Heat And Humidity: Heat Index Climbs Over 100
June 19, 2018
The heat index is expected to reach 100 to 102 today, and 100 to 105 on Wednesday.
If working outdoors during the heat of the day, be prepared to take frequent breaks, drink plenty of water and wear light weight, light colored clothing, while limiting outdoor activities to the cooler part of the day, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile.
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90.
Northview FFA Chapter, Members Receive Top State Honors
June 19, 2018
The Northview High School FFA’s “Fresh From Florida Advocacy Program” was named the first place program in the state during the FFA state convention Wednesday in Orlando, one of many honors received by the chapter and its members.
The Northview High School FFA chapter was also name a Premier FFA Chapter, and a Florida’s Finest FFA Chapter. Raeleigh Woodfin was elected as FFA District 1 president, and State FFA Degrees were awarded to Cole Hassebrock and Cody Kite. America FFA Degrees were bestowed upon Tabithia Chavers, Brandon Korinchak and Mitchell Singleton.
Singleton also retired as retired as Area 1 state FFA vice president [earlier story...].
Formerly known the Food for America program, the Fresh from Florida Advocacy Program is designed to encourage FFA members to participate in agricultural literacy and awareness projects on the local level. The annual program, conducted by the Northview FFA in March, gave hundreds of students a chance to learn about agriculture firsthand as they got up close and personal with farm animals, farm equipment and more. The students even had the opportunity to make their own butter and enjoy it on crackers.
In addition to this year’s first place award. the Northview High School FFA “Fresh From Florida” program was awarded first place in Florida in 2017 and three consecutive years from 2012-2014. The program received second place in 2015 and 2016.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bydlak Endorsed By Florida Chamber In Florida House Race
June 19, 2018
The Florida Chamber of Commerce Monday announced their endorsement of Rebekah Bydlak for Florida House District 1.
“Rebekah Bydlak is a candidate who is focused on serving the public and will ensure that free-enterprise principles and long-term solutions are put ahead of short term political fixes,” Marian Johnson, senior vice president of Political Strategy at the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said. “The Florida Chamber is proud to endorse Rebekah Bydlak to serve in the Florida House.”
Bydlak was endorsed for her pro-jobs commitment and support of continuing to move Florida in the right direction, according to the Florida Chamber.
“As the daughter of a small business owner and as a nonprofit executive, I’m honored to receive the endorsement from the Florida Chamber of Commerce,” said Rebekah Bydlak. “Few organizations have done as much to defend job creators in my home state, and I look forward to fighting for free enterprise, economic growth, and job creation in the legislature.”
Florida Smokable Medical Marijuana Issue May Be On Hold
June 19, 2018
In a widely expected move, an appellate court Monday refused to lift a stay on a Tallahassee judge’s ruling that would allow patients to smoke medical marijuana if their doctors approve it.
The 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision means that patients will continue to be barred from legally smoking medical marijuana for the foreseeable future — at least until the appellate court issues a final ruling on the merits of the case.
Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers last month sided with Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan and a group of plaintiffs who filed a legal challenge after the Legislature included a ban on smoking in a 2017 law carrying out a constitutional amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana.
Gievers agreed that the text of the constitutional amendment, approved by 72 percent of Floridians in 2016, allows patients to use any form of marijuana as their treatment.
Health officials, who argued that the amendment did not expressly authorize smoking and that the state had broad leeway to regulate medical marijuana use, immediately filed an appeal, which put an automatic stay on Gievers’ May 25 ruling.
On June 6, Gievers vacated the stay, prompting the state to ask the appellate court to keep it in place. The court sided with the state on Monday, saying that Gievers’ order vacating the stay was “quashed” and that the hold “shall remain in effect pending final disposition of the merits of this appeal.”
Whether patients should be able to smoke marijuana if their doctors recommend it has set off a partisan firestorm, with Morgan — a political rainmaker and registered Democrat who largely bankrolled the 2016 constitutional amendment — stirring the political pot.
Morgan told The News Service of Florida he had expected the appellate court to keep Gievers’ ruling on hold.
“Not surprised. Rick Scott could end the appeal today. It will cost him his Senate bid. The makers of opioids are cheering him on,” Morgan wrote in an email Monday.
Morgan has repeatedly asked Scott to drop the appeal, warning that the governor’s opposition to smokable medical marijuana will alienate moderate Republicans and independents in the governor’s quest to oust U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November.
Nelson, a Democrat, recently came out in support of doctor-ordered smokable marijuana for sick patients, as have each of the Democratic candidates seeking to replace Scott as governor.
In her June 5 order lifting the stay, Gievers wrote that plaintiffs Cathy Jordan, a Lou Gehrig’s disease patient who credits smoking marijuana with saving her life, and Diana Dodson, who has neuralgia associated with HIV, would suffer without having access to smokable marijuana.
“Individual patients Jordan and Dodson are exposed to irreparable harm on two fronts. First, they cannot legally access the treatment recommended for them. Second, they face potential criminal prosecution for possession and use of the medicinal substance,” the judge wrote.
On the other hand, “there is no evidence the defendants (the state) will suffer harm if the stay is vacated,” the judge wrote.
“Lifting the stay preserves the status quo by returning the law to its previous state as it existed following the 2016 adoption of the constitutional medical marijuana rights” and before the 2017 law went into effect, she added.
But during a hearing before Gievers, Assistant Attorney General Karen Brodeen argued that there was no hurry for the stay to be lifted, in part because of a lengthy state rulemaking process. Smokable pot “won’t be available for a long time,” if the courts ultimately decide that it is legal, Brodeen said.
“There’s no irreparable harm here. Nobody, at this time, can go to a medical-marijuana treatment center and purchase smokable marijuana. That’s going to take several months down the road, after an order that requires it to be available,” she said.
The legal tangle over smokable medical marijuana is one of at least eight marijuana-related administrative or legal challenges about the state’s burgeoning cannabis industry, which some experts estimate could exceed $1 billion in revenue by 2020.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Incumbent Boutwell Qualifies To Run For Century Council
June 19, 2018
Incumbent Ben Boutwell qualified Monday to run again for his Century Town Council seat.
Boutwell was first elected to the town council in 2014. In 2016, he resigned to run for mayor. His mayoral bid was unsuccessful, and he was reappointed by the council to succeed himself. He was then re-elected to the seat in a special election.
Photo courtesy Escambia County Supervisor of Elections for NorthEscambia.com.
Forester: Good Management Prevents Pine Bark Beetles
June 19, 2018
by Escambia County Forester Cathy Hardin
Pine bark beetles rarely affect healthy trees. Impacted trees generally have been stressed in one or more ways during the past year or two. Stressors can include drought, flooding, lightning, fire, wounds to the trunk or larger limbs, compaction of soil, poor soil, competition, etc.
While there has been a slight upward trend in Southern Pine Beetle infestations in other parts of Florida, so far, the western panhandle has been spared. Southern Pine Beetles are potentially the most devastating of the southern pine bark beetles. In an outbreak, SPB can spread fast, killing many trees in a “spot” that gradually spreads outwards.
The best treatment for pine bark beetles is prevention through good forest management. To help combat one of the most economically devastating forest pests of the Southeast, the Florida Forest Service is accepting applications for the 2018 Southern Pine Beetle Assistance and Prevention Program from non-industrial, private forest landowners through June 29.
This program encourages sound management by providing incentive payments for landowners who conduct a first pulpwood thinning and offers partial cost reimbursement for activities such as prescribed burning, mechanical underbrush treatments and the planting of longleaf or slash pine rather than the loblolly pine, the beetle’s preferred species.
To obtain an application or to learn more about the Southern Pine Beetle Assistance and Prevention Program, visit FreshFromFlorida.com/SouthernPineBeetle/Prevention. Or contact the Escambia County Forester Cathy Hardin at (850) 587-5237.
This Is Qualifying Week For Local Candidates (With List Of Offices On The Ballot)
June 19, 2018
It’s qualifying week for local seats on the 2018 ballot. Qualitfying continues in Escambia County until noon on Friday.
Candidates can file their paperwork at the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) office on the second floor at 213 Palafox Place, or Wednesday only from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Century Town Hall council chambers (available to all candidates, not just those for Century council).
The Primary Election will be held August 28, 2018, and the General Election will be November 6, 2018.
The following local offices are up for election in 2018, each listed with the current office holder.
Century Town Council
- Council Seat 3: Ben Boutwell
- Council Seat 4: Gary Riley
- Council Seat 5: Sandra McMurray Jackson
Pensacola City
- Mayor: Ashton Hayward
- Council District 2: Sherri Myers
- Council District 4: Larry Johnson
- Council District 6: Brian Spencer
Escambia County Commission
- District 2: Doug Underhill
- District 4: Grover Robinson
Escambia School Board
- District 1: Kevin Adams
- District 2: Gerald Boone
- District 3: Lee Hansen (Linda Moultrie resigned)
Judicial County Court
- County Court Judge Group 2: Joyce H. Williams
- County Court Judge Group 4: Amy P. Brodersen
- County Court Judge Group 5: Kerra A. Smith
Special Districts
- ECUA District 2: Lois Benson
- ECUA District 4: Dale Perkinsfsan
- SRIA: Thomas A. Campanella
- Escambia Soil & Water Group 1: Betty Wilson
- Escambia Soil & Water Group 2: Austin Courson
- Escambia Soil & Water Group 4: Lynn Laird
An Angel At Chick-fil-A: Lost Engagement Ring And A Shared Date
June 19, 2018
Imagine Chloe Leonard’s feeling of panic.
The young McDavid woman was at the Chick-fil-A on Nine Mile Road when she realized she had lost her engagement ring.
She said the employees went out of their way to help search the entire restaurant with no results. She was back at her table, when her “angel” appeared. She knows that Chick-fil-A employee angel only by her first name Karen.
“As soon as I had given up on finding it, Karen came up to my table holding my ring,” Leonard said. “She went out of her way to keep looking and found it in the parking spot next to my car.”
Leonard was extremely thankful that she had her ring engagement ring back.
“I know for a fact God placed Karen there just for me,” she said.
And his really happy story even has another interesting twist. Karen’s wedding anniversary is October 6.
Leonard will marry Cameron Harp, the absolute love of her life, on — are you ready for this? October 6.
“I found out Karen’s anniversary is the same exact day as Cameron and I are planning to get married, she said. “God is so good.”
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
ECAT Offering Free Rides For Dump The Pump Day
June 19, 2018
Escambia County Area Transit will join with other public transportation systems nationwide to participate in the 13th annual National Dump the Pump Day on Thursday.
ECAT is offering free rides for everyone on Dump the Pump Day to encourage residents and visitors to hop on board ECAT and to ride public transit for the day.
The slogan of this year’s National Dump the Pump Day is “Dump the Pump. Ride Public Transit.” Sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association, the 2018 National Dump the Pump Day is a day that encourages people to ride public transportation in order to get where they need to go, instead of driving a car.
File photo.
Mosquito Control Plans Spray Areas South Of Muscogee, North Of Kingsfield Tonight
June 18, 2018
Escambia County Mosquito Control plans to conduct a fogging operation today.
The spray areas south of Muscogee Road and north of Kingsfield Road and east of Highway 95A are highlighted in the maps on this page in light green; the hatch-marked areas are no spray zones. Click either map to enlarge.
Mission hours vary, but typically occur in the evening hours from 6-9:30 p.m.
When possible, pre-application and post-application surveillance is performed to ensure fogging is warranted. Methods used to determine need include dry ice-baited light traps, landing rate counts and service requests received from the public.
To make a request for service or an area to be listed as a no spray area, call (850) 937-2188, submit an online request here or email mosquitocontrol@myescambia.com.
