I’m ready for a howl of a good time.

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Erie County middle and high school students are reporting a higher incidence of alcohol use than their national peers, but much lower levels of participation in antisocial behaviors such as “being arrested” or “bringing a weapon to school,” according to the newly released 2007 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), conducted locally by the Mercyhurst College Civic [...]

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One person died in their home last night of an apparent natural gas leak or by carbon monoxide poisoning. The home is on Page Street in SE Erie. An official from the Erie County Coroners Office was called to scene as crews from National Fuel worked to repair the leak. Natural gas does not have [...]

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Former President Bill Clinton yesterday yesterday spoke to a crowd at Erie East High School. The gym was filled with the crowd estimated at 1,200 to 2,000 people. More than half were students happy for any reason to get out of classes. Clinton is a very good speaker and the length of the talk at [...]

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Former President Bill Clinton will make a campaign appearance for his wife in Erie today, Wednesday March 12 at 11:30 am. His public appearance will be held at Erie East High School, 1001 Atkins Street. Doors open at 10 am. There are no tickets, just show up. Use the gym entrance at the rear of [...]

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Over the weekend the Erie area received about 2 feet of snow. An estimated 25 percent of city side streets have yet to see a plow. City of Erie Bureau of Streets Chief Pete Petrianni has bungled the job. Petrianni has repeated over and over and over that the city has 40 plows and 350 [...]

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A City of Erie Street Department plow got stuck Sunday afternoon on East 31st Street about 40 feet west of East Avenue. Hilarious site. The street has just enough of an incline that along with the heavy snow the vehicle was plowing it just couldn’t get enough traction and slid into a snow bank. A [...]

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Erie received a little bit of snow the past two days. The city seemed to be hardest hit as about 21-26 inches fell. Most church services are cancelled. Call ahead before you leave for anything. Shovel out and make sure to check your clocks we lost an hour of sleep with Daylight Savings Time. The [...]

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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 [...]

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There is an excellent must-read story in the Charleston (WV) Gazette on the story of Bob Wiesen who grew up in the St Joseph’s Home for Children in Erie. St Joseph’s was the orphanage in Erie. Wiesen lived at the orphanage from the time he was an infant until he finished high school. The story [...]

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Tilting at windmills, Erie City Council passed a resolution calling for the City Solicitor Greg Karle to write up an ordinance calling for continuous monitoring at the proposed tires to energy plant. Karle has already told council that any effort to make emissions laws tougher than the current state or federal laws wouldn’t survive a [...]

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John Kanzius and Dr Steven Curley announced yesterday to a packed house at South Fort Myers High School Auditorium that Lee Memorial Health System in Southwest Florida will most likely be one of the six sites for human trials of the Kanzius radio wave cancer treatment. About $8 million is needed to raised for the [...]

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Erie Plastics laid off about 190 workers citing the end of a couple of big contracts. Erie Plastics makes plastic closures from coffee lids to beverage caps. The company had around 350 employees at their huge 180,000 sq ft plant in Corry, PA. Tired of the cold, nasty weather? Want to get away? All donors [...]

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On the 3d of March, 1792, the Erie Triangle, of which is most of Erie County, was purchased from the United States by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A patent was issued, signed by George Washington as President, and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State. The consideration was $151,640.25, 75 cents an acre. Map created January [...]

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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 [...]

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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 under [...]

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Karma. Former state representative Linda Bebko-Jones and her then chief of staff, Mary Fiolek, were formally charged with forging nominating petitions and submitting the fraudulent forms to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Bebko-Jones and Fiolek are scheduled to surrender next week and appear before Harrisburg Magisterial District Judge Joseph Solomon for preliminary arraignment. According to [...]

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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 [...]

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All real estate is local. What’s happening in California or Florida doesn’t effect the market in Erie. Last year you heard news about home prices falling all over the country. In Erie they rose. In an 88 page report released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, home prices in Erie were up 4.58 [...]

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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 [...]

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Scott Enterprises has a news conference scheduled for this morning to announce a 20,000 square foot, $6 million expansion to Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park Resort. Back in September, Scott Enterprises obtained $81 million as they mortgaged 10 properties. They used $49 million to refi existing debt, built two new hotels, and will use the [...]

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  John Fuhrmann, CEO of The Greater Erie County American Red Cross, announced he is retiring. Fuhrmann has led the organization for the past 10 years. A replacement has not been named.   The Gannon University Small Business Development Center held its 17th Annual Small Business Awards Program on Friday. The honorees were: New Start-up [...]

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Erie County filed an appeal with Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court over the smoking ban. Erie County Judge John Bozza ruled the ban was illegal as it violated the 1988 Clean Indoor Air Act which pre-empts and supersedes local governments the right to impose stricter regulations. Just a week ago a Commonwealth Court judge shot down an [...]

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McDowell Intermediate High School Principal Tom Maciulewicz resigned Friday. Someone sent me word that Millcreek police are conducting an investigation of some missing school equipment and that the equipment was sold on eBay. Jeff Taylor has been hired as the meteorologist for CBS Chicago weekend morning news. Taylor was at WICU-TV in Erie, Pa from [...]

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The Gannon University Small Business Development Center will honor a number of local and regional businesses at its annual Small Business Awards Program. The businesses will be honored today at a luncheon at the Ambassador Banquet and Conference Center, 7794 Peach Street. Doors will open at 11 am. Steven S Little, an author and senior [...]

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Dr Paul Heberle was acquited of Medicaid fraud and charges that he over supplied pain medication to patients. Miles Rish plead quilty to reduced charges that he sexually assaulted a female Gannon student. Rish was a Gannon freshamn at the time. Funny real estate story. I was checking out some properties for a client that [...]

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The Erie media outlets are reporting that the 5 year old kid that fell into the pool at the Glenwood YMCA on Saturday, has been released from the hospital. The child was wearing some some sort of body brace or body cast so she sunk like a stone when she went into the water. I’m [...]

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The Picture Project was created in order to help the residents of Gulfport and Biloxi retrieve photographs lost during Hurricane Katrina. More than 1,300 photos that have been posted online in a search for their owners. The Picture Project is a volunteer undertaking by some kind folks in Erie, Pa including Sue Weber and Connie [...]

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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 [...]

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The Powell Avenue bridge closes today. PennDOT is replacing it. Signs has been in place for weeks announcing this fact but hundreds of people will be on Powell doing u-turns today. IPLogic LLC of Albany has acquired TR Communications Inc of Buffalo. TR Communications has an Erie office which IPLogic is looking to expand. They [...]

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