32 To Compete In ‘Miss EWMS’ Pageant Friday Night
March 5, 2015
Friday night, 32 young ladies will compete for the title of Miss EWMS.
Tickets are available in advance for $5 for adults, $3 for elementary students. At the door, all tickets will be $6. The pageant begins at 7 p.m.
Eighth grade contestants, pictured above, are (L-R, front) Allison Rice, Shelby Bashore, Gabrielle Kline, Gabbrielle Peebles, Nikoal Creamer, (back) Kaina Brantley, Ashtyn Carnley, Aubree Love, Madison Sherouse, Cailee Wilburn, Morgan Lathan and Emma Fennell.
Seventh grade contestants, pictured below, are (L-R, front) Katelyn Hassebrock, Ashlan Harigel, Payton Jackson, Jayda Crabtree, Cloe Smith, Bailey Seibert, (back) Madison Jogan, Raleigh Woodfin, Teriana Redmond, Destiny Cleckler, Lauren Ahern, Kelley Bradley and Savannah Steadham.
Sixth grade contestants, pictured bottom, are (L-R) Madison Peterson, Madelyn Berry, Emily Stabler, Taviana Parker and Kenna Redmond.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Lady Jags Beat Navarre
March 5, 2015
The West Florida Lady Jaguars beat Navarre 6-3 on a warm and muggy night Wednesday. The Lady Jags will take on Pace Thursday night. Photos by Gary Carnley for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Air Safety Company Moving To Escambia County
March 4, 2015
Aero Sekur, specialist in helicopter lift-raft and flotation systems, is moving from New Jersey to Pensacola.
The move provides the aviation safety and protection systems designer with a larger facility and closer geographic links to many of the US helicopter operators in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I’m looking forward to Aero Sekur joining our community,” said Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May. “Businesses like Aero Sekur that create great jobs and make new investments have choices about where they locate. We’re pleased that they have chosen Escambia County.”
John Hutchinson, president of the Community Economic Development Association (CEDA) said Aero Sekur’s decision is another indication that the aerospace industry has its eyes on Northwest Florida. “This industry has huge growth potential and we are winning important projects that will demonstrate to other companies that they can be successful in our region. We must continue to make economic development a priority.”
“For more than 100 years, aviation has been part of the very fabric of our community, and we’re leveraging that experience to compete for the aviation-sector jobs of today and tomorrow. Aero Sekur is a leader in aviation safety and protection systems, and a great addition to Northwest Florida’s growing aerospace and aviation cluster. We’re excited to welcome them and to partner with them as they look to grow their business and enhance their distribution network,” said Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
Courtesy photo.
Potential Applicants Learn About The $25K Century Business Challenge
March 4, 2015
About 10 potential applicants attended an organizational meeting Tuesday night to learn about the Century Business Challenge.
The business challenge is a business plan competition in which the winning company will receive a prize package valued at more than $25,000. The Pensacola-based Studer Institute and the Haas Center are sponsoring the competition in partnership with the Florida SBDC at UWF, which is providing business planning software and conducting orientation and workshop sessions for participants.
Prizes for the winner of the Century Business Challenge include space at the Century Business Center on Pond Street at a lease rate of $1 per year, with the possibility of an extension of that rate for two more years based on the company’s performance. They will also receive $25,000 in operating funds from the Studer Institute. And the Century Town Council has recently approved offering the same $1 per year lease rate at the Century Business Center for the second place finisher.
“We do know that not all businesses will go in that space; it’s just an added perk,” Allison Tyler, Century’s economic development coordinator, said Tuesday night. “Regardless, we want to keep those businesses in Century.”
It’s not too late to learn more and submit business ideas for the Century Business Challenge. Another public meeting will be held Tuesday, March 17, and the final application deadline is March 31. After March 31, several closed-door workshops will be held, with a winner expected to be announced on June 25.
The Century Business Challenge is part of an economic development partnership of the Haas Center, the Town of Century and the Studer Institute. Applications and more information about the business challenge can be found at www.CenturyBusinessChallenge.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Scott’s State Of The State Calls On ‘Florida Exceptionalism’ To Tout Agenda
March 4, 2015
Calling on something he termed “Florida exceptionalism,” Gov. Rick Scott used the annual State of the State address Tuesday to try to reinvigorate his legislative agenda after a difficult opening to his second term.
During the 21-minute speech, Scott pushed lawmakers to adopt his proposals to slash taxes, hold down the cost of higher education and boost public education spending to the highest per-student level in state history.
“Now that our economy is thriving, it’s time to make major investments in education,” Scott said. “Let’s not squander our budget surpluses on special interests. Our budget should absolutely reflect the principles we campaigned on. Or in other words, we should do exactly what we told voters we would do.”
Scott did not unveil new proposals in the speech which, after the introductions, was interrupted almost 40 times for applause. But as he has done in the past, the governor introduced an overarching theme to tie together his agenda. He used “dream” or some form of the word 19 times in the address.
“Florida’s long been a place where dreams come true. But this is not just our past, it’s our future. … We want more people to chase their dreams in the great state of Florida,” he said.
The annual speech also gave Scott a chance to change the subject after a bruising two months that featured questions about the forced resignation of the state’s top law-enforcement officer and speculation that Scott’s influence might be waning as lawmakers begin looking past the term-limited governor.
Some of Scott’s goals enjoy broad support, including his call to increase education funding. There is also agreement, at least among the Republicans who control the Legislature, on the need for further tax cuts, though the amount of those cuts and which taxes are slashed might differ.
The governor’s call to “keep cutting taxes” was one of his best applause lines, and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said he would like to lower taxes by at least $500 million, despite questions about whether the state could lose $2 billion in health-care funding from federal and local sources.
“I’d love to surpass the $500 million cut that we had last year,” Crisafulli said. “That would be my goal for the House. Obviously, things happen, and we’ll just have to see how things play out over the next several weeks.”
Democrats, unsurprisingly, were critical of Scott’s remarks. Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, took issue with Scott’s frequent references to dreams coming true in Florida.
“Dreams are not coming true for over a million Floridians who are blocked out of affordable health care,” she said, referring to Republicans’ refusal to expand Medicaid despite Scott’s previous, tepid support for the plan. ” … Dreams die when people get sick and can’t get health care. One of the top issues facing this state is providing health care for 1 million people who don’t have it, and the governor didn’t even mention it.”
Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, expressed concerned about Scott’s push for more tax cuts.
“The idea of handing those (dollars) out in tax cuts every year means that things like teacher’s salaries, more police officers, better-supported judges, better-supported public defenders and state attorneys, suffer the consequences,” Bullard said. “We have to be about the business of protecting the revenue streams that we have and not losing sight of the good that government can do. Government should be in the business of helping and protecting people, and not be in the business of being shrunken to the point that it suffocates.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Burglar Gets More Prison Time
March 4, 2015
Craig Warren Jackson, sentenced last month to prison for a string of Cantonment area burglaries, received another decade in prison Tuesday for additional crimes.
Jackson, 36, was sentenced to an additional 10 years by Judge Linda Nobles on additional burglary related charges.
In Escambia County, he has been charged with burglaries during early 2014 on Southern Oaks Drive, Woodrun Road, Filly Road and Tanager Circle. During those burglaries, jewelry, electronics, weapons and safes were stolen. He was also charged with burglaries in the city of Pensacola in which thousands of dollars worth of electronics, jewelry and other items were stolen. Many of those items have been recovered.
Jackson is still facing trial on several additional burglaries.
Gulf Power: Power Grid Investment Paying Off In Reliability
March 4, 2015
Heavy rains cause a limb to fall on a power line. A smart device called a recloser senses the fault and de-energizes the line. The limb slides off the line and falls to the ground. The recloser restores power automatically — and it all happens in a matter of seconds.
Prior to the installation of smart devices like the recloser, crews would have been dispatched to the site of the power outage to make repairs — and the outage would have been considerably longer.
Last year, Gulf Power customers enjoyed fewer outages than in any time in recent history. In fact, investments in the power grid have improved reliability for the utility’s 436,000 customers by almost 40 percent since 2010.
“The key to keeping reliability high for customers is investing in technology, maintenance and upgrades,” said Jeff Rogers, Corporate Communications manager. “Making sure our customers can count on us for reliable electricity is very important, and the investments we continue to make in our system are paying off.”
Measuring reliability includes reviewing the total number of outages and the length of outages. In 2014, the number of power outages caused by lightning increased by 26 percent. However, the duration of those outages did not increase at all from 2013.
The reasons are many. Gulf Power is in the middle of the largest power grid construction project in company history. Transmission lines are being upgraded, and substations are being rebuilt or upgraded.
Smart, self-healing devices also reduce the duration of outages. The installation of lightning arrestors helps reduce the number of outages, and installation of reclosers can help reduce the number of customers who are affected. Since 2010, Gulf Power has installed more than 600 reclosers that help reduce the number of customers who would experience a power outage. A recloser is essentially a smart circuit breaker that can automatically restore service once the fault is no longer on the grid.
Another vital program that helps improve reliability is Gulf Power’s vegetation management program. The annual program involves trimming trees near power lines, which helps keep branches from causing power outages. This is considered a critically important program heading into tropical storm season.
“Upgrading and improving our infrastructure is making our power grid stronger and more robust,” Rogers said, “and will help maintain high reliability today and into the future.”
Pictured top: Gulf Power crews work to upgrade lines and equipment. Pictured inset: A substation upgraded with new equipment. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Suspends Computer Based Testing Another Day; Statewide Fallout Continues
March 4, 2015
The fallout continued Tuesday from the troubled rollout of the state’s online school-testing platform, with a pair of Senate Democrats asking Gov. Rick Scott to suspend the exams as the House released a first draft of its plan to deal with politically combustible testing issues.
For a second day, some school districts reportedly suspended at least some testing after technology problems roiled the first outing of the Florida Standards Assessment, a test meant to measure how well students are learning the state’s new education benchmarks.
The problems prompted Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas to suspend testing again Wednesday for all middle and high schools ,with hopes that computer-based testing can resume Thursday.
The exams were being closely watched as lawmakers grapple with how to overhaul a school accountability system that some educators and parents argue has become too overbearing.
In an update to districts that Education Commissioner Pam Stewart sent out Tuesday evening, she said that more than 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.
Stewart said American Institutes for Research, a non-profit group that signed a six-year, $220 million deal to design the tests, had already managed to make some fixes and boost performance.
“I assure you we are working with AIR around the clock to resolve reported technical difficulties,” Stewart wrote. “AIR has taken full responsibility for the issues and has dedicated all available resources to fixing the problem.”
The Department of Education has pointed out that students have up to two weeks, plus time for makeup tests, to take the 90-minute exam.
In a letter to Scott on Tuesday, Sens. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, and Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, blasted Monday’s troubles as “nothing less than a disaster for school districts and students across the state.”
“We are calling on you to immediately suspend the administration of these tests and allow time for educators to work out the problems, instead of using our children as guinea pigs for a flawed system,” the two senators wrote.
Scott has already halted a language arts test supposed to be taken by high school juniors, though that was to give lawmakers time to eliminate that exam entirely during the legislative session that began Tuesday.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said after the House and Senate adjourned Tuesday that he was unaware of the letter from the two senators. Crisafulli largely brushed off a question about whether he was upset with the rollout.
“We understand that there (were) a few bumps yesterday,” he said. “Anytime you roll out a new program, you’re going to have something like that.”
The speaker said he was waiting to hear more from Stewart about the problems.
But even Democrats who have been critical of this week’s problems were not united around the idea of stopping testing entirely. Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who doubles as chief executive officer of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, said he didn’t think a pause was necessary.
Montford has filed legislation (SB 774) that would suspend most of the state’s accountability system for two years to give officials time to assess how the exam is working.
“We need to go ahead and give the test, but let’s don’t use it for punitive purposes. Let’s don’t use it for diagnostic purposes,” Montford said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the House Education Committee unveiled a draft proposal to deal with parents’ and educators’ complaints that students are tested too much. Many of the bill’s provisions would track with recommendations Stewart made to curb over-testing.
The proposal would eliminate the 11th-grade test that Scott has suspended. It would also bar final exams in classes for which the state or a local school district has end-of-course tests, and make a college-readiness test given to some students optional.
The measure would reduce how much of a teacher’s evaluation is tied to student performance, from 50 percent to a third. And it would require the Department of Education to publish a testing calendar that districts can use, along with their own schedule, to inform parents about when students will be tested.
The House Education Committee is set to hear the bill on Thursday.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Ernest Ward’s One Person Dive Team Takes Second At County
March 4, 2015
The Ernest Ward Middle School Dive Team received second place during the 2015 Escambia County Diving Championship at Washington High School. There were 24 divers — 11 female and 13 male — participating in the meet. The Ernest Ward Dive Team consisted of just one diver — Jayda Crabtree. She placed second in the girls division. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Baseball: Tate, Northview Win; Softball: Tate Falls, Northview Wins
March 4, 2015
Tate 9, Crestview 2
Tate 11 ,Crestview 0 (JV)
The Tate Aggies beat Crestview 9-2 Tuesday night. Jesse Gunter took the win for the Aggies going four innings while allowing two hits, two runs, one error and two strikeouts. Brandon Fryman was 2-4 with a triple and two runs; Cole Halfacre was 2-+4 with a double and three RBI’s. Sawyer Smith was 2-3 with a double, one RBI and three stolen bases; Mark Miller was 2-4 with a double, RBI and a stolen base for the undefeated Aggies.
Northview 2, Jay 0
Northview 11, Jay 1 (JV)
In a district game, the Northview Chiefs beat the Jay Royals 2-0 in Jay Tuesday night. The Chiefs (7-0, 3-0) will host Holmes County Friday night at 6:30, following a junior varsity game at 4:00
SOFTBALL
Northview 4, PHS 0
The Northview Lady Chiefs beat Pensacola High School 4-0 Tuesday night in Pensacola. Mallory Ryan pitched a no hitter with 16 strikeouts and just two walks. At the plate, Kyndall Hall went 3-3. Northview softball will be on the road Thursday with games at Bonifay.
Niceville 5, Tate 4
The Tate Lady Aggies fell short 5-4 to the Niceville Eagles Tuesday night for their first loss of the season. Tori Perkins allowed eight hits, five runs, three errors, walked five and struck out four for the Aggies. Casey McCrackin 2-5, 2B; Hayden Lindsay 1-3, 2B, 2R; Tori Perkins 2-4, RBI, 2B; Rachel Wright 2-2, R, RBI; Izzy Werdann 1-3, 2 RBIs.Tate (12-1,4-1) is on the road at Milton at 7:00 Friday night.
Pictured: Northview at Jay. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ramona Preston.
