Wu Name NW Florida League Of Cities Municipal Officer Of The Year
August 13, 2015
Pensacola council member P.C. Wu has been named the Municipal Officer of the Year by the Northwest Florida League of Cities. Wu has served as the Pensacola director on for the NWFLC for 10 yeares. He served as the Legislative Chair beginning in 2007 and moved up the executive committee ranks to become president of the NWFLC in 2009. He also served on the Florida League of Cities, including a term as president in 2013. He also services on the National League of Cities board of directors. Photo courtesy City of Pensacola for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Citizens Policies Eyed For Private Market
August 13, 2015
Seven private insurers have been approved to pick up what would amount to nearly half the remaining policies held by the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Just don’t expect a mass exit from Citizens when the “takeout” period arrives in October.
The Office of Insurance Regulation announced Wednesday that up to 280,857 polices have been approved to move to the private insurance industry in late October.
“The number of policies that will ultimately leave Citizens will be substantially lower than the number of policies OIR has approved for takeout,” Citizen spokesman Michael Peltier noted in an email Wednesday. “That has always been the case but has become more noticeable over the past few takeouts.”
Citizens had 598,646 policies as of June 30.
The overall Citizens policy count is a considerable drop from a high of 1.5 million policies in 2012, when Gov. Rick Scott pushed to scale back the agency by putting more homeowners under private firms. The push was an attempt to reduce risk for policyholders across the state who could get with get hit with assessments to pay off Citizens claims after major hurricanes.
Citizens was created as the insurer of last resort, and President and Chief Executive Officer Barry Gilway has projected that “depopulation” steps by Citizens, which includes the takeout process, should eventually lower the agency’s policy count to about 450,000 of the least-insurable policies.
Before this week’s announcement, the state had made 713,336 policies available through the takeout process in 2015. So far, 128,133 policies have been removed from Citizens through the process.
A reason for the low turnover is that private insurers typically select the least-risky policies. Also, policyholders are allowed to reject takeout offers.
In October, a total of 279,357 personal-residential policies and 1,500 commercial-residential policies will be offered to Anchor Property & Casualty, Cypress Property & Casualty, Heritage Property & Casualty, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty, Olympus Insurance, Safepoint Insurance and United Property & Casualty Insurance.
Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty, a wholly-owned insurance subsidiary of HCI Group, Inc., was approved for up to 51,666 policies, but noted in a release Tuesday that it will target just about 17,500 wind-only policies.
“Based on the current opportunity within Citizens, we anticipate the focus of this takeout will be wind-only policies,” Paresh Patel, HCI Group’s chief executive officer, said in the release. “Selecting only those policies from Citizens that meet our strict underwriting criteria allows us to minimize our underwriting risk.”
Peltier also noted that the pace of the depopulation efforts may temporarily slow if Citizens rates proposed for 2016 are approved. That is because Citizens least-risky customers could see rate decreases, which might give them little incentive to move to the private market.
The Citizens Board of Governors has proposed a plan that would lead to an average 3.2 percent increase in rates next year for many homeowners. The rates would fluctuate depending on location, home and type of policy.
Under the plan, which will be heard by state regulators on Aug. 25, premiums would increase an average of 8.6 percent on coastal “multi-peril” policies, which provide full coverage to homeowners. Citizens’ customers who live in inland areas, however, would fare better under the rate plan. Homeowners in those areas would see average 1 percent rate decreases.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Winkler Homers, Wahoos Lose To Biloxi
August 13, 2015
Jesse Winker hit his second solo home run in two games but it lead off the ninth inning and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos dropped the opener of its five-game series, 4-1, with the Biloxi Shuckers.
It was the first time the Blue Wahoos played in the Shuckers new MGM Park in downtown Biloxi near the Gulf of Mexico and Beau Rivage Casino.
Pensacola entered the game in first place in the second half but the loss dropped them to 26-20 in and one game behind the Mississippi Braves in the South Division of the Southern League. Biloxi, the first half winner, improved to 22-23 and is in fourth place in the second half.
The game was a far cry from the Blue Wahoos offensive explosion Tuesday against the Birmingham Barons when it scored 13 runs on a season-high 19 hits.
Wednesday night, Pensacola managed just one run on five hits. Winker, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was the only hitter to manage two hits, going 2-4 and reaching 40 RBIs on his solo blast to left field. He now hitting .303 in the second half with seven home runs and 23 RBIs.
Biloxi pitcher Jorge Lopez, the Milwaukee Brewers No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out eight. He improved to 11-5 with a 2.45 ERA on the year.
Center fielder Brett Phillips knocked in Biloxi’s first run in the second inning with a two-out double that scored catcher Adam Weisenburger for a 1-0 lead.
Biloxi added two more in the third when first baseman Nick Ramirez doubled in second baseman Nathan Orf and Weisenburger singled in Ramirez to go ahead, 3-0.
Biloxi scored its last run in the fourth inning when left fielder Victor Roache singled in Phillips to go up, 4-0.
One Injured In Highway 29 Rollover Accident; Driver Cited
August 12, 2015
A Brewton woman was injured in a single-vehicle rollover accident Wednesday morning in McDavid.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 29-year old Charity Andrews Minton was traveling southbound on Highway 29 near Champion Drive about 11:11 a.m. She told troopers that a semi-truck changed lanes into her lane, and she took evasive action. Her 2010 Chevrolet 2500 HD pickup left the paved portion of the roadway and entered the southbound shoulder. She attempted to steer back onto the roadway and lost control, with the pickup truck overturning. The rear of the truck struck at least two trees and overturned into the edge of a wooded area. The accident was spotted after it occurred by a passing Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy.
Minton was transported by ambulance to the Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and then airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital.
Minton was cited for driving with a suspended license by the FHP
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The McDavid and Century stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the accident.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
McDavid Sex Offender Headed Back To State Prison
August 12, 2015
A McDavid sex offender is headed to prison for failing to register as required.
Joseph Matthew Trump, age 39 of 2131 South Century Boulevard, was arrested and charged with the felony registration violation back in January. On Monday, he pleaded guilty in Escambia County Circuit Court.
He was sentenced by Judge Michael Jones to two years in state prison, followed by three years supervised probation. He will also still be required to register as a sex offender.
Trump was convicted in Escambia County of a lewd or lascivious act on a child under 16 in October of 1999 and previously served a five year, 10 month sentence in prison, according to FDLE and Department of Corrections records.
Escambia County School Orientations Set For Thursday
August 12, 2015
School orientations, schedule pickups and elementary “meet the teacher” events are scheduled for Thursday at most Escambia County Schools. The complete schedule is below.
HIGH SCHOOLS
- Northview – Thursday, August 13 New Student Orientation: 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. (Theater); Monday, August 17 — Returning students pick up schedules. (Gym -First day of school); For more Northview specific information, click here.
- Tate — Thursday, August 13 — Returning students pick up schedules: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. for seniors; 2:00-3:00 p.m. for underclassmen (Cafeteria)
- West Florida — Thursday, August 13 — Returning students pick up schedules: (Gym) Sophomores: 10:30 a.m.; Juniors: 1:00 p.m.; Seniors: 6:00 p.m. (Senior meeting and schedule pickup)
- Pine Forest – Thursday, August 13 — Returning students pick up schedules: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Cafeteria)
- Escambia — Thursday, August 13 — Returning Students: 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Gym) Returning students will receive their new schedules and parking permits, and pick up forms and other important documents for the start of school.
- Washington – Thursday, August 13 — Returning Seniors/Juniors pick up schedules: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Atrium); Friday, August 14 — Returning Freshmen/Sophomores pick up schedules: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Atrium)
- Pensacola — August 13 — Freshman Orientation: 1:00 p.m. (Auditorium); Junior and Sophomore schedule pickup: 9:00 a.m. (Auditorium)
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
All middle school orientations will be held on Thursday, August 13 as listed below:
- Bailey Middle — 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Bellview Middle — 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Brown Barge Middle — 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Ferry Pass Middle — 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
- Ransom Middle — 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
- Ernest Ward Middle — Click here for EWMS specific information.
- Warrington Middle Thursday,August 13 10:00 – 12:00 p.m.
- Woodham Middle — 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Workman Middle — 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
All elementary school “meet and greets” will be held Thursday, August 13.
- Bratt — Pre-K 9:30-11:00 a.m.; K-5 8:30-10:30 a.m.
- Molino Park — 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Jim Allen — Pre-K 8:30-9:00 a.m.; K-5 -9:00-10:30 a.m.
- Beulah — 9:00-11:00 a.m.
For elementary schools not listed, click here.
Bill Could Boost Autism Screenings In Florida
August 12, 2015
A House Democrat on Tuesday filed a bill that could place new requirements on health insurers in the screening of children for autism spectrum disorder. The bill (HB 49), filed by Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session. Under the bill, physicians would screen children if parents suspect the possibility of autism spectrum disorder.
When they deem it “medically necessary,” physicians would refer children to specialists for diagnosis. But when physicians find that such a referral is not necessary, parents would be advised that they may have access to evaluation from the state’s Early Steps program or from specialists without referral.
Starting in 2017, the bill would require health plans to cover a minimum of three visits a year to specialists for evaluation of possible autism-spectrum disorder in cases without referrals.
by The News Service of Florida
League Of Women Voters Targets Evers’ Campus Gun Bill
August 12, 2015
The League of Women Voters of Florida will start building a coalition Thursday to fight newly filed bills, including that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses.
But Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican who is sponsoring the House version of the bill, remains undeterred. The proposal, which would apply to people who have concealed-weapons licenses, failed to pass the Legislature during the 2015 session.
“A lot of controversial things in this process take several years to accomplish,” Steube said Monday while in Tallahassee for a special session on redistricting. “I’ve made it through every committee in the House (with the proposal), and I’m going to continue to fight for something that I personally believe in and that I think is the best policy for this state.”
Steube and Senate Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, have filed the campus-carry bills (SB 68 and HB 4001) for lawmakers to consider during the 2016 legislative session, which starts in January.
Evers and Steube also sponsored the 2015 proposal, which sparked heavy debate and drew opposition from the state university system’s Board of Governors, university police chiefs and the 12 public universities. The National Rifle Association-backed proposal ultimately stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Supporters of the proposal argue, at least in part, that it would allow people to defend themselves if attacked on campuses, including in cases of sexual assault. But opponents contend that guns combined with such things as academic pressures, alcohol and drug use put students at risk.
The League of Women Voters on Thursday will help host a one-day “Gun Safety Summit” at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando to put together the new coalition and to address the campus-carry proposal.
The goal is to make the opposition stronger than during the 2015 session, by uniting with students, professors, administrators and the national organization Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, said Patti Brigham, chair of the league’s Gun Safety Committee.
“College campuses are safe places,” Brigham said. “Guns have no place there unless carried by police.”
Steube said he’d like to hear personally from some of the opponents, something he felt was missing from the 2015 debate on the issue.
“With all the things that unfortunately are happening in our world — shootings in Chattanooga at a recruiting station, shootings at movie theaters — I think law-abiding citizens should have the right to defend themselves, and that Second Amendment right shouldn’t be stripped simply because they walk on to a college campus,” Steube said.
Steube had a brief discussion about the campus-carry proposal with Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, on the House floor after Monday’s session.
“I don’t think bringing additional guns on campus is the right way to go about doing it,” Williams said.
Williams said he’s working to bring to Tallahassee for the 2016 session gun-control advocates from groups such as Americans for Responsible Solutions, which was founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.; the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“We started ’stand your ground,’ ” Williams said, referring to legislative approval of a controversial self-defense law. “We want to make sure we don’t start anything else that’s going to be detrimental to not only our state and our citizens but other states and their citizens.”
Another controversial gun-related measure (SB 72) proposed for the 2016 session would allow designated employees or volunteers to carry concealed weapons at public schools and other educational facilities. The bill, filed by Evers, is virtually identical to a proposal that failed to pass during the 2015 session.
Under the bill, school superintendents could designate trained people to carry weapons on school grounds. Those people could be honorably discharged military veterans, active-duty members of the military, National Guard or reserves or active-duty or former law-enforcement officers. The measure would not require school superintendents to make such appointments.
by The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Win, Move Into Tie For First Place
August 12, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos exploded offensively — like a bull bursting out of the chute at the buzzer — with Jesse Winker, Bryson Smith and Juan Duran hitting long home runs to left field right out of the gate to put the club up 8-0 after the first two innings.
The Birmingham Barons tried to hang on but Pensacola won 13-10 and the Blue Wahoos captured its sixth series of the second half in front of 4,012 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said in his 40-plus years of managing, Tuesday’s game was one of the “craziest.”
“It was one of the craziest ones I’ve been a member of in quite a while,” Kelly said. “We scored so early we tried to keep emphasizing to our team to keep scoring.”
Pensacola’s offensive explosion included its first multi-homer inning this season when Bryson Smith and Duran both hit dingers in the second inning. Smith crushed a three-run homer and Duran smacked a mammoth, two-out homer over the lights in deep left field to put Pensacola up, 8-0.
Blue Wahoos left fielder Jesse Winker, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, started a two-out, three-run rally in the first inning with an opposite field, solo home run that put the Blue Wahoos up 1-0. Pensacola tied its season-high of three home runs in a game.
Marquez Smith then smashed a grounder to Birmingham third baseman Tony Thomas who threw it wide of first, allowing Smith to reach second. Blue Wahoos right fielder Juan Duran’s sharp grounder to diving Barons’ shortstop Tim Anderson drove in Smith, who got a big jump on the hit and beat the throw to home plate to make the score, 2-0.
Pensacola added a third run when Duran scored on third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean’s double on a line drive that fell between the center fielder and right fielder.
By the time Birmingham stopped Pensacola’s breakout at the plate in the fifth inning, the Blue Wahoos had 11 runs and 14 hits, while Birmingham had no runs and three hits.
At the end of the game, Pensacola compiled 13 runs and a season-high 19 hits. Pensacola also added eight extra base hits and leads the Southern League with 127 extra base hits since July 1.
Every Blue Wahoos starter earned a hit Tuesday. Pensacola center fielder Bryson Smith led the way with a 5-6 night with two runs scored and four RBIs, which included his three-run homer and a double. Smith, who has three homers for Pensacola, said the five hits is the most he’s recorded in his professional career.
Smith, who has played in Pensacola at least once a season since its inaugural season in 2012, said he clobbered a hanging slider.
“The wind might have blown it out. I don’t know,” Smith said jokingly. “That was a lot of runs. At some point, you just want it to stop and it did thankfully.”
In addition, the teams combined for 33 hits, which ties the franchise record set against Jacksonville on Aug. 10, 2013.
The Pensacola franchise records are 17 runs and 22 hits in a 17-1 victory in Jacksonville on April 21, 2014.
Meanwhile, right-hander Barret Astin took care of the Barons, throwing six innings, giving up five runs on nine hits, striking out two and walking one.
Birmingham mounted its own offensive attack scoring seven runs over three innings from the fifth through the seventh. It included a three-run blast by first baseman Jeremy Dowdy in the fifth inning and a solo blast by third baseman Thomas in the sixth.
Pensacola came right back with two runs in the seventh inning to go back up 13-7 when Winker doubled in Bryson Smith and Duran singled past the second basemen to drive in Winker.
Birmingham still had more runs to score after Jacob May launched a three-run homer in the eighth inning to bring the Barons back within three, 13-10.
Kelly said he was trying to resist using closer Zack Weiss, who now has a Southern League-leading 18 saves and had struck out the side four times in his last six outings. Weiss recorded the last five outs in the score fest.
“In the fourth inning their best player (shortstop Tim Anderson) comes out of the game and they get within striking distance of beating us,” Kelly said. “There were times in the seventh and eighth that I thought we might lose it. It was chaos.”
The Blue Wahoos head to play the Biloxi Shuckers tied for first place with the Mississippi Braves in the second half in the Southern League South Division at 26-19 (51-62). Biloxi, which moved into its new stadium June 6, won the first half of the South Division.
Bryson Smith, who came from Triple-A Louisville July 17, said he’s looking forward to the five-game series, since Pensacola has not had a winning half yet.
“Obviously, we can’t put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” he said. “It’s fun to be in the hunt. We just have to do our best. I’ve been here a couple years, so it’s really nice to be a part of all of this.”
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos travel to play a five-game series beginning at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate the Biloxi Shuckers.
One Dead Following Drive-by Shooting
August 12, 2015
One person is dead following a drive-by shooting Tuesday morning.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office received a shots fired call just after 9 a.m. on Hansel Street near Hollywood Avenue. When they arrived, they found 25-year old Dewayne Nason Silas dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the shooting is continuing.