After winter storms pummel the beaches and bring debris, your help is needed to get the beaches ready for summer. The 51st Annual Spring Clean Up at Presque Isle State Park is today from 9 am to 1 pm. Volunteers for the day will receive a commemorative patch, lunch, and a chance at some great [...]

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Herman Bowman is sitting in jail and it might be his new home for awhile. Bowman worked at the Erie Wastewater Treatment Facility. He didn’t like the way his boss for treating him and met with someone in the human resources department. Bowman said that if his boss didn’t get off his case he would [...]

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If you plan on taking I-90 between Erie PA and Buffalo NY today, forget about it. The Seneca Nation of Indians has the thruway blocked and vehicles attempting to go through are trespassing. I-90 goes through the Cattaraugus Reservation. New York state wants to collect sales taxes on the sale of tobacco and gasoline products [...]

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Edinboro University of Pennsylvania faculty yesterday held a protest march on campus. The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) union contract for the 14 state schools expires on June 30. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education gave the union a 3.3 percent pay raise for the last contract.
 
Presque Isle Downs and [...]

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Bethlehem Council President J Michael Schweder put a resolution on the council agenda requiring half the casino host fee go toward providing real estate tax relief to property owners. Giving tax money back to the taxpayers – a novel approach. Las Vegas Sands is building the casino on the former Bethlehem Steel property. The casino [...]

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A downed power line caused a fire at Auto Express on Wattsburg Road. The line went down on top of a row of used vehicles. One caught on fire and high winds pushed the flames and gasoline to the others. Firefighters had to wait till Penelec turned off the juice before the could put out [...]

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There is snow on the grass and the cars. It’s April 15th. WTF.
The Gannon University Student Occupational Therapy Association is holding a wheelchair basketball game on Tuesday. Inviting the Edinboro University Rolling Scots, a team that recently played in the finals of the 30th Annual National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Championship, would have been a good [...]

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GE Transportation in Erie will be the subject of a feature article by Thomas Friedman in this Sunday’s New York Times magazine. The article is called “Green is the new red white and blue.” The Discovery Channel is also running a documentary version on Saturday April 21 at 9 pm. The gist of the story [...]

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Nexstar Broadcasting (WJET-TV and WFXP Fox 66) yesterday launched YourErie.com. It’s the WJET-TV site content plus video clips, classified ads and local business info. The classified ads are free – for now. Smart move. That will be a money maker in the future. The local business directory listings appear to be an old version of [...]

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David McHenry entered a plea agreement in the murder of Joshua Dibello. Dibello was found dead in his car in the parking lot of Herman’s, 28th and Old French. He died from a gunshot to the head. McHenry was sentenced to 22-45 years in prison.
Walter Hendl passed away at age 90 in his home in [...]

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Scott Enterprises, the Erie, PA based company that runs a host of hotels and restaurants in Northwestern Pennsylvania, including the popular indoor water park Splash Lagoon, plans to enter the Buffalo Niagara market by building a hotel at Transit Road and Sheridan Drive in Clarence, NY. Scott Enterprises will also open one or two restaurants [...]

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U S Army Air Force Staff Sergeant Richard R Sargent of North Girard (now Lake City) in Erie County is finally coming home after 63 years. Remains of 10 crew members, including Sargent, of a B-24 Liberator that was returning from a bombing raid and went down April 16, 1944 on the north coast of [...]

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Nader Elguindi was born in Essex, England in 1971. He parents immigrated to the United States when he was 2. The family made Erie PA their home. The family later lived in Pittsburgh and Augusta, GA. Nader Elguindi graduated from Appalachian State University graduating in 1992 and went to Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. [...]

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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 [...]

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Staff Sergeant Ed Chorney of Erie PA, a 16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron flight engineer, is now engaged to his girlfriend of four years, Staff Sergeant Sarah Radel, a air traffic controller with the 506th Operations Support Squadron. The proposal was a little bit unusual to say the least. SSG Chorney was in a [...]

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For the month of March, wagers at Presque Isle Downs and Casino totaled $206,071,163.08. Payouts were $186,914,595.44. Erie County will received about $10 million a year in taxes from the racino. A public hearing was held yesterday to figure out how to spend the windfall. The money will be put into 2 accounts – one [...]

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Port Dover is out for the destination for ferry service across Lake Erie from Erie to Ontario, Canada. Norfolk County Mayor Dennis Travale said Port Dover Recreational Harbour Marina is now out. I’m not sure if anyone in Erie knows this. The Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority commissioned a 65 foot boat which will be able [...]

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Bishop Michael J Murphy, the former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie passed away on Tuesday. He was 91. He became head of the Erie Diocese in 1978 succeeded retiring Bishop Alfred M Watson. Murphy served as Erie’s Catholic bishop until his retirement in July 1990.
 
Erie Cathedral Prep has a press conference scheduled [...]

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Robin Hecker, the former 10th grade English teacher at Northwestern High School, entered into a plea deal with the DA’s office. She faces a max of 5 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a 16 year old male student.
Erie County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Kelly ruled that Danielle Bimber does not have [...]

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Edinboro University of Pennsylvania announced there will be renovations to Sox Harrison Stadium and McComb Fieldhouse. Sox Harrison will be getting artificial turf, new lights and a new scoreboard. Work on both projects will begin as soon as the semester ends.
 
The Erie City Water Authority Erie Water Works is flushing some lines today. So flush [...]

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GoErie has abandoned their registration process to view their site. They expect a readership increase of 40-50 percent.
Erie City Council issued a major announcement. They vowed a reduction in real estate taxes and a hiring freeze. They also will only meet twice a year from now on saying “The less council is is in session, [...]

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Waldameer Amusement Park and Water World held the official ground breaking for the Ravine Flyer II. The Ravine Flyer II will be a wooden roller coaster. The coaster will traverse Peninsula Drive (State Route 832) and have great views of Lake Erie. It is expected to open in 2008.
 
 
Erie Bank held the official ground breaking [...]

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GAF Materials Corporation has closed their Erie roofing shingle plant. In January the company announced they were shuttering the 120 year old plant on the bayfront. Around 160 people were laid-off. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the property. It’s located on the bay directly to the left of the Erie [...]

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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 [...]

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For those of you that didn’t do well in science, ice melts at 32 degrees.
Yesterday, a women (name withheld to protect the stupid) was on the ice dunes at Presque Isle State Park when a chunk broke off. Amazingly, she had her cell phone on her, called 911 and was rescued by members of the [...]

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A court hearing was held yesterday concerning the Erie Golf Course. The hearing will continue in April. The city wants to sell the property while the Lake Erie Region Conservancy, the Keep Erie Golf Course Open Committee which is headed by former councilman Jim Casey, and Jim Casella, the former assistant city public works director, [...]

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A meeting was held on Sunday to discuss Conneaut Lake Park. It’s been a broken record for years. Will the amusement park have the money to open? A court appointed custodian for the park has an agreement of sale to sell 3.3 acres of lakefront property to pay off debt. The $1.7 million sale proceeds [...]

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The first place spot at the 2007 Buckeye Regional Robotics Competition went to an alliance team of students from Erie, Pa. Team 291 is comprised students from The Northwest Collegiate Academy, Erie Villa Maria Academy and Erie Central High School. The competition combined elements of intramural sports, technological wizardry and mechanical repair work. The competition [...]

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General McLane won the Pennsylvania Class AAA basketball championship defeating Greencastle-Antrim 57-55. General McLane also won the state Class AAA football title. That’s the first time in Pennsylvania a school has won both titles in the same school year.
 
On Friday, forty-four people took the oath and became US citizens in a ceremony held at the [...]

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The US Census Bureau released their Annual Estimates of the Population for Counties. According to their guess, the population of Erie County as of July 1, 2006 was 279,811. That’s down 373 people from 2005 estimate of 280,184. The 2000 census figure was 280,843.
 
The US Committee For Refugees and Immigrants is officially merging with the [...]

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On Tuesday, County Council Chairman Fiore Leone had a sheriff’s deputy remove Dan Galena from Erie County Council Chambers. Galena is a Republican who is running for the District 7 seat on council. Galena accused council of violating county rules and the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Here is the email I received from Mr Galena with [...]

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Three fires claimed three lives in less than 24 hours. Richard Hunt of Corry died in his East Main Street home in a fire that broke out around 1 pm. A fire at 457 West Front St broke out around 2:45 and claimed the life of a women. I’m selling the home next door at [...]

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Home Depot released in an SEC 8-K filing that Tom Ridge of Erie will not run for election to their board of directors. Ridge was appointed to the board in 2005. When former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli left the company in January, he received a pay package worth $210 million under an agreement negotiated [...]

