Molino Tornado Caught On Videos
April 22, 2018
An apparent tornado in Molino Sunday afternoon was captured on video.
For more details and damage photo gallery, click here.
credit: Wayne Gulsby for NorthEscambia.com
Minor Damage In Gonzalez From Tornado Warned Storm
April 22, 2018
Minor damage was reported on Gonzalez Sunday afternoon as a tornado-warned storm moved over the Brookside Hills subdivision off Chemstrand Road. Photos by Jeremy Buschman for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Apparent Tornado Causes Minor Damage In Molino (With Gallery)
April 22, 2018
An apparent tornado caused damage in Molino Sunday afternoon.
Several homes in the 3800 block of Crabtree Church Road in were damaged. Escambia County Emergency Communications received a call from homeowners at 1:23 p.m. reporting damage. Escambia Fire Rescue and Emergency Management crews responded and found approximately five structures incurred slight to moderate damage. Several downed trees and power lines were also found in the area.
There were no injuries or assistance requested.
The National Weather Service is expected to survey the damage on Monday or Tuesday.
For a photo gallery, click here.
For two videos of the tornado, click here.
Photos by Kristi Barber, Wayne Gulsby and others for NorthEscambia.com,click to enlarge.
Alger-Sullivan Historic District Historical Marker Dedicated
April 22, 2018
For the first time in decades, a new state historic marker was dedicated Saturday in North Escambia.
The marker near the corner of Jefferson and Front Streets commemorates the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company Residential Historic District.
The text of the historic marker is as follows:
In 1901 one of the largest and most advanced southern pine sawmills east of
the Mississippi River was built here. In the tradition of the era, the lumber
company built its own town to house and supply the families of workers
needed to operate the mill. By 1915 the mill town of Century included a hotel,
hospital, commissary, post office, executive club, business district, schools,
churches, and separate housing districts for black and white families. Housing
ranged from small shotgun houses to large two-story executive homes.
Standing along Church St. is one of the lumber company’s last built town
structures – a large theatre and recreation hall completed in 1922. After
remodeling in 1946, it became lumber company offices. The deteriorated
black residential district along Pond St. was largely demolished and the homes
replaced in 1986 through a state block grant. The remaining residential
district along Front, Church, Fourth, and Mayo Streets, and Jefferson and
Pinewood Avenues represents a rare intact example of an early twentieth
century planned company town. The district, consisting of 45 historic
structures and a formal garden site, was added to the National Register of
Historic Places in 1989.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Bratt’s Donut Boy Serves Up Sweet Thanks To Area Law Enforcement Officers
April 22, 2018
Bratt’s Donut Boy Tyler Carach has delivered doughnuts to thousands of law enforcement officers across the country. On Friday, he was busy in Brewton handing out fresh Krispy Kremes to officers from the Brewton Police Department, East Brewton Police Department, Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Department, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Escambia County (FL) Sheriff’s Office. He also dropped off doughnuts at the Flomaton and Atmore police departments.
Since buying doughnuts for four Escambia County (FL) deputies at a Bratt convenience in August 2016, Tyler has taken his mission on the road to thank every cop in America with a doughnut. He’s visited departments from Los Angeles to New York.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Enon Community Cleans Up
April 22, 2018
Enon Baptist Church hosted their first community clean up Saturday morning. Organizers said 16 people cleaned up the roadsides during the event. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Gas Prices Hit Three-Year High
April 22, 2018
Gas prices are at their most expensive point in nearly three years and continue to rise, according to AAA.
Saturday night’s average price in Escambia County was $2.77, up nearly 40 cents per gallon over last year.
“Expensive crude oil prices, unrest in the Middle East, strong domestic demand, record production rates and global oil supply surplus have created the perfect storm to drive spring gas prices toward new heights,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson. “Consumers can expect gas prices to increase.”
Today’s gas price average is 18-cents more than a month ago and 30-cents more than a year ago.
Pictured: Gas was $2.69 per gallon Saturday at this station on Highway 29 at Muscogee Road in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
A Few More Showers Possible Tonight, But The Storms Are Gone
April 22, 2018
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: A chance of showers before 10pm, then a slight chance of rain between 10pm and 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. South wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 74. West wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 71. East wind around 5 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 53. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 76.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 53.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 77.
NWE 12U Team Places Second In Myrtle Grove Tournament
April 22, 2018
The Northwest Escambia 12U baseball team placed second in a mid-season tournament Saturday at Myrtle Grove Park. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: First, Do No Harm
April 22, 2018
Debates can’t usually help, but they can kill.
That’s according to Florida Atlantic University political-science professor Kevin Wagner, who’s made a study of presidential debates.
The Florida Democratic Party’s top contenders to replace outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott faced off this week in their first debate of the campaign season.
There were a few gaffes, but nothing that would rise to the level of past candidacy-killing flubs by statewide and presidential wannabes.
And Wagner said that’s probably a good thing for the four Dems: former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Winter Park entrepreneur Chris King.
“Especially early on, you can’t win an election on a debate. It’s very rare you have a moment in a debate that puts you over the top. But you can make a mistake in a debate that might cost you,” Wagner said. “You don’t win elections in debates, but you do lose them from time to time.”
Wagner pointed out a blunder by Democrat Bill McBride during a debate against Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002.
McBride was unable to say how he would pay for enhancements to public education, prompting Bush to label his foe as a “tax and spend” Democrat.
“It made him (McBride) look like he didn’t think through budget matters or how the budget works, and that really hurt him,” Wagner said, pointing out that McBride was polling close to Bush until the debate.
McBride’s mistake also brings to mind former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s “oops” moment, when he forgot one of the three federal agencies he said he wanted to do away with during a 2011 debate between the Republican presidential candidates.
“I will tell you, it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, Education, and the — What’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said.
After much prompting, Perry wound up with: “The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”
While Perry’s bungle may have cost him on the presidential stage, it didn’t leave a permanent stain.
He’s now secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, the third agency the then-candidate wanted to eliminate but couldn’t recall.
Also on the presidential level, Wagner noted that former Vice President Dan Quayle was defined by one fatal line during a 1988 debate.
Dan Quayle likened himself to Jack Kennedy, aka former President John F. Kennedy, drawing a rebuke from Democratic vice-presidential contender Lloyd Bentsen.
“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy,” Bentsen said. That last line may have eclipsed Bentsen’s political legacy and has stuck with Quayle ever since.
In general, early debates serve as helpful dress rehearsals for candidates to hone their skills before voters really start to tune into elections.
But in a modern age where every breath is documented, stored and shared, even the slightest slip-up is saved for posterity, and potentially could come back to haunt the candidates.
“In some cases, like Dan Quayle, it will live with you for the rest of your career,” Wagner said.
SHOW UP EARLY
Whichever Democrat gets the nomination will be on a lengthy ballot in November.
The state Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every two decades, finished its work this week after approving eight proposed constitutional amendments for the general-election ballot.
Those eight proposals, covering 20 different issues, will join five other measures — three from the Legislature, and two from petition drives — already on the ballot, to bring the total to 13.
The constitutional revisions proposed by the Legislature include an expansion of the homestead property-tax exemption and a requirement for two-thirds votes by future legislatures when raising taxes or fees. The petition-drive measures would allow voters to decide on future expansions of casino gambling and would restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences.
The 13 measures on the November ballot will be the most voters have faced since 1998, the last time the Constitution Revision Commission met and put nine amendments on the ballot. Voters approved eight of the nine amendments as well as four constitutional changes sought by the Legislature.
But this year will be the first time that ballot measures from the commission will have to be approved by at least 60 percent of voters; the increase in the margin of approval from a majority vote to 60 percent came in 2006.
Critics of the current commission’s process are blasting the way it combined issues in ballot proposals, a move some opponents describe as “logrolling.”
David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, called it “surreal” and “bizarre” to watch the commission this week overwhelmingly approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would combine a ban on nearshore oil and gas drilling with a ban on vaping and electronic cigarettes in workplaces.
“It just doesn’t make sense that they should be linked together,” Mica said. “You should be able to make decisions about your public health and your economic viability separately.”
Commissioner Brecht Heuchan, chairman of the panel’s Style and Drafting Committee, defended the grouping, saying the sponsors of the drilling and vaping proposals worked together with a moniker of “clean air, clean water.”
GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO FOLD ‘EM
One of the proposed constitutional amendments that landed on the ballot through a petition drive could make it harder to expand gambling in the future.
As they ponder that possibility, legislative leaders have been scurrying to craft a potentially sweeping gambling deal before voters weigh in on Amendment 3 in November.
But while the legislative talks went on behind the scenes this week, Scott announced that he had reached a new agreement with the Seminole Tribe to keep cash from tribal casinos flowing into state coffers for another year.
The tribe agreed to continue making about $300 million a year in payments through the 2019 legislative session. In exchange for the payments, which are rooted in a 2010 gambling “compact,” the tribe would continue to have exclusive rights to offer games such as blackjack at its casinos and would continue to be the state’s only slot-machine operator outside of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Under the 13-month agreement, the Seminoles would keep up the payments “provided the state does not enact legislation to expand gaming subject to exclusivity under the compact during the forbearance period.”
Insiders are wondering if that could signal a veto from the governor, should the Legislature convene a special session and pass legislation that would grant approval for slot machines in eight counties — Brevard, Duval, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Washington — where local voters have signed off on the lucrative machines.
Even so, Wednesday’s announcement did little to scuttle talks between House and Senate leaders.
Rep. Jose Oliva and Sen. Bill Galvano, who will take over as House speaker and Senate president after the fall elections, have been in talks for weeks — without the Seminoles at the table — about a possible special session on the gambling issue.
The two leaders are reportedly near agreement but have not closed out a deal that likely would encompass slot machines, controversial “designated player” card games and myriad other gambling-related issues. Efforts by lawmakers to reach agreement on major gambling issues have repeatedly failed over the years.
“It’s a positive development but does not rule out a special. There are still many questions regarding the statewide framework of gaming,” Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, said in a text message, referring to the agreement that Scott announced Wednesday with the tribe.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Florida Constitution Revision Commission wrapped up its work, adding eight proposals to the November ballot, bringing to 13 the total number of potential constitutional changes facing voters this fall.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s Gwen and the men.” — Former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, a Democrat running for governor, during a debate with primary opponents Andrew Gillum, Philip Levine, and Chris King.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida