Scott Budget Delves Into Obamacare
February 1, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott proposed a health-care budget Thursday that would trim payments to hospitals and carry out some parts of the federal Affordable Care Act — but he did not take a position on whether the state should go along with a major expansion of the Medicaid program.
Scott said he needs to better understand how the Medicaid expansion would affect health-care quality, access and costs. The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, calls for such an expansion, but each state has final say.
“Today is not the day for that decision,” Scott said during a news conference to announce an overall $74.2 billion budget proposal that now goes to the Legislature.
Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, quickly issued a statement blasting Scott, saying the governor — a longtime critic of the Affordable Care Act — is “continuing his war against the president’s health care reform.”
“There is still no money in his budget for expanding Medicaid, ignoring the overwhelming support by a majority of Floridians to broaden the program, and assuring Florida’s role as a national leader in the number of uninsured citizens,” Smith said.
Scott’s budget calls for spending about $30.9 billion on health- and human-services programs next year. It includes money for such things as providing more residency slots for medical students and offering services to about 750 developmentally disabled people who are on a waiting list.
The Florida Medical Association praised Scott’s move to add about 700 residency positions, which the governor’s office says will ultimately increase the likelihood that new doctors will stay in the state.
“The governor clearly understands the importance of having a substantial supply of physicians to meet the increasing health-care needs of Florida’s families,” FMA Executive Vice President Timothy Stapleton said. “His commitment to GME (graduate medical education) funding will pay dividends to the state of Florida for years to come.”
Some other parts of the health-care budget, however, would face cuts. For example, most hospitals would see a 2 percent cut in Medicaid rates for inpatient care, county health departments would see their reimbursed rates reduced and funding for chiropractic and podiatric services would be eliminated, according to the governor’s office.
Health and human services providers have repeatedly tried to fend off funding cuts in recent years as the state has grappled with budget shortfalls and growing Medicaid costs. But Scott’s budget proposal does not appear to include the broad range of potential cuts that have worried providers in the past.
One of the most closely watched issues during the upcoming session, however, will be how Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature deal with the Affordable Care Act, which President Obama and congressional Democrats approved in 2010.
The state is required to comply with certain parts of the law, but others are optional. Also, some parts of the law carry budget consequences, while others don’t.
Scott’s proposed budget would carry out parts of the law that are mandatory or, in effect, leave little choice for the state.
For example, the proposal includes $703.5 million for a mandatory increase in Medicaid payment rates for primary-care physicians. The increase, which brings Medicaid rates to higher Medicare levels, is totally funded by the federal government, though it shows up in the state budget.
The budget also includes $116.3 million in state and federal money to cover an expected influx into Medicaid of people who are currently eligible for the program but have not enrolled. With the Affordable Care Act fully taking effect in 2014, it is widely expected that some already-eligible people will start moving into the Medicaid system — an issue that is separate from the Medicaid eligibility expansion in the federal law.
As another example, the budget calls for opening up eligibility in the state-employee health insurance program to what are known as “other personnel services,” or OPS, workers. Those people are considered temporary employees and are not currently eligible for enrollment in the state health-insurance program.
But the Affordable Care Act requires employers such as the state to provide coverage to all employees who work more than 30 hours a week. As a result, the state has to offer coverage to such OPS employees or face paying hefty penalties.
By The News Service of Florida
Reduced Price Spay, Neutering Offered For Escambia Pet Owners
February 1, 2013
In celebration of the 19th annual “World Spay Day,” qualifying Escambia County residents can receive assistance for low cost spay and neuter services during the month of February. In collaboration with Concerned Citizens for Animal Welfare, Escambia County Animal Services will spay or neuter pets for half price for the first 100 eligible citizens.
While they will have the entire month of February to take advantage of the program, pet owners are encouraged to apply early. There will also be a drawing for those participating to win pet gift baskets with treats and toys for either dogs or cats valued at $75.
Concerned Citizens for Animal Welfare, led by President Dorothy Kaser, has sponsored “World Spay Day” for the past 19 years at the shelter, as well as providing educational materials.
“We are excited to be working with such committed partners who encourage responsible pet ownership,” said Shelter Manager Delfi Messinger. “World Spay Day is a great way to engage the community in reducing the overpopulation of unwanted pets.”
To schedule the surgery, residents must verify that their household income qualifies them and bring in the pet for a brief exam. Rabies vaccinations and county licenses are also available to residents who qualify for the low cost program. The shelter is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. for visits, questions and to check eligibility for the program.
For additional information, visit the shelter at 200 West Fairfield Drive, call the shelter at (850) 595-3075, or visit www.myescambia.com.
Dog Found Dead With Arrow In It
February 1, 2013
Escambia County deputies are investigating a case of animal cruelty which resulted in the death of a seven-year old Terrier mix Thursday.
Just after noon, deputies responded to a report of a dead dog the intersection of Emerald Avenue and Kentucky Drive. Deputies learned that witnesses found the dog with a small arrow in it. When deputies arrived on scene the dog was already dead, and the dog’s owner had arrived on scene.
Escambia County investigators are working the case and asking for anyone who may have any information to call the Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Santa Rosa Man Gets 10 Years For Truck Meth Lab
February 1, 2013
Wayne Mitchell Powers of Milton was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge David Rimmer to 10 years in state prison after he was caught with a portable methamphetamine lab in his truck.
On June 15, 2012, a detective with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit conducted a traffic stop on Powers, whose driver’s license was suspended at the time.
During the stop, Powers admitted that there was a methamphetamine lab in the truck. Members of the Narcotics Unit searched the truck and located a portable meth lab. Upon further investigation, investigators discovered that during the month of June 2012, Powers and his co-defendants had also purchased numerous items used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, including Coleman fuel, drain cleaner, plastic tubing and pseudoephedrine.
Powers was also sentenced on Wednesday in two other cases involving the possession of methamphetamine. These cases were investigated by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department.
Judge David Rimmer sentenced Powers to 10 years state prison in one case and five years state prison in the other. All three sentences were ordered to run concurrent with one another.
Scott Unveils Record $74.2 Billion Budget
February 1, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a record-breaking $74.2 billion budget Thursday, pouring hundreds of millions of additional dollars into public schools, colleges and universities in a proposal that Democrats knocked as a public-relations gimmick.
Scott’s plan would boost spending by almost $4 billion in the coming budget year, which begins July 1, with much of the increase heading to education. He said the bump reflected more incoming tax revenue brought on by an economic recovery after the fallout from the Great Recession clouded the budgets of his first two years.
“Now that our economy is on track, our ‘Families First Budget’ includes targeted investments to keep our economy growing and providing more opportunities for Florida families,” Scott said.
The spending plan marks a pronounced turnaround from two years ago, when Scott stood in front of an adoring crowd of tea partiers and conservatives in Eustis, boasting he would slash government spending.
“So join me today as we set an example for the nation that you can in fact shrink government, return tax dollars to their rightful owners — you — and create an atmosphere that creates new and better-paying jobs,” Scott said then.
On Thursday, Scott’s office pointed out that the budget was the third-lowest since 2000 on a per capita, inflation-adjusted basis. The two smaller budgets by that measurement were Scott’s first two spending plans.
“What Florida families care about is they want an effective, efficient government,” Scott said when asked about the size of the budget.
The biggest boost to the budget — a $1.2 billion increase in funding for public schools — was not a surprise; Scott had unveiled that increase and the teacher pay raise that serves as its centerpiece in the run-up to Thursday’s announcement.
Scott also proposed $393 million in new funding for universities, including $167 million in “performance funding” and $118 million that universities have said would allow them to avoid a tuition increase.
“That’s a bargain the presidents and the board of governors were willing to make,” said University of Florida Bernie Machen. “And I think we will honor that.”
The spending plan would also give $15 million to UF as part of an effort to put the university in the Top 10 in the nation. Machen, who reversed his decision to retire after receiving budget commitments from Scott, defended the school’s unique treatment in the budget.
“We’re the only one close enough to [the] Top 10,” he said.
However, Scott did not propose to separately fill in a $300 million cut in the current budget year that lawmakers said would be a one-time reduction.
Scott would also provide a $1,200 bonus for state employees with a satisfactory evaluation or better, and the chance for more for those with better evaluations; employees have not received a pay raise in six years, something Scott does not propose changing. However, more than 3,600 positions would be eliminated.
About 1,200 of those positions are vacant, and most of the rest would come from the privatization of health-care services at state prisons. Contractors have promised to retain almost all of those workers if they are allowed to take over. The budget would provide a fall-back option funding the services as state operations if the privatization is overturned by the courts, as has happened in recent attempts to move some prison functions into the hands of for-profit companies.
Democrats were already looking for new avenues to knock a plan that seemed to hew closer to their priorities than Scott’s early spending blueprints. House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, was muted in his acknowledgement of the increased spending on education.
“But I would hope Floridians understand that even with an additional $1.2 billion in education, Florida would remain about $850 million shy of education spending levels of 2007-08 when there were fewer students in our public schools,” he said in a statement.
Others griped that Scott had undergone a change of heart directly related to his approval ratings, mired at 36 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll taken in December.
“This budget is not an investment in the things that actually turn around an economy,” said Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale in a statement released by his office. “It’s a taxpayer-financed down payment on courting votes for 2014.”
By The News Service of Florida
Pictured top: Gov. Rick Scott unveils his “Florida Families First” budget Thursday. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mary “Marie” Wilson Booth
February 1, 2013
Mary “Marie” Wilson Booth, 52 of Atmore, passed away Thursday, January31, 2013, in Mobile. She owned and operated Richard’s Trucking Company and was a CNA with Century Care Center, born on February 14, 1960, to Aubren and Jessie Seals Wilson.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Richard D. Booth.
She is survived by one son, Kenneth S. Morrow and one daughter, Sandy M. Booth, both of Atmore; mother, Jessie Swindle of Atmore; three brothers, Edward Wilson of Crestview, Bennie Wilson of Milton, and Dudley Wilson of Freeport; two sisters, Jeanete Quick of Bratt and Muriel Philyaw of Atmore; and two grandchildren, Serenity Tru Conway Booth and Richard Wyatt Orion Booth both of Atmore.
Services will be Sunday, February 3, 2013, at 2 p.m. from Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Earl Green Officiating. Interment will follow in McCullough Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be Joe Odom, Mike Reynolds, Kevin Jimenez, Ben Jimenez, Dudley Flowers, David Morrow, Andy Davis and Floyd Seals.
Family will receive friends, Sunday, February 03, 2013, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home one hour prior to service time.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home, Inc., is in charge of all arrangements.
Name Released Of Pedestrian Struck, Killed By Two Vehicles
January 31, 2013
A pedestrian struck and killed by two vehicles January 8 on Mobile Highway has been identified.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Thursday morning that Helen A. Feeney, 70, was killed in the accident at Mobile Highway and Tonawanda Drive, near Walmart.
Feeney attempted to cross Mobile Highway and was struck by a 2009 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Joel Williams of Cantonment and a 2003 Ford car driven by Leslie Hall of Pensacola. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene by Escambia County EMS.
No charges were filed against either driver, according to the FHP.
Century Woman Sentenced For Quarter Million Dollar Bank Heist
January 31, 2013
A Century woman was sentenced Wednesday for her role in the quarter million dollar robbery of the Bank of Brewton last February that was carried out with the help of a bank teller.
Robin Ann Godwin, 43, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison along with mental health and substance abuse treatment. She was also ordered to pay $124,026 in restitution. She had entered into guilty plea to a bank robbery back in October. As part of that plea agreement, Godwin will not appeal her sentence.
According to federal court documents, Godwin formulated a plan with bank teller Pamela Steele to rob the Bank of Brewton. In December, Steele pleaded guilty to conspiracy for her part in the robbery and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Once released, she will remain on probation for three years. Steele was also ordered to pay $124,026 in restitution.