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The New York Times published a story yesterday about the Shriners. In it was something that happened in Erie that I hadn’t heard before. The Shriners support the Shriners Hospitals for Children including the Erie hospital.
 
In one of the rare cases where the Shrine prosecuted wrongdoing, the Zem Zem temple in Erie, Pa, accused a [...]

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A bathroom remodeling at The Depot Restaurant and Lounge, which was a former train station in Yakima, Washington, revealed a carving of famous hobo and author, A-No 1, Leon Ray Livingston of Erie PA. His hobo name and the year 1935 were etched on a marble bathroom wall divider. Owner Karl Pasten had the watch [...]

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I talked to someone at Presque Isle Downs and Casino that said 8-9 out of town buses have scheduled trips to Erie but out local bus company, the EMTA (Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority) still hasn’t made a decision on providing service. Has anyone told them the place is open and employs 700 people that might [...]

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Radnor Property Group and Fourth River Development were picked as the development team for the first phase of the downtown Erie redevelopment plan. The area is between Holland and Sassafras Streets, 12th to 14th Streets. Radnor and Fourth River announced (press release) they were looking for a project to do together back in December after [...]

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Greg Jacobs of Bellevue Ohio died Tuesday as a result of injuries received on a ski trip at Peek’ n Peak ski resort. He was 18. This occured at the Monroeville High School annual senior class trip. He was not wearing a helmet even though his mother had given him extra money for one.
Bliley Technologies [...]

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The deal to take over ownership and operation of the Cottbus-Drewitz Airport in Germany is dead. Erie Aviation worked for years on the plan to purchase the former air force base and have direct cargo flights between Erie International Airport and Cottbus-Drewitz. Erie Aviation ships literally tons of aircraft parts a week to Europe. This [...]

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Tara Maras and Donna Kozik worked at Erie Insurance in their communications department. Tara Maras and family decided to move to Las Vegas. Boxes Packed: 143. Donna Kozik and her family decided to move to San Diego. Boxes Packed: 111. They not only left Erie and their jobs, they made a living doing so. Together [...]

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The Erie County Department of Health released their 2007 Erie County Health Assessment. in 2000-04, 41.4 percent of children born in Erie County PA were bastards, born to single mothers. In 2004, the pregnancy rate for underage teenage girls (ages 15-17) in Erie County was 18.9 percent per 1000 girls. Over 60 percent of county [...]

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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 [...]

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Erie School District Superintendent James Barker had his contract extended for 5 years by the Erie School Board. He`ll get a 3 percent salary increase each year plus cost of living adjustments. He’ll be making about a quarter million dollars a year by the end of the contract. Barker doesn’t live in Erie so [...]

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Chytoria Graham pleaded guilty to charges that swung her month old baby like a baseball bat to hit her boyfriend. She will be sentenced on May 8.
Edinboro University’s Eighth Annual Frank G Pogue Honors Scholarship Luncheon takes place today at the Courtyard by Marriott Ambassador Banquet and Conference Center. Sharon Stone, who attended Edinboro, will [...]

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Presque Isle Downs and Casino is crushing the projections of the handle they said they would do. On Saturday, the slots parlor took in $13.6 million in wagers and paid out $12.4 million. Presque Isle Downs is located at Exit 27 (Route 97) of Interstate 90. It’s open from 9 am to 4 am daily. [...]

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According the Brookings Institution study – From ‘There’ to ‘Here’: Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America – an analysis of refugees as a percentage of overall immigrants, the Erie PA area ranked third in a list of Medium-sized USA metropolitan areas. From 1983-2004, 4,545 refugees made Erie their new home including 2,969 from 1990-2000. The International [...]

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Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy won the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) Pennsylvania state competition and will move on to the national competition, which takes place in Hawaii this year. This year’s team comprises Amy Babay, Matt Faytak, and Samantha Ohmer (honors); Amal Abukar, Alexa Johnson, and Alicia Quick (scholastic); and Josh Ohmer, Celeste Trombetta, and [...]

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Erie County Judge John Bozza granted a permanent injunction preventing the county wide smoking ban from taking effect. The judge concluded that the county ordinance violated the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act. Congrats to Eric Purchase on the win. This is exactly what the county solicitor told Erie County Council would happen. The arrogant members [...]

