• Home
• News
• Events
• Features
• Sports
• About
• Contact
• Advertise

Free Classifieds | Obituaries |

Early Voting Ends Today

This afternoon at 5:00 is the deadline for early voting for the March 15 Presidential Preference Primary.

Students Learn About Ag During Fresh From Florida Event (With Gallery)

About 800 students from across the area took part in the annual Northview High School FFA “Fresh From Florida” program Friday morning at the school in Bratt.

Formerly known as the “Food For America program”, the event gave students the chance to learn about agriculture first hand up close and personal with farm animals, farm equipment and more to learn how food gets from the farm to their tables. Students were even able to make and enjoy eating their own fresh butter.

The Northview High School FFA “Fresh From Florida” program has been honored as the best in Florida numerous times, and the chapter was recently name one of the best in the United States by the National FFA Organization for a second year.

For more photos, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Massive Educaton Bill Approved On Final Day

A wide-ranging education bill dealing with everything from funding for high-performing universities to high-school membership in athletic associations made it through the final day of the legislative session Friday, despite the long odds that such policy “trains” often face.

But in the process, lawmakers cut a provision aimed at ensuring that taxpayer-provided construction dollars for charter schools don’t end up enriching private companies, causing angst in both the House and the Senate.

The legislation (HB 7029) passed the Senate on a 29-10 vote after a debate that included arguments about the charter-school provision and an issue dealing with whether schoolchildren have to remove their headdresses during the Pledge of Allegiance. The House then approved the bill in an 82-33 vote.

Supporters of school choice applauded the bill, which would also allow parents to transfer their children to any public school in the state that isn’t at capacity. The “open enrollment” provision, once a marquee part of education proposals during the session, largely faded into the background as the charter-school fight took center stage.

“The best educational fit for a child may be a public school less than a mile down the road,” said Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, a nonprofit organization that backs education choice. “But if a district boundary line intersects that road, the school might as well be in China. It is time to tear down invisible barriers that block students from attending schools that best meet their needs, even when there is available space.”

The bill would also add to state law performance-funding formulas for colleges and universities; allow private schools to join the Florida High School Athletic Association or other organizations on a sport-by-sport basis; and give charter schools that serve lower-income students or those with disabilities a bigger slice of the construction funding doled out by the state.

The measure would send additional funds to “emerging pre-eminent” universities — possibly the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida. Those schools are approaching the pre-eminent status that provides extra money to the University of Florida and Florida State University.

Much of the debate Friday, though, centered on whether to require “arms-length” transactions for charter schools that use taxpayer money for leases or construction. Recent news reports have included allegations that some charter school management companies have used state construction dollars to improve privately owned facilities owned by entities closely related to the school companies.

The Senate had pushed the proposal to crack down on the practice, but backed off in the face of opposition from the House. Opponents of the language argue that there are some legitimate reasons for related companies to use state money.

Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who handled the bill in the Senate, asked lawmakers to vote for the legislation despite widespread discontent with the charter-school changes — something he said was a consequence of checks and balances in government.

“This is a solid education funding bill,” Gaetz said. “Of course we didn’t get everything we asked for; that was never James Madison’s intent.”

But some House members also objected to the change.

“There are some good charter schools; they’re engaging in innovation,” said Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg. “Many of the charters are engaging in imitation and bringing nothing new to the game except to plunder the public treasury.”

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Time Change: Spring Forward (And Don’t Forget The Smoke Alarm Batteries)

Don’t forget to “spring forward” and set your clocks ahead one hour before heading off to bed Saturday night. Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, making use of longer summer days, allowing people to rise early and spend more of the day working or playing.

The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping, according to Escambia Fire Rescue.

It is also recommended that residents test smoke alarms by pushing the test button, planning “two ways out” and practicing escape routes with the entire family. Families should also prepare a fire safety kit that includes working flashlights and fresh batteries.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. An average of three children per day die in home fires and 80 percent of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Non-working smoke alarms rob residents of the protective benefits home fire safety devices were designed to provide. The most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms: worn or missing batteries.

Tragically, fire can kill selectively. Those most at risk include:

• Children — Approximately 1,000 children under the age of 20 die each year in home fires. Children under age five are at twice the risk of dying in a home fire. Eighty percent of fatal home fire victims who were children were killed in homes without working smoke alarms.
• Seniors — Adults over age 75 are three times more likely to die in home fires than the rest of the population; those over 85 are 4.5 times more likely to die in a home fire. Many seniors are unable to escape quickly.
• Low-Income Households — Many low-income families are unable to afford batteries for their smoke alarms. These same households often rely on poorly installed, maintained or misused portable or area heating equipment — a main cause of fatal home fires.

Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire. Additionally, the International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends replacing your smoke alarms every ten years.

For more information about fire safety, call Escambia County Fire Rescue at 850-475-5530 or visit  the web site at www.myescambia.com.

For information about obtaining a free home smoke alarm call 850-595-HERO (4376).

Showers, Thunderstorms Likely Today

Here is your official NorthEscambia area forecast:
Saturday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 72. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 58. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 78. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 78.

Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59.

Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 74.

Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56.

Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 69.

Florida Legislative Sessions Ends As Budget Is Approved

.After a last-minute episode of intrigue eight years in the making, the 2016 legislative session came to an end Friday night, as lawmakers approved an $82.3 billion budget, a tax-cut package a fraction of the size suggested by Gov. Rick Scott and a raft of other legislation.

Despite the late flurry of bills on everything from education to health care to transportation, the endgame was more orderly than the chaotic implosion of last year’s session, which saw House lawmakers leave the Capitol without finishing a budget — a move that sparked a special session.

Instead, both chambers approved the spending plan for the year that begins July 1 by broad, bipartisan margins. The House voted 119-1 to pass the proposal (HB 5001); only Rep. John Tobia, a Melbourne Beach Republican who usually opposes the budget, voted against it. Moments later, the 40-member Senate voted unanimously to send the package to Scott.

And despite the fact that lawmakers curtailed or scuttled his two main priorities — a tax cut package and $250 million in economic development incentives — Scott suggested he wouldn’t extract vengeance on lawmakers with his line-item veto.

“I’m going to clearly go through the budget and make sure that we don’t waste any money, look at ways we can save money,” Scott said after the session ended. “But I think it’s a good budget.”

The spending plan approved Friday bumps up per-student spending on public schools by 1 percent, moving it to a record amount. It spends more than $713.5 million on education construction projects and funds $151 million for restoration of the Everglades and an area lawmakers are calling the Northern Everglades.

At the same time, lawmakers approved a $129.1 million package of tax breaks (HB 7099), a sliver of the $1 billion proposal that Scott had sought. Combined with a proposal to hold local education property taxes down despite rising real-estate values, lawmakers spent $400 million on tax relief of some sort.

Scott nonetheless declared victory on a 2014 re-election campaign promise to reduce taxes by $1 billion over the first two years of his second term. He counted the education tax fix — a Senate priority — as $428 million, the amount that property owners will actually save on their bills. And he rolled together an array of other tax cuts and holidays approved over the last two sessions into the number.

“Everybody comes up here with their ideas,” Scott said. “I doubt that there’s any tax I wouldn’t like to cut … What’s important is we’re giving money back.”

Scott announced plans to visit five cities Monday as part of a “Million, Billion Jobs Victory Tour,” an allusion to the size of the tax cuts and the million private-sector jobs that have been created since he took office in 2011.

Critics saw things very differently, noting that Scott’s priorities were largely gutted by the Legislature as questions began to circulate about whether the second-term governor was now a lame duck.

“The 2016 legislative session may well go down in the history books as the year that the Florida lawmakers formally declared their independence from Gov. Scott,” said Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa.

Even friendly legislators like Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, seemed to hint that it took some creative math to say Scott had accomplished his objectives on tax cuts.

“As you’ve seen from the presidential campaign trail, sometimes political accounting, what goes on the bumper sticker and what is actually impactful to the people is a different number,” Lee told reporters after the session.

What the Legislature approved also proved to be too much for others. Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, highlighted a variety of areas where, he suggested, Florida didn’t spend enough.

“If I’m going to choose where I want us to spend our public tax dollars and what I want us to do with our money, it’s to fix all these problems and not to give tax breaks, which include pear cider this year,” Clemens said.

The end to the session also survived an injection of suspense, as the Senate continued to work on an insurance change for those with Down syndrome while the tax package languished. The insurance measure — a priority of Senate President Andy Gardiner, an Orlando Republican whose son has Down syndrome — would require health plans offered by large employers to cover the condition.

Patients with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities had been left out of a similar piece of legislation in 2008, when Gardiner was in the House.

“Eight years ago, we ended session with an issue that was not resolved. It got resolved tonight,” he said proudly.

But the session went later than expected as lawmakers bounced the bill including the provision (HB 221) back and forth between the chambers. Afterwards, Gardiner said the House and Senate were simply trying to get the language right.

And he denied rumors that the tax cut package or a House bill on the environment, known as “Legacy Florida,” hinged on the success of the Down syndrome legislation.

“There was no holding of anything … We always intended to do the tax package and Legacy Florida,” Gardiner said. “We just wanted to get that (insurance bill) done.”

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Northview Falls To South Walton

The Northview Chiefs fell behind in the sixth inning in a 3-1 loss to South Walton in Santa Rosa Beach on Friday.

The only run for the Chiefs came in the fourth inning on a single from Zach Payne. South Walton answered with a run in the fourth and in the sixth on a two-run double.

Up next for the varsity Northview Chiefs is meeting with Baker at 6:30 Tuesday in Bratt, following a 4 p.m. junior varsity.

NorthEscambia.com photos by Ramona Preston, click to enlarge.

Supporters Scramble To Prevent Alimony Veto

Proponents of an alimony overhaul scurried during the final hours of the legislative session Friday to come up with a way to protect the plan — entangled with a parenting component — from a possible veto by Gov. Rick Scott.

But powerful House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman late in the day abandoned the effort, in part because he lacked the support of House Democrats.

The House and Senate during the past week gave final approval to a long-debated overhaul of the state’s alimony laws. But the veto concerns stem from part of the bill (SB 668) dealing with how much time children should spend with their divorced parents.

Workman on Friday considered putting the alimony reform language onto a separate family-law measure, approved by the Senate but never heard by a House committee. Such a move would provide another way to pass alimony reform without it getting jeopardized by the child time-sharing issue.

“There was concern bubbling up from the plaza level that the governor isn’t convinced about the time-sharing component,” Workman, R-Melbourne, said late Friday afternoon. “We wanted to give him two options.”

The procedural maneuvering to take up the Senate bill so late in the session would have required the House waiving rules. It would have required a two-thirds vote from the chamber, something Workman said he didn’t want to do without the endorsement of Democrats, even though Republicans hold a supermajority in the House. The Senate also would have had to take up the amended version of the bill and pass it.

“We don’t have the consensus to bring up the bill,” Workman said.

The alimony measure, ready to be sent to Scott, sets out a formula for judges to use when deciding alimony payments. It also includes the child time-sharing component, which affects the amount of child-support payments.

The child time-sharing issue was at the center of an acrimonious dispute between Workman and Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, that caused a similar plan to die last year in the Legislature. Lee pushed to include the time-sharing issue, while Workman wanted it left out.

But during the final weeks of this year’s session, Lee and Workman reached a compromise that did away with a proposed legal presumption that children would spend their time equally between both parents. Instead, judges would “begin with the premise that a minor child should spend approximately equal amounts of time with each parent” before considering other factors.

The alimony portion of the bill, years in the making, had the support of the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar and alimony reform advocates, once bitterly divided over the issue. The Family Law Section, however, has opposed the child-sharing proposal.

Under the bill, the duration of alimony payments would be based on the number of years of marriage, while the amount of the payments would rely on a couple’s gross income — the higher earner’s salary minus the earnings of the spouse seeking alimony.

The measure does not include a retroactivity provision that in part prompted Scott’s veto of an alimony-reform bill three years ago, but critics contend that the revamped proposal could still be retroactive because the new guidelines would apply to people seeking modifications to their payments.

by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida

Snapped Pole Crashes Through Windshield In 10 Mile Wreck

A driver struck a utility pole on 10 Mile Road near Guidy Lane Friday afternoon. The collision snapped off the, the remainder of which crashed through the front windsheld and and into the front seat. There was no word on injuries in the accident. The Florida Highway Patrol has not released further details and the continue their investigation. Reader submitted photo by Donella Ray for  NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Patty Locke

Patty Locke, 59, of Pensacola, passed away on Thursday, March 10, 2016.

Patty was a wonderful spouse. She loved life, her family, especially the grandkids, and her friends. Patty enjoyed the mountains in Gatlinburg, cooking at Thanksgiving and decorating at Christmas time. She will be missed immensely.

She is preceded in death by her son, Chad Locke; and her parents, Alexander Clay Campbell and Elizabeth Ann Anderson Campbell.

Patty is survived by her husband, Joseph Locke; two sons, Joshua and Brett (Clayr) Locke; nine grandchildren, Joshua Locke, Brittany Locke, Winter Bush, Nathan Locke, Ian Locke, Gabrielle Locke, Aaliyah Locke, Grier Locke, Bayor Locke; brother, David (Judy) Campbell; and two nieces, Jessica and Jenna Campbell.

Funeral services will be held at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at Faith Chapel Funeral Home South with Bro. Gordon Godfrey, Jr.

Burial will follow in Eastern Gate Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14, 2016, at Faith Chapel Funeral Home South.

Pallbearers will be Joshua Locke, Matthew Damron and Earl Locke.

Faith Chapel Funeral Home South is in charge of arrangements.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Copyright © 2007-2019 NorthEscambia.com · P.O. Box 1207 · Century, FL 32535 · All Rights Reserved.