Dozens More Charges Filed Against Burglary Trio
April 12, 2013
A trio arrested in early March in Escambia County in connection with 37 burglaries is now jailed in Santa Rosa County on dozens of additional charges.
Charles Dylan Williams, age 19 of Walnut Hill, Richard Kevin Craig, age 21 of Bratt and Kevin Randall Bell, age 26 of Pensacola, were arrested on 52 outstanding warrants in Santa Rosa County. Each was each charged with multiple counts of burglary and larceny. Williams and Craig were also charged with fraudulent use of a credit card.
The Santa Rosa County cases center around vehicle burglaries that begin January 28 in the Woodbine Springs and Autumn Run North subdivisions in Pace. Victims advised their cars were ransacked and items were stolen.
“Investigators were able to put the pieces of the puzzle together which lead them not only to the arrest of the three suspects, but also the recovery of the stolen items,” Deputy Rich Aloy, spokesman for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, said recently.
The trio was transferred to Santa Rosa County after facing charges in Escambia County.
In Escambia County, a rash of burglaries were reported January 25 from Beulah to Cantonment, including the theft of credit cards and a set of car keys. The suspects later returned to attempt to steal the vehicle. Deputies said they abandoned the vehicle when spotted, but a witness was able to give a good description of the trio.
Evidence against the men include surveillance video of the suspects and the vehicle as they used stolen credit cards at a Red Box video machine. Based on this information, investigators were able to locate the vehicle at a home in the 9000 block of Bridlewood Road.
During a search of the vehicle and home, the suspects confessed to multiple burglaries, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said. According to the suspects they had been using the stolen credit cards for gas, fast food and “Magic” gaming cards at Walmart.
As of early Friday morning all three men remained in the Santa Rosa County County Jail. Bond was set at $212,000 for Craig, $196,000 for Bell and $213,000 for Williams.
Cantonment Man Headed To Prison After Arson Conviction
April 12, 2013
This week, a Cantonment man was convicted of arson and sentenced to state prison for setting a Christmas Eve fire and leading deputies on a manhunt.
Donnie Ivory Padgett, 65, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for arson and criminal mischief. He will get credit for 106 days served in the county jail, and he will be required to pay restitution at an amount that is to be determined.
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a reported disturbance in the 500 block of Robinson Street on Christmas Eve last year where they found a widow air conditioner burning on the ground below the bedroom of a trailer.
The victim told deputies he had been arguing with Padgett. He said Padgett left the home, and a short time later he could smell smoke and kerosene. The victim said he found his bedroom window smoldering and the A/C unit on fire. Padgett, the victim said, then fled into a wooded area.
A K-9 unit was called to scene to search for Padgett. During the resulting manhunt, Padgett was found lying on his stomach in a nearby wooded area and taken into custody without incident.
While being transported to jail, Padgett told an Escambia deputy that he was going to kill the fire victim with a 9mm pistol or cut his head off, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
One In Custody In Oakwood Terrace Shooting
April 12, 2013
A man wanted in connection with a shooting Thursday morning at the Oakwood Terrace apartment complex in Escambia County has surrendered to deputies.
Christopher Wayne Pressley turned himself in after being featured in media reports. Thursday night, the Sheriff’s Office said charges were pending against Pressley, including attempted murder and possession of a firearm by convicted felon.
Emergency dispatchers received 911 calls about 10:30 Thursday morning reporting shots fired at the apartment complex on Truman Avenue. Deputies received information while en-route that a large crowd had gathered outside of the apartments and one victim was also on the ground outside. The Florida Highway Patrol responded to help secure the scene and assist with crowd control.
The 24-year old male victim was transported to Baptist Hospital for treatment. His condition was not released.
Raises On The Way For Escambia Teachers, School Employees
April 12, 2013
The Escambia County School District’s 6,000 employees could soon see a little something extra in their paychecks.
The school district and the union have agreed 0n a 2-percent raise for employees, retroactive to July 1, 2012. The raises will cost the district about $3.5 million.
Before paychecks are increased, the raises must first be approved by the Escambia County School Board.
House Offers Targeted Health Plan, Rejects Federal Money
April 12, 2013
After weeks of criticizing a potential expansion of the Medicaid program, House Republican leaders Thursday released an alternative plan that would provide $2,000 health-care subsidies to targeted groups of low-income parents and people with disabilities.
The plan would reject tens of billions of dollars in federal money that would be available during the next decade to expand Medicaid eligibility under the federal Affordable Care Act. It would take what a key architect, Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, described as a “free market” approach to offer health services to low-income people.
“The Florida House has developed a plan that will fit the needs of Florida, not the requirements of Washington,” House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said in a prepared statement.
But Gov. Rick Scott quickly raised doubts about the plan because it would rely on state money and not tap into funds available through the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare. Scott in February announced support for the Medicaid expansion and also has backed a Senate alternative that would use federal money to help low-income people buy private insurance.
“The House’s plan will cost Florida taxpayers on top of what they are already taxed under the president’s new health-care law,” Scott said in a statement. “This would be a double-hit to state taxpayers.”
The plan’s release sets the stage for the House and Senate to try to reach agreement in the coming weeks about trying to expand health coverage for low-income Floridians. Republican leaders in both chambers have rejected expanding Medicaid as intended under the Affordable Care Act, but the Senate is considering two alternatives that differ from the House plan.
Under the plan dubbed “Florida Health Choices Plus,” House Republican leaders would offer the subsidies to low-income parents and people with disabilities who are eligible for the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The plan would only be open to people who have household incomes at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level — a maximum household income of $19,530 for a family of three.
People who enroll in Florida Health Choices Plus would be required to pay $25 a month and meet work requirements. Materials released by the House indicate, for example, that enrollees could use the subsidies to help buy high-deductible, catastrophic insurance coverage.
Florida Health Choices Plus would start in April 2014 and, according to the House, would enroll an estimated 116,000 people a year. The vast majority of those enrollees would qualify because they are parents, not because they are eligible for Supplemental Security Income, according to House materials.
The subsidies would cost the state an estimated $237 million a year, though the amount in the upcoming 2013-14 fiscal year would be only $12 million because of the April 2014 start date. The House wants the Florida Health Choices program — a long-planned state health marketplace — to run Florida Health Choices Plus.
The plan, however, likely will face opposition from Democrats and other groups that have backed expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Such a Medicaid expansion would cover hundreds of thousands of more Floridians than the House plan and also would guarantee more-complete coverage.
House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, released a statement Thursday describing the House plan as a “bare-bones health coverage plan.” But he also said he recognizes that it is “at least a minimal attempt toward achieving a legislative compromise on the important topic of health coverage for Floridians.”
The Affordable Care Act calls for expanding Medicaid to people whose incomes are up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Also it says the federal government would pay all of the expansion costs for the first three years and gradually reduce its share to 90 percent in 2020. That would lead to Washington spending more than $50 billion in Florida over 10 years.
House Republican leaders have repeatedly raised questions about whether the state could rely on the federal money in the future and have said they fear Florida would get stuck picking up large part of the tab for expanding Medicaid.
The House proposal would rely on another part of the Affordable Care Act as a way for people whose incomes are between 100 percent and 138 percent of the poverty level to get coverage. That part of the law will offer subsidies to people to buy coverage through a health-insurance “exchange,” a type of online marketplace.
Under the House proposal, the $2,000 subsidies would go into accounts, known as CARE accounts that would be administered by Florida Health Choices. Enrollees could use the money to buy coverage and health services.
The Senate proposal that Scott has backed was proposed by Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart. It would rely on federal money to help people up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level get insurance.
The House proposal, in some ways, is similar to another proposal released by Senate Health Policy Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach. Both would reject federal money and target uninsured people with incomes at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level.
House Republicans and Bean also agree they do not want to create an “entitlement” program and would rely on the Florida Health Choices program as a key vehicle. They even propose similar program names, with Bean calling his the “Health Choice Plus Program.”
But Bean’s proposal would offer smaller amounts of money to more people than the House would.
By The News Service of Florida
Senate Looking At Taxing Online Sales In Florida
April 12, 2013
Internet retailers would have to collect sales tax when Florida residents make online purchases and remit the money to the state under a bill that cleared a Senate committee Thursday.
The measure would offset the increased revenue brought in by the measure by lowering other taxes, including offering a sales tax holiday for shoppers at brick and mortar stores. The “revenue neutral” offset provision helps Republican backers of the idea avoid any notion that the proposal is a tax increase, although they also claim that the bill simply modernizes the tax laws to require collection of money that should have been flowing into state coffers all along.
In addition to offsetting new revenue through what would surely be a popular break from the sales tax, the bill (SB 316) also would lower the communications services tax rate. That tax is charged on things like telephone service, and cable and satellite TV. Bill sponsor Sen. Nancy Detert said Florida residents would notice their home Internet service would be cheaper, offsetting the additional cost of items purchased through that Internet connection.
Online retailers like Amazon don’t collect sales taxes on Florida purchases, even though Florida lawmakers say that technically, the purchases should be subject to the state’s 6 percent sales and use tax.
“It’s something that we should have been collecting and haven’t,” said Detert, R-Venice.
The bill is strongly supported by physical retailers who rely on non-Internet sales, who have claimed for years they’re at a disadvantage because buyers would rather purchase items online to save sales tax.
“This bill helps to support the bricks and mortar stores in our state,” said Detert. “We’re helping small business and we’re helping with a tax refund to consumers.”
The bill passed 10-1 in the Senate Finance and Tax Subcommittee, with the lone no vote coming from the panel’s chairwoman Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange.
While voting for it, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, questioned why lawmakers were insistent on offsetting the new revenue with other tax cuts.
“This is money we’re already due, so it shouldn’t have to have an offset,” Clemens said.
But legislation that could be interpreted as raising taxes has never played well in the GOP-dominated Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott has begun a re-election campaign and is expected to be cool to anything opponents might portray as a tax increase.
“We’re doing a tax shift,” insisted Detert.
By The News Service of Florida
Rudd Accepts Air Force Academy Appointment
April 12, 2013
Robert Rudd, a senior at Pine Forest High School and Cadet Commander of the school’s NJROTC battalion, has officially accepted his appointment to the United States Air Force Academy for the incoming class of 2017.
Rudd was joined by his family, NJROTC instructors and cadets, PFHS administration and staff. Rudd is also the Cadet Commander of the Collin B. Haines Civil Air Patrol squadron out of NAS Whiting Field and several members also attended the ceremony
He will report to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 25th to begin his training. Following graduation from the Academy, he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant.
Senator Marco Rubio nominated Rudd for this highly competitive appointment. Of the 12,000 plus applications received, approximately 1,200 offers of appointment were extended. The value of an Air Force Academy education is calculated to be approximately equal to a $414,000 scholarship.
Rudd also had offers from Auburn University, University of Kentucky, University of South Florida, Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC.
The ARGOS Take First In Destin Tournament
April 12, 2013
The 11-year old travel ball team “The ARGOS” took home first place in the recent USSSA tournament held in Destin. The team went undefeated in the two-day tournament. Team members are (top row, L-R) Trevor Norton, Cameron Bailey, TJ McCants, Chase Barcus, Sam Shackle, (bottom row) Cole Mullins, John Pinette, Jacob Bryant, Christian Munoz and Nathan Brewton. Coaches are Mike Norton, Levy Bryant and Matt Faust. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Okahashi, Cousin To Wed
April 12, 2013
Al and Jessica and Stephen Porter of Pensacola announce the engagement of their daughter, Kiani Okahashi, to Cody Cousin, son of Jennifer and Keith Winters of Atmore.
Kiani is a 2012 graduate of Northview High School and currently teaches with Heather Leonard’s Danceworks.
Cody is a 2010 graduate of Northview High School. He joined the Army after graduation and was recently discharged.
The wedding will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 13 at the Museum of Commerce at 115 East Zarragossa Street in downtown Pensacola.
Escambia Westgate To Hold 5K Fun Run, Walk And Wheel
April 12, 2013
The Escambia Westgate School will host a 5K Fun Run, Walk, and Wheel this Saturday.
The first 200 racers to register will receive a t-shirt. All proceeds will be used to expand the Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex. This expansion will include a fully accessible gymnasium.
The race begins 8:00 a.m. The race fee is $20 in advance registration or $25 the day of the race.
For more information and a registration form visit the Escambia Westgate School website or contact Ashley McCombs, (850) 494-5700 Ext. 231, lrhodes@escambia.k12.fl.us; or Laren Leptrone, (850) 494-5700 Ext. 227, LLeptrone@escambia.k12.fl.us.