Vietnam Veterans Day Ceremony Set For This Afternoon
March 25, 2017
The Atmore VFW Auxiliary will host its fourth annual Vietnam Veterans Day Ceremony (formerly known as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day) this afternoon at 4:00.
All Vietnam veterans, their families, friends and the public are invited to attend. All Vietnam veterans in attendance will receive a complementary gift. This event is funded in part by the VFW Foundation Community Services Grant.
Due to threatening weather, the event has moved indoors to the Atmore YMCA at 501 South Pensacola Avenue.
For more information, call (251) 359-0768.
Pictured: The 2016 “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” at Heritage Park in Atmore. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Benefit Concert Tonight For Panhandle Equine Rescue
March 24, 2017
A benefit concert for Panhandle Equine Rescue will be held tonight at the Imogene Theater in Milton, featuring country singer James Dupre’. Opening for Dupre’ will be Chloe Channell.
Dupre’ appeared on The Voice, getting a four chair turn, and he has been on the Ellen Show. His current song, “Stoned to Death” is on the charts at #53 and moving up. To hear his music, click here for the James Dupre’ YouTube channel.
Local country artist Chloe Channell will open the show at 7:30 p.m. at Imogene Theater. Tickets are $25 at www.theimogenetheatre.com or $30 at the door. $35 tickets will be available and include a meal provided by Pensacola Cooks Kitchen.
Clouds Today, Isolated Storms For Saturday
March 24, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Southeast wind around 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. South wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
Middle 80’s Today
March 22, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind around 10 mph.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 74. South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 80.
Sunny, Middle 80’s Today
March 21, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tuesday: Becoming sunny, with a high near 84. Light southwest wind becoming west 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Tuesday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 57. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 57. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 77. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 74. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 78.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79.
Spring Begins With Warm, Sunny Day
March 20, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Monday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 55. South wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 83. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 57. South wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Patchy dense fog after 1am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 56. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 75. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. East wind around 5 mph.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 74.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.
Regulators Ready To Grapple With Gulf Power Rate Increase Request
March 20, 2017
State regulators are poised to hear arguments about a request from Gulf Power to raise base electric rates for hundreds of thousands of customers in Northwest Florida, amid opposition from consumer, business and environmental groups.
The Florida Public Service Commission is scheduled Monday to begin a multi-day hearing on Gulf Power’s request for a $106.8 million base-rate increase. Pensacola-based Gulf provides electricity to about 450,000 customers in eight counties and is one of four major investor-owned utilities in the state.
In a document filed last month in advance of the hearing, Gulf said the increase is needed “both to continue to provide reasonable and adequate service to its customers and simultaneously to recover the costs of providing that service including a reasonable and adequate rate of return on invested capital.”
“If Gulf is rendered unable to meet its obligations to the customers and shareholders due to inadequate rates, both stakeholder groups will suffer,” the document said. “The customers will suffer from less reliable service and eventually higher costs of electricity than would otherwise be the case, while the shareholders will suffer from an inadequate and confiscatory return on investment and will seek other places to invest their money.”
But the proposed increase has drawn objections from the state Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers in utility cases, and other parties ranging from Walmart to the Sierra Club. The Office of Public Counsel and other opponents have argued, in part, that Gulf Power’s base rates should decrease by about $2 million — not increase.
“The ultimate issue to be addressed by the (Public Service Commission) in this proceeding is whether Gulf Power Company needs any additional revenues in order to provide safe, adequate, reliable service, to recover its legitimate costs of providing such service, and to have an opportunity to earn a fair and reasonable return on its legitimate investment in assets used and useful in serving Gulf’s retail customers,” Walmart said in a filing last month. “The evidence offered by intervenor parties … shows that, in total, the answer to this question is that Gulf can indeed fulfill its duty to provide safe, adequate, reliable service with no rate increase at all and probably with a modest overall rate reduction of approximately $2 million per year.”
Public Service Commission hearings in base-rate cases are highly technical and include detailed information about utility finances and operations. Gulf Power’s current base rates stem from a settlement of a 2013 rate case.
A key issue in many rate cases — and likely in the upcoming Gulf hearing — is setting a “return on equity,” a measure of profitability. In its proposal, Gulf Power is seeking an 11 percent return on equity, while the Office of Public Counsel argues the rate should be 8.875 percent.
Another issue in the case involves whether costs related to a Georgia power plant, known as Plant Scherer, should be included in the base rates. Gulf and other utilities have owned stakes in the plant. In the past, Gulf Power sold electricity generated at the plant on the wholesale market but now uses power from the plant for its retail customers.
“Gulf is requesting that the (Public Service) Commission now include in retail rates the portion of (the plant) that is no longer committed under long-term off-system wholesale contracts,” Gulf said in the document filed last month. “This action is necessary to honor the regulatory compact that contemplates that Gulf is entitled to the opportunity to earn a fair return on prudent investments that are used and useful in the public service.”
But the other parties in the case are fighting the proposal to include the costs in base rates. The Office of Public Counsel, for instance, argued that “Gulf is asking the commission to let it put a 30-year-old coal plant in retail rate base after its shareholders had wrung out all of the profit from it in the wholesale market place since it was acquired but never needed for retail rates.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Century Workshop Tonight To Discuss Water, Gas, Garbage Rates
March 20, 2017
The Century Town Council will hold a public workshop this evening to discuss water, gas and garbage rates.
At recent council meetings, Mayor Henry Hawkins has called for rates to be increased to stop financial losses. Alicia Jernigan, Century’s certified wastewater operator, said the town’s wastewater “is failing”, comprised of aging equipment that has not been properly maintained, is wearing out, or is now functionally obsolete.
The special hearing on “enterprise rates” — water, gas and garbage — will be held at 6 p.m. at the Century Town Hall. A regular council meeting will follow at 7 p.m. Both meetings are open to the public.
Pictured: The Century wastewater treatment plant. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Sunny, Warm Sunday
March 19, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 75. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 53. South wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. West wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 57. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. West wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 75.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75.
Perfect Spring Weather Weekend
March 18, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 49. West wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 74. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81. West wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 57. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 57.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 77.