Erie PA native Rear Admiral (Retired) Charles August Curtze passed away at age 96. He attended public schools in Erie then went to the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He then received an appointment to the US Naval Academy and was part of the Class of 1933. After assignments on the USS New Mexico and USS [...]

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled (press release) that employers may take Medicare benefits into account on voluntary health care to their retired workers. This was a response to a 2000 court decision in the case of Erie County Retirees Association v County of Erie. Erie County was spending more on workers under age 65 [...]

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Five year old Michael Misko of Erie PA has Adams-Oliver syndrome, a rare genetic defect that caused his scalp and skull to not form properly. Michael has had surgery 38 times in his young life. He received a Christmas vacation in Florida from Give Kids The World (GKTW), a non-profit that creates magical memories for [...]

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The Erie area will have a white Christmas. There’s snow on the grass and we’re due for another inch or so today. Enough to make it look seasonal, but nothing major. Erie Blogger Kim Fabrizio was featured in today’s paper in the article Shining moments by David Bruce. VisitErie is busily getting the next issue [...]

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At the last Erie City Council meeting, council agreed to a resolution authorizing and directing officials to execute the Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty between the City of Erie, Erie Sewer Authority and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection with an agreement to pay $20,300 in fines for violations under Section 8 of the Air [...]

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  My favorite Christmas story this year has got to be what happened to the Erie Brewing Company. Erie Brewing makes seasonal beers. Their winter seasonal was to be called Red Ryder Big Beer. In either a great marketing ploy or because of a couple of trial lawyers, they changed the name. It’s called ‘Ol [...]

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Parsimony is a ‘less is better’ concept of frugality, economy or caution in arriving at a course of action. Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio can’t grasp this concept. Somehow DiVecchio has taken the excellent idea of a community college and bastardized it into an incredibly expensive, complicated mess only a government bureaucrat can embrace. DiVecchio’s [...]

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The Erie Housing Authority held a public meeting yesterday on the proposed spending of $1,045,000 to install central air conditioning in over 1,300 public housing units. The authority will vote on their $3.7 million 2008 spending plan at their December 26 meeting. You can view their entire draft plan here. Their excuse for spending $1,045,000 [...]

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  Toni and Guy HairDressing Academy had a bomb threat yesterday which shut down the school and a good chunk of downtown Erie. Of course police didn’t find anything. Triangle Tech had bomb threats on Nov 20 and again on Nov 21.   Advance America, the cash advance company, is closing all their Pennsylvania locations. [...]

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The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered First Alliance Church in Millcreek Township, Erie County, to plug a recently drilled gas well on its property that is believed to be the source of migrating gas that has kept five area families out of their homes since Nov 20. The natural gas levels in and around [...]

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The end of the World did not happen on Sunday. It simply snowed a bit. Areas of the City of Erie received less than an inch of snow. Strong winds were the main problem around town. Those winds did push the snow inland. Corry and Meadville received saw nearly a foot of snow. The roads [...]

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State Correctional Institution at Albion superintendent Marilyn S Brooks was finally relieved of her duties Friday. Raymond Sobina, former superintendent at SCI-Forest, has been named acting superintendent of the medium security prison that houses 2,331 inmates. The announcement came from SCI-Albion spokesman Bob McCarthy. Past announcements has come from prison PIO (Public Information Officer) Melinda [...]

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  Rumors are flying that employees at Ameridrives in Erie on Pittsburgh Ave will receive layoff notices next week. The number rumored by company workers is a job cut of 18. The company has made no official announcement. Even workers at the New Braunfels, TX have heard the rumor there will be layoffs in Erie [...]

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  At the start of the new fiscal year in July, there will be enough money from slot machine taxes in the Property Tax Relief Fund which could see property owners getting an average of $300 of tax relief. Homeowners will receive tax relief once gaming generates $570 million – $400 million to distribute statewide, [...]

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Chytoria Graham was sentenced by Judge Rusty Cunningham to 5-10 years in prison for swinging her 4 week old baby like a baseball bat at her boyfriend, the father of 2 of her 5 children. The baby suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in the Oct 8 incident after Graham came home from a [...]

