Nokomis and Meadows Stop Sign Relocated Today
June 6, 2017
Effective today, the stop sign at the intersection of Nokomis Road and Meadows Lane near Davisville will change to improve safety, according to Escambia County.
The stop sign was previously on the westbound lane of Nokomis Road. Today, the stop sign will be moved to the southbound lane of Meadows Lane.
Motorists are advised to use caution when navigating the intersection during and following the transition period.
Gov. Scott Ceremonially Signs Triumph Gulf Coast Bills In Pensacola
June 6, 2017
With the first check — for $300 million — on the way, Northwest Florida leaders know they must wisely invest the money across the region to ensure state lawmakers keep the BP settlement cash tap open.
After Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation Friday, the non-profit organization Triumph Gulf Coast is expected to eventually handle three-quarters of the $2 billion the state will receive over the next 13 years from BP in a settlement stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Triumph Gulf Coast board members said Monday the Legislature can always alter future payments if they fail to properly make economic-development and educational investments with the first batch of money.
“If we do a poor job with the first $300 (million) that’s not going to help us down the road,” said Allan Bense, a former state House speaker from Panama City who also chairs Triumph Gulf Coast. “There is $1.2 billion still out there. I’m mindful of the fact that the Legislature can pull that $1.2 billion. They can get that future money.”
Bense’s comments came as Gov. Rick Scott conducted the first of two ceremonial bill signings on Monday — in Panama City and Pensacola — for measures (HB 7077 and HB 7079) tied to the BP settlement. Scott signed the bills on Friday.
Scott said by wisely investing the money in infrastructure and education, Panhandle counties should be able to compete for manufacturing jobs against other Southern states.
“People love to be in the Panhandle, we should win those types of jobs,” Scott said. “On top of that, we should be able to get good back-office jobs, regional offices and corporate offices. All of these are things we have opportunity to do if we are wise to how we spend our money.”
The House and Senate spent much of this year’s regular legislative session battling over how the money could be used before ultimately reaching agreement.
Rep. Jay Trumbull, a Panama City Republican who oversaw the issue in the House, expressed optimism Monday.
“I’m very pleased with the way to the board is set up,” Trumbull said. “This is going to be essentially a business entity. They’re a governmental entity, but the fact that they’re going to have the ability to look at each individual project. I truly believe that in the next 10 to 15 years, the Panhandle you see today, we’re going to see extraordinary growth directly because of Triumph.”
In addition to the money, the measures set minimums for how much each county — Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla and Walton — will receive and expands the Triumph board from five to seven members to provide more representation from less-populated counties.
Jorge Gonzalez, CEO of The St. Joe Company, said the money will help the region make up for years of economic development hindered by the devastating spill, which dumped millions of gallons of oil less than 100 miles off the Florida coast just as the region was emerging from the recession.
“It’s been a long seven years for many of us,” Gonzalez said. “This legislation is about creating jobs. It’s not about building buildings.”
Bense would like to see the money eventually help attract a large company such as Boeing.
“That’s what I would love, but in the meantime you have to hit singles and doubles,” Bense said.
However, no funding decisions or project vetting will be done until House and Senate leaders make their appointments to bring the Triumph board to seven, he said.
“I want to allocate as much as I can to economic development,” Bense said. “I don’t foresee us funding boat ramps or gun ranges, or things like that. I think those are county and city obligations.”
Pictured top: Gov. Rick Scott with local leaders at a ceremonial bill signing in Pensacola Monday afternoon. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
House, Senate To Convene Wednesday Afternoon
June 6, 2017
The House and Senate will meet early Wednesday afternoon as they start a scheduled three-day special session to take up budget-related issues. House members are scheduled to meet in their chamber at 12:30 p.m., with an Appropriations Committee meeting at 2 p.m. and a Rules & Policy Committee meeting at 6:45 p.m., according to the House website. Senators are scheduled to convene at 1 p.m., according to the Senate website. Gov. Rick Scott on Friday called the special session after reaching agreement with House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, on funding issues related to education, tourism marketing and economic development. Bills (HB 1A and HB 3A) have been filed in the House dealing with economic-development and public-school funding.
by The News Service of Florida
Atmore Pharmacy Burglarized; Narcotics Stolen
June 6, 2017
The Atmore Police Department is investigating an early morning pharmacy burglary.
About 2 a.m. Monday, May 29, Atmore Police responded to the Walgreen on South Main Street at Lindberg Avenue. Officers arrived on scene to find that business had been forcefully entered.
“The suspects used a pry bar to open the front doors. Once inside, the suspects ran toward the back of the building and forcefully entered the pharmacy area,” Atmore Police said in a statement Monday afternoon.
The suspects stole several pill bottles containing narcotics and then fled the building.
A description of the suspects was not provided by police, and no surveillance photos or video were made available.
While the crime occurred May 29, it was not disclosed by police until the afternoon of June 5.
Wahoos Hold On For Win Over The Mobile BayBears
June 6, 2017
For the second game in a row, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos relied on its bullpen to finish a close game with the Mobile BayBears.
This time it was righty Ariel Hernandez who pitched three scoreless innings to help Pensacola maintain a one-run lead before the Blue Wahoos scored twice in the ninth inning for a, 7-4, victory Monday over Mobile at Hank Aaron Stadium.
Pensacola was in danger of allowing Mobile to rally from a, 5-0, deficit. Mobile third baseman Zach Houchins doubled to left field to drive in Jose Briceno, who had singled to center, to pull the BayBears within, 5-4, in the sixth inning.
In came Hernandez to replace Jose Lopez, who was making his second start for the Blue Wahoos since being called up from the High-A Daytona Tortugas on May 30.
Hernandez, whose fastball touches 100 mph, promptly struck out the first to Mobile hitters he faced and got a groundout for a 1-2-3 inning. In fact, he faced the minimum nine batters over the final three innings and struck out five in his relief appearance that earned him his first save of the season for the Blue Wahoos.
Hernandez is now 1-0 with a save and 2.48 ERA.
The Blue Wahoos have won three straight games and improved to 33-24. It owns first place in the race for the Southern League South Division. The Biloxi Shuckers lost its second straight game to the Mississippi Braves, giving Pensacola a three-game lead in the division.
Lopez looked much better on the mound in his second Southern League start with Pensacola. He pitched six innings, allowed four hits, gave up four runs, one earned, walked two and struck out eight. In his first game, he gave up four runs and walked six in 4.2 innings. Lopez is now 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA.
The Blue Wahoos offense has now scored five runs or more in five of its last seven games and is on a three-game winning streak. It has captured the first two games of the five-game series with Mobile.
Leading the way on offense Monday for Pensacola was second baseman Alex Blandino, who homered and knocked in four of the seven runs Pensacola scored. Blandino was 2-3 with a walk and scored twice.
In his last 10 games, the first-round pick in 2014 is hitting .310 (9-29) with four doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs.
He crushed his fourth home of the year, a three-run dinger to left field, in the second inning that put Pensacola up, 3-0.
In the fourth inning, Blandino knocked in the first run with a single to shortstop that allowed Pensacola right fielder Aristides Aquino to score. The second run, which gave the Blue Wahoos a 5-0 lead, came when catcher Adrian Nieto singled to center to score first baseman Angelo Gumbs, who had singled.
Mobile’s Houchins, though, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning and delivered a bases-clearing triple to left field to pull the BayBears within, 5-3.
Pensacola gave itself some breathing room in the top of the ninth inning when shortstop Blake Trahan doubled in Blandino and then center fielder Gabriel Guerrero singled in Trahan for a 7-4 lead.
Aquino was 1-4 Monday with a single to lead-off the fourth inning and now has reached base in 21 straight games, dating back to May 14.
Cantonment Man Charged With Felony Child Abuse
June 5, 2017
A Cantonment man has been arrested after allegedly grabbing a child by the neck and choking him with both hands.
Luis Scott Vargas, 38, was charged recently with felony child abuse for the incident that occurred at a home on McKenzie Road.
A witness told the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office that Vargas grabbed the victim by the neck “pinned him on the ground and choked him using both hands”. The witness told deputies she hesitated in reporting the incident because she was afraid of Vargas.
The case has also been referred to the Department of Children and Family Services for further investigation.
Vargas was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
Medical Marijuana Left Out Of Special Session
June 5, 2017
Next week’s special legislative session focused on funding for education and economic development won’t include medical marijuana, at least for now.
House and Senate leaders remained hopeful that they could strike a deal on the framework for carrying out a voter-approved constitutional amendment that broadly legalizing medical marijuana. But if they don’t reach agreement before the special session ends, the Legislature is unlikely to take up the issue later this summer, according to a top senator.
Gov. Rick Scott, Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran announced Friday they had agreed on the parameters of a three-day special session, slated to start Wednesday, to address education and economic-development issues.
The special session was also expected to include pot, after lawmakers failed to reach consensus during this spring’s regular session on a measure to implement the November constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for patients with a wide range of debilitating medical conditions.
But Scott didn’t include marijuana in his call for the Legislature to come back to town.
Even so, the House “has communicated to the … Senate that this is an issue we believe must be addressed and that we are prepared to expand the call to address the implementation of the constitutional amendment approved by the voters during the 2016 election,” Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, said in a Friday memo to House members announcing the special session.
Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is slated to take over as president of the Senate late next year, told The News Service of Florida that lawmakers have yet to strike a deal on implementation of the medical marijuana amendment.
Lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a key sticking point — how many retail outlets the state’s marijuana operators would be allowed to run — during the regular session that ended last month.
The House backed a plan that would limit the number of dispensaries for each operator at 100, while the Senate favored a proposal that would have established a cap of 15 storefronts for each vendor.
The House and Senate remain divided on the issue, Galvano said Friday.
“At this point, it’s where, from my knowledge, we’re still where we left off on the dispensary issue. I don’t have information that that’s changed at this point,” he said, adding that House and Senate bills were “very, very close” by the end of the regular session.
The Legislature’s failure to pass a marijuana measure prompted calls from critics and supporters of the amendment to address the issue during a special session, something Corcoran and Negron said they supported. Without legislative action, more of the responsibility for the regulatory framework would fall on the state Department of Health.
But Galvano sounded cryptic about the possibility of a separate special session to deal with the regulatory framework for medical marijuana if lawmakers don’t agree during next week’s session.
“We still want to try to get something resolved next week. If we cannot, I don’t know that waiting a month or two is going to make a difference,” he said.
John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who largely bankrolled the ballot initiative, encouraged lawmakers to take up the implementation of the amendment, supported by more than 71 percent of voters in November.
“Let’s get `er done,” Morgan, who said he was willing to invest up to $100 million in the pot industry, tweeted.
Ben Pollara, who managed the political committee that backed the amendment but who has recently split with Morgan over the dispensary caps, called the absence of the marijuana issue in the special session “a gigantic disappointment.”
“People are going to be outraged by this,” said Pollara, the executive director of Florida for Care, an organization backed by the medical marijuana industry.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Five People Injured In Highway 29 Crash In Cantonment
June 5, 2017
At least five people, including three juveniles, were reportedly injured in a two vehicle crash Sunday afternoon in Cantonment.
The accident happened about 5:55 p.m. on Highway 29 at Woodland Street, near the Cantonment Fire Station. Most, if not all, of the injured were reportedly not properly restrained.
Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Escambia Weekly Meeting Schedule
June 5, 2017
Here are meetings scheduled for the week of June 5-9 in Escambia County:
Monday, June 5
RESTORE Multi-Year Implementation Plan Kickoff Meeting, Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 6
Planning Board-Rezoning, Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place, 8:30 a.m. (Agenda)
Planning Board-Regular, Escambia County Central Office Complex , 3363 West Park Place, 8:35 a.m. (Agenda)
Environmental Enforcement Special Magistrate, Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place, 1:30 p.m. (Agenda)
Wednesday, June 7
Contractor Competency Board, Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place, 9 a.m.
Thursday, June 8
BCC Regular Meeting, Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place, 5:30 p.m.
Vacation Bible School Scheduled At Many Area Churches
June 5, 2017
Vacation Bible School is a summertime tradition for many area children. Here is a list of upcoming VBS events in the North Escambia area. To add a VBS to this list, email news@northescambia.com.
