Escambia Administrator Jack Brown Injured In Motorcycle Crash
January 15, 2016
Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown was injured in a motorcycle crash in Ensley Friday morning, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.
Brown was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital with cuts and a bruises, all considered minor injuries, according to a county spokesperson.
His motorcycle and a SUV collided about 7:40 a.m. on Pensacola Boulevard near Johnson Avenue. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details have not been released.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire Destroys Large Shed
January 15, 2016
Fire destroyed large storage shed Friday morning in Bratt.
The fire in the 3000 block of York Road, off Pine Barren Road at Northview High School, was reported about 6:45 a.m. The approximately 400 square foot shed was fully involved before firefighters arrived on scene. The exact cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
An adjacent mobile home was not damaged. There were no injuries reported.
The Walnut Hill, McDavid and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, the Flomaton Fire Department and the Atmore Fire Department were dispatched to the scene, along with Escambia County EMS.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century To Consider Forming CRA To Improve Community
January 15, 2016
The The Town of Century held a special workshop Thursday to learn more about the possibility of forming a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
Upon declaration of an area as blighted, the CRA works to improve conditions. As property tax values rise, most of the increase is funneled back into the redevelopment area for further improvements. Additional tax incentive and redevelopment funds are available within a CRA.
Essentially, CRAs use redevelopment funds within a deteriorating area to transform it into one that again contributes to the overall health of a community.
CRA funds can be used for a variety of public purposes, including items specified in the agency’s redevelopment plan, planning and surveys, acquisition of real property, affordable housing development and community policing innovations.
Century council members did not make any decision on forming a CRA at Thursday’s meeting. Instead, they decided to seek more information and invite area CRA experts to a future meeting for input.
There are currently eight other redevelopment districts in Escambia County — Barrancas, Brownsville, Cantonment, Englewood, Ensley, Oakfield, Palafox and Warrington — and three within the City of Pensacola.
Pictured top: Century Council members Ben Boutwell, Sandra McMurray Jackson and Ann Brooks watch a Powerpoint presentation on CRAs. Pictured below: A slide from the presentation. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Fog For Tonight
January 15, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Patchy dense fog after 8pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming north after midnight.
Saturday: Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 65. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of rain, mainly between 9pm and 3am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 40. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 56. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 32. North wind around 5 mph.
M.L.King Day: Sunny, with a high near 50. North wind around 5 mph.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 28. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 51. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 61.
Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 59.
Tate, Northview FFA Members Place In Career Development Event
January 15, 2016
Tate and Northview High School FFA members excelled at a FFA Career Development Event Thursday.
The Tate High School FFA placed first in the Parliamentary Procedure event. Northview FFA member Haylee Weaver placed first in Extemporaneous Public Speaking; and Northview FFA member Mitchell Singleton placed second in Prepared Public Speaking.
A first place finished equates to a student being among the top 12 in the state.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Church, Forest Service Celebrate Arbor Day With Food And Trees For Needy
January 15, 2016
The Florida Forest Services teamed up with the Abundant Life Assembly of God Church in Century to provide free fruit trees to needy families.
Abundant Life holds a food distribution each Thursday for those in need in the community. During Thursday’s event, the Florida Forest Service provided food recipients with their choice of a free pear, plum, peach or loquat tree in celebration of Arbor Day.
The church food distribution serves about 400 needy families in the Century community each month. Food distributions are held weekly on Thursday with recipients allowed to receive food once per month.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Teachers Take Aim At State Education Policies
January 15, 2016
About 2,000 teachers and other public-school employees rallied Thursday at the Capitol, calling on lawmakers to place more emphasis on classroom learning and less focus on standardized tests.
Educators from across the state, including Escambia County, held a several-block march to the Capitol courtyard, where they said Florida has too many high-stakes tests and teachers are not paid enough. Also, they pointed to a perception that traditional public schools are not treated fairly compared to charter schools.
“Our children are being cheated out of a high-quality education by policymakers and their education reforms that are designed to meet the needs of adults rather than students,” said Joanne McCall, president of the Florida Education Association teachers union. Vicki Rodriguez, president of the St. Lucie Classroom Teachers Association, said about 50 of her colleagues left St. Lucie County at 3 p.m. Thursday to attend the rally.
Rodriguez said teachers are not respected by many lawmakers.
“The pay is poor,” Rodriguez said. “Morale is terrible. That affects kids. So we need to get our profession in this state to be able to do the job that we were actually trained to do, which is teach kids … not give tests.”
The rally came on the third day of the annual legislative session. Lawmakers are considering numerous education issues, including proposals dealing with standardized testing and charter schools.
by The News Service of Florida
Lawmakers Tee Up Debate On High School Sports
January 15, 2016
The battle between lawmakers and the Florida High School Athletic Association started again Thursday, with House and Senate committees approving measures that the organization says would hurt it financially.
The House Education Committee unanimously approved one version (HB 31), clearing the way for that bill to move to the House floor. In what was arguably a bigger defeat for the association, the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee overwhelmingly approved the Senate counterpart (SB 1026) on a 9-1 vote.
The Senate’s bill still has two committee stops to go, and a fiercer fight over the legislation is expected to take place. The FHSAA did not address the bill before the House committee.
“It appears as if the efforts are being focused on the Senate side,” said House sponsor Ross Spano, R-Dover.
The proposals would allow schools to join the FHSAA on a per-sport basis and limit how much can be charged for some association-sponsored competitions. Currently, a school that joins the FHSAA in any sport has to be a member in every sport.
“The practical effect of (the association’s rule) is that smaller schools who just can’t field competitive teams for the larger sports end up suffering,” Spano said.
The legislation would allow those schools to “have a choice of where their kids belong,” in the words of Stuart Weiss, president of the Sunshine State Athletic Conference. Schools in Weiss’ organization play football separately from the FHSAA, but still have to be members and have to honor the larger association’s rules.
“We believe that schools should have choice and control of their sports,” Weiss said.
But Roger Dearing, executive director of the FHSAA, said the proposal could undermine the association financially. Much like college athletics, high-school sports use revenues from major programs like football and basketball to offset losses in less popular sports.
“Our concern is, it’s the revenues from those postseason games that go to pay for all the sports,” Dearing told the Senate committee. “So if they’re not going to contribute any money on the postseason games but still expect us to oversee the expenses for tennis and golf and soccer and all those, that’s where that part comes in.”
The association is going along for now with a separate Senate bill (SB 684), by Sens. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, that has a per-sport membership provision for private schools. An amendment approved by the Senate panel on Thursday removed language from Gaetz and Stargel’s bill that would have allowed that provision to apply to public schools as well.
That measure would ease some restrictions on student-athletes who transfer while strengthening penalties for recruiting, which is banned under FHSAA guidelines. It was approved unanimously by the Senate committee.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Judge Gives Green Light To Gambling Lawsuit
January 15, 2016
The Seminole Tribe’s lawsuit against Florida over failed negotiations on a gambling deal is moving forward after a federal judge refused to toss the case.
In a five-page order last week, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle rejected a request from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office to dismiss the case.
The legal dispute stems from a 2010 gambling agreement, known as a “compact,” between the state and the Seminoles. A part of the deal giving tribal casinos the exclusive rights to offer banked card games, such as blackjack, expired this summer. After the end of a 90-day grace period that allowed the tribe to continue offering the games, the Seminoles filed a lawsuit in October in federal court in Tallahassee.
The lawsuit accused the state of acting in “bad faith” about negotiations on a new gambling deal and asked a judge to allow the tribe to keep offering the card games. Less than a week later, the state filed a separate lawsuit in Tampa, seeking to stop the games.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires states to negotiate in good faith with tribes seeking gambling authority. Florida argued that the federal law only requires states to negotiate initial compacts but not to renegotiate deals when they expire.
“The contention is plainly wrong,” Hinkle wrote.
States are expected to negotiate an extension or a new compact as a compact nears its end, Hinkle wrote.
“Any reading of the act that would suggest a state has no duty to negotiate at that time would make no sense — it would mean that when a state’s first compact with a tribe ended, the state would be relieved of any obligation to negotiate a new or extended compact,” he wrote.
Hinkle also consolidated the tribe’s lawsuit and the state’s lawsuit in federal court in Tallahassee, with a trial scheduled to start in July.
Amid the legal battling, Gov. Rick Scott and the tribe last month announced they had reached a new agreement that would allow the Seminoles to add craps and roulette at tribal casinos in exchange for $3 billion to the state over seven years. But the deal requires the authorization of the Legislature, and Republican leaders in both chambers have said that the proposed compact would have to be modified to get lawmakers’ approval.
A Senate committee is expected to discuss the compact at a meeting next week. Lawmakers are in session through March 11.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Not The Drive-Thru: Driver Collides With Whataburger Building
January 15, 2016
There were no injuries when a driver collided with a support post at the Century Whataburger restaurant late Thursday afternoon. The building suffered minor damage. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.