Congratulations to Logistics Plus, Fluid Engineering, and Insurance Management Company for being chosen as this year’s winners of the Award of Excellence, to be presented by the Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership.  The awards will be presented at the 2010 Celebration of Excellence at the Bayfront Convention Center on April 22.  The theme of this year’s award dinner is “Exporting Erie”.

Another local facility has also received national recognition.  The Erie County Department of Corrections, aka the Erie County Prison, has been accredited by the American Correctional Association.  The ACA determined that Erie County satisfied its accreditation standards in terms of safety, security, health care, administrative, legal and quality-of-life conditions.
The ACA says the benefits of accreditation include improved health and safety conditions for prisoners and staff; better management and supervision, and increased staff professionalism and morale.  We trust that the residents of the facility will be happy to learn what a great place they have to live.

The big freeze in Florida in January is getting the credit for a sizable  increase in price and lessened availability for produce across the area.

Meanwhile, gas prices continue to escalate.  It’s only to be expected, now that the weather is getting nicer and demand will be increasing as the public takes to the highways more often.

Preliminary reports indicate that the devastating fire at Penn State Behrend’s  main cafeteria, the Gazebo at Dobbins, was caused by an electrical malfunction.  The future of the building is not clear at this time.

City Council is still dithering over the cell-phone legislation.

Gamblers at Presque Isle Casino lost 2.4 million dollars this week.

The US Postal Service may be eliminating Saturday deliveries in the not-so-distant future in an effort to reduce costs and improve their bottom line.  I guess too many of us use the internet to  communicate these days.  Still, it is a nice feeling to find a real honest-to-goodness letter or card in your mailbox, isn’t it?

I don’t know about anyone else, but this winter seems to be dragging on way too long to suit me.  Spring this year begins on March 20.   That’s only seventeen more days!  We can finally see a light at the end of the snow piles.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

Dr. James Kurre, associate professor of economics in the Sam and Irene School of Business at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, has been named Educator of the Year by the Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System (ACES).

The School of Engineering at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will host this year’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (ASME/MSEC), the flagship forum for manufacturing engineering. The conference will be held Oct. 12-15, 2010, at the Bayfront Convention Center.  This event will showcase the Erie community and all it has to offer to visitors from all over the world.  Great opportunity for Erie to enhance its image with people that can actually send business our way.

The Otter exhibit at the Erie Zoo should be a popular spot this year with the addition of five brand new members of the family, which were born over the winter.  Congratulations to the new parents!

Sports

Erie sports writer John Dudley did not do Erie’s Bob Sanders and his fans any favors with a scathing column decrying the Colt  safety’s behavior toward the press.   Frankly, the column sounded like a juvenile temper tantrum and many people were not happy with the character assassination of Sanders.  Sanders has consistently given back to the community, sponsoring football camps for young men who otherwise would not have a chance, sponsoring free days at the Erie Zoo and the Childrens’ Museum, and this year generously upgrading computer labs in two Erie Elementary Schools.  I wonder what Dudley has done for Erie……..

Gannon’s Number One ranked Womens’ basketball team will meet Kutztown in the PSAC  Final Four semifinal at 7:30pm Friday, at the Hammermill Center.  The Chamionship game will be played Saturday at 7:00 pm.

Indiana(Pa) outscored Gannon 62-53 in the Men’s PSAC quarterfinals, ending Gannon’s season with a 13-15 record.

Events

Verdi’s Requiem is an opera in sacred clothing. Resident artists from the Pittsburgh Opera, a choir combining the Erie Philharmonic Chorus and the Touring Choir of Grove City College, and the Erie Philharmonic will all combine to bring this gargantuan dramatic musical presentation to life  Saturday night at the Warner Theater.

The Erie Playhouse will present Jane Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice” starting Friday, March 6.  Call the box office for times and reservations.  (814)454-2852.

Erie Sport and Travel Expo pulls into the Bayfront Convention Center for three days beginning Friday at noon.  The Expo continues on Saturday at 10 am and Sunday, also at 10 am.