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Dense Fog Advisory, Good Rain Chance Tonight

There is a dense fog advisory in effect for tonight. Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after midnight. Areas of fog before midnight. Otherwise, cloudy, with a steady temperature around 65. South wind around 10 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
• Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 64. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
• Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
• Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 5 to 15 mph.
• Tuesday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. North wind around 10 mph.
• Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 59.
• Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 46.
• Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 67.
• Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45.
• Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 62.

Dense Fog Advisory Tonight

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: Areas of dense fog after 9pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
• Sunday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Areas of dense fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
• Sunday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 53. Southeast wind around 10 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
• Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
• Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
• Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 5 to 15 mph.
• Tuesday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Northwest wind around 10 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 36. North wind around 10 mph.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55.
• Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38.
• Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 63.
• Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 46.
• Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 68.

Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Gearing Up For Session, Campaigns

The beginning of February brings with it a month that promises several things, from Valentine’s Day to the beginning of spring training. And, for all intents and purposes, the start of the legislative session.

Like pitchers and catchers who report and start spring training by knocking off the proverbial rust, lawmakers won’t go into full sprint mode over the following month, instead holding committee meetings ahead of the official March 4 opening of the session. But also like the players who will soon show up at camp locations across Florida (and Arizona), they will lay the critical groundwork for what happens in the months ahead.

So Gov. Rick Scott, House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz spent part of Wednesday detailing their plans for the 2014 session to reporters and editors gathered for the Associated Press’ annual legislative planning meeting in Tallahassee. Scott and his prime opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, also traded political shots at the event.

Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court declined to snuff out a medical marijuana initiative that could change all of their calculations.

BUDGETS AND BALLOTS

Officially, Scott’s remarks at the AP meeting were to introduce his new, nearly $74.2 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Most of the highlights were already known: The plan would boost spending for education and child welfare, slash taxes and fees by more than $500 million and fund an array of other politically popular programs in an election year.

There were a couple of new details — $21.6 million in tax breaks by raising the exemption on the corporate income tax from $50,000 to $75,000, and setting aside up to $70 million for Florida Forever, a major land conservation program.

But the governor tried to keep the focus on the tax cuts in the package, including rolling back a motor-vehicle registration fee increase approved in 2009.

“My message to the people of Florida is this: It’s your money,” Scott said. “We want you to keep it in your pockets. Invest in your hopes, invest in your dreams.”

Democrats were unimpressed, noting that the “historic” education budget increase would largely come from rising local property tax revenues, which would account for $374.7 million of the $542 million boost for schools.

“Historic disappointment — that’s what’s historic about this governor’s budget,” sneered House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale.

Scott, though, didn’t focus solely on budgetary business. He used the growth in state revenues and the general improvement in the economy to take some swipes at Crist, a former Republican governor now running as a Democrat for his old job.

“Florida shed more than 800,000 jobs in the four years before I took office,” he said, without needing to point out who was governor then. “Taxes increased, debt increased and the unemployment rate rose to 11.4 percent, all while hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. Florida was in a hole and for four years, there was just more digging.”

Crist pointed out that Scott had a history of his own, including the incumbent’s time as CEO of hospital giant Columbia/HCA. After Scott left the firm, it paid a record $1.7 billion in fines, fees and damages in a settlement for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The fraud occurred while Scott was CEO but he left the firm days after the feds raided company offices

“Floridians need to be reminded who I’m running against,” Crist said. “This is a guy who headed a company that ended up having to pay the largest fine for fraud in the history of the United States of America at the time. To me that is stunning …and unconscionable. I’m going to talk about it every day.”

Crist’s primary opponent, former Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, tried to tie both men together — using Crist’s former time in the GOP as a cudgel.

“I stand on my record,” she said. “I think he has rewritten his.”

So far, the last couple of months of campaigning appear to have made no real difference. A Quinnipiac University poll released the day after the AP event showed Crist leading Scott, 46 percent to 38 percent — about the same as a November survey by the university’s polling arm. Scott would beat Rich by 4 points, 41 percent to 37 percent, though with a huge chunk of voters undecided.

LET’S GET TO WORK PLAN

Less political, at least on the surface, was a presentation by Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Gaetz, R-Niceville, on their shared agenda for 2014. It marks the second straight year that Gaetz and Weatherford, seeking to distance themselves from the rancor between the House and Senate under their predecessors, have done the two-man show.

Especially for an election year, when the tendency is for lawmakers to do their work as quickly as possible and get out of the town, the agenda was ambitious. The two leaders want to cut the “differential tuition” increases that universities can request, expand the state’s tax-credit voucher program, pass a “Florida GI Bill,” turn Florida into “scorched earth” for sexual predators, hit Scott’s tax-cut target and overhaul the state’s pension system.

“We’re doubling down with our legislative agenda in 2014,” Weatherford said. “What we’re doing here today is creating a framework that I believe our legislators and the members of our committees in the House and Senate can work on to refine and improve upon.”

Thurston said he backs the proposals to roll back motor-vehicle registration fees and limit tuition hikes, and the intent of the Republican leadership’s military-friendly “GI Bill.” But he said further details on the GOP agenda are needed.

“Some of the stuff on the list we’ve been advocating for years and years and years,” Thurston said. “So if they’re moving towards that, I’d support that. But I’d like to see the details of how they intend to do that.”

Gaetz said the intent of the GI Bill is to make Florida “the number one military friendly state.” It would include out-of-state tuition waivers for all veterans, free tuition for members of the Florida National Guard and waiver of licensing fees for returning service personnel who move to Florida.

Weatherford and Gaetz’s plans for higher education would include lowering the cap on annual increases under differential tuition from 15 percent to 6 percent.

The House speaker said the purpose of the proposal is to rein in the costs of prepaid tuition plans, which allow parents to lock in tuition and fees for their children to attend state colleges and universities. Because of the differential tuition law, approved in 2009, the plans have to assume that tuition rates will increase 15 percent every year.

The proposal “will dramatically reduce the cost of what is now an unaffordable and out-of-reach Florida prepaid plan for our citizens and for the middle class,” Weatherford said.

But it’s not clear if universities, many of which have chafed under Scott’s efforts to rein in tuition in recent years, will fight the proposal.

FLORIDA: RED STATE, BLUE STATE, OR GREEN STATE?

Meanwhile, after weeding through the minutiae of the English language, a narrowly divided Supreme Court ruled that it was high time voters got to decide whether medical marijuana would be allowed in Florida.

By a 4-3 margin, the court ruled that the summary of a constitutional amendment that voters will see at the polls isn’t deceptive, swatting away arguments from Attorney General Pam Bondi and legislative leaders that the proposal is actually far broader than the summary lets on.

“We conclude that the ballot title and summary fairly inform voters of the chief purpose of the amendment and will not mislead voters, who will be able to cast an intelligent and informed ballot as to whether they want a provision in the state constitution authorizing the medical use of marijuana, as determined by a licensed Florida physician, under Florida law,” the majority wrote in a joint opinion.

In a dissent, Chief Justice Ricky Polston said the ruling “will result in Floridians voting on a constitutional amendment in disguise.” He said the amendment would allow a far wider use of pot than the ballot suggests.

“For example, despite what the title and summary convey to voters, minor aches and pains, stress, insomnia, or fear of an upcoming flight could qualify for the medical use of marijuana under the text of the amendment,” Polston wrote. “This is seriously misleading.”

The ruling means that the marijuana proposal will appear on the November ballot as Amendment No. 2. But it could also complicate efforts to pass a legislative measure to legalize a marijuana extract known as “Charlotte’s Web.”

Proponents of the treatment believe it can dramatically reduce seizures in children with a rare form of epilepsy.

Charlotte’s Web is an extract of the marijuana derivative cannabidiol, or CBD, but is low in the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. The strain is oil-based, can be taken orally and doesn’t get users high, unlike the medical marijuana that would be authorized under the constitutional proposal.

Legislative authorization “is still our daughter’s and 125,000 other Floridians’ best chance at getting this life-changing medicine quickly,” said Peyton Moseley, whose 10-year-old adopted daughter RayAnn is one of an estimated 125,000 children in Florida diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome.

“Having the full-on legalization of medical marijuana on the ballot in November is fine and good, but if your child’s life depended on her gaining access to a certain kind of medicine, would you want to leave that decision in the hands of the voters?” Moseley said.

But the court’s decision to put the prescription pot question on the ballot could pose a conundrum for conservative lawmakers, already skeptical of the non-euphoric strain.

“I think after people analyze it they are going to kind of line up. They’ll either say there is a right way involving these derivatives and there’s a wrong way and contrast it with the amendment. Or they’ll say people are going to get this all mixed up and think I’m for (medical marijuana). … It depends how their district reads and how they want to be seen,” said House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott unveils the final pieces of his nearly $74.2 billion budget ahead of this year’s legislative session.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There’s this perception that there’s going to be unlimited money. It’s not like it’s going to be only a Rick Scott negative campaign against Charlie Crist and Charlie Crist is just going to have his name on the ballot. It’s going to be a conversation. It’s not going to be like Pepsi and Tab or Ford and the Malaysian Proton.”– Steve Schale, an adviser to Charlie Crist, on the 2014 governor’s race.

Weather: Back To The 60’s, 70’s And Some Rain

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
• Saturday: Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. East wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
• Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain after midnight. Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
• Sunday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
• Sunday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 54. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
• Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 63. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 52. North wind around 5 mph.
• Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. East wind 5 to 15 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
• Tuesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind around 10 mph.
• Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64.
• Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40.
• Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.
• Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39.
• Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62.

Schools Open Friday

Escambia County (FL) and Santa Rosa County schools have announced that they will be open on Friday.

All schools and bus routes will operate on their regular schedules.

In Escambia County, extra-curricular activities may resume after 3:00 p.m., Thursday.

A  National Junior Honor Society Induction planned for Thursday night at Ernest Ward Middle School will be rescheduled. A Northview High School band fundraising event planned for Thursnight at Century’s What-A-Burger restaurant has been canceled and will be rescheduled for a future date.

The “38th Annual Sandy Sansing Spelling Bee” has been canceled for Thursday night and will be rescheduled at a date/time to be announced later.

Final Day To Save On Property, Tangible Property Taxes

Today is the final day to pay real estate and personal property taxes and receive a two percent discount, according to Escambia County Tax Collector Janet Holley.

In order to receive the two percent discount, the payment must be:

• mailed with a postmark by January 31;
• left in a 24-hour drop box available at all offices by midnight January 31; or
• made on the tax collector website by midnight January 31.

Taxes can be paid online at www.escambiataxcollector.com. For more information, call (850) 438-6500, ext. 3252.

ALERT – Highway 97 Open, Highway 29 Open

[Update 1:30 pm.} Roadways in the North Escambia are once again open.

Highway 97 and Highway 29 are both open. There is some ice remaining on the northbound Canoe Creek Bridge at last report. The Highway 4 bridge between Century and Jay is also open with some ice.

There are no specific openings or closures on the county roads in North Escambia. However, there is ice on some less traveled road and ice on many county road bridges as of 1:30 p.m.

Pictured top:  Vehicles that did not make a hill on Highway 97 when it was iced over. The roadway is now thawed and open. The Highway 4 bridge between Century and Jay open this morning, but icy. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

State Of Emergency: Schools, Most Things Closed Through Thursday

All public schools will be closed in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida and Escambia County, AL, Escambia Academy and Brewton City for Thursday.

Escambia County (FL) has declared a State of Emergency  until midnight Thursday.  Escambia County has closed all offices Wednesday and Thursday with only essential personnel reporting to Emergency Operations Center.  Travel is not recommended  Wednesday or Thursday due to ice accumulations on  roadways in Escambia County.

CLOSURE/CANCELLATION LIST:

• All public schools, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Escambia (AL), Baldwin, Mobile, Brewton City
• Thursday night’s National Junor Honor Society induction at Ernest Ward Middle will be rescheduled.
• Pensacola State College –  All campuses and centers of PSC will be closed  through Thursday.
• University of West Florida — All campuses closed, all activities canceled for Thursday.
• Temple Christian Academy (Atmore) closed  Thursday.
• Pensacola Christian Academy will be closed on Thursday
• All Catholic Schools in Escambia County will be closed Thursday.
• Escambia Academy (Canoe, AL) will be closed on  Thursday.
• All county offices in Escambia County (FL & AL) closed on Thursday.
• Community Action Program will be closed Wednesday.
• East Hill Christian School closed Thursday.
• Jefferson Davis Community College, Atmore and Brewton, closed  Thursday.
• All Florida Department of Health locations are closed and services suspended on Thursday.
• Escambia and Santa Rosa County and Circuit Courts closed on  Thursday.
• City of Pensacola, Town of Century, Town of Jay, Town of Flomaton  closed Thursday.
• Escambia Christian School will be closed  Thursday
• All programs and offices of United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Florida, Capstone Academy Pensacola and Milton, Childrens Services Center and Milton Child Care Center will be closed  Thursday. Programs will resume on Thursday, January 30 at their usual times

• West Florida Public Libraries will be closed Thursday
• ARC Gateway, closed  Thursday
• Development Review Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday at Central Office Complex at 1 p.m. and has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 5, at 1 p.m.
• The County Administrator interviews scheduled for Thursday, January 30 and the Special Board of County Commission Meeting to discuss County Administrator candidates on Friday, January 31 have been canceled.
• Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) will continue to restrict access to all but Category 5 personnel on Wednesday January 29. Category 5 personnel are those required to maintain emergency, fire and security services. A decision to resume normal operations on Thursday will be made after effects of weather are evaluated.
• ECUA residential collections for Wednesday will be made on Thursday. Thursday’s collections will be on Friday, and Friday’s collections will be made on Saturday.

NON-PROFIT CLOSURE LIST

Due to weather conditions the following programs and offices will be closed Thursday. They will resume normal operations on Frida at their normal times.

• ARC Gateway
• Boys and Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast (seven clubs located in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties)
• Catholic Charities
• Children’s Home Society
• The Community Action Program Head Start and All other Community Action Programs
• The Epilepsy Resource Center (ERC)
• Lutheran Services of North Florida
• Manna Food Pantries
• United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Florida Offices
• UCP’s Capstone Academy Pensacola and Milton
• UCP’s Children’s Services Center and Milton Child Care Center
• USO Northwest Florida

Partial Closures or unique operations are as follows:

• Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE) will be represented at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) throughout the current level 2 activation and BRACE LLC staff will be onsite at Heritage Oaks, however, BRACE staff will work from their homes on Tuesday and Wednesday until weather conditions allow for safe travel to and from work.
• Health & Hope Clinics located in Pensacola and Century (9am-11:30a clinics closed). They will make a decision regarding whether or not to open their later clinics at 10am Thursday. (5pm-8pm clinics)
• United Way of Escambia County will suspend opening of the office until 1pm on Thursday the 30.  2-1-1 information and referral agents will be available 24/7
• The YMCA will NOT provide school age childcare on January 30 and currently plan to keep the branches closed until Noon tomorrow.

Please do not email, use the comment form or contact us asking about closures. The latest closure information we have will be listed in this story and updated 24/7.

Northview What-A-Night, Ernest Ward Honor Society Canceled

Events scheduled for tonight at Ernest Ward Middle School and Northview High School have been canceled.

A National Junior Honor Society Induction planned for tonight at Ernest Ward Middle School will be rescheduled.

A Northview High School band fundraising event planned for tonight at Century’s What-A-Burger restaurant has been canceled and will be rescheduled for a future date.

The Big Thaw Now, 70 By Sunday

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 28. Calm wind.
• Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the morning.
• Friday Night: Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
• Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers after 8am. Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Patchy dense fog. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 59. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
• Sunday: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 72. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Sunday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, then rain likely after midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 50. North wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Monday: A 30 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 59. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. Northeast wind around 10 mph.
• Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68.
• Tuesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55.
• Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 55.
• Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51.

Pictured top: A cold sun glistens on an icy field in Walnut Hill Wednesday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

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