State Charges Century Woman With Auto Insurance Fraud
May 18, 2015
A Century woman has been charged with allegedly trying to rip off her automobile insurance company.
Trisha Michelle Milstead, 43, was charged one felony count of insurance fraud by the Florida Department of Financial Services Insurance Fraud Division. She remains in the Escambia County Jail Monday with bond set at $10,000.
According to Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille, Milstead was involved in a vehicle accident on September 8 of last year, but at that time her vehicle policy had lapsed for non-payment. She allegedly reinstated the policy on September 9, signing a statement that there had been no damage to her vehicle during the period in which the policy was lapsed.
Two days later, she filed a claim for a vehicular accident on Barth Road in Molino and damage prosecutors alleged occurred on September 8 when she had no valid insurance.
Milstead is due in court for an arraignment hearing early next month.
Weather: The Week Ahead
May 18, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Tuesday
A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. West wind around 5 mph.
Thursday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Thursday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. West wind around 5 mph becoming north after midnight.
Friday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88.
Friday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 69.
Saturday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90.
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71.
Sunday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88.
Greater First Baptist Cantonment Celebrates 65 Years
May 18, 2015
The Greater First Baptist Church of Cantonment celebrated their 65th anniversary this weekend with special services on Friday and Sunday. Friday’s special message was from Pastor F. Henderson of Trinity Baptist Church in Pensacola, and Sunday’s message from from Pastor Michael Thompson of the Greater Union Baptist Church in Pensacola. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Lawmakers To Return June 1 For Special Session
May 18, 2015
After weeks of conflict, House and Senate leaders have formally called a special legislative session to reach agreement on a new state budget and to hammer out differences on major health-care issues.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, and Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, issued a “call” that said lawmakers will go into session at 1 p.m. June 1, with the session possibly lasting through June 20. An accompanying news release made clear that the leaders expect to pass a budget before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year, putting to rest the idea that state government could be forced to shut down.
The call listed issues that can be addressed during the special session, including a series of health-care bills and a House tax-cut package. It did not include some high-profile issues, such as bills dealing with water policy and gambling.
“Florida will have a balanced budget by June 30,” Gardiner said in the release. “Narrowing the set of issues to those outlined in today’s proclamation enables us to focus on the critical work before us and to meet our constitutional obligation in the open and transparent manner the people of Florida expect.”
But it was also clear that House and Senate leaders have not reached agreement on the health-care issues that led to a messy, abrupt end to this spring’s regular session. The biggest difference involves a Senate plan to use federal Medicaid money to offer private health insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income Floridians — a plan that House Republican leaders and Gov. Rick Scott vehemently oppose.
The special-session call includes the Senate coverage plan (SB 7044), signaling that the issue is still on the table.
Also, however, the call includes controversial health-care bills that have been a priority of some House leaders. The call includes a bill (HB 7097) that would revamp the health-insurance program for state employees; a bill (HB 281) that would give new drug-prescribing powers to advanced-registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants; and potential legislation aimed at repealing what is known as the state’s “certificate of need” program for hospitals. That program helps regulate the addition of new health-care facilities.
“Today is an important milestone,” Crisafulli said in the release. “Although we differ on policy approaches regarding health care, the House welcomes the opportunity to have a vigorous debate over the issue. We look forward to working with our Senate partners to craft a balanced budget that supports our schools, our environment and provides tax relief to Florida’s hard-working families.”
Lawmakers face a constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget. But they never reached the point of formal negotiations during the regular session because of differences on health-care issues.
In addition to the clashes about the Senate’s $2.8 billion coverage plan, the chambers also disagreed about how to handle the $2.2 billion Low Income Pool program, which is scheduled to expire June 30. That program funnels money to hospitals and other providers that care for large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. It remains unclear whether state and federal officials will reach agreement on extending the program beyond June 30.
Before they can start negotiating a spending plan, House and Senate leaders still need to work out “allocations,” which divvy up money between areas of the budget such as education, health care and criminal justice. That is a key initial step in the process, and Crisafulli and Gardiner indicated it will be done before June 1.
Along with health care, another closely watched issue will be tax cuts. Scott early this year proposed a $673 million tax-cut package, and the House followed with a plan (HB 7141) for $690 million in cuts. But amid the questions about health-care funding, the Senate did not offer a tax-cut package during the regular session. The call sets the stage for negotiations about the issue.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Tate Showband Names New Leadership Team
May 18, 2015
The Tate High School Showband of the South has named their leadership team for the upcoming 2015-2016 season. They are:
Band Captain
- Tiana Hendricks
Drum Major
- Jacob Norre
- Madison Philley
- Katie Woods
Flute Section Leader
- Madison Rondeau
- Logan Royer
- Jamie Simon
Clarinet Section Leader
- Keionna Odom
- Mallory Parker
Saxophone Section Leader
- Bryce Coots
Trumpet Section Leader
- Ashley Barnett
- Zach Vranich
Trombone Section Leader
- Amber Brock
Baritone Section Leader
- Cody Swilley
Percussion Captain
- Ryan Tanton
Color Guard
- Madison Bowers – Flag Sgt.
- Katie Dupre – Flag Sgt.
- Celina Dyess – Co-Captain
- Breanna Langley – Co-Captain
- Katy Luebke – Captain
Quartermaster
- Ryan Cawby
- Jacob Hall
Seniors
- Cody Cash
- Stephen Cleary
- Destanie Comalander
- Anthony Cox
- Emily DeRise
- Eric Esselburn
- Tristan Hacker
- Kaelyn Houghton
- Kelsea Jacobson
- Ethan Jensen
- Kaylee Johnson
- Toye Johnson
- Bryan LeDuc
- Ian McCool
- Ashia McMillon
- Eric Milligan
- Taiya Mondie
- Satchel Sexton
- Tyler Smith
- Jared Sorensen
- Will Talley
- Nick Touchstone
- Madison Tourney
- Patrick Wellborn
- Tristan Workman
Hester, Russell Named EREC Scholarship Winners
May 18, 2015
Escambia River Electric Cooperative has announced two local seniors as winners of the 2015 Herman D. Johnson Scholarship Awards.
The Escambia County winner was Julie Hester, and the Santa Rosa County winner was Emily Russell.
Julie Hester is the daughter of Jeff and Mechelle Hester and she is a senior at Northview High School. Julie has been a majorette at Northview for four years and majorette captain for two years. She is a member of the concert band, Northview Theatre, Battle of the Books, Beta Club and FCA. Julie has also been on the Atmore Academic All-Stars for three years. She teaches baton lessons and is an active volunteer in her community with basketball, bible school and elementary schools. She is an active member of First Baptist Church of Bratt. Julie plans to major in clinical psychology in college.
Emily Russell is the daughter of Toby and Julie Russell and is a senior at Jay High School. Emily is president of her senior class and is a member, holding officer positions, of the Student Government Association, Senior Beta and the National Honor Society. She is a member of the National Art Honor Society, Spanish Club, Christian World Order, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Art Club. She has lettered in volleyball and basketball since 8th grade and in tennis since the 9th grade. She enjoys volunteering in the community and is an active member of Berrydale Baptist Church. Emily plans to major in occupational therapy in college.
Each of these students will receive $1,000 for each of four years providing they continue to meet the scholarship criteria. The scholarships will be presented at the respective schools’ awards programs.
Pictured top: Julie Hester (left) and Emily Russell (right). Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Clash Over After School Programs Coming Back
May 18, 2015
A clash over the state’s oversight of children’s after-school programs is headed back to the Legislature, as lawmakers and agency heads plan hearings for the 2016 session about licensure and background checks.
Those issues roiled House and Senate floor debates about an otherwise innocuous bill (SB 7078) that passed at the end of this spring’s regular session and is now before Gov Rick Scott.
“It was a glitch bill,” said Senate sponsor Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood. “It wasn’t supposed to be controversial.”
The bill was primarily aimed at tightening a law passed last year to reform the child-welfare system. But Sobel added an amendment that dealt with state oversight of local after-school programs with national affiliations — such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts — and would require staff and volunteers of such groups to meet background-screening requirements through the Department of Children and Families.
If Scott signs the bill, it will require what’s known as “Level 2″ background screening for the national groups as well as others who work with vulnerable Floridians, such as young children, people with disabilities and frail elders. Level 2 screenings are fingerprint-based, national criminal-history searches that are updated whenever there is a new offense.
“People were amazed to find out that the Boys and Girls Clubs did not do Level 2 background screening,” Sobel told fellow members of the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet at a meeting last week. She estimated that 40 percent of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Florida are performing Level 2 screens of their personnel.
But advocates such as Boys and Girls Clubs lobbyist Jeff Kottkamp, a former lieutenant governor, say the clubs perform Level 2 background checks, and they take great exception to Sobel’s position.
“All Boys and Girls Clubs do background screening and have for many years,” said lobbyist Jack Cory, who participated in the Boys and Girls Clubs and now represents them. “Not just employees, but board members and volunteers.”
Current law says programs that serve children under the age of 6 must be licensed. Every child-care facility in Florida is required to have a license and renew it annually though the Department of Children and Families. But in 1987, certain religious and national groups were exempted from that requirement — including the Boys and Girls Clubs and similar after-school programs with national affiliations.
Because the majority of Boys and Girls Clubs aren’t required to have licenses, the state lacks leverage to enforce Level 2 screenings. If Scott signs SB 7078, which he must decide on by Friday, that would change.
Cory said the clubs don’t provide child care, which is considered in law to be for younger children. He said they offer after-school care for older children.
“We’re not child-care. We’ve never been child care,” he said. “We don’t change diapers. We’re (for children ages) 6 to 18.”
The wide age range, however, troubles Rep. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican and chairwoman of the House Children, Families and Seniors Subcommittee.
“When you’re there from two o’clock in the afternoon, having dinner and going home at eight o’clock at night, when you have kids as young as 6 in these programs, that’s child care,” Harrell said at the Children and Youth Cabinet meeting.
“If you asked most parents, they’d tell you that was their child-care provider,” Department of Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll agreed.
Currently only the Boys and Girls Clubs in Hernando, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have child-care licenses. The Hernando Boys and Girls Clubs are preschools, licensed by DCF, while the Pinellas and Hillsborough clubs are licensed by their counties.
Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, tried unsuccessfully this spring to pass a bill that would make it clear national groups are exempt from Florida licensing requirements.
Now, citing safety concerns, Harrell and Sobel say they will consider a tiered licensing structure to ensure that all different types of child-care facilities — including after-school programs — meet minimum safety standards.
“Tiered licensing might happen, but I need input from the providers,” Sobel said. “The question is: How do you set up the tiers?”
It’s a question expected to come up in the 2016 session. Harrell and Sobel said they will hold hearings on licensing issues.
Last month, Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, proposed and then withdrew an amendment that would have required the Department of Children and Families to create a tiered after-school licensure program reflecting the risk levels of the activities offered and populations served by after-school programs.
“As family needs grow and change, so too should our statutes to reflect the kind of organizations that provide the kind of care our communities need,” Brodeur wrote in an email. “I believe it is time we holistically review all of our child care facility statutes to ensure that we are flexible enough to accommodate the different kinds of facilities meeting our community needs without compromising child safety.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Danceworks Photo Gallery
May 18, 2015
Heather Leonard’s Danceworks 20th annual recital was held Saturday night at Northview High School.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Kiosks Could Help Floridians Get Access To Legal Aid
May 18, 2015
People needing help with divorces, foreclosures or child support could use public computers at libraries, shopping malls or courthouses as a type of legal “triage” under a proposal approved by the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice.
Also, non-lawyers could provide courtroom assistance to poor and middle-income people under another idea considered by the panel, the brainchild of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga.
Labarga created the commission to explore ways to increase access to the courts for indigent or working-poor Floridians as financial support for legal-aid programs has shriveled over the past few years. While funding has declined, demands for court services — including cases involving foreclosure, domestic violence and child support — have increased.
At the commission’s second meeting, the panel unanimously approved the creation of a “statewide gateway portal” as an entry point to enable users to figure out what kinds of legal help they need.
“The statewide portal will be a software-based access point that would be in libraries, courthouses, shopping malls that would be the point at which a person with a legal problem could go find someone to solve their problem, or even get forms or education to find out how to do it themselves,” said commission member William Van Nortwick, a Jacksonville lawyer and former appellate .
Individuals could access the portal through kiosks, public libraries or public computers in courthouses by the end of the year in certain areas, Van Nortwick said.
Unlike other professions, lawyers have been slow to embrace technology, said Florida International University College of Law Dean Alex Acosta. Some studies have shown that 80 percent of the legal needs in Florida are unmet.
“We could double the size of legal services. We could triple the size of legal services. We’re still not going to be able to address the need,” Acosta said. “Lawyers alone I don’t think are going to be able to fix this. Lawyers are afraid. What’s going to happen to our profession as it changes? We need to get over that fear.”
Labarga created the panel last year just days before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about whether attorneys should foot the bill for increasing demands for legal aid through a hike in annual Bar fees. The court has not yet ruled on the issue.
The commission is also exploring whether to allow non-lawyers to accompany people to court, something that can be a daunting process, especially for those in crisis. Labarga pointed to courtroom “navigators” programs in New York and California as examples of what Florida could implement.
Labarga also praised a New York program that allows law-school graduates to take the Bar exam early if they perform 50 hours of pro bono assistance.
A wholesale restructuring of the way legal services are provided — and who offers them — might be hard for the profession to accept, Labarga conceded.
“Change is something that is very difficult. As an example, I just issued a new rule of judicial administration that requires judges to wear black robes. I’m getting resistance from some judges. They don’t like to be told what to do. I’m sorry, but we need uniformity,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult. But we’re hoping that eventually things will change and these people can have representation.”
Labarga, who came to the U.S. from Cuba as a child, kicked off the three-hour meeting by asking why access to social justice is a problem that affects all of society.
“As we have a growing wealth disparity in this country, people work harder but they’re not getting ahead. If they can’t resolve their legal problems, they will resolve it another way,” said Florida Bar Foundation President Emerson Thompson. “The appearance of justice is just as important as justice. …You have to have some place where people feel like they’re getting a fair shake. We can see what happens in a community where people think the courts or the police aren’t fair.”
Labarga used his native country’s history under a dictator “with an ugly beard and a horrible tailor” to illustrate the threat of inequality in the justice system.
Cuba and the U.S. had nearly identical constitutions prior to Fidel Castro’s takeover, the chief justice said.
“Constitutions are basically just words on paper. At the end of the day, it is up to we the people to make it work. In Cuba, it did not work because the people did not believe that the rule of law” would prevail, he said. “In this country, we expect the rule of law to be held … and when the rule of law fails, look what happened in Cuba. And right now I fear that many people in this country … feel that the rule of law is for somebody else. It’s not for me.”
The commission also discussed the importance of educating businesses about how legal problems can affect their workers as a way of getting corporations to underwrite legal aid. Also on the table: steering money left over from settlements in class-action lawsuits to legal aid organizations.
The committee will meet again in September before providing its final report in October.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Mississippi Downs The Wahoos In Second Straight Game
May 18, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos love the grass and spectacular waterfront view at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium as much as the fans.
But after a second heartbreaking loss to the Mississippi Braves, 3-2, in 10 innings they are now 6-12 at home and 9-10 on the road.
Pensacola came through in the ninth inning with two runs to tie the game up with Mississippi at 2-2 and send it into extra innings Sunday in front of the 112th sellout crowd of 5,038 fans in 219 games since the team opened its gates in April 2012.
The night before on Saturday, Pensacola loaded the bases in its final at-bat with no outs but couldn’t get a run across and lost that game, 1-0.
“Obviously, it’s a little tough to lose like we have the past couple of games,” said Adleman, the Blue Wahoos starter who posted 17 straight scoreless innings dating back to his relief appearance May 1. “A loss is a loss. Both of them were pretty tough.”
Adleman’s scoreless streak ended when third baseman Rio Ruiz doubled in right fielder Chris O’Dowd for a 1-0 Mississippi lead in the fifth inning. It was only the second run that Adleman has given up in May. He threw seven innings, allowing four hits and two walks and striking out five.
Still, Pensacola had a chance to win after tying the game, 2-2, in the ninth inning when catcher Kyle Skipworth doubled and scored on center fielder Juan Silva’s hopper that went down the right field line bouncing off Mississippi first baseman Seth Loman’s glove to make the score, 2-1. Marquez Smith then got all of a fly ball to center that scored pinch runner Beau Amaral from third to knot it, 2-2.
Mississippi came right back in the 10th inning, though, when center fielder Mallex Smith singled in second baseman Eric Garcia to put the Braves back on top, 3-2.
Braves reliever Tyler Jones came on in relief in the 10th and stuck out Ryan Wright, Jesse Winker and Kyle Waldrop—the heart of the Blue Wahoos lineup—for his second save of the season and Mississippi’s second straight win of the five-game series. Wright, Winker and Waldrop were a combined 1-15 for five Ks and two ground outs into double plays.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly said the Blue Wahoos have just run into two of Mississippi’s best pitchers—Tyrell Jenkins, the Braves No. 12 prospect, Sunday and Jason Hursh, the No. 6 prospect in the organization on Saturday.
Kelly expects the Pensacola offense to pick up again where it left off when the Blue Wahoos won seven of eight games before its recent homestand.
“We have to tip our cap to their pitching,” Kelly said. “They really pitched our left-handers tough. We face two pretty good pitchers.”