Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) articles from December 2002

Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) archives from December 2002

New Plans Shift Choices for Health Insurance in Erie, Pa., Area.
December 5, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 5--To Cathy Henry, the decision made sense. Henry, human resources director for Northwest Industries of Corry, was presented with a plan that would cut her company's health insurance premiums. By...

Retailers Report Strong Start to Shopping Season.
December 6, 2002... Byline: Jim Martin Dec. 6--From the concourse of the Millcreek Mall to the bustling showroom of Glass Growers Gallery, evidence of hard times is in short supply. It appears Santa's bag may be stuffed with presents after all. The...

Bankruptcies Surge in Western Pennsylvania.
December 7, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 7--Forgive Guy Fustine if he's running late for appointments these days. Fustine, an Erie bankruptcy attorney, has a schedule crammed with an unprecedented number of clients looking for legal help. ...

Overall Cost Drops for Goodies from the Song "12 Days of Christmas".
December 7, 2002... Dec. 7--A drop in the price of swans sent to cost of "The 12 Days of Christmas" plummeting 7.6 percent, according to the traditional calculation offered by PNC Advisors. The price of the seven swans a-swimming fell from $500 to $300 a...

Erie Times-News, Pa., Business Buzz Column.
December 7, 2002

Delta Uses Low Fares to Woo Erie, Pa.-Area Travelers.
December 11, 2002... Byline: Jim Carroll Dec. 11--Delta Air Lines has announced special fares to coincide with its planned Jan. 20 launch of daily jet service between Erie and Cincinnati. But the travel options and convenience the new service would bring...

Erie, Pa., Agencies, International Paper Discuss Local Mill.
December 11, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 11--A group of local public and economic development agencies might make a formal bid to buy International Paper Co.'s vacant pulp and paper mill property as soon as mid-January. The group -- led by Erie...

Unemployed in Erie, Pa., Hope for Benefits Extension.
December 13, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 13--When Ray Lance bought his home in July 2001, he thought he was financially secure enough to make the biggest investment of his life. At the time, Lance was making $60,000 a year working for...

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
December 14, 2002... Dec. 14--LEE M. STRICKLAND, AIA, president of Evans Strickland Best, Inc. was elected to the National Executive Committee of Associated Builders and Contractors at its fall board meeting in Albuquerque. He will serve as the Region 7 vice...

About 50 Jobs Lost as Erie, Pa., Manufacturing Plant Closes.
December 14, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 14--When Chuck Watters was looking to sell Assembly Machine Inc. in 1996, the best offer came from an out-of-town company that planned to close his Erie manufacturing plant and move it elsewhere. Watters...

Erie, Pa., Airport Rolls Out New Campaign.
December 17, 2002... Byline: Jim Martin Dec. 17--Fly Erie -- it's a simple, two-word message. But officials at Erie International Airport are betting that message can work wonders if the region's residents see it and hear it often enough. That message...

Rail Service Gets New Life in Meadville, Pa.
December 18, 2002... Byline: John Bartlett Dec. 18--The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad is scheduled to run a train between the New York communities of Wellsville and Hornell today. Though the event is occurring more than 100 miles away, it signals...

Erie, Pa.-Based Rent-Way Posts Losses for Fourth-Quarter, Year.
December 19, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 19--Rent-Way Inc. closed the books on its 2002 fiscal year by posting a net loss of nearly $76.5 million. The loss, the largest yet in a five-year string of losing years, comes on top of a fiscal 2001 loss...

Rent-Way Sells 295 Stores.
December 19, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 19--Rent-Way Inc. plans to sell 295 stores to its largest competitor to reduce debt and cut costs. The $101.5 million deal would deed nearly 30 percent of the Erie-based company's 1,062 stores to...

Erie, Pa., Shipyard Misses Out on Grant, Lays Off 40.
December 19, 2002... Byline: Jim Martin Dec. 19--Metro Machine Corp. -- an Erie shipyard that began 2002 buoyed by a $2.5 million federal grant -- has ended the year with a mass layoff. Forty employees, a group that included both supervisors and union...

Talk Suggests Continental Might Return to Erie, Pa., Airport.
December 19, 2002

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
December 20, 2002... Dec. 20--THE ERIE INSURANCE GROUP has announced the appointment of several employees to key leadership positions. Thomas P. Morgan has been named executive vice president of insurance operations. He currently serves as senior vice president...

Erie, Pa., Panel Endorses Plan to Hire Famed City-Marketing Firm.
December 20, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 20--The city of Tacoma, Wash., bought much more than a slogan when it hired Development Counsellors International in late 1999 to oversee its branding project. DCI, a New York-based consulting firm that...

Erie, Pa.-Area Manufacturers to Suffer More in 2003, Economist Says.
December 20, 2002... Byline: Jim Martin Dec. 20--Barry Weller sees an economic recovery that won't seem much like a recovery to many of Erie's industrial workers. Manufacturing jobs will likely be lost at a slower pace during 2003, but hundreds will still...

Author Finds Contradiction in Holiday Consumption.
December 21, 2002... Byline: John Bartlett Dec. 21--MEADVILLE, Pa.--Allegheny College professor Mike Maniates is as filled with Christmas spirit as the next guy, but he sees a lot of irony in the modern observance of the holiday. "There has always been...

GE Rolls Out New Locomotive.
December 24, 2002... Byline: Peter Panepento Dec. 24--Prakash Bedapudi was given the challenge of his professional life nearly six years ago. Bedapudi, then an engineer who specialized in engines for diesel trucks, was hired by GE Transportation Systems...

Grant Funds New Machine Maintenance Program in Meadville, Pa.
December 24, 2002... Byline: John Bartlett Dec. 24--MEADVILLE, Pa.--The Precision Manufacturing Institute here has long trained people to run machines, but now it will also turn its attention to those that keep the machines running. PMI recently received...

Canadian Firm Buys Bay City Forge in Erie County, Pa.
December 24, 2002

Spikes in Injury Costs Prompts Changes at Erie, Pa., Insurance Firm.
December 25, 2002

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
December 27, 2002... Dec. 27--JAMES BOLLA II of Distributed Network Software, Erie, took first place in an online contest through DotNetCharting for his incorporation of DotNetCharting controls into an application written for the Career Assessment Center in Erie....

Erie, Pa.-Area Shoppers Blitz Stores with Returns, Gift Cards.
December 27, 2002... Byline: Jim Martin Dec. 27--A day after unwrapping the biggest retail haul of the year, Erie area shoppers were back at it again Thursday. Parking lots at the Millcreek Mall and area shopping centers were jammed for much of the day as...

Pennsylvania Congressman Pushes to Extend Unemployment Benefits.
December 31, 2002