Baltimore Unrest, Fanless Game Cause Orioles Manager Showalter To Reflect Back To Century
April 30, 2015
The Baltimore Orioles beat the White Sox Wednesday in a empty stadium, the first even Major League Baseball game with no fans. The public was kept out of the game, which was required to keep the MLB schedule, due to safety concerns following this week’s rioting, and racial divide in Baltimore.
Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter’s family moved to Century in the late 1950’s. His father served as a teacher, coach and principal at Century High School for 23 years. The thought of the silence from the stands brought Showalter back in his mind to Century prior to the game Wednesday.
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Showalter said he remembered the time his father emptied the gym at Century High for a basketball game because there were fights during a previous meeting between the Blackcats and the other team (which he did not name).
“So I come from a family that understands the kinds of quiet I am going to encounter (on Wednesday),” Showalter told the New York Daily news prior to the game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Daily News write Mike Lupica turned to first person in his story.
“I have known him (Showalter) a long time and like him a lot, and asked him on this day about whether he sometimes worries that things are getting worse in this country instead of better,” Lupica wrote.
“You have to wonder about that sometimes,” Showalter said. “Don’t you?”
Read the entire NY Daily News story by clicking here.
Pictured: The Century Blackcat logo inside the old Century High School gym. NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Bristol Park Remembers Night Of Flood
April 30, 2015
One year ago, the Bristol Park community was hard-hit by flooding. Homes were filled with several feet of water; numerous residents were rescued from floodwaters from their homes, even their roofs, by first responders. Wednesday night, the community remembered, with luminaries lining the streets. Reader submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate, Jay, West Florida Earn Playoff Wins
April 30, 2015
Tate 2, Niceville 0
The Tate Lady Aggies beat Niceville 2-0 Wednesday night in the Region 1-7A semifinal at Tate.
Tori Perkins took the win for Tate on the mound, committing no errors, and allowing no runs. Hitting for Tate were: Tori Perkins 1-3, RBI, 2B; Hayden Lindsay 1-2, RBI, BB; Savannah Rowell 1-2, R. Rachel Wright 1-3.
Tate hits the road Friday to take on the Atlantic Coast Stingrays in Jacksonville in the Region 1-7A finals.
Jay 11, Franklin County 1
The Jay High School Lady Royals destroyed Franklin County 11-1 in six innings Wednesday in the Region 2-1A semifinals in Jay.
Destiny Herring pitched five for the Lady Royals with no errors and four strike outs. Hitting for Jay: Emily Dobson 4-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI; Destiny Herring 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR; Dana Blackmon 2-4, R, RBI; Riana Wolfe 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R; Avarie Jackson 2-4, 2 R; Michaela Stewart 1-4, 2 RBI.
The Lady Royals will host district runner-ups Chipley at 7 p.m. Friday. In the District 2-1A championship game, the Royals beat Chipley 7-6. The winner of Friday night’s game is headed to Vero Beach for the Class 1A tournament.
BASEBALL
West Florida 4, Taylor County 1
West Florida beat Taylor County 4-1 in the Region 1-4A quarterfinals Wednesday. The Jaguars will face Catholic in the semifinals next week.
Pictured top: The Jay Lady Royals after their regional semifinal win over Chipley Wednesday. Photo by Diann Tagert for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Flomaton Police Chief Credited With Saving Family From House Fire
April 30, 2015
The Flomaton, AL, police chief is being credited with saving a family from a house fire Wednesday afternoon.
Smoke was already pouring from the attic of the home on Titi Street, according to Flomaton Fire Chief Steve Stanton, when Police Chief Bryan Davis was the first to arrive on the scene just seconds after the fire was reported. Davis was able to beat on the door and yell to get the attention of the two adults and five children inside the home and get them out before they were injured.
The fire damaged the kitchen and attic of the home, Stanton said.
The Flomaton, Friendship and Pineview volunteer fire departments responded to the blaze, along with the Century Station of Escambia (FL) Fire Rescue, Escambia County (FL) EMS, the Flomaton Police Department and the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office.
There were no injuries reported.
Shuckers Beat The Pensacola Wahoos, Again
April 30, 2015
All the excitement in Wednesday’s game between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Biloxi Shuckers happened in the eighth and ninth innings.
Sean Buckley crushed a two-run home run to dead center field that traveled 400-feet plus.
Then Kyle Waldrop doubled off the top of the right field wall and Juan Perez doubled to centerfield beating the throw to second.
All of a sudden Pensacola trailed by two runs, 5-3, in the eighth inning and the Blue Wahoos fans at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium finally had something to cheer about in an otherwise dreary game that saw the Blue Wahoos total just three hits in the first seven innings.
However, Biloxi held on, 5-3, to take five of six games in the series after a rally killing double play in the ninth inning. Pinch hitter Marquez Smith worked the count to earn a walk to lead off the ninth. But he was doubled up when second baseman Ryan Wright laced a pop out to second baseman Orlando Arcia in shallow right field that he caught and threw to first to get Smith.
Smith walked toward the umpire and was immediately thrown out. Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly sprinted over from third and was immediately ejected. It was the most noise in the ballpark all night.
“The play wasn’t even close,” Kelly said. “He was safe.”
Although disappointed with another loss to Biloxi, Buckley said it was a relief to smash his first home run of the season.
“I don’t think it’s the farthest one but it’s the first one this year,” he said. “It felt good. I’ve been waiting for that one.”
Kelly also liked seeing his team fight to win until the end of the game against first place Biloxi, which is opening the season on a 55-game road trip until its ballpark finally is completed in June.
“Any time you go over the 400-foot sign you have to give him credit,” Kelly said. “He’s swinging the bat as good as anybody this year.”
Starting pitcher Wandy Peralta also showed some fortitude. After giving up three runs on three hits and three walks in the first inning to Biloxi, including a two-run single by the Shuckers first baseman Nick Ramirez, he settled down. Throwing a mix of off-speed and fastballs, Peralta then struck out seven of the next 10 batters and worked out of two bases loaded jams.
“In the past, emotionally, (Peralta) never would have recovered from a first inning like that,” Kelly said. “He was ambushed in that first inning. But he settled down.
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos travel to play a five-game series April 30-May 4 against the Seattle Mariners Double-A affiliate Jackson (Miss.) Generals. The Blue Wahoos next homestand is May 5-9 against the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate Tennessee Smokies.
Tickets On Sale Now For ‘Hairspray’ At Northview High
April 30, 2015
The Northview High School Theatre Department will present the Broadway musical “Hairspray” for two shows only next week.
It’s 1962, and pleasantly plump Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad has only one desire – to dance on the popular “Corny Collins Show.” When her dream comes true, Tracy is transformed from social outcast to sudden star. It is a show that’s great for the entire family.
Performances will be at 7 p.m. in the Northview Theatre on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. Advance tickets are $7 now through April 30 in the Northview front office.
House Rules Chiefs Points To Silence In Session Meltdown
April 30, 2015
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli’s decision to send his members home three days before the scheduled end of the 2015 legislative session was borne of frustration over the Senate’s response to his preliminary effort to settle a health-care budget standoff, according to one of the speaker’s top lieutenants.
Crisafulli was further angered by the Senate’s handling of seemingly non-controversial bills in the days leading up to the House calling it quits early Tuesday afternoon, House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday.
Crisafulli sent a preliminary budget offer to the Senate last Thursday that included $200 million from the general-revenue fund to address the federally-backed Low Income Pool, or LIP, program, set to expire on June 30. The program, a combination of local and federal dollars, steers money to hospitals and health care providers that serve large numbers of uninsured and poor patients.
The House’s offer didn’t address a Senate proposal to use Medicaid expansion money — part of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare — to provide private insurance to low-income Floridians. Crisafulli and other House GOP leaders, including the chamber’s budget chief and next speaker, Richard Corcoran, vigorously oppose a Medicaid-funded expansion.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, responded to Crisafulli’s initial submission by reiterating the Senate’s position that the LIP and Medicaid expansion issues be linked together.
“The nail started to go into the coffin when the House moved what I would consider dramatically toward the Senate position in dollars for a Low Income Pool-type spending and the response from the Senate was a letter that said basically, ‘No. Medicaid expansion or nothing.’ And then radio silence,” Workman, R-Melbourne, said.
At that time, Workman said he and Crisafulli started discussing, “What if? What policies are still out there?” but “at that point made no decision by any stretch of the imagination” to prematurely end the session.
This week, however, the tide turned when the Senate started amending bills and sending them back to the House, Workman said, in contrast to previous years when policy-related issues would be dealt with in “conforming” bills associated with the budget.
“Over the course of the next few days, every single bill became hijacked and became a policy debate in lieu of a conforming bill debate. It got very difficult to deal with the policy of the bill. We would send over a bill to the Senate with one issue and it would come back with five, five non-germane issues. That was growing more and more, and the phone calls from senators saying we’re going to add all of these goodies onto the bills and we better accept them or it’s dead was growing louder and louder,” Workman said.
Crisafulli, who had difficulty reaching Gardiner for several days, and Workman had coffee and discussed “what ifs” Tuesday morning, Workman said.
“We looked at the policy we’ve completed and what’s left ahead of us and realized we were at a point where session would normally be over as far as policy and we’d strictly be dealing with budget,” he said.
Crisafulli again tried to call Gardiner about 11 a.m. Tuesday, but Gardiner told reporters later that day he was at the podium during a floor session and did not have his cell phone with him when Crisafulli called.
“When Steve reached out to the Senate president again and still got radio silence, he made the decision on his own, somewhere within that hour before he did it, to call it and say we’ve met our policy obligations to the state. We’re not getting to the budget issue. That is obvious. Let’s just get these guys home to their families and come back in special session and deal with the budget and get rid of all of these policy turf wars that are typically done in the conforming bills, not in policy discussions,” Workman said.
Senate budget chief Tom Lee, a former Senate president, said he called Crisafulli Monday night and left a voice message after meeting with Gardiner and Sen. Don Gaetz, another former Senate president. The three presidents had discussed their concerns about “substantive legislation that was getting linked to the disagreement we had over the budget,” Lee told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
“He was at dinner. He texted me back, said he would call me in the morning. I texted him in the morning and said, ‘I’m waiting for your phone call,’ ” Lee, R-Brandon, said.
Gardiner spoke with Crisafulli by phone Tuesday morning “to tell the speaker (Gardiner) wanted to send us down to talk to whoever (Crisafulli) had available to decouple these work-plan issues from the budget,” Lee said.
“The next phone call he got back was on his cell phone that afternoon, announcing they were adjourning,” Lee said.
On Wednesday, Gardiner sent a letter to Crisafulli saying that the House had violated the state Constitution by leaving the session prematurely, and the Senate threatened to sue over the issue. Gardiner said the Senate would remain in session until 11:59 p.m. Friday. Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, responded by saying that the House was prepared to discuss budget allocations and that he is willing to “work together” during a special session.
But how Republican leaders and their members can overcome the intensifying acrimony remains to be seen.
Lawmakers appear “unable to rise above some of the power and influence we have as individual members to work together and get things done,” Lee said.
“That is a process defect that somebody needs to fix. I don’t know how to do it. But the culture is toxic now. And I think it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to work collaboratively together, and that troubles me greatly,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Alimony Bill Dies Amid Acrimony
April 30, 2015
An alimony overhaul that brought together people once bitterly divided on the issue has created an even deeper rift between two powerful Republican lawmakers who blame each other for a failure to get the bill passed this year.
After a year of wheeling-and-dealing by lawyers, lawmakers and others, the alimony proposal died when the Senate refused to take up the House’s version of the bill, which would have established a formula for alimony amounts based on the length of marriages and the amounts of money spouses earn.
The acrimony over the measure involved a provision, pushed by Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, that would have established a “50-50″ presumption regarding child sharing between divorcing spouses.
The House proposal (HB 943) didn’t go as far as Lee wanted, and the Senate did not consider the measure after the House adjourned and went home Tuesday.
Lee said language about child sharing in the House bill was “poorly drafted” and “designed to create confusion in the courts.”
But House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman, who sponsored an alimony overhaul vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott two years ago and who worked on a revamp for more than eight months with The Florida Bar and representatives of an organization seeking to change the state’s alimony laws, accused Lee of being a “bully” and “hijacking” the bill for his own reasons.
The Family Law Section of The Bar supported the alimony overhaul but strongly opposed Lee’s child-sharing element, one of the reasons Scott gave for his veto of the 2013 version.
Workman said Scott told him this year “don’t bring back retroactivity and don’t bring back drama” if he wanted the governor’s approval. Workman also said Lee promised in March that he would not allow the child-sharing portion to kill the bill.
But Lee refused to back down from the requirement despite repeated attempts to amend it, Workman complained.
“We’ve been trying to give him language but he won’t budge. The only person refusing to negotiate and come off a rigid position is Tom Lee. And that individual is going to kill a bill out of spite because he didn’t get his way. Literally picking up his toys and stomping out of the sandbox and running back with tears and snot in his nose because he didn’t want to share his toys in the sandbox,” Workman, R-Melbourne, said.
Workman accused Lee of having a personal grudge about the issue because of Lee’s own child custody dispute.
“What he cares about is getting back at the judge that didn’t give him 50-50 time share 15 years ago or whenever he got divorced,” he said.
But Lee, who is divorced and remarried, said his views on the issue had nothing to do with his own situation.
“It’s reprehensible that he would go there. I actually have 50-50 custody of my children. So, nice try. But I do policy here. Am I informed by experiences I have in a wide array of things? Absolutely. But I’m never going to make policy on the basis of my own personal experiences. This has nothing to do with my own personal custodial arrangement,” Lee, R-Brandon, said.
Lee said the bill was doomed because the House left before he could work out his objections to the time-sharing guidelines. The House adjourned three days before Friday’s scheduled end of the legislative session.
“I couldn’t have tried harder to ameliorate his concerns. The truth is he made a fatal flaw early in the process when he committed something he couldn’t commit to and that was there would be no amendments on this bill that weren’t approved by the Family Section of the Florida Bar. He killed his own bill because he made commitments to an organization that didn’t need a bill,” Lee said.
Workman denied that he made that promise and accused the Lee of using his influential position as budget chief as “extortion” to get child sharing into the Senate proposal sponsored by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland. Lee also did not include it in a separate bill dealing with family law that the House refused to pass.
“This is his ‘number one’ issue that he’s never run as a stand-alone bill. Not one time. He would not put it onto his own family law bill. He would only foist it upon Sen. Stargel’s bill and try to force his will through the weight of the power of his office. If it was so awesome for the families of Florida, if it was so amazing, why have you never run it as a stand-alone bill?” Workman said.
Workman, who is term-limited out of the House next year and is running for the Senate in 2018, made a mistake by trying to keep the bill from being amended, Lee said.
“Don’t come back now and cry me a river over a problem that he created for himself early on in the process. Hopefully there’s a lot of learning that comes out of this,” he said.
Lee said he intends to file the bill again next year if Stargel is not involved.
“If she isn’t, it will be Senate Bill 2. I will file it and if they don’t want to move it next year then we’ll move it in 2017 when he’s no longer a member of the Florida Legislature,” Lee said of Workman.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Ransom Middle Chess Club Ranks In National Tournament
April 29, 2015
The Ransom Middle School Chess Team placed in the recent 2015 National Junior High (K-9) Chess Championship hosted by the United States Chess Federation (USCF) in Louisville, KY.
In the K-8 under 750 category, the Ransom placed 9th among 25 teams, and in the K-8 under 1000 category, Ransom placed 14th.
Ransom’s Tristan Taylor was 5th in the national tournament in the K-8 under 750 category, while Mile Gibson was 16th in the K-8 under 750 category.
The Ransom Middle School students who participated are among the nation’s highest ranked middle school chess players. Participating were:
- Ryan Carty
- Dillon Conti
- Kaleb Hoskins
- Tristan Taylor
- Miles Gibson
- Justin King
- Tralon Gillis
- Alex Moorhead
- Devin Rising
- Lacie Scholz
- Connor Thompson
Two former students – Andrew Hoskins and Travis King – also took part.
Film Incentives, Uber Bill, Water Policy Among Session Casualties
April 29, 2015
New water policies, a revival of a tax-incentive program to attract film and television production to Florida and rules for app-based transportation services like Uber and Lyft were among the bills that likely died Tuesday when the House called an early end to the regular legislative session.
Also buried Tuesday was a proposed $690 million House tax-cut package that included reducing taxes on cable-television and cell-phone bills and providing the annual back-to-school sales-tax holiday. While tax cuts could be considered during a special session on the budget, the issue — a priority of Gov. Rick Scott — remains murky.
“I realize we just killed a tax bill that gave $690 million back to Florida’s families and businesses,” House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island said as he addressed the media Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, we did what we felt was right from the standpoint of just walking away and looking to go balance a budget with our Senate partners later on in the next couple months.”
Some lawmakers said they were unsure what the House’s move Tuesday means for their bills.
“We’re in unchartered waters,” said Rep. Ray Rodrigues, an Estero Republican whose measure (HB 1205) on a controversial drilling process known as “fracking” would require Senate approval without any changes.
The Senate postponed a discussion on the bill Tuesday. While the House went home Tuesday, the Senate will meet again Wednesday.
The Senate intends to vote Wednesday on a water-policy bill (SB 918), which includes work that lawmakers have pursued for two years to improve the state’s natural springs. However, Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, acknowledged the measure isn’t going anywhere.
“Tomorrow we’re going to send that bill to the House. Sadly that water bill is not going to make it,” Gardiner said.
Sen. Alan Hays, one of the architects of the water policy effort, said he was disappointed in the action by the House.
“It left us high and dry, unfortunately,” Hays said.
But not everyone is sad that the business-backed water changes have died.
“It is no great loss if the current versions are not passed,” Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper, said in an email after the House adjourned Tuesday. “Everything good the bills do can be done under current law.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, 187 of the 1,751 bills filed for the 2015 session in the House and Senate had been sent to governor.
Even before the decision by the House to adjourn three days early, many bills were long shots for passage. As an example, a controversial proposal that would have allowed people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on college campuses had stalled in a Senate committee.
And not everyone is bemoaning the death of hundreds of other bills.
The conservative group Americans for Prosperity-Florida, which has portrayed the film and TV incentives as a giveaway of “taxpayers’ hard-earned money to Hollywood executives,” applauded Crisafulli’s session-ending decision.
“The House rejected Medicaid expansion, put an end to crony handouts to the film and sports industries, increased pension reform flexibility and expanded access to school choice,” the advocacy group said in a news release.
Rep. Mike Miller, a Winter Park Republican who carried the House bill (HB 1046) to revamp the state’s approach to attracting film and television production, said “it’s dead.” But Miller then added he will continue to push for the measure.
“If I have a shot in the budget talks I’ll go right to it,” Miller said. “It’s an important industry in Florida, and I’ll do what I can within reason during budget talks; when and if they ever get started.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said his efforts to pass a bill dealing with regulation of app-based rideshare companies could also be included in the topics for a special session.
“I don’t know that we’ve determined what will be included or not included in that call of a special session,” Gaetz said.
But the House decision to adjourn early drew cheers from the Florida Limousine Association, which has opposed Gaetz’s bill and wants businesses such as Uber and Lyft to follow the same rules as limousine companies.
“Florida legislators properly have placed consumer protection above any other priority in rejecting a bad bill that could have become a dangerous law,” said Rick Versace, president of the Florida Limousine Association.
Meanwhile, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, expressed disappointment that the House failed to address insurance measures for the rideshare companies.
“Senate Bill 1298 would have helped to clarify the questions about insurance coverage and provide protections for rideshare drivers, passengers and the public from the time the rideshare app is turned on until the app is turned off,” said PCI spokesman Logan McFaddin in a release.
A big issue that remains alive is a bill aimed at reforming the state’s utility regulating body, the Public Service Commission.
The bill in part would limit future Public Service Commission members to three consecutive four-year terms and require commissioners to undergo annual ethics training. The bill also would require utilities to notify customers of the best available rates and prevent electric utilities from charging higher rates through extensions of billing cycles.
On Tuesday, the House refused to accept changes the Senate made last week to the bill (HB 7109), which included requiring the commission to hold meetings every two years in the service territories of electric utilities.
Senate sponsor Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said the House vote — the final House floor action before Crisafulli ended the session — puts him in a tough position.
Latvala can advise the Senate to remain firm against the House or he can seek to remove the changes the Senate made to the bill. Passing the bill could lead to $600 million in savings for Duke Energy Florida customers.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida