Chattanooga Beats The Blue Wahoos 7-4
May 4, 2017
Named the Southern League-MiLB Player of the Month for April, Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitcher Tyler Mahle has had sharper games this season.
Although, the righty pitched a good game, the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.com, gave up season highs in hits (7), runs (3), walks (2) and tied his season-low for innings pitched (5), as the Chattanooga Lookouts rallied Wednesday from four runs down to win, 7-4, at AT&T Field.
Mahle turned the game over to reliever Alex Powers, who struck out five but gave up two solo home runs in his two innings of work that gave Chattanooga a, 5-4, lead that they never relinquished. Powers is 1-2 on the season with a 3.55 ERA.
Mahle gave up a homer — his first of the season — to Lookouts right fielder Edgar Corcino, his first of the year, in the fifth inning. The three earned runs raised the ERA of Mahle, who threw a nine-inning perfect game two starts ago, from 0.55 to 1.19.
Then Powers took over from Mahle and allowed solo shots to Chattanooga’s second baseman Nick Gordon, his second of the season, in the sixth inning and the game-winning blast to leftfielder LaMonte Wade, his third, in the seventh inning. Wade was 3-4 in the game with two runs scored.
Tyler Goeddel, who was playing his first game for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, scored two of the Blue Wahoos four runs in the game. The Cincinnati Reds moved Goeddel down from Triple-A Louisville Bats Wednesday to replace the injured Taylor Sparks, who was hit by a pitch in the palm of his hand and placed on the disabled list.
Goeddel, who played his 2016 season in the Major Leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies where he hit .192 in 56 outfield starts, was 1-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
Meanwhile, the Blue Wahoos had three starters with multi-hit games, including center fielder Gabriel Guerrero, who was 2-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs. It was his 12th multi-hit game and fourth in the last five games.
Pensacola shortstop Blake Trahan was 2-4 with a walk, run and RBI, while first baseman Angelo Gumbs was 2-4 with a walk.
The Blue Wahoos went ahead, 4-0, of Chattanooga through the first four innings. Pensacola scored one run in the second inning when Guerrero scored on Alex Blandino’s single to centerfield. Guerrero then hit a double to left field in the third inning that drove in both Goeddel and Trahan. Finally, Trahan knocked in Goeddel on a single to right field.
Pensacola fell to 15-11 on the season but still owns first place in the Southern League South Division. Chattanooga evened its record to 13-13 in the North Division.
Deadly Golf Cart Wreck Driver Arrested, Victims Named
May 3, 2017
UPDATE 2:30 p.m. – Authorities have arrested a hit and run driver in a deadly golf cart accident near the state line Tuesday afternoon.
Garrett Williamson, 25, is charged with reckless murder and leaving the scene of an accident with injury of death.
About 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, Flomaton Police said Williamson hit the golf cart on Old Fannie Road in Flomaton, about a half mile north of the Alabama/Florida line.
Myrtle Ann Rolin was flown by LifeGuard helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where she later passed away. James Ray Foster was airlifted by LifeFlight to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola where he was listed in stable condition at last report. Rolin and Foster are both residents of Old Flomaton Road in Century.
The vehicle that fled the scene was described by witnesses as being a blue or silver-like color car, possibly a Chevrolet Impala. The vehicle was last seen about two miles away, being driven extremely erratically as it turned from Highway 31 onto Oil Well Road, according to Flomaton Police Chief Bryan Davis.
Flomaton Police are being assisted in their investigation by the Alabama State Trooper Traffic Homicide Division. The Flomaton Fire Department and Escambia County (FL) EMS also responded to the crash.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Northview Theater To Present ‘Band Geeks’ Friday, Saturday Nights
May 3, 2017
The Northview High School Theater Department will present “Band Geeks” as their annual spring musical Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00.
Advance tickets can be purchased for $6 from the Northview front desk. Admission at the door will be $7.
Band Geeks is a high-stepping tribute to high school marching bands and misfits everywhere. With just nine members and dwindling funds, the Cuyahoga High Marching Beavers are close to extinction. When a troubled athlete is relegated to their ranks, tuba-playing band captain Elliott and his best friend Laura must find a way to unite the band, embrace their inner geek and save the Marching Beavers.
Story Time Held Each Week At Your Local Library (And Earn Ice Cream In Molino)
May 3, 2017
The West Florida Public Library offers Story Time for children five and younger each week. Story Time programs introduce young children to books, rhymes, music and other fun activities. The events incorporate the early literacy skills that children must master before they can learn to read.
Children who attend Story Time at the Molino Branch Library can collect certificates each time they go. Ten certificates can be redeemed for a free ice cream coupon through November 30.
Story Time is held:
Century Branch Library
Preschool Story Time
- Thursdays at 4 p.m.
Molino Branch Library
Preschool Story Time
- Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.
Pensacola Library
Preschool Story Time
- No Preschool Story Time in May.
Bouncy Babies Story Time
- No Bouncy Babies Story Time in May.
Tryon Branch Library
Mommy & Me
- Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. – Meeting Room B
Lapsit is a program for babies and their special someone.
Preschool Story Time
- Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. – Meeting Room A
Southwest Branch Library
Preschool Story Time
- No Preschool Story Time in May.
For more information call (850) 436-5060 or visit www.mywfpl.com. The events are always free of charge.
Pictured: Leah, the Molino Branch Library’s first ice cream cone winner. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bratt Elementary Names Students Of The Month
May 3, 2017
The following students (pictured above) were named Students of the Month for April at Bratt Elementary School.
Eli Anthony
Daylan Brown (Not Pictured)
Ava Bryan
Luke Conway
Serenity Conway
Zoey Davidson
Aakira Davis
Ella Grace Diller
Nolan Eady
Joey Fontenot (Not Pictured)
Landon Hawthorne
Jackson Helton
Chloe Morris
Jakel Phifer
Chloe Satterwhite
Trenton Schoonover
Maggie Scott
Miles Smith
Reece Starns
Emily Stilwell
Jaimee Taylor
Javan Thompson
Brooklyn Turk (Not Pictured)
Chris Weber
The students pictured below, Serenity Conway and Jaimee Taylor, were chosen to represent Bratt Elementary School as Escambia County Students of the Month for April.
Century Man Charged With Battery, Robbery, False Imprisonment
May 3, 2017
A Century man has been charged with attacking his girlfriend and holding her against her will inside her apartment.
Brandon Dewayne Jackson, 31, was charged with felony battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, criminal mischief with property damage and felony robbery by sudden snatching. He remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $62,000.
The victim told deputies that Jackson, her former boyfriend with whom she had children, attacked her inside her apartment on West Highway 4. The victim said Jackson forced his way inside, questioning her and her children about her relationship with another man. Jackson then began to push and yell at the victim before using his hand to strangle her and punch her in the face, according to an arrest report, while yelling “If I can’t have you no one will”.
The victim was able to escape out and window and went to Flomaton, before returning to get her children out of the apartment. When she returned, Jackson refused to let her leave, and he grabbed her phone when she tried to call 911. She managed to get way from Jackson and tried to leave, but he snatched her keys and refused to return them, the report states.
The victim suffered several scratches and bruises but refused medical treatment.
Farm Bureau Provides Teacher Appreciation Lunch At Ernest Ward Middle
May 3, 2017
The Molino office of Florida Farm Bureau Insurance provided a Teacher Appreciation Day lunch Tuesday for the teachers, faculty and staff at Ernest Ward Middle School. Farm Bureau agents John Johnson, Joey Hetrick and Ronnie Day grilled homemade burgers and provided a complete meal. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview, Jay Out of District Tournament
May 3, 2017
In the District 3-1A high school baseball tournament Tuesday, both Northview and Jay were eliminated. Chipley and South Walton will face off for the district championship.
Chipley 5, Northview 3
The Chipley Tigers eliminated the Northview Chiefs from the district tournament 5-3 Tuesday at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.
Northview took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third and added two more runs in the top of the fifth before Chipley answered with five runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Wilson took the loss for Northview. He pitched two innings, surrendering four runs, four hits, striking out three, and walking zero. Mascaro started the game for Northview. He went for four innings, giving up one run, one hit, and striking out six.
For Northview: Quentin Sampson 1-4, R, 2B; Chandler Lowery 1-4; Jared Aliff 1-2, R, RBI; Zach Payne 1-3, RBI, 2B; Devin Stabler 2-3, R.
South Walton 9, Jay 5
Pictured: Northview takes on Chipley Tuesday in Niceville. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ramona Preston, click to enlarge.
Showers, Thunderstorms Tonight
May 3, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 7pm. Low around 64. Southeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. High near 72. South wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming southwest after midnight.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 56. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 83.
Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 61.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 86.
Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 62.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 86.
Lawmakers Headed To Overtime For Budget
May 3, 2017
The Republican-dominated Legislature will need extra time to finish work on the state budget for the second time in three years, as lawmakers ended Tuesday with no agreement on an $83 billion spending plan for the year beginning July 1.
Negotiations between House Speaker Richard Corcoran, Senate President Joe Negron and their budget chiefs failed to work out a final deal that would allow the annual legislative session to end on Friday, as scheduled.
Because of a constitutionally required 72-hour “cooling off” period, an agreement on the budget needed to be finished Tuesday for the session to wrap up on time.
Instead, Negron stood on the Senate floor around 6:30 p.m. and conceded what had become increasingly clear: The House and Senate would miss the deadline.
“We will definitely not complete the budget work prior to the end of Friday,” said Negron, R-Stuart. “So we’ll continue to work diligently. … I think given the current schedule, it’s improbable we’d be able to finish before Friday.”
Instead, legislative leaders will now try to work out a deal by Friday at the latest, which would allow the budget to be voted on as soon as Monday. It seemed unlikely that lawmakers would meet over the weekend, when Florida State University is scheduled to hold its graduation ceremonies and fill up hotel rooms across Tallahassee.
Negron’s concession came less than a week after lawmakers had confidently predicted that they would be able to hammer out differences in their competing versions of the budget despite a tight timeline for negotiations.
Indeed, Corcoran had dismissed reporters’ questions on the process Thursday by implying that reporters were upset that they were wrong about the potential need for a special or extended session to finish the budget.
“I know all of you wrote that it was going to be a train-wreck, we’re going to go into 18 special sessions, we’re never going to get done, but now that we have come together, we’ve worked out our differences and now we’re having a conference, I think it’s going to be a spectacular session,” Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, said at the time. “There’ll be no crashes, despite your reporting, and I think it’s going to be a good day for the state of Florida.”
Corcoran told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he believed there was a 90 percent chance that the budget would be done on time.
But the obstacles to a final deal apparently proved to be too much. Negron blamed “the number of issues that we were confronted with,” from his own plans for higher education funding and a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to Corcoran’s push for extra money for charter schools and teacher bonuses to what little lawmakers did to accommodate Gov. Rick Scott’s agenda.
Corcoran and Negron stepped in to take over the negotiations Sunday afternoon following talks between their respective budget chairs. But there have been no public meetings since then.
The final stumbling block appeared to be over how to distribute $651 million in Medicaid cuts to hospitals. The House and the Senate have different formulas for how to hand out those reductions.
And Senate leaders are pitching a new source of money to help bridge the gap: nearly $200 million in payments that have been set aside while the state and the Seminole Tribe tried to work out an extension of a gambling pact.
“There may be a way to do a blended (hospital) model where both sides could win and, if we could get the House to agree on the money that we’re holding from the Seminole Tribe, that money is potentially available on a very short turnaround and maybe some of that money could be used to offset the impact of the hospital cuts,” Negron said.
It was widely assumed that the money would only be available if the Legislature came to an agreement on a new gambling deal — negotiations that fell apart Tuesday. But Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who has spearheaded Senate efforts on gambling issues, said that’s not case.
“I think ultimately we will try to access that money even if we don’t have a deal with the Seminole Tribe,” he told reporters Tuesday.
But Galvano also said the House has not agreed to use the funds.
Meanwhile, Scott was gearing up for one last push in pursuit of his priorities. The Legislature has largely ignored the governor’s agenda this year, rejecting his request for economic-development incentives, sharply reducing his request for tourism marketing funds and declining to go along with a $200 million proposal to help fix the Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee.
Scott’s office said he would launch a “Fighting for Florida’s Future” tour Wednesday, visiting the first four of several cities he will hit by the end of the week.
“All three of these issues are tied to jobs, but unfortunately the politicians in Tallahassee still haven’t committed to funding these important priorities,” Scott said. “There are still a few days left of the regular session which means that there is still time for the politicians to do the right thing and fund priorities to protect our environment and keep our economy growing.”
The threat that Scott might veto the budget has loomed over the late-stage discussions, but Corcoran and Negron said they haven’t had discussions recently about rounding up the two-thirds majorities that would be required for a veto override.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who has fought for some of Scott’s priorities, said Tuesday he didn’t believe the governor would veto the entire spending plan.
“Now ask me if he’s going to veto parts of it, (and) I’d bet money on it,” he said.
by Brandon Larrabee; News Service of Florida writers Lloyd Dunkelberger and Dara Kam contributed to this report