The price of those colorful balloons wafting around birthdays, graduations and weddings might be higher than usual this summer as a result of a shortage of helium.
The pinch — prompted by a 1996 federal law forcing the government to sell off its helium stockpile by 2015 — led many suppliers to raise helium prices by about 11 percent earlier this year, according to the Associated Press.
As a result of the shortage, balloons that now sell for about a dollar could cost significantly more when private suppliers are selling the gas, according to Marty Fish, executive director of the International Balloon Association, based in Wichita, Kan.

Mary’s Place at 854 E. Sixth St. will mark its first year in business tomorrow. The restaurant will be open – as it usually is – from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. and then from 5 to 7 p.m. There will be a piano player providing music in the evening.
The diner, known for its killer home fries and 99-cent Greek burgers and hotdogs, is tucked between Sanders and Family Dollar in the East Erie Plaza.

Gamers: There’s a new store in town and it is putting on a grand opening party this weekend.
Play N Trade Video Games, located at 1526 W. 26th St., is planning three days of food, tournaments and giveaways. It all begins Friday. To find out more, call 456-4263.

A new shoe store is headed for the Millcreek Plaza, next door to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.

Shoe Carnival, which has locations in Butler and Niles, Ohio, is expected to open July 1 in the space that had been leased to Factory Card & Party Outlet.

The store, which touts itself as having a wide assortment of brand names and value prices, will occupy a 12,000-square foot space, said Joe Bell, spokesman for the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., which owns the Millcreek Plaza.

Erie-based Marquette Savings Bank has been ranked among the nation’s top community banks.

Marquette has been named to the top 15th percentile in an annual ranking of community banks by Seifried & Brew.

Seifried & Brew ranks every community bank across the nation using an index that measures capital risk, credit risk, earnings at risk, liquidity risk, and national/regional economic risk. The S&B Risk/Return Composite Index balances each community bank’s risk ranking with their return on assets and return on equity.

Marquette, which was named to the list for the second year in a row, operates 12 offices in Erie and Crawford counties.

GE Transportation and its employees have topped their previous year’s contribution to the United Way of Erie County by nearly $400,000.

The Lawrence Park division of the General Electric Co. and its employees combined for a 2011 donation of nearly $1.7 million, GE Transportation announced today.

The company, which is Erie County’s largest employer with more than 5,500 employees, added about 1,300 employees in during 2011 as the locomotive industry bounced back.

That increase in employment helped fuel a 29 percent increase in employee contributions. Those contributions were combined with a 50 percent match from the GE Foundation for a total donation of just under $1.7 million.

The 2011 total fell just short of a record, said Charlie Deemer, a spokesman for the company.

Spoiler alert: Billy Blanks Jr. got a deal on ABC’s “Shark Tank” – just not the deal he and his wife were after.
And he was lucky to get that.
Billy Blanks Jr., son of Erie’s Billy Blanks (of Tae Bo fame), was on the popular show Friday looking for a $100,000 investment in return for a 20 percent stake in his “Dance With Me” fitness business.
He left with a $100,000 investment but gave up 50 percent of the business in a deal he struck with “Shark” investors Daymond John, founder of Fubu clothing line, and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. But there were several contingencies and it almost never happened.
In a dramatic twist, Blanks declined the deal he was offered and walked out. Daymond John, realizing that Blanks didn’t understand the deal he was offered, went after him and explained the offer one last time – and Blanks went for it.

The Pennsylvania Army National Guard will open a new recruiting office at 9 a.m. on Saturday at 922 W. Erie Plaza Drive.
It is the first recruiting office the Army National Guard has had in Erie since the 1st Battalion of the 112th Infantry Regiment moved to Cambridge Springs a few years ago. Several recruiters will be available throughout the day to answer questions. Prizes, gifts and refreshments will be provided, and a variety of military equipment will be on display.

Erie-based Erie Insurance Group remains a member of the Fortune 500, but just barely.

The latest edition of Fortune’s annual ranking of the 500 largest companies ranks the company at No. 497 on the list.

That’s down a bit from the 2011 list, when Erie County’s third largest employer was the nation’s 461st largest company.

Energy giant Exxon Mobil kicked Walmart out of the top spot, bumping Wal-Mart Stores to second on the list.

The rankings are based on sales. Erie Insurance saw revenues slip 1.4 percent in 2011 to $4.82 billion.
Terrence Cavanaugh, chief executive of Erie Insurance, said in a statement: “Our continued presence on the Fortune 500 is a reflection of the dedication of our agents and employees and a testament to the confidence and trust our customers place in us every day.”

The company, which first appeared on the Fortune list in 2003, ranks as the nation’s 12 largest auto insurer.

The General Electric Co., corporate parent of GE Transportation in Lawrence Park, was 16th on this year’s list.

Ross Dress for Less, an off-price department store, will move this fall into the former location of Borders Books in the Millcreek Mall Pavillion.

The store, according to an announcement from the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., which owns the mall, will occupy about 25,000 square feet next door to Old Navy.

Customers can expect to find designer and brand name fashions for men, women and children at savings of 20 percent to 70 percent, according to an announcement from Cafaro

Ross Dress for Less bills itself as the largest off-price fashion chain in the United States with 1,037 locations in 29 states.