It was announced late last night that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will loan insurance giant AIG $85 billion. We’re not sure if this is the beginning, the middle or the end of this whole credit crisis mess. At the end of trading yesterday, the Dow was up 141 to close at 11,059.02. The news of the AIG rescue may push markets up today.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Today is Constitution Day, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

The websites of the Erie County Convention Center Authority have been owned. Don’t visit them – I tried to visit one and Google warned me that they had been compromised and that my computer could be affected. Someone over there needs to get on that and clean it up.

Out of the one million customers of FirstEnergy’s in Ohio and western Pennsylvania who lost electric power due to the remnants of Hurricane Ike, 700,000 now have their power restored. The company has handled nearly half a million calls from customers reporting power outages. Penelec (owned by FirstEnergy) is reporting that power may not be fully restored for some neighborhoods in Erie until Thursday.

The morning television show Good Morning America rolled into Erie yesterday during lunch time. The Whistle Stop 2008 tour is making its way through the 50 states via train with Erie as one of those stops. One of the topics addressed with local Erieites was Hillary Clinton and her loss in the presidential primary to Barack Obama. The Good Morning America train will be in Pittsburgh today around 1 p.m. Here’s a quick video of the visit.

More local Red Cross volunteers are leaving this morning and heading to Texas to assist with the Hurricane Ike recovery operations.

Lilly Broadcasting which owns WICU, WSEE, and the CW, broadcast the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation telethon on all three of its stations. The telethon was broadcast from 7 to 8 p.m. with donations going toward Kanzius’s radio wave cancer treatment research. The telethon raised more than $78,000. Thank you to Lilly Broadcasting and the people who gave to this cause. Cancer = stunned.

In related news the Regional Cancer Center on 12th Street has entered into a 5 year contract with UPMC of Pittsburgh and it’s cancer centers. The new arrangement means more cancer patients can remain in Erie for treatment due to the sharing of resources and technology between the two organizations.

The presidential election is virtually neck and neck in Pennsylvania with Obama still barely leading McCain by roughly 2 percentage points. Since the conventions, McCain has slowly gained ground in the state. The demographic of white women experienced the biggest shift, moving toward voting for McCain. If you really want to dig around the numbers, check out fivethirtyeight.com.

The Harborcreek Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership. This will give businesses in the Harborcreek access to services the Erie Regional Chamber offers.

South Shore Drive will be closed today between Kahkwa Boulevard and Shenley Drive for road work. You may want to find an alternate route.

We’re proud to announce that this site is now the first Google result for “Muntry Ware.” Check yesterday’s news post if you missed the joke. MuntryWare.com is available if someone would like to buy it.

Sports

A.J. Fenton, quarterback for McDowell High School, selected to go to the University of Wisconsin Badgers next fall. He made his official visit to Madison last weekend and the announcement soon after.

Edinboro football has moved into the top 25 teams of Division II football, being voted #23 in the American Football Coaches Association poll.

MLB Baseball: Cleveland beat the Minnesota Twins 12-9 in 11 innings. The Dodgers beat the Pirates 6-2. The Detroit lost to Texas 5-4.

Events

The Pete Best Band will be playing at Theatre 145 on this Friday, September 19 at 8:00 p.m. They will be performing songs from their new CD ‘Rock ‘n Roll Holiday’ to be released yesterday. Opening for them will be rock ‘n roll band The Cryers from Freehold, NJ.

Democratic National Convention 2008: Making History By Dr. Judy Lynch will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Alex Theater at Mercyhurst North East. Get an inside look at the 2008 Democratic National Convention as Democratic delegate Dr. Judy Lynch providing insights from her first-hand experience at this historic event held in August in Denver, Colorado. Call (814) 725-6277 for more information.

The Erie Community Blood Bank is holding a promotion this week. The next 150 donors who come to give blood will receive a buy 1 get 1 free certificate to Splash Lagoon. All donors who donate blood this week can enter to win a fabulous get away for 4 that includes 2 day park entry for 4, deluxe overnight hotel accommodation and breakfast and dinner. Donate blood at 2646 Peach Street open Mon, Weds, Thurs and Fri 9 a.m.-6p.m.; Tues 9a.m.-7:30p.m. And Sat 9a.m.-12:30p.m.

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.