Today, it’s back to work and/or school for many folks, including us. To be honest, we’re kind of excited to get back into a routine.

Quick note for today – Glenwood Park Avenue will be closed for repair work today. State St. south of 26th will also be closed in conjunction with this work. Find an alternate route.

Blaming the “economic situation,” The Waterfall Restaurant on East Lake Road in Harborcreek has closed. If you’ve got $539,000, you can buy the business and re-open it.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has an interesting back story on Nicholas Geanopulos and MTR Gaming.  Geanopulos received millions to help bring gambling into the state as a lobbyist and was  the one who discovered a dormant horse track license here in Erie.  MTR eventually picked up that license.  Geanopulos’ name came out in documents from the lawsuit Scott Enterprises brought against the Erie County Convention Center Authority, when the Authority tried to cut a better deal with MTR for bayfront development.

A federal court has ruled a lawsuit against the Erie County Office of Children and Youth can continue. The office was sued by a family from Cambridge Springs after they had a sexually abusive foster child. The family, the Bryan family, was not told about the boy’s past and tendencies. During his stay with the Bryans, the foster child sexually assaulted a child in the home several times. The Bryans are seeking damages.

We blogged about it before, Father Richard Allen is set to head to Iraq in late January for a year. Allen has served at both St. George and St. Luke parishes in Erie and St. Agatha in Meadville. He is headed over with the 29th Aviation Brigade. In 2007, he attended chaplain school and received training in combat first aid and physical training. Fr. Allen married Mike and his wife and baptized both his kids. Good luck, Father.

PennLive.com has an article about the number of female elected officials and Kathy Dahlkemper was mentioned. With Dahlkempers win over Phil English the number of females in the state’s congressional delegation is now a staggering — two — along with Allyson Schwartz (D) of Philadelphia.  The bottom line is that Pennsylvania is still behind other states and the proportion of female legislators.  As an example, although women make up 51% of the state’s population, only 13% of state house members and 20% of state senators are women.

Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the San Diego Chargers on Sunday at 4:45 p.m. on CBS. The Steelers beat the Chargers 11-10 on November 16.

Andrew Yogan scored a hat trick for the second time in the last five games to lead the Erie Otters to a 6-4 win over the Kitchener Rangers in an Ontario Hockey League game played Saturday night in front of 4,213 at the Tullio Arena. The Otters hit the ice at home Wednesday against the London Knights. Get your tickets right here.

Keith Brumbaugh scored a season-high 34 points in only his second start to lead the Sioux Falls Skyforce to a 110-92 victory over the visiting Erie BayHawks on Saturday night. Erie is now 9-6 on the season. The Bayhawks are on the road Tuesday and Wednesday before coming home to the Lou on Friday and Saturday. You can get tickets here.

College Basketball:

Edinboro 94, Bloomsburg 78 (M)
Edinboro 55, Bloomburg 55 (W)
East Stroudsburg 52, Gannon 49 (M)
Gannon 88, East Stroudsburg 56 (W)
Mercyhurst 66, Cheyney 64 (M)
Cheyney 60, Mercyhurst 43 (W)
Wabash 58, Allegheny 56 (M)
Wittenberg 60, Allegheny 52 (W)

Events

Mmm, pancakes. The Kingsley United Methodist Church will hold a pancake and sausage breakfast on January 10 from 8 to 10 a.m. to benefit the Haven ministry. $5 for adults, $4 for 55 and older, $3 for kids ages 5 and 8 and if you’re age 4 or younger, good news, you nom for free.

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.