Muscogee Road Closed, 120 Day Detour Planned
September 29, 2017
A portion of Muscogee Road in Cantonment from Beulah Road to Carlisle Road was closed Thursday for reconstruction of the road.
Construction will consist of the installation of a water main, drainage, reconstruction of the one mile stretch of Muscogee Road and construction of 5-foot shoulders.
Traffic has been detoured via Highway 29 and Barrineau Park Road to Highway 112 in Alabama. The roadway closure is expected to remain in effect for approximately 120 days. Every effort will be made to expedite construction efforts to reopen the road as soon as possible, according to Escambia County.
Pictured: Muscogee Road was closed from Beulah Road to Carlisle Road Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
One Injured In Car, Motorcycle Collision
September 29, 2017
One man has hospitalized after a car hit a motorcycle Thursday night in Beulah.
The accident happened just before 7:30 p.m. on Nine Mile Road close to Beulah Road. The man was transported to an area hospital by Escambia County EMS with injuries that were not life threatening. His name and condition have not yet been released.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating.
Woman Facing Felony Charges For Stolen Credit Cards, Loans
September 29, 2017
A Cantonment woman is facing multiple felony counts for using credit and debit cards belonging to her best friend and her mother-in-law, and using fraudulent information to apply for loans.
Tarah Elizabeth Mims, 35, allegedly made 12 charges totaling just over $625 to the female victim’s credit card. Mims also allegedly changed account information on the credit card to her home address while maintaining the victim’s name on the account.
The second victim reported that Mims, her daughter-in-law, had used her debit card to make $212.90 worth of charges at Apple iTunes for “cherries” for the “Bingo Pop” game.
She was also accused of obtaining loans in the names of both victims.
Mims’ estranged husband told deputies that his wife has a drug problem and that she had opened several fraudulent accounts and “payday” type loans under his name.
Mims was charged with two counts of fraudulent use of credit cards, possession of personal information with intent to use, criminal use of personal information, communications fraud and petit theft. She was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $4,500 bond.
Bratt Elementary Names Students Of The Month
September 29, 2017
The following students (pictured above) were named Students of the Month for September at Bratt Elementary School.
Pre-K
- Hayden Baston
- Emma Norton
Kindergarten
- Ella Grace Diller
- Gracie Norton
- Cameron Gipson
- Audrey Franklin
1st Grade
- Lane Lisenby
- Ava Marquis
- Autumn Heist
- Abigail Brown
2nd Grade
- Gabby Boatwright (not pictured)
- Kezia Henderson
- Landon Allcock
- Camden Jacobson
3rd Grade
- Janessa Cook
- Jackson Helton
- Kylee Langham
4th Grade
- Daniel Johnson
- Jackson Simmons
- Jessica Jowers
- Luke Chavers
5th Grade
- Maggie Scott (not pictured)
- Beau Daw
- Aliyah Fountain
- Derek Kinley
In addition, Jessica Jowers and Camden Jacobson were selected to represent Bratt Elementary as Escambia County Students of the Month for September.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Hospitals Battle Cost Transparency Rules
September 29, 2017
Florida hospitals are battling back against a pair of proposed “transparency” rules requiring hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to provide information to patients and prospective patients about potential costs of treatment.
A statewide group that represents most hospitals filed an administrative challenge last week that maintains the rules go beyond what is authorized by law.
The Florida Hospital Association also maintains the state underestimated the fiscal impact of the proposed rules and contends the rules require legislative approval before implementation because they would increase costs to hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers by more than $1 million over a 5-year period.
Agency for Health Care Administration spokeswoman Shelisha Coleman said the state doesn’t comment on pending legal matters and declined further comment. The agency filed a motion Tuesday arguing that an administrative law judge should dismiss the case.
The Florida Hospital Association represents more than 200 hospitals and health systems across the state. Many of those facilities also own or operate ambulatory surgical centers. The challenged rules — one aimed at hospitals, the other at ambulatory surgical centers — would require the facilities to provide information both online and personally to patients, prospective patients and responsible parties.
In the challenge, the association contends that what are known as “statements of estimated regulatory costs” developed by AHCA show a “minimal” fiscal impact but that the costs are “substantial.”
“For example, and without limitation, the technology related development costs associated with including information on facility websites that could instead be included on a site maintained by an agency vendor are well in excess of $1 million,” the challenge said.
The case marks another showdown between hospitals and the administration of Gov. Rick Scott, a former health-care executive.
Following a bruising 2015 legislative session that was forced into overtime after a divisive battle over Medicaid expansion, Scott assembled a blue-ribbon panel to examine the costs of health care at Florida hospitals.
The following session, Scott made health-care “transparency” one of his top priorities with the Legislature. The governor initially wanted to cap what hospitals could charge patients. Hospitals that exceeded those price caps could have been prosecuted by the state attorney general.
Though the Legislature was supportive of “transparency,” it didn’t embrace caps or criminal penalties.
Ultimately, lawmakers passed and Scott signed into law a bill that requires hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to provide access to searchable information on their websites about “service bundles.” The information would give patients and potential patients access to data about estimated average payments received — excluding Medicare and Medicaid — and estimated payment ranges for each service bundle, by facility, facilities within geographic boundaries, and nationally. The facilities would be required to disclose that the information is an estimate of costs and that actual costs would be based on services actually provided to patients.
Agencies approve rules to carry out the details of state laws.
The hospital association maintains in its challenge to the transparency rules that a lower-cost alternative would be to allow hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to post price information through a hyperlink that would allow patients and potential patients to connect to a site maintained by the agency.
David Ashburn, outside general counsel for the association, noted in the administrative challenge that the 2016 law allows for hospitals to meet the posting requirements through a hyperlink and that in meetings with the industry over the summer, AHCA staff assured hospitals that would be the case.
Ashburn told The News Service of Florida on Thursday that the industry isn’t opposed to “transparency,” and the challenge addresses “a few very specific terms of the rule to ensure the hospitals will be in compliance.”
by Christine Sexton, The News Service of Florida
Sunny And Hot Friday, Slight Chance Of Weekend Rain
September 29, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 90. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. North wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. East wind around 10 mph.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. East wind around 10 mph.
Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68. East wind around 10 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 85.
Three Injured In Beulah Crash
September 28, 2017
Three people were injured — at least two of them as “trauma alerts” — in a Thursday morning crash in Beulah.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 30-year old Jacob L. Pate of Mobile was driving a tractor-trailer rig that crossed over the lane divider as he entered the intersection of Nine Mile Road and Beulah Road. His truck collided with a Ford F150 driven by 55-year old Jimmy D. Marlow of Pensacola.
The tractor-trailer continued where it collided with a Ford F150 lawn service truck driven by 54-year old Roy D. Grissom of Pensacola before jackknifing and hitting a tree.
Grissom and his passenger, 45-year old James Rafferty, were seriously injured. Rafferty was airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to Baptist Hospital, while Grissom was transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital.
Marlow received minor injuries; Pate was not injured.
Pate was cited for failure to maintain a single lane by the FHP.
NorthEscambia.com reader submitted and Kristi Barbour photos, click to enlarge.
Sheriff Texts Three Commissioners: Expect Patrol Cuts In Your District
September 28, 2017
Less than two hours after the Escambia County Commission passed a budget short of the demands made by Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, the sheriff texted at least three commissioners letting them know that patrols would be reduced in their district.
“I’d like to say I was surprised by the timing of the message, but I was not,” Commissioner Steven Barry said.
The text sent to Commissioners Barry, Jeff Bergosh and Grover Robinson said, “Your district is one of those that will see a reduction of patrol coverage”. Commissioners Lumon May and Doug Underhill have said they did not receive the text Tuesday night.
“I get an unsolicited text saying, ‘Your district is subject to reduced patrols,’ yeah it was unsettling,” Commissioner Jeff Bergosh said. “The timing wasn’t good. The optics don’t look good.”
The commission passed a $455.8 million budget Tuesday night that included a 3 percent across the board raise for all permanent county employees…including those at the Sheriff’s Office. Morgan fought for pay raises and changes in the pay structure in his department in order to retain deputies. He said he will appeal the budget to the governor because it did not nothing to help him retain deputies that are leaving the department due to pay that is lower than surrounding departments.
“The timing of this text, right after the meeting where we attempted to compromise with Sheriff Morgan (where we bumped his budget up to give all his men a 3% raise) could be construed by some as retaliatory or worse yet…..threatening,” Bergosh wrote Wednesday on his blog. “All because, apparently, we did not fund him an 8% year over year budget increase…What a disappointment.”
Morgan sent an email to commissioners, and a text to at least one commissioner, inviting them back in July to attend individual meetings over his “realignment of our limited resources”. He also posted a public video on YouTube and social media in which he said deputies would be reassigned from unnamed low crime areas to areas with higher crime.
“For some reason, that doesn’t seem to get through to anybody and so now we’re at this juncture of where it’s time to make these moves and people are acting like there’s a revelation,” Morgan said. “‘Oh my God, the sheriff is actually going to reduce these things,’ Of course I am, I’ve been telling you for months.”
Morgan said the text messages were in no way retaliation.
“Hurl the allegations if you’d like, this is the new norm in Escambia County until we can correct it,” Morgan said.
Barry said Tuesday’s text from the Morgan was not the first he had received from the sheriff during the summer budget battles, and he did not respond to any of them.
“I received several text messages from Sheriff Morgan this summer, and upon the advice of our board counsel, I archived each one. As only one of five board members who need to work together collectively, responding to the messages did not seem particularly prudent. However, I did have a very informative hour long meeting with Chief Financial Officer Henrique Dias and Chief Deputy Haines last week.”
Both Barry and Bergosh said they are disappointed that Morgan will cut patrols in their districts.
“To say I am disappointed that the sheriff is telling District 1 that we will receive a reduction of patrol coverage is an understatement. We have had big issues with crime in West Escambia, Myrtle Grove, Avondale, Bellview, and other areas of District 1. We have had murders in Beulah…residents in Logan Place have endured a rash of car burglaries–and to say these areas are going to receive ‘a reduction of patrol coverage’ is astonishingly disappointing,” Bergosh wrote.
“In each of my five years as a county commissioner, we have included 3 percent raises in each budget for every employee at the Sheriff’s Office, so I will be very disappointed if there is any further reduction in patrols in District 5,” Barry said.
Morgan has said the patrol reductions will occur October 1.
Pictured top: Screenshot from a Tuesday night text from Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan to Escambia County Commissioner Stephen Barry. Pictured below: Screenshots of texts Barry received during the summer from Morgan. Barry said he did not reply to any of the texts. Click any image to enlarge.
Man Arrested With Pot, Heroin, Cocaine, Prescription Meds And Psychedelic Mushrooms
September 28, 2017
An Escambia County was charged with multiple drug offenses after a Pensacola Beach traffic stop, including the possession of psychedelic mushrooms.
According to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, 19-year old Brian Austin Robles-Charles of Ten Mile Road, was traveling at 45 mph in a 30 mph zone on Pensacola Beach Boulevard. His Ford Mustang was searched during a traffic stop after a deputy allegedly smelled and observed marijuana.
Deputies reported finding in the vehicle 34.4 grams of marijuana, marijuana resin, 10.4 grams of mushrooms in Ziploc bags, multiple controlled substance pills including Adderall, Oxycontin and Alprazolam, 5.5 bars of Xanax, heroin and cocaine.
Robles-Charles was charged with possession of marijuana over 20 grams with the intent to sell, possession of marijuana resin, five counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of cocaine, possession of heroin with intent to sell and possession of Psilocybin mushrooms with intent to sell.
Robles-Charles remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $100,000.
Sunny And Hot Today
September 28, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 91. North wind around 5 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 89. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. North wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. East wind around 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. East wind around 10 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 66.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 85.