Strange to see the grass again, isn’t it?

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The Erie Community Foundation has received an anonymous donation of $100 million. Yes, $100,000,000. It is believed to be the largest anonymous charitable donation EVER. Much of the money, $85 million, will go 46 nonprofits in the Erie area. A big reason why Erie nonprofits are so successful is the Erie Community Foundation. The foundation [...]

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Erie County Office of Children and Youth employees went on strike yesterday. They had been offered a 4 year contract that called for raises of 3 percent for the first 3 years and 3.2 percent in the final year. The county filed an injunction to make the employees at the Edmund L Thomas Detention Center [...]

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Wesley Urch was charged with involuntary manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and 9 other charges for intentionally running down Terri Peoples and Stephan Caldwell on Sunday. Caldwell died and Peoples is in serious condition at Hamot. All three were drinking at a club on Sunday. Peoples and Caldwell were close to Urch’s truck, too close for Urch. [...]

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US Airways is dropping the Erie to Pittsburgh route on January 6 but service to Philadelphia will continue. With decisions like this it’s no wonder US Despair is losing money. The airline also dropped Pittsburgh service to Toronto, Louisville, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, Charleston, and Norfolk. Congratulations to Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott turning down the proposal [...]

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The pissing contest between Erie Council Council and Erie County Sheriff Bob Merski appears to have been resolved when both sides sat down and discussed the matter. Council granted $116,000 to be used for overtime. Sheriff’s deputies don’t work a 9-5 job and council finally saw his point. And with the compromise Merski seems a [...]

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Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio’s 2008 preliminary budget calls for a .25 mill tax increase. The enormous amount of property taxes is a big reason why Erie can’t attract new businesses. DiVecchio must want people and existing businesses to move away. According to The Tax Foundation in their 2006 report on Property Taxes on Owner [...]

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  The 10th annual Run Around Erie takes place today at Presque Isle State Park. The run spawned one of my favorite “Only in Erie” stories. It use to go through the streets of the city. The run went down Ash St and then west. A few years ago during the race, the corner convenience [...]

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  Lerhonda Anne Starnes of North East, PA stabbed her boyfriend Tony Orlando Frazzini of Erie when he told her he was a Megan’s Law registered sex offender. Frazzini was convicted in NY in 1993. Starnes was charged with attempted homicide in the incident which took place in Butler, PA. If you are going to [...]

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Andrew Keel was arrested and arraigned for a Wednesday home invasion of 90 year old man’s apartment at the Sarah A Reed Retirement Center. Keel broke in through a screen window, stole items and assaulted the man. For some reason Keel wasn’t charged with attempted murder even though he twice tried to kill the victim [...]

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  Erie Shipbuilding held a christening ceremony yesterday for the first ships built in Erie in 34 years. The ships are the 245 ft dump scow WITTE 4003 and the 166 ft deck barge SUE B. Jeff at Erie Shipping News was there and has an excellent post on the event.   The Erie County [...]

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The Erie County Office of Children and Youth employees today take a vote on a new contract. It’s expected to be rejected. The contract call for wage increases of 3 percent for the first 3 years and 3.5 percent in the fourth year. The union has said the wages are too low adn they are [...]

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  After the closing bell on Wall Street on Monday, Erie Insurance announced that the company plans to write business in Minnesota beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009. If this sounds familiar they announced this once before but then put a halt to expansion plans. Erie Insurance currently writes in Indiana, Maryland, New York, [...]

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Keep Erie’s Environment Protected (KEEP) will hold a meeting today at 7 pm in Erie City Council chambers at 7th and State Streets to discuss the proposed tires-to-energy plant. Four speakers are scheduled – 3 are from outside of the area. The group has been vocal, but a recent poll on YourErie.com shows the community [...]

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  GE has been in Erie for 100 years. There’s a nice story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Rick Stouffer called GE: 100 years and still chuggin’.   Ron Androla of Erie has had a number of poetry books published. Ron sometimes posts poems on his online message board at The Pressure Press. Bill Phillips [...]

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An Erie Police officer shot and killed two pit bulls and they attacked and mauled an animal control officer. Patrolman Tom Dunmire shot the animals at the were biting Rob Culbertson. They were called to remove 4 animals from an apartment at the the request of the landlord who owns the property in the 900 [...]

