Northview Could Clinch Playoff Berth Tonight
November 5, 2010
The Northview Chiefs are looking to take the sting out of the Vernon Yellow Jackets tonight and lock up a playoff berth.
With a win over the Yellow Jackets (7-1,7-1), the Chiefs (7-1, 6-1) will clinch the runner-up berth in District 1-A. Freeport (7-1, 7-0) currently holds the top spot in the district and is favored to defeat Holmes County (4-4. 3-4) tonight.
The Chiefs and the Yellow Jackets kick off at 7 p.m. tonight in Bratt.
Northview Mini Cheerleading Clinic Is Saturday
November 5, 2010
The annual Northview Mini-Cheerleading Clinic will be held this Saturday, giving area girls the chance to cheer at an upcoming Northview Chiefs game.
The clinic will be from 8:30 until 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the school gym. Registration begins at 8:00. The clinic is open to children three-years old through the sixth grade. Cost is $15 per person. The girls will perform during first and second quarters of the November 12 Northview Chiefs football game at home against West Florida High School. They girls will receive free admission to the game, a t-shirt and a goodie bag.
For questions, call Anna at Northview at (850) 327-6681.
Pictured: Last year’s Northview Mini-Cheerleading Clinic at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Friday Night Football Schedule
November 5, 2010
Here’s a look at the schedule for tonight’s prep football games in the North Escambia area. For Northview, tonight is a chance to clinch a playoff berth, while round one of the playoffs begin for Alabama schools.
Florida
- Vernon at Northview
- Baker at Jay
- Navarre at Tate
- Escambia at Pine Forest
- J.R. Arnold at Washington
- Rutherford at West Florida
- Pensacola at Bay
- Catholic at Chipley
Alabama (Round 1 Playoffs)
- Escambia County (Atmore) at Andalusia
- Daleville at T.R. Miller
Gulf Coast Showcase Of Champions Marching Band Competition Saturday At Tate
November 5, 2010
Tate High School will host the Ninth Annual Gulf Coast Showcase of Champions Marching Band Competition on Saturday.
Preliminaries begin at noon and finals begin at 6 p.m. Eleven bands from around the Southeast will perform, including the Northview Tribal Beat at noon.
The Tate “Showband of the South” will perform an exhibition after the preliminaries and also after the finals. The University of Mobile’s RamCorps will perform at 3:30.
Admission is $7 for the preliminary competition and $10 for the final competition.
Freeze Watch In Effect
November 4, 2010
A freeze watch has been issued for Friday night and early Saturday morning with a light freeze forecast in some parts of North Escambia.
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Friday: Sunny, with a high near 60. Northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
- Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 31. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 60. Calm wind becoming north between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 31. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 65. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
- Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 35. Calm wind.
- Monday: Sunny, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph.
- Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 39. Calm wind.
- Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 74.
- Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 46.
- Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 77.
- Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51.
- Veterans Day: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 76.
Update: Florida Gov’s Race Still In Doubt
November 3, 2010
Despite an unprecedented wave of Republican victories across Florida and the nation, the state’s governor’s race fell into the too-close-to-call category by sunrise Wednesday.
The current tally is not enough to close the gap between the two. Statewide totals with the Division of Elections show Scott with more than a 1 percentage point lead over Sink, a margin of victory that would not trigger a machine recount.
“We look forward to finishing the count, we know we will win and look forward to putting our state back to work,” Scott said. “Nothing in my life has honored me as much as the willingness of Florida voters to put their faith in my plan for Florida.”
Palm Beach County election officials finished tallying up ballots shortly after 4 a.m. Democratic candidate Alex Sink tallied 216,438 votes in the Democratic stronghold compared to 146,786 votes recorded for Republican challenger Rick Scott.
Late additions to the troubled Palm Beach numbers added about 12,690 votes to Sink’s earlier tally but she remained about 60,000 votes behind Scott, more than double the number, about 26,500, that would trigger a recount. Palm Beach again became the focus of election night drama when returns were delayed with little explanation for Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.
“This is turning out, as we suspected, to be a nailbiter, a classic Florida election,” Sink said. “We’re coming down to the wire in what looks to be a dead even race.
Scott, who was sequestered with his family on an upper floor of a Fort Lauderdale waterside hotel, made no public statements. But a crowd of several hundred listened to live music, enjoyed an open bar and steamships of beef as they awaited what most expected to be Scott joining U.S. Sen.-elect Marco Rubio and three Republican Cabinet victors in the winner’s circle.
Scott spent more than $70 million of his own money on the race, only to see it go to Election Day as a toss-up.
With a pick-up of two state Senate seats and five Democratic House incumbents appearing headed toward defeat, Republicans also looked like they’d secured veto-proof, two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers.
But the governor’s race remained perhaps the night’s biggest prize – still in doubt.
Dave Beattie, a Sink advisor, said of the remaining votes, “the biggest chunks are in Democratic places, and the more outstanding there is, the better there is.”
Heading into the election, polls showed the race tied, and Tuesday’s balloting seemed to only affirm the deadlock. Sink won by a wide margin in Democratic-rich Broward County, was carrying Miami-Dade County with most of the vote in, and narrowly won her home Hillsborough County, where she had campaigned hard for a potentially larger margin.
Scott ran strong across the Panhandle, the Jacksonville area and across most of Central Florida, although Sink carried Orange County by a wide margin.
Blood Drive For Wounded Deputy To Be Held In Walnut Hill
November 3, 2010
A blood drive will be held Saturday in Walnut Hill in honor of wounded Deputy Jeremy Cassady, who was shot Friday during a home invasion hostage situation in Pensacola.
The Northwest Florida Blood Services blood drive will take place from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. during the annual Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department Fish Fry at the Walnut Hill Fire Station on Highway 97.
Cassady, who remains in critical condition at Sacred Heart Hospital, has used well over 200 units of blood since Friday.
Catfish and chicken plates will be sold during the event. Each $7 plate will include catfish fillets or grilled chicken, hush puppies, baked beans, cole slaw, homemade bread and dessert. There will also be door prizes, with the drawing at 1 p.m. Baked goods will also be for sale.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning — Central Escambia And Santa Rosa
November 2, 2010
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
east central Escambia County in northwest Florida…
this includes the city of Ferry Pass…
west central Santa Rosa County in northwest Florida…
this includes the city of pace…
* until 715 PM CDT
* at 624 PM CDT… National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a
severe thunderstorm capable of producing quarter size hail… and
damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. This storm was located near
Ferry Pass… or near Avalon Beach… and moving north at 15 mph.
* The severe thunderstorm will be near…
pace around 645 PM CDT…
This includes Interstate 10 between mile markers 13 and 20.
Update: A Look At Voting Today, Big Races In Florida
November 2, 2010
Voting was steady Tuesday across Florida, with no serious problems reported at polling places, according to the Florida Secretary of State’s office.
Weather, too, was generally good, with vote-rich South Florida clear, sunny and warm, while some rain fell in the Tampa Bay-area shortly after Democrat Alex Sink voted in the governor’s race and just before her opponent, Rick Scott, arrived to wave signs at a crowded intersection.
The fevered pace and bruising tone of the campaign, which polls show is a virtual dead-heat, wearied many voters.
Lynn Burnette voted – but said he was glad it was all over.
“I hate the mudslinging,” Burnette said after casting a ballot at Fellowship Mason Lodge No. 265 in Tampa.
Burnette said he voted for independent Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate, and though he picked the Republican, Scott, for governor, he didn’t like either of his choices in that race.
Voters in Fort Lauderdale, where Scott’s election night party is to take place at a waterside hotel, also were more glad the campaign was over than happy to be participating.
“It seems to become just a lot of bashing at the end, by everybody on both sides,” said Denise Chembri, 42, after casting her vote at a union hall near U.S. 1.
Theodore Jackson, 45, a warehouseman voting at the same Fort Lauderdale precinct, said he had voted a straight Democratic ticket – but didn’t feel any particular motivation in a year where Republicans are expected to make gains in congressional races and statehouses across the nation.
“You vote – and you never know what you’re going to get once people get in office,” Jackson said.
The lack of enthusiasm appears shared, if late polling is accurate. A poll this week from Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University showed Scott, if elected, could start out as governor with half of Florida voters saying they have an unfavorable opinion of him. For Sink it’s a little better, but not much. Forty percent of respondents said they don’t like her.
Sink spent many of the final hours of the campaign at events across the critical Interstate-4 corridor – attending a late Monday night rally in Orlando with former President Clinton.
She voted early Tuesday in her Hillsborough County hometown, Thonotosassa, with husband Bill McBride and their son, Bert. Scott cast his ballot in his hometown, Naples, with his wife Ann, and accompanied by mother, Esther, who has campaigned with him in the homestretch but is a registered voter in Kansas City, Mo.
“We’re going to win,” Scott assured before flying to Jacksonville and Tampa for events before turning to Fort Lauderdale for his final stop of the campaign.
Sink was equally upbeat, saying she felt “fantastic” about her chances.
“We’ve been calling all around the state, the turnout is good, so we’re confident,” Sink told reporters in the Tampa area.
Asked about the feeling of weariness expressed by a number of voters, Sink said she wasn’t negative.
“What the people of Florida have been hearing from me is a positive message out how my plan is going to turn our economy around, get people back to work and we’re going to support public education,” Sink said. Her campaign has, however, run a number of ads taking on Scott’s business background and problems at his former company, Columbia/HCA.
The small-scale appearances marking the campaigns’ close constrasted sharply with the enormous spending that has made the Florida governor’s race the most expensive in state history.
Scott has poured $73 million of his own money into his campaign, while Sink has spent close to $12 million raised from donors.
The Florida Democratic and Republican parties have each raised about $31 million for the campaign’s homestretch, with much of it earmarked for the governor’s race. Outside organizations, like the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which is backing Sink, and business groups including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, behind Scott, also have poured millions of dollars into TV advertising.
With the prospect of a much closer race than when Crist beat Democrat Jim Davis in 2006 or when former Gov. Jeb Bush defeated McBride, Sink’s husband, in 2002, both parties have legal teams in place if prospects of a recount emerge.
Florida law requires a machine recount if returns show a candidate defeated by one-half of one percent or less of the votes cast. In such case, ballots are run through the machines again across all 67 counties after election officials assure the machines are working properly.
If the machine recount yields a race with a victory margin within one-quarter of 1 percent, local election officials must conduct a manual recount of questionable ballots such as those which failed to detect any vote for a particular race despite votes elsewhere on the ballot.
If 5 million people turn out to vote, as is generally expected, a race would have to be decided by 25,000 votes or less to trigger a machine recount. A manual recount would take place if the gap closed to under 12,500 ballots.
Florida Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher, a state senator facing a stern Democratic challenge himself, said Tuesday he felt confident about the prospect for both his own race and for the party. But he conceded, little more could be said until the votes are actually counted.
“The missiles have left the silos,” Thrasher said.
Thrasher, though, said he was counting on a Republican advantage going into Election Day, with 270,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats having cast ballots in early voting or by absentee. Florida Democrats, were hoping for a turnout surge Tuesday to offset that likely disadvantage going in.
“I think it’s going to be a good night for Republicans,” Thrasher said, with polls showing the party likely to win at least three Florida congressional seats now in Democratic hands, while sweeping Cabinet races and making gains in the state Legislature.
Floridians were also treated to a bruising three-way Senate race between Crist, and Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek. Rubio was ahead of most polls going into Election Day, threatening to bring a stunning halt to Crist’s political career – though not necessarily a permanent one.
Just two years ago Crist was a front runner to be a candidate for vice president of the United States, and Tuesday he appeared on the verge of being out of a job, after having left the Republican Party in May.
Crist, acknowledged by many in politics to have had a keen sense for which way political winds blow, missed the rise of an angry rightward reaction to policies in Washington this year, said state Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Democrat who is also on the verge of being out of work. Aronberg left his Senate seat to run for attorney general and lost in the Democratic primary to Dan Gelber.
For Crist, called a “raging moderate” by Aronberg, it just “was the wrong year.”
Meek never gained traction and faced the added hardship of losing Democratic voters to Crist, who openly courted Democrats saying he had a better chance of keeping Rubio – who is a staunch conservative – out of the Senate than Meek did.
Sink looked to be the only Democrat in a statewide race for whom a win wouldn’t be a big surprise. All three Cabinet races had Republicans ahead in late polling.
Sink said if she wins and ends up having to work with an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature and an all-GOP Cabinet, it won’t limit her effectiveness.
“I’ve always been able to work across party lines, I have many voters and many, many supporters, a number of Republican elected officials, and sheriffs and state attorneys have come out and publicly endorsed me, so I know I’ll be able to put together a coalition of both Republicans and Democrats and independents to do what’s right for Floridians,” she said at a stop in Tampa for sign waving on Tuesday.
Potentially driving turnout higher, despite the nastiness, were some particularly competitive congressional races, far more than usual. Republicans thought they had a good chance to flip four seats, with Democratic incumbents Allen Boyd in north Florida, Alan Grayson and Suzanne Kosmas in central Florida and Ron Klein in South Florida all seen as vulnerable to challengers.
Democrats held a glimmer of hope in two other congressional races, including in central Florida’s District 12 where operatives thought Democrat Lori Edwards had a chance to beat Republican Dennis Ross in a seat being vacated by the GOP’s Adam Putnam, who is running for agriculture commissioner. Edwards was being given a shot in this Republican-trending year because of the presence in the race of Tea Party candidate Randy Wilkinson who was expected to peel votes away from Ross.
Democrats also were hoping that Joe Garcia might have a shot at winning a Miami-area seat, though late polling showed Republican David Rivera ahead in the race for House District 25.
Also on the ballot were four controversial ballot initiatives, one requiring local referenda before certain changes to local growth plans, two dealing with the rules for redistricting and one giving school districts flexibility in meeting class requirements, allowing them to use averages rather than actually capping the number of students in a class.
By John Kennedy and Keith Laing
The News Service Florida
Escambia Election Day Tips
November 2, 2010
Here are some tips to help voters prepare for Election Day from Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford:
- Verify your registration status using our online tool
- Know the location of your polling place – check your sample ballot, voter information card, our website
- Photo and Signature ID is required for all voters (if you do not present valid ID, you may vote a provisional ballot)
- Your ballot is two-sided — be sure to vote both sides
- If you make a mistake on your ballot, ask for a new ballot
- You may select only one choice in each contest on the ballot
- Study your sample ballot in advance, pre-mark it and bring it with you to the polls (sample ballots are available online)
- You may not return your voted absentee ballot to your precinct on Election Day — it must be returned to the Elections Office by 7 pm for it to be counted
- If you need any type of assistance or have questions, simply ask one of the election officials at your polling location
- Early voting ended Saturday — you must go to your precinct’s polling location
- Busiest times at the polls are from 7:00 am until 9:00 am, and from 4:30 pm until the polls close at 7:00 pm
For additional information, contact us by phone (850-595-3900), email at soe@escambiavotes.com, or visit EscambiaVotes.com