Escambia Farm Bureau Reps Meet With Congressman On Legislative Priorities
May 30, 2014
Members of the Florida Farm Bureau, including two representatives of the Escambia County Farm Bureau, met with Congressman Jeff Miller in his Washington office last week. The group was there to discuss the legislative priorities of the Florida Farm Bureau.
Among the group were Jacob and Carla Gilmore from the Escambia County Farm Bureau.
“Among the most pressing issues facing our nation’s farmers and agricultural sector are the constant attempts by EPA and other federal regulators to expand their regulatory regime under the Clean Water Act,” Miller said. “I am staunchly opposed to this government overreach, and I recently joined more than 200 of my colleagues in sending a letter to EPA calling on them to withdraw their most recent proposed rule on this issue.”
Pictured top: Congressman Jeff Miller (center) with Florida Farm Bureau members including Carla Gilmore (far left) and Jacob Gilmore (right) from the Escambia County Farm Bureau. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Citizens Property Insurance Braced For Hurricane Season
May 30, 2014
Citizens Property Insurance enters the 2014 hurricane season believing its finances are on solid ground.
Of course, after a major storm makes landfall, all projections would start to shift like the state’s well-known sand.
As the six-month hurricane season starts Sunday, Citizens has a $7.3 billion surplus. Also, the state-backed insurer has completed a $1.5 billion, multi-year reinsurance bond deal, and the state’s backup catastrophe fund is at $13 billion.
Those figures should allow Citizens to withstand a 1-in-70-year storm event without having to use an “assessment” process to collect money from all vehicle- and property-insurance policyholders in Florida to cover additional hurricane costs.
An assessment of $2.3 billion would be expected from the impact of a 1-in-100-year storm event.
“We’re the best prepared for a hurricane since we were created in 2002,” Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said Thursday.
Advocates for consumers and the insurance industry tend to agree.
“I think Citizens has been very conscientious to make sure they have an infrastructure, that they have the ability to put adjusters out in the field after a (catastrophic) event,” said Jay Neal, director of the advocacy group Florida Association for Insurance Reform. “The (backup Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund ), according to our numbers, is capable of taking a first hit, and a second hit, and really not having to go to the bond market for more than one or two years to be able to pay the freight.”
Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, said the numbers for Citizens could be better if fraudulent water-loss claims were reduced in South Florida and the size of the state-backed insurer was further trimmed.
“Citizens is not nearly as big as it was,” Miller said. “But there is still a lot of exposure in Citizens that doesn’t need to be there.”
The fiscal improvement comes after Citizens shifted nearly a quarter of its policies into the private market during the past 12 months. Also, Citizens has enjoyed the luxury of not having a hurricane directly crash across Florida’s shorelines the past eight years.
The state was smacked by eight storms in 2004 and 2005, which depleted Citizens and the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and drove some private firms from the market, which helped swell the number of policies in Citizens.
Reducing the number of policies, and thus the potential risk of assessments to all Florida policyholders, has been a priority for Citizens and state leaders in recent years.
They have started to achieve that goal by allowing private companies to acquire thousands of policies through bundled take-outs, and in rolling out a “clearinghouse” earlier this year that gives private firms the first look at new policies.
Through the clearinghouse, if coverage by a private firm is found within 15 percent of Citizens’ premium, a policy would go to the private carrier.
As of May 23, Citizens had 929,627 policies, with more than a third concentrated in six counties — Miami-Dade, Pinellas, Broward, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Pasco.
The number is down from 1.26 million on May 31, 2013. A year earlier, the state-backed insurer topped 1.43 million policies.
To further keep the numbers down, the clearinghouse will be expanded Aug. 1 to include policies up for renewal.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Northwest Escambia Closes Out Season With A Bang (With Photo Gallery)
May 30, 2014
The Northwest Escambia league at Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill closed out their season with a bang Thursday night. Each player received a trophy prior to a fireworks show.
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Wahoos And Braves Washed Out Thursday Night
May 30, 2014
For the third straight night, the Blue Wahoos and Mississippi Braves had to deal with rain at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., and the rain finally won. The Blue Wahoos and Braves were postponed and the two teams will make up the game as part of a doubleheader on Friday.
The game will consist of two seven inning games with roughly a half-hour break between the two games.
The Blue Wahoos will send RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 1.99) to the mound in game one followed by RHP Mikey O’Brien (2-2, 4.58) in game two. The Braves will counter with RHP Jason Hursh (3-4, 4.18) followed by RHP Aaron Northcraft (4-2, 2.70).
Pensacola will return home after the games and open a five-game series with the Jacksonville Suns on Saturday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
by Tommy Thrall
Gas Leak At Escambia Jail
May 29, 2014
According to a new release from Escambia County, about 8:00 Thursday morning a person preparing food in the kitchen of the Escambia County Main Jail, 2935 North L Street, detected a natural gas odor. The kitchen was immediately evacuated.
Pensacola Energy was called in and confirmed there was a natural gas leak in the kitchen of the main jail. Natural gas service to the kitchen was turned off. The kitchen remained off-limits to general jail staff and other personnel as natural gas experts began to address the problem.
Contractors working on behalf of Escambia County were brought in this morning to begin the process of replacing a natural gas line valve that feeds into the kitchen of the main jail.
There is no timetable on the repair of the valve of the natural gas line. However, food preparation services are not expected to be interrupted as staff will be able to utilize other methods of meal production until full natural gas service can be restored.
Escambia County Facilities and Corrections staff followed protocol to make sure those working in and residing in the main jail were not in danger at any point following the discovery of an odor in the kitchen this morning.
ECUA Now Hauling Recyclables To Montgomery For A Profit
May 29, 2014
Since the flooding, closure and bankruptcy of West Florida Recycling in Pensacola, ECUA has been hauling recyclables out of state…the past few weeks to the Infinitus Renewable Energy Park in Montgomery, Ala.
“We believe that the Infinitus Renewable Energy Park (IREP) is the best facility in the region to meet the ECUA’s recycling objectives,” ECUA Public Information Officer Nathalie Bowers said in a recent email.
Thursday the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority board voted to make the Montgomery trip more permanent for ECUA’s recyclables and sign off on a two year contract with Infinitus.
Infinitus has propose a two year agreement with ECUA, with two optional one-year extensions, to accept ECUA’s recyclables for processing in Montgomery. ECUA will pay a processing fee of $28.10 per ton and receive a rebate of $38.10 per ton — for a net income of $10 per ton for single stream recyclables. After transportation costs, ECUA will still net a profit of a few dollars per ton for recyclables.
If ECUA were to drop the recycling program and haul everything to the landfill, it would cost $550,000 in tipping fees. However, transporting the recyclables to Montgomery is expected to net about $120,000 in revenue.
Bratt Elementary Presents Fifth Grade Awards
May 29, 2014
Bratt Elementary School recently presented awards to fifth grade students as follows:
Honor Roll
A’s and B’s all year
- Franki Daw
- Madison Peterson
- Libby Pugh
- Madelin Sheedy
- Devon Spencer
- Cody Thomas
- Kayla Campbell
- Mary Paige Nassar
- Abigail Nelson
- Kaylee Sawyer
- Jacob Findley
- Shelby Godwin
- Tyler Ray
- William Lane Wilson
- Makayla Garrett
- Jaylon North
- Kenna Redmond
- Maggie Amerson
- Conner Byrne
- Michael Merchant
Academic Achievement Award
A’s all year
- Sophia Cotita
- Amber Gilman
- Autumn Williams
- Hannah Hughes
- April Johnson
- Taviana Parker
- Savannah Doremus
Progress Award
Students who have made the most improvement during the year
- Taylor Lashley
- Karelis Morales
- Leila Turberville
- Jeremy Ward
- Destiney Bradley
- Cheyenne Philyaw
- Stone Presley
- Andrianna Cooper
Outstanding Attendance
Students whose absenteeism, tardiness, and/or early checkouts equal no more than five days.
- Franki Daw
- Libby Pugh
- Cody Thomas
- Kayla Campbell
- Jacob Conley
- Leila Turberville
- Savannah Doremus
- Jaylon North
- Tyler Chase Cloud
- Maggie Amerson
- Taliyah Rivera
Perfect Attendance
Students who have no absences, tardies, or early checkouts
- Shane Hardin
Outstanding Citizenship Award
Students who best exemplify qualities of good citizenship, work habits, interaction with peers and teachers.
- Amber Gilman
- Libby Pugh
- April Johnson
- Kaylee Sawyer
- Makayla Garrett
- Savannah Doremus
- Kenna Redmond
- William Lane Wilson
- Destiney Bradley
- David Lamb
- Shelby Godwin
- Johnathan Lambert
- Maggie Amerson
- Summer Waters
A.R. Awards
- Hannah Hughes
- April Johnson
- Savannah Doremus
- Tyler Cloud
- Lane Wilson
Art Awards
- Madison Peterson
- Jessi Spicer
- Kaylee Sawyer
- Jacob Conley
- David Lamb
- Kyiah Bailey
- Maggie Amerson
- Andrianna Cooper
Music Awards
- Franki Dawe
- Libby Pugh
- J.D. Ward
- Hannah Hughes
- Savannah Doremus
- David Lamb
- Maggie Amerson
- Summer Waters
P.E. Awards
- Joshuwa Merchant
- Karelis Morales
- Libby Pugh
- Maggie Amerson
- Andrianna Cooper
- Summer Waters
- April Johnson
- Taviana Parker
- Peggy Sunday
- Makayla Garrett
- Jaylon North
- Lane Wilson
Ernest Ward Parents: Important Last Day Of School Information
May 29, 2014
Here is important last day of school information for Ernest Ward Middle School. On Friday:
- The gate from Highway 99A for the car rider line will not be opened until students have loaded the bes (about 12:3 p.m.)
- The traditional “Eighth Grade Walk” will be held from the gym to the buses just before dismissal. Parents wishing to attend the final walk should enter the campus from Highway 97 and park in front of the administrative wing by 12:15 p.m. Parents should not park in the bus area.
- The Eighth Grade Walk will be held from the gym to the bus area. All construction will cease during the walk, and all construction gates will be closed. No vehicles are allowed in the area in front of the gym, along the construction fence to the front of the campus.
Fallen Escambia Deputies Honored
May 29, 2014
Law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty were honored Wednesday by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Fifteen Escambia County deputies have died in the line of duty — the first in 1923 and the most recent, Lt. George Hura, Jr., in 2004. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jim Allen Elementary School Presents Fifth Grade Awards
May 29, 2014
Jim Allen Elementary School recently presented the following awards at their Fifth Grade Banquet:
Award of Excellence: Jessica Conti (pictured)
Shining Star: Christian Jacobs
Cox Inspirational Award: Molly McArthur
WSRE Student of the Year: Devine Sutton
President’s Award:
- Kaelin Brinker
- Dawson Butalla
- Sage Bullock
- Jessica Conti
- Joshua Coonrod
- Haleigh Dove
- Deeanna Foster
- Brentley Garrett
- Zaria Griffin
- Hannah Halfacre
- Devon Henton
- Alexis Hurd
- Christian Jacobs
- Jonas Johnson
- Bristol Kelley
- Walter Kelly
- Tre Likely
- Kasen Millwood
- Harlie Odom
- Hailey Riggan
- Andrew Robinson
- Kiera Stern
- Maci Street
- Logan Vessey
- Kiauna Watson
- Charlie Wine
- Elise Winters
Pictured top: Jim Allen Elementary Fifth Grade Award of Excellence winner Jessica Conti. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.