Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio’s 2008 preliminary budget calls for a .25 mill tax increase. The enormous amount of property taxes is a big reason why Erie can’t attract new businesses. DiVecchio must want people and existing businesses to move away. According to The Tax Foundation in their 2006 report on Property Taxes on Owner [...]

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The 10th annual Run Around Erie takes place today at Presque Isle State Park. The run spawned one of my favorite “Only in Erie” stories. It use to go through the streets of the city. The run went down Ash St and then west. A few years ago during the race, the corner convenience store [...]

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Lerhonda Anne Starnes of North East, PA stabbed her boyfriend Tony Orlando Frazzini of Erie when he told her he was a Megan’s Law registered sex offender. Frazzini was convicted in NY in 1993. Starnes was charged with attempted homicide in the incident which took place in Butler, PA. If you are going to break [...]

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Andrew Keel was arrested and arraigned for a Wednesday home invasion of 90 year old man’s apartment at the Sarah A Reed Retirement Center. Keel broke in through a screen window, stole items and assaulted the man. For some reason Keel wasn’t charged with attempted murder even though he twice tried to kill the victim [...]

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Erie Shipbuilding held a christening ceremony yesterday for the first ships built in Erie in 34 years. The ships are the 245 ft dump scow WITTE 4003 and the 166 ft deck barge SUE B. Jeff at Erie Shipping News was there and has an excellent post on the event.
 
The Erie County Office of Children [...]

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The Erie County Office of Children and Youth employees today take a vote on a new contract. It’s expected to be rejected. The contract call for wage increases of 3 percent for the first 3 years and 3.5 percent in the fourth year. The union has said the wages are too low adn they are [...]

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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 [...]

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Keep Erie’s Environment Protected (KEEP) will hold a meeting today at 7 pm in Erie City Council chambers at 7th and State Streets to discuss the proposed tires-to-energy plant. Four speakers are scheduled – 3 are from outside of the area. The group has been vocal, but a recent poll on YourErie.com shows the community [...]

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GE has been in Erie for 100 years. There’s a nice story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Rick Stouffer called GE: 100 years and still chuggin’.
 
Ron Androla of Erie has had a number of poetry books published. Ron sometimes posts poems on his online message board at The Pressure Press.
Bill Phillips (Erie, PA) is a [...]

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An Erie Police officer shot and killed two pit bulls and they attacked and mauled an animal control officer. Patrolman Tom Dunmire shot the animals at the were biting Rob Culbertson. They were called to remove 4 animals from an apartment at the the request of the landlord who owns the property in the 900 [...]

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Verizon most likely has a wire attached to your home for a thing called a “telephone line” for a “home phone.” Verizon is now using those useless wires to compete against cable and satellite. The company announced that they will begin construction on a video hub facility and expects to start offering FiOS TV service [...]

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Erie International Airport Executive Director Kelly Fredericks asked Erie County Council for $18 million for the $60-80 million runway extension project. It would be $3 million for 6 years and would come from the county’s share of gaming revenue from Presque Isle Downs and Casino. The airport is currently not in compliance with FAA safety [...]

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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 [...]

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The Erie area made International news again yesterday as the area is becoming know World-wide for breakthroughs in alternative energy research. Recently, John Kanzius found a way to extract hydrogen from salt water with the same radio wave machine he is using in research to kill cancer cells. Yesterday, NanoLogix (OTC: NNLX) , a nano-biotechnology [...]

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A couple of juvenile delinquents smashed the windows of the state Wine and Spirits store in Perry Plaza between 1 and 2 am. Employees at the the Dunn Tire store next door, working late, heard the noise. They ran out of their store, caught the kids and held them until police arrived. They even video [...]

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Teri Rhodes, the Mercyhurst College student whose baby died minutes after giving birth, still hasn’t been charged with a crime. It’s now been 5 weeks — 35 days. Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook declared the death a homicide. Cook said the baby was born alive and suffocated to death. Police found the baby in a [...]

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Steris Corporation announced they have reached a tentative non-binding agreement to sell their property in Erie to IRG (Industrial Realty Group). That’s great news for the Erie area as IRG has an excellent rack record of turning industrial properties into mixed use complexes. Steris only put the property up for sale a couple of months [...]

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Last month the Commonwealth Court rejected a 2005 lawsuit by Erie area hotel operators against the Erie Convention Center Authority that is building a Sheraton Hotel with money coming from a hotel room tax. It’s being appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The operators were crying unfair. You would think they would have to go [...]

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The 298th Trensportation Company from Franklin PA, which had about 160 soldiers in Forward Operating Base Q-West Iraq (Quyarrah AB) aka ‘Key West’, will be arriving home this weekend. Welcome home.
Richard Valentine allegedly killed his wife Anna, threw a blanket over her, changed his clothes, left a note for his landlord not to enter the [...]

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Pennsylvania State Police Pulled over a van on upper Peach St. As they were doing so acquaintances of the people in the van also stopped. Six to eight people from the two vehicles were suspected of being illegal aliens from Mexico. The US Border Patrol took them into custody. Ironically this happened in the parking [...]

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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 [...]

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A hit and run accident had a bizarre ending when the man that caused the accident shot himself and died. The incident began when the man rear ended a vehicle at a light on Route 97 near I-90. The man fled the scene. The accident victim called police and chased the other vehicle to get [...]

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Welcome Home to the 329th Medical Company. Thank you.
Pennsylvania’s Republican party state committee choose Jacqueline Shogan of Westmoreland County to be added to the race for the state Superior Court. She is one of five Republican nominees for the three open seats on the court. State Sen Jane Earll of Erie was a candidate for [...]

