Today we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (whose birthday is actually January 15).  You can hear a recently discovered recording of Dr. King from his 1959 visit to the country of India.  Regardless of your political beliefs or affiliations, this holiday holds an additional special meaning in light of Barack Obama’s election as the U.S. President.  Tomorrow Mr. Obama will be sworn into office just before noon.

Heads up. Lower Peach Street around 6th, and lower State around Perry Square will be closed and/or have a number of parking restriction for portions of today due to celebrations.

It’s bad that we get excited when the temperatures are something other then below zero, but it was nice to finally be able to get out and shovel our driveway and not be frozen after a few minutes. To be honest, we were wasting time yesterday waiting for the late start of the Steelers game.

Not only are some roads ice covered, the bay is too. 2 ships have learned that lesson the hard way and they’ve managed to get stuck in Presque Isle Bay. The ships, the Roger Blough and the Presque Isle, found the ice a little thicker then expected and got stuck. An ice breaker was deployed from Cleveland Saturday night to help them dig out. Don’t we have an ice breaker here in Erie? Erie Shipping News has the nitty-gritty on this here.

Ed Palattella continues his excellent reporting on real estate broker Jeffrey Johnson and the payments he received from Greg Rubino.

WJET has a report about a stabbing that took place last night just after 11 at the Meads Motel on West Lake Road. Here’s the interesting part: it apparently was perpetrated by two females who concealed their faces to rob the male hotel occupant.

Dan Dahlkemper, husband of Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D- PA-03) has been elected the first male President of the Congressional Spouses’ freshman class. Dahlkemper is joined by Katie Posey, Republican spouse of Congressman Bill Posey, Virginia Griffith, Democratic spouse of Congressman Parker Griffith, and Michelle Lee, Republican spouse of Congressman Chris Lee.

If you have old phone books laying around, because seriously, who uses the phone book anymore, you can donate them to the Second Harvest Food Bank. The food bank gets $0.02/pound for them.

1st Lt. Kevin Skindell was quoted in this article in the Chicago Tribune about ‘Opet’s Odyssey,’ a cartoon drawn by a fellow Army member.

The Atlantic magazine recently published an archived story from 1976 discussing (would be U.S. president) Jimmy Carter and opens with a quote from two unidentified Erieites.

For you squirrel meat lovers out there, there are three more weeks of hunting in Pa allowed on this furry rodent.  Give our regards to Chip and Dale.

Sports

Thanks to a very late Troy Polamalu interception return for a touchdown, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 to earn a trip to Super Bowl XLIII to face the Arizona Cardinals on February 1, 2009.During an instant-reply review, CBS was showing the ref at the replay booth and we laughed when we read the sign someone had at the game. Here’s a photo Mike snapped.

The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25.

The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 3-0. We love this picture of Pens goalie Mark-Andre Fleury.

Sean Jones scored two goals in the midst of a three-goal outburst in the second half of the third period to lift the Erie Otters to a 6-3 win over the Kitchener Rangers in an Ontario Hockey League game played Sunday in front of 5,923 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.  The Otters will be away for four games and won’t return until next weekend.

The Dakota Wizards beat the Erie BayHawks yesterday 95-87.  The ‘Hawks return to Erie for three games beginning this Thursday against the Sioux Falls Wizards.  Get your tickets here.

The Cleveland Indians press tour begins today.  See our events section below for more information on tomorrow’s visit.

IUP used a stingy defense and the Mercyhurst College offense sputtered as the Lakers dropped a 59-48 decision at IUP in front of 1,245 fans at Memorial Field House.

The Edinboro men’s swimming team saw its record fall to 3-6 with a 153-69 loss to Clarion and a 145.5-76.5 loss to Gannon on Saturday at Clarion. Both Clarion and Gannon took diving points, making the scores more lopsided.

Joe Lindsey (Spring Valley, N.Y./Spring Valley) poured in 23 points as the Gannon men’s basketball team rolled past Clarion 79-62 Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division contest at the Hammermill Center.

The Allegheny men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at Kent State’s Doug Raymond Invitational on Saturday. Mia Symoniak (Snyder, N.Y./Amherst) and Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) were the top finishers for the teams.

The Gannon wrestling team lost to 11th-ranked Pitt-Johnstown 28-12 Sunday at the Hammermill Center. Winners for the Golden Knights were A.J. Milanak (Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area), Kevin McElhaney (Jamestown, Pa./Jamestown Area), Jacob Tazzi (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), and Frank McGrath (Hammonton, N.J./St. Augustine Prep).

Events

The Ophelia Project will present the first of four installments of “Mind, Body and Spirit: Turning Aggression into Hope,” January 21, 2009 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at the McGarvey Learning Center at St. Vincent Health System in Erie, PA. The panel presentation is sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and is free of charge and open to the public. The community forums, “Mind, Body and Spirit: Turning Aggression into Hope” will be a mechanism for providing parents, educators and youth leaders with necessary information and resources to help youth address bullying and relational aggression. It will bring together experts from a variety of fields in order to discuss ways in which developmental assets, values, normative beliefs, self-image and physical health contribute to relational aggression and develop strategies for combating this national epidemic. For more information contact The Ophelia Project at 814-456-5437. St. Vincent Health System is located at 232 W. 25th Street, Erie, PA.

The Cleveland Indians Winter Caravan will be held at the Gertrude Barber Center on January 20 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event features a ballpark dinner, remarks by the players and coaches, an auction of team memorabilia and game ticket packages, and autographs for all the kids. Tickets are $8 per person, and are available in advance at the Barber National Institute, or at the door the day of the event. For information, call 453-7661. Last year the event drew more than 600 baseball fans.

The Allegheny College Art Galleries will present “Materialisms” and “Sometimes a Fantasy”—two exhibitions featuring diverse works by 13 regional artists—from Jan. 20 through March 4. In conjunction with the opening reception, two of the artists will present slide lectures about the process, materials and content of the works they created for the shows. The lectures will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20 in the Art Galleries, with the reception continuing until 9 p.m.

In a combined celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Allegheny College will host a week of special events, Jan. 18-23. Political activist and writer Kevin Powell will offer the week’s keynote presentation on “Dr. King, Civil Rights, Hip Hop and Barack Obama” on Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in Ford Chapel. From his base in New York City, Powell has published nine books, including “Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood,” “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and his newest, “The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life.” He has written for such publications as Esquire, Newsweek, the Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, the Amsterdam News and Vibe. Powell is a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow.

The American Cancer Society is pleased to kickoff the 36th Daffodil Days campaign on January 22, 2009 at Bel Aire Hotel at 12 p.m. The American Cancer Society invites anyone interested in being a pre-sale coordinator to get information to start their campaign at their company, school or organization. The fundraiser, which historically coincides with the coming of spring, is expected to raise $89,000 locally and more than four million dollars in the state of Pennsylvania. For more information call the American Cancer Society office at 814-866-5174. Over 200 Erie residents will volunteer to help distribute and sell flowers during Daffodil Days. Colleen Moore Mezler and Carolyn Bauman serve as co-chairpersons for the event. Pre-orders start now until Monday, February 23; daffodils will be delivered the week of March 16-22, 2009.

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.