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The numbers for the opening day of Presque Isle Downs and Casino were staggering. I think company officials were even a bit stunned at how well they did. Here are the unofficial, unaudited figures from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The amount wagered was $8,881,234. The amount paid out as winnings was $8,068,267 for a [...]

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Presque Isle Downs and Casino opened yesterday to huge crowds. They estimated that 10,000 visited on opening day. I think that number is being very conservative. I think it was closer to 15,000. It seemed that about 60 percent of the cars in the lot had Pennsylvania tags. There were a ton of people from [...]

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The Erie PA casino will open today at 9 am. Presque Isle Downs and Casino will be opening, including 2,000 slot machines, following receipt of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s final approval to open the facility. Situated on a 272-acre site, approximately 58.4 acres of which are dedicated to the public as open space, Presque [...]

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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 [...]

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The Presque Isle Downs and Casino Roarin’ 20’s Players Club is the casino’s player club. As a member, you’ll receive special discounts and comps, special invitations to player only events, promotional mailings and the opportunity to win big prizes that are exclusive to the Roarin’ 20’s Players Club members. When I think Roaring 20’s I [...]

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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 [...]

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A dozen people were arrested Thursday for operating a meth distribution ring primarily in the west county. They were importing the meth from Mexico. A heard a funny tongue-in-cheek rant about how the bust will preserve American manufacturing jobs in the methamphetamine industry. Here’s the press release by the Attorney General.
 
I was looking for info [...]

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Saint Vincent Health Center has become an affiliate of Catholic Health Partners of Cincinnati. Affiliate in this case means taken over by. I don’t care if they say St V’s will still be run by people in Erie or that it will help them in recruiting doctors, it’s no longer a local hospital.
 
The preliminary ruling [...]

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There was a shooting in North East PA last evening shortly after 11 pm. A North East Police officer responding to a domestic dispute shot a man in the left side of the chest. The man is in Hamot in critical condition. Pennsylvania State Police took over the investigation because it was an officer involved [...]

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James Skindell has resigned as head of security as Presque Isle Downs. Cripe, he didn’t even make it to opening day. No reason was given and I haven’t even heard a rumor as to why he quit. Presque Isle Downs slots casino will open on February 28. Skindell retired as deputy chief of the City [...]

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Rick Kaczenski of Erie PA will soon be named defensive line coach at the University of Iowa. Kaczenski has served as a grad assistant at Iowa the past tow years. He served as the offensive line and tight ends coach at Elon University in 2004. He held the same position at East Tennessee State during [...]

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WJET-TV reported that Millcreek School District official were told by Erie County District Attorney Bradley Foulk that former McDowell Intermediate High School principal Tom Maciulewicz will not be accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program. ARD would have meant nearly a free ride for Maciulewicz. He was making nearly $100,000 when he stole a [...]

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Pittsburgh has always had a residency requirement for city employees. With Erie negotiating union contracts this year, it’s something the city should consider reinstating. Make it a condition for all new hires that the individual must make their residence within the city, within 12 months or lose their job. If you don’t live in the [...]

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Presque Isle Downs slots casino will open on February 28. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced Friday that it will hold a board meeting at
3 pm on Tuesday, February 27, 2007. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in the State Museum Auditorium located at the corner of Third and North [...]

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Scott McCausland (Sk0t) reports to the Federal Correctional Institution at Morgantown today at 2 pm. Scott was sentenced to 5 months in prison, and 5 months on home confinement, followed by 2-3 years of supervised release (probation). He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and one count of criminal copyright [...]

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Erie County Council voted last evening to delay the smoking ban from going into effect by one month until March 15. Judge John Bozza in his written decision not to impose a temporary injunction on the county wide smoking ban, strongly suggested council delay the ban. Why? Because the taxpayers of Erie County would be [...]

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Judge John Bozza denied a request for a temporary injunction for the county wide smoking ban that is scheduled to begin on Saturday February 17. However, Judge Bozza in his decision asked Erie County Council to postpone the ban until the hearing for a permanent injunction is held on Monday February 26. Council will discuss [...]

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A train derailment in Westfield NY, about 30 miles east of Erie, caused train traffic delays from Chicago to NYC. The CSX freight train had only a half dozen of the cars jump the track. There were no injuries. Traffic was diverted to the Norfolk-Southern line.
Erie is experiencing it’s coldest temperatures in nearly 4 decades. [...]

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