Man Sentenced Under 10-20-Life Law
June 6, 2015
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to prison under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.
Kamarccus Webster was sentenced by Circuit Judge Edward P. Nickinson, III to 25 years state prison for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and 20 years state prison for each of two counts of aggravated assault. The sentences must be served as a mandatory minimum and must be served consecutively for a total of 65 years in state prison.
Webster previously was convicted by an Escambia County jury on January 30, 2015.
The charges stem from a shooting that occurred on August 27, 2013, in the area of Strong and D Streets. Two victims were shot by Webster when a fight broke out following a basketball game. Both victims were struck in the shoulder by bullets; neither injury was life-threatening. One of the victims was sitting in his vehicle when he was shot; the other was struck while running away. Webster began shooting into a crowd of approximately 20 people.
At the crime scene, law enforcement located 13 9mm shell casings. There were four witnesses that identified Kamarccus Webster as the shooter. Webster remained as a fugitive until he was arrested on March 3, 2014.
Two Sex Offenders Sentenced
June 6, 2015
Two Escambia County sex offenders have been sentenced in unrelated cases.
Jeremy Lordall Hubert, 29, was sentenced Friday to three years state prison and designated as a sexual offender during a sentencing proceeding in Escambia County Circuit Court, the Judge Edward Nickinson presiding. Hubert had previously entered a plea of no contest in May to lewd and lascivious act with a disabled person, a second degree felony.
Hubert was convicted for having sexual contact with a disabled woman passenger while he was employed as a bus driver for an agency working with disabled adults in April, 2014.
Josalien Profete, 33, was sentenced by Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones to 45 years in state prison followed by 15 years of sexual offender probation. On April 23, 2015, an Escambia County jury convicted Profete of multiple sex offenses, including three counts of sexual battery of a minor while in a position of familial authority, one count of lewd or lascivious molestation, one count of lewd or lascivious exhibition, and one count of exposing a child to obscenity.
Profete was designated a sexual offender and will be required to register as a sexual offender and comply with all statutory requirements.
The case involved a year-long pattern of sexual abuse by Profete on a young family member. Profete had previously served a 10 year state prison term for armed robbery and kidnapping.
Register Now For Football, Cheer At NWE And Cantonment
June 6, 2015
Registration is underway for the 2015 football and cheerleading seasons for Northwest Escambia and the Cantonment Cowboys.
Registration for the 2015 Cantonment Cowboys football and cheer will be held each Saturday until August 1 from 9 a.m. until noon in the board room at the Cantonment football field. Registration is $135 for football or cheer. For more information, contact Heather Lowery at (850) 380-1505 or visit the Cowboys’ Facebook page. Registration also available online anytime at www.cantonmentcowboys.org or Facebook.
NWE Football and Cheer 2015 registration will be held June 6, June 13 and June 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Gilley’s Country Store in Bratt. Football age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are as follows: freshmen (5/6) $55; sophomore (7/8) $65; juniors (9/10) $75; seniors (11/12) $85. Cheerleading age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are $15 plus cost of uniform: freshmen (5/6); sophomore (7/8); juniors (9/10); seniors (11/12). For more information about football registration contact Greg Gibson at (251) 234-4716. For more information about cheerleading registration contact Kim Lambert at (850) 380-4716.
FHIX Fails In House
June 6, 2015
In the likely final act of one of the most divisive legislative debates in years, the Florida House voted decisively Friday to reject a proposal that would have used federal Medicaid expansion money to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance.
On a 72-41 vote nearly along party lines, the House defeated the bill (SB 2A) creating the Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, after a grueling discussion that lasted almost seven hours. Four Republicans crossed party lines to vote with Democrats.
The plan would have used Medicaid expansion funding from the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as “Obamacare” — to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance. Supporters said as many as 800,000 Floridians would meet income limits for health care under the plan, though work requirements likely mean that only 400,000 to 500,000 people would actually be eligible.
Many of the provisions would have to be approved by federal officials.
The bill was a top priority of Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and helped derail this spring’s regular legislative session. Lawmakers are now meeting in a special session to resolve health-care issues and a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1.
“We can say that that issue’s off the table now,” House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said after the vote. “And we’re here to go put together a budget that’s a balanced budget for the state of Florida.”
Following the vote, Gardiner issued a statement conceding defeat but saying the end of FHIX meant lawmakers would have to find another way to make up for the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for health-care providers who treat large numbers of low-income patients.
“While today’s debate is over and votes have been cast, the critical health care challenges facing Florida still remain,” he said. “This weekend, members of the Legislature will begin a budget conference where we will take hundreds of millions in general revenue that could have been dedicated to schools, roads, our environment or countless other priorities and instead use those limited taxpayer dollars to try to patch together a health care budget that we know we cannot make whole.”
In what House officials said was one of the longest debates in recent history, Democrats spent hours pleading with the GOP majority, often emotionally, to approve the measure.
“A vote for FHIX is a vote to say that every single human life has value,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville. “A vote for FHIX allows us to be in the driver’s seat, to go to the table, to negotiate and to say what we want to have, what we want to see in place.”
Jones was thrust into the unusual role of defending a bill she hadn’t crafted and that she and other Democrats said was flawed. No Republican from the House majority could apparently be found to present the measure.
“We want full expansion,” said Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville. “But this is the best plan we’ve got.”
Republicans, though, said that any attempt to differentiate FHIX from Medicaid expansion was a ruse. They pointed out that the plan would use expansion dollars and cover the same lower-income people that were meant to be covered by Medicaid expansion.
“I may be just a simple country lawyer, but I know an entitlement when I see one,” said Rep. JohnWood, R-Winter Haven. “FHIX is simply Obamacare Medicaid expansion with a clever name.”
Rep. Blaise Ingoglia of Spring Hill, who doubles as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said the plan relied on flawed expectations. Ingoglia said the federal government would not give Florida permission for parts of the program, such as the work requirement, and could reduce its share of the funding in the future.
“I think the FHIX program should be rebranded as the Wishful Thinking program,” Ingoglia said. “Because it is based on a bunch of assumptions that surely will never materialize.”
While Friday’s vote likely means the end of the discussion of FHIX, the health care debate could continue. House Republicans are looking to revamp insurance coverage for state workers and overhaul some longstanding health-industry regulations. Senate leaders had proposed combining those measures with FHIX in a last-ditch effort to strike a compromise.
And the basic outline of the Senate proposal could emerge again in the future. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said Friday afternoon that the chamber could bring the measure back up during the 2016 session.
“I’ve always felt like the problem has to become more troublesome to elected officials than the solution before they ever act,” Lee said. “We’re not there yet, but we’ve got a lot of time in the interim to have conversations.”
House members also approved a tax-cut package (HB 33A), stripped down as lawmakers work to cover health-care costs in the overall budget. The bill offers $273.2 million in savings for the upcoming fiscal year, with an increase to $436 million the following year. The measure passed on a 97-10 vote.
Since the regular session, the House boosted a proposed reduction in a sales tax on commercial real-estate leases. The proposal is now expected to provide an overall $44.2 million in savings. But the largest part of the package — a cut in the communication-services tax on cable-TV and cell-phone services — has taken the biggest hit since the regular session.
Instead of an overall savings once projected at more than $400 million for the next fiscal year, the reduction in the communications-services tax would now reduce state revenue during the 2015-16 year by about $78.4 million, according to state economists. The new rate would provide about $10 a year in savings on a $100 monthly bill.
The package also includes a trio of single-day tax holidays on college textbooks, timed with the start of the upcoming fall, spring and summer semesters.
Gov. Rick Scott had proposed permanently lifting the sales tax on textbooks.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Florida House, Senate Reach Deal On Budget Allocations
June 6, 2015
House and Senate leaders announced Friday that they had struck agreement on the overall shape of a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1, but lawmakers still face days of detailed negotiations to hash out the finer points of a deal.
The agreement was the first tangible sign of progress on a budget during a special session that began Monday. The new meetings are necessary because lawmakers failed to reach consensus on a spending plan — their one annual, constitutionally-required duty — during the regular session held this spring.
Legislative leaders were quick to tamp down any talk of an early end to the current session, which is scheduled to last through June 20.
“There’s a reason these special sessions for a budget are 19 days, and I think we’ll use almost all of it,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the Legislature will plow into a plan to replace the loss of more than $1 billion in federal funding for the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program. Federal officials have said the state can expect about $1 billion next year — less than half of this year’s $2.2 billion — for the program, which sends money to hospitals and other medical providers that care for large numbers of low-income patients.
But lawmakers will almost certainly pour hundreds of millions of additional dollars into health-care, drawing down funding from other federal sources to fill the LIP hole. Gov. Rick Scott has voiced opposition to using state tax dollars to do that, instead of local taxes that now fund LIP, but Lee said he wasn’t overly worried about the prospect of a veto.
“You are wise to keep one eye on what might or might not be acceptable at the plaza level,” Lee said, referring to where the governor’s office is located in the Capitol, “but they’re going to watch us work. They know we’re up here doing our job. And if they have any input, they’ve got my number, and I’d love to chat with them any time.”
Lee also downplayed the possibility that an ongoing lawsuit that Scott has filed against the federal government over LIP funding would be resolved before lawmakers have to complete a budget.
In announcing the deal to his members, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said his chamber would work cooperatively with the Senate.
“Our job is to keep our eye on the people of Florida, not on a score sheet on whether or not the House or the Senate wins,” he said.
Meetings of “conference committees,” which fill in the more detailed aspects of the budget, will begin Saturday morning. Lee and House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, will start working on any unresolved issues after 12 p.m. Tuesday.
In addition to the health-care issues, the bigger ticket items for lawmakers to hammer out are how much to spend on public schools, where Scott has called for record per-student spending; what to do on land and water conservation spending under a constitutional amendment voters passed last year; and putting together “a tax package that we can be proud of,” in the words of Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.
On Friday, the House approved a slimmed down tax-cut package (HB 33A) that offers $273.2 million in savings for the upcoming fiscal year, with an increase to $436 million the following year. The full Senate has not yet passed its version of the tax-cut legislation.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Sewer Overflow On Washington Street Cleaned Up
June 5, 2015
A Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSOs) occurred on Thursday at 203 Washington Street after an 8-inch sewer force was struck by lightning. The overflow was estimated at 80,000 gallons, of which 78,000 gallons were recovered and transported to the ECUA’s Central Water reclamation Facility for proper treatment and disposal.
ECUA crews repaired the break and the overflow area was then cleaned and disinfected with a biocide agent that abated any contamination concerns, per state protocol. The Escambia County Health Department, the State Warning Point, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were notified.
Firefighters Battle Bratt Brush Fire
June 5, 2015
Firefighters battled a brush fire in Bratt this afternoon.
The fire in about two acres of pine trees off Ashcraft Road near North Highway 99 was reported about 12:45 p.m. and quickly contained. Firefighters from the Walnut Hill, Century and McDavid stations of Escambia Fire Rescue were dispatched to the blaze, along with the Atmore Fire Department.
There were no structures threatened and no injures reported.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
State Appeals Court Denies ‘Stand Your Ground’ Murder Defense For Molino Mom
June 5, 2015
A state appeals court has rejected a Molino mom’s “stand your ground” defense in the murder of her husband.
The Florida First District Court of Appeals refused to dismiss the second degree murder case against 45-year old Rebecca A. Rogers for allegedly shooting her husband, 42-year old Jason Lee Rogers in August 2013. Her attorneys previously made a motion to dismiss the case in circuit, saying Rogers acted within the parameters of Florida’s self-defense “stand your ground” law. That motion was also denied.
The ruling from the appeals court Thursday won’t allow her to claim she acted under the “stand you ground” law, but it specifically does not prohibit Rogers from claiming self-defense at trial.
Rebecca Rogers allegedly shot her husband twice in the back and once in the head inside the couple’s home in the 3400 block of Highway 29 in Molino. She told a 911 dispatcher that her husband choked her and then she shot him.
Deputies arrived to find Rebecca Rogers standing outside the home. They found Jason Rogers lying unconscious in the back bedroom of the home on his stomach with what appeared to be a gunshot to his head. According to the report, he also suffered two other gunshot wounds to the back. He died at a local hospital about two days later.
The couple had four daughters, one of which testified last year at a preliminary hearing that her father had several guns in the home. “As far as I know, he was going to get them and he was…my mom believed he was going to kill her. So, she was protecting herself,” she said.
Rogers remains free on a $300,000 bond. She is currently set to appear in court again in July.
Escambia School Buses: 5 Million Miles, Only 3 Minor At-Fault Wrecks
June 5, 2015
Statistics released Thursday showed that Escambia County School District bus drivers were involved in only three at-fault wrecks during the 2014-2015 school year, down from 25 six years ago.
“Six years ago, the total was 25 at-fault accidents for the year. With the district driving five million miles per year, it was hard to tell whether that was a good number or a bad number. Even at 25 at-fault traffic accidents per five million miles, that was a rate of one per 200,000 miles, which is the equivalent of more than 10 years of driving for the average person,” explained Robert Doss, ECSD’s director of transportation. “Still, it seemed like a large number to me.”“Having been a Marine pilot, I tend to take the Naval Aviation attitude about it and focus on the fact that one accident is too many because of the harm that one accident might do.”
The district’s transportation department has focused driver training on expecting the unexpected, and that even an accident that is another driver’s fault might could still be prevented by an attentive driver.
“Our bus drivers are the first member of our staff many of our students see in the morning, and the last one they see after school.” Superintendent of School Malcolm Thomas said. “We are very proud of the hundreds of highly professional bus operators who do all they can to give our students a safe trip to and from school.”
Town Of Century Begins Budget Work
June 5, 2015
The Town of Century got an early start on their 2015-2016 budget setting process with a Thursday afternoon special council workshop meeting with department heads.
Each department head met with the three council members that attended the meeting — Ann Brooks, Ben Boutwell and Sandra McMurray Jackson — and Robert Hudson, the town’s accountant. They reviewed their departmental budgets from the current budget year and looked at needs for the upcoming year.
Additional budget workshops are planned for several upcoming Thursdays — June 11 and 18, and Thursday July 9. An additional budget workshop will Thursday, July 16, if needed. All meetings will be held at 1:30 p.m. on the listed dates in the council chambers at the Century Town Hall at 7995 North Century Boulevard.
Final approval for the budget will come in September, with Century’s 2015-2016 fiscal year beginning October 1.
The Town of Century’s budget for the current fiscal year is $5.1 million.
Pictured: Century Street Department Director Larry Murphy (blue shirt) discusses his budget with council members (L-R) Ann Brooks, Sandra McMurray Jackson and Ben Boutwell, and (right) accountant Robert Hudson, Thursday afternoon. NorthEcambia.com photo, click to enlarge.