Last pieces of downtown pedestrian mall gone

Link to June 25 Rockford Register Star article.

Excerpt: The last remnants of a downtown pedestrian mall on Main Street are gone.Stenstrom Construction on June 1 was awarded a $1.9 million contract to remove the mall, which opened in 1975, and restore two blocks of Main Street from Elm to Mulberry streets. Two weeks after a ceremonial groundbreaking, planters, trees and the surface of the mall have already been removed.

Pittsburgh ranked in nation's Top 20 on Brookings Institution list

Link to June 17 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

Excerpt: Pittsburgh, Boston (30th) and New Haven have relatively stable economies and for the same reason: They are centers for both higher education and health care.

"The most interesting thing about Pittsburgh, and the reason it is doing so well is that its economy is based on 'eds' and 'meds,' and parts of manufacturing that are not hugely affected by auto manufacturing," said Howard Wial, one of the authors of the Brookings study.

Conneaut Lake Park rides out ups and downs, reopens

Link to June 13 Erie Times-News article.

Excerpt: When volunteers gathered at Conneaut Lake Park earlier this spring to ready the grounds for its 117th season, Suzan Anton said she was stopped in her tracks by a familiar smell.

It was that "old smell of park," the kind of scent that excited her when visiting as a child and that helped hatch new memories when she returned as an adult, Anton said.

Obituary

Angelo Vincent Di Mino, a former resident of Franklin, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on Monday, June 1, 2009, at his home in California due to complications from cancer.

He was born in Indiana, Pa., and he grew up in Franklin.

He married and raised his family in Warren until he and his wife moved the family to southern California in August 1972.

Mr. Di Mino served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War, graduated from Clarion University with a bachelor’s degree and later earned a masater's degree from Penn State.

He was employed for 41 years as a teacher, education coordinator and elementary school principal, retiring in 1998 from Tustin Unified School District in California. He retired as an elementary school principal.

Mr. Di Mino was known to his family and friends as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and mentor.

In his earlier years he was a pilot, scuba diver, photographer, rock hound, boater and singer. He later became interested in collecting, repairing and restoring antique clocks and watches.

He is survived by his wife, Sally; four daughters, Angela Parker, Annette Di Mino, Julia Morton,and Mary Boyd; one granddaughter, Amy Lynn Morton; one great-grandson, Vincent Mounsey; five sisters and many nieces and nephews.

The Saddlebrook Chapel at 220 E. Main St., Tustin, Calif., handled funeral arrangements.

Fire Set Intentionally

Link to June 10 Jamestown Post Journal article.

Excerpt: The fire isn't expected to affect the renovation of the train station, according to Teresi, since the fire didn't have a negative effect on the structure.

The historic 1931 train station has been named one of the ''Seven to Save'' historic locations in New York. The Art Deco landmark has been vacant since 1973 and sustained other fires over the years. The DJDC, the city of Jamestown and the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency have together been working on renovating the structure and turning it into a multi-use downtown hub.

Construction on the roughly $11 million project was set to begin in November and conclude in December 2010. Jamestown firefighters are asking anyone with information about the fire at the train station, or any other suspicious fire to call the arson tip line at 483-7509, where all calls are handled confidentially.