Happy Halloween! Please be careful when driving this evening and make sure to keep an eye out for the little kiddies. Feel free to send us any leftover candy you might have.
Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin spent part of the day yesterday in Erie. First, she held a National Security Roundtable at Penn State Behrend (video), then she headed to a rally at the Bayfront Convention Center. A crowd of 8,000 met her there, and former PA governer Tom Ridge introduced her (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5.) Not surprisingly, Palin criticized Barack Obama’s campaign commerical that was broadcast during prime time on Wednesday night.
In national coverage of Palin’s visit to Erie, Penn State Behrend Professor Robert Speel was featured in this CNN story about how McCain can still win in Pennsylvania.
Did you attend the rally? Tell us about in the comments. We’re lucky in Erie – most of the candidates have been here sometime during the primary and general election.
One gaffe today – Palin mentioned she was glad to be in Pennsylvania, home of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. From MSNBC (skip ahead to 1:17):
Love Olbermann or hate him, he’s got a point. This isn’t Phillies country.
John McCain picked up an important endorsement this week – this time from aliens. The Weekly World News “reports” their “Alien” has switched sides from Obama to McCain. Best. October Surprise. Ever.
The English campaign released an internal poll conducted last week by Public Opinion Strategies that shows English leading his opponent Kathy Dahlkemper 47 to 45 %. We have no idea who is going to win this race – polls are all over the place and different media sites call it different ways.
In case you missed it, we posted another in our series of candidate editorials, this time from state senate candidate Cindy Purvis. You can read it here.
Okay, enough politics for today. Just a few more days…
The trustees of Mercyhurst College have extended the contract of President Thomas J. Gamble through 2012. The extension was announced as part of the board of trustee’s meeting. Gamble became president in 2006.
Investors.com has an article on Steris discussing the financial status of the company. The article, almost boastfully, states how Steris is “reaping benefits from transferring its Erie, Pa. manufacturing operations to Mexico.” The Mexico plant went on line in March of this year.
September was another great month for hotel tax revenues – VisitErie took in $45,454, more then 5% more then September of 2007. The rest of the tax monies generated goes to the Erie County Convention Center.
Carrie Dana, 29, of Erie, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for raping an 11-year-old boy in 2007. She also received an additional 5 to 10 years for other charges including indecent assault and corruption of a minor. Dana has had mental problems in the past.
Enrollment at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, now stands at 4,633 students for the fall 2008 semester, a nearly 5 percent increase compared to last year’s figures. Penn State Behrend serves 4,334 students in resident instruction programs, according to official student census figures released by the University this week.
Sports
The Erie Otters are away for the weekend playing the Sault St Marie Greyhounds tonight, and the Sudbury Wolves tomorrow night. Before leaving for tonight’s game, the Otters will be handing out candy to trick or treaters in the upper parking lot in front of the Tullio Arena until 5:30 p.m.
Last night’s Saegertown-Cambridge Springs football game was postponed due to field conditions. The game will be played tonight.
The Fort LeBoeuf-Seneca game was moved to McDowell’s Gus Anderson Field. Fort LeBoeuf won the game 13-6.
McDowell beat Prep in overtime 2-1 in today’s D10 Class AAAA soccer championship.
The Mercyhurst women’s soccer team is ranked No. 3 in the Atlantic Region, as announced by the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Committee Wednesday.
The Edinboro University cross country teams will compete in the PSAC Championships on Saturday, November 1 at Lock Haven, PA. The men’s race gets underway at Lock Haven University at 11 a.m., with the women’s race to follow at 12 noon.
The Allegheny College men’s soccer team is one win away from its ninth straight NCAC playoff berth after it defeated Wooster, 3-2, on Thursday’s “Senior Night” at Frank B. Fuhrer Field.
The Gannon men’s soccer team might have saved the best for last. The Golden Knights used a pair of goals from senior Chad Wynter and a solid team effort to down rival Mercyhurst 3-0 Wednesday evening at a snowy Gannon University Field.
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference held its annual Basketball Media Day on Thursday. The Edinboro men’s team was selected third in the Western Division, while the women’s team was picked to finish fourth. Gannon was the top pick in the Western Division on the men’s side. The Gannon women were picked to finish third in the Western Division. This will be Gannon’s first season in the PSAC.
Events
The Halls of Fear, a haunted house attraction located in Wesleyville, is gearing up for another year of Halloween fun. The event is a fundraising project for the Wesleyville Hose Company, and is one of the areas best haunted house events. The Halls will begin Thursday, October 9th which is designated as a kids night. Beginning Friday, October 10th, the Halls will be for adults. Parking is located at the corner of Shannon & Station roads in Wesleyville. Unlike previous years, the Halls will be open for Halloween night. The Halls will be open 9 – Midnight tonight.
Belle Valley Fire Department will present their annual haunted house Valley of the Ghouls. The haunted house is open tonight from 7:30-11 pm and admission is $5.
Port Farms is open again for the 2008 Harvest Festival season. Located at 2055 Stone Quarry Road in Waterford, Port Farms is a pumpkin farm with activities for the whole family. Kids can play in the giant corn box, ride trikes on a track, or play in the straw fort. They can also join their parents on the giant slides or on a hayride around the farm. The farm is open daily through October 31st: Monday through Friday, 12-6 pm, and Saturday and Sunday 11 am -7 pm. Admission is $5.50 for ages 3-60, $3 for those over 60, and children under 3 are free.
Peek N’ Peak will hold a Bourbon Tasting event on November 22 from 6 – 9 p.m. in the Crown Room, second floor of the Inn. The cost is $35 with a selectionof bourbons and hors d’oeurves to accompany each taste. Reservations required (716) 355-4141 x7155. That same day the Peek will hold a Couples Cooking Class for $199 per coule which includes a night lodging, cooking class and wine. Same number to make reservations but use extenstion x7154.
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.
You're kidding that it's a 'gaffe' about being in the state of the World Champion Phillies, right? Joe Biden said that FDR was President in 1929 and that he went on TV ( a full 10 years before FDR did go on TV) . But those two factual errors were not a gaffe, just Joe being Joe I suppose. Fair and Balanced. Yup.
What point does Keith have, you think he knows his geography? I live in Erie, I'm a White Sox fan, but I'm glad a team from my state one the World Series.
These news channels go to the lowest levels to nit pic. MSNBC, FOX, CNN, all of them…pathetic. Breaking news to these morons is Britney Spears being released from the hospital.
Not to mention Barack Obama saying he's visited 58 states. But then, to him, Erie lies squarely in a place he likes to call Pennsyltucky.
My friends in the Erie media said that Sara Palin, and her aids were extremity unfriendly. This is from multiple people that have been doing this for years.
So I see that WICU 12 Website was hacked.
It's not surprising. We all know that the local stations have no idea how to embrace and capitalize on the web. That's why we all come to ErieBlogs.
Sadly the real fact is that most of the Erie stations were suckered into the Times News “Go Erie Dot Com Network” which is based on 1998 technology that Chris Mead still thinks is great. Most station owners are afraid to drop the Times News from managing their content. For fear of loosing news tips. ( They all Share News) It's unfortunate that all the local media stations are run by clueless old guys. It's not like they haven't been offered top of the line CMS's (content management systems) they actually flat out refuse.
You can no longer run a TV station website in 2008 using technology from 1998. There are many talented local professionals that would love to offer services tot hem, yet they are turned away.
There is more local talent you have never heard from because of the stranglehold ONE company has on the local market.
Did you know a guy from Erie developed on of the most popular open source content management systems used on the planet today?
Did you know some of his clients are Disney, VH1, Apple, Intel, AT&T?
Did you know he offered to work with one of the local stations for free and he was turned down because they were afraid of breaking the GoErie contract?
I don't know who would have hacked into WICU but Kudos to them. Al the local media web sites are garbage.
Worse person in the world..Sarah Palin for saying Phillies are from PA? Wow, that's really bad! How about comparing that to the Barack comment claiming McCain and Palin have made “Selfishness a virtue”. Then Joe Biden must be virtuous when he donated only $3200.00 to charity over the last 8 years while pulling in an income for $2,500,000.00. Hey, what about Obama's brother living on $1.00 a week in Kenya and his aunt living four years in public housing in Boston as an illegal alien. Obama says follow the law and ship her back to Africa. Such compassion from these two is underwhelming. Worst person in the world..I don't know; you figure it out.