• Home
• News
• Events
• Features
• Sports
• About
• Contact
• Advertise

Free Classifieds | Obituaries |

Arts, Crafts And Car Show Held In Molino (With Gallery)

The Fourth Annual Open Car Show and Arts/Craft Show was held Saturday at Highland Baptist Church in Molino. The top and best in class vehicles were awarded, numerous vendors were one hand and there free activities for children.

For a photo gallery, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Gulf Power’s Storm And Training Center Captures Awards

After Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola as a Category 3 storm in 2004, Gulf Power employees knew that in the future they would need a true storm center from where they could lead customer restoration efforts.

Jump ahead to 2015 — Gulf Power’s storm center, designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and winds up to 200 mph, has received one of the top awards for its design and durability.

“The awards are significant, but the bottom line is this center is a modern hub that will help us restore power to our customers more quickly and safely after a major storm,” said Rick DelaHaya, Gulf Power spokesperson. “And the majority of the year, our employees train there for their day-to-day duties.”

Referred to as “rugged, reliable, beautiful and sustainable” by Precast Concrete Institute, Gulf Power’s “Douglas L. McCrary Storm & Training Center” was recently awarded first place in the Category of Sustainable Design for their 2015 Design Awards. The Precast Concrete Institute is the technical organization for the pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete industry. PCI conducts research and development, publishes technical manuals and provides technical resources for the precast concrete industry.

Opened in 2014, the 30,300-square-foot building was built with pre-cast concrete walls, roof and framework to sustain 200-mph winds of a Category 5 hurricane.

Primarily designed as a training center with state-of-the-art classrooms and meeting rooms, the building can quickly transform into a central emergency operations center to coordinate customer restoration efforts after a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Jim Fletcher, Gulf Power’s vice president of external affairs and corporate services, said the employees involved in the project, as well as the design firm, Townes + Architects, P.A., and the builder, The Morette Company, had one goal in mind: build a sustainable center where crews and employees could be coordinated to get customers power back on quickly after a major storm.

“When we look at restoring customers’ power after a tropical storm or hurricane, we want to be able to do it in the most efficient way possible,” Fletcher said. “All the teams worked well together keeping this in mind and this facility serves our customers using sustainable design and construction.”

The facility also received LEED Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system, which recognizes buildings designed and constructed in an environmentally sustainable manner, providing energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of natural resources.

Among the features that helped the building achieve LEED certification is a geothermal HVAC system, four charging stations for electric vehicles and LED lighting that illuminates the parking lot.

According to Ben Townes, principal architect for the project, the pre-cast concrete design also helped the building achieve LEED certification, since it included both recycled material and is fully recyclable, contributing to the overall sustainability of the project by providing durability and reducing maintenance.

“We had to be very innovative to achieve the LEED points to become certified,” said Townes. “It was truly a team effort, — that’s what made the project so successful.”

Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Third Time No Charm For Lawmakers

There is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Florida lawmakers quit the Capitol this week without completing their assignment, proving that the third time isn’t the charm, at least as far as Sunshine State politics is concerned.

Unlike the poetic protagonist’s denouement, the failure of the two chambers to agree on a new Senate map came as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying the slightest attention to the goings-on in Tallahassee this year.

But, shortly before the Senate killed the leadership-backed plan with a vote that wasn’t even close, two longtime foes delivered some astonishing news that, for many, overshadowed the yawn-inducing end to another failed special session.

After three brutal years, Republican Sen. Jack Latvala finally gave up the ghost Thursday, ceding the future gavel to his onetime nemesis, Joe Negron. Latvala will take over as the chamber’s budget chief after the 2016 elections, while Negron will stand at the podium as president.

What the rapprochement will bring to a fractured Senate — perhaps even more sharply at odds with its House counterpart — remains to be seen.

SAME AS IT EVER WAS

For the third time this year, the clock ran out on a legislative session without lawmakers sealing the deal.

But, unlike the previous sessions where the House and Senate couldn’t strike an accord about the budget and a congressional map, leaders in the two chambers were united in pointing the finger at someone else for their failure to pass a Senate redistricting plan.

Instead of blaming each other, GOP leaders blamed a pair of voter-approved constitutional amendments that ban political gerrymandering in legislative and congressional redistricting. Lawmakers argued that the “Fair Districts” amendments had become an almost unworkable maze of sometimes contradictory standards that ignored the need to draw together communities with common interests.

