Ernest Ward Middle Eagles Defeat W.S. Neal Eagles
September 15, 2017
In their home opener in Walnut Hill, the Ernest Ward Middle School Eagles defeated the W.S. Neal Eagles Thursday night, 16-14. Next week, the Ernest Ward Eagles will host Perdido (AL) Middle School at 7 p.m. Ernest Ward’s Eagles are the only middle school football team in Escambia County, FL.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Two Rescued From Escambia River
September 15, 2017
Two people were rescued from the Escambia River Thursday night after their boat reportedly capsized.
The pair became stranded about a half mile from the Quinette Road bridge. They were transported back to a nearby boat launch with boats from Escambia Fire Rescue’s Cantonment and Molino stations.
There were no injuries report.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Visitations Canceled This Weekend At All Florida Prisons
September 15, 2017
Inmate visitations are canceled again this weekend as the Florida Department of Corrections continues recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma.
Weekend visitation for all institutions for Saturday, September 16, and Sunday, September 17 has been canceled. This cancellation includes all major institutions, annex facilities, work camps and work release centers. The cancellation includes the Century Correctionsl and Santa Rosa Correctional institutions.
The department cancelled visitation statewide in an abundance of caution and in the best interest of staff, inmates and public safety, according to the DOC. This decision was made in response to Hurricane Irma’s impact on Florida’s transportation infrastructure as well as the storm’s effect on operations at institutional facilities across the state.
Phone access is open at all facilities for officers and inmates. However, due to storm conditions, communications at many facilities continues to be impacted.
The FDC is working to bring all facilities back to normal operation as wardens work to assess and repair effected institutions.
Last week FDC, in collaboration with our private partners, successfully evacuated more than 12,000 inmates. Evacuations occurred without incident and there were no storm related injuries or incidents to inmates. Institutions are working to return inmates to their original facilities as quickly and safely as possible. However, some inmates will remain at alternative locations until road conditions improve and facilities can undergo necessary repairs. Inmate locations continue to be posted on the website approximately 24-hours after relocation, per standard protocol.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Register Now For Lil Aggies Cheerleading Camp
September 15, 2017
The Tate High School Cheerleaders are hosting their annual Lil Aggie Fall clinic on Saturday, September 23. The Lil Aggies will be able to cheer the first quarter of the Aggies’ home game against Washington on Friday, September 29.
The Lil Aggies will learn proper stretch techniques, cheers, chants, and jumps. The clinic is open from kindergarten to eighth grade. There will be a traditional and elite camp to serve all levels of cheerleaders.
The deadline to register is Monday, September 18th. Visit Tatehighcheer.com for a form or email tatehighcheer@gmail.com.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Beulah Students Have ‘Lunch With A Hero’
September 15, 2017
The Beulah Elementary School PTA held “Lunch With A Hero” this week, with first responders and military personnel joining students for lunch. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Teachers Union Challenges ‘Best And Brightest’
September 15, 2017
The Florida Education Association teachers union has filed a potential class-action lawsuit alleging that the state’s controversial “Best and Brightest” bonus program discriminates against older teachers and minorities.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Tallahassee, names as defendants the Florida Department of Education and school boards throughout the state.
Lawmakers approved the Best and Brightest program in 2015 to provide bonuses to teachers. But the program has been controversial, in part, because it uses teacher performances on SAT and ACT college-entrance exams — in some cases, exams that teachers took decades ago — to help determine eligibility for the bonuses.
The lawsuit, which also includes seven individual teachers as plaintiffs, alleges that the Best and Brightest program violates state and federal civil-rights laws because of the use of the SAT and ACT scores.
“The SAT/ACT score requirement has an illegal disparate impact on teachers based on their age and on teachers based on their black and Hispanic race,” the 58-page lawsuit said. “The SAT/ACT score requirement is not required by business necessity and is not related to job performance.”
The lawsuit, which seeks certification as a class action, asks for damages and an injunction preventing the state and school boards from engaging in the alleged “illegal actions.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said Thursday the agency does not comment on litigation.
During the 2015-2016 school year, 5,334 teachers received the bonuses, with each getting $8,248, according to a House analysis in May. In 2015-2016, 7,188 teachers received $6,816 each. Lawmakers earmarked about $44 million for the program in 2015-2016 and $49 million in 2016-2017.
The lawsuit alleges, however, that during the 2015-2016 year, less than 1 percent of the bonus recipients were black teachers, while about 4 percent were Hispanic. It also detailed statistics indicating disparate effects of the SAT or ACT requirement on older teachers who otherwise had been rated as “highly effective.”
Though lawmakers made some revisions this year, eligibility criteria during the program’s first two years required teachers to show they had been rated “highly effective” during their annual evaluations and that they had scored at or above the 80th percentile when they took the SAT or ACT. First-year teachers, who had not gone through annual evaluations, could qualify based on their SAT or ACT scores.
The lawsuit said the Florida Education Association represents thousands of classroom teachers “who are over 40 years of age, who are black and/or Hispanic, who have been rated highly (effective), who were not first year teachers … and who applied for the bonus under the program and were denied and did not receive the bonus because they could not satisfy the SAT/ACT requirement, or who would have applied for but were deterred from applying because it would have been a futile act because they could not satisfy the SAT/ACT requirement.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Hurricane No Boon To State Budget
September 15, 2017
Hurricane Irma could extend her destructive reach to the next state budget.
