Schools Evacuated Due To Reported Gas Leaks
December 2, 2015
Reported gas leaks led to the evacuation of two Escambia County Schools this morning.
A gas leak at West Florida High School just after 9 a.m. led to an evacuation. The leak was traced to a heating system boiler in the Cosmetology Building.
About 10:45 a.m., Brown Barge Middle School in Pensacola was evacuated due to reported gas smell outside near a portable building close to the school cafeteria. The leak was traced to a service line on a roof.
Bomb Threats Received Against Two Greyhound Buses
December 2, 2015
Bomb threats were received against two Greyhound buses that departed Mobile this morning, but no explosive devices were found when the buses were searched.
One bus was searched at the Greyhound Bus Station on Burgess Road at Highway 29 in Pensacola. A bomb sniffing dog checked out the bus after passengers were evacuated and cleared.
The second bus was stopped in Conecuh County, AL, and moved to the Evergreen, AL, airport to await the arrival of a bomb team from Montgomery. No explosives were found.
The incidents remain under investigation by numerous agencies.
Getting Healthier: New Paved Walking Path Planned For Walnut Hill
December 2, 2015
Residents of the Walnut Hill area will soon have a new paved walking path to help them stay healthy.
The Escambia County Commission and the Escambia County School Board have reached a 25-year agreement to allow the construction of the path near the Walnut Hill Community Center (also known as the Ruritan Building) on Highway 97, just north of Ernest Ward Middle School.
The asphalt walking path will be exactly one-quarter mile in length and will be a eight feet wide. The path will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Benches and picnic tables will also be installed along walking path.
The property belongs to the Escambia County School Board, while the community walking path will be constructed by Escambia County Parks and Recreation under the agreement. At last report, the path could be completed by spring.
NorthEscambia.com photo/graphic.
Trial Postponed For Century Double Shooting Suspect
December 2, 2015
An Escambia County Judge on Tuesday approved a continuance in the trial of a Century shooting suspect.
Brian Keith Sanders is charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, firing a weapon into a vehicle and criminal mischief. Tuesday, Judge Terry Terrell granted a motion for a continuance in the case, with Sanders now due back in court in early February.
Sanders allegedly fired into a vehicle at Jefferson Avenue and Mayes Street in Century on March 26. The vehicle was found with the driver’s side window apparently shot out.
Two victims were transported by private vehicle to Jay Hospital with gunshot wounds to their shoulder or upper-arm areas. They were treated and released.
Sanders was taken into custody about a month later in the parking lot of the Wind Creek Casino in Atmore and extradited back to Florida to face trial. Sanders, who is also facing numerous drug charges from an unrelated case, remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $141,000.
NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Boil Water Notice: Bristol Park, Devine Farms Subdivision
December 2, 2015
UPDATE 12/4/15 — The Precautionary Boil Water Notice (PBWN) issued by the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) on Tuesday for the Bristol Park and Devine Farms Subdivisions has been lifted.
A Precautionary Boil Water Notice (PBWN) has been issued by the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) for the Bristol Park and Devine Farms subdivisions following utility construction work in the area.
Residents located in the specified PBWN 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 of cooking purposes.
Two independent bacteriological samples have been initiated and the advisory will be lifted as soon as possible. This process routinely takes 48 hours. Precautionary Boil Water Notices are issued as a part of the standard protocol following any loss of water pressure, whether as a result of planned maintenance activities or unscheduled repairs. Precautionary boil water notice guidelines are available on the ECUA website at www.ecua.fl.gov.
Poarch Creek Indians Open Revamped, Expanded Montgomery Casino
December 2, 2015
Wind Creek Montgomery, a dramatically revamped expansion of the former Creek Casino Montgomery, opened Tuesday.
“I cannot adequately express how proud I feel today, when big plans and big dreams have finally come to fruition,” said Stephanie Bryan, Tribal chair/CEO of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which owns Wind Creek Montgomery, Wind Creek Wetumpka and Wind Creek Atmore. “The brick and mortar before us is certainly a milestone for the Poarch Creek Indians, but it also represents a team of people – both Tribal and non-Tribal – who worked together hand-in-hand to reach a common goal.”
