ECAT Buses Now Sporting Colorful Student Artwork
June 19, 2015
Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) announced the winners of its first ECAT Youth Art Contest during a special event on Thursday. The ceremony was part of the 10th National Annual “Dump the Pump” Day at ECAT which supports riding public transit.
Grand prize winners were Janet Michelle Barrott from Escambia High School, Ty Phan from R.C. Lipscomb Elementary, and Lana Davis, also from Lipscomb.
The grand prize winners’ artwork was unveiled as an art showcase on an ECAT bus.
Firefighters Battle Brush, Grass Fire
June 19, 2015
A brush and grass fire consumed a few acres west of Century Thursday afternoon. Multiple fire stations responded to the blaze about 3:35 p.m. at the intersection of Grimes Road and Rockin J Farm Road, off Highway 168. They were able to quickly bring the fire under control. There were no injuries and no structures threatened by the fire. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Senate To Debate Budget
June 19, 2015
Planning to vote on a new $78.7 billion budget quickly after a review period ends, the Florida Senate will hold an afternoon session Friday to explain and debate the spending plan. House members started a question-and-answer session on the budget Thursday morning.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, indicated he plans to hold a vote on the budget immediately after a 72-hour review period ends at 5:37 p.m. Friday. The Senate will go into session at 1 p.m. The House is scheduled to go into session at 6 p.m. Friday.
House and Senate leaders finished negotiating the budget late Monday, and the complete version was sent to lawmakers at 5:37 p.m. Tuesday. That triggered the legally required 72-hour review period.
Lawmakers have been in special session since June 1 to pass a budget.
by The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Game Delayed By Lights
June 19, 2015
After nearly a one hour delay Thursday trying to repair the Pensacola Bayfront Stadium lights behind home plate, the game between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Mobile BayBears was delayed.
The second game of the five-game series with the Mobile BayBears will resume at 5:30 p.m. Friday and will go the full nine innings. Pensacola currently leads the game, 1-0, after three innings. Fans can exchange tickets at the box office for an equal or lesser game except for July 3.
Blue Wahoos officials attributed the lighting failure to the light poles and electricians were working to repair them. The umpires agreed to call the game to protect the hitters and fielders.
Marlon Byrd, who was placed on the disabled list June 3 by the Cincinnati Reds, ended his two-game rehab assignment with Pensacola Thursday night. Byrd went 2-7 with a home run, double and three RBIs.
School Construction Accident Cuts Power In Walnut Hill
June 19, 2015
A construction accident cut power to an unknown number of Escambia River Electric Cooperative customers in Walnut Hill Thursday afternoon.
Officials said a construction worker accidentally struck the main power lines along Highway 97 outside the Ernest Ward Middle School campus with a piece of equipment. The worker was not injured, but the accident cause the electrical grid in the area to shut down.
Construction is complete on the new buildings at Ernest Ward Middle, but workers are still completing a parking lot and driveways where the old school was located.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Cottage Hill Shooting Under Investigation
June 18, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to search for clues, and a suspect, in a shooting Wednesday night in Cottage Hill.
A young man was shot multiple times inside his vehicle, possibly at the intersection of Virecent Road and Cottage Hill Road Wednesday night. The man then drove himself to a nearby home in the 400 block of Crowndale Court. He was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, including a reported gunshot to the face.
A passenger in the vehicle was uninjured and unable to provide any solid details on the shooting, according to Sgt. Ted Roy, spokesman for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
As of early Thursday morning, the unknown suspect remained at large.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Pictured top: A man was reportedly shot inside his vehicle at this intersection Wednesday night. Pictured inset and below: He was then driven to a home in the 400 block of nearby Crowndale Court.NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
County Seizes 16 Animals Near Cantonment With Inadequate Food Or Water
June 18, 2015
Escambia County animal control seized 16 animals from a property near Cantonment Wednesday after it was discovered they were being kept without adequate food or water.
Three pot-bellied pigs, four goats, two cows, five horses, one donkey and one mule were seized from Ridgecrest Lane off St0ut Road. Three of the horses were taken to Panhandle Equine Rescue in Cantonment, while the other animals remained in the custody of Escambia County.
No charges were immediately filed in the incident.
Three horses, described as malnourished by Panhandle Equine President Diane Lowery, will receive close monitoring and rehabilitation from the non-profit equine rescue group. After Wednesday’s seizure and the recent seizure of three horses near Century late last month, PER’s Cantonment facility is “overflowing” Lowery said.
The only horse rescue in Escambia County, Panhandle Equine Rescue was founded by a small group of concerned citizens with a mission to rescue, rehabilitate and provide adoption services for abused, neglected and abandoned equines. PER is authorized by the court system to investigate equine cruelty in Escambia County.
For more information on Panhandle Equine Rescue and how to donate to the organization visit www.panhandleequinerescue.org. The group is specifically seeking donation’s to help with the care of the recently seized horses in their care.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Healthy Start Celebrates Opening Of Century Clinic
June 18, 2015
The Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition held a soft opening for their new clinic in Century Wednesday.
“This will be a very good thing for the Century area,” Healthy Start Director Theresa Chmiel said. “So many mothers in this area have transportation issues and can’t get to Pensacola for a WIC appointment or to see their doctor. So they do without.”
The new facility offered a free immunization clinic Wednesday, and a variety of services aimed at improving the health of children and pregnant women and their unborn babies will begin soon. The WIC program will offer services at the clinic on the second Tuesday of every month beginning July 14, and Jay pediatrician Dr. Marian Stewart will begin to see patients in Century in the near future. Exact dates for the new services will be announced soon.
“There was a young mother who took her very sick baby into the emergency room,” Cmiel said. “It turns out she was unable to get to her appointment to get more formula, so she was watering the baby’s formula down. It’s unacceptable that we as a community were not making those services more accessible to her.”
But she hopes the Century clinic will be a step in making resources available to mothers.
Dr. Stewart will operate a satellite location in Century, making it easier for those in Century who don’t have the transportation resources to make the seven mile trip across the river in Jay.
“I’m excited about what is being done here,” Stewart, who will continue to see patients in Jay, said.
The new Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition clinic is located at 511 Church Street, near the old Century hospital. For more information on clinic services, call (850) 696-2291.
Before offering some services, the non-profit clinic is in need of a baby changing table and a refrigerator to store vaccines and medical supplies. To donate, call (850) 696-2291.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Scott Scraps Injunction Bid In ‘LIP’ Lawsuit In Pensacola Federal Court
June 18, 2015
Pointing to a budget agreement reached by lawmakers, Gov. Rick Scott’s attorneys late Tuesday withdrew a request for a preliminary injunction in a legal battle with the Obama administration about health-care funding, according to a notice filed in federal court in Pensacola.
The notice, however, said Scott is not withdrawing the overall lawsuit, which contends that the federal government has tried to unconstitutionally link expanding Florida’s Medicaid program with the continuation of the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program.
During the course of the lawsuit, federal officials said Florida would receive about $1 billion for the LIP program during the fiscal year that starts July 1, without the money depending on Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers have included that money in a budget that is expected to pass Friday.
In the notice, Scott’s attorneys wrote that the lawsuit would continue because the state and federal governments have not agreed on a broader resolution of the LIP issue. LIP money primarily goes to hospitals to help cover the costs of uninsured patients.
“The budget agreement assumes LIP funding will continue and appropriates sufficient state funds to compensate the many Florida health-care providers caring for the uninsured and underinsured in the coming months,” the notice said. “That budget agreement thus mitigates the threat of imminent harm to the state, its health-care providers, and their patients. However, the passage of the budget mitigates only the threat of imminent harm. Even though the state Legislature has crafted a budget assuming LIP funding will continue — an assumption necessary to avoid a government shutdown in Florida — the parties have not yet arrived at a LIP agreement in principle.”
The notice added that the state is “not prepared to withdraw the underlying lawsuit unless and until the defendants render an actual decision about future LIP funding without the unconstitutionally coercive consideration of the state’s constitutionally protected decision not to expand Medicaid.”
Chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers on Wednesday issued an order canceling a hearing that had been scheduled for Friday on the preliminary injunction.
Federal officials have disputed the state’s arguments that they are trying to use LIP funding as leverage to force Florida to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of uninsured residents. In one document, Obama administration attorneys pointed to the decision last month by officials at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to approve $1 billion in LIP funding for the upcoming fiscal year.
“CMS’ letter to Florida of May 21, 2015 further confirms defendants’ continued openness to consider approval of a LIP program in Florida with reasonable reforms, regardless of Medicaid expansion,” federal attorneys wrote in the document.
Arguments about Medicaid expansion and the future of the LIP program dominated the spring legislative session and played a large role in lawmakers failing to pass a budget before the session ended. The Senate pushed a plan that would have used federal Medicaid money to expand private insurance coverage, but the House and Scott flatly rejected the idea.
Lawmakers went into special session June 1 to negotiate a budget, and House and Senate leaders finished talks late Monday. While the state will receive LIP money for the upcoming fiscal year, it will be a reduced amount from this year’s nearly $2.2 billion. That has forced the Legislature to set aside state general revenue to help offset the reduction.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Two Escambia Men Indicted On Child Exploitation Charges
June 18, 2015
A federal grand jury has indicted two Escambia County men on child exploitation charges.
John W. Robertson, 68, and Robert M. Grafton Jr., 29, were charged with attempted enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography.
The indictment alleges that, in May 2015, Robertson and Grafton knowingly attempted to entice an individual less than 18 years of age to engage in sexual activity, and that he possessed sexualized images and videos involving minors less than 12 years of age.
Robertson and Grafton originally appeared in federal court last month upon being arrested on a federal criminal complaint. He will be arraigned on the indictment at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola and is being held in federal custody at the Santa Rosa County Jail, pending further proceedings.
The cases are being investigated by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Pensacola Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and other agencies that are part of the Northwest Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.