Both women had faced a maximum of 10 years in prison.
On February 17, 2012, Godwin entered the Bank of Brewton wearing a blue poncho, a grey fedora, large sunglasses, black face paint, a black Afro wig and body padding. Godwin asked Steele about renting a safe deposit box, and Steele took Godwin into the bank vault.
Once inside the vault, Godwin pulled a large bag out from underneath her poncho and demanded that it be filled with cash. Steele then filled the bag with approximately $255,000 in cash, federal documents state. Steele did not put any bait bills or dye packs in the bag along with the cash. Godwin then fled the bank with the bag full of money.
Godwin was taken into custody April 12 as the FBI raided a small travel trailer located in a campground at 1300 Liahona Trail in Bluff Springs.
“We are executing a search warrant related to a recent bank robbery in Brewton,” James Stewart, a FBI supervisory senior resident agent, told NorthEscambia.com as agents worked to complete their operation.
Nearly a dozen FBI agents from field offices in Mobile and Pensacola spent a couple of hours searching the travel trailer in Bluff Springs Thursday night. Multiple containers of evidence, reportedly including at least part of the $255,000 — were removed by agents and placed into the back of a SUV. Some of the federal agents were wearing shirts identifying them as members of a “FBI Evidence Response Team”. Working undercover, they would not allow their photographs to be taken by a NorthEscambia.com photographer.
Campground residents were inside neighboring travel trailers as FBI agents finished executing the search warrant. Even a couple of hours after federal agents arrived at the campground, some of the neighbors could be seen periodically peeking out of their doors and windows at the travel trailer in “Lot 2″, with it’s patio crowded with lawn chairs and outdoor decorations. Pink flamingo lawn ornaments and potted plants surrounded the patio — nothing making it look out of place for the quiet area just a few feet from the Escambia River.
Pictured bottom inset and below: FBI agents executed a search warrant related to a Brewton bank robbery at this travel trailer on Bluff Springs Road south of Century in April 2012. FBI agents, who were just off camera, would not allow their photographs to be taken. NorthEscambia.com exclusive file photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Assistant Coach Ty Wise Headed To Graceville
January 31, 2013
Northview High School assistant coach Ty Wise has accepted the head coach and athletic director position at Graceville High School.
Wise has been on the Northview coaching staff for four years. As offensive coordinator, he led a Chiefs offense that accumulated over 1,000 points during the last two seasons and a Class 1A state championship win this past season.
It’s a move that could have Wise and the Graceville Tigers on the opposite side of the stadium from the Chiefs this upcoming season — both teams are Class 1A Region 1…meaning they could feasibly face each other in the state playoff series.
The move to Graceville, Wise said, was the most difficult decision he has ever had to make in his professional career.
“I met with the players today and explained my desire to be a head coach; I knew it was something that I would eventually pursue,” Wise said Wednesday night. “For my family and professional career, it was the best position for us to move over there.”
But, much like the Northview players chant in the huddle following every football game, Wise said he’ll always be a Chief.
“My time at Northview was amazing. I’ll never be able to forget what we were able to accomplish; I’ll always reflect on the positive,” he said. “I hope Northview will continue to have success. I’ll always be a Chief.”
Wise, who played football for the University of Miami, is scheduled to meet with the Graceville Tigers players today and expects to make the official move to Graceville before Spring practices begin.
At Graceville, Wise replaces March Beach who went 8-3 with a district title in 2012. Beach accepted the head coaching job at Marianna High School.
Pictured top: Northview assistant coach Ty Wise celebrates a state championship win for the Chiefs last December in Orlando’s Citrus Bowl. Pictured below: Wise plans out plays on the sidelines of a Chiefs game in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Low 30’s Tonight
January 31, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. West wind around 5 mph.
- Friday: Sunny, with a high near 56. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 27. North wind around 5 mph.
- Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 63. Wind chill values between 25 and 35 early. East wind around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
- Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight.
- Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
- Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
- Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69.
- Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47.
- Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 68.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47.
- Thursday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68.