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Warm Spring-Like Weather Hangs Around

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. North wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Sunday Night: Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. Southeast wind around 5 mph.

Washington’s Birthday: Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 76. South wind 5 to 15 mph.

Monday Night: Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 81. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Tuesday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. Southeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 80.

Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.

Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 80.

Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.

Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 78.

Century To Hold Envision Century CRA Area Meeting

The Town of Century will hold a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting Tuesday to “Envision Century”.

The meeting will work to vision the Century CRA 10 years from now, plus determine the goals, values and priorities of the CRA area.

The meeting will be held from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday at the Century Business Center at 400 Pond Street. Refreshments will be served with a meet and greet at 4:00, and the formal presentation and discussion will begin at 4:30.

The town previously declared a portion of Century as “blighted” as part of the process to form the CRA.

Once the CRA is in place and operating, it will work to improve conditions within the area. As property tax values rise, most of the increase is funneled back into the redevelopment area for further improvements.

The CRA area is 510 acres, bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the south, Jefferson Avenue to the east, State Road 4 to the north and the centerline of North Century Boulevard to the west. It also extends north on the east side of North Century Boulevard to include commercial properties up to, and including, the former Burger King. Click here for a detailed map (pdf).

Two Escambia, FL, Sex Offenders Arrested In Alabama

Two convicted sex offenders from Escambia County, FL, have been arrested in Escambia County, AL.

The Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office said they found Aaron Lee Hicks, 47, employed at a car wash in Brewton, directly adjacent to a city park in violation of state statute that prevents a sex offender from being employed within 500 feet of a children’s park.

Hicks was convicted of lewd and lascivious battery on a victim ages 12-15 in Escambia County, FL, in December 2002.

Danny Darrel Hayes, 30, was arrested for failing to register after being released from the Escambia County (AL) Jail on February 6.  He was convicted of sexual battery of a child 12-16 years old in Escambia County, FL, in April 2012.

Have You Seen The Progress On The Pensacola Bay Bridge?

If you haven’t been to Pensacola Beach or Gulf Breeze since last year, you’ve missed seeing the progress on the new Pensacola Bay Bridge.

The Pensacola Bay Bridge construction team reached a milestone this week by pouring the first two concrete spans (bottom picture). The bridge spans are cast-in-place atop the beams that connect the trophy pieces. The first spans poured are located on what will become the Gulf Breeze approach for the eventual eastbound (Pensacola to Gulf Breeze) bridge. In total, the bridge design calls for 210 spans, 105 each for the east and westbound bridges.

For more photos, click here.

Crews are working to drive concrete piles, place trophy pieces, and install beams for the new Pensacola Bay Bridge.

The $398.5 million Pensacola Bay Bridge replacement project represents a tremendous boost for the regional economy. Approximately 280 workers are employed daily at the Bayou Chico concrete casting yard, while an additional 80 employees are working at the bridge construction site.

There are 1,020 Florida I-Beams needed for the new bridge. The beams are 150-feet long, 72-inches tall, and weigh approximately 166,000-pounds. They’re used to connect trophy pieces one-to-another. The bridge deck, which includes the riding surface, will be constructed atop the beams.
Estimates from the University of West Florida’s Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development indicate the construction project is creating or sustaining approximately 4,800 jobs in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, along with the rest of the state.

Economists further report the project is increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) of Escambia and Santa Rosa County by $500 million, with an additional $60 million boost in GDP generated in the remainder of the state.

For more photos, click here.

NorthEscambia.com and courtesy photos, click to enlarge.

Florida School Shooting: Hundreds Attend Gun Rally

Chants of “Enough is enough!” reverberated down the street as hundreds of people gathered for a gun-control rally on the steps of the federal courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, in response to a mass shooting at a Broward County high school on Wednesday.

Saturday’s speakers included students and teachers who survived the horrific event at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland — the second-deadliest mass school shooting in the nation’s history — along with state and local elected officials and others.

“I am not here as a candidate for governor, I am here as a mom,” Democratic gubernatorial Gwen Graham said. “And I have had it. I have had it. As a mom I am crushed. Enough. Enough. Enough.”

The League of Women Voters of Florida organized the rally to call for stricter gun control laws after gunman Nikolas Cruz shot dead 17 individuals — including 14 teenagers — using an assault weapon-style rifle.

Cruz, who was expelled from the high school, had such a troubled history that some of those who knew him weren’t surprised by his violent outburst. Authorities have charged the 19-year-old with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

“Sadly, my sister lost four of her friends and so many other friends and parents were lost that day, and it’s a terrible event,” said David Hogg, a student at the Parkland high school. “Now is the time that we say, ‘thank you for your prayers and condolences, but that is not enough.”

On Friday afternoon, the FBI acknowledged that it had failed to act on a tip about Cruz expressing concern about his erratic behavior.

Hogg was among the students and teachers who criticized Florida’s gun laws, questioning how individuals like Cruz are able to purchase semi-automatic weapons despite alerts to the FBI.

“Teachers should not fear for the lives of their children,” said Melissa Falkowski, the school’s journalism teacher who hid students inside a closet during the shooting.

Student Emma Gonzalez said shooting drills at schools could be stopped “when we have had our say with the government.”

“Maybe the adults have gotten used to saying, ‘it is what it is,’ but if us students have learned anything, it’s that if you don’t study, you will fail.  And in this case, if you actively do nothing, people continually will end up dead,” an impassioned Gonzalez said.

Congressman Ted Deutch, whose district includes Parkland, pledged to continue to fight for common-sense gun-control laws in Washington.

“Five years ago, elementary school kids were slaughtered at Sandy Hook, and there is silence out of Washington,” Deutch, a Democrat, said. “After the horrific mass shooting here in our community, that silence will not continue.”

Like others in the crowd, Western High School junior Isabella Wood and Tara Callahan, a teacher at Lyons Creek Middle School, expressed optimism after attending the rally.

But, they said, change needs to occur for schools to feel safe again.

“It makes me sad. I shouldn’t have to come out here today,” Callahan said, holding back tears. “I shouldn’t have to see small children here today. I shouldn’t have had to come here to see teenagers here today who don’t know (if) they’re going to be able to return to their parents.”

by Nathalie Sczublewski The News Service of Florida

Camp Fire Kids Celebrate 100th Day Of VPK

Students at the Camp Fire Youth Learning Center in Century recently celebrated the 100th day of this years VPK program. Courtesy photos for NorthEcambia.com, click to enlarge.

Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: We Are Broken

We are broken.

Those were the words of a grieving parent Thursday, the day after his 14-year-old daughter, Jamie, was gunned down by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting.

Fred Guttenberg spoke at a vigil in the community where thousands of mourners — including Florida Gov. Rick Scott — prayed, wept and reminisced about the 17 victims shot dead by Cruz.

“What is unfathomable is Jamie took a bullet and is dead. I don’t know what I do next,” a torn Guttenberg, whose son Jesse survived the shooting, said. “We are broken.”

State and federal officials, including Scott and President Donald Trump, are flocking to Broward County in the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day shooting, less than two years after many of the same politicians faced the television cameras following the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando that left 49 people dead and dozens of others injured.

The horrific deaths of 14 teenagers and three school staff members — including football coach Aaron Feis, who died shielding students from the bullets hailing from Cruz’s semi-automatic rifle — immediately rekindled the emotionally raw and familiar debate over gun laws, in Florida, in Washington and throughout the nation.

Cruz, who was expelled from the high school, had such a troubled history that some of those who knew him weren’t surprised by his violent outburst.

Yet, advocates of stricter gun laws point out, Cruz was able to legally purchase, without any waiting period, the rifle he used to mow down students and teachers at the school.

Gun rights proponents, meanwhile, stress the need for better mental-health services and argue the Parkland shootings are evidence that people who have concealed-weapons licenses should be allowed to bring guns to schools.

Adding their voices to the conversation, students are demanding action from political leaders like Trump and Scott, who said “everything is on the table.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas junior Cameron Kasky told CNN Friday morning that students felt that “our politicians had abandoned us.”

“This can be stopped,” Kasky said, adding that “thoughts and prayers are appreciated” but “there’s much more that can be done.”

Kasky praised the focus on mental health but said that isn’t enough, asking for state and national leaders to pass guns laws aimed at preventing atrocities like the one on his campus.

“The only people who don’t care are the people who are making the laws,” he said.

SENATE FOCUSES ON MENTAL HEALTH SPENDING

The day after Cruz went on the shooting spree at his former high school, the Florida Senate budget committee approved a plan to steer $100 million to public schools for mental-health screening and services and to boost funding for school safety programs.

Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who will take over as Senate president in November, pushed for the boost in funding for the plan, which had originally been allocated $40 million. The Senate also wants a $13 million increase for “safe school funding,” used primarily for school resource officers.

Galvano said he is also exploring what, if anything, lawmakers can do to prevent the sale of guns to people like Cruz, who was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and who left a years-long trail of telltale signs of mental illness.

Like Floridians throughout the state, legislators in the Capitol reeled as news continued to emerge about the mass shooting.

Several Broward County lawmakers rushed to South Florida.

State Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a graduate of the Parkland high school, called the scene “surreal.”

“I got here last night. My high school looked like a war zone. Streets that I drive all the time looked like a war zone,” Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, said in a telephone interview Thursday morning.

The neighborhood surrounding the school was peppered with mobile command centers and mass triage units on cordoned-off streets, Moskowitz said.

Moskowitz’s 4-year-old son was learning how to write his name when his teacher’s daughter was mowed down by Cruz, whose lengthy history of disturbing behavior prompted reports to the FBI identifying him as dangerous.

The FBI acknowledged Friday that it had received a call Jan. 5 from a person expressing concern about Cruz’s behavior and the potential that he could conduct a school shooting. But the FBI acknowledged that it did not properly handle the report, with the information not forwarded to a Miami field office for investigation.

Moskowitz, meanwhile, said he doesn’t know what to say to parents who ask him what state lawmakers are going to do to prevent future tragedies.

“We’ll do the same thing we’ve been doing. Which is nothing. We live in a state that if you try to do anything with gun laws and you’re a local official, we will throw you in jail,” he said. “I mean this kid was telling everybody what he was going to do. He was basically wearing a neon sign saying, ‘I am going to come and kill people.’ And yet, he bought a gun legally.”

Florida law bars people who have been involuntarily committed under the Baker Act from purchasing firearms. A 2013 law expanded that prohibition to individuals who voluntarily admit themselves for mental-health treatment.

But Scott indicated he might want an even broader prohibition.

“If someone is mentally ill, they should not have access to a gun,” said Scott, who spoke Thursday with House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron.

Galvano said he, too, is examining the issue.

“We need to explore that issue and understand both the political realities and then the physical realities of someone who has a chronic history of posting things on social media that a lay person could identify as warped. How someone like that, in the existing system, could end up with a firearm that ultimately engages in this,” he said.

But what the shape of legislation would be is unknown.

“I’m looking into that. We’re going to have that discussion. I don’t have a specific answer right now. But we can’t ignore that aspect of it,” Galvano said. “While we’re off having a debate, there are things we can do today to make our students safer.”

CONCEALED WEAPONS PROPOSAL PUT ON HOLD

Meanwhile Thursday, the sponsor of a measure that would allow some concealed-weapons license applications to be approved when background checks have not been completed put her bill on hold after the Parkland atrocity.

The Senate Appropriations Committee had been scheduled to take up the proposal as part of a wide-ranging package (SB 740) involving the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“This isn’t the day to have that conversation,” bill sponsor Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, said before the committee meeting. “Right now, our priority is to help the situation down there, helping law enforcement. Let’s look at the things at which we can have control, mental health, safety in our schools, that’s the more urgent things to discuss today.”

Kate Kile, the Tallahassee leader of the gun-violence prevention group Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, said she wasn’t surprised by the postponement, noting the negative attention that could have come after the shootings.

“It would be a pretty bad day to talk about some legislation we feel is very dangerous and not the direction we need to be headed,” Kile said.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a Republican running for governor, requested the proposed licensing change, which would require concealed-weapons licenses to be issued if Putnam’s office is unable to complete criminal background checks within 90 days and if no other disqualifying information is found. Such situations could occur, for example, if the department receives incomplete criminal-history information.

Any permit issued after the 90-day period would be immediately suspended if the full background history arrives and contains disqualifying information, according to the proposal.

Putnam sent out a statement Thursday before the Senate meeting that “out of respect for their families and those suffering as a result of this tragedy, I’m working with bill sponsors to postpone consideration of the legislative proposal related to the licensing process.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: Nikolas Cruz, 19, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder after gunning down 14 students and three faculty members Wednesday at Broward County’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the nation’s second-worst school shooting in history.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Something is better than nothing. So I’ll take anything. Give me something to go back to these parents and say, ‘This time was different. We did something.’ ” — State Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, referring to a Senate plan to steer $100 million to public schools for mental health screening and services.

by Dara Kam, the News Service of Florida

Weekend Gardening: February Tips

Here are gardening tips for the month of February from your local Extension Service:

Flowers

• Re-fertilize cool season flowerbeds, using a liquid or granular form of fertilizer. Be careful not to apply excessive amounts and keep granules away from the base of stems.
• Prepare flowerbeds for spring planting by adding and incorporating soil amendments like mushroom compost, manure or homemade compost. Till or spade the bed to incorporate the amendments with the existing soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Allow the prepared bed to lie undisturbed for 3 to 4 weeks before planting. This provides time for some important biological activity to take place, and new plants are less likely to suffer from stem and root rots as a result. Have a soil test done. Sometimes lime is needed. However, a lime application should be made only if the need is revealed by the test.
• Replenish mulch in flowerbeds.
• Prune rose bushes.

Trees and Shrubs

• February is possible the best month for rejuvenation of old, overgrown shrubs. When pruned now, plants have an entire growing season to recover.
• Prune summer flowering deciduous shrubs such as Althea and Hibiscus. Since they flower on current season’s growth, flowering can actually be enhanced by proper pruning
• Do NOT prune the spring flowering shrubs yet. Azaleas, Spiraeas and Forsythia flower during early spring because buds were formed last summer and fall. Pruning in February would therefore remove most of the flower buds.
• Cold damaged trees and shrubs should NOT be pruned until new growth appears. You want to preserve as much healthy plant material as possible.
• Replenish mulch in shrub beds
• Finish planting ornamental and fruit trees.

Fruits and Nuts

• Fertilize established pecan trees. Use a “special pecan fertilizer” that contains zinc. Use 2 lbs. for every year of age of the tree up to a maximum of 55 lbs. Broadcast the fertilizer evenly beneath the tree.
• Fertilize established peach, plum, pear, persimmon, apple and fig. Apply about 1 ½ lbs of a 10-10-10 (or similar) fertilizer for each year of age of the tree until a maximum of 10 to 15 lbs. per tree is reached.
• Blueberries are very sensitive to nitrogen and can be killed easily, particularly when they are young. Fertilize only if your goal is to increase yield or berry size. An annual application of 2 ounces of a special “azalea/camellia” or “special blueberry” type fertilizer per plant in February is ample fertilizer on 2-year-old plants.
• Prune muscadine grapes between mid-February to mid-March. A standard method is to allow 2 to 4 node spurs spaced every 6 inches of cordon. You may notice that pruning cuts bleed, but there is no evidence that this is injurious to the vine.
• Grapes (bunch and muscadine) should be fertilized at the rate of 1 ½ lbs of 10-10-10 for each year of age with a maximum of 5 lbs per plant applied in late February.
• Last call for planting fruit trees! Most fruit trees such as pecans, plums, persimmons, figs, peaches and nectarines are shipped bare roots and should be planted during the dormant season.
• Apply a spray containing horticultural oils emulsion to dormant fruit trees and ornamental shrubs. Follow label directions carefully.

Vegetable Garden

• Several winter vegetables can still be successfully grown by starting them this month. Plant beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive/escarole, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, parsley, English peas, radish and turnips.
• Plant Irish potatoes. Purchase certified seed potatoes rather than using the grocery store kinds. Use 2-ounce seed pieces with eyes and plant them 3 to 4 inches deep.
• Prepare spring vegetable and herb beds for planting by adding and incorporating soil amendments like mushroom compost, manure or homemade compost. Wait 3 to 4 weeks before planting.

Lawns

• Hold off on fertilizing the lawn. It is still too early for an application of nitrogen containing product. Cold temperatures and lack of plant response would likely result in wasted fertilizer. However, your winter weeds would benefit greatly.

Firefighters Respond To Report Of Smoke Inside Century Residence

A ceiling fan was reportedly to blame for smoke in a Century residence  early Sunday morning.

Area fire departments were dispatched to the 8000 block of Old Flomaton Road at 2:50 a.m. Firefighters  were able isolate the source of smoke to a faulty ceiling fan and remove it from the residence.

There were no injuries reported.

The Century, McDavid, Walnut Hill and Molino staitons of Escambia Fire Rescue, the Flomaton Fire Department, Jay Volunteer Fire Department and Escambia County EMS were dispatched to the smoke report.  Most units were canceled prior to arrival.

Saturday Morning Wreck Claims One Life

A crash early Saturday morning in Beulah claimed one life.

The Florida Highway Patrol said 58-year old Miao Huang of Pensacola pulled her Cadillac  from the stop sign on Frank Reeder Road into the path of a Dodge Ram driven by 43-year old Billy Ray Foley, Jr. of Seminole, AL.

Huang was pronounced deceased at Sacred Heart Hospital, while Foley was transported to Sacred Heart in critical condition following the 5:50 a.m.crash.

Any charges in the crash are pending the outcome of a Florida Highway Patrol investigation.

A dog pen with three hunting dogs inside was ejected from the bed of the pickup during the crash. The dogs escaped from the pen, but volunteers were able to locate all three, including two on the Navy’s Outlying Field 8, or OLF-8.

The Beulah and Bellview stations of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

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