Fields Of Faith: Community Worship Service Held
October 15, 2015
The Northview High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) sponsored a student led worship event “Fields of Faith” Wednesday night in the Tommy Weaver Memorial Stadium.
The service included music, student testimonies and a message from guest speaker Jody Levins, a youth leader at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
U.S. Senate Candidates Take Aim At Washington Dysfunction
October 15, 2015
Facing low name recognition and a largely unshaped race, the five front-runners for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat introduced themselves to reporters and editors in Tallahassee on Wednesday by arguing that they could actually get things done in a dysfunctional Washington, D.C.
Speaking at an annual Associated Press media gathering at the Florida Capitol, four sitting congressman and the state’s lieutenant governor began distinguishing themselves even as much of the political world’s focus remains on presidential primaries in both parties.
Some of the sharpest contrasts came between Democratic Congressmen Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy, who are vying for their party’s nomination to the Senate seat being vacated by Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio.
“I would say the biggest difference between us is style, first and foremost,” said Murphy, who was elected to Congress in 2012 by knocking off Republican firebrand Allen West. “I think Congressman Grayson prides himself on being the bomb-throwing, name-calling, finger-pointing person. … If you ask me, that’s no way to get something done with people.”
But Grayson defended his style of saying “interesting” things and claimed that he has passed more amendments in the House of Representatives than any other member of Congress.
“I don’t try to bore people with the usual drivel. And I’ll plead guilty to that,” he said.
A few minutes later, he proved his point in a soliloquy on the GOP caucus.
“There’s a fundamental problem, which is that Republicanism in the House of Representatives is cannibalizing itself,” he said. “They keep eating each other. Oh, there I go again, saying something interesting.”
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera hammered home the point that he was the only one of the five without Washington experience.
Lopez-Cantera also distanced himself from right-wing demands that the GOP threaten to shut down the government in order to try to defund Planned Parenthood clinics. He said he would support such a move if it were “not just for a talking point,” but that previous spending showdowns haven’t worked.
“This whole shutdown strategy; I don’t understand it, because it has not accomplished what they have sought to accomplish,” Lopez-Cantera said. “The endgame is still going to be same.”
Republican Congressman David Jolly underscored the fact that he didn’t vote for a congressional committee to investigate Planned Parenthood’s handling of fetal tissue. He noted that three committee were already looking into the matter.
While describing himself as a conservative, Jolly touted a maverick streak that he said came from his desire to get things done rather than dodge issues.
“What is true is that I voted against the intransigence and dishonesty of our own side of the aisle. Look, I am in a space right now in this Senate race where I’m calling it like I see it, with great political risk,” he said.
But Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis demurred when asked about the shutdown strategy, saying he believed Congress should instead get back to the regular budget process instead of a process that causes last-minute showdowns. He noted that because of the procedures, the current Congress has not passed a full package of spending bills.
He also suggested that it was the inability of Congress to at least work for change that was causing some of the discontent among voters.
“I think voters understand, we have a complicated system,” he said. “There are checks and balances. … But if they don’t see the effort, then I think they say, ‘You know what, these guys just say what they want, just to get in there and once they’re there, all they care about is maintaining their positions rather than actually doing things on behalf of the American people.’”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Scott, Lawmakers Likely To Debate Tax Cuts, Incentives
October 15, 2015
Gov. Rick Scott might clash with state senators in 2016 over the size of his tax-cut plans and how business recruitment dollars are banked.
Scott, addressing reporters Wednesday at an annual Associated Press media event in the Capitol, said he intends to ask lawmakers for a larger tax-cut package in 2016 than the $673 million he sought this year and also maintained support for placing business-relocation and expansion dollars into escrow.
The governor is particularly focusing on the permanent elimination of a sales tax on manufacturing equipment.
“We should be able to do it,” Scott said of creating a tax-cut package that features eliminating the manufacturing tax. “We’re growing revenue. We are paying down debts. We have budget surpluses every year going forward, so we should be able to do that year in and year out.”
Scott added that despite Florida having “the lowest state taxes per capita in the country,” taxes should be going down as there are “more people moving to our state.”
Lawmakers in 2013 approved a three-year moratorium on the manufacturing 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.
“If we do this this year we’re going to see so much growth in manufacturing, it will be a dramatic diversification of our economy,” Scott said.
In addition to Scott’s focus on the manufacturing tax, lawmakers have also submitted proposals for the 2016 legislative session that would cut taxes through a 10-day back-to-school sales tax holiday and reduce a commercial real-estate lease tax and the corporate income tax.
Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, appearing separately after Scott, professed support for cutting taxes in the 2016 session.
However, Gardiner, an Orlando Republican who considers $250 million a starting point for the tax-cut discussions, said the return on each cut must be clearly identified.
“We want measurable goals and examples of where we can see that, yes, this tax is going to work,” Gardiner said.
He also expressed some apprehension about using all of the state’s projected $635.4 million budget surplus for tax cuts. The majority of the projected surplus is one-time revenue, which is not expected to recur year after year.
Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican, said a House tax-cut package will again come out of the Finance & Tax Committee but added that any cuts will help Florida’s economy.
“We all benefit when taxpayers are able to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets,” Crisafulli said. “Showing there is no better proof of that, Florida’s economy has continued to grow.”
Scott, who during his 2014 re-election campaign pledged $1 billion in cuts over two years, didn’t place a dollar figure on his tax-cut proposal other than to say it will be larger than what he wanted out of the 2015 session.
Lawmakers, who had to complete the budget in a June special session, ultimately sent $428.9 million in cuts to Scott’s desk.
Democrats said Wednesday the focus on using the surplus for tax cuts is misplaced.
House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said that eliminating the manufacturing tax cut is “laughable” with the state facing issues such as shortfalls in health-care funding. Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D- Tampa, added, “It’s my position that this surplus is not really a surplus, because we have not taken care of the needs of all of the people of the state of Florida.”
As for business incentives, Scott said a program known as the Quick Action Closing Fund, used by Enterprise Florida, needs to be reformed if the state wants to lure major corporate headquarters. But he also defended the state’s continued use of placing business-incentive money into escrow accounts.
“We can either give them the money upfront or we can do it the other way of doing it, say, ‘We’ll put the money in escrow (and) as you create the jobs we’ll give you the money,’ ” Scott said. “That is a way smarter way of doing it.”
Scott has been pushing business leaders across the state to lobby lawmakers to increase funding for corporate recruitment incentives, an action that hasn’t been well received by a number of lawmakers.
Earlier this year, Scott asked lawmakers to set aside $85 million for business incentives. The final budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 included $53 million for Enterprise Florida, of which $43 million was for incentives and $10 million was for marketing.
Gardiner has proposed that instead of putting the money into escrow, the state set aside $50 million to cover future economic incentive payments, which he has noted have never topped $20 million in a single year.
The capped funding, set up in a system similar to the state Department of Transportation’s 5-year work program, would be available for already-approved contractually obligated business incentives and in the future for performance payments.
Scott said he’d be “receptive” to any proposal that could produce a better return than the commercial escrow accounts.
Crisafulli, when asked if he supported the governor or Gardiner on budgeting incentive money, said the state needs to guarantee that cash will be readily available to get businesses to move to Florida and to create new jobs.
“I think the governor is in a situation where he has to have that money to show that we’re serious about what we’re doing,” Crisafulli said. “It’s important that people recognize that nothing takes place until those jobs are created.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Cop Impersonator Arrested After Trying To Pull Over Unmarked Deputy Vehicle
October 14, 2015
An alleged cop impersonator has been arrested after trying to conduct a traffic stop on an unmarked police car.
Joshua Dwayne Lynam, 24, was charged with impersonating a police officer after he performed a traffic stop on an Escambia County deputy on I-110 at Airport Boulevard. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
Lynam was driving a gold Chevrolet 1500 king cab pickup equipped with red and white emergency flashing lights with Florida tag 869 UBN. Deputies said he is suspected of impersonating a police officer by stopping vehicles on state roadways from Santa Rosa County to Baldwin County.
Anyone that believes they may have been a victim of Lynam during a suspicious traffic stop is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate High Showband Of The South To Perform At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
October 14, 2015
The Tate High School Showband of the South is headed to Hawaii in December 2016 to take part in the 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Mass Band. They will join bands from around the United States and Japan in a concert commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The mass band, including the Tate Showband, will perform on the pier of the U.S.S Battleship Missouri in a worldwide live webcast “Gift of Music” concert on December 7, 2016.
“This is truly a once in a lifetime event; it really is,” Band Director Mike Philley said Tuesday night as he announced the trip at a Band Boosters meeting. “It is going to take a community effort to get us there.”
The Tate High Wind Ensemble has taken part in the Pearl Harbor event at Naval Air Station Pensacola for at least 10 years, making the Pearl Harbor trip a natural fit.
“When this came about. that was the right way to go. It’s a natural tie-in; we are a Navy town. a lot of military, active duty and retired,” Philley said. “And it just really felt like it would be a great fit for our kids and our program.”
The trip was announced more than a year in advance to give the Band Boosters and band members a chance to raise the funds needed for the 215 member band. Those fund raising plans will be announced soon.
Last year, the Tate Showband took part in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade and ventured to Washington, D.C. The band has taken part in many major venues, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Tournament of Roses Parade, the Cotton Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl parades and even a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland.
Pictured top: Students and parents react Tuesday night as Tate High School Showband of the South Director Mike Philley announces and upcoming performance in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Courtesy image.) Pictured below: The Tate Wind Ensemble performs last December during the Pearl Harbor ceremony aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
The ‘Midol’ Defense: More Details Released In Century Attempted Murder
October 14, 2015
More details have been released about a shooting incident last Wednesday night that ended with Century man charged with attempted murder and a car full of bullet holes in a Whataburger parking lot. And there were also holes in a potential Midol purchase defense offered by the suspect’s mother.
Akino Jama Jackson, 23, was charged with attempted first degree premeditated murder shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He remains in the Escambia County Jail without bond, awaiting an arraignment hearing on October 30.
According to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report, Jackson armed himself with an unknown model and type of firearm and fired eight times into a Dodge Charger, shooting Roosevelt Dixon in the back four times causing serious injuries. Dixon’s girlfriend, Amanda Conner, was in the front passenger seat at the time the shots were fired. She suffered injuries from broken glass but did not seek medical treatment.
At the scene at the Whataburger, Conner told deputies that she had received threatening text messages for the last several weeks from Jackson, her ex-boyfriend. She said the messages included threats about harming her and threats about shooting her car.
Conner told investigators that she and Dixon were at his mother’s residence on Ivey Street in Century, and they had noticed a car in the area that Dixon was concerned about. She said they left the mother’s trailer, eventually turning onto Old Flomaton Road. She said they traveled a short distance when she heard a loud noise followed by a another loud noise during which glass shattered. Dixon told Conner that he had been shot. At this point, they turned the car around, still not seeing the vehicle from which the shots were fired, and headed back to Ivey Street where Dixon got out of the Dodge Charger.
Conner then headed toward the Century Sheriff’s Precinct on Highway 29 in the Charger, stopping along the way at the Century Whataburger where she observed a deputy on a traffic stop.
An investigator noted finding numerous text messages from Jackson on Conner’s phone making threats to harm her and Dixon and to shoot the vehicle in which they were passengers.
At Whataburger, the investigator was approached by Jackson’s mother who said she knew deputies were looking for him. However, she said Jackson could not have been him because he called her from the Wal-Mart in Ensley near the time of the shooting. She continue to explain that he called her and she asked him purchase Midol. She said he did purchase the drug.
However, the call data she provided was from an outgoing call to Jackson, not an incoming call, according to the arrest report.
An investigator contacted Dixon at Sacred Heart Hospital, and he positively identified Jackson as the person who shot him. Dixon’s injuries were not considered life threatening.
Investigators were able to obtain transaction reports on the potential Midol purchase, but those purchase were made at 2:20 p.m. and 10:53 p.m. — hours before or after the shooting at about 8 p.m.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Senate Committee To Consider Evers’ Guns On Campus Bill
October 14, 2015
Amid a national focus on campus shootings, a state Senate committee next week will consider a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry firearms at Florida colleges and universities.
