Raychel Vendetti and Ray Petelin of WSEE are doing double duty hosting “IE Live!” on KHIZ-TV, a 30 minute news show. The show is being touted as being a local Victorville, CA show but Vendetti and Petelin are doing the it via satellite in Erie PA, 2360 miles away. It appears KHIZ are deceiving the [...]

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Erie received an inch or two of snow overnight and we’re due for another inch or so today. The roads aren’t too bad but everyone has forgotten how to drive in the snow so drive slow.
The Edinboro men’s basketball team beat West Chester 75-57 while the Edinboro [...]

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Erie City Council held a Saturday budget session and rubber stamped the budget submitted by Mayor Joe Sinnott making only one minor change of $24,000 to the $59.9 million budget. The formal vote on the budget will be held at the regular council meeting on December 20. Council made no cuts to the budget only [...]

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The National Weather Service reported Erie received 13 inches of snow. Erie Kansas, not Erie PA. It rained here. A ton of rain. Many places received more than 2 inches. Riviera Estates Mobile Home Park at 14th and Marshall Dr in Millcreek flooded, as usual. The quicker the Erie International Airport runway expansion happens the [...]

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Auditor General Jack Wagner released an audit of the City of Erie Aggregate Pension Fund, which found that a new retirement provision enacted by the city in 2004 resulted in the city’s receipt of $893,745 of excess state pension aid from the commonwealth. Wagner said the $893,745 of excess state aid identified in the audit [...]

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Presque Isle Downs will be opening on February 16, 2007. The thoroughbred racetrack with pari-mutuel wagering and a slots-only casino is located at the intersection of I-90 and Route 97 (Exit 27).
Job applicants may apply online by clicking here. They will be hiring soon and should employ 600-900 people. They need all sorts of people [...]

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Mohammed Abdelhady, who owned Moe’s One Stop convenience stores in Erie, pleaded guilty to operating a check-cashing business without a license. Well, that’s what they got him on. What he was doing was running a fencing operation and laundering money for drug dealers. That’s why the guilty plea. He forfeited $252,000 and could be sentenced [...]

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Temperatures of over 60 degrees made for better golfing than deer hunting. The bucks hunters harvested had good size racks but the numbers were low. There was one hunter death in the area. Kirk Miller had a heart attack and passed away. He was hunting in the woods near the EMSCO Group plant in Girard.
 
The [...]

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Over 900,000 Pennsylvania hunters will head into the woods today for the first day of rifle season for deer. The season officially opens 30 minutes before sunrise. In 2005, 45 percent of antlered bucks were taken on the first day. Schools and many businesses are closed. This year’s season ends December 9.
 
Cody Hodgson scored his [...]

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The law allowing Internet-based competitive bidding by Pennsylvania municipalities went into effect on September 5. The law also authorized reverse auctions. In reverse auctions, vendors see a ranking of bids without knowing the actual bids and can lower their offers to win the auction. eDynaQuote is a reverse auction company based in Erie. The City [...]

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Erie Firefighters will be getting a sweet Christmas bonus thanks to Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott, Fire Chief Tony Pol and Erie taxpayers. The city will allow firefighters to purchase circa 1890 Gamewell Fire Alarm Call Boxes for $100 each and pedestal mounted Gamewell’s for $200, a fraction of their worth. Unless the glut of boexes [...]

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Erie area residents can recycle their old telephone books and also help the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania, thanks to Idearc Media, the official publisher of Verizon Print Directories and Erie Energy Products. A $5,000 grant from Idearc Media to the Second Harvest Food Bank will enable Second Harvest to continue to coordinate [...]

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Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott yesterday submitted his budget to Erie City Council. It calls for a 12.14 percent increase in property taxes of 1.24 mills, the elimination of 16 firefighters and the sale of the Erie Golf Course. Although departments were asked to cut expenses, no job cuts will be made in the 5 story [...]

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Mayor Joe Sinnott will present his 2007 budget to the Erie Chapter of the Flat Earth Society, aka Erie City Council, this morning at 9 am. Without a shadow of a doubt, it will call for an increase of property taxes. Property owners will have the double whammy of lower property values along with the [...]

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Nathan Rosier and Crystal Peace, the parents, and Larry Peace, the grandfather, of Nathan Wayne Rosier Jr were arrested for his death. The three adults shared a home in Waterford. The 7 month old baby died of neglect and malnutrition. The twin brother was taken from the home, spent time in the hospital recoving from [...]

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The Pennsylvania State Police are urging motorists to buckle up and drive safely during the Thanksgiving holiday driving period. State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B Miller said he has directed troopers to adopt a “zero-tolerance policy” toward violations of the state’s seatbelt and child passenger restraint laws. “If a driver is stopped for a traffic violation [...]

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A car had it’s window shot out on upper Peach St. A pretty good write-up of the events by the sister of one of the victims can be found here.
There is a nice article in todays Indianapolis Star on Presque Isle State Park and the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. The reporter, Abe Aamidor, wasn’t [...]

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Presque Isle Downs will open on February 15, 2007. At lest that’s the tenative date they announced. They’re still at the mercy of construction workers and the weather. The slots-only casino is located at the intersection of I-90 and Route 97 (Exit 27).
 
The Inner-City Neighborhood Art House in Erie was the subject of a feature [...]

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When the bridge going over the Wintergreen Gorge for Bayfront Connector was being built, a crane was torched, spikes were placed in trees and equipment was vandalized. It is believed that a group affiliated with ELF (Earth Liberation Front), an environmental group made up of radical liberal Democrats, caused the damage. Now the anti-icing system [...]

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Douglas A Spadey, a Edinboro freshman from Philly, was arrested for sending racial and threatening emails to fellow black Edinboro students. Hours before he was led away in handcuffs, he was saying he was one of the victims of the emails. About 20 students received emails with the N-bomb and threats that some would be [...]

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Burhenn’s Pharmacy, 861 East 38th St, was robbed yesterday evening. In an unusual twist, the robbers held up the drive-thru. The two suspects then entered the back of the store and tied up an employee. OxyContin (Oxycodone), and not money is what they were after. OxyContin is a time-release painkiller which can provide pain relief [...]

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Millcreek School District teachers voted in favor of authorizing a strike. Negotiations have been going on for nearly a year with most issues cleared except for salary, health care and retirement. If they want more money, lets hear how the teachers have improved since the last contract. Have the test scores improved? Has the graduation [...]

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Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, a NY Archdiocese Catholic priest accused of sexual assault, will be tried by a church tribunal with the trial held in Erie, PA beginning today. The trial will be conducted behind closed doors by a tribunal of three canon law judges.
The Arts Council of Erie is partnering with some of the finest [...]

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The Villages is a retirement community in Florida. Population about 8,500. Because there are so many former residents of the northwestern Pennsylvania area they formed a social club called the Erie Club. In the club’s second month in existence, Madge Koscelnik, the group’s leader said 75 people attended a meeting earlier this week.
We’re still a [...]

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A theft of nearly a half million dollars has occurred at 19th and Parade. The police have not been notified. Why? Because it was only taxpayer money. In the past few days the sign on the lot announcing that Invest Erie Community Development Corporation was developing the spot for a grocery store has been removed. [...]

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The Erie SeaWolves have a press conference scheduled for today to announce that Detriot GM Dave Dombrowski will name Matt Walbeck will become the team’s next manager. For the past three years Walbeck has managed Single A West Michigan. He had an 11 year career in the majors with six teams. Tom Brookens is expected [...]

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Lucy Ladd Stratton was a painter from New Hampshire. She spent decades in Europe but called Erie PA her adopted hometown. She and her husband had money and built a library in West Swanzey, NH. She donated some of her paintings to the library. As for her others, when she died in 1937 she willed [...]

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The Greater Erie Board of REALTORS released the Erie County property transfer report for October. For Oct 2006, 432 properties were exchanged for $47,279, 377. The Oct 2005 figures were 512 transactions for $61,760,628. This marks the fifth straight decline year-over-year. Year to date, the 2006 totals are down $29,904,788 and 280 transactions compared to 2005. [...]

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Erie received it’s first sizable snow storm. The city and the airport, where the official totals are measured, got about 3 inches. There was about 9 inches near the Millcreek Mall and a foot was connon in other places. I think I heard the phrase “This sucks” over 100 times yesterday. O course people don’t [...]

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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. [...]

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Barb Dougherty, a postal carrier, was attacked by a squirrel and bitten several times while delivering mail in Oil City. Dougherty was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she was treated for bites, cuts and scratches, and given rabies shots. The squirrel was shot and will be tested for rabies.
 
The Avalon Hotel in downtown [...]

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Levonne Rowan of Erie was arrested in Madison, Wisconsin for carrying a concealed weapon after a traffic stop on the University of Wisconsin campus. Levonne, Dywon Rowan, his brother and a running back on the Wisconsin football team, and younger brother Javon Rowan were three of five individual that were in a vehicle after police [...]

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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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