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Verizon most likely has a wire attached to your home for a thing called a “telephone line” for a “home phone.” Verizon is now using those useless wires to compete against cable and satellite. The company announced that they will begin construction on a video hub facility and expects to start offering FiOS TV service [...]

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  Erie International Airport Executive Director Kelly Fredericks asked Erie County Council for $18 million for the $60-80 million runway extension project. It would be $3 million for 6 years and would come from the county’s share of gaming revenue from Presque Isle Downs and Casino. The airport is currently not in compliance with FAA [...]

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The monster Teri Rhodes was finally charged with homicide and related charges including abuse of a corpse. Rhodes gave birth on August 12. The baby only survived 10 minutes before it suffocated to death. Police found the dead baby in a plastic bag. Her baby. She cut the umbilical cord with a pair of scissors [...]

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The Erie area made International news again yesterday as the area is becoming know World-wide for breakthroughs in alternative energy research. Recently, John Kanzius found a way to extract hydrogen from salt water with the same radio wave machine he is using in research to kill cancer cells. Yesterday, NanoLogix (OTC: NNLX) , a nano-biotechnology [...]

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A couple of juvenile delinquents smashed the windows of the state Wine and Spirits store in Perry Plaza between 1 and 2 am. Employees at the the Dunn Tire store next door, working late, heard the noise. They ran out of their store, caught the kids and held them until police arrived. They even video [...]

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Teri Rhodes, the Mercyhurst College student whose baby died minutes after giving birth, still hasn’t been charged with a crime. It’s now been 5 weeks — 35 days. Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook declared the death a homicide. Cook said the baby was born alive and suffocated to death. Police found the baby in a [...]

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Steris Corporation announced they have reached a tentative non-binding agreement to sell their property in Erie to IRG (Industrial Realty Group). That’s great news for the Erie area as IRG has an excellent rack record of turning industrial properties into mixed use complexes. Steris only put the property up for sale a couple of months [...]

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Last month the Commonwealth Court rejected a 2005 lawsuit by Erie area hotel operators against the Erie Convention Center Authority that is building a Sheraton Hotel with money coming from a hotel room tax. It’s being appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The operators were crying unfair. You would think they would have to go [...]

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The 298th Trensportation Company from Franklin PA, which had about 160 soldiers in Forward Operating Base Q-West Iraq (Quyarrah AB) aka ‘Key West’, will be arriving home this weekend. Welcome home. Richard Valentine allegedly killed his wife Anna, threw a blanket over her, changed his clothes, left a note for his landlord not to enter [...]

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Matthew Perez-Jefferson, aka Matthew Perez, turned himself into police on Saturday. Perez-Jefferson was wanted for the shooting death of Paul Martinson outside of the Antigua Blue late Wednesday night/ early Thursday morning. He was also wanted for missing a court date for a coccaine charge which he missed while he was hiding out. Agritourism – [...]

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As expected, the Baylor University Board of Regents named Baylor Distinguished Alumnus and University of Nevada, Reno President Dr John M Lilley as the University’s 13th president. The son of a Louisiana Baptist pastor, Dr Lilley, 66, majored in music at Baylor, earning bachelor’s degrees in 1961 and 1962 and a master of music degree [...]

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Dr John Lilley will be named as President of Baylor University later today. Lilley is currently the President of the University of Nevada at Reno. Prior to that post, he led the Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. Lilley is a graduate of Baylor with bachelor’s degrees in 1961, 1962, and a master’s in ’64. [...]

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Erie Indemnity Company today announced results for the third quarter 2005. Erie Indemnity Company provides management services to the member companies of the Erie Insurance Group. Management fee revenue decreased by 1.9 percent to $241.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. The lower management fee rate in the third quarter of 2005 of [...]

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GE Infrastructure Rail said yesterday that it received a contract worth more than $450 million to supply 300 locomotives to the Chinese Ministry of Railways. Most of the locomotive kits, which include engines, alternators, motors and other machinery, will be manufactured at the Erie GE plant. Last year, China awarded over $300 million in contracts [...]

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