The Senate Higher Education Committee is scheduled next Tuesday to take up the bill, filed by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker. The proposal has already passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, which is chaired by Evers, and an identical House version (HB 4001) has been approved by the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
The bills are filed for the 2016 legislative session, which starts in January. The issue has been highly controversial, with university-system leaders opposed to allowing guns on campus and Second Amendment advocates arguing for the bills. But it is likely to draw even more debate after a mass shooting Oct. 1 at an Oregon community college and other shooting incidents in Arizona and Texas.
by The News Service of Florida
U.S. Supreme Court Weighs Death Penalty Law In Nine Mile Road Killing
October 14, 2015
U.S. Supreme Court justices Tuesday spent an hour questioning attorneys in a case that could force key changes in the way Florida carries out the death penalty.
The appeal was brought on behalf of death row inmate Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted in the 1998 murder of a fast food worker in Escambia County and contends that Florida’s unique sentencing system is unconstitutional.
In part, Florida’s system does not require unanimous jury recommendations before judges can sentence defendants to death. Also, the case focuses on the interplay between juries and judges on “aggravating” circumstances, which must be found before death sentences can be imposed.
Seth Waxman, a former U.S. solicitor general representing Hurst, argued Tuesday that Florida’s sentencing system is unconstitutional under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Ring v. Arizona, according to a transcript of the hearing. But state Solicitor General Allen Winsor disputed that argument, saying “Florida’s capital sentencing system was constitutional before Ring v. Arizona and it remains constitutional in light of Ring v. Arizona.”
It likely will take months for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule, but the case could have far-reaching effects if justices find the system unconstitutional.
Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, and Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, filed bills last month that would require unanimous jury recommendations before death sentences are imposed and would make changes in state law about the issue of aggravating circumstances. The bills (HB 157 and SB 330) will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, which starts in January. Rodriguez and Altman also filed bills for the 2015 session, but the measures did not make it to the House and Senate floors.
Hurst, now 36, was convicted of the murder of Cynthia Lee Harrison, who was an assistant manager at a Popeye’s Fried Chicken restaurant where Hurst worked. Harrison’s body was discovered bound in a freezer, and money was missing from a safe, according to a brief in the case.
Two Women Suspected In Theft From Nine Mile Business
October 14, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is searching for the two women in this surveillance camera image.
Investigators said Tuesday that they are suspected of stealing an employee’s wallet at Uniquely Yours Boutique on East Nine Mile Road last month. A witness says while one woman distracted the employee, the other stole the wallet. The victim’s credit cards were then used multiple times.
Anyone with information on their identity is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Image courtesy Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Gambling Talks Continue Between The Seminoles And Scott
October 14, 2015
Seminole casinos would get craps and roulette, a Palm Beach County dog track could have slot machines and the state could reap at least $3 billion over seven years, under a gambling deal being negotiated between state leaders and the tribe.
The agreement — still a long way from being finalized — would also allow a new gambling operation in Miami-Dade County to start up with slot machines and permit dog tracks to stop racing greyhounds while retaining lucrative card rooms.
Multiple sources close to the negotiations provided details to The News Service of Florida about the ongoing talks between the Seminoles and Gov. Rick Scott’s office, which is working in tandem with House and Senate leaders to rewrite a 20-year agreement, called a “compact,” that authorized the tribe’s slot-machine and table-game operations. A provision of the deal, inked in 2010, gave the Seminoles exclusive rights to operate banked card games, such as blackjack, for five years in exchange for a minimum payment of $1 billion. That portion of the compact expired this summer.
Under the talks, the Seminoles would guarantee a minimum $3 billion over seven years as part of compact that would last another 20 years.
“What I can confirm is that negotiations have made significant progress. We’re at a place where the taxpayers will be seeing a significantly higher share from the tribe than they currently receive. That would be hundreds of millions of dollars that we could use to invest in education, infrastructure or other core services. … I can also confirm that we could do all of this and also, for the first time, contract gaming in areas where it’s dying,” Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told The News Service on Tuesday.
A portion of the revenues would go to supplement purses for thoroughbred horse races, now running at Gulfstream Racetrack and Tampa Bay Downs.
The latest proposal would also ban “player-banked” card games, now underway at a number of pari-mutuels, in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Pari-mutuels in other counties could continue to run the games, in which the “bank” is another player instead of “the house,” but the state would impose clearer guidelines regarding the popular games.
