Supervisor Of Elections Office Teams With Tate For Vote
April 21, 2016
Staff from Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford’s office were at Tate High School Wednesday. The SOE staffers assisted students with SGA election voting and also held a voter registration drive. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New DOH Hire Signals New Approach To Children’s Health
April 21, 2016
.In tapping a distinguished pediatrician as head of its children’s medical programs, the Florida Department of Health on Wednesday signaled a new approach to caring for the state’s sickest kids.
The appointment of John Curran — senior administrator and faculty member at the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine — to be a deputy secretary of the agency was announced at the start of a rule-making workshop on the Children’s Medical Services Network, which Curran will now oversee.
A former president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Curran has worked with Children’s Medical Services since 1974. Curran has been CMS medical director for the Tampa Bay Region since 1986.
“He’s really considered the dean of the Children’s Medical Services medical directors around the state,” said pediatric cardiologist Louis St. Petery, a frequent DOH critic. “And it really couldn’t have happened at a better time, after all the negative events at CMS over the last year or two.”
The CMS Network has been mired in controversy since a new eligibility-screening tool, introduced last May, eliminated one-fifth of roughly 65,000 enrollees. More than 13,000 children with “chronic and serious” medical conditions were found to be ineligible for Children’s Medical Services by late September.
That’s when an administrative law judge ruled that the Department of Health hadn’t properly established the new screening tool through a rule-making process. As a result, the department stopped the screenings and made a rule expanding the eligibility criteria, which went into effect Jan. 11.
According to DOH data presented Wednesday, between Jan. 11 and April 10, 19,758 children were screened for Children’s Medical Services under the new rule. Of those, 15,778 were found to be eligible for the program, while 3,980 — just over 20 percent — were not.
And following Wednesday’s announcement of his new role, Curran led the first public discussion of the new rule since it took effect. The updated screening tool allows physicians as well as parents to “attest” that a child’s condition warrants CMS specialty care.
Curran reviewed the latest draft of the physician attestation form. It includes new categories, such as cleft palates, for which children can qualify for CMS. It also has what Curran called a “write-in ballot,” permitting doctors to document a child’s disability even if it doesn’t fit one of the categories.
“We’re trying to make it good, make it easy,” Curran said. “It’s so important for kids who have disabilities that we be friendly and supportive to them.”
Those who participated in the public comment portion of the workshop agreed.
“Clearly, y’all listened last time,” said Karen Woodall of Kidswell Florida, an advocacy group for children’s health care.
But Woodall and others also asked Curran to take action on the 13,074 children who lost their CMS eligibility last year. While the Department of Health has posted on its website that those children can be rescreened and perhaps re-enrolled, Woodall said, not many people read the website.
The department thus far has declined to notify the children and their families directly.
“I understand that there’s a concern about the cost of doing a mailing,” Woodall said. “But the reality is that a lot of families didn’t know that they have the opportunity. … We think that would be important.”
She also said that since the children who had been dropped from CMS were now in regular Medicaid managed-care plans, the plans should report to DOH on their conditions and the services they have received.
“I am committed to trying to see what alternatives there are,” replied Curran, who doesn’t actually start work until May 2. “It’s hard sometimes to walk backwards, but maybe there are ideas that can work.”
He said his role would include helping the Department of Health plan for the future of children’s health, “particularly in the managed-care environment.”
“It’s going to take a lot of communication and collaboration and people working together,” Curran told The News Service of Florida. Curran said he hopes he can help bridge differences between the agency and its critics, “because the environment has changed recently, and I think it gives the opportunity.”
He was referring to a settlement agreement earlier this month between the state and groups representing pediatricians and dentists, who had waged a class-action lawsuit about care provided to children in Florida’s Medicaid program for more than a decade.
Now state agencies and the medical professionals who opposed them in the lawsuit “are at least agreeing to talk together,” Curran said.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Two New Candidates Announce Runs For Congress
April 21, 2016
Two candidates, Republican John Mills and independent Elizabeth Schrey, announced Wednesday that they will seek the Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Jeff Miller. Miller will not seek re-election.
John Mills, Republican
John Mills, retired U.S. Navy pilot and Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference Emergency Management Award recipient, has announced his candidacy as a Republican for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, a seat being vacated by retiring Representative Jeff Miller.
“While faithfully serving 26 years in the U.S. Navy, I commanded two Naval Security Force Units, and directed Navy regional and local emergency management operations. I learned to handle crisis situations quickly and effectively. I will carry those crisis management skills to Congress, where so many seem to be unaware of the dire situation that surrounds them,” said Mills.
“America is in crisis. I am prepared to face our country’s challenges head on. We face unprecedented and unsustainable debt, our economy is in limbo, our relationships abroad are tense, and our military is strained, meanwhile Washington bureaucrats continue to squabble. I intend to build on Florida’s 1st Congressional District legacy of strong, conservative values as we reach a turning point and begin to move our great nation forward once again.
“I was honored to receive the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference Emergency Management of the Year Award in 1998 for innovative thinking. I worked with DoD, Escambia County Emergency Management, Escambia County School Board, and American Red Cross making significant accomplishments in sheltering, a common need for all entities involved.”
Mills currently works in the aerospace defense industry, and resides in Miramar Beach with his wife, Trina, and daughters, Julie and Nancy.
Elizabeth Schrey, No Party Affiliation
Elizabeth Schrey, a certified planner, announced Wednesday that she filed to run for U.S. House of Representatives, District 1, Florida. Her filing papers indicated she will be running with no party affiliation.
Schrey has spent the majority of her life in Northwest Florida, both of her grandfathers being stationed at NAS Pensacola. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University and a master’s in public administration from Troy University. Schrey worked her way through college, mainly in the retail and banking sectors. She then spent almost 10 years working in the panhandle as a land use and transportation planner. Schrey is also a mother to three children that she refers to as her “life’s biggest blessings”.
In regards to campaign financing, Schrey said she would be doing some fundraising, but she “would much rather have people volunteering than writing checks. There is already too much money being wasted on this election.”
She added that “we need balanced budgets and we need to prioritize spending so that the money goes where it makes the most impact. We need to increase spending for Veterans’ services, infrastructure, education, and mental health programs. We need to reform our tax code to close the corporate loopholes. We also need to reform our criminal justice and prison systems.”
Schrey said the list of issues to be addressed in Washington is extensive but that the thought of effecting real change is exhilarating and a challenge she is prepared to face.
Williamson Moves Up Run For Broxson House Seat
April 21, 2016
With state Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, now planning to seek a Senate seat, Milton Republican Jayer Williamson has moved up his plans to run for the Florida House.
Williamson (pictured) had opened a campaign account to run in 2018, but filed paperwork Tuesday to run this year in House District 3, which includes parts of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties.
An announcement this week by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, that he will run for Congress set off a political chain reaction in the Panhandle. Broxson and state Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola Beach, quickly confirmed they would seek to replace Evers. That opened up their House seats
. Williamson, a Santa Rosa County commissioner, had raised $28,668 as of March 31 and had about $26,000 in cash on hand, according to a finance report. He can use that money for this year’s race. No other candidates had opened campaign accounts as of mid-day Wednesday to run in House District 3.
Main Library Reopened After Gas Leak
April 20, 2016
UPDATE: THE LIBRARY IS NOW OPEN.
The Pensacola Library, located at 239 North Spring Street, is closed until further notice due to a gas leak caused by construction activities.
Pensacola Energy and Escambia County Risk Management officials are evaluating the situation. Escambia County officials will notify the public when the library has reopened.
Other branch libraries, such as Tyron, Century and Molino, remain open as usual.
Couple Cited For Code Violations At Tornado Damaged Century Home
April 20, 2016
The owners of a Century home damaged in a February tornado has been cited by Escambia County Code Enforcement for violations including a roof with a blue tarp and a pile of limbs.
Wade and Mary Barnes own a small wood frame home in the 6900 block of Jefferson Avenue — in the midst of one of the areas hardest hit by the EF-3 tornado that hit Century February 15. The rental house fared better than most in the immediate area, suffering broken windows, roof damage and downed trees and limbs. The roof has been tarped, many of the broken windows have been covered temporarily with sheet metal, and limbs have been placed in a burn pile awaiting a permit from the Florida Forest Service.
Other neighboring homes also have blue tarps on the roof, trees are still down in yards and some of the nearby structures are destroyed, now just piles of rubble.
“We were already going to fix the house,” Wade Barnes said. “But I’ve spent so much of my time helping other people in the neighborhood make repairs that I have not got to my own property.”
The code enforcement violation also cites tall grass and weeds. Barnes said he had been waiting to mow the grass until after he gets magnet to roll over the yard and remove nails before flattening his lawnmower tires.
Escambia County provides code enforcement services in Century under an interlocal agreement with the town. Mayor Freddie McCall said he received a complaint about the tall grass and weeds and about the pile of limbs. The complainant, McCall said, is a nearby neighbor that said the property’s condition is leading to snakes in the area.
“I was told that there are snakes crawling off the property and creating a danger,” McCall said. “So I called code enforcement.”
A county spokesperson said code enforcement responded to the complaint from McCall, and regulations called for the code enforcement office to cite any other observed violations….including the broken windows and damaged roof.
McCall said code enforcement won’t be targeting the blue roofs and other tornado damage across Century. He said he called about the Barnes property because it is a rental, and as such will not qualify for housing assistance funds being made available in the town. In addition, he said the couple has received previous violations.
“We had a problem before because crack dealers just moved in here and damaged the place,” Wade Barnes said. “We did not rent it to them, and we had to get a legal eviction to get them out. Well, they broke a sewage pipe and caused a leak I had to go under there (the house) and fix. That was the violation that we got, but they were not even our renters.”
“The whole neighborhood is full of tarps and broken glass and debris in the yard,” Mary Barnes said. “I feel like either he (McCall) is going after us because he is afraid of the person that called him.” She also noted that their debris or burn pile is not as likely of a source of snakes as there are acres of woods adjacent to the property.
“If I get called about snakes and overgrowth and debris, I am going to call code enforcement,” McCall said. “They were not singled out. They were warned, and there’s even a big dumpster that we will pick up for free right there in front of the house. They should have used it.”
Then notice of violation gives the couple 30 days to make progress on compliance or face a hearing that could leave them owing $1,100 or more in costs plus possible fines.
Wade Barnes said they will work to bring the property up to code as soon as possible, but 30 days is unreasonable to obtain permits for items like roofing and hire a contractor. In the meantime, he said Tuesday that he would cut the grass and overgrowth on Wednesday.
“But it’s just not fair the way they are doing us,” Mary Barnes said.
Pictured above: The owners of this tornado damaged home in Century have received code violations for debris, broken windows, a blue tarped roof and overgrowth. Pictured immediately below: Owners Wade and Mary Barnes work Tuesday afternoon to pick up limbs on their property and place them in a pile for which they plan to get a burn permit. Pictured below: Other views of the damaged rental house. Pictured bottom: Other homes in the neighborhood are also covered with blue tarps. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Groups Can Apply For Escambia Neighborhood Renewal Initiative Grant Program
April 20, 2016
The Escambia County Neighborhood Enterprise Division (NED) has opened the spring cycle for its Neighborhood Renewal Initiative Program, funded through the county’s Community Development Block Grant Program.
Neighborhood organizations located within the boundaries of one of the county’s Community Redevelopment Areas (CRA) are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 for projects that promote community and volunteer-based redevelopment efforts in a targeted neighborhood. Projects up to $500 require no match, while projects exceeding $500 will require a match of cash, in-kind contributions, and/or volunteer labor. Past applicants have completed neighborhood beautification projects, neighborhood signs, and house numbering projects. Applications are due to NED by June 1.
For more information or to request an application, contact Meredith Reeves at (850) 595-0022, ext. 3 or NED@myescambia.com.
Escambia Man Gets 15 Years For DUI Manslaughter
April 20, 2016
Escambia County resident Morgan Kayne Lee Romero was sentenced Tuesday by Circuit Judge Ross Gooman to 15 years in state prison for DUI Manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle carelessly or negligently causing death without having a driver’s license.
The sentence imposed was the maximum that Romero could receive.
The charges arose from March 16, 2015, when Romero, who was 23 at the time, ran off the road and crashed into an oak tree at approximately 1:00 a.m. His passenger, Brian Lynn Brown, 27 years old, also of Pensacola, died on impact.
Romero had to be extricated from the driver’s seat and was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital for treatment.
Testimony at trial established that Romero was driving south on Tanglewood Drive in Milton at a speed of at least 55-60 mph when he missed a 90-degree curve in the road. Romero’s vehicle, a 2000 Chevrolet truck, traveled approximately 200 feet off the roadway and crashed into a large oak tree in the backyard of a residence and within feet of the back porch. Tanglewood Drive has a posted speed limit of 25 mph, and a sign warning of the upcoming turn is marked with a speed limit of 15 mph.
A search warrant was completed to examine Romero’s blood and determine its blood-alcohol content. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was able to determine that at the time of the blood draw—nearly five hours after the crash—Romero still had a blood alcohol level of .113. Further testimony at trial established that Romero’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was most likely between .129 and .200. Romero admitted drinking five beers in an hour and a half, one of which he consumed while driving. He claimed that he was not impaired.
Feds Say New Abortion Law Can’t Block Clinic Funding
April 20, 2016
.A key federal health agency on Tuesday notified Florida and other states that they may not ban Medicaid funding for family-planning services at clinics that also offer elective abortions.
That likely blocks a controversial provision of a new Florida abortion law (HB 1411) signed last month by Gov. Rick Scott.
The sweeping legislation — sponsored by Rep. Colleen Burton and Sen. Kelli Stargel, both Lakeland Republicans — sought to bar state agencies, local governmental entities and Medicaid managed-care plans from using public funds to contract with organizations that own, operate or are otherwise affiliated with licensed abortion clinics.
Although Medicaid money cannot be used for elective abortions, the new law sought to also prevent its use for family-planning services at providers that offer elective abortions, such as at Planned Parenthood clinics.
But Vikki Wachino, director of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, issued a document Tuesday to state Medicaid directors, stating that a ban such as the one approved by Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature would violate federal law.
“Providing the full range of women’s health services neither disqualifies a provider from participating in the Medicaid program, nor is the provision of such services inconsistent with the best interests of the beneficiary, and shall not be grounds for a state’s action against a provider in the Medicaid program,” Wachino wrote.
She said the Social Security Act’s “free choice of provider” provision guarantees Medicaid beneficiaries the right to see any willing and qualified provider of their choice.
“This provision limits a state’s authority to establish qualification standards, or take certain actions against a provider, unless those standards or actions are related to the fitness of the provider to perform covered medical services — i.e., its capability to perform the required services in a professionally competent, safe, legal, and ethical manner — or the ability of the provider to appropriately bill for those services,” Wachino wrote. “Such reasons may not include a desire to target a provider or set of providers for reasons unrelated to their fitness to perform covered services or the adequacy of their billing practices.”
Wachino’s letter followed a phone call between her agency and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration before Scott signed HB 1411, according to CMS spokeswoman Marissa Padilla.
Padilla said her agency told AHCA at the time of the state’s duty to ensure that Medicaid beneficiaries continue to have access to services from any provider willing and qualified to deliver the care.
Public funding for Planned Parenthood has sparked bitter debate between Republicans and Democrats in Tallahassee and across the country. The issue also became a focus of the debate about this year’s abortion bill.
However, House sponsor Burton told The News Service of Florida earlier this month that she and Stargel had known when their bill passed that AHCA would have to apply to the federal government for what is known as a Medicaid “waiver” to implement the portion of the bill dealing with the funding ban.
Scott spokeswoman Jackie Schutz would not confirm that the administration was considering such a waiver, noting that the bill doesn’t take effect until July 1.
“We’re working with our agencies on it, and looking at our options,” she said.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Tate’s Sandy Bonucchi Signs Tennis Scholarship With Faulkner State
April 20, 2016
Tate High School senior Sandy Bonucchi signed with Faulker State College Tuesday. She received a full athletic scholarship for tennis. She is pictured above with her parents (seated) David Bonucchi, who is Tate’s head tennis coach, and Hope David Bonucchi, other family members and Tate Principal Rick Shackle. Pictured below: Sandy Bonucchi with her parents and other members of the Tate tennis team. Photo s by Dakotah Hull for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
