Palm Print Leads To Vehicle Burglary Arrest
April 7, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says a palm print led to the arrest of a Cantonment man for vehicle burglary.
Justin Scott Martin, 21, was charged with felony burglary of a vehicle and petit theft. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail and remained there Tuesday morning with bond set at $35,000.
According to an arrest report, Martin burglarized two vehicles on Memphis Avenue, stealing cellular phone chargers and Gatorade worth a total of $55. Deputies said a part of the crime was caught on video.
A palm print left behind on the vehicle positively matched Martin, according to investigators.
Savage Steps Down As Century Council VP; Boutwell Appointed
April 7, 2015
Century Town Council member Annie Savage has relinquished her position as council vice president, citing health reasons.
The council voted Monday night to name Benjamin Boutwell as vice president. The vice president’s primary duty is to fill in and conduct meetings in the absence of Ann Brooks, the council president.
Savage, who periodically misses an entire meeting and is often late to meetings due to her health, will still retain her council seat.
Pictured: Annie Savage listens during Monday night’s meeting of the Century Town Council. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Scott Opposition To Health Expansion Adds Fuel To The Fire
April 7, 2015
Adding more drama to a $5 billion budget standoff between Republian legislative leaders, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday reversed course on his one-time support for providing health coverage for low-income Floridians as part of the federal health-care law known as Obamacare.
Scott blamed his rejection of a state Senate plan on a distrust of the federal government, the result of an apparent breakdown in negotiations between his administration and federal officials over a program that pays hospitals and health providers for unreimbursed care. The feds contribute at least $1.3 billion a year toward the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last year gave the state a one-year extension on LIP — set to expire on June 30 unless Scott and federal officials reach a new agreement — but the Obama administration is unwilling to renew the program in its current form.
The Senate and Scott included $2.2 billion to cover the costs of LIP in their budget plans, but Republican House leaders did not.
To sweeten the deal for the feds, the Senate linked the revised LIP program with another $2.8 billion for the “Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange,” or FHIX, to pay insurance premiums for about 800,000 Floridians with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty level. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government would pay the state about $47 billion over the next eight years for the program. That money would come from a pot that is earmarked for Medicaid expansion across the country, though Senate officials have tried to distance their proposal from the Medicaid program.
The House has balked outright at a Medicaid expansion — or anything that looks like a Medicaid expansion — and on Monday Scott joined the chorus of Republican naysayers.
“… Given that the federal government said they would not fund the federal LIP program to the level it is funded today, it would be hard to understand how the state could take on even more federal programs that CMS could scale back or walk away from,” Scott said in a statement.
As a candidate seeking reelection to a second term, Scott gave tepid support in 2013 to a similar Senate plan but failed to campaign for the doomed proposal’s passage.
“While the federal government is committed to pay 100 percent of the cost, I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care,” Scott, who made his fortune in the hospital industry, told reporters in February 2013.
It may not come as a surprise that Scott, who ran as a tea party “outsider” in 2010, has shifted his position on Medicaid expansion. The conservative Americans for Prosperity has targeted Republican senators, including Senate President Andy Gardiner, for supporting the issue, part of what was once considered a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act but which the U.S. Supreme Court left up to the states in a seminal ruling upholding the federal law.
Scott’s turnaround didn’t persuade Gardiner to back down from his chamber’s proposed fix for hospitals and low-income, uninsured Floridians.
In a statement issued Monday in response to Scott, Gardiner made a veiled threat about Scott’s push for record-high public school funding and nearly $675 million in tax cuts.
“The Senate also shares the governor’s commitment to tax relief and record funding for education; however, if our state is forced to make up the difference of $2.2 billion in hospital funding, every area of our budget will be impacted,” Gardiner, R-Orlando, said. “Moving forward the Senate will continue to advance the conservative, Florida-based, free-market solutions we have proposed. We believe these innovative, bipartisan proposals can gain the approval of our federal partners, and we stand ready to meet with the House or Governor Scott at any time to discuss a way forward.”
Without telling Scott, Gardiner last week dispatched two senators to meet with federal health officials to discuss the Senate’s plans. The next day, Scott’s office announced that the Obama administration official in charge of negotiations had abruptly ended the talks. It was later learned that the lead federal negotiator, Eliot Fishman, had left the country for a long-planned trip to Israel.
Senate budget chief Tom Lee, who met with Scott and his top aides late last week, said Monday that the governor made it clear “he was no big fan of dealing with the uninsured in Florida.”
Lee likened the Legislature’s position to being in a “box canyon,” another term for a three-sided, deep ravine with only one way in or out.
“Behind us, we have the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services telling us that we don’t have a budget solution on the one hand. And we have the governor saying you can’t fix this problem using general revenue. And on the other hand, we’ve got people saying they’re re not going to talk about insuring low-income Floridians, which is part of the problem here. We have too many Floridians creating this unreimbursed care. So we’re very much in a box canyon right now,” Lee, R-Brandon, said.
A fiery speech last week by Lee’s House budget counterpart Richard Corcoran, slated to take over as House speaker after the 2016 elections, deepened the divide between the two chambers over the coverage expansion.
“We’re not dancing this session, we’re not dancing next session, we’re not dancing this summer,” Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, said before a House vote on the budget Thursday
The showdown between the two chambers, coupled with the breakdown in talks between the Scott administration and federal officials over LIP, heightens uncertainty about whether lawmakers will finalize budget negotiations before the scheduled May 1 end of the legislative session.
Politically, the House has more to lose than the Senate by caving on the Medicaid-expansion issue, said GOP strategist J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich.
“There’s only one person here who has to prevail in his position, and that’s Rep. Corcoran. Can President Gardiner not exert himself? Can he not lay waste to all the priorities of the House? Can he not show the Senate’s strength and its outrage? Of course he can. He doesn’t have to win on Medicaid. He has to be strong and purposeful and he has to punish what is a pretty flagrant breach of protocol. But he doesn’t have to win on Medicaid,” Stipanovich said.
Meanwhile, House Republicans — and Scott — are relying on the Obama administration to come up with the LIP money left out of the House spending plan.
“In an ironic way, the perception of victory for the conservatives probably lies in the hands of their arch-enemies in Washington,” Stipanovich said.
Poll Shows Heavy Support For Medical Marijuana – Again
April 7, 2015
Five months after narrowly rejecting a medical-marijuana ballot initiative, Florida voters overwhelmingly support allowing doctor-prescribed pot in the state, according to a poll released Monday.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that 84 percent of Florida voters back letting adults use medical marijuana if doctors prescribe it.
But here’s the rub: Polls in late 2013 and the first part of 2014 also showed support for medical marijuana topping 80 percent. In the November 2014, election, however, a proposed ballot initiative received about 58 percent of the vote — shy of the 60 percent needed to approve constitutional amendments.
The numbers plummeted, at least in part, because opponents spent millions of dollars on television ads warning that the ballot initiative included loopholes that could lead to widespread abuse.
The group behind the 2014 amendment, People United for Medical Marijuana, has signaled it is willing to put a revised pot initiative before voters in 2016 if lawmakers don’t approve legalization. Republican legislative leaders have largely dismissed the idea of legalizing full-blown medical marijuana, saying they want to focus on moving forward with a 2014 law that allowed a limited type of non-euphoric cannabis for certain medical conditions.
People United for Medical Marijuana would need to collect 683,149 petition signatures to get on the 2016 ballot. The state Division of Elections website indicates the group had not submitted any valid signature as of Monday morning.
The Connecticut-based Quinnipiac frequently conducts polls in Florida and other states. The latest poll of 1,087 Florida voters was conducted from March 17 to March 28.
Cantonment Winn Dixie Tops In Manna Drive
April 7, 2015
Last month, Winn Dixie stores across the area teamed up with MANNA Food Pantries to fight hunger in Northwest Florida. Customers were encouraged to donate at any store register, with every dollar benefiting MANNA Pantries and programs in the communities served by Winn Dixie.
The Winn Dixie Store in Cantonment raised over $3,000 to help MANNA fight hunger — the top store in the district.
Pictured: Winn Dixie Cantonment collects for MANNA Food Pantries. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Caught On Video Rummaging Vehicle On Tate Road
April 7, 2015
Do you recognize this man? This car was left unlocked in the Tate Road area in Cantonment on March 9, and video surveillance caught him rummaging through the car. Anyone that recognizes the man is asked to call Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
The Escambia County Sheriffs Office is reminding residents not to leave anything of value in a vehicle overnight and lock vehicle doors.
Screen grabs from video released April 6 by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, click to enlarge.
Florida Targets October For Black Bear Hunt
April 7, 2015
The state this October would open its first black-bear hunting season in two decades, under a set of rules that will be reviewed next week.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has proposed that about 275 black bears be killed in mid-October as part of a two-pronged effort to control the woodland creatures and reduce the risk of dangerous interactions between bears and the state’s growing population.
Along with the proposal about reducing the bear population through a one-bear-per-hunter hunt, the commission during an April 14 meeting at Florida A&M University also will consider rules about the proper maintenance of garbage containers for businesses and homeowners. Bears are often attracted to populated areas by garbage.
The commission could vote on the changes during a June meeting.
Diane Eggeman, director of the commission’s Division of Hunting and Game Management, said the hunt is simply another step in managing the bear population.
“The bear population has grown for the last 15 years or 20 years, steadily and pretty rapidly, based upon all the information that we have,” Eggeman said. “So our job, of the agency, is to manage that growing population and the best tool to manage that population growth across the board is to use hunting.”
The feeding rules for bears are intended to clarify when people might be in violation for repeatedly failing to secure garbage cans or dumpsters.
The call to re-implement the hunt follows a number of bear attacks that occurred across Central Florida the past couple of years.
However, the proposal is opposed by the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and the Humane Society of the United States.
Kate MacFall, the Humane Society’s Florida director, said the state is only listening to a handful of “trophy hunters” instead of doing more to make people aware of bears and to enforce codes regarding trash containment.
“We don’t think we need to decrease the bear population, we need to reduce the conflicts for everyone’s benefit,” MacFall said.
She also questioned how the hunt will reduce conflicts.
“The bears being hunted are the big bears deep in the woods, because you can’t go hunting in the neighborhoods. That’s not how it works,” MacFall said. “Those deep in the woods, those are not the problem bears. And the bears going into human trash are the problem. And those are the ones not being hunted.”
Eggeman responded that the hunt is needed to keep the bear population in check.
“The more the (bear) population grows, the more likely bears move out of the wildlife and into neighborhoods,” Eggeman said.
While the current number of black bears in Florida is an estimate, Eggeman noted that Florida is the only state that has more than 600 but doesn’t have a hunting season.
Florida has an estimated 2,500 black bears in the four regions of the state — the eastern Panhandle, Northeast Florida, east-central Florida and South Florida — where the hunts would be conducted. Each area had more than 200 bears by a 2002 estimate.
Black bears were placed on the state’s threatened list in 1974, when there were between 300 and 500 across Florida. At the time, hunting black bear was limited to three counties.
In 1994, the hunting season was closed statewide.
By 2002, the state black-bear population was estimated at 3,000. A decade later the bear was removed from the state’s list of threatened animals.
Meanwhile, the state has recorded a 400 percent increase in bear-related calls over the past decade.
This year, the hunt would begin Oct. 24 and continue for a week. However, the number of days could be shortened if the “harvest objective” is reached in fewer days.
“The season timing would coincide with high bear activity and before denning begins,” a commission staff presentation on bear hunting says. “Cubs would be old enough to be independent. This timing was chosen to avoid overlap with deer-dog hunting or training seasons.”
The cost for a bear permit is proposed at $100 for Floridians, $300 for non-Florida residents. The daytime hunts would be prohibited within 100 yards of any game-feeding station. Hunters would be allowed to use bows, crossbows, muzzle loading guns, rifles, pistols, revolvers and shotguns. Dogs would be prohibited from hunting bear, but leashed canines could be used to trail shot bears.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: A black bear at the Wild Oak Farms Apartments in Cantonment in 2012. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Scientist Named To Florida Inventors Hall Of Fame
April 7, 2015
Jerry Pratt, one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of robotics, has been named to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, joining a group of inventors which includes the likes of Thomas Edison.
Pratt, a senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Escambia County, holds four patents on robotics inventions and is considered a rising star in the field. He is one of seven people with Florida connections who will be inducted into the Hall at an October ceremony in Tampa. Others in this group, the second year of inductees, include famed automaker Henry Ford and scientist Robert Grubbs, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Pratt said he was honored and humbled by the recognition.
“Sometimes I think what’s most fun about working in robotics is that we are practically inventing the field every day,” Pratt said. “There’s a long way to go before robotics is a mature field, and I am honored to join so many other people who are working to create the future.”
Pratt, 43, holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining IHMC in 2002, Pratt’s company developed a powered exoskeleton that allowed a person to carry large loads over rough terrain with little effort. His other patents cover technology that allows bipedal robots to know where to place their feet when walking, and to maintain their balance and prevent falls.
Pratt leads a team of researchers who also developed the HexRunner, which last year set a world speed record for legged robots, reaching speeds of more than 30 mph. Pratt’s work has been instrumental in changing the stereotype of robots as clunky machines with jerky movements to ones that maximize speed, agility and biological similarity, said IHMC founder and CEO Ken Ford.
“We’re really proud of Jerry; it’s a well-deserved honor,” Ford said. “Jerry’s work personifies the subtle and rather beautiful virtuous cycle between the acts of invention and of scientific discovery.”
In June, Pratt and the IHMC Robotics Team will compete in the final round of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) international robotics competition, which tests the ability of humanoid robot systems to respond to disasters. The team placed first in the Virtual Robotics Challenge, a computer simulation, and second in the DRC Trials at Homestead Miami Speedway using actual robots in a competition featuring 26 teams from around the globe.
Pictured top inset: Jerry Pratt, left, at DARPA Robotics Trials. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Senate Considers Gambling Deal With Seminoles, Leaving Out Poarch Creeks
April 6, 2015
The Florida Senate has showed its hand with a gambling proposal that would extend for another year a deal that gives the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to banked card games such as blackjack at most of its casinos — and leaving out the Poarch Creek Indians of Atmore.
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians really want a small North Escambia parcel in the Nokomis community to be the home of their next gaming facility. A large metal building has been constructed that covers a majority of the acre, about five miles west of Highway 97 on Nokomis Road. They are officially calling the structure a “warehouse”, but its true future use remains to be seen.
About a year ago the tribe asked Gov. Rick Scott for Tribal-State gaming compact that would allow the tribe to operate casino-like gambling on the property. Such an agreement would allow the tribe “to conduct any Class III gaming activity which is played or may be played in the State of Florida, including, but not limited to, banked card games,” then-Tribal Chairman Buford Rolin wrote in a letter to Scott. Class III gaming in Florida includes table games and slot machines. They have also made it clear that they would like banked card games at other sites like Pensacola, Gretna and Tallahassee.
Scott has refused to negotiate a compact, saying more recognition is needed first from the federal government. Scott has also not been involved in talks with the Seminoles; he’s letting the Legislature play Florida’s hand in the high stakes gambling game.
Seminole Agreement In Balance
Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Rob Bradley, who released the proposal that would give exclusive rights to the Seminoles. said he plans this week to take up the extension of the agreement — which will expire July 31 unless the Legislature acts.
The Senate plan is a stark contrast to a sweeping gambling proposal floated by House Majority Leader Dana Young, R-Tampa. Young’s proposal would essentially do away with a broader 20-year agreement with the Seminoles, called a compact, by authorizing two Las Vegas-style casinos in Broward or Miami-Dade counties and allowing pari-mutuels in Lee and Palm Beach counties to add slot machines.
“It’s kind of unexpected, given that I know we both have been having conversations with the tribe,” Young said Friday of Bradley’s plan.
Talks between the Legislature and the Seminole tribe — which has expressed interest in obtaining the ability to offer craps and roulette — only began in earnest within the past few weeks, Bradley said.
“This decision is a reflection of a distance between where the parties want to be and would allow us to close that gap in a short period of time,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said. “I think this is the prudent thing to do for the people of Florida at this point in time. It allows us to continue with the status quo until we get a deal that makes sense for the state of Florida and makes sense for the tribe.
Bradley’s plan came four weeks before the legislative session is scheduled to end May 1. And, with the House and Senate deadlocked over a $5 billion health-care budget disagreement, the gambling-deal extension could provide lawmakers a far easier — and more palatable — option than Young’s massive overhaul.
After a House committee held a workshop on her proposal last week, Young said she was uncertain whether the traditionally gambling-leery House would even give her measure (HB 1233) a vote.
But on Friday, Young said she hoped her bill would be taken up by the House Regulatory Affairs Committee next week, creating another possible showdown between the two chambers over the competing gambling plans.
“This was an unexpected change of events. But I am certainly willing to keep an open mind and look forward to talking with Sen. Bradley and his Senate colleagues on why they believe this is in the best interest of Florida,” she said.
Under the current agreement, the Seminoles agreed to pay the state a minimum of $1 billion over five years in exchange for exclusive rights to banked card games at five of its seven facilities throughout the state. The tribe’s payments to the state, which also take into account revenue from games such as slot machines, have thus far exceeded the minimum and are expected to increase under a complicated revenue-sharing formula inked in 2010.
While the House and Senate remain at odds over Young’s approach, Bradley’s plan will “make sure the issue is not left on the cutting room floor,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, who played a major role in crafting the 2010 agreement with the tribe.
Gov. Rick Scott attempted to strike a deal with the tribe last year, but the talks blew up in the final days of the legislative session. This year, Scott has left negotiations up to lawmakers, who must authorize any agreement between the state and the tribe.
Unlike Scott’s failed plan that would have allowed the tribe to expand the types of games they offer, Bradley’s measure (SPB 7088) would simply extend the banked card games portion of the deal for another year. Because next year’s session begins earlier than usual, in January instead of March, the Legislature would be able to quickly address the issue without letting the state’s share of money from the card games — at least $116 million a year — evaporate.
The Seminoles, who have launched a major publicity campaign — including four statewide television ads — to urge the Legislature to re-up the banked card games, are aware of Bradley’s proposal but did not play a role in the Senate’s choice to consider a one-year extension, tribe spokesman Gary Bitner said.
“The tribe is just learning of the plan and is considering it,” Bitner said.
Extending the five-year agreement for another year also would avoid potentially costly and drawn-out litigation with the tribe, whose lawyers have raised questions about whether the Seminoles would have to discontinue the card games after July 31 if no deal is reached.
“The measure is a reminder to the tribe that their ability to maintain banked card games at their facilities exists at the pleasure of the Legislature,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.
Dara Kam, the News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Pictured above and below: A “warehouse” under construction on an acre of land owned by the Poarch Creek Indians in the North Escambia community of Nokomis. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Sheriff’s Office Warns Of Telephone Scam
April 6, 2015
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office is warning area residents that a telephone con artist is posing as a deputy. The SRSO was alerted to numerous calls made late last week.
The con artist calls citizens and states that they are with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and tells they will arrested on an outstanding warrant if they do not make a payment over the telephone. The caller has been described as “very convincing” and “confident” during the conversation.
“These calls are not coming from your Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. These are considered telephone scams. If you receive a call from these individuals, you are requested to not make any payments over the phone to these individuals,” the agency said in a press release.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office does not make solicitation telephone calls for warrants. The only communications with wanted individuals is by a postcard type mailer.
For more information concerning an active warrant, call the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 981-2200.