Wahoos Top Biloxi
April 18, 2016
For the second time in six days, Pensacola Blue Wahoos Beau Amaral started the game with a lead-off home run. It’s also the only two times the speedy center fielder has done that in his professional career.
Between Amaral’s first inning home run and starter Daniel Wright and relievers Nick Routt, El’Hajj Muhammad, Alejandro Chacin combining on a two-hit shutout, Pensacola defeated the Biloxi Shuckers, 5-0, Sunday at MGM Stadium. It was Pensacola’s pitching staff’s second shutout in a row, after beating the Jacksonville Suns, 3-0, at home Saturday.
The win improves the Blue Wahoos record to 9-2 – it’s best start in team history – and puts them in first place in the Southern League South Division. Biloxi falls to 7-3 on the season.
On a 1-1 count against Biloxi starter Jorge Ortega, Amaral jacked the next pitch over the right center field wall to put Pensacola ahead, 1-0. That would be all the runs Pensacola needed Sunday.
Amaral worked in the offseason on his hitting with his dad, Rich, who played 10 years in the big leagues. He was 2-5 in the Biloxi game and now leads the Blue Wahoos with two home runs and six RBIs and is batting .282.
However, after Amaral’s solo blast a pitching duel ensued. Wright, who was starting in place of Nick Travieso who went on the disabled list with a pulled groin, threw five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, walked one and struck out six batters.
Biloxi’s Ortega allowed six hits in 5.2 innings of work, struck out three and gave up Amaral’s blast.
Pensacola’s bullpen then continued to shut down the Biloxi lineup, giving up one hit and striking out three. The Blue Wahoos’ pitchers have also thrown four one-run games this year.
The Blue Wahoos added four runs in the top of the ninth for some wiggle room, lighting up Biloxi’s fourth pitcher of the game Hobbs Johnson.
Third baseman Eric Jagielo started the inning with a walk, left fielder Phillip Ervin singled, Tony Renda grounded out to Biloxi third baseman Nate Orf to force out Jagielo at third. Right fielder Pin-Chieh Chen then hit an infield single to Orf who threw the ball away trying to get Chen out at first, allowing Ervin, who was 4-4 on the day, to score from second for a 2-0 Blue Wahoos lead.
Hobbs walked Pensacola catcher Joe Hudson to load the bases and then threw a wild pitch that allowed the speedy Renda to score from third putting Pensacola ahead, 3-0. Orf then committed his second error of the game on a ground ball by first baseman Ray Chang that let Chen score, 4-0.
The scoring ended when shortstop Zach Vincej singled to left field to score Hudson for a commanding, 5-0, lead for the Blue Wahoos.
Chacin capped the shutout and win by setting Biloxi down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth with two strike outs.
Update: Missing Escambia County Woman Found
April 17, 2016
Update 6 p.m.: This missing senior silver alert has been canceled after Jean Rodriguez Yenzer was located as is safe.
A Florida Silver Alert has been issued for Jean Rodriguez Yenzer.
The 85-year old was last seen in on Mohawk Trail in Pensacola wearing a pink, black and white striped sweater and black leggins. She may be traveling in a 2005 black Ford Focus with Florida tag number DKII73. She is possibly accompanied by a small black and white dog.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or 911.
Disaster Loan Outreach Centers Open Until Thursday
April 17, 2016
Disaster Loan Outreach Centers will open through Thursday in Century and Pensacola to assist tornado victims.
The loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration will be available to business, non-profits, churches an individuals that suffered physical or economic losses as result of the EF-3 tornado on February 15 in the Century area or the February 23 EF-3 tornado in the Pensacola area.
The Century Disaster Loan Outreach Center will be at the Century Business Center at 140 East Pond Street will be open 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and until final closing at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 21.
The Pensacola location will be open at the West Florida Regional Planning Council office at 4081 East Olive Road, Suite A. The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and until final closing at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 21.
Both locations will be closed on Sunday.
The types of loans available include:
- Business Physical Disaster Loans – Loans to businesses to repair or replace disaster-damaged property owned by the business, including real estate, inventories, supplies, machinery and equipment. Businesses of any size are eligible. Private, non-profit organizations such as charities, churches, private universities, etc., are also eligible.
- Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) – Working capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of the disaster. These loans are intended to assist through the disaster recovery period.
- Home Disaster Loans – Loans to homeowners or renters to repair or replace disaster-damaged real estate and personal property, including automobiles.
Applicants must have a credit history acceptable to the SBA and the ability to repay all loans. Collateral is required for physical loss or economic injury disaster loans over $25,000. Loan terms range up to 30 years with interest rates from 1.813 to 6.25 percent.
Only uninsured or otherwise uncompensated disaster losses are eligible.
The deadline to apply for physical damage assistance if June 6; the deadline for economic injury assistance applications is January 9, 2017.
The loans are also available in the contiguous Florida county of Santa Rosa and the contiguous Alabama counties of Escambia and Baldwin.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Mostly Sunny Sunday
April 17, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 53. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 80. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. East wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81. East wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. South wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 77. East wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 78.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 79.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Winning $90K Fantasy Five Ticket Sold In North Escambia
April 17, 2016
Someone is over $90,000 richer after purchasing a winning Florida Lottery Fantasy 5 ticket in Davisville.
The ticket sold at the State Line Gift Shop, 11208 Highway 97 in Davisville was one of three winning tickets sold for Saturday night’s drawing worth $90,334.20 each. Other winning tickets matching all five numbers were sold in Lakeland and Pinellas Park.
The 527 tickets matching four numbers won $82.50 each. Another 14,294 tickets matching three numbers are worth $8.50 each, and 125,610 ticket holders won a free Quick Pick ticket for picking two numbers.
Saturday’s winning numbers were 01-10-12-20-21.
Pictured: The State Line Gift Shop on Highwy 97 in Davisville. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Strawberry Field Day Is Monday
April 17, 2016
The 2016 UF/IFAS Extension Strawberry Field Day will be held this Monday at the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay from 2-4:30 p.m.
Topics for the educational event will include a variety trial, production in a high tunnel versus field production, selling a crop through healthy food preparation and best management practices for vegetable farms.
For more information, contact Libbie Johnson at libbiej@ufl.edu or (850) 475-5230.
Residents Report Series Of ‘Explosions’ For A Second Week
April 17, 2016
For the second consecutive week, numerous residents across a portion of the North Escambia area reported hearing and feeling multiple strong “explosions” or “booms” Saturday night.
Residents from Pensacola to miles north of Brewton and Flomaton reported varying levels of impact, all the way up to their entire homes and the ground shaking, along with a loud explosion sound. The majority of the reports we received came from the Flomaton, Century and Jay areas.
No explanation for the reports was found Saturday night.
Blue Wahoos Get First Shutout Of The Season
April 17, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos lowered its team earned run average even more with Rookie Davis, Wandy Peralta and Kyle McMyne combining for the team’s first shutout this season.
Pensacola’s ERA dropped to an absurd Southern League-leading 1.80 in its, 3-0, victory Saturday over the Jacksonville Suns in front of a packed sellout crowd of 5,038 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Strong pitching has been the theme for the 2016 version of the Cincinnati Reds Double-A affiliate in its first two series against Jacksonville and the Mississippi Braves. It has thrown four one-run games.
Despite feeling under the weather when he arrived at the park, Rookie Davis picked up his second victory, leading the way with six scoreless innings. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four.
Davis said he didn’t tell anyone how sick he felt.
“I didn’t want it to be an excuse,” Davis said. “I wanted to put it all on the line. The other team doesn’t feel sorry for me.”
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he was impressed that Davis “battled through” his sickness and a hip flexor injury suffered in spring training.
The Blue Wahoos tough-to-hit pitching staff is getting a lot of credit, but Pensacola has relied on strong defense, as well.
In the fourth inning, J.T. Riddle smacked a single to right field sending Austin Dean, who drew a lead-off walk, to third. But Riddle rounded the bases too far and got caught in a run down. However, Dean decided to bolt for home and Pensacola first baseman Brandon Dixon gunned him out at the plate on a nice tag by catcher Chad Wallach.
“Our ERA under two shows how good our defense is,” said Davis, who has allowed one run in 11 innings for a 0.82 ERA. “It’s not just the pitching staff. We’re not averaging 27 strikeouts per game. We have a great defense behind us.”
Kelly said it was a good thing the rundown of Riddle took so long.
“Dean got a little anxious and Wallach made a good play on a tough throw,” Kelly said.
Pensacola scored first in the fourth inning when Davis hit a slow and high chopper to second base that scored third baseman Tony Renda from third. Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral then doubled down the right field line to drive in both Dixon and Wallach and just like that Pensacola led, 3-0.
It was the 22-year-old Davis’ first RBI since he was an 18-year-old playing in high school. He said he wasn’t trying to hit the ball to the opposite field, his swing was just behind.
“I was a little bit late,” Davis said. “I always pictured my first RBI coming on a hit.”
Pensacola has now won its first two series and is 8-2 and in first place in the Southern League South Division. It’s the team’s best start in its five-year history.
The Wahoos travel to Biloxi to play the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate the Shuckers Sunday afternoon. The Shuckers are in second place this season. The game will be a rematch of last year’s South Division playoffs that pitted the two teams against each other and was Pensacola’s first playoff appearance since it was established in 2012. Biloxi won the playoff series.
Also Saturday, Pensacola second baseman Alex Blandino, the Reds sixth best prospect, was activated Friday after an injury in spring training while playing in the World Baseball Classic qualifier for Nicaragua. He got his first hit Saturday in his seventh plate appearance on a blistering line drive to left field. He’s now 1-7 in two games.
Kindergarten Registration Underway In Escambia County
April 17, 2016
Children who will be five-years old on or before September 1, 2016, are eligible to register for kindergarten for the 2016-2017 school year. New kindergarten students enrolling in the Escambia County School District may register now at the school which serves their residential area during the regular school year.
To local your child’s school, click here. For more information, contact the School Choice Office at (850) 469-5580.
At the time of registration, parents will need:
- Child’s birth certificate
- Child’s social security card
- Proof of residence, such as a recent electric bill or rent receipt (Telephone and cable bills are not acceptable)
- Immunization Record (DH form 680)
- Physical form (DH form 3040, or other comparable form)
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: The Final Measures
April 17, 2016
This is the way the bill-signing season ends. Not with a whimper, but a bang.
Gov. Rick Scott finished off his duties from the 2016 legislative session by vetoing a bill on one of the most emotional and volatile issues that the House and Senate faced this year — not anything about the state’s schools or its environmental treasures, but a fight over what happens when a marriage falls apart.
To be sure, Scott dealt with other issues in the waning days of selecting which measures would and wouldn’t become law. A lengthy “train” on education departed Plaza Level Station with the governor’s signature attached, along with several health-care bills.
Across the northern part of the state, meanwhile, a longtime Republican congressman decided to step down, setting off what at first looked like a feeding frenzy but quickly quieted down. One of the top contenders for the race saw the Northeast Florida establishment rally behind him while another one of the leading names decided to take a pass.
The outrage over Scott’s action on the alimony bill will also likely cool with time. But as the week wrapped up, it was still about as angry as anyone’s been with one of his decisions on legislation this year.
WHEN IT’S OVER
People on both sides of the alimony issue, though, didn’t wait for Scott’s veto to make their feelings known. On Tuesday, men, women and a handful of children crammed into the governor’s waiting room in a tumultuous showdown over the legislation.
The bill (SB 668) would have laid out a formula based on the lengths of marriages and the incomes of spouses for judges to use as a guide when determining alimony payments.
But the most contentious part of the measure involved not alimony but offspring. It would tell judges that, when determining child-custody arrangements, they should begin with a “premise” that children should split time equally between parents.
Proponents of the bill held a press conference Tuesday morning on the steps of the Old Capitol, an hour before opponents gathered outside Scott’s office to urge the governor to veto the measure.
Scott’s policy director, Jeff Woodburn, met with representatives of both groups, who packed into Scott’s waiting room and at times got into heated exchanges. At one point, proponents of the measure — including many who were clad in red T-shirts emblazoned with messages supporting “father’s rights” — erupted into a chant urging Scott to “Sign the bill!”
On Friday, the governor did the opposite. In his veto message, Scott said “the one constant” when a divorce involves a young child is “the needs of the child must come before all others” when judges determine parenting schedules, something now required by Florida law.
“This bill has the potential to upend that policy in favor of putting the wants of a parent before the child’s best interest by creating a premise of equal time-sharing. Our judges must consider each family’s unique situation and abilities and put the best interests of the child above all else,” he concluded.
