Authorities Warn Of Police Impersonator
June 6, 2015
Area law enforcement is on high alert after reports of an alleged police impersonator in Atmore.
The Atmore Police Department said Friday that they’ve received reports of a person driving a white Ford Crown Victoria in the Atmore area that has already initiated a traffic stop on one vehicle and has driven through city with emergency lights activated. Police say they don’t know who the suspected police impersonator may be.
The vehicle is described as having a red light bar and blue interior lights. The vehicle has no tag and the only markings are a small circular sticker on the back window. The driver was described as a white male with blond hair, possibly in his 20’s. He may be wearing a blue uniform with a sewn-on badge. He was not wearing a traditional police-type “duty belt”.
The vehicle was last seen Thursday entering Atmore with lights activated on Highway 31 and turning onto Presley Street.
Atmore Police advises drivers that if a traffic stop is initiated in their city and their are no identifying markings on the patrol vehicle, call 911 or their department at (251) 368-9141. The operator will verify that the traffic stop is legitimate.
Anyone with information on the vehicle or driver is asked to call the Atmore Police Department at (251) 368-9141 or their local law enforcement agency.
Pictured: This photo supplied by the Atmore Police Department shows the vehicle being used by an alleged police impersonator.
Four Florida License Free Fishing Dates In June
June 6, 2015
There are four license-free fishing day in Florida for residents and visitors. They are:
Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, saltwater recreational fishing license requirement will be waived.
Saturday and Sunday, June 13-14, freshwater recreational fishing license requirement will be waived.
Governor Scott said, “This summer, we’re excited to make it easier for families to enjoy the world class fishing our state has to offer. Florida is the fishing capital of the world and one of the many reasons we welcomed a record 98.9 million visitors to the Sunshine State last year. I look forward to fishing with my grandsons this summer, and I hope everyone takes advantage of license-free fishing this month.”
The four days in June are a part of the eight total license-free fishing days the FWC offers each year. All bag limits, seasons and size restrictions apply on these dates.
Teachers Learn From Project Learning Tree
June 6, 2015
Numerous Escambia and Santa Rosa county educators spent their Friday learning about Project Learning Tree at the Roy Hyatt Environmental Center in Cantonment.
Project Learning Tree is an award-winning environmental education program designed for formal and non-formal educators working with students in pre-kindergarten through high school. PLT uses trees and forests as the context to help young people gain an awareness and knowledge of natural and built environments. PLT stimulates students’ critical and creative thinking, develops students’ ability to make informed decisions on environmental issues and instills a commitment of responsible action on behalf of the environment.
PLT can be used in both rural and urban environments, whether there is a forest or a single tree and teaches students how to think, not what to think about our complex environment.
The event was sponsored by the Florida Forest Service, Santa Rosa UF/IFAS Extension, Escambia County Roy Hyatt Environmental Center and the Project Learning Tree Steering Committee.
Educators that took part in the event received a free activity guide and had a chance to learn about the program with hands-on activities.
Pictured top: Educators take part in a Project Learning Tree food web activity Friday at the Roy Hyatt Environmental Center in Cantonment. Pictured below: Florida Forest Service Supervisor Craig Iverson explains a portion of the program. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Sentenced Under 10-20-Life Law
June 6, 2015
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to prison under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.
Kamarccus Webster was sentenced by Circuit Judge Edward P. Nickinson, III to 25 years state prison for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and 20 years state prison for each of two counts of aggravated assault. The sentences must be served as a mandatory minimum and must be served consecutively for a total of 65 years in state prison.
Webster previously was convicted by an Escambia County jury on January 30, 2015.
The charges stem from a shooting that occurred on August 27, 2013, in the area of Strong and D Streets. Two victims were shot by Webster when a fight broke out following a basketball game. Both victims were struck in the shoulder by bullets; neither injury was life-threatening. One of the victims was sitting in his vehicle when he was shot; the other was struck while running away. Webster began shooting into a crowd of approximately 20 people.
At the crime scene, law enforcement located 13 9mm shell casings. There were four witnesses that identified Kamarccus Webster as the shooter. Webster remained as a fugitive until he was arrested on March 3, 2014.
Fingerprints On Soda Lead To Arrest, Robbery Conviction
June 6, 2015
Jimmie Barge was convicted by an Escambia County Jury of armed robbery with a knife. The robbery occurred at the Circle K store located at 1201 East Cervantes Street.
Prosecutors said Jimmie Barge entered the store and posed as a regular customer for a short time. As soon as the last remaining customer left the store, he pulled out a large butcher knife and rapidly approached the store clerk who was standing behind the counter. He demanded money and quickly left after receiving $50 from the clerk.
Barge’s identity as the robber was discovered as a result of the investigation performed by the Pensacola Police Department. Barge left fingerprints on a Styrofoam cup he had filled with soda then abandoned before committing the robbery.
Subsequently, the store clerk was able to pick Barge out of a photographic lineup.
Due to previous convictions, Barge faces up to life in prison.
Slight Chance Of Afternoon Showers
June 6, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Saturday
Saturday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. Calm wind.
Sunday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph.
Monday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Wednesday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88.
Wednesday Night
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72.
Thursday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 85.
Thursday Night
A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Friday
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84.
Two Sex Offenders Sentenced
June 6, 2015
Two Escambia County sex offenders have been sentenced in unrelated cases.
Jeremy Lordall Hubert, 29, was sentenced Friday to three years state prison and designated as a sexual offender during a sentencing proceeding in Escambia County Circuit Court, the Judge Edward Nickinson presiding. Hubert had previously entered a plea of no contest in May to lewd and lascivious act with a disabled person, a second degree felony.
Hubert was convicted for having sexual contact with a disabled woman passenger while he was employed as a bus driver for an agency working with disabled adults in April, 2014.
Josalien Profete, 33, was sentenced by Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones to 45 years in state prison followed by 15 years of sexual offender probation. On April 23, 2015, an Escambia County jury convicted Profete of multiple sex offenses, including three counts of sexual battery of a minor while in a position of familial authority, one count of lewd or lascivious molestation, one count of lewd or lascivious exhibition, and one count of exposing a child to obscenity.
Profete was designated a sexual offender and will be required to register as a sexual offender and comply with all statutory requirements.
The case involved a year-long pattern of sexual abuse by Profete on a young family member. Profete had previously served a 10 year state prison term for armed robbery and kidnapping.
Register Now For Football, Cheer At NWE And Cantonment
June 6, 2015
Registration is underway for the 2015 football and cheerleading seasons for Northwest Escambia and the Cantonment Cowboys.
Registration for the 2015 Cantonment Cowboys football and cheer will be held each Saturday until August 1 from 9 a.m. until noon in the board room at the Cantonment football field. Registration is $135 for football or cheer. For more information, contact Heather Lowery at (850) 380-1505 or visit the Cowboys’ Facebook page. Registration also available online anytime at www.cantonmentcowboys.org or Facebook.
NWE Football and Cheer 2015 registration will be held June 6, June 13 and June 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Gilley’s Country Store in Bratt. Football age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are as follows: freshmen (5/6) $55; sophomore (7/8) $65; juniors (9/10) $75; seniors (11/12) $85. Cheerleading age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are $15 plus cost of uniform: freshmen (5/6); sophomore (7/8); juniors (9/10); seniors (11/12). For more information about football registration contact Greg Gibson at (251) 234-4716. For more information about cheerleading registration contact Kim Lambert at (850) 380-4716.
FHIX Fails In House
June 6, 2015
In the likely final act of one of the most divisive legislative debates in years, the Florida House voted decisively Friday to reject a proposal that would have used federal Medicaid expansion money to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance.
On a 72-41 vote nearly along party lines, the House defeated the bill (SB 2A) creating the Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, after a grueling discussion that lasted almost seven hours. Four Republicans crossed party lines to vote with Democrats.
The plan would have used Medicaid expansion funding from the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as “Obamacare” — to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance. Supporters said as many as 800,000 Floridians would meet income limits for health care under the plan, though work requirements likely mean that only 400,000 to 500,000 people would actually be eligible.
Many of the provisions would have to be approved by federal officials.
The bill was a top priority of Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and helped derail this spring’s regular legislative session. Lawmakers are now meeting in a special session to resolve health-care issues and a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1.
“We can say that that issue’s off the table now,” House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said after the vote. “And we’re here to go put together a budget that’s a balanced budget for the state of Florida.”
Following the vote, Gardiner issued a statement conceding defeat but saying the end of FHIX meant lawmakers would have to find another way to make up for the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for health-care providers who treat large numbers of low-income patients.
“While today’s debate is over and votes have been cast, the critical health care challenges facing Florida still remain,” he said. “This weekend, members of the Legislature will begin a budget conference where we will take hundreds of millions in general revenue that could have been dedicated to schools, roads, our environment or countless other priorities and instead use those limited taxpayer dollars to try to patch together a health care budget that we know we cannot make whole.”
In what House officials said was one of the longest debates in recent history, Democrats spent hours pleading with the GOP majority, often emotionally, to approve the measure.
“A vote for FHIX is a vote to say that every single human life has value,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville. “A vote for FHIX allows us to be in the driver’s seat, to go to the table, to negotiate and to say what we want to have, what we want to see in place.”
Jones was thrust into the unusual role of defending a bill she hadn’t crafted and that she and other Democrats said was flawed. No Republican from the House majority could apparently be found to present the measure.
“We want full expansion,” said Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville. “But this is the best plan we’ve got.”
Republicans, though, said that any attempt to differentiate FHIX from Medicaid expansion was a ruse. They pointed out that the plan would use expansion dollars and cover the same lower-income people that were meant to be covered by Medicaid expansion.
“I may be just a simple country lawyer, but I know an entitlement when I see one,” said Rep. JohnWood, R-Winter Haven. “FHIX is simply Obamacare Medicaid expansion with a clever name.”
Rep. Blaise Ingoglia of Spring Hill, who doubles as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said the plan relied on flawed expectations. Ingoglia said the federal government would not give Florida permission for parts of the program, such as the work requirement, and could reduce its share of the funding in the future.
“I think the FHIX program should be rebranded as the Wishful Thinking program,” Ingoglia said. “Because it is based on a bunch of assumptions that surely will never materialize.”
While Friday’s vote likely means the end of the discussion of FHIX, the health care debate could continue. House Republicans are looking to revamp insurance coverage for state workers and overhaul some longstanding health-industry regulations. Senate leaders had proposed combining those measures with FHIX in a last-ditch effort to strike a compromise.
And the basic outline of the Senate proposal could emerge again in the future. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said Friday afternoon that the chamber could bring the measure back up during the 2016 session.
“I’ve always felt like the problem has to become more troublesome to elected officials than the solution before they ever act,” Lee said. “We’re not there yet, but we’ve got a lot of time in the interim to have conversations.”
House members also approved a tax-cut package (HB 33A), stripped down as lawmakers work to cover health-care costs in the overall budget. The bill offers $273.2 million in savings for the upcoming fiscal year, with an increase to $436 million the following year. The measure passed on a 97-10 vote.
Since the regular session, the House boosted a proposed reduction in a sales tax on commercial real-estate leases. The proposal is now expected to provide an overall $44.2 million in savings. But the largest part of the package — a cut in the communication-services tax on cable-TV and cell-phone services — has taken the biggest hit since the regular session.
Instead of an overall savings once projected at more than $400 million for the next fiscal year, the reduction in the communications-services tax would now reduce state revenue during the 2015-16 year by about $78.4 million, according to state economists. The new rate would provide about $10 a year in savings on a $100 monthly bill.
The package also includes a trio of single-day tax holidays on college textbooks, timed with the start of the upcoming fall, spring and summer semesters.
Gov. Rick Scott had proposed permanently lifting the sales tax on textbooks.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Florida House, Senate Reach Deal On Budget Allocations
June 6, 2015
House and Senate leaders announced Friday that they had struck agreement on the overall shape of a spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1, but lawmakers still face days of detailed negotiations to hash out the finer points of a deal.
The agreement was the first tangible sign of progress on a budget during a special session that began Monday. The new meetings are necessary because lawmakers failed to reach consensus on a spending plan — their one annual, constitutionally-required duty — during the regular session held this spring.
Legislative leaders were quick to tamp down any talk of an early end to the current session, which is scheduled to last through June 20.
“There’s a reason these special sessions for a budget are 19 days, and I think we’ll use almost all of it,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the Legislature will plow into a plan to replace the loss of more than $1 billion in federal funding for the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program. Federal officials have said the state can expect about $1 billion next year — less than half of this year’s $2.2 billion — for the program, which sends money to hospitals and other medical providers that care for large numbers of low-income patients.
But lawmakers will almost certainly pour hundreds of millions of additional dollars into health-care, drawing down funding from other federal sources to fill the LIP hole. Gov. Rick Scott has voiced opposition to using state tax dollars to do that, instead of local taxes that now fund LIP, but Lee said he wasn’t overly worried about the prospect of a veto.
“You are wise to keep one eye on what might or might not be acceptable at the plaza level,” Lee said, referring to where the governor’s office is located in the Capitol, “but they’re going to watch us work. They know we’re up here doing our job. And if they have any input, they’ve got my number, and I’d love to chat with them any time.”
Lee also downplayed the possibility that an ongoing lawsuit that Scott has filed against the federal government over LIP funding would be resolved before lawmakers have to complete a budget.
In announcing the deal to his members, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said his chamber would work cooperatively with the Senate.
“Our job is to keep our eye on the people of Florida, not on a score sheet on whether or not the House or the Senate wins,” he said.
Meetings of “conference committees,” which fill in the more detailed aspects of the budget, will begin Saturday morning. Lee and House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, will start working on any unresolved issues after 12 p.m. Tuesday.
In addition to the health-care issues, the bigger ticket items for lawmakers to hammer out are how much to spend on public schools, where Scott has called for record per-student spending; what to do on land and water conservation spending under a constitutional amendment voters passed last year; and putting together “a tax package that we can be proud of,” in the words of Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.
On Friday, the House approved a slimmed down tax-cut package (HB 33A) that offers $273.2 million in savings for the upcoming fiscal year, with an increase to $436 million the following year. The full Senate has not yet passed its version of the tax-cut legislation.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida