a chance to trade space stories with the two other astronauts associated with Columbus, John Glenn and Kathy Sullivan. Not so much with Sullivan, Sega says; the ex-COSI leader is now in Washington, D.C., working for the U.S. Department of Commerce. But Sega and Glenn do see each other around the university. And, no, they don’t share a glass of Tang on those occasions. “It’s very normal food offerings when these things happen,” Sega says with a laugh.

Different publications continue to rank Columbus as a top destination. Followers of gay gossip website newnownext.com voted the city the top gay travel spot in the world (yes, the world), beating out locales such as Istanbul. Additionally, Columbus was ranked seventh on a list of great U.S. shopping destinations by design website apartmenttherapy.com, just below such hubs as Chicago and Boston and above such major cities as Houston, Los Angeles and Miami.

Many Central Ohio donors to GOP presidential candidates are sitting on the sidelines, at least according to the latest campaign finance reports (through Sept. 30, 2011). A few notable folks, however, already have written checks for Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts: ex-Columbus Mayor Greg Lashutka, former Nationwide CEO Dimon McFerson (both at $2,500) and current Nationwide head Steve Rasmussen ($1,000).