First Baptist Church of Cantonment June 5-9
The First Baptist Church of Cantonment will host their VBS, Galactic Starveyors, June 5 – 9, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. for children who have completed Pre-K through fourth grade. For more information call (850) 968-9135.
First Baptist Church of Canoe June 4-8
“Geared Up for God” VBS June 4-8 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Canoe.
First Assembly of God Atmore June 5-9
The First Assembly of God in Atmore will hold a “On The Farm: Growing God’s Way” VBS June 5-9 from 8 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. The theme is Galactic Starveyors for ages 3 years to 6th grade.
First United Methodist Church, Atmore, June 11-15
First United Methodist Church, Atmore, will have VBS June 11 through 15 from 5:30 until 8 p.m. The theme is Maker Fun Factory for Ages nursery through the 6th grade.
First Baptist Church of Bratt, June 12-16
The First Baptist Church of Bratt will hold Galactic Starveyors VBS June 12-16 from 8:30 until 11:30 each morning.
Woodbine United Methodist Church June 12-16
Woodbine United Methodist Church will host their VBS, “Gadgets & Gizmos”, Monday, June 12 through Friday, June 16, from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. for children in grades K-4 through 5th grade. Registration in advance by visiting the church registration desk, the church website at www.woodbinechurch.org or in person on the day of the event. For more information visit our website, www.woodbinechurch.org or call the church office at (850) 995-0007.
Jay First Baptist Church, June 12-16
Galactic Starveyors VBS June 12-16 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Jay First Baptist Church for grades K-6.
Plainview Baptist Church June 12-16
Plainview Baptist Church at 1101 West Nine Mile Road will hold VBS June 12-16 fro 9 a.m. until noon for ages 5 years through sixth grade. Call (850) 476-3845 for information.
Walnut Hill Mennonite Church June 14-23
The Walnut Hill Mennonite Church will hold VBS June 14-23, from 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Southern Harbor Mennonite Church, located at 6211 W Hwy 4, near Bratt. Children ages five years through ninth grade are welcome. Transportation is available. For more information, call Anthony Schneider at (850) 516-7701.
Highland Baptist Church, Molino June 19-23
Highland Baptist Church in Molino will hold Maker Fun Factory Vacation Bible School June 19 through June 23 from 5:30 until 8:30 each night. For more information or a registration form, email vbs2017hbc@gmail.com.
Walnut Hill Baptist Church June 19-23
“Galactic Starveyors” VBS will be held June 19-23 from 6:00 until 8:30 nightly at the Walnut Hill Baptist Church, 5741 Arthur Brown Road.
VBS at Victory Assembly of God June 19-23
Kidz 4 Christ will present Go BIG! a VBS Event on Monday, June 19 through Friday, June 23 from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. Open for all children Pre-K through 5th grade. For more information call (850) 587-2295 or visit www.victorycan.org.
First Baptist Church Of Atmore June 19-23
The First Baptist Church of Atmore will hold Maker Fun Factory VBS Monday June 19 through Friday, June 23 from 5:30 until 8:00 nightly. For more information call the church office at (251) 368-8177.
Charity Baptist Church, Cantonment June 19-23
Charity Baptist Church at 1675 West Roberts Road in Cantonment will have VBS June 19-23 from 6-8 p.m. daily. (850) 937-0004 for details.
Cornerstone Christian Church, Jay, June 19-23
Cornerstone Christian Church at 14047 Alabama Street in Jay will hold VBS for ages 4-12 from 6-8 p.m. June 19-23.
Jay United Methodist Church, June 19-23
Jay United Methodist Church will present VBS June 19-23 from 8:30 until 11:30 a.m. daily for students Pre-K to just completed the fifth grade.
Oakfield Union Missionary Baptist Church June 28-30
Oakfield Union Missionary Baptist Church at 459 Hancock Lane in Brent presents “The Faith Run: On Course with God!” VBS, June 28th – 30th, from 6 until 7:30 p.m. for ages 4 to adults. For more information call (850) 525-4959.