Waitressing in an Erie diner was a necessity for Kathleen Valentine while she attended college at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Now, nearly forty years later, that experience is the background for her first novel The Old Mermaid’s Tale, released by Parlez-Moi Press. Set in the fictional town of Port Presque Isle, Pennsylvania [...]

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Black Friday in Erie, the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. The day stores live for all year to finally make a profit. Pennsylvania has tax-free shopping on clothes and people flock to the area. Canadians by the bus load are here to take advantage of a favorable exchange rate as $1 Canadian gets [...]

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Craig Sundberg and his wife Megan of Erie have just found out their young 3 year old son Jack has an inoperable brain tumor. Jack has Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), also known as grade 4 astrocytoma, which is the most common and aggressive type of primary brain tumor, accounting for 52 percent of all primary brain [...]

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Terry Sherlock was arrested on a murder charge in the shooting death of Kenneth Himrod. Himrod was under investigation for allegedly molesting Sherlock’s son. Before the shooting, Sherlock told both the Corry City Police and the state police in Corry that if they didn’t do something, he would. He did everything but rent a billboard [...]

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Erie businessman Robert Dodsworth pleaded guilty to felony money laundering and conspiracy charges in a mortgage fraud scam. Sentencing is scheduled for March which could include up to a million dollars in fines and 25 years in prison. Companies that Dodsworth was associated with purchased low price homes, did minimal cosmetic repairs and fudged figures [...]

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A couple of people in Harrisburg, perhaps trying to justify high salaried political patronage jobs, are cracking down on eBay consignment stores. If a business sell things for other people on eBay on consignment for a fee, they must have a Pennsylvania auctioneer license. The State Board of Auctioneer Examiners has begun notifying offenders of [...]

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Irene and John “Jack” Bryant went hiking on October 20 planning to spend the weekend in Pisgah National Forest in Western North Carolina. A 911 call was attempted from their cell phone October 21. The two had been married for over 55 years. Irene Bryant, 84, was found dead on November 9. Jack Bryant is [...]

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Erie County Judge John Trucilla might soon be looking up at the bench. A criminal complaint was filed against him for an incident that took place on Halloween. It’ll be interesting to see what happens but it sure sounds like he took the law into his own hands. He was looking for a kid that [...]

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Michael of Buffalo blogged that he was on his way to work in Erie driving along on I-90 when he saw that someone had an accident with a deer and was hitting the deer in the head with a hammer. Hope that was to quickly end the suffering. Today is Women in Engineering Day at [...]

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The City of Erie had a budget deficit of $1.3 million in 2006. That’s according to the draft of the audit done by the regional CPA firm of McGill, Power, Bell and Associates. One of the requirements to have Erie declared a distressed city under Act 47, the Distressed Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, is five [...]

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  According to The Tax Foundation in their 2006 report on Property Taxes on Owner Occupied Housing by County, Erie County Pennsylvania has the 55th highest property taxes in the nation out of 783 counties (or parishes). That will change next year as the following four member of Erie County Council voted to raise your [...]

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The 5th floor of Erie City Hall should love hearing this one. An elected member of Erie City Council emailed me and pointed out with the low voter turnout in last Tuesday’s election, the number of signatures needed to hold a hearing to determine if Erie should be declared a distressed city under Act 47, [...]

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Someone call Meadow Brook Dairy and have justice placed on the side of milk cartons. The preliminary hearing for Teri Rhodes was scheduled for Nov 7 in front of District Judge Joseph LeFaiver at the Erie County Courthouse. Why didn’t it take place? Teri Rhodes gave birth on August 12. The baby only survived 10 [...]

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Today is Veteran’s Day. The fighting in World War I ended in 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Thank a Vet for the freedoms you enjoy. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns game today at 1 pm will not be televised locally. Unless you have the NFL Sunday [...]

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