Sunny And Warm Today, Rain Into Saturday Morning
April 6, 2018
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Friday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms. High near 69. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. North wind around 5 mph.
Monday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72.
Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 46.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 72.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.
Sunny Skies Today, Rain By Saturday
April 5, 2018
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 72. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. South wind around 10 mph.
Saturday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 70. Southwest wind around 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. North wind around 5 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 74.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47.
Escambia’s Second Steel Pre-Fab Bridge Installed On Nokomis Road
April 5, 2018
Workers installed a new prefabricated steel bridge to replace the Nokomis Road bridge over Reedy Creek on Wednesday.
Now that the 50 x 36 foot bridge is in place, work on the asphalt approach and other items are expected to be complete and the road is expected to be open by the end of April, according to County Administrator Jack Brown.
Due to structural deficiencies, the state ordered the Nokomis Road bridge closed in December. The county implemented a short detour on the dirt Albritton and Jakes Roads. Due to the November 8 closure of a bridge on Arthur Brown Road and a November 14 closure of a bridge on Arthur Brown Road, the only detour options were a 31-mile, 30-35 mph average speed detour in Florida, or a lengthy detour into Alabama.
The detour solutions all presented hazards to the public, according to county officials.
After implementing the detour, the county received several calls from area residents who are concerned about meeting and passing truck traffic because of the narrow width of Jakes Road and its steep shoulders making them feel unsafe when pulling to the side when meeting trucks and other vehicles. Rain also causes the dirt road surface to become slippery and unstable. Vehicles, including emergency vehicles, are at risk of becoming stuck when pulling onto these shoulders.
The first steel permanent replacement bridge in Escambia County recently opened on Arthur Brown Road (there were two bridges closed on Arthur Brown Road). The bridge over Freeman Springs Branch was closed November 8 and bridge replacement work began on December 6 after prep work was completed. The new 24-foot wide steel bridge arrived in three major pieces on January 5. It was installed on January 6 and was open by January 29.
The steel bridge on Arthur Brown Road saved several months of construction time and cost about $400,000 as opposed to $1 million for a concrete bridge.
The new bridges are solid American steel with corrugated decks that are paved with asphalt after installation for several decades of service.
Pictured: A prefabricated steel bridge was installed Wednesday on Nokomis Road. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Firefighters Respond To Possible Natural Gas Leak In Bratt
April 5, 2018
Firefighters responded to a possible gas leak from a natural gas valve station near Bratt.
A passerby reported the smell of gas on North Highway 99 near Amerson Drive about 9 p.m. Wednesday. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue responded and found a strong smell of gas coming from the high pressure Pensacola Energy pipeline located in the yard of a residence about 150 feet off the roadway.
It was not immediately clear if there was an actual minor gas leak or a leak of the mercaptan — the harmeless chemical added to natural gas that gives off a strong “rotten egg” odor. It was known that if any natural gas was leaking, it was not a high enough level to be extremely dangerous.
Pensacola Energy responded to evaluate the pipeline.
There were no evacuations ordered.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
State Fights Ruling On Felon Rights Restoration
April 5, 2018
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Wednesday continued battling a judge’s ruling that would require the state to overhaul the controversial process for restoring ex-felons’ voting rights, taking the case to a federal appeals court.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office filed a notice of appeal at the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Also, it requested a stay of an order by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker that gave the state an April 26 deadline for making changes to the rights-restoration process.
But Walker, in a sharply worded decision, quickly rejected the request for a stay and reiterated earlier rulings that the state’s current process for restoring rights is unconstitutional.
“Rather than comply with the requirements of the United States Constitution, defendants continue to insist they can do whatever they want
with hundreds of thousands of Floridians’ voting rights and absolutely zero standards,” Walker wrote in a six-page decision. “They ask this court to stay its prior orders. No.”
Walker in the earlier rulings said the current process is unconstitutional, in part, because it gives Scott and Cabinet members, serving as the state Board of Executive Clemency, “unfettered discretion” in deciding whether former felons should have their rights restored after completing sentences.
But in a 27-page motion Wednesday requesting the stay, attorneys in Bondi’s office hammered Walker’s rulings and defended the state’s authority to decide how to handle restoration of rights.
“(The) injunction in this case does not just prevent the state from effectuating state law,” the motion said. “It also directs four of the state’s highest-ranking executive officers to revamp a 150-year-old vote-restoration scheme in 30 days. A federal court order requiring state officials to come up with new state policies impinges on the sovereignty and autonomy of the state.”
That drew a sharp rebuke in the decision Walker issued later in the day rejecting the stay.
“The stay motion is littered with other astounding arguments that fail to outline substantial likelihood on the merits or irreparable harm to any party,” he wrote in one part of the decision. “For example, this court is left scratching its head when considering how its order directing defendants to comply with the federal Constitution impinges on state sovereignty. This extraordinary argument is rooted in neither common sense nor reality. As this court has made clear again and again, defendants shall be the body to promulgate constitutional rules, not this court.”
Walker, in an order issued March 27 and in an earlier ruling, said the state was violating First Amendment rights and equal-protection rights of ex-felons. But the state’s attorneys wrote in Wednesday’s motion that Walker “relied on unsubstantiated insinuations of actual discrimination,” and they sought to dispel arguments that the restoration process is unconstitutional.
“In short, federal law, as authoritatively construed by the (U.S.) Supreme Court, affirmatively authorizes the state not to maintain any vote-restoration system; this (Walker’s) court may not instruct state officials on how to conform their conduct to state law; state law does not require the Board (of Executive Clemency) to come up with a new process for considering applications seeking restoration of civil rights; and, even if state law could be construed to require an active and ongoing process by which voting rights may be restored, such a process is already in place,” the motion said. “Thus, this court’s injunction improperly prevents the state from pursuing policy options consonant with federal and state law.”
In his decision rejecting the stay, Walker wrote that state officials “remain bound” by the April 26 deadline, though he noted the state can seek a stay from the appeals court.
“This court does not play games,” Walker wrote. “This court is not going to sit on defendants’ motion and run out the clock. If the Eleventh Circuit finds that a clemency scheme granting unfettered discretion to elected officials — with personal stakes in shaping the electorate —over plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights passes constitutional muster, this court must accept that holding. Until that day, if it ever comes, this court denies defendants’ request for a stay.”
Restoration of voting rights has long been a controversial legal and political issue in Florida. After taking office in 2011, Scott and Bondi played key roles in changing the process to effectively make it harder for felons to get their rights restored.
Under the current process, ex-felons must wait five or seven years after their sentences are complete to apply to have rights restored. After applications are filed, the process can take years to complete.
A political committee known as Floridians for a Fair Democracy has collected enough petition signatures to place a measure on the November general-election ballot that, if approved by voters, would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences, completed parole or probation and paid restitution. Murderers and sex offenders would be excluded under the measure, which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 4.
As a sign of the political implications of the restoration issue, Democratic gubernatorial candidates Gwen Graham, Philip Levine and Andrew Gillum quickly issued statements Wednesday criticizing Scott and Bondi for appealing Walker’s decision. Critics of the current process say it disproportionately prevents African-Americans from voting.
“Stripping Floridians of their voting rights is a shameful policy with roots in the Jim Crow era,” Graham said in her statement. “If Rick Scott won’t act to restore voting rights, the people of Florida will do it for him this November — and, as governor, I will ensure the rights restoration amendment is fully implemented.”
But John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, issued a statement that said state elected officials, not federal judges, should determine clemency policies.
“The governor will always stand with victims of crime,” Tupps said. “He believes that people who have been convicted of crimes like murder, violence against children and domestic violence, should demonstrate that they can live a life free of crime while being accountable to our communities.”
The Fair Elections Legal Network and the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC filed the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the restoration process.
Walker’s March 27 ruling chastised Scott and other state officials and ordered the clemency board to devise a constitutionally sound program with “specific, neutral criteria that excise the risk — and, of course, the actual practice of — any impermissible discrimination, such as race, gender, religion or viewpoint.”
Walker did not specify a particular process but ordered that “Florida’s corrected scheme cannot be byzantine or burdensome.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Report Filed Week Before House Fire Claiming Evicted Tenant Cut Wires
April 5, 2018
The owner of a house that burned Monday in Bratt had evicted the residents and filed a police report a week ago stating that electric wires in the house had been damaged.
Flames were shooting several feet into the air from the home in the 5500 block of West Highway 4 near Still Road when firefighters arrived on scene shortly after 3 p.m. The attic of the home was fully involved.
According to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by NorthEcambia.com, deputies responded to the home on Monday, March 26. The landlord told deputies that she had evicted a tenant on Friday, March 23. She told deputies that the previous tenant left the house wide open, in complete disarray with property left behind, and that power cords had been cut to two air conditioning units, a stove and and refrigerator.
“There was no way to tell if the tenants damaged the cords or of someone walking into the open house and damaged them,” the ECSO report states.
The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.
For more photos, click here.
Video is at the bottom of the page.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Found Passed Out At Traffic Light Convicted Of Meth Trafficking
April 5, 2018
A Cantonment man found passed out in his vehicle at an intersection in Santa Rosa County has been convicted of drug trafficking.
Robbie Donaldson, 60, was found guilty by a Santa Rosa County jury of trafficking in methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On May 20, 2017, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office responded to a citizen report of a reckless driver. Deputies arrived to find Donaldson passed out over the steering wheel with his vehicle running and in gear at a traffic light. While the Donaldson was being cleared by a EMS to ensure that he was not experiencing a medical emergency, an officer observed a syringe on the driver’s side floorboard of the his rental vehicle and an empty baggie.
After a positive alert from a K-9, deputies searched the vehicle and found 17.8 grams of methamphetamine in the center console of the vehicle along with numerous syringes, small baggies, a scale and other drug paraphernalia.
Circuit Judge David Rimmer scheduled sentencing for June 2. Donaldson faces a three year minimum mandatory sentence for the trafficking conviction and up to 30 years in state prison.
Escambia County 4-H Livestock Show Results Announced
April 5, 2018
Youth from Escambia County and surrounding areas had the opportunity to show off their animals and compete for prizes last recently at the Gulf Coast Agriculture and Natural Resources Youth Organization’s annual Spring Livestock Show in Molino.
The livestock show , featured animal exhibits of swine, cattle, poultry, sheep, goats and more. Is was the culmination of livestock projects by 4-H youth and FFA members lasting 100 days or longer, during which they raise their animals, monitor their health and nutrition, keep records and work to obtain a buyer.
For a photo gallery from the livestock show, click here.
The livestock show took place at the 4-H barns located at 5701 Highway 99 in Molino, in conjunction with the Blue Jacket Jamboree hosted by Northview FFA.
The results of the 2018 livestock show, separated by category, are:
Chiropractor Charged With Arson
April 5, 2018
A Pensacola chiropractor was arrested on a charge of arson following a fire at her office on March 22.
Vicki Lee Dempsy, 33, was charged with second degree arson and booked into the Escambia County Jail with bonds set at $25,000. According to the Florida Department of Health, Dempsey is a licensed chiropractor at 744 East Burgess Road, the site of the fire.
Escambia Fire Rescue firefighters found a fire coming from a window that was traveling into the attic. They reportedly found a stove with a knob turned to “on” and papers on the stove top.
File photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Area Teams Compete In Jay Invitational Track Meet (With Photo Gallery)
April 5, 2018
Here are results from the Jay Invitational track meet held Tuesday.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Top Schools, Women (with points)
- Baker High School 166.50
- Pensacola Christian Academy 156.50
- Paxton School 88
- Northview High School 79
- Jay High School 71
- Rocky Bayou Christian School 61
- Central High School 13
- Freeport High School 10
Top Schools, Men (with points)
- Pensacola Christian Academy 139
- Northview High School 129
- Jay High School 81
- Paxton School 77
- Central High School 64
- Baker High School 62
- Rocky Bayou Christian School 51
- Freeport High School 40
For complete results, click here (pdf).
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
