Are you ready to be counted?

Read the full post

Man, this week has been brutal. How has your week been?
Accuride Corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Their plant on 12th and East Ave. will remain open. They purchased Kaiser Aluminum years ago.
Montrel Amos thought it was a good idea to rob the Circle K on Pine Avenue on Wednesday. His haul [...]

Read the full post

Erie Indemnity Company has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year end 2008. You can read the full release here. A few highlights:
Net loss per share-diluted was $0.12 per share in the fourth quarter 2008, compared to net income per share-diluted of $0.55 per share in the fourth quarter of 2007. This was [...]

Read the full post

A quick heads-up if you have not yet picked up an digital TV receiver – WSEE will turn off its analog signal tomorrow. This will only affect you if you get TV signals with an antenna, either rabbit-ears style or an external antenna. Satellite and cable customers will not see any change. Despite Congress changing [...]

Read the full post

Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) has received her House subcommittee assignments.
Small Business Committee
Chair, Subcommittee on Regulation, Health & Trade
Member, Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship
Science & Technology Committee
Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight
Agriculture Committee
Member, Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research
Member, Subcommittee on Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry
Dahlkemper was assigned to the House Committee on [...]

Read the full post

Erie Insurance reached the milestone of four million policies in force after reaching 3 million policies in force just eight years ago in 2001. Erie Insurance has been in business for 83 years and is a Fortune 500 company.  According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance is the 16th largest automobile insurer and the [...]

Read the full post

Erie is the featured city in this weeks Keystone Edge, a website dedicated to discussing the new economy in Pennsylvania.  Right along with Erie, the featured growth company is Kold-Draft of Erie which manufacturers ice-cube machines.  Finally, there is an article featuring INRange Systems of Altoona and its new drug dispensing machine to be released [...]

Read the full post

Ken Barnes was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder of Brian Wells by placing a collar-bomb on him which eventually exploded. Somehow the length of the sentence seems inadequate due to the total disregard for human life and being such a heinous crime.  Although Barnes claims he was forced to place [...]

Read the full post

St. Vincent Hospital has settled with the federal government, agreeing to pay $1.9 million in order to settle a whistleblower lawsuit. Anthony Kite, an independent hospital consultant in New Jersey, alleged the hospital defrauded the medicare system by submitting inflated reimbursement claims over actual costs.
Phil Friedman, the attorney representing Teri Rhodes, has filed a [...]

Read the full post

Today is Veterans Day. From the President of the United States:
On Veterans Day, we remember those who have served in previous wars, those who are serving today, and those who did not live to become veterans. Our Nation is blessed by these brave defenders, and we owe a debt of gratitude to all [...]

Read the full post

Some local companies will be announcing third quarter earnings soon. Erie Insurance will release its earnings on November 6 while GE will announce their numbers today. GE has said profits for this quarter will be lower due to issues not only in the market but within the GE Capital section of their business. Erie [...]

Read the full post

If you didn’t register to vote by 8 p.m. yesterday, you’ll have to wait four years to vote for president again.
Tom Ridge and Lynn Swann will hold a rally Wednesday in Perry Square in support of the McCain-Palin ticket. In Pennsylvania, here are the polling numbers: Quinnipiac poll has Obama up in PA by [...]

Read the full post

Union workers at Erie Plastics have approved concessions by a count of 131 for and 34 against. These concessions will include a $2/hour pay cut, loss of 4 of their 12 vacation days and an increase in insurance premiums. This will allow the plant’s new owners to continue to operate the plant and keep the [...]

Read the full post

Erie Insurance disclosed that it has lost about $9.5 million in its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac holdings. Erie stock closed yesterday at 43.22, down 3.40. Fannie and Freddie were recently bailed out by the Federal government and are the largest source of funding for home mortgages in the U.S. It was another [...]

Read the full post

Joshua Lilly of Erie has been sentenced to 7 to 14 years in state prison for molesting a girl, who was 8 or 9 years old at the time of the crime.
Jeremy Noyes, who was arrested last month by the FBI for among other things, wanting to start a colony of sex slaves, is [...]

Read the full post

When her grandson wouldn’t finish his homework, Sheila Martin slapped him. Rodney Payton didn’t like that and told her to stop. Martin responded by threatening them both with a knife. Payton shot a gun at her. Both are in jail facing assault and endangerment charges. No word if the homework was completed.
A large number of [...]

Read the full post

Abe Satterfield’s trial was expected to start on November 3. He was facing sex abuse charges related to an incident when Satterfield was a student at the University of Iowa. Prosecutors are now saying the trail may be delayed due to pre-trial motions and the busy schedules of prosecutors.
CelebrateErie begins tonight and runs until Sunday [...]

Read the full post

The Erie Block Party, held most Thursday evenings during the summer, will be held this week at Jr’s Last Laugh Comedy Club featuring the rock band M-80’s. The event theme is “Take You Back” and benefits Vietnam Veterans Chapter 435. Upcoming block parties:
August 14 – No block party; CelebrateErie begins.
August 21 at Matthew’s [...]

Read the full post

First on the docket today, several local companies announced earnings reports yesterday. Here’s a brief recap:

Erie Indemnity Company, parent company of Erie Insurance, released their quarterly earnings report yesterday. Net income per share was $0.71, down from $1.11 compared to the second quarter of last year. ERIE shares closed yesterday at $45.14. If you want [...]

Read the full post

I (Mike) had the pleasure of presenting at yesterday’s Lunch and Learn session presented by the Technology Council of Northwest Pennsylvania. I talked about how to integrate social networking into your business, and the full house had plenty of great questions and comments. I also got to meet a bunch of ErieBlogs readers, [...]

Read the full post

When Starbucks announced it would be closing 600 of its stores, some of us were left wondering if any of the stores in Erie would be closing. Although no official list has been released, the Seattle Times has put together a Google map of stores rumored to close using information from store employees and [...]

Read the full post

If you’re driving through the city of Erie over the next week, be careful. City police are cracking down on speeders through July 4. It’s supposed to be under the radar, no pun intended, but someone in the mayor’s office has been emailing their friends and family to warn them. Those people then forward that [...]

Read the full post

Margaret Claire Reed was born on August 8, 2006 with what is known as VACTERL Association. It is a grouping of birth defects (V = vertebral A = anal C = cardiac T = tracheal fistula E = esophogeal attresia R = renal (kidney) L = limb.). [...]

Read the full post

The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a smoking ban. Philadelphia Governor Ed Rendell said he would sign it. Hotels must have 75 percent of their rooms non-smoking. Casinos such as Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Erie must have 50 percent of their facility non-smoking. Exempted are bars with less than 20 percent food sales, [...]

Read the full post

The Erie Times-News / GoErie.com reported that Teri Rhodes will enter a guilty plea on Friday. Everyone involved is being tight lipped about the deal. The plea deal takes the death penalty off the table. If the deal does not include a VERY long prison sentence, I think there will be community outrage.
Rhodes murdered her [...]

Read the full post

WSEE TV will air their exclusive interview with John Kanzius in a 30 minute special on Wednesday, May 21 at 7 pm. For the station to preempt the uber popular “Wheel of Fortune”, you know it’s important. Along with word on the breakthrough with the success of Kanzius discusses how big it could be [...]

Read the full post

Live thoroughbred racing returns to the Erie, PA, today Friday, May 9, when Presque Isle Downs and Casino commences its 2008 meeting. Presque Isle’s 100-day season will extend through September 27, with a daily post time of 5:30 pm. Admission and general parking throughout the meet will be FREE.
Last year, Presque Isle’s inaugural meet was [...]

Read the full post

Handicapping guru Andy Beyer has picked Pyro to win today’s Kentucky Derby. Andy Beyer, a Harvard University graduate from Erie PA, created the Beyer Speed Figures used by bettors that measures how fast a horse runs on any given track. “Synthetic” racing surfaces have replaced the old dirt tracks and made the Beyer Speed Figures [...]

Read the full post

Erie Indemnity Company (Erie Insurance) (Nasdaq: ERIE) announced financial results for the first quarter 2008. Net income per share-diluted decreased to $0.51 per share, compared to $0.88 per share in the comparable quarter in 2007 influenced by net realized losses on investments of $0.27 per share, after tax. Although they sold more policies and their [...]

Read the full post

The GE (NYSE: GE) 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held today in Erie, PA at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. The meeting is closed to the public however, GE will have a exhibit on display that shows what they do in Erie that you can stop down and see. That information session is [...]

Read the full post

It’s election day. Vote.
Kevin Flowers reported on GoErie.com that the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission is investigating Erie County Maintenance Supervisor Mike Krause for misuse of county assets. Back when this mess first surfaced, someone at the commission that that they were aware of the situation in Erie County BUT that someone had to file an official [...]

Read the full post

The ice might be melting from the lake but not fast enough. Great story by Jeff on Erie Shipping News. The 647 feet long, 70 feet wide Cason J Callaway left the Port of Erie on Friday to begin her shipping season. It got two miles into Lake Erie before it got stuck in [...]

Read the full post

It’s now been 3 weeks since Lindsay Graygo was beaten and then strangled to death in her Ypsilanti Township, Michigan apartment. Word is investigators are still waiting for the DNA kit to come back. Graygo of Erie, PA graduated from McDowell in 1997, earned a BA in advertising /public relations from Penn State University Park [...]

Read the full post

The John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation now has a web site. I hope it helps with fund raising and creates more awareness of the project. The leaders of the foundation need more of a sense of urgency in their efforts or Erie will be left out of the human trials. At least $8 million needs [...]

Read the full post

Two car washes are for sale. One is a bit of a surprise. Splash’s Auto Bath House at 2968 West 12th St is for sale. The listed price for the property is $599,000. Business and equipment is $90,000 extra. Splash’s has been operating for about a dozen years. If I remember right a doctor owns [...]

Read the full post

Erie Indemnity Company (Erie Insurance) (Nasdaq: ERIE) announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year end 2007. Net operating income per share (excluding net realized gains or losses on investments and related taxes) was $0.69 in each of the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2006. Net income was $32.6 million for the fourth quarter [...]

Read the full post

Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park Resort revealed their planned $6 million, 22,000 sq ft expansion. It will be a wave pool on the SE section of the property attached to the main building. It will still be open every day during construction. They are holding a contest to name the pool and pick a new [...]

Read the full post

Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio still hasn’t resigned or been arrested. DiVecchio has been accused of a laundry list of improprieties of misuse of government employees and assets.
Workers began moving into the $14 million Erie County Public Safety Building campus. The county will house 911 call center operations, county communications and emergency service operations at [...]

Read the full post

Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio still hasn’t resigned or been arrested. DiVecchio has been accused of a laundry list of improprieties of misuse of government employees and assets. He will sit down on Friday with Erie County Controller Sue Weber to try and explain away the charges.
Erie County Council members have no plans to conduct [...]

Read the full post

eBizITPA and the Economic Research Institute of Erie (ERIE) released a study EVERYONE in Northwest Pennsylvania needs to read and take to heart. Erie workers are behind most the nation, and even most areas in Pennsylvania, and to catch up we have to embrace technology. The press release:
If a region wants to become more competitive, [...]

Read the full post

Chytoria Graham was sentenced by Judge Rusty Cunningham to 5-10 years in prison for swinging her 4 week old baby like a baseball bat at her boyfriend, the father of 2 of her 5 children. The baby suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in the Oct 8 incident after Graham came home from a [...]

Read the full post

Federal Aviation Administration officials were satisfied that local matching funds of $25.7 million were available for the Erie International Airport Runway Extension Project. It appears that the FAA will be funding $47.7 million of the two phase project. The first phase would be an 920 foot runway extension to meet FAA safety standards. A second [...]

Read the full post

Get out and vote today. Poll are open 7 am to 8 pm. Here is the Erie County 2007 Municipal Candidate List. Turnout is expected to be around 25 percent of eligible voters. Internet voting, voting by mail and changing the day of the week would dramatically increase the turnout. It also doesn’t help that [...]

Read the full post

Unless you want to pay $25 to read “Carbon nanotube-enhanced thermal destruction of cancer cells in a noninvasive radiofrequency field” that was published online on Oct 24, wait till the December issue of Cancer in sitting on a table in a doctors waiting room. Here’s the basic info from the article. This is the first [...]

Read the full post

I don’t really agree with it, but I have to give then credit for being creative. Seems like the Erie County Council and Erie City Council have reached a deal to fund the Erie Airport runway expansion project. The county will contribute at least $18 million toward the project in exchange for appointing 4 of [...]

Read the full post

 
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, North [...]

Read the full post

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 [...]

Read the full post

Today is the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Never forget. Hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another plane crashed at Shanksville, PA when passengers and crew fought back.
A Freedom Walk will be held this morning at Wesleyville Memorial Park. Registration begins at 8 pm with the walk starting at [...]

Read the full post

Scott Enterprises has obtained $81 million as they mortgaged 10 properties. They will use $6 million to expand Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park. I think this will be the third expansion of the park that draws huge numbers of people. In a very smart move they will use $49 million to refi existing debt. A [...]

Read the full post

Dennis Beard III was found not guilty of the 1998 murder of Amy Lawrence. There was a boat load of circumstantial evidence but no physical evidence and his former fiancee testified that he admitted the murder to her but it wasn’t enough to convince the jury.
 
Molly Brannigans announced they are opening a restaurant in Heritage [...]

Read the full post

The Grande Mariner, a 183 ft cruise ship that carries 100 passengers, arrived in Erie yesterday. Instead of docking at the “Cruise Boat Terminal”, it tied up at West Dobbin’s Landing. Jeff at Erie Shipping News pointed out that it will probably be 2010 before one cruise ship actually docks at the “Cruise Boat [...]

Read the full post

Erie Blogger Scott McCausland has been ordered by the United States Government to switch to Windows from Ubuntu, a free Debian derived Linux-based operating system. Scott is on probation and the monitoring system will only run on Windows. This comes awful close to cruel and unusual punishment. His related entry. There have been a number [...]

Read the full post

 
Shares of Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE), Erie Insurance, yesterday skyrocketed $2.82 to 59.40, a jump of 5 percent. On Friday July 27 the stock closed at 50.96. The company now is worth $3.75 billion.
 
The Northwest Regional Planning and Development Commission is sponsoring meetings with18 overseas trade representatives September 12-13 in Erie. One-on-one appointments on September [...]

Read the full post

In Erie County last year there was just under 650 foreclosures. The latest figure I heard for Erie County and Northwest PA in 2007 is over 1,400 foreclosures. Yipes. Get help before it happens. Call your lender. Refinance through another lender. Take action. Do something. The National Association of REALTORS has a brochure in pfd [...]

Read the full post

Erie Insurance announced strong financial results for the second quarter 2007. The Company also announced that Jeffrey A Ludrof, president and chief executive officer, will be leaving the Company and the board of directors for personal reasons (he has Hodgkin’s disease. Ed. note: Ludrof is quoted as saying he is in good health) and that [...]

Read the full post

 
Elizabeth Hirt Vorsheck has been named as a new individual trustee of the H O Hirt Trusts. In her role as trustee of the H O Hirt Trusts, Mrs Vorsheck replaces her father, F William Hirt, who died Friday, July 13. According to the Trust Agreement the remaining trustees, Susan Hirt Hagen and Sentinel Trust [...]

Read the full post

 
William “Bill” Hirt, board chairman of the Erie Indemnity Company and retired president and chief executive officer of Erie Insurance, passed away on July 13, 2007, at the age of 82. During his tenure as CEO (1976-1990), Erie Insurance grew 15 times in assets and nine times in premiums, making it larger than 99 percent [...]

Read the full post

Never screw with Erie Insurance. The IRS and FBI are investigating insurance payments made to Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce of Erie. Joyce received $390,000 from Erie Insurance and $50,000 from another insurance company following a 2002 car accident.
Daniel Meyer was named the new conductor of the Erie Philharmonic. Meyer is currently the resident [...]

Read the full post

“One of the most dangerous places in the US is the space between a senator and a TV camera.”
Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge of Erie, the former governor of Pennsylvania and the nations first Secretary of Homeland Security, sure sounded like a candidate for Vice President at a speech he gave to the members of the American [...]

Read the full post

 
Kevin Mahoney fo Erie PA was named a Carnegie Medal winner yesterday by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The law student at Ohio State University had recently graduated from Penn State University and still was living in State College the morning of April 2, 2006. Mahoney and Matthew Emmerling saved Seth Mattleman and others from [...]

Read the full post

Jon Whaley has resigned as assistant to Mayor Joe Sinnott. I’m not sure if he was just frustrated with trying to deal the the bureaucracy of government work or if it had anything to do with the hiring of former TV reporter Erika Howland who is now working for the City of Erie. The timing [...]

Read the full post

Erie has snow on the ground and more is expected today. Snow on Easter but we had no snow for Christmas or New Year’s.
 
Riverheads High School in Staunton, VA, recently received a grant from Erie Insurance to help spread the word about safe teen driving through the company’s Lookin’ Out program. Lookin’ Out has been [...]

Read the full post

Bill Sesler, the Erie attorney and developer, announced he has given up on taking over the Parade Street grocery store project. Can’t blame him. Invest Erie Community Development Corporation filed a law suit against the city because the city wouldn’t sell them the land. The city says Invest Erie doesn’t have the financing to get [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council refused to re-hire fired Erie Police Detective Ed Dickens. After a 2 day hearing, council voted unanimously not to let him return to work. Dickens was convicted of harassment for a 2005 incident involving his wife, they were split up at the time, and her male friend.
Tomorrow is the worst day of [...]

Read the full post

Saint Vincent’s finally released a press release, 4 days after their announced “affiliation” -
Saint Vincent Health System announced plans to affiliate with Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), a national health system based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Saint Vincent Health System President and CEO Angela Bontempo made this historic announcement for Saint Vincent, the Erie community and the [...]

Read the full post

 
Presque Isle Downs and Casino opened for the first time for the first of two days of mandatory state testing of the 2,000 slot machines. It was invitation only for people that had donated to the United Way of Erie County. A second day of testing will be held on Monday. Since Presque Isle Downs [...]

Read the full post

I received more info on the City of Erie health care insurance. The city budgeted $16,500 per employee and councilperson for 2007.
In response to the questions you posed related to my e-mail, I have some additional information for you. First of all, the City of Erie is “self insured.” They pay the actual costs of [...]

Read the full post

 
Former city employee Dan Borgia, a Mario Bagnoni Democrat who must feel like he hasn’t done enough damage to the city, was on WJET-TV yesterday saying he wants the city to adopt a system for real estate taxes in the city of Erie which would have a much higher rate for land and a lower [...]

Read the full post

 
Herbert Fiss passed away earlier this week. Fiss is the guy who tricked the city in to giving him a quarter million dollars when he said he was going to build a fruit juice plant in the Erie area. He called his sceme IFP North America. Erie was at least the third city where he [...]

Read the full post

Thomas Macuilewicz, the former principal at McDowell Intermediate High School, was arraigned on charges of theft yesterday. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and all charges were bound over for trial. Macuilewicz took nearly everything of value that wasn’t nailed down at the school – computers and musical instruments including 14 synthesizers. [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council, oblivious as to their actual role, voted 5-2 to support a smoking ban in Erie County. This is a matter for Erie County Council and all it did was waste time they could have spent dealing with problems facing the city. Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr correctly pointed out they were voting to [...]

Read the full post

Here’s the 2006 election results for the major area races:
Ed Rendell defeated Lynn Swann for Pennsylvania Governor.
Bob Casey, Jr defeated Rick Santorum for US Senate.
Phil English defeated Steven Porter for US House of Representatives.
Patrick Harkins defeated Christine Pontoriero for State House, 1st District.
Flo Fabrizio was unopposed for State House, 2nd District.
John Hornaman defeated Matthew Good, [...]

Read the full post

Erie Insurance (Nasdaq: ERIE) announced financial results for the third quarter 2006. Net income was $52.8 million for the third quarter of 2006 compared to $53.0 million at September 30, 2005. Net income per share increased 7.9 percent to $0.82 per share, compared to $0.76 per share in the comparable quarter of 2005. [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council yesterday held a meeting to talk about the city amusement tax. The tax raised about $36,000 for the four month period of June through September. Council had thought the tax would raise $500,000. It would have raised that amount if there were 56 months in a year. There are in fact 12 [...]

Read the full post

Rexnord will acquire Zurn Industries, Jacuzzi’s plumbing fixtures and fittings manufacturing business in Erie, Pa, and will create a new water management business at Rexnord. Separately, RBS’s private equity owner Apollo Management has agreed to purchase whirlpool bath and spa manufacturer Jacuzzi Brands (NYSE: JJZ) in a $1.25 billion deal. Al Marini of Erie, president [...]

Read the full post

There are a lot of deer in Pennsylvania and in the other states Erie Insurance serves. One in every 100 drivers nationally is likely to have a collision with a deer. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that deer-vehicle crashes rack up $1.1 billion in property damages, tens of thousands of injuries, and [...]

Read the full post

Erie Indemnity Company (Nasdaq: ERIE) announced financial results for the second quarter 2006:
Net income decreased by 26.1 percent to $56.3 million, from $76.2 million at June 30, 2005.
Net income per share decreased by 21.8 percent to $0.86 per share, compared to $1.10 per share in the comparable quarter for 2005.
Net revenue from investment operations decreased [...]

Read the full post

David McHenry was charged with the murder of Joshua DiBello. Police also recovered the murder weapon yesterday. Tips and details by the public along with good police work solved this crime in less than a week.
I received the following:
Jared Smith is an American citizen, born in Erie, PA, he is 25 years old and he [...]

Read the full post

The local TV stations including WSEE ran this story about the large increase in visitor spending in the Erie area. The state tourism office has a study that says visitor spending went up 41 percent from 2001 to 2004 to $654 million, up $191 million from 2001. Presque Isle State Park and the bayfront are [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council has given Invest Erie until July 1 to get financing for the grocery store project at 19th and Parade Streets. Attorney Billl Sessler wants to take over the project from the group that hasn’t done anything in the past four years.
Erie Indemnity Company (Erie Insurance) announced results for the first quarter. Net [...]

Read the full post

The City of Erie has laid-off police officers and firefighters, has millions in unpaid bills it can’t afford to pay and is generally close to the brink of financial disaster yet they are spending $30,l76 to plant 112 trees around the city. Maybe the trees will be put in the potholes on the streets we [...]

Read the full post

Harborcreek Township received a $500,000 federal grant for the for its $2.6 million Shades Beach Off-Shore Improvements Project. The latest grant will be used for a walkway and parking. The next step will be boat launches and breakwalls which could be in place by next Fall. Shades Beach is located at 7000 East Lake Road [...]

Read the full post

Erie East High School grad Goran Rahim is now a published author. His book of poems is titled “A Faded Love“.
Rahim was was born just miles outside the Kurdish city of Kirkuk, Iraq. He was 5 when Saddam Hussein began killing ethnic Kurds. His family fled to Pakistan. At age 16 his family resettled in [...]

Read the full post

Steris officials have to be kicking themselves for how they handled the closing of manufacturing in Erie. First, they gave the workers months of advance warning that they would be laid-off so they could look for other jobs or get retrained in another field. They only had to give a 90 day notice. Now the [...]

Read the full post

Judge Ernie DiSantis dismissed the bribery charges against former Erie Mayor Rick Filippi and his business partners Rolf Patberg and Eric Purchase. The group who still has a bundle of charges facing them including conspiracy, conflict of interest and using inside information. Filippi, Patberg and Purchase formed a partnership called Aiko Acquisitions which bought properties [...]

Read the full post

Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott appointed Ron Komorek acting city finance director.
Komorek was the Erie County Finance Director for a number of years. He retired when Rick Shenker took office. Komorek started the job less than 18 hours after City Finance Director Gary Peterson announced his resignation. This might have been in the works for some [...]

Read the full post

Anthony Mills robbed the Erie Community Credit Union at 12th and State yesterday afternoon. Police had him in custody in less than 15 minutes. He was wearing a bright yellow jacket when he robbed the place and had the jacket on his arm when police picked him up 5 blocks away.
At its regularly scheduled meeting [...]

Read the full post

On Friday the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority said things are smelling like roses and on Monday Wall Street said the smell is in fact manure. Fitch Ratings affirmed the ‘BB+’ rating on approximately $5.0 million Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority revenue bonds.Their Rating Outlook is Negative. BB+ is only one step above junk bond status.The port [...]

Read the full post

Get your cameras ready. The old smokestack at Koehler Brewery will be imploded on Thursday February 9, 2006 to make way for constuction of a new building at Koehler Brewery Square. Cornerstone Healthcare, Urbaniak Brothers and a Pennsylvania Wine and Spirts store have signed leases to move into the new complex.
Randy Brewer announced he [...]

Read the full post

There will a CelebrateErie this year. Celebrate Erie will be held the third weekend in August, 2006. Years ago this event was known as We Love Erie Days. Many people faulted the Fillipi administration for the way they ran things, but his event was a major success in every aspect. Tina Mengine and Tammy Roche [...]

Read the full post

Here is the complete press release by Steris of the company closing down the Erie manufacturing operations. It sucks that 450 families are affected. The company cited the high cost of doing business in Erie. Steris has over 5,000 employees in 17 states and in Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. The cost of [...]

Read the full post

The loud flushing sound heard in Erie PA on Thursday was a campaign going down the toilet. Gubernatorial candidate Bill Scranton made a campaign stop in Erie and made national news firing his campaign manager James Seif for making racial remarks about Lynn Swann. Seif appeared late Wednesday on a television call-in show about the [...]

Read the full post

The main water cooler topic yesterday in Erie was Mayor Joe Sinnott going over to the studios of radio station Rocket 101 and breaking their boards. OK, it was wooden boards and not equipment. Sinnott showed off his martial arts skills to publicize the 30th Anniversary of the King Cobra Open which will be held [...]

Read the full post

Two Erie School District teachers were reportly suspended for having downloaded porn onto district owned computers. Note to other Erie teachers – after deleting the images you have downloaded, empty the recycle bin. The District blocks sites such as Xanga and MySpace but teachers can download porn. Sounds about right.
Former Erie mayor Rick Filippi is [...]

Read the full post

Saint Vincent Health System (St Vincent Hospital) held a formal groundbreaking at 24th and Myrtle on a $28.2 million expansion project. Landmark Healthcare Facilities LLC will finance and own the medical office building. Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott was all over the news saying how great that it was a new private development and that it [...]

Read the full post

Erie based Spectrum Control has purchased the former Murata Erie plant near Harrisburg PA for $1 (but Murata received $5.1 for the property with the state footing the bill). They will initially hire 130 workers. The Murata plant will become Spectrum Control’s ceramic operations design and manufacturing center, replacing a New Orleans plant that was [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council yesterday held yet another budget session. Once again, there was no talk of cutting expenses, only raising taxes. They agreed to a tax on rental properties of $40. This amount could be raised possibly up to $100 because the vote was only preliminary. It must still pass two readings to become an [...]

Read the full post

City of Erie AFSCME members tabled a vote on agreeing to pay 15 percent of their health care coverage. They didn’t want to agree to it and then have the police and firefighters say no way. Mayor-elect Joe Sinnot said it is an all or nothing proposition with the three unions. If all the unions [...]

Read the full post

On Friday, Lindsey Fuhrman of Erie PA will be on the Tyra Banks Show. Watch it or record it. The show airs on WFXP Fox 66 on Friday at 4 pm. Four years ago, Lindsey received a heart transplant. On the show, she’ll meet the family of the girl that saved her life. How do [...]

Read the full post

Erie City Council yesterday held a budget review session for the proposed 2006 budget They focused on the Public Works Department. Plans call for 19 workers to be layed-off with a savings of about $2.3 million. However, those 19 workers are teamsters with bumping rights so most of them will still have jobs next year. [...]

Read the full post

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 [...]

Read the full post

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 [...]

Read the full post

Michael McQuillen, interim president of Mercyhurst College, said he will not change the name of Garvey Park. The faculty senate recommended changing the name because former president, Dr William Garvey, has been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with children whe Garvey was a basketall coach. McQuillen and Garvey are buddies and wrote a book [...]

Read the full post

MTR Gaming is now asking for $29 million from the Summit Township Development Authority, down from the previous amount of $37.5 million, from intrastructure improvements for the building of Presque Isle Downs. If it means MTR build build more buildings to add to th tax base and hire more people worth $29 million, give them [...]

Read the full post

If you own property in the City of Erie, the value of your house or building just went down 5 percent. The budget for next year is about $10 million out of wack. Erie City Councilmen Jim Casey, Ian Murray and other want to raise property taxes. Casey said, well, taxes haven’t gone up in [...]

Read the full post

The Board of Directors of Erie Indemnity Company (Nasdaq: ERIE) approved the extension of employment contracts for the Company’s seven principal executive officers. The amended contracts will become effective on December 12, 2005 upon the expiration of current contracts for president and chief executive officer Jeffrey A Ludrof; senior executive vice president Jan R Van [...]

Read the full post