Career Night Is Tonight At Ernest Ward Middle School
February 2, 2012
Ernest Ward Middle School will host a Career Night this evening from 6-7:30 in the school gym for parents, students and community members.
Representatives from many career fields will be present, along with school representatives from who will speak individually to those who would like information concerning career academies, middle and high school academic programs and extracurricular activities.
Refreshments will be served and adults may register for door prizes. Adults are also welcomed to bring copies of their resumes to leave with potential employers.
Participants include:
- Tate High School
- Northview High School
- West Florida High School
- Ernest Ward Middle School
- EWMS Electrical Academy
- EWMS Culinary Academy
- EWMS Graphic Arts Academy
- George Stone Vocational School
- Pensacola State College
- Escambia River Electric Coop
- Gulf Power
- Alabama Power
Career fields expected to represented include:
- professional baseball player
- minister
- barber
- nurse
- social worker
- counselor
- fireman
- EMT
- interior designer
- speech therapist
- banker
- home inspector
- accountant
- deputy
- taxidermist
- attorney
- lineman
- electrical engineer
- veterinarian
- physician
- forensic scientist
- seamstress
- florist
- welder
- correctional officer
- optometrist
More Rain In Forecast
February 2, 2012
Here is your official North Escambia are forecast:
- Tonight: A 50 percent chance of showers. Areas of dense fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Friday: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. East wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. East wind around 10 mph.
- Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. South wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. South wind around 5 mph.
- Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north.
- Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. North wind around 5 mph.
- Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. North wind around 5 mph.
- Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 67.
- Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41.
- Wednesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66.
- Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46.
- Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65.
Public Meeting Today To Address Planned Closure Of Molino USDA Office
February 1, 2012
A public meeting will be held this morning to discuss the federal government’s plan to close the USDA’s Escambia County Farm Services Agency office in Molino.
The public meeting will offer an opportunity for Escambia County farmers and ranchers to speak on the proposed closure. The USDA Florida Farm Service Agency management team will be on hand for the meeting, including State Executive Director Tim Manning, Administrative Office Mark Cottrell and Executive Officer Debby Folsom.
The meeting will take place at 10 a.m. at Highland Baptist Church at 6240 North Highway 95A in Molino.
On January 9, the USDA announced the proposed closure of their Molino office, the only Farm Service Agency Office in the North Escambia area to be shut down. The Santa Rosa County office in Milton and the Escambia County (Ala.) Office in Brewton will remain open.
The USDA has proposed to streamline operations and decrease costs under a plan that includes the consolidation of 131 county FSA offices in 32 states, including six in Florida.
The Molino FSA Office administers farm commodities, crop insurance, credit, environmental conservation and emergency assistance for farmers and ranchers in Escambia County.
More Rain Possible Tonight
February 1, 2012
Locally heavy rainfall is possible Wednesday along the Gulf Coast. Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, then a slight chance of showers. Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph.
- Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Friday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 71. East wind between 5 and 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. South wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind around 5 mph becoming west.
- Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. North wind around 10 mph.
- Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
- Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.
- Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65.
- Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44.
- Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 67.
Molino’s Travis Fryman, Former MLB Player, To Speak At Northview
February 1, 2012
Molino resident Travis Fryman, former third baseman for the Cleveland Indians, will be the guest speaker Thursday morning at a meeting of the Northview High Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
The FCA meeting will take place at 8 a.m. in the Northview theater. The public is invited to attend as Fryman shares his testimony.
Fryman was a starting third baseman with the Detroit Tigers from 1990 to 1997. He was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997 and was traded two weeks later to the Cleveland Indians. He played for the Indians from 1998 to 2002.
He made a total of five trips to the annual All Star Game and won a Gold Glove Award with a 60-game errorless streak.
School Prayer Vote Could Come Today
February 1, 2012
The Senate is set to vote as early as Wednesday on a measure that deeply divides the chamber, allowing school districts to let students lead prayers at public school graduations, football games and other assemblies, as long as adults aren’t involved.
The version of the bill (SB 98) set for a floor vote doesn’t set out any limits on the inspirational message – messages that are sectarian, and those that are proselytizing in nature would be OK, drawing the opposition of some Jewish members of the Senate.
And, in deference to constitutional prohibitions on establishing a religion, just about anything would have to be fair game.
“Any inspirational message they want to do,” Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, the sponsor of the bill, said during discussion of the measure on the floor Tuesday.
Presumably, if a district were to approve a policy, and a student wanted to take the P.A. system at a football game and offer a prayer to the Goddess of the Earth or to Allah or a Wiccan deity, they would have to be allowed to do so under the bill.
“Suppose a first grader wants to do an inspirational message to Buddha, to Allah? ….Who decides who says what?” asked Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood.
As long as it is “inspirational,” and being voluntarily delivered by the student, it would have to be allowed, Siplin said. The bill doesn’t define “inspirational,” nor does it let school districts do that. In fact, it clearly prevents school districts from choosing what students are allowed to say or not say, spelling out that school district personnel “may not monitor or otherwise review the content of a student volunteer’s inspirational message.”
“So the inspirational message my little children would be hearing would not be up to the family….? asked Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach.
That is correct, Siplin replied. It would be up to the students at her children’s school.
And if she doesn’t want her children to hear any “inspirational messages” at school functions, what should she do? Sachs asked.
“Since school boards are elected you can vote against them next time,” Siplin responded.
The measure, which changed between the time it was heard in early committees and its arrival on the Senate floor, has a House companion (HB 317), but it has yet to get a committee hearing there. Some of the changes also alarmed opponents. Originally the bill was aimed only at secondary schools, but it was changed before reaching the floor to include elementary school students.
Another change opened up the prayers to any school event – originally it would have made it clear that prayers could only be offered at events students aren’t required to attend. Now the bill would allow prayer at any school event.
Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, said she couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want students to hear inspirational messages at the start of an assembly.
“Do you suppose opponents want, instead of to inspire little first graders, maybe they want to demoralize them?” asked Storms.
By The News Service of Florida
Romney Projected Winner Of Florida Republican Primary
January 31, 2012
Moments after the polls closed across Florida the major television networks all projected that Mitt Romney had won today’s Florida Republican Primary.
Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS all project Romney as the winner before the first ballots were counted in Northwest Florida. Because of the time zone difference, 51 percent of the state’s precincts were reporting at the time of the predictions. Romney held a 48 percent lead, followed by Gingrich with 31 percent, Rick Santorum with 13 percent and Ron Paul with 7 percent.
Water Outage: Bay Springs, South Highway 99
January 31, 2012
Due to water line repairs, water service will be off in the Bay Springs and South Highway 99 area until about noon today, according to provider Escambia River Electric Cooperative.
Florida Primary Underway
January 31, 2012
Months after its date became an issue and 10 days after it turned the state into the center of the political world, Florida’s presidential primary is underway today as voters the polls are open until 7 p.m.
And Republican leaders are saying that the contest could ultimately decide which one of the candidates wins the nomination — just what legislators wanted when they set up a committee last year that upended the GOP’s plans for a carefully orchestrated voting calendar.
As the candidates sprinted across the state Monday in their last chance to sway those voters who haven’t already cast a ballot, polls showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney opening up a double-digit lead against former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who has all but ignored Florida in pursuit of later states, were even farther behind.
Romney used two strong debate performances and an onslaught of ads in Florida to try to counter Gingrich’s momentum after the speaker shook up the race by thumping Romney in South Carolina. By Monday, Gingrich supporters were already trying to downplay expectations for Gingrich, who vowed to press on no matter what happens today.
“If he has a respectable showing, I think he’s still a viable candidate,” said Sen. Thad Altman, a Melbourne Republican who supports Gingrich. “I think it’s important that he has a good showing here, but I don’t think he has to win.”
A respectable showing, Altman said, would be one that put the former speaker within 10 points of Romney — though Gingrich wasn’t out of the race for Florida even with the daunting margin, Altman said.
“If look you at the polls of the past primaries, Newt’s run stronger than the polls indicated and Romney ran a lot weaker,” he said.
Romney supporters were also looking to tamp down any emerging story lines that the onetime front-runner needed a big win in Florida after a long list of polls showed him putting ever more distance between himself and the rest of the pack.
“Any win is a win, okay?” said Sen. Steve Wise, a Republican from Jacksonville, a Romney stronghold.
Following a debate in Jacksonville Thursday night, in which Romney was seen as the winner, adviser Eric Fehrnstrom also tried to quiet talk that a win in Florida could prove to be a knockout punch for Romney, who has already won in New Hampshire and is the best-funded candidate in the race.
“The nomination process doesn’t end on the 31st of January,” he said. “It keeps going.”
Florida Republicans coming off a bruising battle to put the state in the limelight were eager to paint a different narrative. Last year, facing the prospect of sanctions from the national Republican Party for the Jan. 31 primary date, GOP lawmakers cobbled together a committee to establish the date of the presidential primary. The panel decided to go with Jan. 31 anyway.
That prompted the national party to strip Republicans of half of their delegates to the GOP convention, set to be held in Tampa.
“No one can argue that that has not concentrated extraordinary focus, emphasis and potentially … decisiveness in terms of the impact of Floridian voters’ voices,” said state House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park. Cannon has remained neutral since his first choice, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, dropped out of the race.
Lenny Curry, chairman of the state Republican Party, was more reserved.
“I’d rather that we didn’t lose half of our delegates, but this is where we are, and it is all about Florida,” he said. “So some will argue that it was worth it.”
By The News Service of Florida
Election Day Tips
January 31, 2012
Polls will be open from until 7 p.m. today for the Republican Presidential Primary. All Escambia voters, including Democrats and independents, can vote on the countywide EDATE referendum.
Voter turnout was reported to be light across the North Escambia area. At precincts in Bratt and Walnut Hill, only Mitt Romney signs lined the highways. There were no visible signs of support for other candidates.
Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford offers the following Election Day tips:
- If you are unsure of your registration status, check EscambiaVotes.com, or call 595-3900
- Confirm the location of your polling place: check your sample ballot, voter information card, EscambiaVotes.com, or call 595-3900
- Photo and signature ID is required for all voters – if you do not present an approved form of ID, you may vote a provisional ballot
- While only registered Republicans may vote in the Presidential Preference Primary contest, all voters may vote on the countywide EDATE referendum
- Registration books closed on January 3 – new registrations and party changes for this election may not be made at the polls
- You may not return your voted absentee ballot to your precinct on Election Day – it must be returned to the Elections Office by 7 p.m.
- Early voting ended Saturday – if you have not yet voted, you must go to your precinct on Election Day
- Busiest times at the polls tend to be 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m., and 4:30 p.m. until the polls close at 7:00 p.m.
For more information, contact the Escambia Supervisor of Elections Office by phone at (850) 595-3900, e-mail at soe@escambiavotes.com or visit EscambiaVotes.com.
Pictured: Precincts at the Walnut Hill Community Center (top) and the First Baptist Church of Bratt (inset) late Tuesday morning. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.