The official count for last Tuesdays election will be held today. We might know who won the race for Erie County Executive before the day is over. Republican Dale McBrier was leading Democratic Mark DiVecchio by six votes in the unofficial count.

Mike Machuga of Erie won his first career PBA Tour title by defeating Bill O’Neill in the final match of the 2005 Greater Omaha Classic 256-245. Machuga, who earned $40,000 for the title, entered the week winless in his first 79 career events and was 0-3 in title matches prior to Sunday’s win. After Machuga clinched the title match with two strikes in the 10th frame, he surprised everyone by doing his famous “Machuga Flop” (video), hanging onto the ball and flinging himself down the lane. Since he never let go of the ball, there was no official rules violation, so Machuga followed that by striking on his final shot. ESPN2 will replay the finals of the 2005 Greater Omaha Classic today at 4 pm ET.

The female clerk that embezzled over $100,000 from the Erie Traffic Court will turn herself into police today. Her buddies at the police bureau and the District Attorney’s office let her have a weekend of freedom instead of arresting her last week. Maybe she held a party for them over the weekend.

There was a explosion at the GE plant earlier this morning. A boiler located in Building 4 exploded. Emergency crews spent about an hour at the plant. I didn’t hear of any serious injuries.

Motley Crue will be playing a concert in Erie on February 17 at 8 pm at the Tullio Arena. Back in August of 2004, singer Vince Neil was in Erie for the grand opening of the Sonic Car Wash on Peach Street. It wasn’t long after that that the band got back together. You know Neil must have said something to the other guys after that. Something like ‘I’m the fricking opening act for a car wash in Erie PA. Can we PLEASE get back together.’

The Gannon University Box City, designed to raise awareness of homelessness, is scheduled for Thursday, Nov 17 from 8 am to 4 pm in AJ’s Way, which runs between West 7th and 8th Streets just west of Peach. Students, faculty, and staff will live in makeshift box homes for at least one hour and will collect donations from passersby. All monies collected will be donated to area organizations, including Kid’s Cafe, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Martin Luther King Center, Erie DAWN, and St Patrick’s Haven.

Linda Colvin-Rhodes, DEd, former secretary of aging for Pennsylvania and director of the new Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging at Mercyhurst North East, headlines the conference, “Aging: The Changing Landscape and the Impact on Social Services,” Thursday, Nov 17, on campus of Mercyhurst College in Erie. Mercyhurst’s department of social work and Stairways Behavioral Health are co-hosting the event that is designed to expand the professional development of social workers. For more information, or to register, contact David Maciukiewicz at Stairways, 814-878-2155.

Junior forwards Scott Champagne and Kyle Gourgon scored third period goals as the Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team rallied to defeat Holy Cross 4-3 before nearly 1600 fans at Worcester, Mass. Mercyhurst (6-2-0 overall) will now await the arrival of second-place Sacred Heart next weekend. The Pioneers, 4-1-1 in conference play, will visit both Friday and Saturday nights for 7:00 contests.

Freshman forward Valerie Chouinard stretched her scoring streak to seven games with a 3-point effort as the Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team outlasted Bemidji State 4-2.

The Gannon University women’s basketball team lost to Division I Akron 72-54 in an exhibition game. Gannon opens the 2005-06 regular season Tuesday, November 15 against Slippery Rock at the Hammermill Center. Game time is scheduled for 6 pm. Immediately following the women’s game, the Gannon men play Penn State Beaver.