Summer Ball: Gators Over Chiefs; Northview Beats Catholic
June 9, 2013
During the second day of a Catholic High School Summer Ball Tournament Saturday, Northview lost a couple to the Escambia Gators and the Chiefs beat Catholic.
Northview’s Team B lost to the Escambia Gators, 8-2. The Chiefs’ Team A also lost to the Escambia Gators, 5-1. And the Northview Chiefs Team A beat the Catholic Crusaders, 6-5.
Here is a look a scores and the remainder of the tournament schedule for Northview:
A Team
Saturday June 8 — Escambia 5, Northview 1
Saturday June 8 — Northview 6, Catholic 5
Sunday June 9 11:30 Navarre vs Northview @ Catholic
Sunday June 9 2:00 Northview vs Pace @ Catholic
B Team
Friday June 7 — Catholic 14 Northview 3
Saturday June 8 — Escambia 8, Northview 2
Sunday June 9 2:00 Northview vs Mosley @ Escambia
Sunday June 9 4:30 Navarre vs Northview @Escambia
Pictured: Northview High School Summer Ball action from Saturday. Photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Big Brother Watching: First Verizon, Now The Internet
June 9, 2013
News accounts and officials said U.S. intelligence agencies have been peering into the servers used by nine major Internet companies and tracking millions of phone calls. Among them are Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Skype and Apple. All of the tech companies have denied any affiliation with PRISM.
They have also been tracking the source and destination of millions of phone calls, though apparently not listening to the conversations.
As all of this information zooms around the Internet on fiber optic cables, officials are using a program called “PRISM” to sort through and analyze data. Officials said they are searching for links to known or suspected terrorists, and seeking patterns that might reveal something about planned attacks.
The Internet companies deny they are voluntarily participating in any government data collection, and say they only give the government what is required by law.
The computer analysis is possible because Internet communications by e-mail, chat, video or file transfer are all converted into a stream of ones and zeros and broken into little packets.
Each of the packets contains the unique computer addresses of the sender and receiver, and the sequential number, so that the message can be reassembled at the destination in the correct order.
The majority of Internet communications actually flows through the United States, because computers do not necessarily use the shortest route between them, but the easiest and cheapest one.
For instance, the optical cables between Europe and North America can transfer many more packets than cables between Europe and Latin America, which makes it easier to move this traffic. It also makes it easier for U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor these communications.
According to an article in The Guardian, U.S. phone communications giant Verizon was ordered to provide the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) ‘metadata’ on all calls going through its network within the United States and with other countries. The collected ‘metadata’ does not contain actual conversations, but can still be useful to investigators.
‘Targeted data mining’
Metadata contains phone numbers, area codes, GPS data, and time and duration of calls. It may also identify phone models and other technical information.
Once in the possession of the NSA, all collected data can be stored in data warehouses – huge memory banks – where it can be analyzed and cross-referenced by sophisticated software which can decipher usage patterns.
The professional term is ‘targeted data mining.’ However, there is no evidence that collecting and analyzing it are effective tools.
In an interview with VOA, Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the NSA is collecting much more data than it needs.
She said if the government wants to know who the suspected or known terrorist is communicating with, it can do that by getting the telephone records of the individuals it wants to investigate.
Without confirming the story, a senior Obama administration official defended the practice as part of the provisions of the Patriot Act, the law passed by Congress after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
[VOA]
Financial Assistance Available To Conserve Natural Resources
June 9, 2013
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) financial assistance is available for applicants who apply by next Friday, June 14.
The voluntary program allows producers to go the extra mile in conserving natural resources while also maintaining or increasing the productivity of their operations. Tribal, private agricultural producers and non-industrial private forest landowners should meet with their local NRCS staff as soon as possible to discuss eligibility.
“CSP is different than our other financial assistance programs,” said NRCS State Conservationist Russell Morgan. “It offers payments to producers who maintain a high level of conservation on their land and agree to adopt higher levels of stewardship. It’s about conservation activities on the entire operation, focusing on multiple resource concerns.”
Playing a significant part in conserving and improving our nation’s resources, producers enrolled an additional 12.1 million acres in CSP nationwide last year, bringing the total number of acres to more than 50 million.
Many of the CSP enhancements improve soil quality, which helps land become more resilient to extreme weather. Because of the extreme weather in 2012, more interest and participation in the cover crop enhancements is expected this year, according to NRCS experts. Several other improvements are available for producers, including intensive rotational grazing, intercropping and wildlife friendly fencing.
Although applications are accepted all year, farmers, ranchers and forestland owners interested in CSP should submit applications by June 14 to ensure they are considered for this year’s funding. The deadline was extended from May 31.
A CSP self-screening checklist is available to help producers determine if the program is suitable for their operation. The checklist highlights basic information about CSP eligibility requirements, stewardship threshold requirements and payment types.
For the checklist and additional information, visit the CSP website http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/csp/ or visit your local USDA NRCS office.
Wahoos Even Series With 4-1 Win
June 9, 2013
Ryan Dennick pitchedover 7.1 innings and scored a run after hitting a leadoff triple in the Blue Wahoos series-evening 4-1 win over the Mississippi Braves on Saturday night at Trustmark Park.
The game was scoreless until Dennick led off the fifth inning with a triple and scored two batters later on a base hit by Luis Durango. Pensacola added another run in the sixth when Devin Lohman scored Tucker Barnhart from third on a sacrifice fly to left field.
The Wahoos added some insurance with a pair of runs in the eighth. After hitting a lead-off double, Travis Mattair scored on a ground ball from Lohman. A batter later, Brodie Greene singled home Ray Chang. That proved to be more than enough behind Dennick.
Dennick (W, 3-6) allowed just one run on a solo home run from Barrett Kleinknecht. The Wahoos starter was finished after 7.1 innings when Brian Pearl got a pop out and a ground out from the two batters he faced. Loek Van Mil (S, 5) struck out the side in order in the ninth to nail down his fifth save of the year. Mitch Atkins (L, 0-1) was saddled with the loss for the Braves. He allowed just one run on four hits over five innings.
Chang paced the Wahoos offensively with a 2-for-3 game. Lohman went 0-for-2 but drove in two runs.
The Blue Wahoos and Mississippi Braves will play the third game of five Sunday evening at 5:00 p.m. RHP Daniel Renken (1-4, 3.55) gets the start for Pensacola against Mississippi’s RHP Michael Lee (3-4, 4.47).
NOTES: Former Blue Wahoo closer Curtis Partch was recalled by the Reds on Saturday. Partch began the season with the Blue Wahoos and in eight appearances posted a 2.16 ERA while converting all 4 save opportunities before he was promoted to Louisville on 4/24. In 16 outings with the Bats he went 1-2 with a 3.74 ERA and a pair of saves. Partch is the second player to make his Major League debut from the Blue Wahoos 2013 roster.
story by Kevin Burke
Florida Government Weekly Roundup
June 9, 2013
When President Barack Obama adopted a policy last year aimed at allowing some young, undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States, he likely didn’t know it would cause heartburn for Gov. Rick Scott about a year later.
The “deferred action” program didn’t give citizenship or permanent-resident status to anyone living illegally in the country, but it did grant two-year non-deportation promises to undocumented immigrants under 30 who met certain conditions.
Then this week, Scott chose to veto a measure that would have added deferred-action status to the list of documents that the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles could accept as proof of identity or legal presence for driver’s license applications.
Scott’s decision might have played well with his conservative base, but even Tropical Storm Andrea could not sweep away the Democratic furor over Scott’s decision to nix the bill. And Republican legislators acted like they were under a tornado warning, scrambling to avoid questions about why they differed with Scott about the measure and whether it would undermine the party’s efforts.
NO HABLA VETAR
The uproar started after Scott vetoed the bill Tuesday. While saying that the legislation (HB 235) might have had good intentions, he slammed the idea of relying on Obama’s deferred action policy. Republicans have argued that the program is an abuse of the administration’s authority.
“Deferred action status is simply a policy of the Obama Administration, absent congressional direction, designed to dictate removal action decisions using DHS agency discretion,” Scott wrote in his veto letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “It was never passed by Congress, nor is it a promulgated rule. Given that deferred action status does not confer substantive rights or lawful status upon an individual, Florida is best served by relying on current state law.”
But, however sound they were, Scott’s legal arguments soon collided with political reality in a state where Hispanic residents made up an estimated 23 percent of the population in 2011, according to the Census Bureau.
Across the nation, Republicans did poorly with Hispanic voters in 2012, and especially non-Cuban Hispanic voters, a growing population in Florida. So Democrats were quick to pounce on Scott’s veto of the measure in an effort to prove that the GOP isn’t in tune with Latinos on the critical issue of immigration reform.
Sen. Darren Soto, an Orlando Democrat who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said the veto could be seen as “anti-Hispanic.”
“It’s hard for people to realize the America dream if you don’t have a driver license and most jobs require you to commute, so I think it’s more than symbolic,” Soto said. “It’s something that is needed in America to succeed.”
Democrats continued that pattern for most of the week, with lawmaker after lawmaker lining up to issue press releases decrying the veto.
Republicans came down in one of two places: Either commenting in defense of Scott’s veto, or choosing not to comment at all. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry took the former path.
“National immigration has to be solved,” Curry said. “If Sen. Soto and his pals care about that, why don’t they engage in the national discussion instead of just throwing spitballs from the sidelines?”
Lawmakers largely maintained radio silence. A spokesman for House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, issued a terse statement when asked about the veto and the potential fallout for House members who supported the legislation.
“The Legislature exercised its right to support HB 235 by passing it and it’s the Governor’s prerogative to veto it,” he said.
COURT RULES
Scott also spent some time signing bills that drew establishment Republican support, including a pair of measures that gave victories to doctors and businesses in the fight over lawsuits in Florida, On Wednesday, Scott attached his name to measures leading to changes for expert witnesses in medical-malpractices cases (SB 1792) and ceremonially signed a bill (HB 7015) meant to get rid of “junk science” in lawsuits.
“By signing these important bills, we’ll improve the business climate in the Sunshine State, which means more jobs and opportunities for Florida families,” said Scott in a news release following the Jacksonville event where he signed the bills.
Not everyone agreed. The Florida Justice Association, a major trial lawyers’ organization, said any benefits from the bill will come at the expense of injured patients and consumers. Debra Henley, the association’s executive director, took aim at the malpractice bill.
“The law is anti-consumer and further tips the scales of justice against patients and the families of patients who are killed or injured as a result of medical negligence,” Henley said.
The medical-malpractice bill will require that expert witnesses have the same specialties as the physicians who are defendants in medical-negligence cases. That is a stricter standard than current law, which allows them to have similar specialties.
Another heavily debated part of the bill could lead to what are known as “ex parte communications” between defense attorneys and doctors who are not parties to the lawsuits but have treated the plaintiffs. Such communications would happen outside the presence of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The other measure (HB 7015), which Scott signed before a Tuesday deadline, will lead to Florida using the same expert-witness standards as are used in federal courts. Those guidelines are sometimes known in legal circles as the “Daubert” standards.
Other changes could be on the way. The Florida Supreme Court on Monday grappled with a 2011 law that requires out-of-state physicians to be certified by the Florida Department of Health before they can testify in the Sunshine State. Justices are considering a rule lining up with that standard.
Opponents echoed the arguments against the bills Scott signed: The measures would make it harder to sue in Florida.
“The purpose of this is to make it more difficult for plaintiffs to get experts,” said Sean Domnick, a Palm Beach Gardens attorney who argued against the proposal.
COURT RULINGS
There were definitive results elsewhere in the court system. U.S. District Judge James Cohn rebuffed an attempt by a pair of Broward County senior arcades to bar key parts of a law cracking down on Internet cafes.
The arcades — Boardwalk Brothers, Inc., and Play It Again FLA, LLC — had argued that the law was unconstitutionally vague and arbitrary and violated the First Amendment rights of seniors who gather at the arcades.
Cohn essentially said no dice.
“(The) state has a significant interest in proscribing the behavior regulated in the statute,” Cohn wrote. “Plaintiffs have failed to articulate any interest they have which overrides the state’s substantial interest in regulating gambling.”
And the 1st District Court of Appeal threw out a lower court’s ruling blocking the state from privatizing inmate health care at state prisons, saying the policy clearly followed legislative intent even if it wasn’t always explicitly spelled out in the budget.
“Outside the [budget], however, there is ample evidence, not only that the department was authorized to privatize inmate health services, but that the Legislature intends for such privatization to occur,” wrote Judge Stephanie Ray.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott angers lawmakers, particularly Democrats, by vetoing a bill that would have expanded the kinds of paperwork that could be used as identification to obtain driver’s licenses to include papers from President Barack Obama’s deferred action program.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It would be nice to have a member of the executive branch that hasn’t been the target of a federal investigation.”–Joshua Karp, spokesman for the Democratic Party, on the fact that Scott has not yet selected a replacement for former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. Carroll resigned after an investigation into a company she consulted for, but she was never charged and has said she doesn’t believe she was a target of the probe.
By The News Service of Florida
Christopher Robin Holden
June 9, 2013
Christopher Robin Holden, 53 of Atmore, passed away on Friday, June 7, 2013, in Atmore. He was born on May 13, 1960, in Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. He was in the auto parts sales industry where he had worked in Atmore, Pensacola and Milton. He was a well-known professional musician. He was affiliated with Grace Fellowship and was honorably discharged from the United Sates Air Force. He was the oldest of eleven children.
He is preceded in death by his father, Arnold Olivia Holden; step-father, Harold Eugene Harrison; brother, Ernest Lycurgus Holden and sister, Robilyn Olivia Holden Whatley.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon Marie Jones-Presley Holden of Atmore; mother, Jacquelyn Hart Harrison of Atmore; two daughters, Christina (Marshall) Hadley of Perdido and Emily Ann Holden of Atmore; two sons, Christopher (Sherry Ann) Presley and Jeffery (Amanda) Presley both of Bay Minette; two brothers, Joe Arnold Holden and Michael Wayne Jordan; two step-brothers, Harold Eugene Harrison, II and Bobby Carlos Harrison; three sisters, Frances Holden Adams, Jacquelyn Lorraine Harrison Flowers and Lisa Lynette Noell; one step-sister, Cheryl Harrison Crews; nine grandchildren, Christopher, Luke, Shayan, Elizabeth, Evelyn, Brittney, Cortney, Shane, and Janey and many nieces, nephews and extended family.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, June 11, 2013, at 2 p.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Gene King and Pastor Glynn Webber officiating.
Interment will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be Joe Arnold Holden, Cory Holden, Eddie Bear Kirby, Marshall Wayne Hadley, Donald Boutwell and William “B.J.” Donaldson.
Honorary pallbearers will be Harold Eugene Harrison, II, Bobby Carlos Harrison, William Jones, Christopher Holden, Luke Hadley, Shane Presley, and Michael Jordan.
Family will receive friends Monday, June 10, 2013, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home, Inc., is in charge of all arrangements.
No Injuries In Tour Bus, Car Crash In Molino
June 8, 2013
There were no injuries in a wreck involving a car and tour bus Saturday morning in Molino.
The accident happened just before 9 a.m. at the intersection Highway 29 and Highway 97. The front of a tour bus operated by a Selma, AL, company apparently collided with the rear of a Buck Park Avenue. The number of passengers on the bus was not immediately available.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Early Morning Fire Claims One Life In Atmore
June 8, 2013
This fire has been ruled arson and a murder charge has been filed. Click here for an updated story.
An early morning house fire claimed the life of an elderly Atmore woman.
The woman was identified by neighbors as Mildred Jackson Morris. She was the only person in the 227 Adams Street home when the blaze broke out about 5 a.m. It took firefighters less than 15 minutes to extinguish the fire, but they were unable to save Morris. Authorities said the fire was contained to just the living room area of the home.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Alabama State Fire Marshal.
The Atmore Fire Department, Poarch Fire Department, Atmore Ambulance and Atmore Police Department all responded to the fire.
Pictured: A fire in this home at 227 Adams Street in Atmore claimed one life early Saturday morning. NorthEcambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Rain Likely By Sunday
June 8, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Sunday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 85. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
- Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 5 mph.
- Monday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 88. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. West wind around 5 mph.
- Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
- Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Light west wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94.
- Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 75.
- Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
- Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 76.
- Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 96.
ECSO: Woman Tosses Puppy Out Of Moving Vehicle In Molino
June 8, 2013
An Alabama woman was jailed Friday after allegedly tossing a puppy out of a moving vehicle in Molino.
Christa Deann Floydroy, 40, of Lincoln, AL, was charged with animal cruelty. Her bond was set at $1,500.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said a couple was driving southbound on Highway 29 near Highway 97 about 8 a.m. when they got into an argument. Floydroy allegedly grabbed the driver’s one-year old puppy known as “Little Bit” and threw him out of the vehicle at an estimated 60 m.p.h.
The driver pulled over to let Floydroy out, and then he went back to rescue the puppy. The puppy was treated at a local veterinary office for road rash but is expected to make a full recovery, Sena Maddison, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said.