Hard Freeze Tonight
January 23, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia are forecast:
- Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22. Wind chill values between 15 and 20. North wind around 10 mph.
- Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 43. Wind chill values between 15 and 25. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26. Calm wind.
- Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 59. Wind chill values between 25 and 35 early. West wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
- Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north after midnight.
- Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. South wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight.
- Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 60. North wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
- Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 27. North wind 10 to 15 mph.
- Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 43.
- Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 21.
- Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 41.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.
- Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50.
Reduced Service Hours Announced For McDavid Post Office
January 23, 2014
The U.S. Postal Service has announced reduced retail hours for the McDavid Post Office. The retail window will actually be open earlier and stay open later on weekdays while reducing service hours by five.
The new hours for the McDavid Post Office, effective February 22, will be 7-11 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8-10 a.m. on Saturdays. The post office’s retail window is currently open 7:45 -11 a.m. and noon – 3:45 p.m. during the week and 7:45 to 9:45 a.m. on Saturdays. Access to post office boxes will remain 24/7.
Residents and businesses in the 32568 zip code were notified in December that the Postal Service will take future action regarding the McDavid Post Office. They were surveyed with 77 percent of respondents choosing a reduction in hours over other options including closure.
About two dozen people attended a public meeting with postal officials on January 16, at which time they were reassured that the McDavid Post Office would remain open.
There are no plans to make any changes at the Walnut Hill Post Office, which shares McDavid’s 32568 zip code. The Walnut Hill Post Office is a contract location operated by Escambia River Electric Cooperative, providing retail window services and post office boxes.
The McDavid Post Office was the only local post office in Escambia or Santa Rosa counties on the current closure or cutback list.
Pictured: The McDavid Post Office. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Six Wildfires Reported Wednesday; Avoid Outdoor Burning
January 23, 2014
The Florida Forest Service responded to six wildfires Wednesday in Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. The fire burned about 40 acres total, with one fire alone estimated at 20 acres. All of the fires were contained by nightfall.
“Dry, windy conditions will persist for the next several days and residents are advised to refrain from burning any yard debris and be careful during any outdoor activity that might cause a fire,” said Joe Zwierzchowski, wildfire mitigation specialist for the Florida Forest Service.
ECSO Investigating After Driver Hits House
January 23, 2014
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has released few details about an incident Tuesday night in which someone drove a vehicle into an Oak Grove home.
Deputies were dispatched to a disturbance at the home in the 1300 block of North Highway 99 just before 9 p.m. A short time later, the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue was called to the home to check out a report of a vehicle that struck a house, and to make sure all was safe after the vehicle came to rest on a propane tank.
The fire department determined the home was structurally sound following the crash and determined there was no danger from the propane tank.
A spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday afternoon that the incident was domestic violence related and confirmed that there were no injuries. The spokesperson said an investigation is actively continuing, and there have been no arrests. Further details were not released.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Northview Celebrates Success In Reading
January 23, 2014
Northview High School is once again celebrating improved test scores — this time on the district reading subject area exam.
The exam is given to every student who takes a reading course at Northview High School. Of the students taking the exam, 84 percent passed, an improvement over last year’s 74 percent. Also this year, almost half of the Northview students taking the test scored between 80-100 while last year only 28 percent scored in the upper range.
Pictured with the students that took the district reading subject area exam are reading teachers Tammy Calloway, Megan Carroll, Barbara Luker, and instructional aide Rhonda Killam, Principal Gayle Weaver and Assistant Principal Gerry Pippins. Teacher Sue Jernigan, instructional aide Amy Holland, and Literacy Coach Margaret Blum also contributed greatly to the success of these students but are not pictured. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Citizens Insurance Policy Clearinghouse Set To Begin Monday
January 23, 2014
An electronic clearinghouse system, expected to keep Citizens Property Insurance Corp. from all but the riskiest homeowners’ policies, is set to go live Monday.
The rollout of the system was delayed for three weeks as privacy questions arose regarding applicant information while policies were marketed to private insurers. The delay was also implemented as the state Department of Economic Opportunity continues to work with vendors to fix a number of problems with its new $63 million Connect unemployment assistance website.
“We’ve been quality assurance testing for several weeks,” Citizens spokesman Mike Peltier responded Wednesday in an email. Initially, only new policies will be run through the clearinghouse.
Four companies — Ark Royal, Florida Peninsula, Safe Harbor and United Property & Casualty — will initially be involved with the clearinghouse. By July 13, Citizens hopes to have up to 16 additional companies brought online.
“The clearinghouse offers dual benefits of helping homeowners find better coverage at comparable rates and reducing Citizens’ exposure,” Citizens Chairman Chris Gardner said in a release. Combined with a number of ongoing mass takeouts of policies by private carriers, Citizens should soon be below the 1 million policy mark for the first time since mid-2006. Citizens ended 2013 with 1,021,694 policies.
Through the clearinghouse, if coverage by a private firm is found within 15 percent of Citizens’ premium, the policy would go to the private carrier. For those who now have Citizens coverage, policy renewals will enter the clearinghouse starting July 1. For existing Citizens customers, renewals will have to go to the private market if comparable coverage is found at or below the state-backed insurer’s rates.
The clearinghouse was part a sweeping insurance package approved by legislators during the 2013 session.
Last August, the Citizens board approved a five-year contract with Bolt Solutions, Inc., to design the software for the clearinghouse. The contract, which has an option for an additional five years, could total $44.9 million over the decade.
Bond Revoked For McDavid Burglary Suspect
January 23, 2014
Bond has been revoked for a McDavid man awaiting trial on burglary charges.
In September 2013, 19-year old Haden Brock Howard was charged with felony burglary and grand theft for stealing a generator, chainsaws, a pressure washer and other power tools from a shed on Sandy Hollow Road. Howard allegedly knew the victim’s family and knew that they were out of town during the weekend in which the items were stolen.
The family’s 14-year old son told deputies that he and Howard owed money to Howard’s drug dealer on Cypress Street in Walnut Hill, and the stolen items were traded for spice, marijuana and crack cocaine.
Howard was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allowing the 14-year old son, another 14-year boy and his 15-year old girlfriend the means to purchase and use crack cocaine, marijuana and spice in his presence, according to an arrest report.
On December 13, 2013, Judge J. Scott Duncan granted the State Attorney’s Office motion to revoke bond; he was arrested Tuesday on the outstanding order.
In a separate case, Howard is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony battery by strangulation, and aggravated battery using a deadly weapon after allegedly attacking his mother over the Thanksgiving weekend.
The 42-year old victim told deputies that Howard, her son, had taken her vehicle without permission. She was able to locate it alongside Highway 97. As she was driving home, the victim said Howard suddenly sat up from the backseat, became enraged and put a knife against her right temple and was saying he was going to kill her, according to an arrest report.
The victim pulled off the road in the 7200 block of Highway 97 in Walnut Hill. She told deputies that Howard dropped the knife, then attempted to strangle her before grabbing some sort of handsaw. She escaped the car, with Howard attempting to run over her, an arrest report states, before crashing through a fence and speeding off on Highway 97.
Deputies made contact with Howard by phone and he said he had no idea what was going on and that he had not seen his mother in two or three days. Deputies convinced Howard to exit his grandparents’ home on Green Village Road, at which time he was taken into custody. He continued to insist that he had not had any contact with his mother.
The victim’s car was located in the grandparents’ backyard, with what appeared to be a bloody fixed blade knife inside, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report.
Howard made a video court appearance Wednesday afternoon. He is scheduled for trial in late February in both cases.
Fire Damages Atmore Apartment
January 23, 2014
A two-story single family apartment in Atmore sustained smoke and water damage during a fire Wednesday afternoon.
Officials said the residents of the apartment in the 100 block of South Trammell Street had left the kitchen with grease on a hot stove, apparently sparking the blaze. There were no injuries reported.
The Atmore and Poarch fire departments responded to the fire, which was reported about 12:30 p.m.
Photos by Ditto Gorme for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State Report Says Law Against ‘No Fault’ Fraud Is Reducing Rates
January 23, 2014
Auto insurance costs will come down slightly, more than a year after reforms aimed at reducing fraud in the state’s “no-fault” auto insurance system were implemented, according to a preliminary analysis of rates by the state.
The Office of Insurance Regulation announced Wednesday that Personal Injury Protection coverage is projected to drop an average of 13.2 percent based upon on a review of 20 insurers that provide coverage for more than 75 percent of the Florida market.
The result of the decrease would be an overall 1.2 percent reduction in rates, because “no-fault” accounts for a small portion of auto coverage, the state insurance regulatory office stated in a release.
A spokesman for Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, who was a proponent of the 2012 law, called the report a “positive trend” for consumers.
“PIP fraud remains a criminal activity that we are vigilantly fighting, but the positive progress being made suggests that the recent PIP reforms should be allowed to continue working to help improve Florida’s auto insurance market,” Atwater spokesman Chris Cate said in an email.
According to OIR, the drop is in line with the projections from legislation (HB 119) that targeted what officials said had become a $1 billion overall increase in rates due to fraud.
“The estimated average statewide savings reflect a positive trend in comparison to 2011, when 86 percent of auto filings were for proposed increases in ‘no-fault’ premiums — the vast majority for double digit increases,” the study declared.
The report is expected to further temper efforts to dump the requirement that Floridians purchase “no-fault” coverage and instead allow them to carry just bodily injury coverage, which a vast majority of motorists in Florida already purchase.
Senate Banking and Insurance Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, has been moving towards such legislation, but his effort was slowed after the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee rule on Oct. 23 that a challenge to the 2012 law needed to offer a “factual” motorist who is harmed by the law.
The challenge to the law presented an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, two massage therapists, along with a hypothetical “John Doe” representing health-care providers and a hypothetical “Jane Doe” representing motorists.
The case has been appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
Donovan Brown, state government relations counsel for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said the reduction in rates could have been even better, but some insurers may have been unsure how to proceed because of the lawsuit.
“That case causes mass confusion in the marketplace,” Brown said.
Still, Brown expects the debate to continue over the future of “no-fault” as the full impact of the new law may not be known until later this year, when the results of the second round of premium filings take hold.
“When these reforms are fully implemented, then we’ll have a better idea of what the true impact will be from the changes in 2012,” Brown said.
Staff analysis of the 2012 legislation projected a 13.2 percent drop in rates after October 2012 rate filings based upon the new law. The savings are projected to be between 14 percent and 24.6 percent when filings are calculated from the Jan. 1, 2014 filings.
Leading the charge in the rate reductions were Progressive Select Insurance and Progressive American Insurance, with reductions in “no-fault” coverage by 34.6 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively, with overall auto coverage down 15 percent and 11.7 percent.
Geico General Insurance Co., the state second largest auto insurance provider, had a 25 percent drop in “no-fault” coverage, while auto coverage grew 0.6 percent.
The state’s largest auto insurance provider, State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co., had its “no-fault” coverage down 1.7 percent, while overall auto coverage decreased 3.3 percent.
Not every company submitted decreases in “no-fault.”
A 58.1 percent increase in “no-fault” was filed by 21st Century Centennial Insurance, with overall auto premiums going up 26.9 percent, and Esurance Property & Casualty Insurance has “no-fault” increasing 20.9 percent with overall rates up 17 percent.
In the House, Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, has filed two measures (HB 267 and HB 269) directed at repealing the “Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law” and allowing Floridians to carry only bodily injury coverage.
Neither bill has been reviewed by a committee.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Fire Damages Flomaton Mobile Home
January 23, 2014
Fire damaged a mobile home in Flomaton Wednesday afternoon, but the owner says it’s salvageable and he will rebuild.
The fire was reported about 1:40 p.m. in the 2300 block of Cary Street in Flomaton, just north of the Alabama/Florida line. Smoke was showing from the attic upon arrival, according to Flomaton Fire Chief Steve Stanton.
Firefighters from Flomaton, the Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Lambeth Volunteer Fire Department were able to quickly bring the fire under control and save the home.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
