Your first experience at Columbus’ Oktoberfest is the sensation of being gouged on parking at the fairgrounds. Your irritation will be soothed in the coming minutes by the pleasant surprise of no admission fee, but you don’t know that yet so you say “seriously, ten dollars? What do they have in there, fucking golden pandas?” And your wife asks why they would have pandas at Oktoberfest, and you explain that it is figure of speech, and she gives you one of those looks.

So you walk in, and are greeted by runners staggering through the Oktoberfest Meiler Vier, a four mile run in which 20 percent of participants are wearing lederhosen or other Bavarian alpine gear. If you miss them, don’t worry – you’ll find them later at the biergarten tossing back mugs of Bitburger.  From the looks of it, most of them chugged a couple before the race even started.  

Tuesday, Oct 3
3:00-4:20pm - Columbus State Community College Workforce Development building room 407, 315 Cleveland Ave.
Facebook event
and
7pm - Ohio Communities Rising Tour: Merrily Mazza Speaking and “We the People 2.0” film showing, Northwood-High building, room 100, 2231 N. High St.
Councilwoman Mazza will discuss Lafayette, Colorado’s successful and first Climate Bill of Rights and will present the new Community Rights documentary film, “We the People, 2.0.” Sponsored by Columbus Community Bill of Rights and Ohio Community Rights Network. Hosted by Columbus Community Bill of Rights.

For security officers in central Ohio, the struggle for a union contract has been a long one. In April 2013, security officers and janitors held a rally for a living wage and affordable health care outside the Motorists Insurance building in downtown Columbus.

“I’m committed to my job, but it’s hard to get by on low wages with no benefits,” said Thurman Elliot, a full-time security officer employed by Allied Universal. “My wife is sick, and because I don’t have affordable health care through my job, we both have to rely on Medicaid.” 

Decades ago, downtown office buildings employed security workers in-house, with decent pay, benefits, and pensions. But in recent years these jobs have been outsourced to contract companies who have paid security officers only slightly over the state minimum wage, with few or no company benefits.

Scientists tell us that a single nuclear weapon could cause devastating climate

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Supreme Court sentenced fugitive former Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to five years in prison on September 27
after ruling in absentia she was guilty of negligence for not stopping
alleged corruption costing billions of dollars during her failed rice
crop subsidies.
   The military junta, which ousted Ms. Yingluck in a bloodless 2014
coup, is now using "spies" to track her after she missed a court
ruling on August 25 and reportedly smuggled herself out of Thailand
with the help of police, decoy cars and a black surgical face mask.
   Ms. Yingluck, 50, has not been seen in public since.
   "She has not yet applied for political asylum and I don't know
whether she will be able to get it," coup-installed Prime Minister
Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters on September 26 amid speculation that
Ms. Yingluck was trying for asylum in England.
   "I know [her whereabouts]...I have spies," said Mr. Prayuth who led
the 2014 coup when he was army chief.
   Before disappearing, she insisted on her innocence and portrayed