Downpours Make For Wet Halloween And Fall Celebrations
November 1, 2015
People across the North Escambia area dodge showers and heavy downpours Saturday night at various Halloween and alternative fall carnival events.
Hundreds of people attended a community-wide Fall Festival in Molino Monday night. Sponsored by area churches, the interdenominational event provided a safe Christian alternative on Halloween night. The event featured a variety of games, bounce house, a hayride and lots of free food.
The usual crowds in Molino were a bit smaller this year due to the weather, but attendees enjoyed the activities between downpouts.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Living Together Unmarried In Florida? It’s A Crime, For Now
November 1, 2015
A South Florida senator has filed a proposal that would repeal a longstanding law designed to bar men and women from living together if they are not married.
The bill (SB 498), filed by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session and is identical to a measure filed by Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee.
A House staff analysis said a law passed in 1868 bars cohabitation and carries a potential penalty of a second-degree misdemeanor. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee last month gave initial approval to Rehwinkel Vasilinda’s repeal bill.
Thousands Take Part In Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk
November 1, 2015
Thousands of people decked out in pink took part in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk Saturday morning, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Making Strikes walk is a chance for the community to honor and celebrate breast cancer survivors, raise awareness about the disease, and raise money to help the American Cancer Society save lives from breast cancer by funding groundbreaking breast cancer research, providing free comprehensive information and support, and helping people take steps to reduce their risk of the disease or find it early when it’s most treatable.
Photos (except aerial photo) courtesy Cat Country 98.7 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
FDOT: Weekly Traffic Alerts
November 1, 2015
Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.
- Nine Mile Road from west of I-10 to Heritage Oaks Drive in Escambia County – Eastbound and westbound lane closures from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning Tuesday, Nov. 3 through Saturday, Nov. 8 as crews perform construction activities.
- I-110 Bridge Painting – Drivers may encounter intermittent daytime restrictions on city streets under I-110 between Maxwell and Garden Streets as crews clean the bridges. The $2.6 million rehabilitation project is anticipated to be complete summer 2016.
- Mobile Highway (S.R. 10A) between U.S. 90 and S.R. 727 ( Fairfield Drive) in Escambia County – Drivers can expect slow moving vehicles from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Nov.1 through Friday, Nov. 6 as crews perform striping operations.
- U.S 98 (Chase Street) between 9th Avenue and 12th Avenue in Escambia County. Eastbound lane closure will be in effect from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2 through Wednesday, November 4 as ECUA performs inspections.
- U.S. 98 (Garden Street) in Escambia County- Lane closures will take place from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. on U.S. 98 (Garden Street) on the following dates and locations as crews clean and video sanitary sewer lines: Wednesday, Nov. 4 and Thursday, Nov. 5; Nov. 5 Garden Street median crossover at Tarragona Street, Garden Street westbound outside lane at Tarragona Street.
- Thursday, Nov. 5 Garden Street eastbound outside lane at Manresa Street.
- I-10 Six Lane, Santa Rosa County – I-10 east and westbound between the Escambia Bay Bridge and State Road (S.R.) 281 (Avalon Boulevard) in Santa Rosa County. Alternating lane closures Sunday through Thursday beginning Nov, 1 and continuing through the end of 2015. Lane closures will be in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. as crews perform construction activities.
Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through a work zone. All planned construction activities are weather dependent and may be re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Rain Likely Tonight; Some Rainfall May Be Heavy
November 1, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 68. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Monday: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 75. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming northwest in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Monday Night: Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 58. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 78. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. Calm wind.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph.
Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 82. East wind around 5 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 67. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 82.
Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 70.
Photos: It Happened One Night At The Molino Library
November 1, 2015
About 250 people attended “It Happened One Night At The Molino Library” Saturday night. The event began with a delightfully funny musical and then trick or treating in the library. Afterwards, those who dared were able to tour the haunted Molino Museum.
Photos courtesy West Florida Library for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bonus Photos: Northview Cheerleaders, Dance Team, Band, NROTC
November 1, 2015
For a bonus photo gallery from Friday night’s Northview Chiefs game click here. The gallery includes the band, cheerleaders, NROTC, dance team and more.
For an action story and photo gallery from Friday night’s game, click here.
Senior night photos will be published Monday.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blood Donor Gives 10 Gallons
November 1, 2015
Tracy Judson, a senior engineer in Gulf Power’s Transmission Services department, estimates he has squeezed a rubber ball more than 10,000 times while giving blood.
But here’s a more impressive number — recently he reached the 10-gallon donation mark. To put that in perspective, the average adult has 1.2 to 1.5 gallons of blood, so 10 gallons is certainly a “wow” factor.
“My dad had quite a few surgeries where he needed some blood so I started giving,” he said. “And I haven’t stopped. After I give, I put down the date on my calendar when I can give again and I’m usually back within that week.”
For more than 13 years, Judson has been letting a technician stick a needle into his vein and draw out blood. That’s 80 trips to the blood bank. For 11 years, he has donated double red cells so it counts as donating twice.
Double red cell donation is similar to a whole blood donation, except a special machine is used to safely donate two units of red blood cells during one donation while returning back the plasma and platelets to the donor.
Judson is able to donate every 16 weeks and schedules an appointment every time he is cleared to donate again.
Betty Roberts, public relations and media manager for One Blood in Pensacola, said there are not many 10-gallon donors.
“Each donation provides blood for three people, so Tracy’s an extraordinary individual,” she said. “There is no substitute for blood so when you can give back, that is a good thing. There’s no way to thank people for that.”
Judson shrugs off any accolades. His calendar in November is marked for his next donation.
“If you can donate, then you should think about doing it,” he said. “I know there are some people who can’t talk about blood without getting sick. But it saves lives.”
Pensacola Sports Association Wins State Award
November 1, 2015
Ray Palmer and the Pensacola Sports Association (PSA) are committed to enhancing the Pensacola sports scene, promoting health, fitness and sportsmanship and growing sports tourism in the Pensacola area. Their efforts were recognized recently by the Florida Sports Foundation as they were awarded the 2015 Florida Sports Leadership Award.
Florida Sports Foundation President John Webb made a special trip to Pensacola to attend the PSA’s monthly board meeting, during which he made a brief announcement and informed the board and Ray Palmer, PSA Executive Director, of the recognition. The Florida Sports Foundation, a Division of Enterprise Florida, supports 27 sports commissions in the state, awards this recognition once a year to a director and commission based on its ongoing success in the sports tourism industry.
“Just as Florida with the leadership of Visit Florida leads the nation in the tourism industry, the Florida Sports Foundation sets the bar nationally as the model in the sports tourism segment, said Ray Palmer on his recognition. “Florida is where the world comes to play and sports and recreation spending is responsible for $44.4 billion in economic output. The 27 sports commission’s directors and staffs are some of the most highly respected names in the entire industry. For the Pensacola Sports Association to be recognized with this award by the Governor of Florida and the Florida Sports Foundation is truly an honor second to none.”
“The Pensacola Sports Association has a long heritage of hosting a variety of amateur, leisure and collegiate sports in the Panhandle of Florida,” said FSF President John Webb. “Over the years, their sports tourism events have brought in a significant number of out-of-state visitors from the Gulf Coast region of the United States and the Southeast to enhance the quality of life of those living in Northwest Florida. Because of the professional efforts of Ray and the PSA the area will continue to experience sports tourism growth.”
“This honor is certainly well deserved,” said Steve Hayes, President of Visit Pensacola. “With each event that PSA brings to the Pensacola Bay Area, a new group of people are introduced to our beautiful destination. When they plan their vacations, we hope they remember the great time they had here in Pensacola.”
The PSA is one of the oldest sports associations/commissions in the United States, beginning in 1954. Today the PSA manages or assists in numerous events a year throughout the Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa county areas. Events include a high school all-star series, flag football, 5K-15K runs, marathons, triathlons, bicycle races, collegiate national championships, and annual awards and scholarships banquets.
File photo.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Family Feuds
November 1, 2015
“Ain’t nothing but a family thing,” the fictional White House chief of staff Leo McGarry once said in an episode of “The West Wing.” And while he was talking about his battle with alcoholism, he might as well have been discussing the past week in Tallahassee.
The state Senate redistricting battle descended into a personal and political quagmire that involved no fewer than three of the Legislature’s almost dynastic families. The fight has also ripped apart the Republican caucus in the upper chamber, which has started to resemble a dysfunctional family.
Meanwhile, the tight-knit community centered on Florida A&M University’s campus continued to be buffeted by a heated clash between President Elmira Mangum and the school’s board of trustees, prompting one member to resign.
And family values always come into play when Florida talks about expanded gambling.
Alas, unlike the great television shows of the past, there is not a matriarch or father figure in Tallahassee to straighten things out, come up with a compromise and make sure everyone moves forward together. For now, the family things will just have to play themselves out.
‘YOU HIT BACK AND NEVER GIVE IN’
It’s not like the battle over how to redraw the state Senate’s 40 districts wasn’t contentious enough before former Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, stood up Wednesday and laced into Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who would like to be among Gaetz’s successors in the chamber’s top job.
Already, the issue of how to ensure that Hispanic voters in South Florida have adequate representation in the Senate had led to heated debate about a redistricting plan (SJR 2-C). On Tuesday, the Senate approved a proposal increasing the Hispanic share of three seats over objections from Democrats who argued the move was an attempt to prevent incumbents from running against each other.
Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami Republican who sponsored the amendment, said the revised plan would ensure that Miami-Dade County will still have three districts in which Latinos can elect candidates of their choice.
“The (original) plan would basically disenfranchise Hispanics in Miami-Dade County by creating two Hispanic seats, Hispanic-performing seats instead of the three that we’ve had, as I mentioned, for about 30 years,” Diaz de la Portilla told reporters after the Senate vote.
Diaz de la Portilla’s proposal drew questions about whether it might violate the ban on favoring incumbents included in the “Fair Districts” redistricting standards approved by voters in 2010. The amendment removed Diaz de la Portilla’s residence from a proposed district that also would include the homes of Sens. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, and Anitere Flores, R-Miami.
It would also move Diaz de la Portilla’s brother, Alex, into the same seat that Miguel Diaz de la Portilla now holds. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is a former state senator who has been angling to run for the chamber again when his brother’s tenure is up.
“We’ve just now made this map unconstitutional,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, during a debate over the amendment. “We’ve just now said that the court is going to reject this map.”
Unconstitutional or not, the Senate eventually voted 22-18 to approve the final version of the proposal, with four Republicans joining all 14 Democrats in opposing the plan. But it was what happened next that threatened to rip apart whatever fragile peace had been reached in a battle for the Senate presidency between Latvala and Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart.
Latvala has publicly suggested that Gaetz, who chaired the Senate Reapportionment Committee in 2012, should apologize for the problems that now are forcing lawmakers to redraw the Senate map. That provoked a 17-minute rebuke from Gaetz on the floor Wednesday. Latvala, who was preparing for an event elsewhere in the state, had left the chamber before Gaetz’s remarks began.
By the end of the week, Latvala supporters and some others were calling for the delay of a scheduled Dec. 2 vote to designate the GOP’s next Senate president, likely Negron. The winner would take over the caucus after the 2016 elections.
Sen. Tom Lee, who has not endorsed either leadership candidate, told The News Service of Florida on Thursday that he has asked “people who are interested in pursuing the caucus” to reconsider.
“If you really care about the institution of the Senate, if you really care about your colleagues, it is not the appropriate time to twist the knife,” said Lee, a Brandon Republican who is a former Senate president.
But Senate President Andy Gardiner did not appear willing to delay the vote.
SEE YOU IN COURT. NOW, LET’S TALK
Lawsuits are generally not a sign that negotiations are going well. But as the Seminole Tribe of Florida filed a lawsuit against the state over the tribe’s exclusive rights to offer “banked” card games like blackjack at most of its casinos, it also said the Seminoles have made “significant progress” in negotiations with state officials toward a deal that could allow the tribe to add craps and roulette.
The exclusive rights to the banked card games expired July 31, and a 90-day grace period ended Thursday. The lawsuit accuses the state of acting in “bad faith” — a legal “term of art,” according to the tribe’s lawyer, Barry Richard — and asks a federal judge to allow the Seminoles to keep offering the games. The Seminoles are also asking for mediation to try to work out another deal.
Tribal leaders have been meeting with Scott’s general counsel, Tim Cerio, and Republican House and Senate leaders for weeks, hoping to expand on a 20-year agreement signed in 2010, called a “compact,” that authorized the tribe’s slot-machine and table-game operations. A provision of the deal gave the Seminoles exclusive rights to operate banked card games for five years in exchange for a minimum payment of $1 billion
Under the current talks, the Seminoles could pay the state at least $3 billion over seven years in exchange for exclusive rights to roulette and craps, according to sources close to the negotiations. A Palm Beach County dog track could have slot machines, a new gambling operation in Miami-Dade County could start up with slot machines, and dog tracks could stop racing greyhounds while retaining lucrative card rooms.
Meanwhile, amid the negotiations and lawsuit, an anti-gambling group wants to give voters the ability to decide whether Florida should have non-tribal casinos. But the preliminary fate of the proposed constitutional amendment rests in a Supreme Court decision about slot machines at a Gadsden County horse track.
A newly-formed political committee called “Voters in Charge” announced Tuesday it has started a petition-gathering process, with an eye on getting a proposal on the 2018 ballot. If approved, the “Voter Control of Gambling” constitutional amendment would require future statewide votes to authorize casino-style games including blackjack, craps and roulette.
The amendment would take away the Legislature’s ability to approve casinos in Florida but would not affect tribal operations, which are regulated by federal law.
Whether or not Voters in Charge intends to pursue a ballot initiative ultimately rests with the Supreme Court’s decision in a case over whether a horse track in the Gadsden County community of Gretna, which originally received its pari-mutuel license for rodeo-style barrel racing, can have slot machines.
Committee chairman John Sowinski said his group wants “to have a ready weapon” with the ballot proposal in case the Supreme Court decides that no constitutional action is necessary for pari-mutuels outside of Miami-Dade and Broward counties to add slots.
But it could upset the talks over the new pact with the Seminoles, because the provision that would permit the Palm Beach County greyhound track to add slots would be banned without statewide approval under the proposal floated by Voters in Charge.
FIGHT AT FAMU
The week also brought a reminder of the problems at Florida A&M, the state’s only public historically black university. When Mangum tried to hold a feel-good press event on Thursday, she kicked up a Tallahassee dust storm when she left without answering questions about the university’s governance woes.
Last week, the president barely survived two motions to fire her — one with cause and one without — by the university’s board of trustees. Within hours, FAMU students marched to the governor’s office to support her. The next day, trustees Chairman Rufus Montgomery, seen as Mangum’s chief opponent, stepped down from his leadership post, although he remains on the board.
And late Wednesday, longtime trustee Spurgeon McWilliams resigned, effective immediately. The retired physician was the lone vote on the current board against hiring Mangum in January 2014 and supported both motions last week to ax her for unproven “financial improprieties.”
But after her remarks at the Thursday press conference about eliminating questions on academic admissions forms asking if applicants have ever been convicted of crimes, Mangum said she’d have to depart.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to step away for some other meetings,” she said — and left by a back door that reporters couldn’t easily reach.
Trustees spokeswoman Lisa Brock — the trustees and the president have separate press operations — said McWilliams had “indicated that the commitment to serve on the board was far greater than he has experienced in the past. And this is obviously a concern, because we need to be able to attract the caliber of leader that Dr. McWilliams is.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Senate narrowly approved its version of districts for the chamber’s 40 seats, but not before sparking a bruising fight over Hispanic voting strength and GOP caucus politics.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I take no satisfaction from this exchange. I did not seek it. But when a bully throws a sucker punch, you hit back and never give in.”— Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, during a 17-minute speech attacking Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, over critical remarks about the 2012 redistricting process.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida