I-10 Crash Claims One Life
March 25, 2015
A Gulf Breeze man was killed in single vehicle crash on I-10 Tuesday.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 30-year old Geoffrey M. Edge was eastbound on I-10 approaching Davis Highway about 1:37 p.m. when his 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix left the roadway, traveled onto the shoulder and struck a tree. Edge, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Pictured top: Traffic backs up on I-10 following a fatal crash Tuesday afternoon. Photo courtesy FDOT for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mock Plane Crash Drill Prepares Fire Responders
March 25, 2015
Dozens were injured and two people were killed when a commercial plane crashed into Pensacola Bay Tuesday — all part of a emergency drill scenario that involved a long list of emergency response agencies.
Boats responded to the mock plane crash location in the bay just north of the I-10 bridge, “rescuing” survivors that were portrayed by actors. Those survivors were transported back to a command post at Smith’s Fish Camp off Highway 90 for triage and transport to area hospitals.
Participating agencies included Escambia County Emergency Management, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Escambia County Fire and EMS, Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife, United States Coast Guard, Escambia County Search and Rescue, Santa Rosa County Emergency Management, Midway Fire Department, Gulf Breeze Fire Department, and Santa Rosa County Fire.
Pictured top: Marine resources were used to transport “victims” from a mock plane crash to shore Tuesday. Pictured inset and below: Victims were triaged and prepared for transport to area hospitals. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
House Pitches $690 Million Tax Cut Package
March 25, 2015
House members backed Gov. Rick Scott’s push to reduce taxes on cell-phone bills and pay TV on Tuesday.
And they bettered the governor, by $17 million, in rolling out a $690 million tax-reduction package that offers a slew of sales-tax holidays and eliminating taxes on gun-club memberships, college textbooks, materials purchased at book fairs and vehicles purchased overseas and brought to Florida by military members.
House Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said in pushing for the cuts that the state’s existing tax rates have helped build an economic surplus for lawmakers and is responsible for Florida’s job creation.
“The average Floridian pays about $1,800 bucks a year in state taxes. That is the lowest in the country, but we can do even better and we will,” Gaetz said.
The House proposal is slightly larger than a $673 million tax-cut package that Scott proposed. It remains to be seen if the Senate will go along with such large cuts. Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said the Senate agrees taxes should be cut but is not close to deciding the amount or which taxes would be targeted.
The House plan was announced as Scott’s office set up a display table in the first floor of the Capitol so people could calculate how much they would save if his requested 3.6 percentage-point cut to the communications-services tax is enacted.
Scott also spent time at the display table, joined by the University of Florida President Kent Fuchs. The governor, who has made tax cuts one of his top priorities of the session, intends to be back at the table briefly Wednesday with Florida State University President John Thrasher and FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher.
The communications-services tax cut is projected to create about $54 a year in savings on a cell-phone bill of $125 a month. A cable or satellite TV bill of $100 a month would be reduced by about $43 a year.
The House proposal matches Scott’s communications-services tax cut. Senate committees also have advanced legislation (SB 110) sponsored by Finance and Tax Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, that would go along with the cut.
The communications-services cut would account for $470.9 million of Scott’s proposed $673 million in tax cuts. The House projects the annual savings to become $470.5 million.
Lawmakers last year approved $500 million in tax and fee cuts that touched on a wide-range of issues. The election-year package, dubbed in the House as a “patchwork of awesomeness,” was highlighted by a reduction in vehicle-registration fees. But the patchwork also featured sales-tax holidays, a reduction in the insurance premium tax on bail-bond premiums, and the permanent elimination of sales taxes on college meal plans, therapeutic pet foods, child car seats and bicycle helmets for kids.
This time, the House is approaching the package with the catchphrase “no tax is safe.”
Along with seeking to cut the communications-services tax, the House plan matches Scott’s call for eliminating the sales tax on college textbooks, which would provide an overall $43.7 million savings. The cut is the third largest among 17 proposals in the House package.
The House is also projecting a $44 million reduction in state revenue through a three-day back-to-school tax holiday and a $40.3 million reduction from a sales-tax holiday on Nov. 28, two days after Thanksgiving, for small businesses.
House members also propose cutting a tax on commercial-real estate leases. The proposal would trim the tax from 6 percent to 5.8 percent, reducing state revenue by $22.1 million the first year, with the savings to businesses growing to $53.1 million annually.
A Senate committee this week approved a bill by Hukill (SB 140) that would make a deeper cut in the real-estate tax. That measure would reduce the tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.
Other proposed House cuts include reductions in revenue of $2.8 million by eliminating taxes on books and other reading materials sold at book fairs; $1.2 million by exempting gun club memberships from sales taxes; and $800,000 by allowing service members to avoid sales taxes on vehicles purchased overseas and brought back to Florida.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Sheriff’s Office: Track Your Valuables With Online Tool
March 25, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is introducing a free online system that will help keep track of valuable personal property. ReportIt is a free, secure online service which will allow citizens to record serial numbers and upload images for phones, electronics, and other valuables. Should those items ever be stolen, investigators say, having the information will go a long way in accurately and quickly identifying your property.
The ReportIt service is a part of LeadsOnline, the online system that works with police across the country to track and recover stolen property. ECSO Investigators use LeadsOnline to help track and recover stolen property —- everything from jewelry to sporting equipment to electronics, computers, cameras, and other items such as designer clothing, collectibles, and other items with invaluable personal worth.
The system allows detectives to search for the items using a variety of parameters, including item descriptions and serial numbers. When an item is sold to a pawn or secondhand shop, the product information is entered in the LeadsOnline database and is immediately viewable by participating law enforcement agencies across the country.
Citizens can store an unlimited number of serial numbers, item descriptions, pictures, and scans of receipts so items may be more easily identified in the event of theft. This record may also come in handy when filing claims with insurance providers in the event of loss.
Citizens wishing to participate in ReportIt can register for the free service at reportit.leadsonline.com and begin building their personal property inventory list.
Bond Denied For Teen Murder Suspect
March 25, 2015
A motion for bond was denied Tuesday for a Santa Rosa County teen accused of killing her stepfather and then dragging his body behind a pickup truck.
Taylor Lynn Crongeyer is accused of killing 40-year Aubrey Dewayne Cooley. He was found dead December 26, 2014, with a gunshot wound to his head at his Dale Hall Road home. He was tied to the trailer hitch of a pickup truck with a rope around his ankles.
Crongeyer will remain in the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond until her trial.
Home Evacuated, Street Closed By Gas Leak
March 25, 2015
Sheppard Street in Cantonment was closed and at least one home evacuated due to a gas leak Tuesday night.
A resident in the 200 block of Sheppard Street reported smelling gas and hearing a leak outside their home about 9:30 p.m. First responders from the Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue responded and determined the leak was below the gas meter outside the home.
The home was evacuated and Sheppard Street was closed between Washington and Lincoln streets as a precaution.
Pensacola Energy responded and secured the leak by 10:45 p.m. There were no injures reported.
Tate Aggies Release Football Schedule
March 25, 2015
The Tate High School Aggies have released a tentative 2015 football schedule. Game times will be announced at a later date:
Driver Trapped After Wreck
March 25, 2015
A Pensacola man was injured single vehicle crash about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday on I-10 eastbound a few miles inside the Florida line.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 33-year old Chad Benson apparently lost control of his 1996 Ford Explorer, ran off the roadway, and the vehicle overturned. Benson was trapped, requiring an extensive extrication by firefighters from the Beulah, Bellview and Ensley stations of Escambia Fire Rescue.
Benson was transported to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening.
Pictured: Photos from the top to the bottom show firefighters stabilizing a vehicle and then using the Jaw of Life to extricate the driver following a wreck Tuesday evening on I-10 in Beulah. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
House Opts For Door In Grocery Store Liquor Debate
March 25, 2015
The House has joined the Senate in altering legislation aimed at allowing shoppers to pick up hard spirits while shopping for groceries or other goods.
The House Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday voted 7-4 to approve an amended measure (HB 107), which would ease an 80-year-old state law that requires liquor stores to be stand-alone facilities.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, had initially proposed eliminating the law, but agreed to follow a recent Senate proposal that would lead to a door being the only barrier between a liquor store and other goods.
“Obviously just taking down the barrier has been a controversial subject,” Steube said. “I’m trying to come to some type of compromise. This is simply putting a door where there is a wall to allow patrons … instead of having to go outside into a door to going inside into a door.”
The Senate Regulated Industries Committee last week approved similar legislation, which has been opposed by Lakeland-based Publix but supported by Wal-Mart and Target.
by The News Service of Florida
Senate Gives Backing To Evacuation Gun Bill
March 25, 2015
After a debate that conjured memories of Hurricane Katrina, the Florida Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that could lead to more people carrying concealed weapons when fleeing natural disasters.
The bill (SB 290), sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, would allow people to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenses for 48 hours during mandatory emergency evacuations. The bill would only apply to people who legally own guns.
Brandes said people ordinarily can face third-degree felony charges for carrying concealed weapons without licenses. He said the bill would allow people to take firearms, along with other valuables, when they are forced to leave home because of hurricanes or other disasters.
“This is about this incredibly rare instance, this incredibly tailored instance, where people are fleeing for their lives,” he said.
But some Democratic lawmakers blasted the proposal, saying it would introduce more guns into the chaos and emotions of a mandatory evacuation. Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, said supporters had not presented any evidence of why the bill is needed.
“I need to know why we need to change the law,” Sachs said.
Senators voted 29-10 to approve the bill, which has the backing of the influential National Rifle Association. The House version (HB 493), filed by Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, has moved through committees and is ready to go to the full House.
A similar bill died last year in the Senate, amid concerns by the Florida Sheriffs Association and some Republican and Democratic senators. But Brandes made changes that addressed the concerns, such as adding the 48-hour time period for carrying weapons. The 48 hours could be extended by the governor.
The specter of Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated the New Orleans area in 2005, was raised by senators on both sides of the debate Tuesday.
Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, pointed to Katrina and its chaotic aftermath in arguing against the bill.
“In Katrina, we saw people living in close quarters with their families,” she said. “So why in the world would we want to increase anxiety by having a lot of guns next to children and families?”
But bill supporter Joseph Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, emphasized that the bill only applies to lawful gun owners and that weapons would have to remain concealed.
“At the end of the day, in Katrina there (was) looting beyond explanation,” said Abruzzo, one of four Democrats who backed the bill.. “Almost any house that was able to get ransacked was. And to say people have to leave guns in their home under those conditions is not safe.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida