Several Injured In Fiery Alabama Crash
June 21, 2015
At least five people were injured in a fiery crash Saturday in Escambia County, AL.
The driver of a pickup truck apparently lost control, left the roadway and slammed into a tree on Sardis Church Road, just north of Highway 31 west of Flomaton about 5:15 Saturday afternoon. The vehicle then burst into flames. At least one person wase transported by private vehicle to Atmore Community Hospital, two people were transported by ambulance to ACH, and two people with critical injuries were airlifted in two different medical helicopters to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Further details, including the names and conditions of those involved, have not yet been released by Alabama State Troopers as they continue their investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Chiefs Drop Two In Summer Ball Series At Escambia
June 21, 2015
The Northview Chiefs dropped a couple Saturday as the summer ball season continues. The Chiefs lost 4-0 to Parkview and 6-3 to Escambia High School. The Chiefs will be back in action Sunday at Escambia High. Photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fallen Tree Cuts Power For Hundreds In Cantonment
June 21, 2015
Almost 350 Gulf Power customers lost power in Cantonment Saturday afternoon.
The outage was caused when a tree fell into a power line about 1:30 p.m. in the 2800 block of Highway 297A between Creekwood and Pleasant Valley drives. Crews were able to restore power to the area within a few hours.
Routine Maintenance Planned On I-10, I-110 Next Week
June 21, 2015
The following is an update on Florida Department of Transportation maintenance activities scheduled on state roads in Escambia County for the week of June 22:
- I-10- There will be a mobile operation in the westbound lanes at Eleven Mile Creek Bridge Monday, June 22 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. as crew perform routine bridge maintenance.
- I-10- There will be eastbound lane restrictions at Eleven Mile Creek Bridge from 10 p.m. Monday June 22, to 5 a.m. Tuesday, June 23 and from 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 23 to 5 a.m. Wednesday, June 24.
- I-110 Overpass- There will southbound lane closures at the I-110/I-10 interchange from 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 24 to 5 a.m. Thursday, June 25 as crews perform routine bridge maintenance.
Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through the work zone. Planned activities are weather dependent and may be rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Wahoos Lose To Mobile
June 21, 2015
Finally, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos may have found a closer when its four relievers threw 4.2 innings of scoreless, one hit ball, with four strikeouts and two walks.
The most impressive of them was Zach Weiss who threw the last inning and struck out two on fastballs in the mid-90s.
Still, the Mobile BayBears took the seventh of nine games from rival Pensacola, 6-2, this season with a pair of two-run homers off of starter Daniel Wright in front of 5,038 fans at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium—the 15th sellout in 33 games this season and 118th since the inaugural 2012 season.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said Weiss has been watching video with pitching coach Jeff Fassero to find his pitching motion.
“If you look at video he changed things during the plane flight or on the car ride,” Kelly said. “His fastball just explodes. Zach Weiss, by far, was great.”
Pensacola’s Wright gave up six runs on seven hits in his 4.1 innings of work and dropped to 3-5 on the season with 5.91 ERA.
Pensacola first baseman Ray Chang doubled in the Blue Wahoos only runs, cutting the Mobile lead to 6-2 in the sixth inning. He went 1-3 and now has 14 RBIs and is batting .348 on the season.
Mobile scored two runs on a two-run homer when second baseman Gerson Montilla smacked a line drive over the left field wall in the second inning to put the BayBears ahead, 2-0.
They added two more runs when Mobile shortstop Sean Jamieson scored on a single that landed in front of Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral for a 3-0 lead. Right fielder Socrates Brito made it 4-0 when he scored on BayBears first baseman Rudy Flores chopper to second baseman Juan Perez.
In the fifth inning, Mobile right fielder Socrates Brito lifted a deep two-run home run over the left field wall that also scored pitcher Patrick Corbin, who had an infield single deep in the hole to shortstop.
Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star pitcher Patrick Corbin made his third start in his rehab assignment from Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss all of the 2014 season when he felt tightness in his pitching arm during spring training last year. The Diamondbacks expected him to return to the team the first of June but decided to slow his return.
Corbin threw four no-hit innings against Double-A Cincinnati Reds Pensacola Blue Wahoos Saturday before giving up a single to center by second baseman Juan Perez. In 5.2 innings, the lefty gave up two earned runs on three hits and three walks and struck out three. He threw just 79 pitches in the outing and his fastball consistently clocked in the low-90s.
“I was impressed,” Kelly said. “His fastball is definitely sneaky. It seemed like the hitters were late on the ball. It was getting on them pretty quick.”
Corbin, who last pitched six days ago on June 14 with Mobile, is now 1-0 with a 3.83 ERA. His first start for the High-A Visalia Rawhide, he lasted just 0.2 innings and gave up four runs.
The last time Corbin pitched in the Southern League for Mobile, he went 9-8 with 4.21 ERA, made the All-Star team, set a franchise record with 27.1 consecutive scoreless innings, led the league in strikeouts with 142 and helped the BayBears to the championship.
He made his major league debut April 30, 2012. And in 2013, Corbin made the Major League All-Star team, going 11-1 with a 2.35 ERA at the break and finished the year 14-8 with a 3.41 ERA for the Diamondbacks.
The Blue Wahoos dropped to 25-42 in the Southern League and have one more game Sunday before the three-day All-Star break. The game is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium.
Molino Man Says He Bought Fake Drugs, But He’s Facing Real Charges
June 20, 2015
A Molino man who told police he thought he was buying fake drugs at the corner store is facing real felony drug charges after a traffic stop in Pensacola.
According to Pensacola Police, 19-year old Edward Hamid Lewis was pulled over after making an improper turn at 9th Avenue and Texar Drive. After an officer smelled the odor of marijuana, a K-9 search found marijuana, several grams of a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine, prescription hydrocodone pills and various drug paraphernalia.
According to an arrest report, Lewis told the officer that was “white stuff” in the car that he had just purchased “from a guy”, but he believed it was fake drugs. Lewis told police that an unknown male sold him all the narcotics at a corner store.
Lewis was charged with cocaine possession, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $6,000 bond.
FWC Law Enforcement Report
June 20, 2015
The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekly period ending June 18 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
Officer Land was on patrol in Santa Rosa Sound when he observed an individual fishing in a small vessel near Big Sabine. Officer Land approached the vessel to conduct a vessel safety check and marine fisheries inspection. He asked the fisherman if he had caught any fish. The fisherman replied by asking what the size limit was for speckled trout. He then raised a stringer from the side of his vessel to reveal three undersized spotted sea trout. Officer Land issued the fisherman a notice to appear for possession of undersized trout.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
(No Report)
This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week;however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.
Lawmakers Approve Budget – Finally
June 20, 2015
After two sessions, 108 days and one rancorous health-care debate, the final gavels fell Friday in the House and Senate following approval of a $78.7 billion budget that settled few of the issues dividing the Capitol.
The Senate voted 37-0 to approved the spending plan (SB 2500-A) for the year that begins July 1. The House followed suit moments later, passing the bill by a 96-17 margin. Twenty-one of 37 Democrats voting in the House joined Republicans in supporting the measure; Rep. John Tobia of Melbourne Beach was the only GOP member to oppose the plan.
Gov. Rick Scott will now have the opportunity to use his line-item veto power to strike spending that he opposes. He must sign the bill by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
The votes came at the end of a special session sparked by a fierce disagreement during the annual spring meeting of the Legislature over expanding health coverage and funding hospitals. In the end, lawmakers essentially split the difference, setting aside a Senate plan that would have used Medicaid expansion funding to help low-income Floridians purchase private insurance while using $400 million of state money to help offset hospitals’ losses from a declining pool of federal funding.
But the road to doing it was long and tortured, with Republicans leaders in the House and Senate trading shots in the media. Senate Democrats at one point sued the House over whether it was unconstitutional for the House to end the regular session early. The Supreme Court ruled that it was, but declined to order lawmakers to return before the special session.
Some of the bitterness clearly lingered Friday, as the Senate debated the budget. Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, blasted the House for resisting some incentives — chiefly for the entertainment industry and sports stadiums — while supporting others.
“If we’re not going to do incentives for anybody, and if that’s your philosophy, then I respect that,” Latvala said. “But when you won’t do incentives for bills that move all the way through the process, that are adopted by overwhelming majorities of both houses of the Legislature, and you, in the dark of night, stick incentives and appropriations in the budget for the same kind of projects owned by millionaires and having large entry fees, large tuitions or whatever, that’s just plain wrong.”
Latvala appeared to be alluding to the House pumping in $2 million in funding for IMG Academy, a sports-centered private academy in Bradenton, as both chambers showered $300 million in taxpayer money on an array of projects during a negotiating session late Monday night. Tuition for high-school students at the academy will run as high as $70,800 next year.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, defended the project on the grounds of economic development and education.
“The appeal to me is the opportunity for more choice in education, an opportunity for a segment of a student population not just from this state but from around the world to come to Florida and take advantage of an opportunity that’s provided nowhere else,” Crisafulli said.
On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, slammed the House for stymieing the Senate on the health-care expansion plan; House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, famously vowed never to “dance” with the Senate on the issue. Joyner also blasted a lack of money spent on land conservation and a tax cut for cable-TV and cell-phone services that she said was measly.
“What this all came down to was a singular devotion to a political ideology obedient to the few at the expense of the many — the many Floridians, the 1 million people who need and deserve quality, accessible health care. … Make no mistake: The House did dance,” she said. “But not with the people.”
There were also divisions within the upper chamber. Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, questioned whether lawmakers were spending enough on land after three-quarters of Florida voters backed a constitutional amendment in November setting aside a portion of real-estate taxes for land and water conservation. Lawmakers have interpreted the amendment broadly, spending money on salaries for some state workers and a raft of environmental projects.
“There’s a fundamental difference between taking money that the people of Florida voted by 75 percent to acquire land (and) to spend money on clean-up programs for other people’s pollution,” Altman said.
But Sen. Alan Hays, the Umatilla Republican who oversees the environmental budget, defended the plan. He also downplayed the significance of the vote on the amendment, noting that those who approved the ballot initiative only added up to about a fifth of the state’s total population.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that 75 percent of the people of this state voted to buy land,” he said. “That’s just not true.”
The House, which debated the budget on Thursday, was largely quiet before the votes.
After the session, relieved lawmakers met in the rotunda between the two chambers to exchange hugs and a few parting moments. They are set to return to the Capitol in 89 days for committee meetings ahead of the 2016 legislative session, scheduled to begin earlier than usual in January. House and Senate leaders have already disagreed about whether the hospital funding approved this session will be on the table again next year.
But Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said he believed any anger between the two chambers would dissipate before lawmakers return to work.
“This tension is sort of built into the system,” Lee said. “And while it sometimes … bubbles up at moments over particular policy disputes, time is an ally here. And I think, over time, that we’ll reset the clock.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Cotton Lake Railroad Crossing Remains Closed
June 20, 2015
The CSX railroad crossing on Cotton Lake Road remains closed this weekend.
CSX will continue to conduct work on the railroad crossing at Cotton Lake, with the crossing expected to reopen on Monday, June 22. Access to the Cotton Lake landing and campground will remain closed until all work has been completed.
All activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather. Motorists are reminded to travel with care through the work zone and to watch for construction equipment and workers entering and exiting the roadway.
Scott: Area Added 4,000 Jobs Over The Last Year
June 20, 2015
Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the Pensacola metro area again added jobs over the year in May 2015 with 4,000 new jobs. The Pensacola unemployment rate declined by 0.6 percentage point over the year, from 6.0 percent in May 2014 to 5.4 percent in May 2015. Florida businesses have added more than 879,000 private-sector jobs since December 2010.
Governor Scott said, “Pensacola continues to experience positive job growth, with 4,000 new jobs added over the year in May. We are working every day to make Florida the best place for jobs so more families have the opportunity to live the American dream in our state.”
The industries with the largest job gains in the Pensacola metro area over the year were education and health services and trade, transportation, and utilities with 1,000 new jobs each, and leisure and hospitality with 800 new jobs. The Pensacola and Orlando metro areas had the fastest annual job growth rate compared to all metro areas in financial activities at 5.7 percent in May 2015. The Pensacola metro area had 6,033 online job openings in May 2015 and 1,025 openings for high wage, high skill science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations.
Florida created 16,200 private-sector jobs in May 2015, and a total of 879,700 private-sector jobs since December 2010. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate for May 2015 was 5.7 percent. In May, more than 33,200 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Escarosa and the state’s other 23 Regional Workforce Boards.