FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 9, 2012
Contact: Tiffany McCallen
[email protected]
(Columbia, Mo.) — ColumbiaFAVS.com, a community online news publication that covers faith and values news for Columbia and mid-Missouri, is officially open for business.
In the two weeks since the URL went live, Editor Kellie Kotraba has already tackled stories on Missouri’s recently passed “Right to Pray” Amendment 2, Westboro Baptist Church’s protest of local soldier’s funeral, the Chick-fil-A gay marriage controversy, local reaction to the Sikh temple shootings, Ramadan, area Vacation Bible Schools and more.
In addition to engaging religion reports and dialogue, ColumbiaFAVS also provide tools to help community members explore beliefs within and outside their traditions, including:
- A faith-based directory of houses of worship, businesses, organizations & educational institutions
- A calendar of community events and religious holidays
- Press release listings
- Obituary notices
ColumbiaFAVS.com is the third website in a three-year initiative of Religion News LLC, the parent company of Religion News Service, to create local religion news sites in the U.S. where faith coverage is underreported or could be expanded. The sites cover beliefs, ethics and ideas from a non-sectarian viewpoint and feature daily news and opinion content from professional and citizen journalists. Its partners are the national Religion News Service, SpokaneFAVS.com, WilmingtonFAVS.com and local NPR station KBIA-91.3 FM.
RNLLC and RNS are headquartered at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. The community news sites are part of a $3.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.
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