Lane Widening, Shoulder Paving Planned For Numerous North Escambia Roads
June 15, 2015
A five-year rural transportation improvement plan, including numerous shoulder widening projects in the North Escambia area, has been presented to the Escambia County Commission.
Mary Beth Washnock of the West Florida Regional Planning Council presented the report on transportation projects in the rural part of Escambia County. The projects are expected to take place in the fiscal year 2014-2018 time period.
Priority projects for 2015 include (some projects may already be underway or complete):
- Lane Widening and Paved Shoulders
- Highway 4A from Highway 4A/State Line Rd to Highway 168
- Highway 182 Molino Rd from Highway 29 to Highway 95A
- Highway 4 from Highway 97 to Highway 99
- Pine Barren Rd from Bogia Rd to Highway 164
- Highway 196 Barrineau Park Rd from Highway 29 to Highway 95A
- Pine Barren Rd from Highway 164 to Highway 4
- Highway 99 from Highway 97 to Highway 4
- Highway 164 from Highway 99 to US 29
- Highway 4A from Highway 29 to Highway 4A
- Highway 4 from Highway 99 to Highway 29
- Highway 4A from Highway 168 to Highway 4
- Highway 97A from Highway 99 west to Highway 97A
- Highway 97A from Highway 97A north to Highway 99A
- Highway 99A from Highway 97 to Highway 97A
- Highway 168 from Highway 99 to Highway 4A
- Highway 99 from Highway 97A to Highway 97
- Paving
- Pineville Road from Highway 97A to Brushy Creek
- Pineville Road from Brushy Creek to Highway 99A
- Pineville Road from Highway 99A to Jakes Road
- Occie Phillips Road from Highway 97A to Brushy Creek
- Multi-Use Trail
- Highway 95A from MPA Boundary to Highway 29
- Park And Ride Lots
- Highway 97 North of Highway 4 (Davisville Comm. Center)
- Highway 29 at Omega Road (ECSO Substation)
Citizens Ready For Hurricane Season
June 15, 2015
Citizens Property Insurance just closed on a $1 billion bond transfer, which the state-backed insurer said Friday completes its financial preparations for the 2015 hurricane season.
“Like our counterparts in the private sector, Citizens continues to strengthen its financial position and ability to serve its customers,” Citizens Chairman Chris Gardner said in a prepared statement. “Florida has been lucky to have had nearly a decade of no storms and we have worked hard to take advantage of that good fortune. Citizens is ready.”
The transaction provides readily available cash for Citizens to cover claims immediately following a catastrophic storm.
Citizens, which has shed about 1 million policies into the private market during the past four years, has benefited from favorable global pricing on reinsurance — insurance for insurers — and a private insurance market that has grown while Florida has avoided being hit by a hurricane since 2005. Citizens enters the six-month Atlantic storm season with a $7.5 billion surplus, the highest in its history, and $3.9 billion in reinsurance coverage.
Hurricane season began last week.
Barrineau Park Historical Society Awards Scholarships
June 15, 2015
The Barrineau Park Historical Society recently awarded scholarships to three deserving members of the Class 0f 2015 during an event at the Barrineau Park Community Center.
Cara Thompson, a Northview High School School graduate, received a $500 Lynda C. Minchew Memorial Scholarship. Thompson plans to major in English and wants to become a writer.
Josey Venable, a West Florida High School graduate, received a $1,000 Barrineau Park Historical Society Scholarship. Venable plans to be come a registered nurse.
Tamara Wise, a West Florida High School graduate, received a $1,000 Steven Jogan Memorial Scholarship from the Barrineau Park Historical Society. Wise plans to pursue a career in nursing.
Graduating seniors who attend Tate or Northview high schools, or reside in those districts, were eligible to apply for these scholarships with a 3.0 average or higher. The applicants were also required to write an essay explaining why a historical society is important to a community.
Pictured: Barrineau Park Historical Society scholarship recipients (L-R) Cara Thompson, Josey Venable and Tamara Wise. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Youth Archery League Aims To Teach Sport
June 15, 2015
The Panhandle Bowhunters and Archery Association has started a youth archery league.
The cost is $5 per week, with meetings every Tuesday through July 7 on the range at 7201 Sparshott Drive (off of Mobile Highway, just west of Klondike Road). Check in begins at 6:00 p.m., with shooting beginning at 6:30. Prizes will be awarded to the most improved archer in middle and high school, and for overall high scores. The awards night, with new bows for the first place winners, will be July 14 at 6:30 p.m.
No experience is necessary; equipment is provided. For more information, call Jeremy Blackmon at (850) 375-7630.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Biscuits Beat Wahoos
June 15, 2015
Juan Perez scored a run and knocked in another on a double to pull the Pensacola Blue Wahoos within, 3-2, in the sixth inning but the Montgomery Biscuits pulled out the victory in the end.
Montgomery won on two, two-run home runs smacked by left fielder Johnny Field, 5-2, in the first and seventh innings at Riverwalk Stadium.
Pensacola scored one in the fourth and one in the sixth. Blue Wahoos catcher Cam Maron singled in shortstop Juan Perez in the fourth inning to cut the lead to 2-1. In the sixth inning, Perez doubled to score third baseman Marquez Smith to bring Pensacola within, 3-2.
Montgomery went ahead, 2-0, when Field hit a two-run homer, his ninth of the year, to left center field in the first inning. Field smacked his second two-run homer of the game in the seventh to put the Biscuits up, 5-2.
On the day, Field, the Tampa Bay Rays No. 28 prospect, went 2-4 and drove in four of the Biscuits five runs in the game. He now has 10 homers on the year.
The Biscuits extended its lead, 3-1, when catcher Justin O’Conner, the Rays No. 1 prospect according to MLB, hit his fifth homer of the season over the left center field wall in the fourth inning.
Montgomery has now won four straight over Pensacola, improving its record to 33-30 in the Southern League North Division. Meanwhile, Pensacola dropped to 23-39 and last place in the South Division.
Pensacola first baseman Ray Chang went 1-3 and is hitting .372 in June. Perez continued his hot-hitting on the road, going 1-2 for a .282 average.
Traffic: Possible Delays For Striping Operation On Hwy 29
June 15, 2015
A striping operation is planned for this week on Highway 29. Motorists may encounter minor delays from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Highway 29 from Ten Mile Road to Muscogee Road. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Turfgrass Expo Is Wednesday In Jay
June 15, 2015
The UF/IFAS West Florida Research & Education Center will host the 21st Annual Annual Gulf Coast Turfgrass Expo and Field Day on June 17.
The event will take place from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the University of Florida, West Florida Research and Education Center, 4253 Experiment Road, Highway 182 in Jay. For more information, contact Robin Vickers at (850) 983-7134 or email rvickers@ufl.edu.
Attendees learn first-hand about cutting edge research aimed at minimizing green industry environmental impact through improved irrigation, fertility, and management practices; developing new and improved turfgrass cultivars that are superior to their predecessors; and improving pest (weed, insect, disease, and nematode) management practices.
Driver Strikes Utility Pole
June 14, 2015
There were no injuries when a driver lost control and crashed into a utility pole Sunday afternoon on Highway 97.
The accident occurred just before 3 p.m. on Highway 97 between West Highway 4 and Pine Forest Road in Davisville. The pole was broken during the accident, which involved a pickup pulling a second pickup truck on a trailer. An unknown number of Escambia River Electric Cooperative customers lost power as a result of the accident and repair work.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Pedestrian Recovering After Being Struck By Vehicle In Century
June 14, 2015
A pedestrian was reportedly struck by a vehicle in Century Saturday afternoon.
The accident occurred shortly before 1:00 in the 400 block of West Highway 4, near Field Road. One person was transported to Jay Hospital with non-life threatening injuries following the accident.
Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol as they continue their investigation. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded.
Florida Lawmakers Strike Deal On Economic Development
June 14, 2015
Negotiators from the House and Senate slashed almost $60 million in economic development spending Saturday as the Legislature drew closer to an elusive final deal on a state budget for the year that begins July 1.
Meeting over the weekend to hammer out the final details of a budget expected to weigh in at well more than $76 billion but south of $80 billion, House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran and Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee reached agreement on state spending for transportation and economic development.
Lawmakers are racing to get a deal done by the scheduled June 20 end of the special budget session, which was called after they failed to agree to a spending plan during their annual spring meetings. The state must have a budget in place by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
The economic development portion of the budget is often laden with local projects, usually promoted by lawmakers, and other items closely watched by businesses, lobbyists and Gov. Rick Scott, who won office in 2010 promising to boost the state’s economy. But like other areas of the emerging spending plan, it was constrained by the need to pump $400 million of state money into hospital funding to make up for falling health-care spending on a key federal program.
As a result, dozens of projects and some larger items were trimmed or eliminated entirely. Almost 60 spending initiatives were reduced on Saturday alone, cutting nearly $58.3 million from House or Senate proposals that were still alive heading into the weekend.
“We started out with a lot of projects in the budget…I think what we’ve come to is kind of a middle ground on projects,” said Lee, R-Brandon.
The largest target was a Senate proposal to set aside $10 million in incentives for the entertainment industry. That program was eliminated entirely in Saturday’s agreement. Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, suggested the proposal for an “entertainment action fund” should be considered in a regular session.
“I think there are members on both sides who believe that those (incentives) are helpful, and there are members on both sides who believe that that doesn’t do anything,” Corcoran told reporters after a morning meeting with Lee. “And so I think those types of issues are better having committees and having as much input as possible and letting those percolate through the process and not so much in just a budget session.”
Despite the belt-tightening, some new projects did slip into the plan at the last minute, including $2 million for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando. That proposal emerged Saturday morning, when the Senate made an offer on the economic development budget that the House accepted.
Lee did not directly answer a question about whether Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, had pushed for the funds.
“We added that late in the process, and I’m not really going to talk a lot in detail about who was adding what, where and when, but it did come up late in the process,” Lee said.
Lawmakers are still working to reach final agreements on the environmental and education budgets. They hope to complete their work by Tuesday, which would clear the way for the required 72-hour “cooling off” period to begin early enough for a Friday vote.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida