What animals live in the sky above us?

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I am so glad that it’s Friday. Was it just me or was this week completely brutal?
Dasa, an orangutan at the Erie Zoo, gave birth to a baby boy last week. The new arrival does not yet have a name.
Mercyhurst College and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) have announced a partnership [...]

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We can’t think of many things that are more fun then a ride around the zoo on the train. It’s not a full ride, but it’ll have to do until you get a chance to get the Erie Zoo this year.

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A man was pulled out of Lake Chautauqua and taken to Erie for treatment. We took a ride around the Peninsula Saturday and saw lots of spots where the ice was gone. It’s getting warmer now, so if you’re out there on the ice please be careful. If you’re keeping track at home, we’re about [...]

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Vincent Davis was arraigned yesterday for the death of his 5 month old daughter Savonnia Davis. The “father” admitted to shaking his daughter because she was crying.  And if you’re still not sure what kind of guy Vincent Davis is, in addition to being charged with homicide he is also being charged with [...]

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Reader Ed Kindle, professional photographer and former Erieite, alerted us to his very cool collection of old Erie postcards on Flickr. There are over 170 photos and depictions of Erie in days gone by, with interesting views of the peninsula and downtown. The set also includes scenes from Waldameer of rides long gone [...]

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Today is the first day of deer hunting. If you’re going out, please be careful and don’t shoot the animals with the orange vests. Unfortunately, the weather doesn’t look that great for hunting–snow isn’t expected to start falling until later in the day.
Congratulations you survived Black Friday.  Today for internet retailers is their Black [...]

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Federal prosecutors in the child pornography case against Jeremy Noyes are appealing a courts decision to allow him to remain free until his trial. Prosecutors argue that Noyes of Erie is a danger to the community and could establish a colony of sex slaves at any time. In an interesting twist, Noyes voluntarily [...]

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A fundraising event for the Lindsay Graygo Empowerment Scholarship Fund will be held tonight, August 13, from 5-8 p.m. at Molly Brannigans. Celebrity bartenders will serve up your favorite drinks and a Chinese auction will be held. Bartender tips and auction proceeds will go to directly to the fund. If you would [...]

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What did the five fingers say to the face of Erie County Government? SLAP! Judge Michael ruled yesterday that Erie County government will not get its way with half of the tax revenue generated from Presque Isle Downs & Casino. Instead Summit Township along with Millcreek, McKean, and Greene townships and McKean [...]

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Roar on the Shore motorcycle rally begins today at noon and runs through Sunday. Today’s highlights include a bike parade beginning at Presque Isle Downs in Summit Township and ending at Perry Square in downtown Erie. Peter Fonda will lead the parade and afterward, will be available for autographs. Live music begins [...]

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The Erie Zoo reopens today after being closed for the Winter. Hours are 10 am everyday until 5pm. During the summer months, the zoo is open until 6 pm on Sundays. The Zoo is closed December, January and February. Admission prices are $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, $4 for children 2-11, children [...]

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The Greater Erie Board of Realtors released the January 2008 property transfer figures for Erie County PA. The reports shows that 243 properties were sold for $41,202,807. This compares to January 2007 when 280 properties sold for $44,849,368 and January 2006 when 254 changed hands for $26,951,813. The figures include residential, commercial, investment properties as [...]

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For this week’s Erie YouTube of the Week, we head to the Erie Zoo. Now that I’ve got two little ones, we try to go to the zoo as often as possible. It’s a great zoo for a city our size, and the recent improvements and additions they’ve recently completed have made it even nicer. [...]

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The Pennsylvania House and Senate approved a $27.2 billion budget, a 4.4 percent increase from last year. The Pennsylvania Senate stuck to their guns and defeated 7 tax increases proposed by Governor Rendell while the state had a $650 million surplus.
 
The 1933 Barbara Stanwyck film “Baby Face,” whose racy content inspired the Hays Production Code [...]

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James J Jackson, who slashed the face of a 15 month baby girl when he tried to stab Marcus Gray, turned himself in to Erie Police on Friday. Jackson must have been in a hurry to go to jail because he didn’t bother to put a shirt on. Marcus Gray was in the backseat of [...]

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Judge Anthony Vardaro shot down the sale of 3 acres in Conneaut Lake Park. The $1.7 million would have been used to pay down debt and allow the park to have funds to open this year. Headdesk for everyone involved. The judge only seemed to disagree with the sale because he has given so [...]

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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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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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Erie Pa based American Resort Management announced an April groundbreaking for the Volcano Island Resort in Fairmont, WV. The first phase of the resort will be an $87 million indoor/ outdoor waterpark, along with a hotel and conference center. Also in the plans are a 20 screen movie theater, a variety of retail stores, restaurants, [...]

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A Jeep driven by Maurice Bort of Erie going West on I-90 drove over median and struck another Jeep head-on which was travelling East on 90. Both drivers were killed. Traffic was tied up for nearly 3 hours. Drivers from out of town that exited the thruway trying to find a way around the accident [...]

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Developer Brad Fairfield announced he received funding to begin construction of Koehler Brewery Square. Hallelujah. National City Bank has joined Sky Bank in providing the financing. Construction is expected to start by the end of November and the building for Cornerstone Healthcare Group should be move in ready by the end of 2007. Fairfield has [...]

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Brad Fairfield, developer of the Koehler Brewery Square Project, has a press conference scheduled for 10:30 am this morning. He was still looking for over $3 million in financing last I heard and if he got it you would think he’d let the world know immediately.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer ran a good story that mentions [...]

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Presque Isle Downs received a slot machine operating license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Let’s see if I can write about this without getting a phone call at work like I did at the end of September because of this post. It took me a week to get over the apprehension of starting my [...]

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Paragon Print Systems formally opened their new building at Joyce A Savocchio Business Park, the former junkyard turned into an industrial park by the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. The Paragon Print Systems story has been the story of Erie economic growth for the past decade and will be a story repeated many times in [...]

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The Erie County Department of Health Board of Directors – Anthony M Ruffa (877-7686) , Johnie M Atkinson, Paul F Burroughs (833-2222), Richard A Ortoski (866-8446) and William W Cobert (835-5039) – voted unanimously on a resolution to ban smoking in public places in Erie County including restaurants and bars. The resolution goes to [...]

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Christian Huckaby of Cleveland, a student at Mercyhurst North East, died when the car he was riding in went off the road on Interstate 90 near I-271 in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. Marcus Hawkins of Cleveland, also a student at Mercyhurst NE, was transported to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The two were on [...]

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Questions remain about the circumstance that resulted in the accidential death on Friday evening of Andrew Polakowski of Erie. Polakowski, a freshman at Ohio State, was pinned between an elevator car and the third fllor of Stradley Hall. He had just entered the elevator and when he changed his mind and tried to exit the [...]

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The Erie Redevelopment Authority received a $950,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for the Mercantile Building revitalization project. Plans call for retail space on the first floor, offices on the second and third floors and residential condos on the top 2 floors. The Erie Redevelopment Authority took over the building earlier this year [...]

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The best argument against democracy is five minutes of an average Erie City Council meeting. However, they did pretty well last night electing Joseph Schember to fill the counicl seat caused by the resignation of Dr Lonnie Gatlin. Gatlin resigned for ‘health reasons’ which was a polite way of saying the actual reason which everyone [...]

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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 [...]

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The Eloise Woodsbey lawsuit again A and M Homes, Regal Financial and other reached court yesterday. It’s being handled in US Bankruptcy Court since it’s part of her bankruptcy filings. Judge Warren W Bentz urged both sides to reach a settlement which is what apparea will happen. Woodsbey will most likely keep her home [...]

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Pennsylvania State Police released the name of the man shot and killed on Saturday in the parking lot of Lazer Tag at Splash Lagoon. The man was indetified as Jesus Mancilla aka Edward Pina, an illegal immigrant living in Ashtabula, Ohio. The usupect in the shooting is 17 year old Donnie Swift of Highland, Michigan.
Downing [...]

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A man was shot and killed Saturday afternoon outside the Lazer Tag at Splash Lagoon. The victim and the suspect, who is till on the run, were not from this area. I’m guessing drugs.
Erie received 1.3 inches of snow on Saturday. WTF. It was October 14 for cripes sakes. The low temperature was 33 degrees [...]

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I don’t think the people of Erie realize how bad the Buffalo area got hit with snow. There are 390,000 people without power. The Erie hotels are packed with refugees from WNY and cars are streaming down I-90 for food, gas, generators and batteries.
On a realated note.. There is now a severe blood shortage in [...]

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The Erie Times-News repoted today that Dr Chuck Rosenthal and his brothers, Peter and James, have filed a lawsuit against former Mercyhurst College President William Garvey and Mercyhurst board of trustees chairwoman Marlene Mosco. Chuck Rosenthal was the first to publically accuse Gavey of sexually assualting him. A number of others, think the number is [...]

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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 [...]

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The Center for eBusiness and Advanced Information Technology (eBizITPA) is selling it’s web-based reverse auction tool eDynaQuote. eBizITPA provides education and training programs in e-business and advanced information technology processes. “eBizITPA has effectively completed its role as originator and incubator of eDQ,” according to Susan Breon, president of eBizITPA. “The business possesses a solid fixed [...]

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The conversations around Erie centered on Chytoria Graham and what she did to her baby. Graham used her 1 month old baby to strike her boyfriend. The baby is in a Pittsburgh hospital in a drug induced coma with brain damage. There were reports that she confessed to police. What a despicable crime. Tom Vinca, [...]

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Chytoria Graham is in jail facing assault and other charges after using her 1 month old baby as a weapon to hit her boyfriend. She swung the baby to hit him as if it was a frying pan. Her own baby. The child was flown to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. She should have her [...]

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The Erie SeaWolves alumni team, the Detroit Tigers, completed a remarkable upset of the New York Yahkees with Saturday’s 8-3 win. The Yankees will be playing golf while the Tigers will face the Oakland A’s in the ALCS. Nearly half of the Tigers roster are former Erie SeaWolves players.
Gannon University honored four individuals at its [...]

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Alcor, the Erie Zoo polar bear, died yesterday just hours after surgery to help stablize his broken wrist. The bear spend over 2 hours in recovery and was just minutes into the trip from the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center near Philadelphia to the Cleveland Zoo for rehab when his heart stopped.
A 93 ton [...]

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Alcor, the 750 lbs polar bear at the Erie Zoo, will undergo surgery today at the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center. Doctors will attempt to place screw and a metal plate in the bears arm which was broken in two places just above its right paw. The surgical team will be lead by Dr [...]

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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 [...]

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Tumai, the male lowland gorilla headed for the Erie Zoo, had a heart attack and died on the airplane from Memphis. This is the second gorilla to die on route to Erie. Kuba, from the Topeka Zoo, had a heart attack while making the trip to Erie in November of 2005. The 41st annual Erie [...]

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Trout fishing season opens in Pennsylvania today at 8 am.
The US Brig Niagara will be prepared for the Summer sailing season today. The tarp will be removed and the masts (118 feet and 113 feet) and rigging will be installed.
The Journal of Asian Martial Arts is a publication that examines the history, culture and techniques [...]

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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 [...]

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A microbrewery is being planned for the old Porter`s Restaurant in Union Station. I’m guessing they will be buying a Price-Schonstrom system. Chris Sirianni said they are planning to be open by July. The BrewErie At Union Station will be a brew-on-premises (BOP) brewpub. That I believe. The talk of a number of a number [...]

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In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Black Knight wanted to continue to fight even though he had lost both arms and legs. King Arthur said “What are you gonna do, bleed on me”? This sounds like what’s happening in Erie with members of United Auto Workers Local 832 and Steris Corporation.
Steris is moving [...]

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Four Mercyhurst College freshman football players were charged with beating an Erie man outside of Peccadillo’s Bar. Facing assault charges are Theo Hall of Cincinnati, Aaron Hayes of Beachwood, Ohio, Dwayne Marshall of Trotwood, Ohio and Richard Stokes of Cincinnati. The four were suspended from the team. No word as yet if Bobby Bowden [...]

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Orson Welles cause near paic with a radio broadcast of ‘War of the Worlds’ in 1938 when people thought it was a real alien invasion. The Northwestern Pennsylvania Emergency Response Group 2 terorism drill yesterday in Franklin was halted when a citizen called 911 in Erie to report a bombing. It resumed later when it [...]

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Erie Police Chief Charles E ‘Chuck’ Bowers announced that he will be retiring. He will have served for 36 years as a City of Erie Police officer. Bowers is exactly the kind of guy you want on your police force. Hard charging, non nonsense, ain’t going to take no crap from no criminal kind of [...]

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Attention to all the attractive, young girls in the Erie area. Do guys think you are hot before they hear “Would you like another beer for last call?” If so, you might be interested in competing in Jenna Morasca’s Model Challenge USA 2006. Pictured are 1st Runner Up Jamie Fausnaught, Winner Julia Castano, 2nd Runner [...]

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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 [...]

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America’s Most Wanted will air new info on the Brian Wells pizza bomber case this Saturday, November 5 at 9 pm. On August 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a 46-year-old pizza deliveryman from Erie PA, perished as a bomb that was strapped around his neck exploded. Authorities have been puzzled by the bizarre details of that [...]

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With all required permits in place the initial phase of construction of the new Presque Isle Downs, located in Summit Township, has begun. Preliminary land development and a new road to Pennbriar Drive will be the critical first steps toward construction of this exciting gaming destination. Ted Arneault, CEO of Mountaineer Gaming, called this “a [...]

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