USPS Resuming Normal Mail Delivery
January 24, 2025
The U.S. Postal Service is working to resume normal mail delivery following this week’s historical snowfall.
Tiffany Rowland, a USPS communications specialist told NorthEscambia.com that mail carriers will continue to make every attempt to deliver to all addresses as long as it is safe to do so.
“The U.S. Postal Service takes seriously the safety and well-being of both customers and employees. The winter weather conditions experienced in Florida this week were unprecedented,” she said. “We ask our customers to please be patient if they are expecting packages or specific mailpieces, as there could be some residual impacts within our network. We are proud of the efforts of our employees and will continue to work around the clock to deliver all packages and mail entered into our system.”
Pictured: Icy conditions persisted late Thursday afternoon on West Highway 4 near Canoe Creek. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Early Voting Sites Open 7-7 Friday And Saturday
January 24, 2025
All early votings sites in Escambia County will be Friday and Saturday in the race for the Congressional seat previously held by Matt Gaetz.
Early voting sites will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at:
- Escambia County Extension Services, 3740 Stefani Road, Cantonment
- Molino Community Center, 6450 Highway 95A North, Molino
- Bellview Library, 6425 Mobile Highway, Pensacola
- Asbury Place at Cokesbury, 750 College Blvd, Pensacola
- Supervisor of Elections Office, 213 Palafox Place, Second Floor, Pensacola
- Main Library, 239 N. Spring Street, Pensacola
- Southwest Library, 12248 Gulf Beach Highway, Pensacola
Eligible voters may choose any one of the seven available locations, each of which is also equipped with a ballot marking device.
Three Early Vote locations that were open during the 2024 Election Cycle are not open for the 2025 Special Primary Election. Those three locations are:
- Billy G. Ward Courthouse in Century
- UWF Center for Fine and Performing Arts in Pensacola
- Brownsville Community Center
The 2025 Special Primary Election is for Republican voters only. The State of Florida holds closed primary elections, meaning only registered Republicans will be eligible for the 2025 Special Primary Election.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Atmore Man Crawls Out of Trunk, Arrested on Drug Charges in Grocery Parking Lot
January 24, 2025
An Atmore man arrested on drug charges after crawling out of a vehicle trunk in the parking lot of Atmore grocery store.
Atmore Police Department officers responded to Ramey’s on Church Street after a citizen noticed someone in the trunk of a vehicle.
Officers arrived to find suspected narcotics in plain view inside the vehicle.
“Just before the officers began a probable cause search of the vehicle, the person in the trunk pushed the back seat down and began crawling out of the trunk,” APD Sgt. Darrell McMann said.
Randy Weeks, 42, was taken into custody without further incident.
Police said a search of the vehicle revealed several grams of methamphetamine, kratom, clonazepam, alprazolam, and items used to ingest narcotics.
Weeks was charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into the Escambia County (AL) Detention Center.
Update: First Judicial Circuit Court System Reopening
January 24, 2025
Here is updated court information from the First Judicial Circuit.
Escambia County Courts will open with a delayed start time on Friday, January 24. All proceedings scheduled to begin before 10 a.m. will begin at 10:30 a.m. Other proceedings will continue as scheduled
Okaloosa County Courts will be open Friday, January 24 for regular business hours.
Santa Rosa County Courts will be open with a delayed start time on Friday, January 24. The Santa Rosa County Courthouse will open to the public at 10:30 a.m. with proceedings previously scheduled to start at 9 a.m. moved to 11 a.m. Individuals summonsed for Jury Selection at 1 p.m. should report as scheduled.
Judge Drake’s final pleas will start at 11 a.m.
Judge Warrick’s delinquency docket will start at 11 a.m.
Judge Hilliard’s video arraignments will be moved to Monday, January 27, and will be conducted with first appearances that day.
Judge Stevens’ family law hearings via Zoom will be conducted at the regularly scheduled time.
File photo.