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A huge water main break has shut down 12th Street at Downing Ave. If you’re going to GE, use East Lake Road or Buffalo Road.   The First Presbyterian Church in Benton, Arkansas recently installed an 1884 Jardine pipe organ. It took workers nearly a month to install. The organ has nearly 600 pipes with [...]

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Federal Aviation Administration officials were satisfied that local matching funds of $25.7 million were available for the Erie International Airport Runway Extension Project. It appears that the FAA will be funding $47.7 million of the two phase project. The first phase would be an 920 foot runway extension to meet FAA safety standards. A second [...]

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  The Federal Aviation Administration today will meet with local government officials to discuss the Erie International Airport Runway Extension Project. U S Rep Phil English secured the meeting at the request of local officials. The FAA meeting will take place at 9 am in the Conference Room on the 2nd floor of the Erie [...]

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Erie City Council unanimously passed Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott’s proposed 2008 $57.1 million budget. A second reading is still required. All members of Erie City Council as well as Mayor Joe Sinnott are tax-and-spend liberal Democrats. Council ignored $335,500 in budget cuts recommended by their own accountant, Sean T Sullivan, CPA. Here are the recommended [...]

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Darren Amy and Joseph Dille, both 19 year old Saegertown volunteer firefighters, were arrested and charged with arson for setting 9 fires in the Saegertown area. The duo set fires to vacant houses and then helped put the fires out.   There will be a citizenship ceremony at the Erie Federal Courthouse today at 10 [...]

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The committee of the state Supreme Court Disciplinary Board recommended two years of probation for Erie attorney John Mizner. Mizner stole nearly $70,000 from his former law firm by jacking up his travel expenses. When he was questioned about it, he repaid the money and left the firm. His excuse was that he suffers from [...]

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On August 12, Terri Rhodes, a member of the volleyball team at Mercyhurst College, gave birth to a baby girl. Rhodes gave birth in her apartment. The baby survived 10 minutes before Rhodes allegedly killed the baby. Her own baby. The baby died by suffocation – either by having something placed over her face or [...]

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Under Pennsylvania State Senate Bill 1051, introduced by Earll, the board of the Erie Airport Authority would be made up of 11 members – 2 appointed by the Pennsylvania governor, 7 by the Erie County executive and only 2 by the City of Erie. The bill passed the senate by a voice vote. It must [...]

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  Artur Santos, a 3 year old boy, has Maple Syrup Urine Disease, a genetic disease most common in the Amish community. On Tuesday December 4, Artur will have leg surgery at the Shriner’s Hospital of Erie. He won’t be able to be on his feet again for the next 6 weeks. The Santos family [...]

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Out of 360 metropolitan areas that the US Census Bureau tracks, only 62 metropolitan areas increased housing construction in 2007. Erie PA was 20th highest in the nation ranked by the percentage change in the January through October total units permitted, with an increase of 40.1 percent. The increase in Erie is attributed to developers [...]

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The Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership published the Interim Report on Activity, Findings, and Recommendations prepared by the Mayoral Advisory Group. A group of 40 business and community leaders volunteered their busy lives to give advise to the city to improve finances and avoid Act 47, distressed city status. The ink wasn’t even dry [...]

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  The Best Places to Work in PA winners were announced and 3 Erie companies made the 2007 list for large size companies. Saint Vincent Health System was 5th, Stairways Behavioral Health was 16th and Hamot Medical Center was 48th. No area companies made the list in the medium size category. Registration for the 2008 [...]

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Questions are now being raised as to why Malcolm Kysor, who escaped from prison on Sunday and is still on the loose, was transferred from maximum security prisons to the State Correctional Institution at Albion, a medium security prison. Kysor was sentenced to life without parole for a 1981 murder in Erie County. Wonder if [...]

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  Erie wound up with 25 inches of snow with the Holiday Blizzard of 2006. That’s Erie Colorado. Here in Erie PA, a high temperature of 51 degrees is expected for the first full day of Winter.   Test results showed Andrew Polakowski of Erie, a McDowell grad and a freshman at Ohio State, was [...]

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Carpet bombing of the city wouldn’t have caused as much damage as Erie City Council manged to do yesterday. Council passed a $59.88 million budget for the City of Erie for 2007. Council did zero work to cut any costs. The budget proposed by the mayor was just rubber stamped by council. This could be [...]

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