Journalist with a love for new media and old-fashioned reporting
By Emily Babay
For couples like Kirsten Rispin and her girlfriend, the path to marriage is filled with legal and logistical obstacles.
The Erie women might take advantage of the California Supreme Court ruling in May that made same-sex marriage legal.
Some couples in the Erie region are contemplating cross-country trips. Others question the value of doing so.
Read more: courts, enterprise, Erie Times-News, writing
By Emily Babay
Erie Hotline is going out of business at the end of this month.
The crisis and support help line will end operations on July 31 at 8 a.m., according to a letter sent in June to hot-line volunteers by Kathy Pistorio, Erie Hotline president, and Dick DeLuca, the director of operations. The Erie Times-News reviewed a copy of the letter this week.
The hot line cut its hours July 1. The 37-year-old hot line now operates weekdays from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. and round-the-clock on weekends. It had been available round-the-clock seven days a week.
Read more: enterprise, Erie Times-News, writing
By Emily Babay
CORRY — Walls with dents and pink stains from tear gas need to be restored and painted. Shattered windows will be replaced. All the carpeting will eventually be removed.
And Justin Smith is doing it all.
Smith, 19, faces the task of cleaning up his family’s home, at 156 Wright St. in Corry, after his sister’s estranged husband committed suicide there during a police standoff on May 7.
Read more: crime, enterprise, Erie Times-News, writing
By Emily Babay
Even as summer — and mosquito season — approaches, the threat of humans catching West Nile virus has largely disappeared in Erie County.
Local health officials are beginning their annual campaign to fight the virus, a mosquito-borne disease that can cause potentially fatal swelling in the brain. Officials say the decline in West Nile cases that has occurred over the past several years is a trend that extends across Pennsylvania and is primarily due to measures aimed at lowering the mosquito population.
Read more: enterprise, Erie Times-News, writing
Erie Times-News
By Emily Babay
Missy Twohig wanted a piercing studio to act as a second home, a place where she and her customers would feel content and at ease.
The desire to create this relaxed atmosphere inspired Twohig, 29, to open her own studio. Her shop, Sacred Piercing, will open June 1, at 253 W. Eighth St.
“You have this vision in your mind of the way you would like things to be, and the only way you can see if that’s possible is by trying,” she said. “It took me a couple years to realize that, but here I am.”
And young people increasingly share these entrepreneurial ideas.
Read more: enterprise, Erie Times-News, features, writing