The property represents a $65 million investment and includes a new 65,000-foot gaming floor, three restaurants with 10,000 feet of dining space, a deluxe swimming pool, a salon and barbershop, and a soon-to-be opened hotel with 123 luxury rooms on 5 floors.
“Wind Creek Casino and Hotel Montgomery is another win for our tribe and our state,” said Tim Martin, president and CEO of Creek Indian Enterprises Development Authority, that oversaw development of the property. “It brings to the Montgomery market family-friendly entertainment that features the best of the South and celebrates our past while embracing the future.”
“Wind Creek Casino and Hotel Montgomery is another win for our Tribe and our State,” said Tim Martin, President and CEO of Creek Indian Enterprises Development Authority, that oversaw development of the property. “It brings to the Montgomery market family-friendly entertainment that features the best of the South and celebrates our past while embracing the future,” Martin noted.
Pictured: The Poarch Creek Indians opened the revamped Wind Creek Montgomery on Tuesday. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Prison Health Firm’s Exit Leaves State Looking For Answers
December 2, 2015
Florida prisons chief Julie Jones is considering hiring temp agencies to fill in the gap after Corizon Health officials decided to walk away from the largest prison health-care contract in the country.
Officials from Tennessee-based Corizon put Jones on notice Monday they intend to leave Florida — and a five year, $1.2 billion contract — as of May 31 because the agreement is “too constraining.”
And, even though the company is fleeing the state years ahead of schedule, Corizon hasn’t done anything that would keep it from participating in the forthcoming invitation to negotiate, or ITN, for a new contract, Jones told The News Service of Florida on Tuesday.
“What they have done in exercising a legal element in their existing contract, that does not preclude them from trying to re-bid on parts of the new ITN. It just depends on how they score out against other vendors,” she said.
The possibility that the private provider — which cares for about three-fourths of the state’s 100,000 inmates — could be in the running for another deal left top Republican lawmakers who oversee prisons incredulous.
“If you drop out on a contract, and you’re telling me that you’re not man enough to honor the contract that you entered into and now you want the state of Florida to turn around and allow you to bid again? No. Personally, for me, that dog don’t run,” said Senate Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker.
Corizon, which hasn’t ruled out responding to the ITN, should be barred from participating, said House Criminal Justice Chairman Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami.
“Absolutely. We had a contractual agreement with them and they chose to opt out and move in a different direction. Given their quality outcomes, I just don’t think they’re a good partner for the state,” Trujillo, R-Miami, said.
The ITN, which is a relatively common contracting method in state government, is expected to be released before the end of the month, but new contracts won’t go into effect until mid-2017, according to Jones. That will leave the Department of Corrections with a gap in providing health services after Corizon leaves.
Jones intends to use health-care companies that provide temporary services for hospitals and other parts of the health-care industry to bridge the gap. The department will “have a third party gather up as many of the current Corizon employees as possible,” she said.
“So it’s important, not only for me to get a seamless supply of adequate health care for these inmates, but it’s also important to me to make sure that we keep all of these folks employed,” Jones said. “Because they used to be our employees prior to Corizon coming.”
Corizon has been under fire from lawmakers and attorneys representing inmates who accuse the company of routinely providing inadequate care since taking over services in most of the prisons in the central and northern portions of the state two years ago.
Lawyers for Florida inmates in September filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Corrections and Corizon, alleging that the state agency and the company were denying hernia operations to save money.
Less than four months before Gov. Rick Scott was re-elected in 2014, former Corrections Secretary Michael Crews quietly agreed to pay Corizon and another prison health-care firm, Wexford Health Sources, an additional $3.2 million to stay on the job for another year. Scott had pushed for privatization of the prison health-care services.
Two months after he inked the contract amendments, Crews threatened to stop payments to Corizon, saying the company failed to follow through after audits revealed shortcomings in multiple areas, including medical care, nursing and staffing.
The corrections department has fined Corizon nearly $70,000 in liquidated damages so far this year, according to agency spokesman McKinley Lewis.
What could have ultimately been the final straw for Corizon was whether the company’s payments should be adjusted annually according to changes in the Consumer Price Index. While its contract made allowances for such hikes, any increases would have to be approved by the Legislature, which has been inconsistent in authorizing partial increases for Corizon and never approved a full Consumer Price Index hike — as much as 4 percent — since the contract went into effect.
The failure to get the increase was “distressing” to Corizon, Jones said.
“Their concern was that their escalating costs for personnel and for drugs was increasing and they were not being compensated for it,” she said. “Now, that’s on them. I told them from day one that you agreed to this and there was no agreement that you were going to get CPI. But a significant driving force in terminating the contract with Florida was no CPI.”
Jones said Corizon executives initially told her they were losing at least $1 million per month on the contract.
“I told them weeks ago that going forward, if they were going to continue with us, that I would go and ask (the Legislature) for the money to cover their costs, basically,” she said. “I asked them how much are you losing. The original figure they gave me was $1 million. But in the meeting yesterday afternoon, they said it was much more than that a month and that’s why they finally just threw in the towel. They didn’t want to wait to see if the Legislature was going to give them the extra funding. It was a business decision, pure and simple.”
Jones described her relationship with Corizon executives, who met with her on a weekly basis, as “collegial,” and spoke of the company’s decision to exit the state without animosity.
Jones said she met in her office on Monday with Corizon executives, who told her of their intent to terminate the contract early. The company’s board of directors made the decision to pull out of Florida during a meeting less than two weeks ago.
She acknowledged that its contract with Florida may not have reaped the benefits Corizon anticipated.
“I do believe that they were losing money. Now, how much money, I have no way of knowing. And level of profit … I don’t know how much profit they’ve made on this contract and I don’t know what their expectations were,” she said. “But a private company like this, they have investors. I think those were the people that were making those decisions.”
A spokeswoman for Corizon would not respond directly to questions about the company’s finances or if it was losing money on the deal.
“We just made a decision to exercise the 180 days clause that’s allowed in the contract,” spokeswoman Martha Harbin said Tuesday.
Critics of the current system say that it is time for the state to resume providing health care for inmates.
“I think privatization in this particular area has just been a disaster. I think it will continue to be a disaster as long as they attempt to contract with private companies like Corizon,” said Florida Justice Institute Executive Director Randall Berg, who is representing inmates on the class-action lawsuit related to hernia care.
It’s not the first time Florida has been left holding the bag.
In 2006, Prison Health Services — which later merged with a company that became Corizon — gave the state 90 days notice that it was quitting a contract for inmate health care less than eight month after the job started. The company said it was terminating the contract because of unexpected costs after the state refused to increase its payments, according to a legislative analysis written in 2010.
Florida lawmakers outsourced health care for inmates throughout the state in 2011 as part of the language in the state budget. Lawsuits kept the privatization switch on hold until 2013, when Corizon took over health care for the majority of the state’s prisoners. Wexford is being paid about $240 million to handle the rest of the inmates.
A month after taking over the helm of the Department of Corrections in January, Jones announced that she would re-bid prison health contracts with Wexford and Corizon through the procurement process known as an invitation to negotiate. Through that process, the department indicated it wanted to address issues such as staffing, mental-health services and the use of electronic health records.
Jones said Tuesday she is uncertain whether she will grant a contract to a single provider or parcel out the services.
“We are going to allow vendors to bid on a part of the state or a service or the entire state. That’s the beauty of the ITN process. It really puts the vendor in the driver’s seat as to what their specialty is, rather than having a company come in and try to backfill on something that is so big and then not be able to accommodate all of the services, which is pretty much what happened with Corizon,” Jones said. “We’re going to look very carefully at these vendors and see what their capabilities are and make sure that they don’t stretch beyond their capabilities.”
Pictured: Inmate medical facilities inside the Century Correctional Institution. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Florida Supreme Court To Decide On Poarch Creek Horse Track Slot Machines
December 2, 2015
The Florida Supreme Court will decide whether a Gadsden County racetrack owned by the Poarch Creek Indians of Atmore should be allowed to have slot machines without the express permission of the Legislature, in a case with widespread implications for gambling throughout the state.
The court on Tuesday accepted jurisdiction in the Gretna Racing case after a split appellate court reversed itself on the issue in October.
In the October 2 decision, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that the Northwest Florida racetrack cannot have slot machines without the authorization of the Legislature, even though voters in the county approved the lucrative slots.
A majority of a three-judge panel sided with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, which sought a rehearing after a 2-1 ruling this spring in favor of Gretna Racing.
In both decisions, the appellate judges asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of whether pari-mutuels can have slot machines if local voters approve, or if the games require the express say-so of the Legislature.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will likely affect gambling operations in Gadsden and at least five other counties — Brevard, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington — where voters have also approved referendums authorizing slots at local pari-mutuels.
State regulators have denied applications for slots in four counties, and the Palm Beach Kennel Club has an appeal pending. Tracks in Lee and Brevard counties were expected to appeal as well.
In Tuesday’s order, the Supreme Court gave Gretna Racing’s lawyers until Dec. 21 to file initial briefs in the case. The state must file its response within 20 days, and Gretna has another 20 days after that to reply. Tuesday’s order also said the court would schedule oral arguments separately.
Most industry insiders expected the Supreme Court to take up the case.
“I would have been surprised if they had denied it,” said Phil Padovano, a lawyer who retired from the 1st District Court of Appeal earlier this year. Padovano may represent one of the interested parties in the Gretna case in the future.
“Here you have a 2-1 (appellate) decision with a very strong dissent, a very well-reasoned dissent. I’m not saying that the court’s going to agree with that, but it doesn’t surprise me that the court would want to take a look at this and answer the question,” he said.
The rare reversal in the Gretna case came after Judge Nikki Ann Clark, who joined Judge Robert T. Benton in May’s majority opinion, retired while the request for rehearing was pending. The May ruling would have given the small Gadsden County facility permission to add slot machines.
The appellate court decided against granting Bondi’s request for an “en banc,” or hearing before the full appeals court, in favor of a rehearing before a three-judge panel with a new member. Judge Ross L. Bilbrey in October joined the 32-page majority opinion authored by Judge Scott Makar, who wrote a scathing dissent in May.
The unusual procedural history of the case probably had little impact on the justices’ decision to consider the broader question, Padovano said.
“I don’t think it’s a very positive thing for the 1st District to be reversing itself by nothing more than a change in court personnel. But I don’t think that really had a lot to do with it. It seems to me, and this is just my opinion, but if the court thought that this was clearly the right decision, they might have been more inclined to simply deny review. I’m not saying that they won’t ultimately think it’s the right decision. They might. But the decision to accept review basically just says that they think there’s a serious enough question there to be investigated and to be decided in the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Gretna facility, owned by the Poarch Creek Indians and a handful of investors, has been mired in controversy since its inception. Florida officials granted the track the country’s first pari-mutuel license for rodeo-style barrel racing, but a court later decided that gambling regulators erred when they awarded the license.
The Gretna case hinges on a semantic analysis of a 2009 law establishing eligibility for slot machines at pari-mutuels. The 2009 law, which went into effect the following year, was an expansion of a 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment that authorized slot machines at seven existing horse and dog tracks and jai-alai frontons in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The 2009 change allowed a Hialeah track, which wasn’t operating at the time the amendment was approved, to also operate the lucrative slots. The law in question consists of three clauses, including one that deals with counties outside of Broward and Miami-Dade.
State regulators last year denied the Gretna racetrack a slots license, arguing the Department of Business and Professional Regulation was “not authorized to issue a slot machine license to a pari-mutuel facility in a county which … holds a countywide referendum to approve such machines, absent a statutory or constitutional provision enacted after July 1, 2010, authorizing such a referendum.” The agency justified its decision with a non-binding opinion by Bondi.
Lawyers for Gretna argued that the statute does not include the word “enacted,” and other counties do not need prior authorization from the Legislature to get the requisite voter approval for slots.
“We are obviously pleased and are looking forward to discussing the rules of English grammar and stare decisis with the Supreme Court soon,” Marc Dunbar, a lawyer representing the Gretna racetrack who is also one of its owners, said in an email Tuesday. “Stare decisis” is a legal term referring to the policy of courts to abide by principles established by precedent.
In the October ruling, Makar wrote that Bondi’s interpretation of the law was “spot on.”
“The alternative view, which would restructure the statute and change its meaning to allow slot machines to be deployed on a statewide basis without any clear authority to do so, is inconsistent with principles of statutory and constitutional construction, legislative intent, and the history of laws prohibiting slot machines in the state of Florida,” he wrote.
But in a strongly-worded dissent, Judge Robert T. Benton — who authored the May opinion that would have granted slots to the Gretna facility — argued that gambling regulators’ interpretation of the law “would render superfluous the entire third clause” of the statute that deals with “any licensed pari-mutuel facility in any other county.”
A Supreme Court decision in favor of Gretna would not only affect pari-mutuels in other counties, but could shrink state coffers.
Under a 20-year agreement finalized in 2010 between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state, the tribe has exclusive rights to operate slot machines, outside of pari-mutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The state reaps about $120 million a year from the revenue-sharing agreement.
“That’s the big elephant in the room,” said Wilbur Brewton, a veteran lobbyist whose clients include Calder Race Course. “It’s going to be really interesting if the Supremes rule that you could have referendums throughout the state … but if they do, then that’s where we’ll go.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Lawmakers Get First Crack At Scott Budget
December 2, 2015
Lawmakers got their first crack at Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed $79.3 billion budget — and the attached $1 billion tax cut — on Tuesday, with critics zeroing in on the source of a large chunk of record education funding.
Most of the carping came from Democrats, who have relatively little power in either chamber to shape the broad contours of the spending plan. But there was also some griping from Republicans, notably about the absence of a permanent pay raise for state employees.
Scott has touted his new budget as an opportunity to slash taxes, mostly for businesses, and boost per-student spending on K-12 education to the highest level in state history. But some lawmakers highlighted Tuesday that the majority of the increased funding for education would come from local property tax dollars that are a part of the state’s school-spending formula.
Of $507.3 million, only $80 million would come from the state. Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, said during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee that the numbers showed Scott’s attempt to take credit for the increase “a bit of a charade.” And she pointed out that it meant local taxpayers would be shelling out more, though the Scott administration has taken great lengths to avoid calling it a tax hike.
“At what point is an increase on your property-tax bill not considered a property-tax increase?” Cruz asked.
House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, contrasted the way property taxes were being treated with Scott’s proposal to cut millions of dollars in revenue elsewhere, including a reduction to the corporate-income tax that would cost $770 million when fully phased in.
“How do I go back to my district if the governor’s budget is passed the way it is and rationalize those extra dollars from that local base … offsetting the budget and providing an ability to provide corporate welfare, in my opinion, to these large corporations?” he asked.
Speaking to reporters after a separate meeting of the House Finance & Tax Committee — where Scott made a rare appearance to promote his tax-cut ideas — the governor defended his proposals. Scott stressed that the millage rate for property taxes would remain flat, though rising home values would increase the bills property owners have to pay.
“For a long time, we’ve left the millage rate where it is,” Scott said. “When prices go up, that’s a positive. People like to see their home prices go up.”
Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who has proposed getting rid of property taxes, also defended the governor.
“If you look at home values, when home values rise, that means people are doing better in Florida, so there’s more of a capacity then to have those dollars allocated to education,” Gaetz said.
Republicans were largely quiet about any complaints they had about Scott’s budget — particularly in the House, where the governor’s proposals generally get a slightly warmer welcome than in the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee will take its first look at the plan on Wednesday.
But a couple of GOP members of the House Appropriations Committee appeared to struggle with Scott’s decision to leave out a permanent pay increase for state workers, opting instead for a bonus system that could award employees up to $1,500. Scott also left out a pay raise for state firefighters, which has been a priority of Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
“I’m not saying we have to go out and sell the farm, but if you don’t have cost-of-living increases, you’re really giving your employees less purchasing power,” said Rep. George Moraitis, R-Fort Lauderdale.
Scott’s budget director, Cynthia Kelly, said the governor thought the bonus plan would help with government efficiency and that he was looking to add it to state law so it would remain in place after the current budget.
“The governor has strong feelings in this area and believes that the performance-based pay adjustments are preferred rather than an across-the-board pay increase,” Kelly said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Northview To Present Christmas Program Friday Night
December 2, 2015
The annual Northview High School Christmas Program will be held this Friday at 7 p.m. in the school theater. The program will include the Concert Band, Beginner Theater, Advance Theater and special vocal performances. Admission is free of charge.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.