Rich Boehne must be a glutton for punishment.

A former reporter at The Cincinnati Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer, Boehne rose through the ranks at The E.W. Scripps Co., The Post’s parent firm and joined its corporate staff in 1988 as the first investor relations manager. Since then, he’s held a number of positions in the company.

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The U.S. stock exchanges have opened strongly this morning, following gains in Asia and Europe earlier today. The Bush Administration's ever-evolving bail-out plans are, as they say in the bidness world, fluid.

Barack Obama has opened a 10-point national lead on John McCain, according to The Washington Post. Some pundits think the race is even more lopsided in Obama's favor but that the mainstream media — either to gin up excitement over a "close" race or to not look like they're "liberal" and "in the tank" for Obama — are portraying the race as closer than it really is. We all know Obama is going to win, which will make these final few weeks of a long, negative campaign almost unbearable.

Speaking of unbearable, how about those Bengals?

I've been getting good feedback (as always) to our annual publication of the Project Censored report on stories the mainstream media missed in the past year. It's a good reminder that Americans aren't as informed as we should be, particularly on international issues, and another reason to be concerned as the the nation's major newspapers continue to struggle with economic pressure.

Enjoy your Monday and the beautiful fall weather.

Jim Hopkins' Gannett Blog and some local sources are reporting The Enquirer has laid off between 5 to 7 people this week.

Two of the casualties were the person in charge of the incessantly promoted Moms Like MeWeb site and the assistant managing editor of operations, who performed the administrative functions in the newsroom.

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In a turnabout from a campaign pledge, Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul is getting help raising campaign money by GOP senators who voted for the 2008 Wall Street bailout.

According to an Associated Press report, Paul is holding a fundraiser Thursday night in Washington, D.C. Although Paul earlier had said he wouldn't seek money from any politician who voted for the $700 billion bailout, nine of the 12 senators listed on the event's host committee were bailout supporters.

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Although it was overshadowed by the recent national Tea Party convention in Nashville, another conservative group recently held a rally that featured several Greater Cincinnati notables in attendance.

Americans for Prosperity’s Ohio chapter held an “Already Taxed to the Max” rally Jan. 30 at Capitol Square in Columbus. Among those attending the event were former Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich; his wife, Rebecca; former Congressman Rob Portman from Terrace Park, who’s running for the U.S. Senate; and members of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes.

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A national coalition of community groups, including two Cincinnati organizations, are urging President Obama to push big Wall Street banks into writing down all “underwater mortgages” to market value. The groups said the action would pump up to $1.6 billion into Ohio's economy and create more than 24,000 jobs statewide.

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More than 200 people attended Imago’s Earth Spirit Rising conference at Xavier University this weekend, where they were challenged to rethink their actions and their effect on the planet.

Speaker Paula Gonzalez, a Dominican nun and futurist, cast the challenges ahead in stark terms: “We must realize the scale of our times, which is on the scale of transitions like going from hunter-gathering to agriculture, or industrialization. You must take the messages of this conference home in your heart, in your soul, in your gut, and get off your butt and act.”

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As part of its annual Christmas Day preparations for the needy, the Freestore Foodbank distributed nearly 300,000 pounds of food, its largest amount ever for the holiday.

During the past three days, the emergency food provider distributed 297,050 pounds of food to 6,677 households. That's enough to feed 18,516 people, according to a spokeswoman.

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The new year already is looking a lot like the old one for employees at The Enquirer.

Workers at Cincinnati's only remaining daily newspaper got some bad news Wednesday: They can expect to take another five-day furlough during the first quarter of 2011. Robert J. Dickey,  who is U.S. newspaper division president at The Gannett Co., The Enquirer's parent firm, announced the latest round of furloughs in a memo sent to workers.

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In light of the current recession and the high unemployment rate — particularly among younger adults who make up a large portion of CityBeat’s demographics — we’re publicizing an employment opportunity that also benefits the public interest.

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