Ice Storm Won’t Cool Century Paychecks
February 4, 2014
Three days home due to an ice storm won’t hurt the paychecks of Town of Century employees.
The employees will be paid for the days missed, Century Mayor Freddie McCall reported Monday night. Those critical employees that were called out during the storm will receive their regular rate of of pay plus time and a half comp time for hours worked last Tuesday-Thursday.
Lopez-Cantera Sworn In As Florida’s Lt. Governor
February 4, 2014
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera was officially sworn in Monday morning, becoming the 19th lieutenant governor in Florida’s history and the first Latino to hold that position.
Lopez-Cantera, 40, took the oath of office around 10:30 a.m. at a private event in Gov. Rick Scott’s office in the Capitol, according to a Scott spokeswoman. Scott and Lopez-Cantera’s family attended the official swearing in. A public, ceremonial event was held later Monday evening in the House chambers.
In addition to becoming the next in line should something happen to Scott, Lopez-Cantera will serve as the governor’s running mate in what looks to be a difficult battle for re-election.
Speaking to the press about an hour after taking the oath, Lopez-Cantera praised Scott for the economic progress Florida has made over the last three years and began rattling off the talking points that the message-conscious governor has been using.
“The governor’s been doing a great job,” he said at an event outside the Governor’s Mansion. “I just look forward to being a part of the team and helping in any way that I can.”
Alternating between Spanish and English at the public event, Lopez-Cantera sprinkled in some of Scott’s personal slogans, from “let’s get to work” to “it’s working” to talk of an “opportunity economy.”
And he exhibited some of the state pride that has become part of Scott’s mantra.
“Because, let’s face it, this is the very best place to work and to live — period,” he said.
For his part, Scott highlighted the benefits Lopez-Cantera would have as a four-term House member and, most recently, the property appraiser in vote-rich Miami-Dade County.
“He’s got the right background,” Scott said of his new No. 2. “He’s got a great legislative background — being majority leader, majority whip, building great relationships. He’s been in business. He’s got local government experience. He’s going to be a major part of making sure we get our $500 million tax break back to Florida families.”
Scott suggested that Lopez-Cantera would be the point person for a plan to roll back motor-vehicle registration fees and taxes on commercial leases and corporate income — the centerpiece of Scott’s election-year budget. At one point, the governor told reporters that Lopez-Cantera is “responsible to make sure we get the $500 million tax cut.”
That would be a change from Scott’s first lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll, who was rarely publicly involved in lobbying for Scott’s priorities, though she was reportedly involved in a last-minute push to overhaul the state’s personal injury protection insurance system in the 2012 session.
Carroll, who co-owned a company that previously provided consulting services for Allied Veterans of the World, resigned March 12 after that organization emerged as the central target of an illegal gambling investigation. Carroll, whose company did the work before she became lieutenant governor, was never charged with wrongdoing in the probe.
On the campaign trail, Lopez-Cantera will likely be called upon to be the attack dog against former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, running as a Democrat to reclaim his old job. But asked if he would be a “hatchet man” in the fall, Lopez-Cantera just laughed before Scott stepped in and started talking again about job growth.
“He’s going to be a great partner, we’re going to have a great year running together, and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Scott said.
story by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera is sworn in Monday morning during a private ceremony in Scott’s office. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Free Emergency Preparedness Training To Be Offered
February 3, 2014
The Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE) and the Century Town Council will offer a free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course for North Escambia residents.
A CERT training open house will be held at 7 p.m. on February 10 at the Ag Building at the corner of Industrial Boulevard and West Highway 4 in Century. Trainees will attend six additional sessions to be held during February and March.
The free training will include information on disaster response skills,as emergency preparedness, fire safety and suppression, light search and rescue, terrorism, CERT organization, shelter operations and disaster medical operations.
Using the training learned in the classroom and during hands-on activities, CERT members can assist their neighbors, others in their community and workplace following a disaster event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members are also encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in the community.
Previously trained CERT members are encouraged to update their skills by participating in the training.
Prison For Man Busted After Argument With Credit Card Company
February 3, 2014
A Walnut Hill man arrested after an argument with his credit card company has been sentenced to just over four years in prison.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Raceway at 406 Airport Boulevard in Pensacola after receiving a call about a disturbance last July. When asked if he was arguing with someone, Kevin Foster Bey, 52, told deputies he was yelling on the phone with a credit card company.
A records check revealed Bey had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear, and he was placed under arrest. When he was searched, deputies found a pill bottle with rock cocaine and two marijuana cigarettes in Bay’s pockets, according to an arrest report.
He was convicted last week on charges of cocaine possession and marijuana possession. Judge Jan Shackelford sentenced Bey to 50.8 months in state prison.
Davis Named Century Chamber’s Student Of The Year
February 3, 2014
Zacarra Davis has been selected as the Century Chamber of Commerce’s Student of the Year. The selection is based upon a student’s well-rounded involvement in school activities, community service and more. Davis has been extensively involved in numerous activities, sports, clubs and community service projects.
She will be honored at the Century and Flomaton’s chambers of commerce combined banquet in late February.
Pictured: One of Zacarra Davis’ many activities at Northview High School included the Navy JROTC. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
100 Year Olds At Bratt Elementary? Students Celebrate 100
February 3, 2014
Kindergarten and first grade students at Bratt Elementary School celebrated the number 100 Friday– the 100th day of the school year.
The celebration included 100 day necklaces with Fruit Loops in groups of 10, students writing their name as many times as possible in 100 seconds, singing 100 days songs, reading 100 days books, walking the halls of Bratt 100 steps at a time, writing about 100, making 100 days hats, collections of 100 items from home, and even some students dressed up like 100-year olds.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida GI BIll Seeks To Make State More ‘Military Friendly’
February 3, 2014
Pitching an aggressive state “GI Bill,” Republican legislative leaders want to attract more military veterans to the Sunshine State and attract more people to the Florida National Guard.
The hefty proposals (HB 7015 and SPB 7020), which include spending $14.5 million a year for an expansion of free tuition for members of the National Guard, would create a non-profit to market Florida to former members of the U.S. military. Also, they would upgrade state armories, ease professional licensing for veterans and offer a waiver for all honorably discharged veterans from having to pay out-of-state tuition charges at state colleges and universities.
The potential overall costs remain unknown.
Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said that efforts are being made to ensure money is available to cover all the personnel who are expected to seek the various educational and business incentives.
“Those numbers will become more defined as the bill moves through the process,” Betta said.
The biggest one-time cost would be to speed an ongoing revitalization program of state armories, which the National Guard projects will cost about $30 million.
The Department of Military Affairs has requested $12.5 million for the upcoming year for armory improvements, providing upgrades for six facilities.
The intent of the overall measure is to create more opportunities for Florida, said Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, as they endorsed the Florida GI Bill.
“We believe that there are some things that we can do to make sure we are the most military friendly state in the United States of America, bar none,” Weatherford said.
The proposal would also help military personal shift into civilian life, Gaetz said.
The state’s unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2 percent, but the jobless mark for veterans in Florida stands at 7.3 percent.
“Despite developing leadership skills, despite having certain amounts of discipline and being drug free, veterans are having a hard time finding meaningful employment in the state,” House Veterans and Military Affairs Subcommittee Policy Chief Kerrington Kiner said during a briefing broadcast on The Florida Channel. “They’re having a tough time translating the skills and experiences they’ve learned in the military over to the civilian world.”
The state estimates there are 61,189 active-duty military personnel in Florida, along with 1.5 million veterans. More than 115,000 of those veterans served during World War II, while nearly 500,000 are considered Vietnam-era veterans.
In the 2012-2013 academic year, about 1,054 of the nearly 12,000 members of the Army and Air National Guard took advantage of free tuition funding through the 16-year-old Educational Dollars for Duty program.
The program, providing full undergraduate tuition at state colleges and universities, cost the state $1.8 million in the 2012-2013 academic year, according to a House staff analysis.
The Legislature’s Guard tuition proposal far outpaces the increase to $3.5 million that Gov. Rick Scott recommended in his $74.2 billion fiscal package.
Guard leaders were open to any increase.
“One of the great opportunities the Florida National Guard has to offer is being able to continue our education — not just to obtain a higher education level — but to build our knowledge base for the National Guard and life itself,” Maj. Gen. Emmett Titshaw, head of the Florida National Guard, said in a release.
Florida National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. James Evans added in an email that the support from state lawmakers is another example of why Florida already “has the reputation of being the most military-friendly state in the nation.”
Besides the $14.5 million budget request to cover the Guard’s tuition, another $1 million would be needed to upgrade the current computer programming used to administer the program.
The non-profit, to be called Florida is For Veterans, would be used to promote the value of military skills to private businesses and to set up a marketing campaign to encourage former members of the military to remain in Florida or to make the state their permanent home.
No cost projection was available for the non-profit.
The cost of the tuition waiver for all honorably discharged veterans — called the Congressman C.W. Bill Young Veteran Tuition Waiver Act — starts at $8.2 million a year, based upon current enrollments of students on the federal GI Bill in state colleges and universities. But the total is expected to go up as more veterans are drawn to Florida’s schools.
Currently, military veterans using the federal GI Bill can only receive reimbursement for the listed cost of in-state tuition, even if they are not from the state
For non-Florida veterans, the out-of-state charge is around $15,279 per academic year for undergraduate programs in the state university system, while the amount is $8,407 for those in the Florida College System, according to the Board of Governors.
The waiver is included in the House measure and currently stands in an individual Senate bill (SB 84) that has already received full support of the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security Committee, the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
The House proposal is scheduled to make its first committee appearance Tuesday before the Appropriations Committee.
The Senate measure, which is expected to become the catchall for SB 84 and other veterans’ related proposals, is scheduled to be discussed in the Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security Committee on Tuesday.
Lambert Graduates From Basic Training
February 3, 2014
Air Force Airman 1st Class Joshua T. Lambert graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.
Lambert earned distinction as an honor graduate. He is the son of Daniel and Tammy Lambert of Atmore.
An Early Spring? North Escambia Weather Ducks Miss Shadow
February 2, 2014
On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, the world famous groundhog, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. But our local weather guys, the NorthEscambia.com Weather Ducks, missed their shadow Sunday morning and predicted an early spring.
Forklore says that if the groundhog sees his shadow on Groundhog Day, it means six more weeks of winter. We did not have a groundhog handy for a photo, but we did have the NorthEscambia.com Weather Ducks (pictured above).
And unlike like their more famous Pennsylvania weather buddy, our weather ducks also did not see their shadow Sunday morning here in North Escambia.
For those that might be a little unsure as the weather ducks’ ability, we offer the two photographs below showing the weather ducks predicting six more weeks of winter on Groundhog Day 2010 and 10 days later with their snowman in Atmore.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Rogue FDLE Chemist In Escambia County May Have Compromised Hundreds Of Drug Cases
February 2, 2014
A chemist at a Pensacola crime lab could have compromised hundreds of state drug cases, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said Saturday.
As a result, FDLE has begun a criminal investigation and a statewide review of all crime-laboratory drug evidence.
The investigation was triggered by the discovery that prescription pain pills had gone missing from the evidence room at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. The missing drugs had been replaced with over-the-counter medications, prompting Escambia Sheriff David Morgan and State Attorney Bill Eddins of the 1st Judicial Circuit to call in FDLE.
On Thursday, Bailey said, investigators determined that each case involving missing drugs had been analyzed by the same chemist.
The chemist, who has been relieved of his duties but not charged, processed 2,600 cases for 80 law-enforcement agencies spanning 12 judicial circuits and 35 Florida counties since 2006. The cases mostly affect counties in North and West Florida, but extend as far south as Monroe County.
Bailey said the motive was unclear. “It could be personal use. It could be trafficking,” he said. “We don’t know.”
He said there was no indication the motive was to compromise any criminal cases, but that could be the effect.
Beginning Monday, FDLE teams will be deployed to inspect all evidence handled by the chemist. Each regional special agent in charge is contacting local law-enforcement leaders and state attorneys regarding pending cases.
“We’re going to start from zero,” Bailey said.
In addition to the investigation, FDLE will review its laboratory protocols to prevent a recurrence. Bailey said FDLE currently administers a drug test upon hiring and, after that, “for cause.”
“We’re going to look at the rules and regs governing drug testing,” he said. “But again, we don’t know that this chemist was actually ingesting drugs.”
Bailey also said he had spoken with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who offered the services of the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
The commissioner said he’d been advised not to release the name of the chemist, who is being compelled to use paid annual leave until his status is resolved.
“As soon as the state attorney sees that what is there is what we think is there, we are going to hurdle the bureaucratic obstacles and he will be terminated,” Bailey said.
Bailey said he was shocked by the discovery and wouldn’t have suspected the employee, who isn’t cooperating with the investigation.
“The chemist has lawyered up,” Bailey said.