Fire Destroys Cantonment Shed; Firefighters Save Other Structures
December 28, 2013
Fire destroyed a detached shed late Friday night at a Cantonment home.
The fire was reported about 11:45 p.m. at home in the 100 block of Madrid Road, just north of Isabella Road. The shed was fully involved when the first firefighters arrived on scene. They were able to quickly knock down the blaze and prevent it from spreading to any other nearby structures.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. There were no injuries reported.
The Cantonment, Molino, Ensley and Beulah stations of Escambia Fire Rescue were dispatched to the blaze, along with Escambia County EMS.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Company Defends Work On Troubled Unemployment System
December 28, 2013
Deloitte Consulting contends it has completed the work outlined in its contract for Florida’s new online unemployment-assistance system, which the company says “has surpassed the performance of the unsustainable systems it replaced.”
Deloitte issued a statement after the state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday started to impose fines of $15,000 per business day against the Minnesota-based company and withheld a $3 million payment for failing to deliver a “fully functioning” system.
The $62.8 million Connect system went live on Oct. 15 and continues to pose problems for many users and headaches for state officials.
Deloitte spokesman Jonathan Gandal said in a news release late Friday that the company has completed the “tasks and activities outlined in our contract.”
“In just 60 days, the new system has surpassed the performance of the unsustainable systems it replaced, meeting or exceeding longer term key performance indicators by reducing average time to adjudicate separation issues, reducing the number of claims requiring staff intervention, and decreasing average time to implement lower authority appeals,” Gandal said in the release. “Performance will continue to improve as the system matures and as both departmental users and claimants become acclimated to its new functions.”
A Department of Economic Opportunity spokeswoman disputed Gandal’s appraisal of the status of the unemployment system and the state contract.
“No, DEO does not agree with that assessment,” spokeswoman Jennifer Diaz said Monday in an email.
Diaz cited a letter the state sent to Deloitte on Friday that pointed to 25 still-unresolved technical issues and 26 new problems that have cropped up since the system went live.
“For some users of the system — claimants needing a financial bridge as they transition back to employment — the delays caused by these defects have proven to be a true hardship,” department Executive Director Jesse Panuccio wrote in the letter to Deloitte official Jessica Blume.
On Friday, Panuccio announced that the daily fine would be imposed until the technical problems were resolved.
“We always said there are issues with the system, and the question is at what point do we withhold payment and institute penalties,” Panuccio said in an interview. “We think we’ve reached that point.”
No deadline has been set for the system to be fully functional, but additional penalties could be applied if Deloitte is unable to complete the work without more consultants and vendors being brought in to direct and monitor the work.
Gandal in his statement said remaining issues “require departmental actions or are otherwise beyond Deloitte’s control.”
“We will continue to provide warranty support to DEO, in accordance with our contract, and work diligently to resolve any warranty items as they are identified,” Gandal said “We will also continue to work with DEO to clarify the true nature of the remaining issues and will hold ourselves strictly accountable for fixing anything within our control as quickly as possible.”
Connect has been in the works since 2009 to replace a 30-year-old system people used to claim their weekly benefits, monitor accounts and request information. The department provides up to $275 weekly to more than 200,000 jobless Floridians.
The changeover, which is in part covered with federal tax dollars, includes about $28.2 million for Deloitte Consulting to set up the website.
Deloitte was penalized $4.5 million last year by the Department of Economic Opportunity due to project delays.
by The News Service of Florida
Jobless Benefits Expire
December 28, 2013
Tens of thousands of Floridians lost their federal emergency jobless benefits on Saturday, joining about 1.3 million Americans whose unemployment checks weren’t part of the bipartisan budget deal passed by Congress last week and signed by President Obama on Thursday.
All 88,000 Floridians in the federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program were cut off Saturday, said state Department of Economic Opportunity spokeswoman Monica Russell.
The emergency benefits, begun in 2008 under President George W. Bush, were created to help unemployed workers who had exhausted their state jobless benefits during the economic recession. And according to the National Employment Law Project, while Saturday’s cutoff will affect 1.3 million people, another 850,000 U.S. workers will run out of state unemployment insurance in the first three months of 2014, with no access to federal jobless aid.
Among those are eligible Floridians, whose current 19 weeks of state reemployment assistance benefits will drop to 16 weeks effective Jan. 1, according to Russell.
The elimination of the emergency benefits coupled with the reduction in the maximum benefits for out of work Floridians is a “devastating combination,” said U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat.
“That’s not just devastating for their own families but for the communities they live in and ultimately it’s a drag on our economy,” Deutch said. “It’s frustrating that we weren’t able to do anything before we left.”
Congress must vote to continue funding the emergency benefits. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said reviving them is at the top of his to-do list, and a vote could come as early as Jan. 6.
The reauthorization measure may also apply retroactively, Deutch said, adding that economists estimate that 5 million people could be impacted by the loss of the benefits before the end of 2014 if Congress does not act.
But many conservatives say the recession has been over for years and that long-term unemployment benefits discourage people from finding work.
“I don’t think it’s healthy for our society to create that kind of dependency and keep extending these benefits where people are living on government assistance for years,” said state Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican. “That looks like where some folks are headed.”
Florida State University economist Randall Holcombe, who is associated with the conservative Tallahassee-based James Madison Institute, blamed the benefits for prolonging the economic downturn.
“I want to be sympathetic with the people who are looking for jobs and having trouble finding them, and that’s the reason we have those unemployment benefits,” said Holcombe, who served on Gov. Jeb Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors. “But when you look at the effect on the overall economy, it’s slowed the recovery and it’s caused the average duration of unemployment to skyrocket – and we have a lot more long-term unemployed now than we’ve ever had in the past.”
Holcombe points to economic research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, showing that the duration of long-term unemployment is 35 weeks, longer than it’s been in decades.
“The longer you’ve been unemployed, the harder it is to find a job,” Holcombe said. “So in a sense, we’re doing a disservice to people by giving them extended unemployment benefits, because by doing so, they have less incentive to find a job, and the longer they’re out of work, the harder it’s going to be for them to find a job.”
But critics of the move, like Karen Woodall, executive director of the left-leaning Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy, say the end of federal emergency unemployment benefits will weaken a still-fragile recovery.
“Most people who are on unemployment benefits need assistance from social service agencies in addition to the unemployment benefits,” Woodall said. “And social service agencies have been very strapped throughout the recession, and many of them have had cutbacks due to the sequestration budget cuts. So it’s really a Catch-22 for many, many people in communities across Florida.”
And Rich Templin, legislative and political director for the Florida AFL-CIO, said that state statistics showing higher employment rates are meaningless because they don’t reflect the millions of people who are not in the unemployment insurance system.
“It doesn’t count people that have exhausted their benefits, number one, and it doesn’t count people who never qualified for benefits to begin with,” he said.
Templin also said the loss of benefits is a loss of economic power, since so many Floridians will be unable to pay for rent, food and other necessities.
But Baxley said the transition will strengthen the economy in the long run.
“We’re just at a point of facing the reality that there is a limit to the federal government being able to redistribute and financially provide for every person,” Baxley said. “The reality is that unemployment was always designed for a temporary statement of condition to be safety net. …We’ve instead re-instituted a broad dependency that is unsustainable.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Bill To Legalize Fireworks, Keep Money In Florida Set For Hearing
December 28, 2013
House and Senate committees will start 2014 with a bang. The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee and the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee are scheduled Jan. 8 to take up bills that would lift a fireworks ban in Florida. Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, are sponsoring the measures.
“We’re pushing economic activity out of our state with a regulation that’s relatively meaningless because people get fireworks elsewhere and just bring them down and shoot them off here,” Gaetz said after filing his bill. “We’d rather keep those dollars in Florida.”
State law limits sales to relatively innocuous devices such as sparklers, while banning sales of such things as bottle rockets. But a loophole also has allowed the sale of fireworks to people who sign a statement saying they have an exemption to the law.
Gaetz said the idea for the bill came from a Marianna High School student, who said it was silly for people to cross state lines to buy fireworks and then bring them back to Florida.
By The News Service of Florida
Pictured: A Flomaton, Ala., fireworks stand, just north of the Florida/Alabama state line. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Weekend Gardening: What To Do With Those Holiday Plants
December 28, 2013
People often give and receive decorative plants during the Christmas season. Many of these plants can last long past the holidays, but only if you care for them properly.
Use the following tips to keep Christmas cactus, poinsettia, amaryllis, kalanchoe, and cyclamen healthy and vibrant long after the holidays are over.
Light & Water Conditions
Keep your holiday plants in bright, indirect light, such as a sunny window. You can also put plants under incandescent or fluorescent lamps if a room is too dim.
Keep the room temperature cool. The ideal temperature ranges are 65º to 75ºF during the day and 50º to 60ºF at night.
Make sure the plants are watered enough to stay evenly moist, but do not overwater. Even Christmas cactuses need to be regularly watered since they are not true cactuses.
Flowering
Most plants are already flowering when you give or receive them. Eventually the flowers will fade and you should remove them.
You can prepare some plants for next season’s flowering. Remember that plants like poinsettia and Christmas cactus need to be kept away from artificial light at night to stimulate flowering, usually beginning around October.
Amaryllis
Since amaryllis is a bulb, it easily flowers if you force the bulb. After the last flower fades, remove the bloom stalk, but let the leaves continue to grow. Keep amaryllis under bright light and fertilize it regularly.
In late summer, the leaves will die and the bulb will go into a resting stage. Reduce the amount of water it receives and store the bulb in a cool, dry place for two to three months.
Begin watering again and the bulb should reflower in four to six weeks.
Poinsettia
Poinsettias are hard for home gardeners to force to reflower.
When the poinsettia begins to drop its leaves, this signals the start of its resting stage. At this time, only water the poinsettia often enough to keep the stems and roots from drying out.
In April, prune the stems to six inches high, resume a regular watering and fertilization schedule, and place it where it will receive bright light that is not direct.
Planting
Most holiday plants are cold-sensitive, so only people in the southern part of Florida can consider planting their holiday plants outdoors without too much worry. Residents in northern parts of Florida can try growing their plant outdoors, but will most likely need to pay attention to weather reports and have some way of protecting plants from the cold.
Select the plants that have remained healthy and lush, and plant them after the chance of frost is past.
Poinsettias
Plant your poinsettia in a sunny spot that will not receive artificial light at night. The soil should be well drained.
Cut off fading bracts, leaving four to six inches of stem on the branches. Mulch around the plant, and keep it well watered during establishment.
Fertilize monthly from May to September.
Prune regularly during the growing season to keep the poinsettia from looking “leggy.” Stop pruning in September and flower buds will form in October.
If the plant was damaged by cold, cut it back to 12 to 18 inches of the ground or to living tissue in the spring after the chance of frost is passed.
Talks Underway To Outsource Trails Sponsorship Program
December 28, 2013
The state is negotiating with a private company to take over a park sponsorship program after failing to get any businesses to pay for advertisements along some of Florida’s prime trails — including the Blackwater Heritage Trail.
New York-based Bikepath Country has offered to give the state 30 percent of any revenue over 15 years in exchange for making signs and seeking corporate sponsors for the controversial program, which went into effect more than a year ago.
Bikepath Country was the only entity to submit a proposal regarding the trail signs after a Department of Environmental Protection conference call with potential sponsors this summer. The company reportedly runs similar programs in parts of New York, Tennessee, Arizona and Texas.
DEP, in talks with Bikepath Country since August, held an internal meeting Dec. 18 on the proposal but the deal remains in limbo, according to DEP spokesman Patrick Gillespie.
“We are currently negotiating with the company and the current proposal is being reviewed internally,” Gillespie said in an email. “I won’t have more information on the terms until those negotiations conclude.”
Bikepath is proposing trailhead signs up to 16-square-feet and 13 access point signs up to 4-square-feet at seven parks at “no proposed cost” to the state.
On its webpage, the company claims to design “attractive and non-obtrusive” eco-friendly signs.
The Legislature’s first attempt at approving the park trail advertisements died in 2011 after opponents objected that the ads would become an intrusive distraction for those visiting pristine state lands.
But proponents claimed awarding naming rights and allowing the commercial displays could help cover or replace some of the estimated $1 million a year the state spends annually to upkeep public trails, and Gov. Rick Scott signed “The John Anthony Wilson Bicycle Safety Act” into law in 2012. The law limits the wording on the signs, which can depict a corporate logo and can say the business “proudly sponsors the costs of maintaining” the trail but cannot include a company’s slogan.
The law only allows the advertisements at seven trails: Blackwater Heritage Trail, Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail, Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail, Nature Coast State Trail, Withlacoochee State Trail, General James A. Van Fleet State Trail and the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail.
Under the law, 85 percent of the proceeds from the concessions agreement must be put into trust funds for greenway and trail management. The remaining 15 percent is slated for Department of Transportation safety programs.
Pictured: The Blackwater Heritage Trail near Milton. Courtesy images for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Appeals Court Overturns Escambia Man’s Conviction In Gun Replica Case
December 27, 2013
An appeals court Thursday sided with an Escambia County man arrested for possessing a gun as a convicted felon, finding that a state law related to replicas of antique guns is unconstitutionally vague.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of Christopher Douglas Weeks, who was arrested in February 2012 in Santa Rosa County by the Florida Fish and & Wildlife Conservation Commission on charges including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Weeks pleaded no contest to the gun-possession charge after a judge denied arguments that it should be dismissed.
But the appeals court agreed with Weeks’ arguments, which focused on a legal definition of “firearm” that excluded antique firearms manufactured in 1918 or earlier and replicas of such antiques.
“Weeks possessed a black powder muzzle loader rifle with a percussion cap firing system,” said Thursday’s ruling, written by appeals-court Judge William Van Nortwick. “It is undisputed that this type of firing system is of ancient vintage. His firearm also had a scope. Given the type of firing system, his firearm was arguably a replica of an antique, regardless of the scope.”
Prosecutors argued that the gun was not an antique replica because of the scope. But the appeals court ruled that the law banning possessions of guns by convicted felons was unconstitutionally vague as it related to the meaning of a firearm.
The court said the legal definition “does not give adequate notice of what type of firearm may be lawfully carried by a convicted felon and, because of the imprecision, may invite arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.”
Three Injured When Car Slams Into Ditch On State Line
December 27, 2013
Three people, including two children, were injured in a single vehicle accident Thursday night on the Florida/Alabama line.
The driver of a Kia Sorento told first responders they swerved to avoid three deer on State Line Road, just west of Highway 99 in Bratt. The vehicle came to rest in a deep ditch along the north side of the roadway — literally on the state line.
The adult and two children were transported by Atmore Ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital with injuries that were not considered severe following the accident.
The Florida Highway Patrol investigated the crash. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Man Struck, Killed By Vehicle
December 27, 2013
A 61-year old Atmore man died Thursday night after being struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle.
Charles “Charlie” Warren Phillips was struck by the vehicle just after 6 p.m. on Highway 31 near James Road in Nokomis, Ala. He was airlifted to the USA Medical Center in Mobile where he passed away a short time later.
Phillips was struck by a 1996 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by 46-year old Rodney Brooks of Atmore, according to Alabama State Troopers.
The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation by state troopers.
One Injured In Hwy 29 Bluff Springs Crash
December 27, 2013
One person was injured in a two vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Highway 29.
The t-bone type wreck happened about 3:30 on Highway 29 at Bluff Springs Road. One person was transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola with non-life threatening injures.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details have not been released. The McDavid Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
