City of Erie AFSCME members tabled a vote on agreeing to pay 15 percent of their health care coverage. They didn’t want to agree to it and then have the police and firefighters say no way. Mayor-elect Joe Sinnot said it is an all or nothing proposition with the three unions. If all the unions don’t agree, none will be expected to pay more for health insurance or accept a pay freeze. The Fraternal Order of Police have scheduled a vote at Erie City Hall tonight.

Frank W Prusky Jr of Youngtown, Ohio was sentenced in Erie on Monday to 50 months in jail and fined $100 for robbing the Farmer’s National Bank of Emlenton on June 30. I bet that $100 fine will make him think twice about ever robbing another bank.

Part of the former Ethan Allen furniture plant in Union City, the building known as the West Plant, has been purchased by Snap-tite. The East Plant, 167000 Sq Ft, 3 story with basement, is still available. Snap-tite manufactures autoclaves, hoses, valves, and owns STI Creative, an advertising, design and marketing company.

Saint Vincent Health System (aka St Vincent Hospital) and Stairways Behavioral Health were named to the Best Places to Work in PA 2005. Nominations for the 2006 program will be accepted beginning February 2006.

The first 50 donors today at the Erie Community Blood Bank get a gift from Ambridge Rose Spa and Salon. Some donors will get a stocking shaped bag with a type of salon quality make up while others will receive salon hair product. The weather and an increase in related accidents has caused heavier than expected blood use at area hospitals. This coupled with fewer donors as the holidays approach can lead to a dangerous situation with the blood supply. All donors who try to donate this week can register to win a lovely gift basket worth over $200 that is filled with all sorts of great product also from Ambridge Rose Spa and Salon. “We need more donors.” Said Dan Desrochers, Director of Public Relations at the blood bank, “We are starting to feel the effects of the holidays. The blood supply is below where it needs to be to have a safe holiday weekend.” The holidays are always a hard time for the blood supply: the Community Blood Bank will continue to need over 800 donors each and every week to save lives in our region. All donors are strongly encouraged to donate at the Community Blood Bank, 2646 Peach Street. Community Blood Bank is open from 9-6 Monday through Friday and until 7:30pm Tuesday night and Saturday 9am-12:30 pm. Photo ID required.

There are already ice dunes on the shore and Ice is beginning to form on Presque Isle Bay. Don’t get your ice fishing gear out yet. You still have weeks to wait. Photo by Ron Richardson.

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America recently held a contest in crisis relations. The scenario: the most senior employee has a morale problem, heads to the Disney World area leaving no phone number and hints he won’t be back. Millions of clients are threatened with a loss of services. It’s Santa Claus. A team of Edinboro University students proposed an outdoor media campaign of billboards worldwide showing crying children. Also, acknowledgment of his global service would be sought from the United Nations.

See that orange RSS icon near the top left of this site? Microsoft announced that the soon to be released Internet Explorer 7 browser will adopt Firefox’s RSS feed icon making the orange square with white radio waves the industry standard. IE7 will still suck. I don’t see how or why anyone would use Internet Explorer over Firefox 1.5 or Netscape 8.

Take a break from the Christmas shopping and hubbub and enjoy a free holiday concert. The Gem City Concert Band, under the direction of Betty McKinney, will present a special Holiday Concert at St. John Parish Center, adjacent to St John Lutheran’s Church, 2216 Peach Street. The performance will be held on Tuesday, December 20th at 7:30 pm and will feature many holiday favorites and a Christmas carol sing-along. The concert is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted.

Celebrate Wigilia, Erie’s only traditional Polish Christmas dinner on Wednesday December 21 at 6:30 pm at Porters in Erie’s Union Station, 123 West 14th Street. Reservation are required. Call 452-2787. Dinners are $15 per person. Cash bar.The traditional meatless dinner is complete with Oplatek, religious music, artifacts, and rare museum quality exhibits directly from Poland.

The Erie Youth Hockey Association 35th annual Christmas Invitational Tournament will be held December 27-29, 2005.

I saw in a story about Rutgers football that late 80′s starting quarterback Scott Erney is working as a supervisor in the claims department at Erie Insurance. Erney still hold the school record for passing yards. Rutgers is playing in the Insight Bowl on December 27th at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Mashea Williams (Erie Mercyhurst Prep) scored 9 points and pulled down a team high 7 rebounds as the Penn State Lady Lions defeated Alabama A and M 80-58, in Monday’s consolation game of the Blazer Invitational, hosted by the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Drew Astorino and Rob Stoner of General McLane along with Gary Williams and Donte Harden of Erie Strong Vincent were named to the Associated Press Class AAA all-state football team. Astorino and Harden are juniors.