Over 23,000 Businesses In Escambia County To Receive Renewal Notices
August 8, 2016
Escambia County Tax Collector Janet Holley has mailed Business Tax Receipt (BTR) renewal notices to 23,223 businesses in Escambia County. Businesses can renew their BTRs anytime between July 1 and September 30.
Businesses can make online payments at EscambiaTaxCollector.com.
“Paying online is easy and secure, and there is no wait time,” said Holley. E-checks and credit cards are accepted. Businesses also can make payments by mail or at one of four convenient offices. Customers can now get in line online through QLess, a more convenient way to “wait” in line.
Applications and additional information for BTRs are available at EscambiaTaxCollector.com. If you have any questions or need to make an appointment, visit the website; email us at ectc@EscambiaTaxCollector.com; or call (850) 438-6500 ext. 3252.
Up To 12 Inches Of Rain Expected This Week
August 8, 2016
The National Weather Service in Mobile is forecasting an extended period of heavy rain, with rainfall amounts in our area up to 12 inches Tuesday through Saturday.
At this time, the greatest threats to our area are minor to moderate flooding along area rivers, creeks and low lying areas that typically have poor drainage and possible flash flooding of roadways. Escambia County Emergency Management staff are continuing to monitor the system.
Escambia County residents are encouraged to:
- Monitor the weather forecast daily as conditions can change quickly.
- Remember that sand and sand bags are available at local home improvement stores for purchase.
- Clear your yard of any debris that might clog stormwater drains when washed to the street by rain such as leaves or limbs.
- Turn off any automatic sprinkler systems and do not water your lawn until after the storm passes.
- Remember heavy rain may quickly flood low-lying areas including roads and bridges. Standing water creates a serious road hazard, even when only a portion of the roadway is flooded. Most deaths from flooding in the United States are due to people driving their cars into flooded areas – “Turn around, don’t drown.”
Here is your official NorthEscambia area forecast:
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a low around 74. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Tuesday: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Tuesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 75. South wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 85. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Wednesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Thursday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 85. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74.
Sunday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86.
Child Injured In Chemstrand Wreck
August 8, 2016
A young child was injured in a three vehicle wreck Sunday afternoon near Cantonment.
The child was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital following the crash on Chemstrand Road. Further details, including the child’s age and condition, were not available.
The Florida Highway Patrol is continuing their investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Master Gardener Volunteer Program Open House, Information Session
August 8, 2016
The UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension Office invites residents to the Master Gardner Volunteer Program Open House and Information Session Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 9 a.m. at UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension, 3740 Stefani Road in Cantonment. Attendees can learn about training sessions, volunteer activities, and the role of Master Gardeners in the community. Applications will be available for the 2016-17 Fall/Winter Master Gardener training program.
The Master Gardener Program provides gardeners with intensive education in home horticultural principles. Participants who complete the program are certified as Master Gardeners by the Florida Extension Service. Once certified, the Master Gardener can provide volunteer leadership and service to their community in gardening activities. Working with the UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension, they can have the opportunity to participate in organized volunteer activities like answering gardening questions, conducting plant clinics, beautifying the community, and other activities designed to increase the availability of horticultural information and improve the quality of horticultural projects.
For more information contact Beth Bolles at 850-475-5230 or email bbolles@ufl.edu.
Northview JV Cheerleaders Attend Camp; Three Named All American
August 8, 2016
The Northview High School junior varsity cheerleaders recently attended a home UCA camp. Three squad members — Ashlan Hargel, Briana White and Bailey VanPelt – made All American. They will have the opportunity to march in the Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade this fall. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century High Memorial Brick Sale Going Very, Very Slowly
August 8, 2016
Memorial bricks from the old Century High School have been on sale for just over a month, and so far sales have been very, very slow.
According to Century Mayor Freddie Call, who sits on a town “Brick and Monument” committee, only four of the bricks have been sold.
Engraved bricks are being sold at $50 each to be placed around a 1936 monument and flagpole salvaged from the former school, which was demolished due to tornado damage. In total, about 2,100 bricks were saved from the school building for the project. The $50 covers the cost of engraving the brick and construction of the monument; there is no profit made.
To print an order form, visit CenturyHighBricks.com.
The design of the monument and its exact location are yet to be determined. A committee established by the town is exploring the possibility of constructing the monument at, or very near, the actual site of the former Century High School on Hecker Road.
NorthEscambia.com photo.
Wahoos Win Over Biloxi
August 8, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos let its pitching and defense keep the game close and then struck with three runs off of the Biloxi Shuckers in the top of the ninth inning to snap a four-game losing streak Sunday at MGM Park.
Thanks to Jackson Stephens, Abel De Los Santos and Alejandro Chacin, Biloxi scored only one run and Pensacola pulled out a, 4-1, victory.
Stephens spread seven hits and one walk over seven innings, giving up one earned run, while striking out six batters. Stephens has now pitched seven innings in his last two starts and given up only two earned runs. His earned-run average has dropped from 3.44 on July 11 to 3.16 Sunday.
Meanwhile, Abel De Los Santos pitched one inning with one strikeout to get the win to even his record at 1-1. De Los Santos has allowed two unearned runs over 10.2 innings of relief for Pensacola and struck out 13.
Pensacola went to closer Alejandro Chacin to protect its lead in the bottom of the ninth and he got a double play and strikeout to earning his Southern League-leading 21st save of the season. Chacin is now 4-1 with a 1.82 ERA and has struck out 55 in 49.1 innings.
Pensacola has started making late inning comebacks a routine. In Sunday’s game, Blue Wahoos right fielder Sebastian Elizalde started the ninth inning with a single to right field. Left fielder Brandon Dixon followed him with a bunt back to the pitcher who threw the ball away. Shortstop Zach Vincej singled to left field to load the bases with no outs.
Biloxi reliever Junior Rincon then came in for Stephen Peterson and promptly walked Pensacola third baseman Taylor Sparks to score Elizalde, giving the Blue Wahoos a 2-1 lead. First baseman Eric Jagielo then grounded out into a double play but Dixon scored putting Pensacola up, 3-1. Biloxi’s Rincon’s ball four pitch to Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth was a wild pitch that allowed Vincej to score from third and gave Pensacola a commanding, 4-1 lead.
Pensacola had tied the game, 1-1, in the sixth inning when second baseman Alex Blandino doubled in Jeff Gelalich, who reached on an infield error.
A night after scoring a Biloxi record four runs, right fielder Clint Coulter continued to hit and score for Biloxi. He singled to left field, advanced to second on a slow roller to shortstop and crossed the plate on a double to left by catcher Rene Garcia to give the Shuckers its only run of the game Sunday.
Coulter, playing in his third game since being called up from the High-A Brevard County Manatees, went 2-3 in Sunday’s game.
Biloxi starter Taylor Jungmann also had a strong start, going six innings and allowing one unearned run on three hits and one walk, while striking out eight. Opponents are hitting .194 against him this year.
Leading Pensacola at the plate was Elizalde who went 2-4 and scored a run. He now has 20 multi-hit games, which is one behind Vincej for the team lead.
Blandino also went 1-4 with a double and RBI and is hitting .313 in seven games in August and has one homer with five RBIs.
Zika Vaccine Test But Will Take Time And Money
August 8, 2016
After a successful trial in rhesus monkeys, a team of researchers, including doctors from Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is ready to start testing a Zika virus vaccine in humans, they announced this week.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who joined the team in Boston, chastised his Republican colleagues for withholding $1.9 billion in funding requested by President Barack Obama even as the virus has turned up in mosquitoes in South Florida.
Authorities believe the virus can cause devastating birth defects when pregnant women are infected, and confirmation of recent infections caused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday to recommend against travel to a Miami neighborhood.
“There are people from Massachusetts and all across America who are canceling their vacations to Florida. Well, Congress should cancel its vacation, go back into session to fund the $1.9 billion,” Markey said at a press conference.
The mosquito-borne virus, believed to cause microcephaly and other problems in infants, was identified in humans in Uganda and Tanzania in 1952, according to the World Health Organization, which declared a world health emergency Feb. 1 as the virus exploded in Latin America.
“We do expect to see more Zika cases,” President Barack Obama said during a Thursday press conference where he criticized Congress for going on recess before funding Zika efforts. He added, “The situation is getting critical,” saying a vaccine is “well within reach,” but could be delayed by lack of funding.
In a Feb. 22 letter to Congress, Obama said the $1.9 billion would support efforts to “fortify domestic public health systems,” speed research and development of vaccines, provide emergency assistance to states and territories to fight the virus and provide services for pregnant women in Puerto Rico and elsewhere, among other initiatives.
Beth Israel Deaconess — Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospital — teamed up with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil, to study three vaccine candidates, which were found to provide “complete protection” against Zika in rhesus monkeys.
Saying the findings “raise optimism” for eventually developing a Zika vaccine for people, Dan Barouch, a senior author of the findings published in Science, said clinical trials would begin in the fall with 30 to 50 human participants testing the safety of the regimen. Markey said “efficacy tests” in people would require thousands of human participants and cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“By next summer, perhaps, it is there to be given as a vaccine, all over America, all over Latin America and the world, but the funding has to be there. A vision without funding is a hallucination,” Markey said.
Barouch, who is director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel, said the plan would be for a vaccine that could be distributed similarly to flu shots, and he said authorities would “first concentrate on the highest-risk groups” in distributing vaccines.
The group tested three different versions of vaccine candidates, including a “purified inactivated virus,” which is essentially a dead virus, along with a “plasmid DNA vaccine and an adenovirus vector-based vaccine,” produced at Beth Israel Deaconess.
The tests were “strikingly effective, and no adverse effects were observed,” according to Beth Israel Deaconess. Barouch said two other vaccines are under development, including one at the National Institutes of Health, and safety tests in humans are just beginning.
“We are very supportive of all those programs,” Barouch said.
Markey said the virus would not be contained in Florida, urging Republicans to join the call for funding Zika research and prevention efforts.
“Miami, Florida, is just the beginning of the story. It is going to spread inevitably, inextricably to city-to-city, state-to-state, all across our country, but all across the planet as well. This disease is just one plane ride away from downtown Boston,” Markey said.
He added, “I think it’s great that (Florida Sen.) Marco Rubio and (Florida) Governor (Rick) Scott are calling for funding. It would be better if we heard (presidential candidate) Donald Trump calling for the funding; if we heard (House Speaker) Paul Ryan and (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell calling for the funding and that we would go back into session for one-half day in August and pass the $1.9 billion.”
by Andy Metzger, State House New Service
Six Months Later: Only Six Tornado Victims Approved For State Housing Help
August 7, 2016
Nearly six months after two devastating tornadoes struck Escambia County, only six homeowners have been approved for state housing disaster funds for tornado recovery.
The Florida Housing Finance Corporation notified Escambia County in March that they had approved $2,058,028 in State Housing Initiatives Partnership, or SHIP, disaster funds for the two tornadoes that struck Escambia County in February. Funds were appropriated to assist with owner occupied housing rehabilitation, replacement, and disaster mitigation as outlined in the county’s Local Housing Assistance Plan.
The funds were split between damage caused by a February 15 EF-3 tornado in Century and a February 23 EF-3 tornado in Pensacola. Century alone suffered $3.9 million in damage, while there was another $18 million in damage in Pensacola. There were over 100 homes in Century that were destroyed or suffered major damage. About 75 percent of the structures were uninsured.
Beginning in April, dozens of homeowners applied for SHIP funding through Escambia County. According to the latest numbers available from county officials, only six SHIP funding grants have been approved — one for housing rehabilitation and five for complete reconstruction. SHIP funds were restricted to homeowners meeting certain low income requirements.
One delay in funding approval in Century has been the town’s historic district. For applicants in the historic district, the process requires additional review and approval by the state.
Pictured top: A destroyed home in Century. Pictured below: Housing assistance applications were accepted by Escambia County for residents in the unincorporated areas at Century Town Hall. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia County School Orientation Events Scheduled
August 7, 2016
School orientation events for Escambia County Schools are scheduled as follows:
Elementary School Orientations
All elementary schools will have orientation on Monday from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m.
Middle School Orientations
All middle schools will have orientation Monday from 10 a.m. until noon.
High School Orientation and Schedule Pickup
Click here for a detailed list from the Escambia County School District.