All Lanes Of I-10 Now Open In Florida
January 24, 2025
All lanes of I-10 have reopened from the Alabama state line east to Tallahassee and beyond to Jacksonville.
Highway 4 Closed At Escambia River Bridge
January 23, 2025
Update: At 8 p.m., FHP still shows this to be closed.
Low Around 20 Tonight
January 23, 2025
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 20. Calm wind.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 46. Wind chill values between 20 and 30 early. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 23. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 49. Wind chill values between 20 and 30 early. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph after midnight.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 64.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 67.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66.
Photo Gallery: Really Creative Florida Snowmen
January 23, 2025
When Florida gets historic snowfall, Florida residents make snowmen.
Wednesday afternoon, we asked NorthEscambia.com readers to share their snowman photos.
Over 1,000 people submitted photos of snowmen (one of them about 10 feet tall), snow-deer, snow-chickens, various characters made of snow and even a few igloos. The creativity was endless – pretty impressive actually for Florida folks that rarely see snow.
Here is gallery with over 400 photos.
You can also go to a Wednesday post and scroll through the comments for hundreds of other photos.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Schools, Colleges Remain Closed Today And Friday
January 23, 2025
Schools in Escambia County, Florida, and Santa Rosa County, Florida will remain closed Thursday and Friday.
Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida will also be closed Thursday and Friday.
Schools in Escambia County, Alabama, will remain closed on Thursday and Friday.
The National Weather Service forecasts cold weather remaining in the area overnight Wednesday and stretching into Thursday and early Friday, which could affect safe travel on area roads and bridges. In an abundance of caution, all schools, district offices, and afterschool activities, including indoor and outdoor athletics, have been canceled in the districts.
“We expect to resume normal district operations will on Monday, January 27,” stated Escambia (FL) Superintendent Keith Leonard. “Of course, we’ll continue to work closely with local emergency operations officials to determine what is safest for our families and staff.”
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
ECUA Further Delays Some Pick Ups, Cancels North Escambia Collections
January 23, 2025
(UPDATED — New info at bottom of story)
ECUA has updated their collection schedule based upon winter conditions, and that means no pick up this week for some locations.
Sanitation collection services will resume on Friday, January 24. Due to the impact of the recent winter weather, road conditions, and limited landfill operations, collection schedules have been adjusted as follows:
- Wednesday collections will resume on Friday.
- Thursday collections will take place on Saturday.
- Friday collections will take place on Sunday.
- Monday’s and Tuesday’s collections will resume as normal next week. Tuesday’s North Escambia route (pictured in yellow below), which covers the northern park of the count, was deferred for safety reasons until next week as many roads in the northern portion of the county may still be impassable.
UPDATE: Here is more information from Bruce Woody, ECUA executive director on why these decisions were made:
Sanitation staff are advised to report to work on Friday, January 24, 2025, as scheduled. Sanitation will run Wednesday’s route on Friday, Thursday’s route on Saturday, and Friday’s route on Sunday. That also means that there will not be a collection of the Tuesday route this week. This was a difficult decision, but was influenced by the following:
- The Perdido Landfill will be closed on Thursday. The city of Pensacola trash collection will also not run on Thursday. Republic services will also not be operating (commercial operations).
- The Perdido Landfill is being very helpful by opening up on Sunday for the ECUA for a full day’s operation so we can collect our Friday route.
- Tuesday is our largest and longest route day. This is mainly because on Tuesday we pick up in the north part of the county, all the way up to the Alabama state line. These rural roads will be even more difficult negotiate, as many of the side roads receive less traffic. Many are also not paved and will thaw more slowly. If we were to alter our route schedule and put it at the end of our schedule to allow more time for snow and ice to melt, then we wouldn’t get it until Monday, and that is the day before we would normally be picking up on Tuesday.
- On Monday we pick up on Pensacola Beach and need staff for that route, making Monday a difficult day to double up by also picking up a full day route.
Pictured: ECUA cans await pickup on Tuesday on North Highway 99 in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