A long-range financial report, which will be reviewed Friday by the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, shows lawmakers working with only a projected $52 million surplus as they craft the 2018-19 budget early next year. It’s a fiscal pittance in an overall $82 billion budget.
And that surplus may shrink, if not disappear, given the state’s financial history following major hurricanes.
“Contrary to the oft-repeated myth that government makes money during hurricanes, state government typically has expenditures greater than the incremental increase in the revenue estimate and becomes a net loser when all expenditures are taken into account,” said the new report, known as the Long-Range Financial Outlook.
The annual report, developed by the House, Senate and the Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research, noted an extensive fiscal review was conducted after the state was struck by a record eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.
“The bottom line for both years was clearly negative,” the report said. “This means that the state had to spend more than the generated revenues.”
Hurricane Irma, which delivered a devastating blow Sunday to the Florida Keys and Southwest Florida and, because of its immense size, caused wind damage, flooding and record power outages across the state, is expected to follow the economic pattern of prior storms.
The report, written before Irma hit, noted four economic phases tied to a hurricane’s impact, including preparation, the peak of the crisis, recovery and long-term displacement.
During the crisis, there is a “detectable downtick” in state revenue as the storm disrupts the economy through utility outages, closed businesses, road and airport closures and temporary homelessness.
State government provides emergency services and goods “that may or may not be matched at a later time by the federal government,” the report said.
During the recovery period, which could last from two to three years, there is a “discernible and significant uptick” in state revenue as spending on repairs commences, aided in part by insurance payments as well as projects funded by the state and federal governments.
Nonetheless, the analysis of the prior storms on Florida’s economy and state revenue has shown it’s a “misconception that hurricanes are somehow beneficial to the state from an economic perspective,” the report said. “The reality is much more complicated.”
The potential for Irma’s aftermath to further reduce state revenue will increase pressure on the 2018 Legislature to meet the state’s needs in education, health care, criminal justice and other programs given the revenue projections.
After a $52 million surplus in the fiscal year that begins July 1, the long-range forecast projects a $1.15 billion budget gap for the 2019-2020 budget, followed by a $1.64 billion shortfall in 2020-2021.
The projections are built on a series of assumptions, including the expectation that the state will have a $1 billion reserve fund, a major tax-cut package and will fund “critical needs” such as growth in school enrollment and Medicaid services.
But lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott still have a number of options as they craft the next state budget.
For instance, the state expects an increase of 27,184 students in the public-school system next year. It would cost a projected $197 million if the students are funded at the current $7,297 per-student amount.
But if lawmakers and Scott increase the K-12 per-student spending by 1.79 percent, the average increase for the last three years, the fiscal demand would rise to $357.5 million in the new budget, the forecast showed.
Another major demand will be the growth in Floridians who rely on Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor and disabled.
The forecast projects an increase of 58,445 new Medicaid recipients in 2018-19, requiring an additional $326 million in state funding. The enrollment increases in the subsequent two years will require another $888 million in state funding, the report showed.
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Cantonment Convenience Store Robbed At Gunpoint (Updated With Surveillance Images)
September 14, 2017
[Updated 9/14 with surveillance images.]
Deputies are searching for the man who held up a Cantonment convenience store at gunpoint early Tuesday morning.
About 3:21 a.m. a white male entered the Circle K at the intersection of Highway 29 and East Kingsfield Road, walked up to the counter with a handgun and asked for money, according to Amber Southard, spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was last seen running north through the parking lot toward Kingsfield Road.
He was described as a white male wearing a black ski mask with a skeleton design, blue jeans, a dark zippered hoodie and bright yellow gloves.
Anyone with information on the armed robbery is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Two Injured In Cantonment House Fire
September 14, 2017
Two elderly residents were transported to the hospital following a house fire in Cantonment Wednesday night.
The fire in the 3800 block of Highway 297A was reported about 8 p.m. Two of the residents were able to escape the fire, but reportedly suffered smoke inhalation. They were transported by Escambia County EMS to a Pensacola area hospital.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marhal’s Office.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Century Declares Portion Of Town As ‘Blighted’, Forms Community Redevelopment Area
September 14, 2017
The Town of Century has officially declared a portion of the town as “blighted” and established a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
Once the CRA is in place and operating, it will work to improve conditions within the area. As property tax values rise, most of the increase is funneled back into the redevelopment area for further improvements.
The CRA area is 510 acres, bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the south, Jefferson Avenue to the east, State Road 4 to the north and the centerline of North Century Boulevard to the west. It also extends north on the east side of North Century Boulevard to include commercial properties up to, and including, the former Burger King.
Essentially, CRAs use redevelopment funds within a deteriorating area to transform it into one that again contributes to the overall health of a community. The money can roll over year to year, up to a 40-year life for a CRA.
CRA funds can be used for a variety of public purposes, including items specified in the agency’s redevelopment plan, planning and surveys, acquisition of real property, affordable housing development and community policing innovations.
In establishing the CRA, the Century council found that the area is blighted, with a predominance of deteriorated or dilapidated housing in the area. Nearly half of the homes in the area were scored as dilapidated and in need of rehabilitation or reconstruction.
The median value of an owner-occupied home in Century is $40,000, compared to the Escambia County median housing value of $81,700. The average median household income in the Century area is $24,583, compared to the Escambia County’s median household income of $46,001.
The council also voted to appoint themselves as members of the Community Redevelopment Agency — a separate and distinct legal entity independent from the Century Town Council. The council may choose to appoint two additional CRA members.