Escambia District High School, Middle School Report Cards On The Way
June 21, 2016
Escambia County School District high school and middle school report cards will be on the way later this week, nearly a month after the last day of school.
Grades were delayed while the school district awaited the arrival of end of course exam scores from the state. Those were received last Friday and have been verified by the schools.
According to Superintendent Malcolm Thomas, the grades have been entered and final reports cards are available for download now in the “Focus Parent Portal” (click here). Report cards will be mailed on Thursday.
‘Docs Vs Glocks’ Law Faces Key Court Test
June 21, 2016
Five years after Florida lawmakers passed what became known as the “docs v. glocks” law, a full federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday in a constitutional dispute that pits physicians against gun-rights advocates.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting in Atlanta, will take up a challenge by physician groups and individual doctors to the 2011 law, which seeks to restrict doctors from asking questions and recording information about patients’ gun ownership.
The arguments come after years of legal wrangling that has included debates about First Amendment and Second Amendment rights and questions about how far doctors should go in discussing safety with patients. A large part of the dispute has focused on gun-related conversations between doctors and parents as children are being treated.
Marion Hammer, a longtime Tallahassee lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, which backed the 2011 law, said doctors “have no business asking you what private personal property you own.”
“When they ask about guns, and then they lecture you to get rid of guns, that’s politics,” Hammer told The News Service of Florida on Monday. “It’s not medicine. We take our children to the doctor because they are sick. We don’t take them there for political lectures on guns.”
But pediatric cardiologist Louis St. Petery, a former executive vice president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said doctors also discuss other safety issues with parents when treating children. For example, he said doctors discuss issues related to poisons, swimming pools and cars.
“What we are after is to protect that kid and be sure that kid doesn’t get killed or injured inappropriately because the firearm that is in the home is not properly stored,” St. Petery said during an interview.
Tuesday’s arguments come after a somewhat-unusual move by the full appeals court to agree to hear the case, a move known as hearing the case “en banc.” A U.S. District Court judge blocked the law from taking effect, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the law in three rulings. The full appeals court then agreed to take up the case.
The case has drawn widespread attention from legal, medical and Second Amendment groups, with friend-of-the-court briefs filed by groups ranging from the American Bar Association to the NRA.
The law, which the Legislature passed after heavy debate, seeks to place a series of restrictions on doctors and other health providers. For example, it seeks to prevent physicians from entering information about gun ownership into medical records if the physicians know the information is not “relevant” to patients’ medical care or safety or to the safety of other people.
Also, the law says doctors should refrain from asking about gun ownership by patients or family members unless the doctors believe in “good faith” that the information is relevant to medical care or safety. Also, the law seeks to prevent doctors from discriminating against patients or “harassing” them because of owning firearms.
The physicians and medical groups challenging the law, dubbed the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act, argue that it violates free-speech rights.
“In FOPA (the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act), the Florida Legislature does what no legislative body has done before or since; it prevents doctors from providing patients with truthful advice to keep their families healthy and safe — speech that is recommended as standard protocol by national medical associations,” attorneys for the challengers wrote in an April brief. “If FOPA is allowed to stand, it sets precedent for states, at the bidding of other industries or special interests, to prevent doctors from speaking to patients about risks posed by other dangerous products or activities. The First Amendment does not allow the state to single out and censor one topic (firearms), or one group (doctors, or patients), or to so interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.”
But lawyers in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office, which is defending the state in the case, contended in a brief that plaintiffs do not have legal “standing” to challenge the law. But even if the doctors have standing, Bondi’s office argued the law “passes muster under any level of First Amendment review.”
“By shielding gun-owning patients and families from discrimination, unnecessary harassment, and bad-faith, irrelevant inquiries and record-keeping, the act narrowly advances the state’s compelling interests in protecting the fundamental right to keep and bear arms from private encumbrances, safeguarding patient privacy, eliminating barriers to health care, and preventing discrimination and harassment in the provision of health care services,” the brief said. “The act represents the most modest of all professional regulations — a requirement that doctors stick to practicing medicine — and it accomplishes its compelling goals without interfering with doctors’ professional judgment or otherwise burdening more speech than necessary.”
by Jim Saunders and Tom Urban, The News Service of Florida
West Highway 4 Delays Today At Canoe Creek Bridge
June 21, 2016
Drivers can expect delays today on West Highway 4 at Canoe Creek due to bridge inspections. The bridge is located between Vaughn Road and Bratt Road, between Bratt and Century. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Photos: The Strawberry Moon
June 21, 2016
The summer solstice coincided with a full moon Monday night — a rare event that last happened in 1967 and won’t happen again until 2062.
The strawberry moon is the nickname for June’s full moon and does not refer to the perceived color of the moon. The strawberry moon got its name from the Algonquin tribes, which interpreted it as a signal to gather ripening strawberries, according to the Old Farmers Almanac.
Pictured top: The strawberry moon shot from Walnut Hill. Pictured below: The strawberry moon rises over a field in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs To Speak Tonight In Atmore
June 21, 2016
Auburn University Athletic Director Jay Jacobs is the guest speaker tonight for the Escambia County (AL) Auburn Club.
Tickets for the dinner meeting are $25 for adults, $10 for children under 12. The meeting begins at 6 p.. in the Wind Creek Ballroom. For more information, call or email Edie Jackson at (251) 253-5818 or jackson.edie@yahoo.com. Friends, fans, family and alumni are welcome.
Mostly Sunny Week, Almost No Rain Chance
June 20, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 89. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming east in the morning.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 66. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 93. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 70. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 94. West wind around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 72. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 95.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 74.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Escambia Man Arrested On Animal Cruelty Charges
June 20, 2016
An Escambia County man has been arrested on animal cruelty charges, one year after Escambia County animal control seized 16 animals from a property near Cantonment after it was discovered they were being kept without adequate food or water.
Paul Allen Craft, 49, was charged with four counts of unlawful confinement and abandonment of animals. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $2,000 bond.
Three pot-bellied pigs, four goats, two cows, five horses, one donkey and one mule were seized from Ridgecrest Lane off Stout Road in June 2015. Three of the horses were taken to Panhandle Equine Rescue in Cantonment, while the other animals were taken by Escambia County.
The charges, according to court documents, related to the lack of food and water for two confined horses, a foal and pigs.
Three horses were described as malnourished at the time of their seizure by Panhandle Equine President Diane Lowery.
“We appreciate the help of Escambia County Animal Control, the Sheriffs Office and the State Attorneys Office for following through by filing charges,” Lowery said Sunday.
The only horse rescue in Escambia County, Panhandle Equine Rescue was founded by a small group of concerned citizens with a mission to rescue, rehabilitate and provide adoption services for abused, neglected and abandoned equines. PER is authorized by the court system to investigate equine cruelty in Escambia County.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
County Waives Noise Ordinance For Event At Molino Bar
June 20, 2016
The Escambia County Commission has voted to approve a limited waiver of the county’s noise ordinances for an outdoor event at a Molino bar.
Th event honoring returning veterans and the July 4 Independence Holiday is planned for 10 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, July 2 at Louie’s Tavern in the 200 block of Molino Road. The all-day event will include live music in the evening.
The Building Inspections Division will issue a Special Event permit for the exemption. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office will be notified that the waiver was issued.
Driver Flips Pickup Truck Off Bridge
June 20, 2016
One person was injured when he flipped his truck off the Eleven Mile Creek Bridge on East Kingsfield Road late Sunday morning. After being extricated by firefighters, the driver was transported by ambulance to a Pensacola area hospital. The driver’s name and condition have not been released. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia County FFA Students Receive State FFA Degrees
June 20, 2016
A dozen Escambia County FFA members received their coveted State FFA Degrees last Friday during the 88th Florida FFA Convention in Orlando. The State FFA Degree is highest honor bestowed upon any regular member of the Florida FFA Assocation.
2016 State FFA Degree recipients from Escambia County Schools were:
Northview High School: Kaitlyn Nicole Kleinatland, Bethany Cheyenne Reynolds, Haylee Alease Weaver, Courtney Bryce Weekly.
Tate High School: Owen Phillip Carter, Rachel Joy Grammer, Heath Haydon Herndon, Bricen Trace Iannone, Victoria Lynnne Kent, Patra Nicole Miller, Michael Austin Rising
West Florida High School: Miranda Marie Vidak
Pictured above and below are FFA members from Escambia County at the 88th Florida FFA Convention in Orlando last week, including those from Northview, Tate and West Florida high schools and Ernest Ward Middle School. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
