Jay Man A Finalist For National Electrician Of The Year
September 6, 2018
A Jay man has been named the Southeast Electrician of the Year and needs your vote to win the title of National Electrician of the Year from Klein Tools.
Working in the trades isn’t just a career for Mike Adams.
It’s a family tradition dating back four generations. With his mom, dad, uncles and cousins working by his side, there was never a doubt that Adams would grow to love and live by the rules of the trades.
Through his years as an electrician, Adams learned the importance of proper safety procedures and a dedication to even the smallest details of a job. He instills these lessons in the next generation of electricians as an advisor for SkillsUSA where he has helped lead many students to success in regional and national competitions.
Adam’s work takes him all over Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida and Escambia County in Alabama.
To vote for Mike Adams at the National Electrician of the Year, click here.
Boil Water Notice Issued For Williams Ditch, Parker Road Area
September 6, 2018
Cottage Hill Water Works has issued a precautionary boil water notice for all of Williams Ditch Road south of Parker Road and all of Parker Road.
Residents located in the specified area are advised to boil water for one minute at a rolling boil or to use 8 drops of regular unscented household bleach per gallon of water, for water to be used for drinking or cooking purposes.
For more information, call Cottage Hill Water Works at (850) 968-5485.
Tate And Northview Non-Varsity, West Florida Varsity Football Games Canceled
September 6, 2018
The non-varsity football games tonight at Tate and Northview high schools have been canceled.
The Tate JV and freshmen teams were scheduled to play at Gulf Breeze, but were canceled. The Tate varsity football team will still travel to Gulf Breeze for a game Friday at 7:00 (the Tate schedule said 7:30, but it’s really 7:00).
Northview’s junior varsity was set to play Flomaton tonight, but Flomaton has forfeited both of the their JV games against Northview, according to the NHS Quarterback Club. The varsity Chiefs will host South Walton at 7:00 Friday in Bratt.
West Florida High School’s varsity football game Friday night against D’Iberville, MS, was also canceled. Due to Tropical Storm Gordon was unable to practice.
Pictured: Northview Chiefs JV football quarterback Ben Wilson with a pass. NorthEscambia.com photo.
A Look Back: The Stories And Photos From Tropical Storm Gordon (With Gallery)
September 6, 2018
Here’s a look back at the stories and photos from Tropical Storm Gordon.
And a note about the first photo below — it was the single most popular Gordon photo on our social media sites. It’s a contract worker attempting to clear a drainage pipe alongside Highway 29 in Cantonment near O’Reilly Auto Parts.
For a photo gallery from around Escambia County, click here.
- TS Gordon: Thomas Discusses Decision To Open Escambia Schools Wednesday
- Two Rescued After Flood Waters Isolate Cantonment Neighborhood (With Gallery)
- Gulf Power, EREC Restore Power For 30,000 Customers After Gordon
- Tropical Storm Gordon Claims Life Of Child In Escambia County
- Gordon Makes Landfall
- Tropical Storm Damage Closes Pensacola Beach Pier
- Gordon Doesn’t Hit Motorist In The Pocketbook At The Pump
Bicyclist Hit By Car In Cantonment
September 6, 2018
A adult male was injured when a vehicle collided with his bicycle late Wednesday afternoon in Cantonment.
The accident happened at Louis Street and Mucsogee Road. The bicyclist was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries by Escambia County EMS.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded.
No additional information has been released.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Gordon Doesn’t Hit Motorists In The Pocketbook At The Pump
September 6, 2018
Fears that Tropical Storm Gordon could increase gasoline prices have abated after the storm made landfall Tuesday night west of the Alabama-Mississippi border.
The auto club AAA reported Wednesday that Gulf Coast refinery operations were not impacted by the storm.
“Refineries dodged a bullet, but are not out of the woods just yet,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a prepared statement. “This year’s hurricane season is far from over. If a major storm moves into the Gulf of Mexico, refineries will go back on alert and pump prices will face renewed upward pressure.”
The Gulf of Mexico is home to nearly half of America’s gas-refining capacity. Futures prices rose on Tuesday, due to the initial threat. Wednesday afternoon, gasoline prices on the NYMEX traded nearly 10 cents below Tuesday’s peak.
AAA forecasts the national average price will drop to $2.70 per gallon this fall, with state averages lower in some cases.
“With just a couple days removed from the summer driving season, it appears fuel prices are already slipping,” Jenkins said. “Pump prices usually push lower in the fall as demand dips and refiners switch to a cheaper-to-produce winter-blend fuel.”
Pictured: Drivers fill gas cans in advance of Gordon Sunday afternoon just across the state line in Atmore. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Gulf Power, EREC Restore Power For 30,000 Customers After Gordon
September 6, 2018
Gulf Power crews continued to work Wednesday night to restore power to the last hundred or so customers still without power with help from their sister company, Georgia Power.
Crews worked nonstop since Tuesday morning to restore power to customers following widespread outages caused by heavy winds and rain in the wake of Tropical Storm Gordon. They were joined Wednesday morning by sister company Georgia Power, contractors and fresh Gulf Power crews from the Panama City and Fort Walton Beach areas.
Nearly 27,0000 Gulf Power customers lost power during Gordon, with the majority of outages occurring in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Escambia River Electric Cooperative reported about 1,550 customers lost power in Escambia County and about 2,100 in Santa Rosa County. That’s about one-third of all EREC customers. All were back on by Wednesday afternoon.
Pictured: Georgia Power crews roll into Molino Wednesday morning to help Gulf Power restore power in across the area. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Lose 5-3 In 12 Innings In Game One
September 6, 2018
With the bases loaded and one out, Max McDowell came off the bench a hit a ground-rule double off Joel Bender (L, 0-1) to give the Shuckers a thrilling 5-3 win in game one of the Southern League South Division Series.
The Wahoos were off to a dream start after TJ Friedl homered off the 2018 Southern League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher, Zack Brown, to give Pensacola a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Friedl only hit two home runs during the regular season; however, one of those two came at MGM Park.
Seth Varner opened the game for the Wahoos and grinded his way through five innings. In the first inning, the Shuckers had the bases loaded and couldn’t score. In the third inning, Biloxi had two men on with nobody out, and again, Varner kept Biloxi off the board. Eventually, the southpaw was lifted after five innings having allowed one run on seven hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
In the seventh inning, Taylor Featherston led off the inning with a solo homer off Jeff Ames to restore Pensacola’s two-run lead over the Shuckers. However, Featherston gave that run back in the bottom of the inning with an errant throw. With two outs and a runner at third, Featherston fielded a grounder cleanly but missed badly with his throw to first, which allowed Troy Stokes Jr. to score to cut Pensacola’s lead down to 3-2.
In the eighth inning and Robinson Leyer pitching, Lucas Erceg hit two-out solo home run on an 0-2 pitch to tie the game at three. For Leyer, it was his first homer allowed since August 20 when he allowed an eighth-inning home run to Clint Coulter at MGM Park. In the ninth, Jody Davis brought in Alejandro Chacin, and despite loading the bases with only one out, Chacin struck out the side to send the game into extras.
After scoreless 10th and 11th innings, the Shuckers led off the 12th with a pair of singles against Bender. Weston Wilson laid down a sacrifice bunt to move up the runners, and after an intentional walk to load the bases. Mike Guerrero brought in McDowell—his only other catcher—to pinch hit for the pitcher’s spot in the lineup. Davis brought in Jose Siri from center in order to have a five-man infield, but McDowell laced a walk-off double to give Biloxi a series-opening win. It appeared after the hit that no other runners touched home plate despite the ball bouncing out of play, and by rule, McDowell’s walk-off is potentially subject to change as a single, thus changing the final score to 4-3.
Game two of the South Division Series will begin Thursday night at MGM Park. RHP Vladimir Gutierrez gets the nod in an imperative game for Pensacola while Biloxi will send out RHP Thomas Jankins
Florida Supreme Court Digs Into Education Amendment
September 6, 2018
With school choice a hot-button issue in Florida, the state Supreme Court on Wednesday plunged into a debate about whether voters should cast ballots in November on a proposed constitutional amendment that could help lead to more charter schools.
Justices peppered attorneys on both sides of the issue with questions about whether the proposal, placed on the ballot by the state Constitution Revision Commission, would be misleading to voters. The League of Women Voters of Florida has challenged the proposal, contending it should be blocked from moving forward.
Ron Meyer, an attorney for the League of Women Voters, said people would be “fooled” by the ballot title and summary — the part of the proposal voters would see when they go to the polls.
“Our problem is that the voter presenting at the voting booth is not being told what’s happening here, is not being given an explanatory purpose,” Meyer said.
But state Deputy Solicitor General Daniel Bell disputed that the ballot title and summary would be misleading to voters.
“The only question before this court today is whether the ballot language at issue accurately and clearly discloses the chief purpose of the amendment … and we would submit that it does,” Bell said.
The state appealed after Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled last month that the proposed constitutional amendment should be knocked off the ballot. In part pointing to the failure to use the term “charter schools,” Cooper wrote that the proposal “fails to inform voters of the chief purpose and effect of this proposal.”
The Supreme Court quickly took up the issue as elections officials prepare to start sending out general-election ballots to voters this month. With justices away from Tallahassee because of an educational seminar for judges, the court took the unusual step Wednesday of hearing arguments in a courtroom in West Palm Beach.
The 37-member Constitution Revision Commission meets every 20 years and has unique powers to place proposed constitutional changes on the ballot. But the education amendment comes amid heavy debate in the state about expansion of charter schools and voucher-like programs that supporters say give students more educational choices
The proposed amendment, which would appear on the ballot as Amendment 8, would impose eight-year term limits on school board members and would require the promotion of “civic literacy” in public schools.
But a third provision that drew the legal challenge from the League of Women Voters of Florida would allow the state to “operate, control and supervise public schools not established by the school board.”
County school boards and charter-school operators have repeatedly battled in recent years about whether new charter schools should be allowed. While the proposed constitutional wording does not specifically mention charter schools, it could open the door to the state allowing charter schools outside of the control of local school boards. Charter schools are public schools but are typically operated by private entities.
The Supreme Court, as is customary, did not indicate Wednesday how it would rule. But justices Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince asked questions that appeared clearly skeptical of the state’s arguments.
“My problem with this, and it was I think what the circuit court zeroed in on, is whether the ballot title and summary establishes the … true meaning of the amendment,” Pariente said. “It is pretty clear from looking at the briefs that the true purpose was to take away responsibilities from the school boards and transfer it to either the Legislature, the state, to a private commission.”
Justices are only supposed to determine whether the ballot title and summary would provide an accurate description of the proposed constitutional amendment to voters. They are not supposed to weigh the underlying merits of the amendment.
Chief Justice Charles Canady and Justice Alan Lawson took issue with the League of Women Voters’ arguments, with Canady suggesting that the group is opposed to the merits of the amendment — not the ballot title and summary.
“I understand you’ve got a problem with the proposal. I accept that, and I understand the policy reasons that people would have a problem with the proposal. … But that’s not a reason to keep the people of Florida from having an opportunity to vote on this,” Canady said to Meyer at one point.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Tropical Storm Damage Closes Pensacola Beach Pier
September 5, 2018
Damage from Tropical Storm Gordon has temporarily closed the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier.
Waves damaged railings on the pier.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
