Photos: Northview Band In Costume, Chief Cheerleaders
October 31, 2016
The Northview High School Tribal Beat Band dressed for Halloween last Friday night in Baker. For a photo gallery from the show, and the NHS cheerleaders in Baker, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Halloween, Fall Festival Events Planned
October 31, 2016
Here is a look at Halloween and fall festival events planned Sunday and Monday in the North Escambia area:
Hadji Haunted House
On Monday, The Hadji Shrine Temple at 800 West Nine Mile Road will have a Kid-Friendly Hayride from 6-8 p.m. for $5 an a Haunted House from 8-12 p.m. for $20.
Heritage Baptist Trunk or Treat
Heritage Baptist Church, on the corner of Hwy 297A and Sandicreek Road in Cantonment, is hosting their annual Trunk or Treat festival Monday from 6-8 p.m. The public is welcome to enjoy fun and games, rides, and treats with no tricks.
Brooks Memorial Fall Festival
Brooks Memorial Baptist Church will have their fall festival Monday, October 31 from 5 until 7:30 p.m. We will have a Trunk or Treat, bounce house, games, and food. Everyone is welcome.
Community Fall Festival
The local churches of the Molino community will hold their annual fall festival at Victory Assembly of God on Monday, October 31 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. There will be games, food, hayrides, trunk or treating and more. Victory Assembly is located on Highway 29 just south of Barrineau Park Road. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Woodbine UMC Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat
Woodbine United Methodist Church in Pace will hold their Fall Festival on Monday, October 31, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. There will be hayrides, a dunking booth, and games for all ages, face painting, a bounce house and trunk or treating. There will also be a cupcake wall and a chili cook-off. The church is located at 5200 Woodbine Road in Pace. For more information, call (850) 995-0007 or email BrendaLewis@woodbine.org.
Century Health and Rehab Center Halloween Carnival
Century Health and Rehab Center will hold a Halloween carnival on Monday, October 31, beginning at 3 p.m. There will be a fun house. Fun costumes are encouraged. The center is located at 6020 Industrial Blvd in Century.
So How Dry Is It? It’s Now Officially A Drought
October 30, 2016
With no rain in October, the North Escambia area is now officially in a drought, according to the recently released U.S. Drought Monitor.
Most of the area is in a “moderate drought”, but a small area along the Alabama/Florida line, including Flomaton and Brewton, are in a severe drought. And unfortunately, there’s no relief in sight with no significant rain expected anytime soon according to the National Weather Service.
Graphic for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Upper 80’s Today, No Rain Predicted For This Week
October 30, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 53. Calm wind.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 53. Calm wind.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 85. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the morning.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
Hundreds Dare To Attend Molino Library Halloween Program
October 30, 2016
Several hundred people attended attended a Halloween program at the Molino Branch Library Saturday night.
They enjoyed a frightfully funny short play with zombies going to the prom, a chance to trick or treat through the library where surprises lurked among the shelves, and a hair-raising took of the Molino Museum.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Two In A Row: Winning $233K Fantasy Five Ticket Sold In North Escambia
October 30, 2016
Someone is over $233,000 richer this morning after purchasing a winning Florida Lottery Fantasy 5 ticket in Walnut Hill, the second big prize winning ticket in two days sold in North Escambia.
The ticket sold at the Korner Kwik Stop, 10481 Highway 97, was the only winning ticket sold for Saturday night’s drawing and is worth $233,372.65.
The 358 tickets matching four numbers won $95.50 each. Another 12,024 tickets matching three numbers are worth $8.50 each, and 107,923 tickets holders won a Quick Pick ticket for picking two numbers.
Saturday’s winning numbers were 07-11-18-20-22.
The winning ticket in Friday night’s drawing was sold at the Winn Dixie in Cantonment. Click here for details.
Crary Road To Close For Paving
October 30, 2016
A portion of Crary Road will be restricted on Monday before being closed on Tuesday.
Intermittent lane closures and detours will occur on Crary Road between Highway 29 and Byrneville Road beginning Monday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Beginning Tuesday, Crary Road between Byrneville and Thompson Road will be closed to through traffic. Traffic will be detoured along Thompson, McNeal Road and Highway 29.
The roadway will be reduced to one lane while construction material and equipment are unloaded or utilized to make improvements. Construction will include new storm drainage, ditch paving and road paving.
The roadway closure is expected to remain in effect for approximately three weeks. Every effort will be made to expedite construction efforts to reopen the roads in a timely manner. If other lane or roadway closures are necessary beyond the anticipated time period, another notice will be sent.
GCA/NRYO Livestock Meeting Set For Tuesday
October 30, 2016
The Gulf Coast Agricultural and Natural Resources Youth Organization will hold their annual meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Highland Baptist Church.
The purpose of the meeting is to elect officers, review and approve livestock show rule changes, and solicit new members. Parents and youth that are interested in showing at the Spring Livestock Show are encouraged to attend. Dues are $30 for a family, $20 for an individual.
The 2017 GCA/NRYO Spring Livestock show will be held on April 1. The show is open to all FFA and 4-H members in southwest Alabama and Northwest Florida counties.
A mandatory preliminary steer weigh in will be on November 12, at Cunningham Farms, 9657 Gibson Road in Molino. Mandatory preliminary swine, market goat, and market lamb weigh-ins will be on January 7 at the 4-H Outdoor Education Facilities, 5681 Chalker Road in Molino. For more information contact Gwen Shiver at (850) 698-1421.
Highland Baptist Church is located at 6240 Highway 95A North in Molino.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Out Of The Shadows
October 30, 2016
At times, as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have fought each other in the presidential race, the battle between incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy has seemed like a quiet undercard.
It hasn’t helped that national Democrats have been withdrawing their advertising support for Murphy to funnel money to Senate races in other states that seem more promising. Or that Florida plays just as important a role in the race for the White House as it does in the jockeying for control of the Senate — if not more so.
With the presidential candidates and their surrogates still zipping around Florida this week, it wasn’t possible for the Senate race to emerge completely from the shadows. But it got some air time thanks to a debate on Wednesday that was broadcast statewide — one that probably had more than a few Florida voters scratching their heads and wondering what a “peshmerga” was.
As for the shadow of the presidential race: Attorney General Pam Bondi found herself pondering the suitability of Trump as a role model despite crude comments about women captured on a 2005 videotape and allegations that the businessman-turned-politician sexually assaulted multiple women.
Meanwhile, state regulators pondered a proposed increase in electric rates that could cost consumers more than $800 million over three years. With the presidential and Senate races consuming so much oxygen, though, little attention was paid to that.
YOU SAY ‘PESHMERGA’ …
Every candidate comes to a debate with a message he or she wants to drive. For Murphy at Wednesday’s showdown with Rubio, that message was all about one man: Trump. It got to the point that Rubio called out Murphy’s focus on the unpopular GOP candidate, whom Rubio has warily endorsed.
“Basically, the answer to every question tonight by Congressman Murphy is ‘Donald Trump,’ ” Rubio quipped after Murphy pivoted from a question about police brutality to invoke the GOP presidential candidate.
Murphy, a congressman from Jupiter, gave as good as he got in parts of the debate, held at Bailey Hall on the campus of Broward College.
“If you voted as much as you lied, you might actually be a decent senator,” Murphy said in one exchange.
But he might have made a misstep on foreign policy, when he suggested that Kurdish militiamen known as peshmerga were active in the Syrian civil war, which helped breathe new life into the self-proclaimed Islamic State, a terrorist organization that the United States is attacking. Murphy also suggested that Trump didn’t know much about the conflict.
Rubio, sensing an opening, pounced.
“Can I just say, because he criticized someone for not knowing the facts about the region: Congressman, there are no peshmerga in Syria,” Rubio responded “The peshmerga are Iraqi.”
“And they are helping us fight,” Murphy said.
“In Iraq, not in Syria,” Rubio shot back.
Some of Murphy’s surrogates came to his defense after the debate, but for those who were watching it live, the damage might have already been done. In any case, it was hard to see evidence of a knockout blow for Murphy, who entered the showdown as an underdog.
Rubio was up four points in a poll released by Florida Atlantic University on the day of the debate. That put the senator a few points ahead of Trump, who was losing to Clinton in the battle for the state’s 29 electoral votes. Murphy’s strongest shot at winning now might be to grab Clinton’s coattails and hold on.
BATTLEGROUND FLORIDA
With it probably a must-win for Trump, Florida is a key battleground state in the Nov. 8 presidential election. After all, if Clinton can claim the state, it would likely be the death knell for Trump’s unlikely campaign.
That has led to both sides waging an all-out war for Florida, which means visiting even those corners of the state that might seem unlikely spots. And so Trump headed to Tallahassee on Tuesday, to campaign in a Democratic stronghold in the middle of solidly Republican North Florida.
There was no lack of people at the Tallahassee Automobile Museum, though, and the businessman urged his supporters to get out and cast their ballots so that his administration could “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C.
“Our country is rigged, it’s crooked and it’s broken. … The criminal conduct of Hillary Clinton threatens the foundations of our democracy; it really does,” Trump said. “But we’re going to turn it around. A new day begins for America and it starts on Nov. 8. Get out and vote.”
House before the rally, Bondi found herself facing questions about whether Trump was a good role model. The attorney general was the first statewide official to support Trump during his campaign, and reporters talked to her Tuesday about the continuing revelations about Trump’s treatment of women.
Although Bondi has condemned Trump’s lewd remarks about women recorded by an “Access Hollywood” TV crew in 2005, Bondi said she believes Trump will be a good role model for the nation.
“I know Donald Trump. I have seen him evolve in the last 14 months,” Bondi said. “I think he will be an excellent role model. I know he has raised wonderful kids.”
The Clinton campaign made its presence felt in the Florida capital as well. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate, swung by Florida State University on Friday.
Kaine said a Clinton administration needs a Congress it can work with. He also decried Trump as running an “insult driven campaign,” acting as an apparent “defense attorney” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and disparaging women, veterans, people with disabilities, parents of a dead service member, immigrants and Muslims.
“You want to have somebody who knows that Trumpism is something we should reject,” Kaine said.
AARP TAKES ON FPL
Away from the spotlight of the presidential campaign, Florida Power & Light was fighting off a challenge from the senior-advocacy group AARP, as the utility attempts to get the Public Service Commission to approve $811 million in rate increases over three years.
AARP said the hike in base electric rates would be a boon to stockholders, though the increases would be lower than what the utility originally sought. FPL argued that the proposal — included in a settlement with a state consumer advocate and two groups that challenged the original request — would provide customers with predictable rates and would help expand the company’s use of solar energy.
The settlement would allow FPL to annually receive up to an 11.6 return on equity, a measure of profit. Michael Brosch, who is president of the consulting firm Utilitech, Inc. and who spoke on behalf of AARP, said FPL hasn’t made financial forecasts for the years after 2018 to back the need for increases. Instead, he said FPL customers should get a single rate reduction in 2017, with the company having to come back in subsequent years for any further rate changes as costs become more certain.
“There is simply no way to accurately determine the company’s actual financial needs for four years into the future,” Brosch said.
FPL initially requested that base rates increase $1.3 billion over three years, before agreeing to the lower amount. The state Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers in utility issues, the Florida Retail Federation and the South Florida Hospital & Health Association agreed to the rate settlement. The retail and health-care groups often are involved in utility cases.
“The proposed agreement would allow us to build on our track record and support investments that would further improve service reliability, allow us to restore power even faster, and make our system cleaner and more efficient,” FPL spokeswoman Alys Daly said.
The Public Service Commission would have to approve the settlement, and a decision is expected by December.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Sen. Marco Rubio and Congressman Patrick Murphy held a high-stakes debate in the battle to decide whether Rubio will be re-elected for a second six-year term.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’d love that. I’d love that. Mr. Tough Guy. He’s Mr. Tough Guy. You know when he’s Mr. Tough Guy? When he’s standing behind a microphone by himself. … Some things in life you could really love doing.”—Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, responding to Vice President Joe Biden’s recent remarks that he would like to take Trump “behind the gym.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
UWF Drops Home Game To West Alabama, 45-21
October 30, 2016
The UWF Football team dropped a 45-21 decision to a very strong West Alabama squad at Blue Wahoos Stadium Saturday.
UWF (5-4, 3-3 Gulf South Conference) finished with 349 yards of total offense and quarterbacks Kaleb Nobles and Grey Jackson combined to throw for 248 yards on 31-of-59 with two touchdowns.
The loss before another impressive crowd was the first in four home games during the inaugural 2016 season. Saturday’s attendance was 6,088, giving UWF an average of 6,388 with one home date remaining.
UWA (6-3, 6-1) scored 38 unanswered points to break a 7-7 tie and grab a 45-7 lead on its way to a fifth-consecutive victory. The Tigers outgained the Argonauts 536-to-349 and had 490 through the air. Austin Grammer was 41-of-56 for 493 yards and three touchdowns.
UWA got out to a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game when Grammer connected with Barnard McGhee from 20 yards. UWF knotted it up 2:29 later on a Nobles-to-Antoine Griffin strike from 32 yards.
The teams then failed to score on the next seven possessions before the Tigers grabbed the lead for good when Lakendric Thomas scored from three yards to cap a 12-play, 87-yard drive. Grammer found McGhee two more times for scores before the half to send the visitors in the locker room with a 28-7 advantage.
UWA scored 17 points in the third quarter while putting up 181 yards of offense in the frame.
UWF scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with Jackson leading both drives. He scampered 22 yards up the middle on the second play of the quarter before hooking up with Ishmel Morrow on a 14-yard pass to complete the scoring.
Griffin and Tate Lehtio led the Argo receiving corps with six catches for 59 yards apiece. Morrow caught four balls for 50 yards and Anas Hasic recorded five catches for 33 yards. Jackson was the team’s leading rusher, piling up 73 yards on five carries.
On defense, Leroy Taylor had a game-high eight tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass break up.
UWF will return to action next Saturday when it travels to Florence, Ala. to take on No. 7 North Alabama (6-1, 5-0) in its final road game of the year.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.