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Outside of Beaver Stadium “Gate A” a tent city springs up before Penn State home games. It’s called Paternoville. In the sea of over 100 tents there is one that’s blue and gold. Penn State play Notre Dame today. That blue and gold tent belong to Penn State freshman Katie Sullivan of Erie, PA. She [...]

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The Greater Erie Board of Realtors reported the latest monthly real estate sales figures for Erie County in which a transfer tax was paid. For the period of August 1-31, 2007 there were 553 properties sold for $67,275,094 which compares to the same period in 2006 in which 566 properties changed hands for $73,272,981. Figures [...]

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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 [...]

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As soon as the site was cleared at the former Koehler Brewery it looked like it would be used for a car dealership and that’s what will happen. Dave Hallman will pave it over and sell cars on the site. Not what anyone had hoped for but at least it will be back on the [...]

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The Erie area raised more than $237,000 locally for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, more than $5,000 more than last year. WJET-TV has hosted the local portion of the show for the past 35 years. YourErie.com story.
 
Labor Day usually means the end of the swimming season at Presque Isle State Park but Beaches 6 and [...]

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Today is the final day of the season at Waldameer Amusement Park and Water World. Good weather means good crowds and Erie has had good Summer weather. Construction work continues on the Ravine Flyer II, a wooden and steel roller coaster. The coaster will traverse Peninsula Drive (State Route 832). The ride will open in [...]

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The Detroit News reported that Teri Rhodes withdrew from school and has returned to her Michigan home. Rhodes, the Mercyhurst College student whose baby died minutes after giving birth, still hasn’t been charged with a crime by Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk. Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook declared the death a homicide. Cook said [...]

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Presque Isle Downs and Casino opens their thoroughbred racetrack today. The 25 day meets starts with the $100,000 Inaugural Stakes for 3 year old fillies. Post time is 5:30 pm. Here’s the program for today. The average daily purse will be $432,400 a day. That will be the second highest in the country with only [...]

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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 [...]

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Port Erie Boat Works has gone out of business. Just recently their web site stated that “Port Erie Boat Works has been sold to an elite group of boat builders and investors.” Now it says they’re gone.
 
The Erie International Airport received a $5.1 million check from the FAA to acquire a few homes for the [...]

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When going to court to be sentenced for a crime you committed, don’t go drunk. Larry Peace had his sentencing postponed yesterday when he showed up drunk. Judge Rusty Cunningham held him in contempt of court and threw him in jail. Peace faces up to 10 years in prison and a up to a $10,000 [...]

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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 [...]

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The Grande Mariner, a 183 ft ship that carries 100 passengers, will be arriving in Erie today at 1 pm. The ship is owned by American Canadian Caribbean Line (ACCL), a Rhode Island-based casual small ship cruise line. The cruise is the 15-night Great American Waterways cruise that travels east-to-west and vice versa between Illinois [...]

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The Erie Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and 46 other local tourism promotion agencies all across Pennsylvania are looking at a 12 percent decrease in state funding in 2008. Why? So Philadelphia and Pittsburgh can get more money. Philadelphia would get 11 percent more while Pittsburgh would get 37 percent more. To make matters worse, [...]

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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 [...]

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Philadelphia Governor Rendell joined hundreds of area officials and
residents to formally dedicate the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. “I’m pleased the commonwealth was able to help make this project a reality,” Governor Rendell. “As one of the largest development projects in Erie’s history, this complex serves as a terrific example of what can be accomplished when [...]

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The Commonwealth Court upheld a ruling that Erie County can use the hotel tax to fund the building and operations of a hotel. Eighty percent of the 5 percent hotel tax goes to the Erie County Convention Center Authority for the Erie Bayfront Convention Center and the Bayfront Sheraton Hotel as well as Jerrry [...]

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A number of people who work at the Erie County Office of Children and Youth (OCY) attended last nights Erie County Council meeting. They complained that they are short workers saying that there are 41 case workers and 16 job openings for case workers. WTF? How did it get to the point where a [...]

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Pennsylvania State Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce pleaded not guilty to mail fraud and money laundering charges. Joyce was not present for his arraignment but instead his attorney entered the plea. Maybe Joyce was busy golfing. Joyce did announce he will not seek reelection. Joyce was scheduled to be on the November ballot for a [...]

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Nick Caccavo of Erie died after the 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee he was riding into rear ended a tractor-trailer on I-80 in Clearfield County. Caccavo was majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. He graduated from Northwestern Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy.
 
Steven Sterrett of Erie, Pa died at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center multiple severe injuries he received [...]

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Celebrate Erie 2007 wraps up today. Zambelli Fireworks Internationale will host one of its world-famous fireworks displays over the Bayfront at Dobbins Landing at 9:45 pm, weather permitting.
 
There is a sale pending on the former GTE / Verizon building at 10th and Sassafras Streets. It will be very interesting to see who the new owner [...]

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce of Erie, who was indicted on federal charges of defrauding two insurance companies out of $440,000. Joyce was ‘injured’ in a 2001 car accident and said he had so much pain he couldn’t hold a cup of coffee. Joyce had been seen playing golf, scuba [...]

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Thou shall not mess with Erie Insurance. ERIE didn’t become a $3.75 billion company by paying out claims and if they think they paid out a false claim – watch out. It doesn’t matter who you are. A federal grand jury indicted Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce on mail fraud and money laundering. Joyce [...]

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