Friday is here, Columbus.

🌧️ Today's weather: Likely rainy, with temperatures falling from 60s in the morning to 50s in the afternoon.

🏈 On this day in 1897, Ohio State and Michigan played football for the first time in Ann Arbor.

• The Buckeyes got blasted 34-0.

Today’s newsletter is 1,049 words — a 4-minute read.

Columbus has created its first-ever inventory of every square mile of public and tax-exempt land, which local leaders hope to use to spur development and housing projects.

Why it matters: Columbus has $500 million in bond funds to help tackle a regional housing crisis. Better planning and knowledge of available space can help those funds go further.

Driving the news: The city spent $140,000 to participate in an initiative called Putting Assets to Work (PAW), which helps municipalities catalogue public assets and identify underutilized tax-exempt properties.

Between the lines: This property information has always been out there, thanks to county assessors, recorders and other city staff. Gathering it with strategic recommendations is the hard part.

• "The data is there, but nobody is looking at it from the perspective of what it could be," PAW's Ben McAdams told reporters yesterday.

Stunning stats: PAW's analysis identified 66 square miles of publicly owned and tax-exempt land, the equivalent of 22 Ohio State campuses.

• The city itself owns about 14% of that land (excluding parks and recreation space), and nonprofits and governments own another 24%.
• Much of the rest is owned by "partner organizations" like hospitals, universities and churches.

Case in point: The vacant West Broad Missionary Chapel site owned by the city is currently worth about $500,000.

• If redeveloped into housing and business space, it would be valued around $2.8 million, per PAW's assessment.
• The Arena District and Scioto Mile were two existing examples of public space used to spur development.

Between the lines: PAW advocates for cities keeping control of land and its uses when possible.

• Rather than selling and losing control, its leaders say, it's often smarter to build through long-term leases and other agreements.

What we're watching: PAW makes three main recommendations.

• Focus development on areas near planned LinkUS stations and along bus rapid transit corridors.
• Use a revolving loan fund to "multiply the housing bond" and incentivize development at key sites.
• Consider establishing a public asset corporation with the job of developing and keeping control of public land.

The big picture: Council President Shannon Hardin and Councilmember Nick Bankston want to push Columbus toward an era of proactive and collaborative thinking.

• Like a potential revolving loan fund, that means more strategic use of funding, space and resources.
• "The $500 million that we have set aside from bonds will not solve affordable housing, but it can be used as a leveraged, catalytic resource," Hardin says.

Ohio families are among the nation's earliest participants in Trump Accounts, a new federal investment program offering $1,000 to eligible babies.

Why it matters: The money is meant to give children a financial head start, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling Axios it's "the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill."

Driving the news: The program went live in July, but the Treasury Department recently announced it had automatically established accounts for eligible children nationwide.

• Parents must still claim the accounts to manage them, allow contributions and receive the $1,000 federal payment.

By the numbers: As of July 30, Ohio had the fifth-highest percentage of early signups nationwide.

• Roughly 230,000 forms had been processed — an estimated 10% of eligible children, compared with 7.6% nationally.

How it works: Eligible U.S. citizen children born between 2025 and 2028 qualify for a one-time $1,000 government contribution invested in the stock market.

Zoom in: Parents claiming accounts must verify their identities and relationship to their children.

• Robinhood, the online investing platform, is serving as the initial trustee and brokerage provider for Trump Accounts.

The bottom line: Parents can review the program's terms and privacy policies at TrumpAccounts.gov.

Go deeper on Trump Accounts

⚖️ Ohio's EdChoice voucher program, which uses taxpayer dollars to fund private school tuition, has been ruled unconstitutional by an Ohio appellate court. (News5)

• Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the state will appeal.

🗳️ Early in-person voting in Ohio is up significantly, while mail-in voting is down compared to the 2022 midterm election. (Ohio Capital Journal)

🚌 COTA announced an action plan for service improvements, cleaner buses and increased safety measures. (Dispatch)

• ICYMI: COTA buses missed an average of 132 trips per day between January and August, per a Matter News investigation published last month.

The nights are getting cool, the leaves are falling — there's no better time for a weekend full of scary movies.

🍿 Our pick: Nightmares Film Festival.

The intrigue: The Gateway Film Center's annual horror film festival has been running for 11 years, and has grown into a well-respected genre fest featuring international productions and regional premieres.

• This year's lineup includes 16 features and 150 short films.

For the first time, the festival is expanding beyond the theater's walls.

• NFF Outbreak is a "virtual festival" that starts immediately following the in-person event.
• This digital showcase will stream films anywhere via an encrypted service that protects the films.

If you go: Film screenings run through Sunday.

• Full passes are $159 for the festival, $109 for NFF Outbreak or $219 for both.
• Individual tickets are available for each screening.

What else is happening:

📚 The Columbus Library's Fall Big Book Sale has titles starting at $1 all weekend.

🩰 BalletMet's production of "Marilyn" begins today and runs through next weekend.

🎤 The Jonas Brothers play Nationwide Arena tonight.

👟 The Columbus Marathon holds its 5K and kids' run Saturday morning and its main event Sunday morning.

• Don't get stuck in closed roads downtown and along the course.

💀 Latino Arts for Humanity hosts the Day of the Dead Columbus Festival at Green Lawn Cemetery Saturday.

🎸 Twenty One Pilots play a massive Ohio Stadium show with Death Cab for Cutie Saturday night.

• Resale tickets to the sold-out show are expensive.

Thanks to Tyler Buchanan for editing today's newsletter.

Our picks:

📴 Alissa is off.

🍿 Andrew is very excited to see "You Can See Everything" this weekend.

🤷‍♂️ Tyler will keep using "I'm tapering my workouts!" after this weekend as an excuse to be lazy.