Mostly Sunny, Except For Scattered Showers
August 29, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 92. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. East wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 94.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 92.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Donald Edward Perry
August 29, 2016
Donald Edward Perry (69) of Pensacola, FL went to be his Lord on Saturday, August 27, 2016.
Donald was born in West Virginia but lived most of his life in Pensacola. He was a member of Clear Springs United Methodist Church.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Curtis & Marie Perry; brothers, Anthony Perry, Ronald Perry and sister, Carolyn Morris. He is survived by his loving wife of 44 years, Debbie; his three children, Kevin (Raeann) Perry of Mt. Juliet Tennessee, Donald (Jessica) Perry and Samantha (Chris) Thomas of Pensacola. He is also survived by eight grandchildren, Tyler, Andrew, Ethan, Kaylee, Austin, Cameron, Caleb and Cooper and sister, Rebecca Hildman.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, August 31, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. at Clear Springs United Methodist Church, 27889 County Rd. 112, Robertsdale, AL in the Clear Springs Community. Burial will follow at Clear Springs Cemetery.
The family will receive friends Tuesday, August 30, 2016 from 6:00 p.m.to 8:00 p.m. at Faith Chapel North Funeral Home.
UWF’s Haas Center, Supervisor Of Elections To Study Voting Process
August 29, 2016
The Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office and the Haas Center at the University of West Florida is undertaking a new study to determine how satisfied voters are with the types and availability of voting options in the county.
“For quite some time, we have wanted to conduct a study to try to gauge voter attitudes and opinions in Escambia County,” said David Stafford, Escambia County supervisor of elections. “With higher voter participation in a presidential election year, this seemed like the perfect time to conduct this project.”
The study will assess the ease and efficiency of the voting process and the voters’ knowledge of voting options, locations and other general election information.
“The research will be starting up with a pilot study for the August primary and then larger data collection for the November general (election),” said Amy Newburn, assistant director of the Haas Center.
Data collection will consist of two parts, post-election phone surveys and early voting and election day intercept surveys. The analysis will continue through the end of the 2016 with the final findings released in 2017.
Participants will be asked questions such as, “How confident are you that your vote counted as intended, and how confident are you that all of the ballots in the county are counted as the voter(s) intended?”
“We are looking to see what voting method voters chose and why, where they get their election information, and how knowledgeable they feel the election workers are at the polling location or early-voting site,” Stafford said.
The project is funded jointly by the supervisor of elections and a grant from the UWF Center for Research and Economic Opportunity’s Northwest Florida Asset Valuation and Marketing Support Program.
The Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office and the Haas Center at the University of West Florida is undertaking a new study to determine how satisfied voters are with the types and availability of voting options in the county.
“For quite some time, we have wanted to conduct a study to try to gauge voter attitudes and opinions in Escambia County,” said David Stafford, Escambia County supervisor of elections. “With higher voter participation in a presidential election year, this seemed like the perfect time to conduct this project.”
The study will assess the ease and efficiency of the voting process and the voters’ knowledge of voting options, locations and other general election information.
“The research will be starting up with a pilot study for the August primary an
“We are looking to see what voting method voters chose and why, where they get their election information, and how knowledgeable they feel the election workers are at the polling location or early-voting site,” Stafford said.
The project is funded jointly by the supervisor of elections and a grant from the UWF Center for Research and Economic Opportunity’s Northwest Florida Asset Valuation and Marketing Support Program.
d then larger data collection for the November general (election),” said Amy Newburn, assistant director of the Haas Center.
Data collection will consist of two parts, post-election phone surveys and early voting and election day intercept surveys. The analysis will continue through the end of the 2016 with the final findings released in 2017.
Participants will be asked questions such as, “How confident are you that your vote counted as intended, and how confident are you that all of the ballots in the county are counted as the voter(s) intended?”
Pensacola Blue Wahoos Rally To Top Jacksonville, 7-4
August 29, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos spotted the Jacksonville Suns four runs in the first inning Sunday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
But after that, the Blue Wahoos bullpen combined on 8.1 innings of shutout ball to deliver a 7-4 victory over the Suns. With eight games left in the season, the Blue Wahoos have won three straight games and seven of its last 10.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said there was no panic in the dugout after digging themselves into a four-run hole.
“It was early,” Kelly said. “We emphasized they didn’t have to make it up all at once. Mentally, the guys never felt they were out of the game.”
In fact, the Blue Wahoos cut the lead in half, 4-2, in the bottom of the first inning when left fielder Brandon Dixon smashed a fly ball into the left center gap to drive in Blue Wahoos second baseman Alex Blandino to make the score, 4-1. Pensacola shortstop Zach Vincej then delivered a single to center to score Dixon and put the Blue Wahoos right back in the game.
Vincej entered the game in a 4-29 slump but got on base all four times with two singles, a double and a walk Sunday, plus he scored and drove in a run.
Vincej said his swing had gotten “too big and too long” and he concentrated on having a quicker swing.
“The end of the year is the time to heat up,” said Vincej, who hit .370 in July. “Every single day we’re trying to compete. We still want to have pride in what we’re doing. We want to go into the playoffs with a hot streak.”
Pensacola pitcher Jackson Stephens uncharacteristically had his shortest outing of the season, lasting just 0.2 innings while giving up four runs on three hits and three walks.
But the Blue Wahoos bullpen came through after that. Pensacola reliever El’Hajj Muhamad pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out three. He was followed by 2.2 scoreless innings from Evan Mitchell, who earned the victory and is 3-1 on the year. Abel De Los Santos walked two and struck out two in one shutout inning and then Kyle McMyne earned his fifth save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
“I thought (Muhammad) did a tremendous job,” Kelly said. “Eight and a third scoreless innings. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Vincej said “El” fired up the offense with his performance.
“El came in and did a phenomenal job,” he said. “Everyone kind of got fired up after that. You want to put up runs for guys competing their butts off like that.”
Chad Wallach hit a two-out, two-run bomb over the left field fence in the fourth inning to tie the game, 4-4. All of Wallach’s seven homers this season have come at home in Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Three innings later in the seventh inning, Ronald Bueno scored the go ahead run, 5-4, when he smacked a pinch hit single up the middle, reached second on Pensacola second baseman Alex Blandino’s single to third and then scored from second base on a passed ball and throwing error by Jacksonville catcher Sharif Othman. Right fielder Sebastian Elizalde doubled in Blandino for a 6-4 lead.
Elizalde now has hit in 13 straight games, which is one game short of his 14-game streak last season with the High-A Daytona Tortugas. The 24-year-old is 22-52 or .423 during his current streak.
Derek Dietrich, who is doing a Major League rehab assignment for the Miami Marlins with Jacksonville, was 2-4 with a walk and scored the first run of the game for the Suns. In two games, he is 2-8.
The Mississippi Braves snapped its seven game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Chattanooga Lookouts and improved its record in the second half to 34-27 in the South Division. It remains 1.5 games ahead of Pensacola, which won the South Division in the first half, and is now 33-29 in the second half.
“If we can win both halves that would be a pretty impressive thing to do,” Vincej said.
Three Injured In Two Motorcycle Wreck
August 28, 2016
Three people were injured in a motorcycle crash in Molino.
The accident happened just before 4:00 Saturday afternoon near the intersection of Molino Road and Chestnut Road when two motorcycle collided. Two people were seriously injured, while a third reportedly suffered from road rash after being thrown from a motorcycle.
Further details have not yet been released as the accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Molino and Cantonment stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the accident.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
FDOT: Weekly Traffic Alerts
August 28, 2016
Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.
Escambia County:
- Interstate 10 (I-10) Widening – Alternating lane closures on I-10 east and westbound, between Davis Highway (State Road (S.R.) 291/Exit 13) and Scenic Highway (U.S. 90/Exit 17), from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29 through Thursday, Sept. 1 as crews place temporary barrier wall and pavement markers.
- I-10 / U.S. 29 Interchange – Drivers will experience the following impacts on I-10 and U.S. 29 the week of Sunday, Aug. 28.
- Alternating lane closures on I-10 eastbound near U.S. 29 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28 through Thursday, Sept. 1 as crews perform drainage work.
- The U.S. 29 north to I-10 eastbound ramp will be intermittently closed Sunday through Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. through the end of August as crews work on the shoulder of the roadway. Traffic will be detoured north to make a U-turn at Broad Street and access I-10 eastbound.
- Traffic on U.S. 29 near the I-10 interchange will be shifted to the outside beginning Wednesday night, Aug. 31. The shift will allow crews to perform drainage improvements in the median and will be in place for approximately one month.
- 9th Avenue (S.R. 289) - Southbound outside lane restricted between Berkley Drive and Barcia Drive from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28 through Thursday, Sept. 3 as crews perform underground utility maintenance work.
Santa Rosa County:
- I-10 Widening – Alternating lane closures, between the Escambia Bay Bridge and S.R. 281 (Avalon Boulevard/Exit 22), from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28 through Thursday, Sept. 1 as crews continue widening work. In addition, there will be alternating lane closures on Avalon Boulevard near the I-10 interchange for bridge work.
- I-10 Resurfacing – Intermittent and alternating lane closures east and westbound between the S.R. 87 interchange and the Okaloosa County line from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28 through Thursday, Sept. 1 as crews perform paving operations. Motorists are reminded the speed limit is reduced to 60 MPH within the lane closure.
- U.S. 98 - Intermittent and alternating lane closures and slow moving operations between Bayshore Road and the Okaloosa County line continue from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Wednesday, Aug. 31. as crews perform striping operations.
All activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather. Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling in a work zone and to watch for construction workers and equipment entering and exiting the roadway.
Scattered Showers, Otherwise Partly Sunny Sunday
August 28, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 94.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 92.
Ernest Ward Middle School Advisory Council To Meet Tuesday
August 28, 2016
The Ernest Ward Middle School Advisory Council will meet this week.
The SAC is an avenue through which parents can meet with representatives from school administration, teachers, educational support staff, and students to discuss all aspects of student life at Ernest Ward, from academics to extracurricular activities.
The SAC meets at least four times per year. The first meeting will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 30 and is open to the public.
Early Voting Ends With Over 8,800 Ballots Cast
August 28, 2016
Eight days of early voting ended Saturday in Escambia County with record turnout.
There 8,826 early votes cast — up 32 percent over 2012 and up 103 percent over 2014. The overall early voting, vote by mail turnout was 13 percent.
Click the table above to enlarge and see early voting details.
In the North Escambia area, 748 early votes were cast in Molino and 1,840 were cast at the Escambia County Extension office in Cantonment.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Where’s The Love?
August 28, 2016
Floridians may be excused for avoiding their mailboxes, refusing to answer knocks on their doors and turning off their televisions.
It’s what’s known in Capitol circles as “the silly season,” and the mud is at an all-time high.
Accusations of bribery and links to terrorist groups and arguments about the rap sheets of candidates’ dads are part of the campaign slime leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections, which can’t come soon enough for some.
Thank goodness for the Florida Supreme Court for providing a salacious respite from business-as-usual on the election trail. The justices permanently disbarred two lawyers affiliated with a bizarre case involving a Tampa radio personality known as “Bubba the Love Sponge.”
Trustees of a Florida university also offered a diversion from the antics leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections, but what happens now at the school is about as clear as, well, mud.
Inboxes are bursting with last-minute appeals from candidates and strategists who could not be blamed for relying on the wisdom of Sun Tzu, whose “The Art of War” is considered a handbook for many in the hand-to-hand combat of politics.
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity,” the centuries-old advice reads.
NO LOVE LOST
From Miami to Pensacola, political campaigns and shadowy committees are doing their final bits of dirty work before the primaries.
In an already-contentious state Senate primary in Palm Beach County, the acrimony reached a new level after two Democratic contenders dragged in paternal rap sheets.
State Rep. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, and personal-injury attorney Michael Steinger of Palm Beach Gardens had already exchanged volleys about alleged vote-by-mail ballot shenanigans and ties to special interests.
But Steinger, who has put $490,000 of his own money into the Senate race, ran a television ad that included a mug shot of Powell’s father.
Powell’s father, a previously convicted felon, was arrested in July for aggravated assault. He was alleged to have hit a woman in the head and fired a gun in a Riviera Beach home the Powells have shared.
Steinger said the intent wasn’t to make the senior Powell an issue, but to highlight that Bobby Powell talks of supporting gun control yet he allowed a firearm to have been “illegally” kept in his home.
“It seems to go against everything he says,” said Steinger, who added he was simply responding to prior negative ads from Powell.
Powell lashed back Monday against the TV spot through an email, which also served as a fundraising message, saying, “This race isn’t about our parents — which is why I’ve never talked about his father — this race is about Michael Steinger and me.”
But that didn’t stop Powell from visiting the sins of Steinger’s father.
“If my father were currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of running a $1.25 Billion Ponzi scheme (as Mr. Steinger’s father Joel is), I don’t think I would bring family into things,” Powell said in the email.
Further south, a contentious Senate battle between three Democrats has included accusations of bribery, links to a terrorist group and election hijinks. The fight has roped in state prosecutors and local police as three Democratic primary contenders vie in the newly redrawn Senate District 40.
Incumbent Sen. Dwight Bullard is being challenged by Andrew Korge, who doesn’t live in the district but says he grew up in it, and Ana Rivas Logan, a Republican-turned-Democrat who served a single term in the state House.
Korge and supporters have recently focused on a trip Bullard took to the Middle East with members of the Dream Defenders, a group affiliated with the Black Lives Matter organization.
Bullard’s tour guide was affiliated with the anti-Israel BDS movement, a pro-Palestinian group linked with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, something Bullard said he was unaware of until news reports raised questions after he returned from the May trip.
“It’s just disturbing,” Korge said in an interview outside the West Miami Dade Regional Library recently. “This raises a lot of questions. … It’s concerning that an American elected official should be meeting with members of a terrorist organization.”
Bullard said he is “agnostic” about Palestinians and Israel, a hot-button issue in a district with many Jewish voters.
“I am not supporting a terrorist organization nor have I ever nor am I leaning to it,” Bullard said in a telephone interview this week. “The reason I went was because I had never been to the region and had been hearing all kinds of issues and concerns related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as to the conditions under which the Palestinians were living.”
Rivas Logan, the only Hispanic seeking the nomination, suspended her campaign a month ago but has re-emerged on the scene in the final days before the Aug. 30 primary.
“People are using whatever they can to get elected, and running at all costs is not victory,” she said.
NOT MUCH LOVE FOR LOVE SPONGE LAWYERS
In a rare move, the Florida Supreme Court permanently disbarred two lawyers for their roles in setting up the drunken-driving arrest of an opposing attorney in a high-profile case involving radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
Describing the misconduct as “essentially unprecedented,” the Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously supported the disbarment of Robert D. Adams and Adam Robert Filthaut, who were with the Tampa firm Adams & Diaco, P.A. in January 2013 when the bizarre series of events occurred.
At that time, Adams & Diaco was defending Clem in a defamation lawsuit filed by another radio personality, Todd Schnitt. Adams, Filthaut and a third member of the firm, Stephen Christopher Diaco, took part in a scheme to set up a DUI arrest of one of Schnitt’s lawyers, Phillip Campbell, according to the Supreme Court.
Diaco agreed earlier to disbarment, according to the ruling.
The set-up took place on Jan. 23, 2013, as the civil lawsuit involving the radio personalities was in recess for the night. Campbell and his co-counsel in the case had walked to Malio’s Steakhouse in Tampa for dinner and drinks and were spotted by a paralegal who worked for Adams & Diaco.
The paralegal, Melissa Personius, contacted Adams about Campbell being in the restaurant and ultimately had drinks with Campbell at the bar without telling him that she worked for Adams & Diaco, the Supreme Court ruling said. Filthaut, meanwhile, called a friend, then-Tampa police Sgt. Raymond Fernandez and told him Campbell was drinking at Malio’s and might drive while intoxicated.
Later in the evening, Campbell — who planned to walk to his nearby home — offered to call a cab for Personius. Personius refused to leave her car overnight in valet parking and insisted it be moved to a secure parking lot, the ruling said. Campbell agreed to move the car to a lot near his apartment building, was pulled over by Fernandez and subsequently charged with DUI. Campbell’s bag containing trial information was left in Personius’ car.
FAMU PREZ DOESN’T FEEL THE LOVE
The future of embattled Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum remained in limbo after the school’s board of trustees this week narrowly rejected a one-year extension of her contract.
Following a trustees’ decision in June to take no action on Mangum’s three-year contract, which is scheduled to expire April 1, the board renewed its debate Wednesday after an annual evaluation that was critical of her leadership.
A solid majority of the 13-member board found the president did not meet expectations on four of the 11 goals, including her relationship with trustees.
Mangum, who was appointed in 2014, said there was a “lack of clarity” on many of the evaluation goals, which included items like “organizational management.”
“What does success look like and how do the members of the board define it?” Mangum asked, adding she had expected more discussion between herself and the evaluators before the report was finalized.
But Mangum’s comments drew a strong rebuttal from a number of trustees, who noted the evaluation goals were very similar to last year’s evaluation and the process has been underway for months.
Matthew Carter, a trustee and former member of state Public Service Commission, said if Mangum had issues with the evaluation process, they should have been raised much earlier. “I’m just kind of in shock really,” he said.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Florida health officials reported the state’s first locally transmitted case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus outside of Miami-Dade County, announcing Tuesday that a case had been found in Pinellas County. The state later said another locally transmitted case was found in Palm Beach County.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The misconduct giving rise to the disciplinary actions against these three attorneys is among the most shocking, unethical, and unprofessional as has ever been brought before this (Supreme) Court.” — The Florida Supreme Court in a ruling permanently disbarring two lawyers involved in a high-profile case involving “Bubba the Love Sponge,” a Tampa radio personality.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida