Tax Free Turkey? Florida TaxWatch Talks Thanksgiving Dinner
November 25, 2014
Floridians have another reason to be thankful this holiday season – Florida is not one of the 14 states in the nation that tax groceries, according to Florida TaxWatch, a statewide, non-profit, non-partisan research institute.
While most food that Florida residents prepare themselves for a Thanksgiving feast is exempt, some of the items on dinner tables may be subject to the state’s sales tax, ranging from six to 7.5 percent.
In Florida, groceries are generally exempt as long as they are not prepared in-store. For example, a raw turkey is tax exempt, but a prepared turkey is taxed. However, there are some nuances. Deli foods prepared off-site are not taxed as long as the grocer leaves them in their original sealed container. Bakery products are only taxed if items are sold for consumption at in-store dining facilities. Deli meats and cheeses are not taxed unless they are arranged and sold in party platters, and fruit and salad platters are exempt unless they are packaged with utensils.
“Understanding Florida’s tax laws can be very difficult for Florida shoppers, so Florida TaxWatch is helping taxpayers understand their tax obligations, and get a better sense of what they are buying this Thanksgiving,” said Dominic M. Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch.
In nearby Alabama, tax on that Thanksgiving turkey can be as much as nine percent or more.
Florida Corrections Chief Mike Crews Stepping Down
November 25, 2014
Gov. Rick Scott’s corrections chief, Mike Crews, announced Monday he is retiring from the agency grappling with reports of abuse by prison guards, allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers and a multimillion-dollar deficit.
Crews, who ended months of speculation about his departure during a conference call with high-ranking staff Monday morning, is the first agency head to step down since Scott’s re-election Nov. 4 and is retiring after 30 years of employment with the state.
Crews told Scott in a resignation letter dated Monday that he decided to leave his Department of Corrections post “after much deliberation, discussion and prayer” with his family.
In a telephone interview with our Tallahassee news bureau, Crews acknowledged that he has “dealt with some significant issues over the last few years.” He also offered some advice for his temporary successor, Tim , a deputy secretary of the agency who will take over as interim secretary after Crews leaves Sunday.
“Stay the course on the things that we are doing and have implemented and that we’re doing right,” Crews said. “The most important thing is don’t ever stop caring about doing the right thing and caring about each other. When you have an agency as large as we are, you’re going to have challenges. You’re going to have things that are going to happen that you’re going to have to deal with, that’s a part of it. But there are some of the most incredible men and women that work for that department that do things that would astonish most people. And they do them during a time when it has been some of the most difficult times that our agency has ever had.”
Crews, 53, was the third Department of Corrections secretary appointed during Scott’s first term in office.
Crews launched a crusade to clean up the corrections agency this summer after reports of inmate deaths and abuse at the hands of prison guards. Crews, who began his career as a prison guard, fired dozens of prison workers, initiated new standards for conduct and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where he spent nearly three decades before becoming the corrections agency’s deputy secretary in 2012, to investigate more than unresolved 100 inmate deaths.
Black leaders are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to expand an investigation into wrongdoing at several Florida prisons.
And a group of corrections investigators who work for Scott’s inspector general filed a lawsuit against Crews, Scott and others earlier this year, alleging they were retaliated against for exposing the death of an inmate that opened a floodgate of questions about inmate abuse.
Scott’s first prison chief, Ed Buss, was forced to step down after less than a year on the job after being at odds with the governor’s office over contracts and a massive privatization attempt that the Legislature failed to endorse.
Buss was replaced by Ken Tucker, a longtime Florida Department of Law Enforcement official and one of Crews’ mentors. Tucker stepped down two years ago as part of a longtime plan to participate in the state’s retirement program.
In December 2012, Crews took over an agency with a $2 billion budget that was $120 million in debt and was tied up in a court battle over privatization of inmate health services. Crews initiated a variety of cost-cutting measures, including having inmates sew their own clothes, make their own laundry soap and wash dishes by hand. Crews said he hoped to whittle the deficit down to $15 million this year.
Crews urged the next secretary to advocate for raises for corrections workers, who have not received the same increases that have gone to other law enforcement employees such as Florida Highway Patrol officers.
“While those people deserve it, leaving out correctional officers and our probation officers out of that discussion, that’s a tragedy. For at least 12 hours a day, they’re inside a closed-in fence with the same people that committed the crimes that the officers who are stopping and making arrests and subjecting themselves to life-and-death situations. They’re in the same environment where they’re closed in with them for at least 12 hours a day, every day. To not recognize that and put them at the forefront of consideration, I think is a tragedy,” Crews said in an interview Monday.
But Crews’ major headaches came this summer after the Miami Herald reported that Darren Rainey, a mentally ill inmate at Dade Correctional Institution, died after guards allegedly forced him to shower in scalding hot water as punishment two years ago. Rainey’s death prompted Crews to fire the warden at the prison and clean house at other institutions where inmates have died under questionable circumstances.
The FBI is reportedly scrutinizing Suwannee Correctional Institution, where an inmate-led riot injured five prison guards in October. The April 2 death of inmate Shawn Gooden at the facility is one of more than 100 inmate deaths being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In the lawsuit filed by the group of investigators, the whistleblowers claim they started a probe into allegations of prison guard misconduct at Franklin Correctional Institution in 2013. That investigation revealed that an earlier probe into the 2010 death of inmate Randall Jordan-Aparo, who died in solitary confinement after being repeatedly gassed with noxious chemicals, “was false and misleading.” Several of the guards involved in Jordan-Aparo’s death have since been fired.
Crews has also wrestled with widespread gang activity aided by corrupt guards.
As an example, two former prison sergeants are awaiting trial after being accused of ordering an inmate to be killed last fall to protect the guards’ role as kingpins of an institution-wide gang operation at Taylor Correctional Institution in North Florida.
For more than a year, at least five guards allegedly helped the “Bloods,” “Folk” and “MPR” gangs by smuggling drugs, cell phones and cigarettes into the prison in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments, according to probable-cause affidavits.
Cell phones, which can sell for up to $600 inside prisons, are a problem in correctional systems throughout the country, Crews said last month.
“You have individuals who say, ‘If I bring in 10 of those, I’m probably sitting on $5,000 or $6,000.’ Some people can’t turn down that temptation,” he said. “Yeah, we have gangs in prisons just like are out on the street right now. It is a constant battle to make sure we keep monitoring those and try to minimize their effectiveness inside the institution, and outside the institution, honestly.”
Crews also struggled to change the culture of the prison system, which oversees more than 100,000 inmates, and which is the best — or only — job in many rural counties, especially in North Florida, where the institutions are located. In some areas, guards are third-generation employees of the corrections department whose family members and neighbors also work at the prisons. Crews tried to convince prison staff to report wrongdoing, but fears of retaliation and shunning are common in the system.
Crews assured workers that he would protect them if they expose abuse or corruption.
“There’s no doubt there are still people who work in this agency that are fearful of coming forward for doing the right thing. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. We didn’t get into the position that we’re in today overnight. We’re not going to get out of it overnight. This takes time. And when you’re trying to change a culture you have to do it from the top down and the bottom up,” he said in an October interview.
In September, Crews threatened to stop payments to Missouri-based Corizon, which won a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide health care to the majority of the state’s prisoners. Crews accused Corizon of failing to follow through after audits revealed shortcomings in multiple areas, including medical care, nursing and administration.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
FSU Shooting Victim Paralyzed, But Determined To Graduate
November 25, 2014
The student who was critically injured in Thursday’s shooting at Florida State University is paralyzed from the waist down, but still determined to realize his dream of becoming a biomedical engineer, his sister told reporters Monday.
Farhana Ahmed, the older sister of FSU student Farhan “Ronny” Ahmed, said her brother’s condition has been upgraded from critical to serious at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, where he was taken after the shooting and where she met with reporters.
“Despite his injuries, he’s alive and we’re so grateful he is here with us,” she said.
Ronny Ahmed, 21, was shot three times. He was the most seriously injured of the three people attacked at FSU’s Strozier Library early Thursday morning, when a gunman, Myron May opened fire in the lobby. The library’s security measures kept at least 450 students who were studying for exams out of harm’s way, while May was shot and killed by FSU and Tallahassee police who were on the scene in less than five minutes.
Farhana Ahmed credited law enforcement for sparing other students from May’s bullets. “Ronny himself was probably saved by the quickness of their actions,” she said.
University employee Nathan Scott, 30, was shot in the leg and was released from the hospital Friday. The third victim, Elijah Velez, 18, suffered what police called a “grazing” wound.
Farhana Ahmed said she spoke to reporters on behalf of her family to respond to messages from across the country.
“We’ve gotten so many teddy bears and letters and calls and messages of support saying they are with Ronny and they hope he recovers soon and that he is part of the Tallahassee community,” she said.
At her side was FSU President John Thrasher, who pledged his full support to the Ahmed family.
“Florida State University is 100 percent committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to fulfill Ronny’s dream, as Farhana said, of achieving his goal of graduating from Florida State University,” Thrasher said. “We are going to work with her and her family to do that and continue to support them in every way we can.”
Friends of the Ahmed family put up a fundraising website to help with Ronny’s medical expenses, and donations are pouring in.
Farhana Ahmed said her brother grew up in Orlando and graduated from Lake Highland Preparatory School. He has a year and a half to go to complete his bachelor’s degree at FSU.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Video Shows Armed Robbery Of Highway 97 Convenience Store
November 24, 2014
This story has been updated. Click here.
The search is continuing for the suspect in the Friday armed robbery of a Highway 97 convenience store , and a surveillance video has revealed new details about the crime.
The male suspect entered the Davisville BP about 7:45 p.m. and and demanded cash. In the video, he walks directly to the counter, then walks further into the store, presumably to get the clerk who was not behind the counter. He pulls what appears to be a handgun out of his coat pocket. The clerk can be seen removing cash from the register, placing it in a plastic shopping bag, and hurriedly placing the bag on the counter.
The perpetrator quickly exits the store toward Nokomis Road, quickly turns around and looks back in the door, and then continues to make his getaway. The video shows the entire robbery took about 45 seconds.
Friday night, the clerk was not immediately available to provide a good description of the suspect, but investigators reviewed surveillance video in their effort to develop a suspect. He fled the store in an unknown type vehicle in an unknown direction of travel. No suspect has been named by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect appeared to be a white male, average height and was wearing glasses with a dark frame. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing khaki colored pants, a ski mask and a blue winter coat with an attached hat.
Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
If you do not see the video at the top of this story, it is because your home, work or school firewall is blocking YouTube videos.
Pictured inset: The suspect in a Friday night robbery. Pictured below: The BP station on Highway 97 in Davisville minutes after a Friday night robbery. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Ernest Ward Middle Names Students Of The Month
November 24, 2014
Ernest Ward Middle School has named Students of the Month for September and October. They are (pictured L-R) October – Crystal Douglas, 8th grade, and Savannah Spence, 7th grade; September – Liby Pugh. Not pictured is Abenia Diggs, 6th grade, October. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Let The Miracle League Fry Your Turkey
November 24, 2014
Want a fried turkey but afraid to try it yourself? Volunteers from the Miracle League of Pensacola will fry your turkey for you on Wednesday, November 26, saving you the time and trouble while benefiting the charity. And there is still time to make an appointment.
Completely thaw your turkey, removing all of the inside packaging and giblets. Write down exactly how much your turkey weighs so it is fried perfectly and take it to the Miracle League Park at 555 East Nine Mile Road from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Wednesday. For a monetary donation to Miracle League, the volunteers will fry your turkey to perfection. A minimum of $20 per turkey is necessary to help cover costs, and any additional donation will benefit the Miracle League of Pensacola.
Call Greg Wiggins at (850) 529-2155 or Paul Hinson at (850) 450-8319 with questions or to schedule your time (leave a message if no answer). Reservations should be made early as they number of time slots is limited.
Turkey Time: Extension Service Offers Thawing Tips
November 24, 2014
It’s Thanksgiving week, time for family and friends to gather and give thanks. And time for cooks to ponder the correct way to prepare their turkey.
Today, we are taking a look how to make sure your turkey is properly thawed with tips from Dorthy Lee, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for the Escambia County Extension Office.
Following four simple food-handling practices—clean, separate, cook, chill—will ensure a delicious and safe meal.
Frozen turkeys should be thawed—at a safe temperature— prior to cooking. There are three safe ways to thaw a turkey — in the refrigerator at 40°F or less; in cold water; and in the microwave.
Frozen Turkeys
Allow 1 pound of turkey per person.
Keep frozen until you’re ready to thaw it.
Turkeys kept frozen in the freezer should be cooked within one year for best quality.
Thawing Your Turkey
In the Refrigerator (40°F or below)
Keep the turkey in its original wrapper. Place it on a tray or in a pan to catch any juices that may leak. A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. If necessary, a turkey that has been properly thawed in the refrigerator may be refrozen. When thawing in the refrigerator, allow 24 hours thawing time for every 5 pounds of turkey.
4 to 12 pounds = 1 to 3 days
12 to 16 pounds = 3 to 4 days
16 to 20 pounds = 4 to 5 days
20 to 24 pounds = 5 to 6 days
In Cold Water
When thawing in cold water, allow 30 minutes per pound and change the water every 30 minutes until the turkey is thawed. Wrap your turkey securely, making sure the water is not able to leak through the wrapping. Submerge your wrapped turkey in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook the turkey immediately after it is thawed. Do not refreeze. Allow approximately 30 minutes per pound.
4 to 12 pounds = 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 pounds = 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 pounds = 8 to 10 hours
20 to 24 pounds = 10 to 12 hours
In the Microwave
When thawing in the microwave, follow the manufacturer’s instructions, and plan to cook the turkey immediately after thawing because some areas of the turkey may become warm and begin to cook during microwave thawing.
For more information, call the Escambia County Extension office, (850) 475-5230.
Northview Cross Country Team Members Honored
November 24, 2014
The Northview High School Cross Country team honored their outstanding members recently during their annual banquet.
Award winners included:
Photos: Escambia Academy Wins State Championship
November 24, 2014
The Escambia Academy Cougars from Canoe, AL, won the AISA Class AAA state championship Friday night with a 35-28 defeat of Bessemer Academy at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, AL.
For a bonus photo gallery, click here.
For the game story, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Ditto Gorme, click to enlarge.
Former Principal’s Wooden Santas On Display At Molino Library
November 24, 2014
Hand-carved wooden Santas created by a former principal are on display this month at the Molino Branch Library.
Dale Cooey was principal of Molino Elementary School and Molino Park Elementary School from 1997-2007, and was also principal at Barrineau Park Elementary school during the consolidation into Molino Park. He apprenticed under his uncle was a master wood carver.
Through a one year grant from the Florida Folk Art Association, Cooey and his uncle began showing their carvings and received several blue ribbons. The “Santa with the Tree” carving included in the display case won a blue ribbon this year at the Pensacola State Fair. His carvings are made from cypress knees and bass wood.
Pictured: Wooden Santas on display at the Molino Branch Library. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.