The Seminoles contend that the games, first authorized by state gambling regulators in 2011, violate the tribe’s rights to exclusivity in operating banked card games, which typically involve players betting against the house instead of against each other.
Many of the components now under discussion don’t directly affect the Seminoles but instead deal with the pari-mutuel industry and would be considered as part of a bill authorizing the agreement, which lawmakers would most likely consider during the legislative session that begins in January.
For example, the Seminoles are purportedly “agnostic” about decoupling horse and dog racing from other gambling activities, including slots at the South Florida pari-mutuels and card rooms at facilities in other counties. Currently, pari-mutuels are required to have racing or jai alai games if they want to offer card rooms or slots.
While it is almost certain that any legislation would allow dog tracks to drop greyhound races, doing away with horse racing is more contentious. One possibility, according to sources involved in the talks, would require thoroughbred tracks to continue racing but allow tracks that use other types of horses, such as quarter horses, to do away with racing altogether if they choose.
The Seminoles are also seeking to tighten a “hope provision” included in the original agreement that allows the tribe to reduce its payments to the state if South Florida pari-mutuels are allowed to have banked card games, or if slots are authorized at any facilities that weren’t already operating in Broward or Miami-Dade, except for Hialeah Race Track, when the deal was signed in 2010.
That could dash South Florida operators’ hopes of adding blackjack. Instead, they would have to settle for decoupling and as much as a 10 percent reduction in the tax rate that they pay on slot machine revenues.
Getting the requisite support for such a deal from the Republican-dominated Legislature is problematic. Many members are prone to protect pari-mutuel operators in their own backyards or have ideological objections to gambling in general, which could prompt them to cast a “no” vote against any gambling-related proposal.
Slots for the Palm Beach Kennel Club are considered crucial to getting any bill out of Bradley’s Regulated Industries Committee, whose members include several Palm Beach County legislators.
The addition of slots would be contingent on the track’s purchase of at least one active pari-mutuel license elsewhere, according to those involved in the negotiations. The same would apply to a new gambling permit for a facility in Miami-Dade County, which would likely be granted based on a competitive bid and require some sort of payment to the state. Both the new facility and the Palm Beach dog track would be restricted to having fewer slots than the maximum 1,500 machines now allowed at pari-mutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Granting slots to the Palm Beach dog track while prohibiting the cash cows in other counties where voters have approved them — including Lee, Brevard and Gadsden — is rife with political problems. Limiting slots expansion to Palm Beach County, just north of the two counties where slots are already in operation, could gain support among gambling-leery conservatives in the House. But it could also cost the endorsement of legislators who want their local operators to reap the same benefits.
Requiring the Legislature’s approval injects doubt into a complicated gambling agreement much like “putting a queen-sized sheet on a king-sized bed,” according to House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz, a Miami-Dade County Republican.
“It’s a Rubik’s cube. I don’t think a Rubik’s cube is impossible to solve. If you give an intelligent person enough time, they’ll figure it out. But in the world of competing interests where you have so many other things taking place. … Right now we’ve been singularly focused on the compact because it’s the off-season. But we’re about to ramp up and start swallowing water out of the fire hose. So where Rob Bradley and I have been able to fully dedicate ourselves to this negotiation over the past few months, now I’m going to have to be digesting insurance bills and energy bills and business regulation bills that come before my committee. The timeline for an easy landing is winding down. With each passing day, it becomes more difficult to have a soft landing,” Diaz told The News Service on Tuesday.
And, unlike nearly a decade ago when then-Gov. Charlie Crist championed the gambling deal with the Seminoles, neither Scott nor leaders in the House and Senate leader have openly advocated for a new agreement with the tribe, making the odds for final passage of a compact even longer.
“The state of the economy is completely different than it was when the original deal was inked back in 2010. At the time the deal was put together, the state budget was enhanced by $435 million. Now, we’re in a situation where the economy is much better. We’re not spending or counting on the dollars from the Seminole Tribe. And we’re not dealing with a governor who is defending an existing deal as being valid, like we were with Gov. Crist back then,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who, as a House member, was instrumental in crafting the 2010 deal with the Seminoles.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida