Recovered: Atmore Stolen Vehicle Recovered In Century
July 27, 2015
UPDATE: This stolen vehicle was recovered just after 5 a.m. in Century was reported to be “intact”.
Local authorities are searching for a unique truck stolen sometime early Sunday morning from a driveway in Atmore
The pickup truck is a silver 2013 Ford DRW super duty, according to Atmore police. It also has a large tool box and welding rig in the custom-made back.
Family members say the truck was the owner’s source of income.
Anyone with information on the truck is asked to call the Atmore Police Department at (251) 368-9141 or their local law enforcement agency.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Health Department Urges Protection Against West Nile Virus
July 27, 2015
The Florida Department of Health is urging Floridians and visitors to protect themselves against West Nile Virus. The Department of Health today confirmed the first case of West Nile virus illness in Florida for 2015 in an adult female resident of Walton County. West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne virus that causes mild to severe illness, and there have been 38 other states with confirmed cases in 2015.
“I encourage Floridians and visitors to take steps to prevent mosquito bites that can lead to illness,” said State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong. “Stay safe by draining any standing water near or in your home, making sure that screens are intact, and keeping your skin covered with clothing and mosquito repellent.”
Most people with West Nile virus infections, approximately 80 percent, have no symptoms. In those people who develop them, most experience a mild illness with conditions like headache, fever, pain and fatigue. These typically appear between two and 14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito.
People over the age of 50 and individuals with weakened immune systems, especially transplant recipients and HIV-infected individuals, seem to be at increased risk for severe disease. There is no specific treatment for West Nile virus, and most mild infections are typically overcome with little or no medical intervention within a matter of weeks. Those experiencing severe side effects should seek medical attention immediately.
The department continues to conduct statewide surveillance for mosquito-borne illnesses, including West Nile virus infections, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, Malaria and Dengue.
Local National Guard Unit Deploys
July 27, 2015
A deployment ceremony was held Sunday morning in Pensacola for the Florida Army National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry Regiment. Almost 100 members of the squadron are deploying to the Horn of Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Gov. Rick Scott was on hand to wish the troops well, along with families, friends, dignitaries and military leaders from the Florida National Guard.
After leaving Pensacola Sunday, the soldier traveled to Ft. Bliss TX, for additional training prior to the overseas deployment for the estimated year-long mission.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
One Injured In County Road 97 Crash
July 27, 2015
One person was injured in a single vehicle crash Sunday night on County Road 97, just south of West Kingsfield Road, when they left the roadway and struck a tree. Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol. NorthEscambia.com photo by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Drop Series To Biloxi
July 27, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos started off the first inning by scoring a run against the Biloxi Shuckers for the fourth time in the five game series.
Shuckers pitcher Jorge Lopez allowed the run on a double by Blue Wahoos shortstop Zach Vincej and an RBI-single by Jesse Winker to start the game and tie it at 1-1.
However, Pensacola would not get another hit off Lopez until 14 batters later in the fifth when Blue Wahoos catcher Yovan Gonzalez singled to left field.
Biloxi would go on to pull out a, 10-2, victory on 14 hits and win the last three games of the series over Pensacola in front of 4,173 Sunday at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
The Shuckers improved its record to 11-4 in three series against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos—its best record against a Southern League team. The Shuckers are also 11-4 against the Jacksonville Suns.
Lopez, who entered the game 1-1 against Pensacola, improved to 9-4 with a 2.72 ERA after surviving the first inning. The 22-year-old righty retired 11 in a row through the fourth inning. The Milwaukee Brewers No. 15 prospect has not allowed more than three earned runs in his last nine starts dating back to June 2.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly said Biloxi’s starting rotation impressed him this series.
“It came down to starting pitching,” Kelly said. “We just got outpitched this series.”
Although Kelly said he likes his rotation and bullpen, he’s interested in seeing the pitchers the Cincinnati Reds may send Pensacola’s way following its trade of starter Johnny Cueto to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
The Shuckers improved to 14-15 (57-40) in the second half of the Southern League South Division. The loss dropped Pensacola to 17-13 (42-56) in the second half and they remained tied for second with the Mississippi Braves.
Zach Vincej led Pensacola at the plate, going 1-2 with a double to center field, earning two walks and scoring a run. He has hit .348 in July (23-66) — his best month this season — to raise his season average to .264.
Against Pensacola, Shuckers left fielder Victor Roache extended his on-base streak to 11 games. Roache tore up Pensacola pitching, hitting .474 (9-19), including a two-out, three-run homer Sunday in the third inning that put Biloxi up, 4-1.
“We didn’t pitch him very well,” Kelly said of Roache. “When we made a mistake, he didn’t miss, that’s for sure.”
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos start a five-game series against the Minnesota Twins Double-A affiliate the Chattanooga Lookouts, followed by a five-game series against the Miami Marlins Double-A affiliate the Jacksonville Suns. The Blue Wahoos next home game is scheduled at 6:35 p.m. Friday Aug. 7 with the Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate Birmingham Barons.
Flomaton Police Looking For Stolen Boom Truck
July 27, 2015
The Flomaton Police Department is searching for a work vehicle stolen from a local welding company on Highway 31. The vehicle was reportedly stolen between 4:30 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday.
The vehicle is described as a 1989 Ford F-800 K84 with Alabama tag “1077586″ and “L & L Welding” on the doors. It has a black flat bed with a boom lift.
Anyone that has seen the vehicle or has any information on its location is asked to contact the Flomaton Police Department at a(251) 296-5811.
Motorcyclist Killed In Highway 4 Crash
July 26, 2015
FOR AN UPDATE TO THIS STORY, CLICK HERE.
An Alabama woman was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident Saturday night on Highway 4 at Canoe Creek, west of Century.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 54-year old Wilmer Rankin Barnes of Stockton, AL, was westbound on a 2015 Harley Davidson motorcycle on Highway 4 just after 7 p.m. The Harley left the roadway in a curve and struck a culvert, causing the motorcycle to overturn. Barnes and his passenger, 55-year Linda Ann Barnes of Stockton, were both ejected from the motorcycle. Linda Barnes was pronounced deceased at the scene by Escambia County EMS.
Wilmer Barnes was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola in critical condition.
Both occupants were wearing their helmets. The accident was alcohol related, according to the FHP, and charges in the crash are pending the outcome of an investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Storytime Held Each Week At The Local Library
July 26, 2015
The West Florida Public Library offers Story Time for children five and younger each week. Story Time programs introduce young children to books, rhymes, music and other fun activities. The events incorporate the early literacy skills that children must master before they can learn to read.
Story Time is held:
Main Library
- Weekly on Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.
Century Branch
- Weekly on Thursday, 4 p.m.
Southwest Branch
- Weekly on Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.
Tryon Branch
- Mommy & Me Lap-sit Story Time for Babies Weekly on Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.
- Preschool Story Time - Weekly on Thursday, 10:30 a.m.
Molino Branch
- Weekly on Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.
Westside Branch
- Weekly on Thursday, 11:30 a.m.
For more information call (850) 436-5060 or visit www.mywfpl.com. The events are always free of charge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Battle Lines And Power Lines
July 26, 2015
In case you were wondering, the 2016 general election is still more than 15 months away.
But with new congressional districts about to be crafted by lawmakers and a Republican presidential primary campaign already in full swing, the off-season ain’t what it used to be. Once and potentially future congressmen are already plotting their comebacks depending on what Florida’s next political map looks like. And a former governor of the state stopped in Tallahassee to vow to take on the lobbying corps in a different capital city: Washington, D.C.
The wheels of state government kept turning. The Department of Education approved a new funding formula for colleges, and a big-box retailer asked the Public Service Commission to let it out of energy-efficiency payments. Those were footnotes, though, in a political city already beginning to eye the next election.
GETTING IN LINE
A spot in the part-time Florida Legislature is increasingly beginning to look like a full-time job.
After the Florida Supreme Court struck down the state’s existing congressional districts as an unconstitutional gerrymander in a July 9 ruling, legislative leaders this week unveiled the dates of a special session to redraw the boundaries for at least eight of the 27 seats: Aug. 10 to Aug. 21.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli R-Merritt Island, also directed staff from the new House Select Committee on Redistricting and the new Senate Committee on Reapportionment to work with legislative attorneys to initially draft a “base map” that complies with the ruling.
“This map proposal will be drafted solely by staff in collaboration with counsel, without our participation or the participation of any other member, and will be provided simultaneously to all members and the public prior to the convening of the special session,” Gardiner and Crisafulli wrote. “We believe that presenting a base map that follows the Supreme Court order to you and the public will make it easier to discuss all legislative actions in an open and transparent manner.”
Of course, lawmakers had already spent the last three years saying that the 2012 process that produced the map thrown out by the court was the most transparent in the state’s history, as Florida Democratic Party spokesman Max Steele sarcastically noted on Twitter.
“I know we said it last time. And then the time before that. And also the time before that. But for real this time,” Steele tweeted.
In any case, holding the special session in August means that the Legislature will have met in a regular session, special session or in committees during nine of the 12 months in 2015. Lawmakers’ decision to start the next regular session in January 2016 — pushing up committee meetings to prepare for that gathering — certainly looked like a good idea before a budget blow-up and the redistricting case sparked two special sessions.
And whether the new lines will be influenced by politics or not, the possibilities were already influencing politics. Former Gov. Charlie Crist sounded ready to once again crank up his portable electric fan and re-enter the fray by running in Congressional District 13, a swing district that is expected to take on a more bluish tint as it pushes into the southern end of Pinellas County.
“If the new congressional map includes my home, I intend on running to serve the people again,” said Crist, a St. Petersburg Democrat who was elected governor in 2006 as a Republican but later switched parties.
Meanwhile, incumbent Republican Congressman David Jolly was throwing his hat into the ring for a U.S. Senate seat. Jolly had already been weighing a bid for statewide office, but the impending changes to his district and the chance he would face the telegenic Crist probably helped him make up his mind.
“Over the next year, I intend to run for the United States Senate on an unwavering platform that will reject the politics of division and class warfare that have defined the current administration, reject the failed foreign policies that have projected only weakness and apology on the world stage, and embrace a new economy founded on the principle that individuals and families, not government bureaucrats, create success,” Jolly, 42, of Indian Shores, said in a prepared statement.
And former Republican Congressman Steve Southerland was looking at jumping back into the race for the North Florida seat he lost to Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Graham last fall. While Graham’s district wasn’t thrown out by the Supreme Court, changes to a neighboring seat will almost certainly give her far more Republican-friendly territory.
“I was as surprised as anyone (by the ruling). But when you look at the maps that are floating around — and one in particular that seems to be gaining traction — you know, I represented 80 percent of the land mass that they are proposing in the new Florida (Congressional District) 2,” Southerland told The News Service of Florida.
‘A DIFFERENT AGENDA ALTOGETHER’
There are no maps required to know whether you’re going to run for president, and two of the Florida GOP’s favorite sons — former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio — have already taken that plunge. This week, Bush came back to Tallahassee to pitch his ideas for fixing the federal government.
Bush, seeking to portray himself as a Washington outsider, laid out plans for civil-service and congressional reforms, including plans to push for constitutional amendments that would require a balanced budget and give the president line-item veto power on appropriation bills.
“I’m offering a different agenda altogether,” Bush said “It will be my intention not to preside over the establishment, but in every way I know to disrupt that establishment and make it more accountable for the people.”
Democrats were quick to question how much credit Bush should get for the state’s economic growth and snarked away at the idea of someone who shares a name with two former presidents challenging the status quo.
“It’s hard to think of a plan less likely to change the way Washington works than a Bush running for president promising to change the way Washington works,” Steele said. “It’s also hard to take his proposals to reform lobbying seriously when he delivered his speech to a roomful of applauding Tallahassee lobbyists.”
And Bush wasn’t the only one preparing for November 2016 regardless of the map. Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana sent 100,000 petitions this week to county elections supervisors, one of the first steps in getting the proposal before voters next year.
It’s the second shot for United for Care, the committee behind the petition drive, to get the proposal on the ballot. A similar plan received 58 percent of the vote in November, just shy of the 60 percent required for passage.
Local supervisors of elections have 30 days to validate at least 68,317 petitions to trigger scrutiny by the Florida Supreme Court, which signed off on the previous version of the proposal last year on a 4-3 vote. Like all other petition initiatives, United for Care needs 683,149 validated, signed petitions to get “Use of Marijuana for Debilitating Medical Conditions” on the November 2016 ballot.
United for Care campaign manager Ben Pollara said he expects the Supreme Court to receive the validated petitions by August.
“We’re way ahead of the eight-ball this time. Last time, I was totally stressed and our staff was working 18-hour days all through the holidays, and this time I believe we will have effectively put this thing to bed well before Christmas,” he said.
ALWAYS LOW PRICES FOR ELECTRICITY?
“Save Money. Live Better” might not just be a slogan for Wal-Mart. At least when it comes to electricity bills, the retail giant is hoping it will become a reality. Wal-Mart and a group representing other large users of electricity say they can do a better job of saving energy if state regulators would let them opt out of a nearly 35-year-old conservation program.
However, the state’s most influential energy providers told the Florida Public Service Commission that such a proposal would shift costs to small businesses and residential customers. And an environmental group said the “radical” proposal could further diminish conservation efforts in Florida.
The proposal would allow Wal-Mart, as well as others that use massive amounts of energy — including large grocers and cement manufacturers — to opt out of paying the energy conservation charge on their bills.
Wal-Mart attorney Robert Scheffel Wright and Jon Moyle, representing the Florida Industrial Power Users Group, noted there are models Florida could emulate. A number of other states have similar opt-out programs.
Customers would “have to meet the utilities’ energy percentage savings goals as established by your decisions,” Wright told commissioners. “So opt-out cannot result in any less energy conservation than utilities’ programs and can reasonably be expected to produce more savings, because we’ll probably be doing a cushion and doing more than the minimum specified by your goals.”
But Florida Power & Light executive Thomas Koch told the commission the costs could be in the millions of dollars just for the administrative changes to the conservation programs.
A decision isn’t expected until at least September.
Meanwhile, the Florida Board of Education approved a new performance-funding system for state colleges, the latest step in Florida officials’ drive to tie money for higher education to how well institutions and their students do.
The performance system will control how the state divvies up a total of $40 million, including $20 million of new funding for colleges and $20 million in money that colleges were already receiving. In that respect, it resembles a larger performance plan for state universities that started last year.
According to information provided to the board, seven colleges will receive their existing funding back and a higher share of the new money: Santa Fe College; Valencia College; Tallahassee Community College; Lake-Sumter State College; Gulf Coast State College; State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota; and Florida SouthWestern State College.
Five schools — Pasco-Hernando State College, the College of Central Florida, Daytona State College, Northwest Florida State College and Pensacola State College — will not receive new funding and will have some of their existing funding held back until they show improvement.
The other 16 colleges will receive their existing funding and some performance funding, though not as much as the seven highest-scoring schools.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The repercussions from a Supreme Court ruling ordering the Legislature to redraw at least eight of Florida’s 27 congressional districts were already being felt, as politicians jockeyed for position.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s raining. There’s no place to park out there now. And this poor kid comes screaming up in some little car and grabs this box of stuff and runs up to the door and he’s pounding on the door. And 5:00 is like a minute away. His face was up against the glass. He’s mouthing ‘Please open the door!’ He’s sopping wet.”— Jeff Sharkey, a lobbyist who represents the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida, describing the frenzied scene at the Department of Health as nursery representatives raced through a downpour to submit applications to become the state’s first legal medical-marijuana producers.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Sapp Graduates From Basic Training
July 26, 2015
Air Force Airman 1st Class Kenneth Sapp Jr graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.
The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.
Sapp is the son of Tosha Sapp of Jay and Kenneth Sapp of Milton.
He is a 2015 graduate of Milton High School.