Northview Class Of 2015 Holds Baccalaureate Service (With Photo Gallery)
May 25, 2015
The Northview High School Class of 2015 held their Baccalaureate service Sunday afternoon at the First Baptist Church of Bratt.
“Class of 2015, turning the page into a new chapter of life, the decisions you are making right now, and those that you will make as you leave for college or move out from your home and become independent, those decisions are shaping your future, and they are setting the quality of your life for the next 50 plus years. Don’t forget your Creator in these moments,” guest speaker Rev. Glenn Weber said during the student-led program.
“Great joy comes from remembering your Creator, and pursuing Him first, and then chasing with great passion all those things He has placed in your heart,” Weber said.
The program also included scripture, prayer and music provide by the Northview Senior Class Ensemble.
Graduation for the Northview High School Class of 2015 will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30 at the school.
Pictured: The Northview High School Class of 2015 Baccalaureate service Sunday afternoon at the First Baptist Church of Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Unpaid Property Taxes Must Be Paid By Friday
May 25, 2015
All 2014 unpaid real estate taxes must be paid to avoid a tax certificate being issued, which is a first lien against the property, by Friday. Over 11,000 accounts totaling $10 million remain unpaid, according to Tax Collector Janet Holley.
Payments must be received and processed by close of business on Friday, May 29:
- in person at one of three branch offices;
- online at www.escambiataxcollector.com; or
- through the phone service center (850) 438-6500 ext. 3252.
Late payments will be returned for additional fees.
Drive thru service and drop boxes are available at all locations:
- Downtown, 213 Palafox Place
- Molino, 6440 Highway 95A, Suite A
- Marcus Pointe, 6451 North W Street
Taxpayers may check the status of their taxes online at www.escambiataxcollector.com or call (850) 438-6500 ext. 3252 for more information.
Barrineau Park 4-H, Other Groups Honor Those In Barrancas National Cemetary
May 25, 2015
Members of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club joined other volunteers from local Boy Scout groups and other organizations in placing flags in Barrancas National Cemetery. A flag was placed on each the graves – about 33,00 of them – in the cemetery on board Pensacola Naval Air Station for Memorial Day. All of the flags were placed in about one hour.
“It was beautiful morning to honor those who have served our country,” said Allison Woodfin, president of the Barrineau Park 4-H.
The flags will remain on the graves until at least 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Pictured: Members of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club joined other volunteers in placing about 33,000 flags on graves in Barrancas National Cemetery. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Camp Fire Kids Offer Memorial Day Appreciation
May 25, 2015
The children at the Camp Fire Century Youth Learning Center in Century gathered recently for this photo to show their appreciation for Memorial Day. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jackson Beats Pensacola Again
May 25, 2015
One of the reasons the Pensacola Blue Wahoos are two-games above .500 in May is that they never stop trying to score more runs.
It’s what first year manager Pat Kelly said he likes about his team that’s 19-25 and in fourth place in the Southern League South Division. The Blue Wahoos are now 13-11 in May, after starting April 6-14.
“The thing I really like about this team is the way we keep coming back,” Kelly said. “That’s something you didn’t see the first month.”
The Blue Wahoos fell a run short Sunday, 6-5, to the Jackson Generals in front of 4,502 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
However, Pensacola came right back in the seventh to tie the game, 5-5, when catcher Kyle Skipworth hit a deep fly ball to right field to score first baseman Marquez Smith from third. Jackson scored its winning run in the eighth when center fielder Gabby Guerrero knocked a single to score third baseman Jody Lara.
One of the stars for Pensacola has been Seth Mejias-Brean, who is hitting .333 (16-48) the past 13 games after going 3-5 with an RBI and stolen base. He also turned a great double play flagging down a bad hop, stepping on third and whipping it to first.
“The toughest thing is keeping steady,” said Mejias-Brean, who’s now hitting .244 on the year. “You could be hitting the ball really well and still not get any hits. You could be hitting like crap and still go 3-for-3.”
Ryan Wright ended the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 0-22 hitless streak with the bases loaded when he singled sharply to center and scored both first baseman Ray Chang and shortstop Zach Vincej to put Pensacola up, 4-0, in the second inning. Although Pensacola had failed to produce a hit until Wright’s, it did have 10 RBIs before adding two more.
Wright has an eight game hitting streak, batting .314 (11-35). He has driven in five runs and doubled.
Kelly chafed when about the team’s batting average with the bases loaded, calling it an “overrated stat.”
“A lot of things don’t show up in the average,” he said, lobbying for a new statistic. “If you’re knocking in about 50-60 percent of runs with men on third, then you’re doing pretty good. Batting averages are evil anyway.”
Missing Escambia County Woman Found
May 24, 2015
A Florida Silver Alert has been canceled for 82-year old Mary Bell Williams of Escambia County. She has been found.
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Williams was last seen Saturday, May 23 leaving her home in he 7700 block of Amberidge Road. She was in a greenish-silver 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt with Florida tag Y7LMZ.
Williams is a black female, approximately 5-foot 3-inches tall and 186 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes. She was last wearing a black shirt and a blue flowered skirt and may be wearing glasses.
If you know the whereabouts of Mary Bell Williams or her car contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or your local law enforcement agency.
A “Silver Alert” is an alert for missing seniors similar to an “Amber Alert” issued for missing children.
Two Injured In Highway 29, Barrineau Park Road Crash
May 24, 2015
Two people were injured in two vehicle crash Saturday night at the intersection of Highway 29 and Barrineau Park Road, south of Molino. They were transported by ambulance to Pensacola area hospitals with injuries that were not considered life threatening.
The accident, which occurred about 9 p.m., remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details, including the names of those injured, have not been released.
The Molino and Cantonment Stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Memorial Day Travel Much Cheaper Than Last Year
May 24, 2015
Memorial Day weekend travel is much easier on the wallet this year as compared to 2014, with a gas almost $1 per gallon lower. Most drivers will likely pay the lowest Memorial Day gas prices in at least five years.
According to the AAA Fuel Gage Report, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded in Escambia County was $2.66 Saturday, up about 13 cents over a month ago. Last year, a gallon of unleaded gas averaged $3.59 per gallon on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. The current national average is $2.73 per gallon.
AAA Travel projects 37.2 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, a 4.7 percent increase from the 35.5 million people who traveled last year and the highest travel volume for the holiday in 10 years. Kicking off the summer driving season, 33 million travelers will be driving to their destinations. The Memorial Day holiday travel period is defined as Thursday, May 21 to Monday, May 25.
USDA Requirements For Grower Eligibility For Crop Insurance By June 1
May 24, 2015
The federal Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill) included new requirements that all producers – including fruit, vegetable, specialty crop and nursery producers – that purchase federally-subsidized crop insurance must certify compliance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture by June 1, 2015.
This applies to growers even if they are not purchasing crop insurance policies until later in the year. Any growers who do not file the correct paperwork (Form AD-1026) by June 1 will be ineligible to receive the premium subsidy and may see a substantial increase in the individual crop insurance policy for the 2015-16 reinsurance year.
Producers should meet with their crop insurance agent or visit their local USDA service center before the deadline to ensure compliance with the new procedure. For more information about crop insurance and the Farm Bill, go to www.rma.usda.gov.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Health Care Funding, Special Session
May 24, 2015
For weeks now, one question has hovered over Tallahassee: How will the House and Senate resolve their differences on health-care funding and wrap up a special session — scheduled to begin June 1 — with a spending plan for state government?
If the pieces didn’t necessarily fall into place this week, lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott were at least able to get around to opening the puzzle box.
Scott’s newly created health-care funding commission held its first meeting. But with hospitals giving the panel the cold shoulder and the chairman suggesting the group probably wouldn’t finish the work before the end of the special session, it appeared to be as much political theater as viable solution.
More important was the federal government’s preliminary estimate of the size of a pot of money known as the Low Income Pool program — or, in the parlance of the Capitol, LIP. The nearly $2.2 billion program will now be shaved down to about $1 billion, though the state could make up the difference with some local funds and perhaps state tax money (the House’s preferred solution) or a form of Medicaid expansion (the Senate’s).
However the impasse ends, the wheels of state government have continued turning in the interim. Scott signed dozens of bills this week covering everything from who can carry guns during emergency situations to the funding of pension plans for local police officers and firefighters. And the state’s de facto school-voucher program seems safe — at least for now.
LIPS ARE MOVING
Even before its first meeting, Scott’s Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding was not received well by the industry that has so far been the focus of its inquiry. Scott had asked the Florida Hospital Association to submit ideas for revenue sharing to the panel for consideration if the federal government decided not to renew LIP at all.
On Monday, two days before the commission’s first get-together, FHA said “no thanks” (in so many words).
“You have suggested that a new tax on hospital operating surpluses might be a way to sustain the existing LIP program,” hospital association executives wrote in a letter to Scott. “Such an arrangement is not a solution to the challenge we face.”
Instead, the executives pointed to the Senate’s plan to use Medicaid expansion funds to help low-income Floridians purchase private insurance. Scott and House leaders have ruled out that idea.
Individual hospitals weren’t much more conciliatory. Scott asked all of them to fill out surveys on their financial data. Many — though not all — essentially told the governor to look up the information himself.
Many of the dozens of surveys returned by hospitals had five or fewer of the roughly 100 lines filled out with new information. Officials frequently referred Scott back to information filed with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees much of the state’s spending on health care.
“Florida Hospital regularly reports financial and hospital utilization data to the Agency for Health Care Administration, as required by state law,” wrote Joe Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Florida Hospital Carrollwood, in a letter accompanying an essentially blank response to the survey. “We believe our submissions are up to date, accurate and readily available to the public for review. In order to meet your urgent request, we respectfully refer you to consult AHCA to obtain this comprehensive information.”
That didn’t sit well with some of the commission’s members when they gathered Wednesday.
“As a taxpayer, if they receive tax dollars, they should be responsible for giving us the information that would help us make sure that the tax dollars are being spent wisely,” said commission member Sam Seevers, a former Destin mayor.
But whether the panel can even help resolve the budget issues facing the Legislature has become something of an open question.
Carlos Beruff, president of Medallion homes and chairman of the commission, indicated he thought it would be difficult for the group to gather all of the information it needs to help the state navigate those issues in time to help lawmakers.
“I don’t think you’ll have all the data by the end of the special session — no, I don’t,” Beruff said. “But there’ll be more data.”
Beruff would not answer directly how long he thought the panel might work. But asked specifically if it would wrap up by the end of the special session, he merely answered: “It’d be interesting to try.”
The next day, though, lawmakers and Scott had their answer on how much the state would get for the LIP program: about $1 billion.
“We note that this level of funding for the LIP, coupled with the options the state may elect at its discretion described in this letter, would enable Florida to retain Medicaid investment in the state at or above the current $2.16 billion level of LIP funding,” wrote Vikki Wachino, director of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The letter did not exactly solve the argument between House and Senate leaders. For Senate President Andy Gardiner and his lieutenants, the reduction in LIP just backed up their call for a Medicaid expansion alternative.
“While the letter from CMS outlines a number of policy alternatives, none of these options will allow Florida to maximize both state and federal taxpayer dollars in a more effective manner than by reducing the number of uninsured Floridians seeking basic health care in hospital emergency rooms,” Gardiner, R-Orlando, wrote in a memo to senators. “Clearly, a conservative free-market expansion of health care coverage is the most fiscally responsible approach.”
But House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, indicated that he favored a plan that would use state money to make the hospitals whole. The House had pitched a similar idea near the end of the regular session, when lawmakers were unsure what the final size of the LIP program might be.
“Now, the great news is that we’re able to do that with finality,” Corcoran said.
THE REST OF THE STORY
There’s less drama than usual this year about bill-signing season, given that Scott can’t yet use his line-item veto pen on the budget — since one does not exist — and some of the more controversial legislation never crossed the finish line in the messy conclusion of the regular legislative session. This in a session that was one of the least productive in recent memory, at least as measured in terms of bills passed.
But there is still legislation for Scott to consider, and he approved 44 bills on Thursday.
One (SB 290) would allow Floridians without concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns during mandatory emergency evacuations.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer said. “When people are forced to leave their homes, they have a right to carry their possessions with them — including their firearms to protect their property.”
Scott also signed bills aimed at improving the state’s child-protection and juvenile-justice systems and bills banning job discrimination based on pregnancy and creating tax-free savings accounts for people with disabilities.
The governor also approved a long-discussed bill aimed at shoring up the finances of pension funds for local police and firefighters.
Friday brought more signings, including a bill that would allow children in Florida to secretly record conversations related to sexual abuse or other violent acts
The signing of the measure (HB 7001) came a day after Richard McDade, a Fort Myers man who spent four years in prison on charges of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter, was acquitted by a jury in Lee County. The Florida Supreme Court in December ordered a new trial for McDade, declaring that recordings made by McDade’s stepdaughter should not have been allowed into his initial Lee County trial. State law generally bars recording of conversations unless all parties agree, and it also prevents such recordings from being used as evidence in court.
NO SUIT FOR YOU
School funding is likely to be a topic of discussion during the special session, but another effort by the state’s main teachers union to (in their leaders’ opinion) prevent money from being siphoned away from public schools was dealt a setback Monday.
In a victory for school-choice supporters, Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds tossed out a constitutional challenge to a state program that helps send tens of thousands of low-income children to private schools.
Reynolds ruled that plaintiffs in the case — spearheaded by the Florida Education Association — did not have legal “standing” to challenge the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
The voucher-like program provides tax credits to companies that donate money to nonprofit entities that help pay for children to attend private schools. It includes nearly 70,000 students this year, according to the Foundation for Florida’s Future, a group founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush that is a major backer of school-choice programs.
Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation, issued a statement after Reynolds’ ruling and blasted the union, which also led a legal fight that in 2006 blocked a voucher program pushed by Bush.
“In Florida, we’re way beyond sitting back and letting the status quo roll over students’ opportunities and lives,” Levesque said in the statement. “The unions do not speak for the tens of thousands of parents and teachers embracing choices that make success possible for more and more students every year. And thank goodness for that.”
But Joanne McCall, a vice president of the Florida Education Association who was a named plaintiff in the case, said the union thinks the tax-credit scholarship program, like the Bush voucher program, is unconstitutional. She said the union would decide soon whether to appeal Reynolds’ decision.
“It’s time to settle the issue of the constitutionality of vouchers once and for all,” McCall said in a prepared statement. “We think this issue is of vital importance and the citizens of Florida deserve for this question to be decided.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: The federal government announced a preliminary estimate of $1 billion for the state’s Low Income Pool program in the budget year that begins July 1. Questions about that program have complicated efforts by lawmakers to reach a deal on the budget.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Take the Medicaid expansion. It not only takes care of your problem with the LIP, you’re empowering the patient. Oh, my God, isn’t that terrible? You’re giving poor people health care. Oh, that’s awful.”—Tom Brooks, of DeLand, at the first meeting of Gov. Rick Scott’s Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida