Second Lieutenant Edward French, missing in action since 1943, was finally laid to rest here in Erie this weekend. He was lost when his B-24 crashed in New Guinea. Welcome home.

Ed Palattella had a good story in yesterday’s paper about Greg Rubino and his Tecnica Development Corporation. A state grand jury is looking into deals Rubino had regarding Presque Isle Downs.

Speaking of Presque Isle Downs, Voters in Ohio this November will have a casino measure on the ballot. The proposal calls for casinos in Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus. A casino in Cleveland could potentially be very bad news for Presque Isle Downs, who we’re sure gets a lot of people from NE Ohio who don’t want to drive to Windsor or Detroit.

As we blogged last week, Lamson Pipe will be closing by the end of January. 52 jobs will be lost. It’s bad when over 1,600 total jobs were lost in the last two weeks. Scary.

Calvin Walker, owner of MasterCraft Building Systems, is mentioned in this Quad City Times story about a business owner in Iowa who bought a pellet stove pellet creation business. We couldn’t find a website for MasterCraft. Call us, we’ll make one for you.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) scientists have discovered a plant in Erie County that has never been recorded in Pennsylvania. The plant, dwarf scouring rush, was identified with the aid of a Mercyhurst College professor on the college’s Mercyhurst West property in Girard. Dwarf scouring rush is known to exist in northern U.S. states and in Canada, but the plant had not been identified in Pennsylvania until this discovery. WPC scientists found a small population of this low, wiry plant within a fen, a rare type of wetland, on the college property. Specimens will be stored at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pa., the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle, Pa. and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Sports

Steelers fans, time to start panicking. Browns fans, better luck next year – hey at least you gave Brady Quinn a few games. Didn’t Charlie Frye not even make it a full game as a starter?

NFL
Cincinnati 23 Pittsburgh 20
Baltimore 34 Cleveland 3
New Orleans 27 Buffalo 7

College
Edinboro 22 Gannon 20
Mercyhurst 19 Lock Haven 7
Allegheny 22 Oberlin 0
Iowa 21 Penn State 10
NC State 38 Pitt 31

Special teams made the difference for the Erie Otters (2-2-0-1) as they handed the Saginaw Spirit their first loss of the season in a 6-4 triumph at the Dow Event Center Saturday night. The Otters went 2-for-5 on the power play, and killed all seven of the Spirit’s power plays, including two double-minors and a two-minute 5-on-3.

Events

Dr. Mark Hendrickson, adjunct faculty member and economist from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College, will be the guest speaker at the Manufacturer & Business Association’s October Eggs ‘n’ Issues starting at 8 a.m. Thursday, October 1 at the Association’s Conference Center, 2171 West 38th Street. Dr. Hendrickson will address the truth about global warming and the negative economic implications of cap and trade.

Designer Paul Rowan, Umbra’s co-founder and vice president of design, is slated to participate in an idea exchange during the InnovationErie: Design Competition’s Art, Design & Entrepreneurship session on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 from 1:30-5 p.m. at the Erie Maritime Museum, 150 East Front Street. This event is free and open to the public.