On a 23-16 vote late Thursday afternoon, the Senate killed the House version of a proposed Senate the map (SJR 2-C) and, with it, any hope that the Legislature would decide the lines. Nine Senate Republicans bucked their party’s leadership and joined all 14 Democrats in opposing the plan.

“Having been living intimately in this world, I have concluded that the amendments to our Constitution pulled the soul out of map drawing, pulled the soul out of districts,” said Senate Reapportionment Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.

In brief remarks to his colleagues at the close of the session, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli also suggested that the authors of the amendments had used a noble goal to create gridlock.

“This has certainly been a difficult time, and I truly believe there are those who have set out to do everything they can to produce chaos and confusion and truly make this impossible to succeed and make us have a hard time succeeding in this effort,” Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said.

But David King, an attorney for the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause, which have led redistricting legal battles against the Legislature, had a different take.

“The Legislature has fought the Fair Districts Amendments from the moment they were introduced,” King said. “By blaming the amendments, rather than themselves, they are simply perpetuating their opposition to the will of the people and engaging in the very conduct that Florida voters clearly wanted to eliminate from our state.”

The redistricting issue will go to Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds, who likely will consider proposed maps from the Legislature and the voting-rights organizations, with Reynolds ultimately recommending a plan to the Florida Supreme Court.

LATVALA, NEGRON BURY THE HATCHET

The bitter intra-party battle over who will take over the chamber after Senate President Andy Gardiner’s term ends next November quietly drew to a close Thursday when Latvala ceded the race to Negron.

The struggle has shaded the Senate’s politics — and policies — for more than three years, affecting previous GOP leaders’ priorities and resulting in bad blood between Republicans who control the chamber. As recently as last week, it played a part in a verbal throw-down between the sharp-tongued Latvala and the equally acerbic Sen. Don Gaetz, a former Senate president and close Negron ally.

In exchange for Latvala giving up his quest to become president after the 2016 elections, Negron agreed to let the more-moderate Latvala serve as the powerful chairman of the Senate’s budget committee.

Standing beside Negron after a tense floor debate Thursday over the failed Senate redistricting plan, Latvala told reporters he withdrew after realizing that the rancor over the race had reached “a boiling point” characterized by some of his colleagues as a “low point” for the chamber as an institution.

“As someone who has made a lot of my life here, that really disturbed me greatly,” Latvala, a veteran political consultant from Clearwater, said. “…It just dawned on me that I, for one, have not been paying as much attention to policy issues here in the Senate as I should have been. I’ve been totally consumed in the political side of being in the Senate but not in the policy side. That’s what people sent us here to do. It just occurred to me that we needed to start focusing on what the people sent us here to do, trying to solve some of the problems.”

Negron, who held a narrow lead in the race, praised Latvala for “bringing this to a conclusion in a way that’s honorable.”

Negron said he is “optimistic” that Latvala’s concession would help Republicans unite.

“I think it’s important that as a caucus and as a Senate that we’re able to come together to work on common initiatives that we all support,” Negron, a lawyer from Stuart, said. “There will be differences from time to time on policy items, but our goal always was that the caucus family would come together.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: Florida’s GOP-dominated Legislature failed to approve a new Senate redistricting plan, leaving a preliminary decision about the map to a Tallahassee judge.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s like a load is lifted off my shoulders.” Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, after his decision to withdraw from the race against Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, to become Senate president late next year.

by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida

Ernest Ward Honors Veterans (With Gallery)

Ernest Ward Middle School paused to honor veterans from the across the area Friday morning.

During an emotional display. the students prepared a small, white table with a place setting for one  in front of an empty black chair. The ceremony represented the never-ending hope for the return of MIA soldiers.  The program also included patriotic music, an armed forces salute and the presentation of colors from the Northview High School NJROTC.

Students also presented “Moments in Time” — reading the personal stories submitted by local veterans.

The families of veterans Joel Day and Elmer Neal were presented patriotic wreaths in their memories.

For more photos, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Ransom Middle Students Hold Mock Election

Seventh grade students at Ransom Middle school had a real-world lesson on voting Friday, using real-world voting equipment, and voted on their choice for the next president.

Ransom Civics teacher Lauren Samoszenko teamed up with David Stafford and the staff of the Supervisor of Elections Office to create a real election experience for her students. They voted using real ballots and voting machines.

For simplicity, four candidates were listed on the ballot — the top two polling Republicans top two Democrats at the time the ballots were printed.  Students voted for Ben Carson for president almost two to one over the other three candidates. Results were as follows:

- Ben Carson 186
- Donald Trump 94
- Hillary Clinton 59
- Bernie Sanders 41
- Write-in 2

Students also voted on a proposed constitutional amendment regarding voter registration. If passed, the amendment would restore the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions  after they complete all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation. Those convicted of murder or severe offenses would not have  their voting rights restore. Ransom students voted to approve the amendment, 244-140.

In a local “school question”, 362 students indicated that they have internet access at home while 22 indicated that they do not.

“We chose this question because we are moving toward becoming a one-to-one technology district,” explained Samoszenko. “Here at Ransom Middle, we aren’t one-to-one yet, but we want to know what we’re getting into when we finally get there.”

David Stafford, Escambia County’s Supervisor of Elections, was on site and worked with the students. “The process is very similar to what their parents and teachers will experience next year when they go to the polls to vote for the presidential election. They’re checking in, they’re getting a paper ballot, they’re taking it to a voting booth and getting it tabulated on literally the same voting equipment that will be used during the next presidential election.”

“We’ve found that the earlier we get students involved and get them used to the process, the more likely they are to participate when they reach voting age, added Stafford.

For more photos, click here.

Photos by Kim Stefansson and Brandy Ziglar  for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Escambia Man Charged With First Degree Murder Of Infant

An Escambia County man is behind bars charged with the death of a four-month-old.

Christopher Demitchie Harris is charged with first  degree murder not premeditated in the death of Jehmier Booker. Booker was pronounced deceased after paramedics were called to a home located in the 300 block of Teakwood Circle on May 22, 2015.

Booker and his three-year-old sibling had been left in the care of Harris for approximately 11 hours while their mother was away.

The cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma.

Escambia County Weekly Traffic Alerts

Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.

Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through a work zone. All planned construction activities are weather dependent and may be rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.

Friday Night Football Finals

Here are final Friday night football scores from around the North Escambia area, including playoffs in Alabama. (Additional scores will be added as games end.)

FLORIDA

• South Walton 59, Jay 26
• Trinity Christian 32, Pine Forest 22
• Arnold 44, Milton 29
• Pace 35, Catholic 13
• Navarre 35, Niceville 13
• Crestview 27, Gulf Breeze 24 OT
• Escambia 17,  Pensacola 6
• Washington 56, West Florida 42

ALABAMA PLAYOFFS

• Lee Scott Academy 35, Escambia Academy 24
• Flomaton 26, New Brockton 20 FINAL
• T.R. MIller 67, Central Coosa 17
• Munford 20, W.S. Neal 0

Scott Pitches Business Friendly Tax Cuts

Gov. Rick Scott, who has already asked lawmakers for $250 million that could be used to lure corporations to Florida, rolled out a proposed $1 billion tax-cut package on Thursday.

A Democratic leader decried the tax-cut proposal as a way of gutting state government programs, while a key Republican lawmaker called the requested cuts “bold.”

The bulk of the proposed cuts, which would be amassed over a two-year period, involve permanently eliminating the income tax on manufacturing and retail businesses, a cut the governor’s office estimates at $770 million.

The package also would make permanent the elimination of a tax on manufacturing equipment, reduce a commercial lease tax and extend a temporary elimination of sales taxes on college textbooks.

Scott said in a news release that the tax cut package is “putting job creators on the road to success for years to come.”

“The more we can cut taxes — like the one on commercial lease — the more we can grow our small businesses in Florida and further diversify our economy to invest in our future,” Scott said.

For most Floridians, the cuts will be seen through a pair of sales tax “holidays,” which total just over $70 million. A 10-day back-to-school “holiday” would lift sales taxes on certain school supplies, clothes and some electronics. A separate nine-day period would be set aside to remove sales tax on hurricane supplies.

House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said fulfilling Scott’s request would require spending cuts to areas such as the environment and education.

“So we have services that are responsive to the people of Florida, he’s gutting them,” Pafford said. “He’s continuing to move and follow through on his pledge of smaller government. And that pledge is destroying Florida and eating up reserves, paying no attention to what his own agencies are claiming will happen.

“His legacy is going to catch up to him,” Pafford added. “Gov. Scott has led us in to the dark ages and under his control we’re not going to see a renaissance.”

The call for the cuts comes as state economists in September projected lawmakers will have a $635.4 million surplus when crafting the budget for the next fiscal year. In addition to seeking the tax cuts, Scott is pushing for $250 million in economic-development incentive money.

House Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, called Scott’s tax-cut proposal “bold.” Gaetz’s committee will work on a final tax-cut package during the legislative session that starts in January.

“Who says you should only cut taxes in an amount that equates to the surplus?” Gaetz said. “Some of us believe you should actually shrink the size of government.”

Gaetz said he’s also encouraged that the governor included reducing the commercial lease tax, which the committee chairman said is a personal priority.

“We’re already seeing the governor reflect priorities of the House in his tax plan, and we’ll do all that is appropriate to vet the proposals he’s put forward and determine what impact they’ll have on Florida’s expanding economy,” Gaetz said.

Senate President Andy Gardiner, who in September said $250 million would be a starting point in discussions on tax cuts, “would certainly support increasing that amount provided we can maintain the structural balance within our budget,” spokeswoman Katie Betta said in an email Thursday.

A number of the proposals are already moving in the Senate.

Proposals for a 10-day sales tax holiday on back-to-school items (SB 198) and to reduce the tax on commercial leases from 6 percent to 5 percent (SB 116) have each gone through two Senate committees without finding any opposition.

The state Revenue Estimating Conference estimates the “back-to-school tax holiday” could save shoppers $68.7 million, cutting state revenue by $56.1 million and local government revenue by $12.6 million.

Reducing the commercial lease tax by a single percentage point is projected to reduce state and local government revenue by $199.6 million next fiscal year, with the amount growing to $287 million. The reduction would go into place Jan. 1, 2017, which is in the middle of next fiscal year.

Scott announced the proposed tax-cut package at the annual Manufactures Association of Florida Summit in West Palm Beach. He had earlier called for making the manufacturing-equipment tax cut permanent.

Lawmakers in 2013 approved a three-year moratorium on the manufacturing-equipment tax, but the tax is scheduled to be revived in 2017. Scott last year projected that companies will have to pay $142.5 million annually if the tax returns.

Cutting the commercial-lease tax is a priority for a number of business groups.

The conservative-advocacy group Americans for Prosperity-Florida, which considers reducing the commercial lease tax a top priority, wasted little time calling on lawmakers to work with Scott on his proposed cuts. Also, the group reiterated its opposition to requests to fund professional sports stadiums in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Daytona Beach or to create incentives for the film and television industry.

“While legislators and the governor are making great strides to reduce burdens such as the commercial lease sales tax on Florida families and businesses, they should be working to eliminate taxes that stifle growth and competition all together,” AFP-Florida State Director Chris Hudson said in a release.

Throughout his nearly five years in office, Scott has made a top priority of cutting taxes.

As he ran for re-election in 2014, Scott campaigned on a promise of $1 billion in tax cuts over a two-year period. Lawmakers put together a wide-ranging tax-cut package during a June special session that is projected by state economists to cut revenue by $372.4 million this fiscal year.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

Over A Month After Homeless Story Goes Viral, Steve Has Been Found

Remember Steve the homeless man? He’s been found again and plans are underway to help him make it through the winter.

In late September, NorthEscambia.com published a story about John Brantley, an Atmore elementary school principal, and his encounter with Steve outside a Best Buy store in Mobile. The story of Steve went viral, viewed well over a million times.

It all began when Brantley snapped a photo of Steve, on his knees digging through a trash can looking for bits of food.

Offers poured in from around the country to help Steve….except Brantley and others were not able to find him again. Until Thursday night.

“I had a long conversation with Steve tonight and he has agreed to be helped,” Brantley wrote in a Facebook post. “I have set up this gofundme account to help raise money for Steve a place to stay this winter as well as helping him with basic essentials and ultimately helping him get back on his feet.”

To read our original story about Steve and Brantley’s encounter with him, click here.

To visit the gofundme page and donate to help Steve, click here.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Copyright © 2007-2025 NorthEscambia.com · P.O. Box 1207 · Century, FL 32535 · All Rights Reserved.