The Dobbins Dining Hall on the campus of Behrend was heavily damaged and a gazebo destroyed by fire late Monday night. Luckily, no one was injured in the blaze, though obviously students there will have to get their churros from other dining halls on campus. KC covers this a bit over on her blog and the Daily Collegian has coverage here. If you’d like to see more photos of the fire, they are over on the Behrend Beacon’s flickr site here. As someone who works at a college, that kind of stuff scares me. I’m glad no one was hurt.

A judge has ruled that Erie Renewable Energy’s case against the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corporation can continue. Enough already with the tires to energy plant. Let’s drop it and find something else to bring jobs to our area – something preferably that doesn’t pollute as much as people say this project will.

40 workers at Carrara Steel have been laid off. No word if the workers will be called back or if these are permanent.

The Erie Playhouse’s production of Pride and Prejudice opens this weekend. Should be good show, though a small part of me wished they were putting on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies instead.

Sports

Pardon the No. 1 Gannon women’s basketball team if it’s glad to see Edinboro for the last time. The Lady Knights needed to fend off a tightly-contested battle against the Fighting Scots for the third time this season, before earning a hard-fought 81-67 victory Tuesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Quarterfinal game played at the Hammermill Center.

Events

The Erie Art Museum Contemporary Music Series presents a special concert of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble on Wednesday March 3, 2010 at 8 p.m.at the Erie Art Museum in the second floor annex. After 35 years, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is still serving their special brand of 21st century Griot music to people worldwide. The Chicago Tribune writes the trio is “harmonically provocative and rhythmically seductive,” and they consistently deliver jazz that combines ancestral wisdom, exploratory improvisation, and crack musicianship.