Hope you enjoyed the winds and rain yesterday–the last remnants of Hurricane Ike. We can only imagine what it must have been like to be in Houston this weekend. The area is now experiencing power outages and downed trees as a result. However, this should be the end of the bad weather for us for a few days. Don’t be surprised if gas prices trend upwards sooner rather than later. You can use our Gas Price Finder to fin the lowest prices in our area.

Willie R. Baker, 21, has been arrested and charged in the death of Anne Ropelewski, 83. Ropelewski was stabbed and beaten to death after Baker broke into her home and stole $45. Brad Foulk said this weekend he is considering the death penalty in this case.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an article on how casinos go out of their way to accommodate handicapped patrons. Jennifer See, director of marketing at Presque Isle Downs & Casino, noted that 96 handicapped parking spaces are available at the casino and “as soon as someone pulls out, another one pulls in.” Glad to see MTR is looking out for our disabled friends, however, Presque Isle Downs should go for broke and add another 4 handicapped parking spaces making it a round 100.

In the wake of the proposed sale of I-80 to investors as a toll road and the application’s denial by the Federal Highway Administration, Congressman Phil English is calling for a summit of federal and state officials to come up with an alternative solution. English has been aggressively lobbying the U.S. Department of Transportation to reject the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s application to place tolls on I-80.

St. Vincent Heath System has announced it will join the Catholic Healthcare Partners system on January 1, 2011. The affiliation was originally announced in February of 2007. CHP is headquarted in Cincinatti, Oh. and has 34 hospitals and 14 nursing homes in its system.

If you have purchased pet food from Mars Petcare, the food has been recalled due to salmonella contamination. The brand names affected include Pedigree, Special Kitty, Ol’ Roy. It was produced at a plant in Everson, Pa. The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund. You can find more on the recall here.

Speaking of recalls, Wegmans has expanded their product recall, which was originally limited to store-brand bagels. The recall now includes bagels, rolls and other products. Additional information and affected products can be found here.

The Lexington Road Bridge over I-90 has reopened. In 2009, the two I-90 bridges over Six-Mile creek will be replaced. In addition, the northbound bridge on I-79 at Meadville will be replaced. Work on the southbound interchange bridge is progressing and should be completed in the next month or so. Guess we can expect some traffic headaches on area highways next year.

Be sure to hit up the Tops Market on E. 38th Street today where the PA Lottery will be handing out 200 free Quinto tickets. Quinto is their new twice-daily number game.

Today is Selena Wiles first appearance on JET-TV’s Action News 24 and will join Sean Lafferty at the evening news desk. Selena, 30, is from West Virginia and has spent the last five years reporting and anchoring the 5-6pm news at WJHL-TV in Johnson City, Tennessee. It looks like Selena (“Sunshine”) will be sorely missed by her former co-workers and viewers.

Sports

Andy Holland won the Erie Marathon yesterday in the hot and windy weather. The course was two laps of Presque Isle. This was the 35th running of the marathon.

Sunday’s Pro Football:
Pittsburgh 10 Cleveland 6
Buffalo 20 Jacksonville 16
Buffalo and Pittsburgh are 2-0. Cleveland falls to 0-2.

Saturday’s College Football:
Penn State 55 Syracuse 13 Penn State is now ranked #16 in the country
Gannon 30 Cheyney 18
Edinboro 31 CW Post 7
Bloomsburg 24 Mercyhurst 0
Westminster 6 Allegheny 2 (this was a not a baseball game)

Saturday High School Football:
Meadville 48 East 6
Mercyhurst 14 Youngsville 0
Strong Vincent 48 Franklin 6
General McClane 56 Maplewood 0

MLB Baseball. Saturday: Kansas City beat Cleveland twice in a double header 8-4 and 8-3. Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 7-6. The Detroit vs. White Sox game was cancelled for the second day in a row due to rain. Sunday: In a double header Detroit Tigers lost to the White Sox 4-2 and 0-0. Kansas City gave another beating to Cleveland 13-3. Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 7-2.

Mount Union College men’s cross country team placed one through six individually to take first place at the Penn State-Behrend Invitational.

Events

View this past Sunday’s comprehensive events list to see a list of events for the week and months ahead. If you would like your event posted here, please contact us via our online form.