Man, this week has been brutal. How has your week been?

Accuride Corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Their plant on 12th and East Ave. will remain open. They purchased Kaiser Aluminum years ago.

Montrel Amos thought it was a good idea to rob the Circle K on Pine Avenue on Wednesday. His haul – some juice and cookies. He was caught soon after the robbery by local police.

The number of Pennsylvania fishing licenses sold through September 13 – 871,499 – has already eclipsed the total yearly sales for each of the last four years and represents the largest one-year percentage increase since 1980, according to sales figures from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Our guess is people get much more entertainment out of a $21 fishing license than other forms of entertainment. Plenty of great spots to fish year round in Erie.

Erie Insurance is once again being recognized on the list of Ward’s 50 Group of top performing insurance companies. This is the 19th consecutive year Ward Group has conducted the analysis, and ERIE has been on the national list 12 times.

Congratulations to the Erie Times-News for being named PA’s top newspaper in the PA Newspaper Association Foundation’s yearly contest – nice job, everyone.

Prime farmland in 28 counties will remain available for future agriculture production after the state’s Agricultural Land Preservation Board today voted to protect an additional 6,496 acres on 69 farms, acting Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced. Erie county is among the counties included in this program.

Yesterday, engineering students and faculty members at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, begin a 10-day trip to Germany and Switzerland, with three students blogging about “Gerwitzerland 2009” at psbengineering.blogspot.com.

Gannon University student Hannah E. Kirby recently became the first-ever local recipient of the ATHENA Young Professional Award.

Sports

Events

The third annual Oktoberfest, presented by St. Joseph’s Church – Bread of Life Community, located at 147 West 24th St., is being held Oct. 9-11. The festival will feature a variety of German food, beer and entertainment.