Tate To State After Regional Final Win
May 2, 2015
For the second year in a row, the Tate Lady Aggies are headed to the State Final Four.
The Lady Aggies beat Atlantic Coast High School in Jacksonville 2-1 Friday night to claim the Region 1-7A championship.
Tate was led by pitcher Tori Perkins on the mound. In seven innings, she allowed five hits while striking out five. Hitting for Tate were Lauren Brennan 1-2, 2 RBI; Casey McCrackin 1-3, 2 R; Elizabeth Werdann 1-3; Hayden Lindsay 1-3; Savannah Rowell 1-2.
The Aggies will travel to Vero Beach to take on the Bartow Yellow Jackets Wednesday at Historic Dogertown in the Class 7A state semifinals.
Pictured: The Tate Lady Aggies celebrate their regional championship win Friday night in Jacksonville. Photo by Mike Brennan for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jackson Generals Beat Wahoos
May 2, 2015
The Jackson Generals wasted little time in jumping on Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitcher Robert Stephenson at The Ballpark at Jackson.
Jackson defeated Pensacola, 8-3, by scoring six runs in the first inning off of Stephenson, who has been rated as the Cincinnati Reds top prospect the past two seasons.
Stephenson loaded the bases in the first inning by walking the first two batters and then allowing a single. Jackson’s D.J. Peterson then doubled in two runs on a sharp line drive to left field for a, 2-0, General lead.
With men on second and third with none out, Pensacola pitching coach Jeff Fassero visited the mound to calm his young flamethrower.
Stephenson got the first out of the inning on a long fly ball by Gabby Guerrero, but it scored Darrio Pizzano to put Jackson up, 3-0. Stephenson then walked Jordy Lara before giving up his third home run in three games, this one to Daniel Paolini, who smashed a three-run homer to left center field to put Jackson ahead, 6-0.
Stephenson then struck out the next batter before walking the No. 9 hitter and being replaced by reliever Tim Adleman. In all, Jackson sent 10 batters to the plate in the first.
In 0.2 innings, one of Stephenson’s shortest outings in his minor league career, he gave up six earned runs on three hits, four walks and one strikeout. He saw his ERA jump from 5.40 to 8.31.
Marquez Smith is 4-7 against Jackson in two games including his first RBI of the season Friday, when he knocked in Ryan Wright on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Last year, he led the Reds organization with 131 RBIs between High-A Bakersfield and Double-A Pensacola.
Waldrop, the Reds No. 14 prospect, singled in the fourth inning to extend his hitting streak to six games and is now 8-24 (.333).
Jay Wins Regional Title; Headed To State
May 2, 2015
The Jay Lady Royals won the Region 2-1A championship Friday night with a 2-1 win over the Chipley Tigers. It will be the third trip to state in the last four years for the Lady Royals
Destiny Herring pitched seven innings for Jay, allowing just two hits and striking out six. At the plate, Herring as 1-3 with a run, while Samantha Steadham wen 1-3 with a double. It was Coach Brian Watson’s 200th win.
The Jay Lady Royals will travel to Vero Beach for a Wednesday morning game against Sneads at Historic Dodgertown in the state semifinals.
Pictured: The Jay Lady Royals after their regional win Friday night. Photo By Diann Tagert for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Two West Florida Seniors Sign
May 2, 2015
Two West Florida High School seniors signed letters of intent Friday. Keandre Prim signed to play football with Faulkner University, while Teandre Jones signed a basketball scholarship with Shelton State. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bond Revoked For Century Man Accused Of Threatening To Kill Deputies
May 1, 2015
An Escambia County judge has revoked the bond of a Century man allegedly threatened to kill multiple Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies along with every officer he saw.
Aaron Tyrone Madison, Jr., 31, was taken into custody this week after Judge Joyce Williams ordered him held without bond until his trial for the August 2014 incident. He is charged with possession of a concealed weapon by a convicted felon, criminal mischief with property damage, fleeing and eluding and resisting arrest without violence. A charge of assaulting an officer was dropped.
On August 27, 2014, an Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy observed a four wheeler traveling north on Highway 29 carrying a passenger. The driver cut across Highway 29 onto Highway 4A. The deputy caught up with the four wheeler after it stalled in the 4000 block of Highway 4A.
The driver of the four wheeler, identified as Madison, immediately took “an aggressive posture by balling his fists and taking a fighting stance, then started cursing, and threatened to shoot me and every cop he sees,” an arrest report states.
Madison told the deputy that he was upset because “the police were shooting [expletive] in the street,” according to the arrest report. The deputy reported that Madison continued to be aggressive, verbally abusive and continued to threaten to kill him while holding an aggressive stance with his fists balled up. Madison was detained after he pleaded with the deputy to shoot him.
A loaded .22 caliber semi-automatic Ruger pistol was found concealed under the driver’s seat of the four wheeler, with one bullet in the chamber and the weapon ready to fire, according to the report. Madison claimed ownership of the gun, saying “he wanted to shoot some police”.
The passenger on the four wheeler was released and not charged.
While being transported to the jail, Madison slipped his handcuffs to the front and attempted to break the plexiglass partition in the deputy’s vehicle as he yelled for the deputy to stop the vehicle or he would climb up front and kill him. The deputy stopped his vehicle near the Camp O’ The Pines in McDavid where additional deputies arrived and assisted in placing Madison in leg restraints and reposition his handcuffs. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at less than $200.
Madison made several more death threats to each deputy and stated several times that he wanted deputies to shoot him, the arrest report states.
Several corrections officers were needed to removed Madison from the deputy’s vehicle.
The deputy’s in-car video and audio were active during the incident.
Errors Lead Citizens Insurance To Offer Credit Monitoring
May 1, 2015
Nearly 20,000 policyholders of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will be offered a year of free credit monitoring because some of their information was sent to a wrong address.
The Citizens Board of Governors, in a teleconference Thursday, approved up to $640,000 in emergency funding to cover the cost of providing credit oversight from the information-services company Experian.
The final cost will depend on how many policyholders take advantage of the offer.
The data release does not meet the definition of a security breach under Florida law. However, Citizens Chief Legal Officer Dan Sumner told the board the offer is “prudent.”
From December through March, some policyholder “declaration” pages were mailed to incorrect addresses. Most went to an incorrect mortgage company, while others were mailed to a pair of policyholders.
Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said the two policyholders “returned the declaration packages unopened,” but the documents received by a mortgage company have yet to be retrieved and some may have already been destroyed.
Declaration pages contain policyholders’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, policy numbers, premium amounts, coverage limits and property mortgage loan numbers.
The pages do not include Social Security numbers, credit-card or payment information or passwords and usernames for online accounts.
Kelly Booten, Citizens chief systems and operations officer, said as a security precaution the company has reduced the number of people who can access the data-entry changes that were tied to the errors.
Impacted policyholders have until July 31 to sign up for the service, according to information Citizens President and Chief Executive Officer Barry Gilway provided to the board.
However, Peltier said the deadline will vary depending upon when customers receive the notification letter, which will be sent in several bulk mailings.
The state-backed insurer will only have to pay the credit-monitoring service for each policyholder who takes advantage of the offer.
The emergency funding request comes to $32.02 per affected policyholder, according to Citizens records.
The agenda item for the emergency funding noted that historically the redemption rate for such offers is 12 percent, which would put a final price tag around $77,000.
During the teleconference, the board also approved a $3.9 billion risk-transfer package for the 2015 hurricane season. The package is expected to bolster Citizens’ surplus and eliminate the risk of potential assessments on Florida policyholders if a “1-in-100 year storm” hits Florida.
The package includes $1.855 billion for traditional reinsurance — insurance for insurers — and $2.05 billion in capital-market catastrophe bonds.
The total is a $636.5 million increase from the coverage Citizens secured for the 2014 hurricane season.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Chiefs’ Lambert, Newsome Sign Letters Of Intent
May 1, 2015
Two Northview High School seniors signed football letters of intent Thursday. Cameron Newsome (right) signed with Waldorf College in Iowa, and Nick Lambert signed with Faulkner University in Montgomery. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia Corrections Officer Wanted For Armed Robbery
May 1, 2015
Police are searching for a man identified as an Escambia County Corrections officer in connection with the armed robbery of a pharmacy.
A warrant has been issued for Cameron Tristan Perkins, 29 who is wanted for armed robbery, kidnapping, grand theft of a controlled substance, using a firearm during a felony, trafficking in opium or derivative, and committing a second degree felony wearing a mask or hood.
The incident occurred around 3:35 a.m. on April 19, at CVS, 6888 N. 9th Ave. Two masked suspects forced an employee to give them narcotics at gunpoint. The employees were then forced at gunpoint into a bathroom before the suspects fled.
Derick Cannon, 31, of 1724 Dauphin Road, Pensacola, and Shawn Cannon, 29, of 4301 Creighton Road, Pensacola, were both arrested Wednesday in connection with that incident. The brothers face the same charges as Perkins and have also been charged with an additional robbery of the same CVS that occurred July 22, 2014. Narcotics were also stolen at gunpoint in that incident.
The on-going investigation is a concentrated effort involving numerous Pensacola Police officers and law enforcement officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Gun Crime Response Team. Detective Pat Bradley is heading up the investigation from the Pensacola Police Department.
The suspects also are being investigated by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Milton Police Department for similar incidents.
Detectives have contacted Perkins’ employer and family members asking their assistance in persuading him to turn himself in. Perkins is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone having information on Perkins is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Photos: Ransom, Ernest Ward Track
May 1, 2015
Ransom, Ernest Ward and Workman middle school met in a track meet Thursday afternoon in Cantonment. Results were not immediately available.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Ten Big Issues As Regular Session Ends
May 1, 2015
Ordinarily, the last week of the annual legislative session is a blur of deal-making, with bills bouncing back and forth across the Capitol’s fourth floor. But with the House adjourning Tuesday amid a battle with the Senate about budget and health-care issues, the 2015 session will be remembered for its messy end — and the piles of bills that died in the crossfire. Lawmakers will come back sometime in May or June for a special session to negotiate and pass a budget. But with the 60-day regular session formally ending Friday, here is where 10 major issues stand:
BUDGET: At some point, lawmakers will pass a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. They don’t have a choice. But the Republican-dominated House and Senate remain more than $4 billion apart in their budget proposals and have not started the formal process of trying to come to agreement. While the House and Senate always have budget differences, this year’s standoff focuses almost exclusively on health care. Lawmakers don’t know whether the federal government will extend a $2.2 billion program known as the Low Income Pool, which is scheduled to expire June 30 and plays a key role in helping hospitals care for poor and uninsured patients. Meanwhile, the Senate wants to use $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid money to offer health insurance to hundreds of thousands of lower-income Floridians — a non-starter for the House.
CHILD WELFARE: After passing a major overhaul of the child-welfare system last year, lawmakers finalized a bill (SB 7078) this week that might be best-described as tweaking the system. As an example, the bill could expand the role of the state’s Critical Incident Rapid Response Team, which the secretary of the Department of Children and Families can dispatch to investigate child deaths. As another example, the bill tries to give priority to types of services that are “evidence-based and trauma-informed” — a more child-centered approach based on the idea that abused kids can recover by addressing the experiences they’ve endured, such as family violence or addicted parents. Even with the overhaul last year, however, the state has continued to grapple with tragic incidents such as the death of a child who was dropped off a bridge into Tampa Bay and the death of a Hollywood child whose body was found wrapped in garbage bags and hidden in a laundry room.
GAMBLING: In early April, Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, offered a narrowly tailored plan to extend for one year a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The plan would have allowed tribal casinos to retain exclusive rights to offer banked card games, such as blackjack, in exchange for the Seminoles paying more than $100 million to the state. But by the end of session, gambling bills had collapsed in the House and Senate as various gaming interests looked to get a piece of the action. Ideas ranged from allowing resort casinos in South Florida to lifting a requirement that greyhound tracks run live races, effectively allowing them to focus on offering lucrative card rooms. Both of those ideas were included in a House plan floated by Majority Leader Dana Young, R-Tampa. The collapse of the bills left unresolved what will happen with the Seminole Tribe, as a current card-game deal is scheduled to expire this summer.
GUNS: With memories of a November shooting at Florida State University fresh in their minds, lawmakers this session waded into an emotional debate about allowing people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on college and university campuses. Supporters said more people carrying guns would improve campus safety, while opponents said it would create dangers. In the end, the proposal died quietly, as the Senate Judiciary Committee did not take it up. Also, the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee scuttled another controversial proposal that would have allowed school superintendents to designate trained employees or volunteers to carry guns at public schools. Second Amendment supporters, however, gained a victory when the House and Senate passed a bill (SB 290) that would allow more people to carry weapons during mandatory emergency evacuations. The measure would allow people to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenses for 48 hours during such evacuations.
HEALTH CARE: As the keys to the budget impasse between the House and Senate, the Low Income Pool and the Senate plan for expanding health coverage overshadowed all other issues during the session. The outcomes of those issues during a special session will have huge financial ramifications for the state. But they also have huge ramifications for hospitals and low-income patients and pose a political dilemma for Republican lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott. With the LIP program scheduled to expire June 30, all sides will be watching to see if the state can work out an extension with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The alternative could be funneling hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax money into the health-care system. Meanwhile, the Senate coverage plan would use Medicaid money available under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, to offer private health insurance to about 800,000 people. The Senate argues a coverage expansion is important, at least in part, because of the potential loss of LIP money. But the House and Scott adamantly oppose the Senate plan, arguing that the federal government can’t be trusted and that Florida could get saddled with the expansion costs in the future.
LAND AND WATER: The House passed its version of a water-policy bill during the first week of the legislative session. The Senate passed its version during the final week. But the two chambers never came to agreement on the issue, which House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, has made a priority. Also unresolved is how lawmakers will carry out a voter-approved measure, known as Amendment 1, that requires the state to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars a year for land and water projects. Environmentalists have criticized initial proposals from the House and Senate, arguing that more money should go to the Florida Forever land-conservation program and to Everglades restoration efforts. But Republican leaders in both chambers have suggested the state needs to focus on managing property it already owns instead of amassing more. Carrying out Amendment 1 could be a closely watched part of a budget special session.
PRISONS: For the past year, the Florida Department of Corrections has faced a barrage of allegations about inmate deaths, cover-ups and poor working conditions in the prison system. That led Senate Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, to lead a review that went so far as to include unannounced visits to prisons and taking sworn testimony during a committee meeting. But lawmakers went home this week without reaching agreement on reforming the system. The House and Senate differed on issues such as a Senate proposal to create an oversight commission to investigate prison wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said he will put a Senate committee on the road to investigate problems in the system.
STADIUMS: Gardiner left no doubt before the session started that he supported using state sales-tax dollars to help build a soccer stadium in Orlando. That could be considered, in the words of the late Senate President Jim King, some “home cooking.” But with key House leaders opposed, funding for the Orlando stadium and three other professional sports venues barely became an issue during the regular session. The other projects are at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Daytona International Speedway and Sun Life Stadium in Miami-Dade County. Late in the session, an amendment was attached to a Senate economic-development bill that would have provided money for the projects, but the bill did not get heard in the full Senate.
TAX CUTS: Scott proposed an ambitious $673 million in tax cuts this year, only to get slightly trumped by a $690 million tax-cut package offered in the House. But with the budget picture unresolved, tax cuts remain in limbo. Senate committees moved forward during the session with a series of bills that would have cut taxes, but Senate leaders never offered a full package. What’s more, if lawmakers have to use state money to make up for reductions in the LIP program, that could limit the amount of tax cuts they can offer. Scott’s biggest proposed cut would be a $470 million reduction in the communications-services tax, which is collected on such things as cell-phone and cable-television services. But lawmakers have also considered a series of other ideas, such as trimming a tax on commercial real-estate leases and providing a back-to-school sales-tax holiday.
TESTING: Amid all the ill will this session, the House, Senate and Scott found common ground on school testing. Lawmakers passed — and Scott quickly signed — a bill (HB 7069) aimed at reducing the number of tests given to public-school students. The issue has become high-profile during the past year and gained momentum when technology troubles caused widespread problems as students started taking the new Florida Standards Assessments. The bill, in part, puts a hold on the use of student test data for school grades, teacher evaluations and student promotion to fourth grade until the Florida Standards Assessments can be independently validated. It also scraps a law requiring school districts to come up with end-of-course tests in classes where the state doesn’t administer such exams. Also, it caps the amount of time students can spend on state and school district tests at 45 hours a year and reduces the portion of a teacher’s evaluation tied to student performance.