Scott, State Workers End Fight Over Drug Tests
April 21, 2015
Ending a four-year legal battle that cost taxpayers at least $675,000, Gov. Rick Scott and lawyers representing a state workers’ union have agreed on the types of Florida government employees who can be forced to undergo suspicionless drug tests.
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which represents the workers, and Scott haggled for more than a year over which employees can be subjected to random drug testing after an appellate court found that Scott’s blanket drug-screening policy violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Under a settlement agreement filed Monday in federal court, the state agreed to pay the ACLU $375,000 in legal costs for the drawn-out litigation and to limit the drug tests to about 7,000 workers in 157 different job classes, a fraction of the 34,000 employees Scott’s blanket policy was intended to cover. The agreement applies to the union’s collective bargaining units, which include employees who are not dues-paying members, and job applicants.
Scott, whose drug-testing push also included an attempt to require applicants for welfare benefits to submit to urinalyses, issued an executive order requiring all state workers to undergo random drug screens shortly after he took office in 2011.
A federal judge put the policy on hold after the ACLU filed suit that summer, and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Scott could not constitutionally justify drug testing for all types of state employees without a reason, though it said testing could occur for some workers such as those in “safety-sensitive” positions. The appeals court ordered Scott and lawyers for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, to come up with a list of jobs that could be subject to testing.
Scott appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to consider the case.
Monday’s agreement, which still requires court approval, identified more than 100 job classes that Scott can test for drug or alcohol use. Workers in most of the positions deal with vulnerable children or adults, handle heavy equipment or are already required to undergo medical tests for other reasons.
“We are pleased that the settlement will allow Florida to protect families by ensuring state employees working in the most critical areas of safety and security remain drug-free,” Scott spokesman John Tupps said.
In addition to the $375,000 Scott agreed to give the ACLU, the state has paid private lawyer Thomas Bishop at least $180,000 for legal fees associated with the case. The state has also spent nearly $120,000 on a special master to oversee the negotiations with the ACLU.
“It doesn’t seem to have panned out. That’s an understatement. It seems like an enormous waste of money spent on something that was obviously not constitutional to begin with. I’m not sure why (Scott) made that choice and why he decided to pursue it for so long, but we are happy that the courts have recognized the unconstitutionality of this policy and that we can finally bring this very expensive — to the taxpayers and the parties — litigation to a close,” said ACLU lawyer Shalini Goel Agarwal.
The minimum $675,000 tab for the state worker drug-testing lawsuit does not include at least $300,000 Scott also spent on a losing battle to force applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to undergo drug screens. Scott dropped his appeal of the case earlier this year after the same federal appeals court ruled that the state law, pushed by Scott in his first bid for governor, also violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The taxpayers’ bill for the welfare drug-testing lawsuit does not include potentially hefty legal fees for the ACLU, which also represented the plaintiff — a veteran who is a single parent — in that case.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Tate Lady Aggies Win District 1-7A Softball Championship
April 21, 2015
The Tate High School Lady Aggies won the District 1-7A softball championship Monday night 6-4 over Niceville.
In the fifth inning, Tate’s Casey McCrackin hit a three-run homer, followed by a home run from Savannah Rowell. Tate hitters were Casey McCrackin 1-3, 2R, 3 RBI; Savannah Rowell 1-3, R, RBI; Tori Perkins 1-4, 2 RBI; Lauren Brennan R; Hadley Starratt R; Savannah Ulrich R.
The Tate Lady Aggies will play host to Tallahassee Lincoln at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the regional quarterfinals.
Northview Assistant Coach Headed To Tennessee
April 21, 2015
Northview High School assistant football coach Derek Marshman has announced that he’s headed to a new job in Tennessee.
Marshman has been named an assistant coach at Signal Mountain High School just outside Chattanooga. There, he will join the school’s new head coach, Ty Wise. Marshman and Wise were part of the coaching staff that led the Northview Chiefs to a state football championship in 2012. Wise departed in 2013 to take the head coaching job at Graceville.
Marshman will remain at Northview through the end of the school year before moving to Tennessee with his family, including his wife Brittany, a teacher at Byrneville Elementary School.
“It was a great opportunity for my entire family,” Marshman said Monday night. “We visited this past weekend for the first time, and it was just beautiful up there. The entire town just blew us away.”
Marshman said he will miss the Northview Chiefs, which he predicted will do great things this fall.
“There’s a really good group of juniors moving up as leaders. Northview will have a very strong team this fall.”
Pictured top: Northview assistant coach Derek Marksman (center) is resigning and taking a job in Tennessee. Pictured inset: Marshman reacts to the Chiefs falling behind during a home game. Pictured below: Marshman calls a play. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Bell Ice Cream Recalls All Products Over Listeria Concerns
April 21, 2015
Blue Bell Ice Cream has voluntarily recalled all of its products currently on the market made at all of its facilities, including ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbert and frozen snacks, because they have the potential to be contaminated with listeria.
“We’re committed to doing the 100 percent right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe,” said Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president. “We are heartbroken about this situation and apologize to all of our loyal Blue Bell fans and customers. Our entire history has been about making the very best and highest quality ice cream and we intend to fix this problem. We want enjoying our ice cream to be a source of joy and pleasure, never a cause for concern, so we are committed to getting this right.”
The products being recalled are distributed to retail outlets, including food service accounts, convenience stores and supermarkets in several states, including Florida and Alabama.
Blue Bell has now had several positive tests for Listeria in different places and plants and as previously reported five patients were treated in Kansas and three in Texas after testing positive for listeria.
“At every step, we have made decisions in the best interest of our customers based on the evidence we had available at the time,” Kruse said. “At this point, we cannot say with certainty how Listeria was introduced to our facilities and so we have taken this unprecedented step. We continue to work with our team of experts to eliminate this problem.”
Blue Bell is implementing a procedure called “test and hold” for all products made at all of its manufacturing facilities. This means that all products will be tested first and held for release to the market only after the tests show they are safe.
Blue Bell expects to resume distribution soon on a limited basis once it is confident in the safety of its product.
Consumers who have purchased these items are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, a listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
ESCO: Pot, $42K Seized In Traffic Stop
April 21, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office seized several pounds of pot and thousands in cash following a weekend traffic stop.
Sunday morning deputies were proactively conducting surveillance in an area of Medford Avenue known to have high drug activity. At one residence there was considerable foot traffic, and deputies noticed large bags being transferred to vehicles in front of the residence, the department said.
A traffic stop was conducted which led to a felony narcotics arrest. During a search of the vehicle over 10 pounds of marijuana, just over $42,000 in currency and the vehicle were seized. Hoang Thanh Huynh, 29, was a charged with possession with intent to sell.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
DCF Faulted For Oversight Of Privatized Agencies
April 21, 2015
Two reports presented to lawmakers last week criticized the Florida Department of Children and Families for poor oversight of the privatized agencies that deliver child-welfare, substance-abuse and mental-health services statewide.
The reports arrived as the Legislature is considering further changes to all those services.
The Florida Office of the Auditor General published its findings last month and reviewed them Thursday with members of the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee.
One report faulted the state’s oversight of what are known as managing entities, which oversee the delivery of substance-abuse and mental-health services. With lawmakers focused on improving those services this year, the managing entities could be revamped under a bill (SB 7068) ready for a vote by the full Senate possibly as soon as Wednesday. The House version (HB 7119) is ready to go to the full House.
The other report criticized the state’s oversight of community-based care organizations, known as CBCs, which provide foster care, adoption and family-support services. The agencies have been under legislative scrutiny in recent years for a series of child deaths from abuse and neglect. Now, lawmakers are revisiting a child-welfare reform law passed last year — and the possibility of more funding for the CBCs to provide mental-health and substance-abuse treatment, among other services.
Together, the reports point to shortcomings in the Department of Children and Families’ monitoring of the privatized agencies, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars a year to coordinate and deliver services in their regions.
“The department did not always adequately conduct, document, review, and report the results of (community based care agencies) monitoring,” noted the report on the foster-care services.
“The department could not provide documentation supporting the conclusions reached on cost analyses performed for (managing entity) contracts awarded on a noncompetitive basis,” said the report on mental-health and substance-abuse services. “The department had not always documented that employees involved in the contractor evaluation and selection process attested in writing that they were independent of, and had no conflict of interest in, the MEs (managing entities) evaluated and selected.”
What’s more, department monitoring of the managing entities “did not ensure that all key assessment factors and performance measures were included in the scope of its monitoring activities. Additionally, the department did not always appropriately document that proper follow-up on ME actions was taken to correct deficiencies identified through monitoring.”
Department of Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll, in a response to both reports, wrote, “The department generally concurs with the findings.”
The criticism comes as the House and Senate prepare to vote on whether to alter the way the seven statewide managing entities bid on Department of Children and Families contracts. The House and Senate bills would require those contracts to be performance-based and to include consequences for failing to comply. What’s more, the House proposal would require that at least two managing entities bid on each contract — or the bidding process could be opened to for-profit companies and Medicaid managed-care organizations.
Members of the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee questioned Lisa Norman, an audit manager with the Auditor General’s Office, on the reports, and some of the individual agencies objected to specific findings.
For instance, the report faulted Our Kids, the community-based care agency serving Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, for expenditures related to a $28,000 graduation event for young adults in the Independent Living program. The costs included $6,684 for food for 250 guests, which the Auditor General’s report found an inappropriate expenditure under state law.
“We recommend that Our Kids, in consultation with the department, make appropriate funding source adjustments for the unallowable costs related to the graduation event,” said the report.
But in her written response to the report, Our Kids president and CEO Jackie Gonzalez said that the event helps young people in foster care build their self-esteem.
“Our Kids has received approval from DCF for this event since we began acknowledging the success of our students in a ceremony in 2009 and did not think it necessary to receive approval each year,” the response said. “We believe that (the Auditor General) is taking an overly narrow view.”
Committee Chairwoman Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, asked Norman how Our Kids could have done the event differently.
“Use private funds,” Norman replied.
Christina Spudeas, executive director of the advocacy group Florida’s Children First, reminded lawmakers that under former DCF Secretary David Wilkins, the department had slashed most of its quality-assurance positions — which had performed some of the monitoring.
“They went down 70 positions,” Spudeas said. “Two years ago, you gave funding, but only reinstituted one-half of those. We need the rest of those positions to do full quality assurance, quality improvement, for the programs around the state. It’s very important for the children in care.”
As to the managing entities, the chief executive officer of one of them, Linda McKenna of the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network, said that the four selected for the Auditor General’s scrutiny “were the newest managing entities in the state and had all recently come up and were developing their procedures.”
Mark Fontaine, executive director of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association, agreed, but said it was clear that lawmakers were “redefining their expectations” for the managing entities and their coordination of the services they provide.
“The expectations on the MEs are going to be greater,” Fontaine said. “It’s more like shifting to health-care management: ‘Let’s look at the people we’re serving and figure out how to do better services for those people.’ ”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Beat Barons
April 21, 2015
Scoring one run in six different innings, the bats slowly came to life as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos topped the Birmingham Barons 6-5 in the first game of the series.
Pensacola posted season highs in almost every offensive category in tonight’s win with highs in runs (6), hits (11), doubles (7), triples (2), RBIs (6), walks (8) and extra base hits (9).
It started in the third inning as Juan Silva doubled to start the inning. Sean Buckley drove him home with a soft fly ball single to the right field as the Blue Wahoos took a 1-0 lead.
RHP Robert Stephenson made his first start since Opening Day and posted four strikeouts in the first two innings. The bats also came to life for the Barons in the third inning as Jeremy Farrell homered to right center. In the next at bat, Joey DeMichele got a triple and then scored off of Tim Anderson’s single to right field. Anderson stole two bases and then scored off of a sac fly by Christian Marrero.
Despite the Barons three runs in the third, the momentum continued to build for the Blue Wahoos as the team scored a run in the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth inning to win the game. Marquez Smith scored in the fourth off of a sac fly by Chris Berset. In the sixth inning, Juan Silva was walked home.
The Barons held on tight as Birmingham came to bat in the sixth inning and scored their final run of the night to head into the last third of the game with a 5-3 lead.
Smith doubled in the seventh inning and then was brought home off the bat of Seth Mejias-Brean as he registered a triple. The Blue Wahoos tied the game back up in the eighth inning as Silva scored off of a single by Jesse Winker.
Mejias-Brean drove in Kyle Waldrop for the final run of the game in the top of the ninth to give the Wahoos their third win of the season.
Carlos Gonzalez got his first win of the season after throwing one inning of relief in the eighth as Ben Klimesh got his first save of the year by allowing only one hit in the ninth. Stephenson finished the night with 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5R, 2 BB, 9 SO and 1 HR.
Since the Wahoos scored five runs in tonight’s game, fans win with 50% off Papa John’s pizza when they order online using promo code WAHOOS on Tuesday, April 21.
The two teams will square off Tuesday night in Birmingham at 7:05 p.m.
Highway 29 Crash Slows Afternoon Traffic In Cantonment
April 20, 2015
One person received minor injuries in a two vehicle crash that caused rush hour traffic problems in Cantonment Monday afternoon.
The accident occurred at Highway 29 and Muscogee Road just before 5 p.m., closing most of the intersection for over an hour. One person was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered severe.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash to direct traffic.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Escambia Woman Charged In Morning School Bus Hit And Run
April 20, 2015
An Escambia County driver was arrested after a school bus hit and run crash this morning.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 24-year old Starmeka Turner pulled her 2005 Lincoln out of a Circle K parking lot on Jackson Street into the path of a school bus with 12 passengers on board about 7:45 a.m.. Turner then fled the scene, but was located a short time later and arrested.
There were no injuries to the driver or 12 passengers on the school bus.
Turner was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and violation of right of way. At noon, she remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $250.
Statewide Computer Based Student Testing Fails – Again
April 20, 2015
Statewide computer-based testing was once again down Monday morning in Florida, causing school districts across the state to delay or postpone testing in grades 5-10.
A technical problem prevented schools from logging into the testing server, according to Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas.
“Because of the time zone difference between here and South Florida, we knew beforehand that the problems existed at the state level,” Thomas said. Those statewide vendor problems were resolved by about 9:30 a.m.. “Many of our students never knew there was a problem. It was fixed before most of our middle schools were in session.”
Each individual school in the county decided how to proceed with testing today after the system was back online, the superintendent said.
““This morning, AIR’s President of Assessment notified me of a technical change that was made to the Florida Standards Assessment testing system over the weekend that was not approved by the Department. This change was unnecessary to the administration of the Florida Standards Assessment and resulted in a disruption that hindered students from being able to log in to the system and take their test today,” Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said. “The company’s failure to follow protocol is absolutely unacceptable and the Department will hold AIR accountable for the disruption they have caused to our state’s students, teachers and school staff.”
The new Florida Standards Assessment tests have been plagued by by technical problems and cyber-attacks that have prevented students for logging on, or sometimes finishing. In March, Escambia County suspending testing for days due to the statewide vendor problems. Only about 150,000 eighth-, ninth- and 10th-grade students had been able to take the Florida Standards Assessment writing test — about a quarter of the students registered for that exam — by the second day of failures in March.
American Institutes for Research, a non-profit group, has a six-year, $220 million deal to design and deliver the tests.