Photos: Sawmill Day Car Show (And A Really Cool Red Flyer Wagon)
May 3, 2015
Large crowds attended the annual Sawmill Day Car Show in Century on Saturday.
For more photos, including a Radio Flyer wagon like you’ve never seen before, click here.
For Sawmill Day coverage and photos, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photo Gallery: Thousands Celebrate Mayfest
May 3, 2015
From beautiful babies, cute dogs, arts and crafts, entertainment and plenty of fun, Mayfest 2015 had a little bit of something for everyone Saturday at Tom Byrne Park in Atmore as thousands attended the annual event.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: What A Bizarre Session
May 3, 2015
Every time the casual observer might have been tempted to say things had gotten as bizarre as they could during the 2015 legislative session, there was a new twist in the ongoing saga that featured health-care funding, intraparty fighting and more than enough personal drama for a telenovela.
But the final act of the session — or perhaps the final acts of the session — topped everything else. On Tuesday afternoon, the House simply decided to go home, more than three days before the session was supposed to end. The Senate then began a day and a half of kabuki theater before throwing in the towel Wednesday.
In the ensuing frenzy that swept over the Capitol, two lawsuits were filed, scores of bills died and many, many statements were issued by politicians. None of which seemed to bring lawmakers any closer to an agreement on the core issue: what to do about $5 billion in health-care funding that is in the Senate budget but not in the House spending plan.
That work will wait for a special session, to be called at some point in the future, as agreeing on even a date to get together and negotiate proved elusive. But it should give lawmakers plenty of time to come up with new ways to surprise observers.
YOU SAY GOODBYE, AND I SAY HELLO
The previous week had seemed, at least briefly, to offer hope that lawmakers would be able to strike a deal before too much time had passed. After all, they were swapping offers (of a sort) on the outlines of a budget, which would then be filled in by joint House-Senate committees.
But that work stopped last weekend, and by Tuesday, the House had apparently had enough.
Shortly after 1 p.m. that day, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, issued a “quorum call” meant to get House members back in the chamber. Once they were there, the speaker said the House had achieved all it could during the regular session and there was no need to continue to work so long as the Senate insisted on passing an alternative to Medicaid expansion.
“I made a promise to you when you elected me to be your speaker that I’d never ask you to vote for something that I wouldn’t vote for myself,” said Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. “Accordingly, I will not force anyone to expand Medicaid. And so for now, we stand at an impasse with the Senate. … I do not see a need to keep you here waiting around, away from your families, away from your businesses, until the Senate decides they are ready to negotiate with us.”
And then, they left.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said “nobody won” with the House’s decision and decided to press on.
“We will be here tomorrow, and we will do our job,” he said to a standing ovation from his Senate colleagues. “It’s what the taxpayers expect of us. And that’s what we will do.”
So the Senate went about its business. Which mostly consisted of sending bills to a House that was not there to receive them, while savaging House leaders for good measure.
“Let me tell you something, members. If the House would still be here, I’ll tell you we could get something done. But they’re not. And this issue is way too important to take a take-it-or-leave it approach,” Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, said about a mental-health services package (SB 7068).”In my experience in this process, when we just do it half-a—d and then we say we’re going to come back next year and fix it, it never happens.”
Senate Republicans also questioned whether the House move was legal, under an obscure provision of the state Constitution requiring both chambers to agree to any adjournment of more than 72 hours. Senate Democrats took things a step further, asking the Florida Supreme Court to order House members to return. On Friday afternoon, the court declined to step in — but a majority of the court joined a decision by Justice Barbara Pariente saying the House didn’t play by the rules.
“That constitutional provision clearly does not permit one house to adjourn in any fashion for more than seventy-two consecutive hours without the consent of the other house,” Pariente wrote.
LEGISLATURE, HEAL THYSELF?
With the regular session over, the House and the Senate had to try to move onto the mechanics of a special session to solve the remaining health-care issues: what to do about a $2.2 billion program, set to expire June 30, that provides funding to hospitals and other medical providers, and whether to spend $2.8 billion in Medicaid expansion money to help low-income Floridians purchase private insurance.
Gov. Rick Scott, who has at times seemed more interested in seeing a Ferris wheel and visiting a Wawa store than getting into the nitty-gritty of budget negotiations, tried to take the initiative Thursday by laying out his parameters for a special session.
Scott, who opposes Medicaid expansion, said he hopes federal officials will eventually approve his administration’s request to continue the Low Income Pool — the $2.2 billion pot of money that might soon run out. The request was submitted last week, almost a year after state officials were made aware that the funding could evaporate.
“However, we should begin preparing a budget in the interim that could be taken up in a special session without any LIP funding and without any expansion of Obamacare,” Scott said, using the common name for the Affordable Care Act, which authorizes Medicaid expansion. “I look forward to continuing to work with Senate and House leaders in the weeks ahead to address critical funding needs and identify when and how we can direct over $1 billion in surplus state tax revenue back to the Florida citizens who earned it.”
Legislative leaders didn’t exactly rush to embrace the proposal.
“When you really start looking at how you do a budget, how you do all these other things that are being advocated for, when you have a $2.2 billion hole with no answer — I’m not sure how responsible that is,” Gardiner said.
So the Senate president wrote a letter to Crisafulli calling for the two chambers to hold a special session beginning June 1 to resolve the budget impasse. The Senate president held out hope that federal officials might get back to the state on how much it can expect to receive in LIP funding.
“Beginning our special session on June 1 will provide additional time to receive a response from the federal government, and we can conclude with ample time for Governor Scott to review the budget prior to June 30,” Gardiner said.
Gardiner’s proposed outline for the special session would limit lawmakers’ agenda to the budget and a handful of closely related bills.
Scott also took a couple of other steps, releasing the first draft of an outline for work to be done by a proposed “Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding,” and suing the federal officials he was asking to approve the state’s LIP program. Scott’s lawsuit claims that the efforts by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to link Medicaid expansion and LIP are unconstitutional.
By the way, he said, that was also reason not to accept federal money for the Senate Medicaid proposal.
“If the Obama administration can arbitrarily and capriciously end one healthcare program in Florida, likely leaving our state taxpayers to foot the bill, it would be irresponsible to further obligate state taxpayers by going deeper into Obamacare with an expansion of Medicaid,” he said.
THE WALKING DEAD
The House’s decision to leave the building, and the significant policy differences that lawmakers didn’t really have time to work out, ended up killing some of the big-ticket items in the session. Everything from reform of the Department of Corrections to water legislation ended up dead in the crossfire.
A push to reform the state’s embattled prisons agency was one casualty, though senators vowed not to drop the issue. One of the key disagreements was that the House’s prison measure lacked an oversight commission included in a Senate plan (SB 7020). But Gardiner said he will dispatch his own committee to investigate problems in the corrections system that prompted lawmakers to propose the overhaul.
“We will put our corrections committee on the road within a couple of weeks and they will go and do their own investigations. I can subpoena people. We’re not done with that,” Gardiner, R-Orlando, told reporters late Tuesday afternoon. “It’s unfortunate that the House did what they did. Usually these last three days is when you’re negotiating. They just walked away.”
The Senate approved its version of a water-policy bill with the hope that some of the issues will be considered when lawmakers get back together for a special session, but the measure itself died. Also dead: a revival of a tax-incentive program to attract film and television production to Florida and rules for app-based transportation services like Uber and Lyft, not to mention a handful of bills backed by Gardiner for Floridians with disabilities.
A proposal that would have boosted health and safety standards for early-education programs (SB 7006 and HB 7017) died for the second straight year. And a sweeping proposal (SB 7068 and HB 7119) to expand mental-health and substance-abuse services was instead swept away. Supporters say providing such services to parents can help prevent fatal consequences for children.
“The need for these services is based on the data that we know, on the facts,” said Christina Spudeas, executive director of the advocacy group Florida’s Children First. “Without those services in the community, we already know that children will die.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: The House decided to end its regular legislative session Tuesday, shocking Capitol observers and sending dozens of bills to defeat.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I believe better days are ahead.”—House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, in a memo at the end of one of the most raucous weeks for the Legislature in recent memory.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Lose…Again
May 3, 2015
The Jackson Generals won its second straight game over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on another six-run inning—this time in the fourth inning at The Ballpark at Jackson.
Jackson beat Pensacola, 7-4, on Saturday to move to 9-11 and just two games out of first place in the Southern League North Division. Meanwhile, Pensacola fell to 6-16 and is eight games back.
The Generals sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth to score its six runs, five of them with two out after starter Daniel Wright (0-4) struck out two batters. Dano Pizzano knocked in two on a single to right field and Jody Lara singled to left off of Blue Wahoos reliever Chad Rodgers for two more in the inning.
On Friday, Jackson drove in six runs in the first inning off of Pensacola starter Robert Stephenson.
Pensacola shortstop Juan Perez continued his hot hitting with a triple in the second inning that drove in Seth Mejias-Brean and Ray Chang to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 3-0. He now has four RBIs and has hit in five straight games and 14 of the last 15 games. He’s hitting .304 to lead Pensacola.
Beau Amaral singled in the eighth to score Chang and bring Pensacola within two, 6-4. He went 3-4 on the night.
Meanwhile, Jesse Winker, the Cincinnati Reds No. 4 prospect, went 1-5 to extend his on-base streak to six games, while Wahoos Kyle Waldrop went 0-3 to end his six-game hitting streak.
Standing With Coop: Yard Sale Benefits Cancer Patient
May 3, 2015
The First Baptist Church of Bratt held a benefit yard sale Saturday for 17-year old Bryant Cooper. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Injured In Barrineau Park Crash
May 2, 2015
One person received minor injuries in a single vehicle accident Friday night on Barrineau Park Road.
The accident happened about 8:40 p.m. just east of the Jacks Branch Road intersection. The driver of a van apparently lost control and overturned into a ditch. After being extricated from the vehicle, the driver was transported to West Florida Hospital with minor injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details have not been released.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Perfect Weekend Weather
May 2, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 51. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Sunday
Sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the morning.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 58. South wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight.
Monday
Sunny, with a high near 83. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. East wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.
Thursday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 63.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 86.
Cantonment Defense Contractor Cuts Jobs
May 2, 2015
A Cantonment defense contractor has furloughed a large part of its workforce.
Marianna Airmotive on Quintette Road placed employees on furlough Friday due to a slowdown in work for the government.
“Due to the current business environment and a slowdown of current and future orders, Marianna Airmotive Corporation is furloughing employees effective May 1, 2015,” a statement released Friday evening by the company said. “At this time, Marianna believes this condition will be temporary. The company is working with the Air Force in an attempt to keep operations running. We expect to be able to provide additional information updating Marianna Airmotive’s status within the next three weeks.”
Marianna Airmotive holds an Air Force contract to remanufacture, overhaul and make parts for the C-5, the large air cargo plane made in the country. A source in Washington said work has slowed for Marianna Airmotive due to the number of C-5’s coming out of service, and the Air Force needs more time to approve additional contracts. Within the next several weeks, that situation is expected to improve, putting people back to work at the Cantonment plant. The company has not closed, with some staff still working.
According to data from the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, Marianna Airmotive employed about 135 people.
The company was established in 1968 in Marianna and relocated to Cantonment in 1989. It was purchased by its existing owners in 1998.
Alabama Man Killed In Collision With Bridge On I-65
May 2, 2015
An Alabama man was killed and two people were seriously injured when their vehicle struck a bridge on I-65 north of Atmore late Friday afternoon.
The driver was identified as Reginald LaBarron Chambers, age 27 of Chickasaw, by Alabama State Troopers. Troopers said he was the driver of a 2005 Hummer that drifted off the roadway and struck the piling of the Butler Street bridge over I–65. Chambers was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The accident remains under investigation by Alabama State Troopers. Further details have not been released.
Submitted and NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Regular Session Quietly Reaches Irregular Close
May 2, 2015
There was no hanky drop to mark “sine die” on Friday.
The House and Senate sergeants at arms didn’t carry out the tradition of meeting in the fourth-floor rotunda, between the two chambers, to hold a brief ceremonial handkerchief drop to signal the end of the annual legislative session. Also absent were the cheering lawmakers, staff members and lobbyists — and the red plastic cups of adult beverages that seem to find their way into the rotunda.
The lights of the Senate chamber were quickly turned off at 5:08 p.m. Friday, as there was no lawmaking on either end of the Capitol on the final scheduled day of the 60-day session.
“My colleagues and I look forward to returning to Tallahassee in short order to complete the work we were elected to do,” Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said in a release just before 5 p.m.
Gardiner’s statement came shortly after a majority of the Florida Supreme Court said an abrupt adjournment Tuesday by the House was unconstitutional, but that there wouldn’t be an accompanying order for lawmakers to return to Tallahassee, as Senate Democrats had hoped.
The House adjournment came amid a bitter impasse with the Senate about budget and health-care issues. Lawmakers will have to return to the Capitol in May or June for a special session to negotiate and pass a budget.
In all, the most-untypical regular session included the House and Senate passing 232 bills from among a total of 1,752 that were filed. The number of bills approved by both chambers was the lowest in the past 15 years.
Throughout the Capitol complex, few doors were open Friday.
Students on end-of-year school outings to the Capitol replaced the well-dressed lobbyists who typically would have congregated outside the House and Senate chambers in the final hours of the session.
Earlier in the day, Senate pages, with little work to perform for lawmakers, took the chamber floor to briefly hold their own mock session.
And with few customers, the 10th floor snack bar reverted to its non-session 1 p.m. Friday closing time.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, emailed House members that taking a few weeks off will better position the House to pass a budget.
“With the lawsuits over and a little time to reflect, I trust that we can return with a new level of civility on both sides,” Crisafulli said in the email. “We will make up for these three days, and then some.”
Senators met Tuesday after the House adjourned and also passed bills Wednesday before calling a halt. On Friday, a Senate staffer tweeted a photo of senators lunching on Chick-fil-A in the president’s office.
Several House Democrats, meanwhile, attended an Agency for Health Care Administration hearing on the Low Income Pool program, a health program at the heart of the budget impasse between the House and Senate.
“We have been on this road for a long time, now is the time for us as a state to stand proudly to say we’re not only addressing the needs of hospitals, but all Floridians,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida