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Project SCARLET is bringing AI directly into Ohio State athletics.

OSU and Google are building an AI-powered human performance platform that will use predictive modeling, computer vision and advanced analytics to help improve training, recovery and athlete health across all 36 varsity sports.

The project is part of a much larger partnership between Ohio State and Google that will also expand access to AI tools for students, faculty and researchers across campus.

Google is also establishing a presence inside Ohio State’s Innovation District, with OSU pushing toward a future where students graduate increasingly “AI fluent” in their fields.

A car crashed through the front of a Wendy’s on East Livingston Avenue Sunday after police say it was hit by another vehicle that fled the scene.

No injuries were reported, and police are still investigating the hit-and-run.

We’ve been trying to cut back on the whole “car crashes into Columbus building” beat lately.

But this is Wendy’s.

Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s in Columbus in 1969, so when a car ends up inside one, it becomes a matter of local historical importance.

Columbus gave the world Wendy’s

Columbus drivers if you gonna cause an accident maybe aim for the arches instead.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 519 into law on Thursday, Oct. 1, temporarily reducing Ohio’s gasoline tax from 38.5 cents to 1 cent per gallon and its diesel tax from 47 cents to 1 cent per gallon.

The 90-day reduction begins Sunday, Oct. 4. Lawmakers estimate drivers could save $3–$7 per fill-up.

The bill replaces lost tax revenue with $725 million from Ohio’s general fund and prohibits fuel dealers from raising prices to keep the savings.

Ohio just hit pause on the gas tax.

For the next 90 days, Ohio’s 38.5¢-per-gallon gasoline tax and 47¢-per-gallon diesel tax are suspended. For a 15-gallon fill-up, that works out to about $5.78 in potential savings if the full tax cut makes it to the price at the pump. 

The tradeoff is a big one: the tax normally helps fund Ohio’s roads and bridges. The state is using roughly $725 million from its general fund to replace the transportation money lost during the 90-day holiday. 

And don’t expect every gas station to immediately drop prices by exactly 38.5 cents. Fuel prices still move with oil markets, supply, transportation costs and what retailers charge.

Still, for Ohio drivers, the tax holiday is officially here through the end of the year.

Gas is expensive. Roads are expensive. Ohio has decided to tackle one without taking the money from the other, at least for the next 90 days.

Les Wexner is back at Ohio State.

He returned to a Wexner Medical Center board meeting on Sept. 1 after months away, shortly after sitting for a nearly six-hour congressional deposition about his former relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Wexner has denied knowing about or participating in Epstein’s crimes, but questions around that relationship and his continued influence at Ohio State remain.

Asked about removing his name from university buildings, Wexner said:

“I don’t think about it.”

Ohio State will eventually have to.

Ohio could soon be home to one of the largest AI data center projects in the world.

SB Energy, backed by SoftBank, is developing a massive AI campus near Piketon, Ohio, on land once home to the Portsmouth uranium-enrichment complex. OpenAI is expected to lease computing capacity, Nvidia is supplying hardware and investing $1.5 billion, and the current plan could eventually reach 8 gigawatts of power.

The numbers get ridiculous fast:

Up to $500 BILLION in total development
Around 35,000 construction jobs
Roughly 2,500 permanent jobs
First 800 megawatts expected in 2028

For perspective, Ohio’s transition from cornfields to server farms has officially reached a scale where the numbers start sounding fake.

The project could bring enormous investment to Southern Ohio, but something this large also means enormous demand for electricity, natural gas infrastructure, water, housing and basically everything else required to keep a small digital city running.

The land helped power America’s nuclear age.

Now it could help power the AI age.