One of the most powerful lawmakers behind the measure lashed out at Scott for nixing the proposal for the second time in three years. Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said in a written statement that the problems Scott voiced about a similar bill in 2013 were fixed this time around.
“At this point it is unclear what future family law reform legislation the governor may find acceptable. Today’s veto message is vague and does nothing to further illuminate the governor’s concerns,” said Lee, whose wife is a judge.
Others backed Scott’s decision. Maria Gonzalez, chairwoman of the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar, said the bill would have caused more litigation if it had become law.
Divorces or paternity cases in which couples are separating are “tough situations for the entire family” but are particularly painful for children, Gonzalez said.
“So when mom and dad come in front of the judge the best thing they can have is a clean slate and have a judge consider the uniqueness of the family, and also the needs of the particular family and come up and craft a good parenting plan, a good time-sharing schedule that works best for that family,” she said.
FULL STEAM AHEAD
As he weighed what to do on the alimony bill, Scott’s office continued churning out legislation that met with his approval.
He OK’d a 160-page education bill (HB 7029) which packed in everything from funding for high-performing universities to school membership in athletic associations.
It will allow parents to transfer their children to any public school in the state that isn’t at capacity through an “open enrollment” process; 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 construction funding doled out by the state.
The bill would also 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.
“This is a great day for students across Florida as Governor Scott signs into law historic legislation to increase school choice options across our K-12 education system by allowing parents to have a greater say regarding which of our neighborhood public schools their child will attend,” said Senate Education Appropriations Chairman Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who handled the bill in the Senate.
Scott also inked a series of health-care bills, including a measure that supporters say will help shield patients from getting hit with surprise tabs after going to hospital emergency rooms and one allowing advanced registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe controlled substances.
But Scott also vetoed a bill that would have provided financial incentives for dentists to practice in underserved areas of the state.
The money could have been used for such things as repayment of dental-school loans or investment in facilities and equipment. But in a veto letter, Scott said, in part, that the bill was duplicative of other programs that provide dental care, such as the statewide Medicaid managed-care system.
Somewhat quietly, the governor also signed a tax-cut package that had been among his top priorities during the session. A ceremonial signing of the bill served as the undercard of an announcement by Novolex — which makes plastic bags — that it’s expanding a manufacturing facility in Jacksonville.
“This bill will not only give Florida families an important back-to-school sales tax holiday, but it will also permanently eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment so companies like Novolex can invest more money in growing their business and creating new jobs,” Scott said in a press release. “We will continue to do all we can to cut more taxes and support economic growth so Florida can become first for jobs.”
‘TIME TO TURN THE PAGE’
Most of the contours of the fall congressional elections have already been set in Florida. Candidates in swing seats have been recruited, some incumbents have decided to enter the race for an open U.S. Senate seat, and others are campaigning for re-election.
But just a couple of months before qualifying for his seat is set to begin, Republican Congressman Ander Crenshaw announced Wednesday he will retire at the end of his current term, ending a 16-year tenure in Washington.
“I am proud of the work we have accomplished for the citizens of Northeast Florida and our nation during my time in Congress,” Crenshaw said in a statement issued by his office Wednesday. “Progress is measured in projects completed and lives impacted, and I think we made a difference. Now, it is time to turn the page on this chapter of my life and see what’s next.”
His retirement automatically kicked up a round of speculation about who might fill his seat. Crenshaw’s district was redrawn last year in response to a redistricting lawsuit, with the new lines including all of Nassau County, part of Duval County and roughly the northern two-thirds of St. Johns County.
It remains heavily Republican; in 2012, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney carried the area by more than 33 points.
But while one of the biggest names connected to the seat quickly jumped in the race, another declined. Former Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said he would run for the seat after picking up the support of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and influential GOP fundraiser Peter Rummell.
State Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, decided to take a pass on the race. Former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney also begged off.
Other candidates, including Duval County Property Appraiser Jerry Holland, could still take a look at the seat.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott vetoed an alimony bill that was among the most controversial proposals of the 2016 legislative session as he finished up work on the 272 measures approved by lawmakers.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “His favorite line was, ‘Call Ron Book. When you realize you can’t afford him, call me for the blue-light special.’”— Lobbyist Ron Book, on late colleague Robert M. Levy, who died this week at 67.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida