Escambia County Road Prison K-9 Team Tops At Southern States Competition
March 28, 2016
The K-9 tracking team from the Escambia County Road Prison recently competed in the Southern States K-9 Man Tracking Field Trial and Certification. Out of 31 teams competing, ECRP K-9 Team won first place in Single Leash and third place in Multi Leash. Also, the K-9 team placed fourth out of 19 teams in the narcotics detection category. Pictured are (L-R) Robert Oliver, Chad Sims, Matt Marmont, and Jason Chaney. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Faithful Celebrate Resurrection
March 27, 2016
Easter morning services were planned at many locations across the area Sunday morning.
The services were to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, an important event to the faithful. According to the Bible:
Matthew 28:1-20
Resurrection Morning
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached [the tomb]. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men. 5
But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”
8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.”
The Soldiers Are Bribed to Lie
11 As they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.
The Great Commission
16 The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
from the Holman Christian Standard Bible
Vietnam Veterans Get Long Overdue ‘Welcome Home’ (With Gallery)
March 27, 2016
It was an emotional welcome home Saturday for a small group of Vietnam veterans….a welcome home decades overdue.
The Atmore Memorial VFW Auxiliary hosted a “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” ceremony at Atmore’s Heritage Park.
Yellow ribbons were tied to trees around the park for the event which included the patriotic music, food and fanfare of a welcome home ceremony most of the Vietnam veterans in attendance had never received.
The ceremony concluded with VFW Auxiliary members giving each Vietnam veteran a gift — and sometimes a quick kiss on the cheek — to thank them for their service. It was a scene reminiscent of a welcome home ceremony that has played itself out over and over for other American wars.
And tears that were decades overdue fell from the eyes of several veterans as they were finally welcomed home.
Organizers are already planned a ceremony for the last Saturday in March 2017.
For a photo gallery click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
No Injuries In Cantonment Rollover Accident
March 27, 2016
There were no injuries in this single vehicle rollover accident Saturday on West Roberts Road near Stallion Road in Cantonment. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Kids Scramble For 50,000 Easter Eggs
March 27, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos hosted “Egga-Wahooza” Saturday. The free Easter egg hunt had 50,000 eggs and was divided in age categories for children from age to fifth graders. There was also an egg hunt for special needs children. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Despite Rain, Kids Enjoy Cantonment Egg Hunt
March 27, 2016
Saturday’s rain did not stop the children at Pine Forest Assembly of God in Cantonment from having a great time. The kids were able to enjoy and indoor egg hunt with prizes and loads of candy. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Bill Signing Season
March 27, 2016
It may have been a quiet, post-session week in the Capitol, but the rest of the state wasn’t exactly slumbering at the start of spring.
State wildlife officials announced that Florida black bears, which were prolific enough to be hunted last year, continue to have a “robust” population. But no word yet on a 2016 hunt.
It wouldn’t be Florida without a fix of redistricting-related news involving the courts.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously rejected the request for legal fees from a coalition of voting-rights organizations in their mostly otherwise-successful battle over congressional districts.
Congresswoman Corrine Brown’s fight against her redrawn District 5, stretched across Northeast Florida to Tallahassee, went before a federal three-judge panel in Tallahassee on Friday.
And Gov. Rick Scott drew a few headlines Thursday by pushing Florida as a travel destination while he criticized President Barack Obama for not abandoning an international trip in order to address Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels.
Scott made the biggest news this week, however, in ink — the kind he used to sign more than 100 bills into law.
HERE COME THE NEW LAWS
Other than a single local bill involving a regional utility in Gainesville — where Scott objected to the prospect that authority board members could be paid up to $18,000 a year — Scott gave his blessing this week to 111 proposals sent his way by legislators.
The measures range from the serious to the sublime, including a controversial plan (HB 1411) that bars public funding for organizations associated with abortion clinics, a bill (HB 307) that will allow terminally ill patients to have access to full-strength marijuana, and a proposal (HB 4009) authorizing the sale of a maritime device known as a “slungshot.”
Most of the bills were signed without comment from the governor, but Scott did chime in on a measure (SB 636), backed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, intended to speed up testing of law enforcement “rape kits.”
He also commented on a proposal (HB 427) that will provide a discount of about 12 percent on vessel-registration fees for boaters that have purchased emergency locator devices.
The boater-safety issue was crafted in response to the disappearance of two 14-year-olds from Tequesta, who went missing in July after steering a 19-foot boat out of the Jupiter Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.
“We have made it a priority to make Florida the safest state in the nation, especially for those sailing and enjoying our beautiful waters,” Scott said in a press release on Friday.
Among the bills Scott signed Thursday is a measure, backed by Democrats, requiring law enforcement agencies to set standards if they intend to use police body cameras.
Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, a sponsor of the bill, said the procedures could help protect police officers and citizens.
The bill garnered additional attention after musician Corey Jones was fatally shot last year by a plainclothes Palm Beach Gardens officer who did not have a body camera.
“This bill is one that really hit home for me after the death of Corey Jones, and hopefully now that it has been signed by the governor, we can hear less about lives lost and more about the unity between law enforcement and the community,” Jones said in a press release.
Scott has so far signed 177 of the 245 general and local bills that have been sent to his desk. The legislature approved 272 bills in the regular session.
MORE BUSH-TRUMP SMACK TALK
Jeb Bush, whose exit last month from the Republican presidential contest came much quicker than the former Florida governor expected, on Wednesday announced he was backing U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the whittled-down race.
And, true to form, GOP front-runner Donald Trump couldn’t contain himself on social media in reaction to the news.
Bush, widely seen as the establishment favorite when he officially entered the contest back in June, issued a statement that described Cruz as “a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests.”
But Bush also pointedly raised the concern of many GOP leaders that part-time Palm Beacher Trump would turn off general-election voters and keep Republicans from taking the White House.
“For the sake of our party and country, we must move to overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena, or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee and reverse President Obama’s failed policies,” Bush said.
Trump, a master at using social media to wallop his adversaries, fired back the same day on Twitter.
“Low energy Jeb Bush just endorsed a man he truly hates, Lyin’ Ted Cruz,” Trump tweeted, using one of his nicknames for Cruz. “Honestly, I can’t blame Jeb in that I drove him into oblivion!”
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO
The search for the state’s appointed insurance commissioner is down to a former federal official with experience in insurance issues related to terrorism and flooding — and who has been backed Scott — and a state representative who was once Iowa’s insurance commissioner.
On Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater agreed to go with the two finalists — State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, and Jeffrey Bragg — that made the cut from 55 applicants.
Scott and Atwater must jointly recommend the next commissioner before the Cabinet, meeting Tuesday, votes to fill the position, advertised as paying up to $200,000 a year.
Hager, 69, who was once Iowa’s appointed insurance commissioner, was backed by Bondi.
Bragg, a 67-year-old Palm Harbor resident, was executive director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Terrorism Risk Insurance Program from 2003 to 2014. Before that, Bragg spent a little under two years as a senior vice president at Zurich Risk Management in New Jersey. In 1981, Bragg was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he oversaw the National Flood Insurance Program and worked with Congress to terminate the federal riot reinsurance program.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Scott signed 111 bills into law.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I am clean. Goodness. Clean. Yes.” — Congresswoman Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat under investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics and the Department of Justice, responding to reporters’ questions about the probes.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
FEMA Denies Individual Tornado Recovery Assistance
March 26, 2016
FEMA has denied the state’s request to make individual assistance available to victims of the EF-3 tornadoes that hit Escambia County last month.
That means individuals impacted by the February 15 Century tornado or the February 23 Ferry Pass tornado will not be able to receive federal disaster assistance like low interest loans, grants or temporary housing assistance.
“It has been determined that the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments and voluntary agencies,” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said. “We have determined that supplemental federal assistance is not necessary.”
Earlier this month, FEMA also denied public assistance that would have assisted local governments with recovery.
FEMA has determined that the damage did not meet the severity needed to receive federal assistance. The state has the ability appeal the denial within 30 days.
Scott Approves Medical Marijuana For Terminally Ill
March 26, 2016
With Floridians poised to vote this fall on broad legalization of medical marijuana, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a bill that will allow terminally ill patients to have access to marijuana as they try to ease suffering.
The bill, which lawmakers approved this month, was one of 68 measures that Scott signed into law Friday. He also vetoed one bill dealing with a utility in Alachua County.
Scott did not issue a comment on the medical-marijuana bill (HB 307), but House sponsor Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, went on Twitter to say the governor showed “heart & compassion” by signing the measure.
The bill expands a 2015 law known as the “Right to Try Act” to include medical marijuana. That law allows terminally ill patients to have access to experimental drugs that have not been approved for general use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Along with making marijuana available to dying patients, the bill also seeks to address long-running problems in carrying out a 2014 cannabis law that was primarily billed as a way to help children with severe forms of epilepsy. That law was supposed to make available forms of cannabis that do not get users high — but administrative issues and legal challenges have prevented patients from getting access to the substances.
The 2014 law and the newly signed bill are far narrower than the legalization proposal that will go on the November ballot. That proposed constitutional amendment, spearheaded by prominent Orlando attorney John Morgan, would allow patients with a wide variety of medical conditions to use full-strength marijuana if they get physician approval. Examples of those conditions include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder, Crohn’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
A similar ballot initiative in 2014 fell short of the required 60 percent voter approval for proposed constitutional amendments.
The 68 bills signed into law Friday were part of 111 measures that Scott approved this week, as he continues plowing through legislation passed during the session that ended March 11.
The most-controversial bill signed Friday was a measure (HB 1411) that will place additional restrictions on abortion clinics and seek to prevent public money from going to groups such as Planned Parenthood. While public money cannot be used for elective abortions, it has been able to go toward other health services provided by Planned Parenthood. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Collen Burton and Sen. Kelli Stargel, both Lakeland Republicans.
Other bills signed Friday that dealt with health-care issues included a measure (HB 1061) aimed at helping nurses practice across state lines. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park, and Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, would lead to Florida entering into what is known as a “nurse licensure compact” with more than two dozen other states.
Florida nurses would be able to receive multi-state licenses to practice in other states that are part of the compact. Similarly, nurses from the other states would be able to practice in Florida.
Also, Scott signed a bill (SB 586), sponsored by Stargel and Burton, that would require hospitals to notify doctors at least 120 days before closing obstetrical units or halting obstetrical services. Supporters of the measure argued, at least in part, that obstetrical-unit closures can affect pregnant women who are nearly ready to give birth.
The Alachua County utility bill (HB 1355) was the only measure Scott vetoed during the week. In a veto message, Scott said the bill would create an authority to manage and operate city-owned Gainesville Regional Utilities. But he objected to part of the bill that would provide compensation to appointed board members of the authority.
“Across Florida, hundreds of appointees serve on boards with critical governance and regulatory responsibilities for which the appointees are not compensated,” the veto message said. “The success of similar utility authorities that do not compensate board members demonstrates that qualified individuals will answer the call to serve the public, without consideration of a taxpayer supported payment.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Short Manhunt, Two Charged After Tossing Contraband Over Century Prison Fence
March 26, 2016
Two people were arrested after manhunt that began after they allegedly tried to throw contraband over the fence at Century Correctional Institution Friday morning.
Andre Cornelius Holmes, age 37,and Christopher Michael Odom, 19, were booked into the Escambia County Jail on charges of smuggling contraband, according to jail records.
The duo fled the scene and on foot and were tracked westward by a prison K-9 team. They were taken into custody less than a mile west of the prison a short time later.
Exact details on the incident, including the type of contraband, were not available Friday. Both men remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $2,500.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.