Florida Gets Federal Money For Opiod Fight
September 20, 2018
Florida has been awarded $61.7 million to help fight opioid addiction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday.
The federal agency said the majority of the funding, $50.1 million, will be targeted to medication-assisted treatment and prevention.
The remaining $11.6 million will be used to help community health centers, academic institutions and rural organizations expand access to substance-abuse and mental-health services.
The awards were announced a week after the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a 2017 survey on drug use and health. The survey found that the number of Americans starting to use heroin dropped by about half from 2016 to 2017.
The number of Americans misusing opioids also dropped for the second year in a row. From January 2017 through August 2018, the amount of opioids prescribed in America has dropped by 21 percent. In the same time, the number of prescriptions filled for naloxone — a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses — has increased 264 percent, while the number of prescriptions for buprenorphine, one form of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, has risen 16 percent.
Two Forced From Their Home By Cantonment Fire
September 19, 2018
Fire forced two people from the building they called home Tuesday in Cantonment.
The American Red Cross was called to assist two people that lived in the “cottage”, according to an Escambia County spokesperson.
The fire on Well Line Road was reported about 1:35 p.m. Firefigthers arrived to find a working structure fire.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Driver Not Seriously Injured In Collision With Deer
September 19, 2018
A driver wast not seriously injured in a collision with a deer on Highway 29 north of Chance Road in Molino Tuesday night. The vehicle’s airbags deployed.
The Florida Highway Patrol worked the crash. The Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded.
The deer did not survive.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bratt Elementary School Names Students Of The Month
September 19, 2018
Bratt Elementary School has named their Students of the Month for September. They are:
Pre-K
- Amahl Atallah
- Jaxon Bullard
Kindergarten
- Avaiha Colbert
- Patton Amos
- Nikko Bazaldua
- Melody Sage
1st Grade
- Audrina Miller
- Chayton Rolin
- Walker Morris
- Brooklynne Fountain
- Ella Grace Diller
2nd Grade
- Alexis Amerson
- Keylashia Randle
- Mason Helton
- Noah Luker
3rd Grade
- Morgan Bossard
- Ja’Kari Evans
- Sawyer Gilmore
- Jamaris Durant
- Kaylee Wilson
4th Grade
- Christian Carraway
- Lori Hall
- Presley Johnson
5th Grade
- LanDon Johnson
- Talise Gregson
- Reece Starns
- Desiray Bagwell
Gillum, DeSantis Offers Sharply Different School Plans
September 19, 2018
The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor on Tuesday launched competing plans to improve Florida’s schools.
In a news conference in Tallahassee, Democrat Andrew Gillum defended his proposal, first announced in January, to provide a minimum $50,000 starting salary for teachers by increasing the state corporate-income tax by $1 billion.
Republican Ron DeSantis released a detailed education plan, including a measure that would require 80 percent of school funding to be spent in classrooms and not on administration. He said the plan could help boost teacher pay.
Republicans have been criticizing Gillum’s plan to increase the corporate-income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 7.75 percent to raise $1 billion for schools, providing money for teacher pay and early-education programs.
Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, said only the largest corporations pay the tax because of exemptions, estimating his proposal would impact about 3 percent of the companies doing business in the state. He said the increase would be offset by more than $6 billion in reduced taxes the corporations are paying because of the recent cut in the federal corporate tax.
“I will not allow them to get away with miss-describing what it is that we are proposing. We are simply saying that we’ve got to invest in our next generation,” Gillum said. “I want this state to be measured by the investment we make in kids, not into as many tax breaks as we can manage, but in our children. And I believe these are reasoned approaches.”
Gillum called it “an embarrassing indictment” of the state that Florida teacher pay ranks 45th among the states and that salaries are $12,000 below the national average.
He dismissed arguments that raising the corporate income tax would result in higher costs for consumers if companies passed on the tab through higher prices for goods and services. He noted the corporate tax rate was higher in Georgia, at 6 percent, yet “the 99-cent menu is the same in both our states.”
“I don’t buy that argument. It’s a red herring,” Gillum said.
But Republicans slammed the tax plan.
“No matter how he tries to spin this, raising $1 billion in taxes would be a disaster for hardworking Florida families,” said Meredith Beatrice, a spokeswoman for the Florida Republican Party. “Gillum wants to hand over control to the teachers’ unions and put special interests and bureaucrats ahead of students.”
Meanwhile, DeSantis, a former congressman from Ponte Vedra Beach, released his plan calling for 80 percent of education funding to be spent in classrooms. His campaign policy statement said it would “cut bureaucratic waste and administrative inefficiency and ensure that money is being spent where it matters most.”
After touring the Okaloosa STEMM Academy in Valparaiso on Tuesday, DeSantis said his plan could boost pay for teachers.
“As we’re moving away from bureaucracy and putting more of the percentage of money we spend into the classroom, to me, the primary beneficiary is going to be the teachers,” he told reporters.
DeSantis said he also wants to revamp teacher bonus programs and make them “more reflective of what you’re doing in the classroom.” He said he would support changing the current “Best and Brightest” program that has awarded bonuses based on teachers’ SAT and ACT college-entrance scores.
DeSantis also called for a review of curriculum standards now used in schools and said he wants to work on a provision that would require “constitutional principles” be taught as part of civics education.
He also said he would support a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on local school board members.
DeSantis’ “80 percent” plan is similar to a measure advanced in the Florida House more than decade ago, with lawmakers setting the classroom percentage at 65 percent. But the proposal failed in the Senate, in part, because of the difficulty of identifying funds spent inside or outside the classrooms.
“Aside from the fact that the scheme flies in face of local control of schools, it is a political gimmick that other states have tried and abandoned,” Joanne McCall, president of Florida Education Association, the major teachers’ union, said in a statement.
McCall said DeSantis’ overall education plan provides “no large-scale proposals that would make it easier for districts to hire and keep qualified teachers and education staff professionals.”
In a clear difference with Gillum, DeSantis also said he would work to expand education “choice” programs, including the use of corporate tax credits that sent more than 108,000 students to private schools in the last year.
DeSantis credited the voucher-like programs for Florida’s recent success in national testing measures, including the National Assessment of Education Progress, and for its rising high school graduation rate.
Gillum vowed to end “the voucherizing of the education system” that began under former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
“We’ve got to begin to bring that to conclusion,” Gillum said. “It’s been 20 years of the underfunding, the defunding of the public (school) system, which still educates over 90 percent of our kids.”
by Llord Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Heat And Humidity, And Some Scattered Showers
September 19, 2018
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Calm wind.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89.
Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71.
Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Cross Country Team Runs For Childhood Cancer Awareness
September 19, 2018
Northview High School’s country team ran for a childhood cancer awareness Tuesday, with team members wearing symbolic gold bandanas during their meet with Flomaton and Jay.
The team ran in honor of 11-year old Brooklyn Alana Davison, a 10-year survivor of a rare Neuroblastoma cancer. Davison is a sixth grader at Stapleton Elementary School in Baldwin County and the special friend of a Northview cross country team member.
Results were as follows:
Boys
- Northview
- Flomaton
Jay ran individual male runners.
Girls
- Jay
- Northview
Flomaton did not enter any female runners.
For more photos, click to enlarge.
NorthEscambia.com and submitted photos, click to enlarge.
Nearly $1 Million In Grants Awarded To Support Longleaf Pine Forests
September 19, 2018
Gulf Power in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other groups have announced its 2018 round of Longleaf Stewardship Fund grants that will benefit habitat restoration and species recovery across Northwest Florida.
The lion’s share of the $1 million — $920,000 — has been awarded to Longleaf Alliance for work on Gulf Coast Ecosystem Plain Partnership lands. GCPEP is a collaboration of 15 public and private landowners with over 1.3 million acres of land that stretches from the Florida-Alabama border on the west, east to the Choctawhatchee River and includes the Conecuh Forest that adjoins the Blackwater River State Forest on the northern border of Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. The partners take a landscape approach to conserve and restore the dwindling longleaf pine ecosystem.
“This is the most money we’ve received at one time, and it’s a huge step for ecosystem restoration and rare species recovery in the landscape,” said Vernon Compton, the Alliance’s GCPEP director. “It will allow our Ecosystem Support Team to work across the landscape on multiple projects from helping with prescribed burns to invasive species control, and to do more work on species recovery. The Ecosystem Support Team is trained for the specialized and labor-intensive work rare species recovery requires.”
The grant dollars will be used to:
- Restore and maintain 112,958 acres of longleaf pine habitat within the western panhandle of Florida and southern Alabama.
- Prioritize and accelerate, in this same area, recovery of declining and at-risk species, including bobwhite quail, gopher tortoise and reticulated flatwood salamander.
- Support local environmental conservation jobs.
There are only 29 known reticulated flatwood salamander breeding wetlands that have been recently occupied in the Southeast U.S. and 27 of them are on the GCPEP land in the Gulf Power service area. This new grant will allow the Ecosystem Support Team to do more work with partners to help save these rare salamanders.
“These salamanders are all part of the chain in nature,” Compton said. “If you have good conditions for salamanders then you have good conditions for many other rare or declining species too.”
The GCPEP funding will also provide more money for a project launched last year to rescue gopher tortoises from construction sites in Central and South Florida and relocate them to the Eglin Air Force Base conservation lands. The project’s goal is aimed at bolstering the populations to prevent the tortoises from being listed in 2023 under the federal Endangered Species Act, a development that could impact some of Eglin’s training and testing operations.
Thanks to these new grant dollars, University of West Florida students will be participating in a new project — the National Bobwhite Quail Initiative Focal Area will be developed to support bobwhite quail habitat restoration and recovery in the Conecuh Forest. Compton explained that the students will go into the forest and learn how to recognize the bird’s calls to conduct rare bird and quail research and monitoring, to determine if GCPEP habitat and species restoration efforts are successful.
The fire-adapted longleaf pine ecosystem once encompassed more than 90 million acres across the Southeast, but it has been reduced to only about 5 percent of its historical range. It supports immense biodiversity and important game species such as the bobwhite quail, wild turkey and white-tailed deer.
“Gulf Power is proud to be able to support investments in projects that will help restore this rich ecosystem, enhance wildlife habitat and create recreation opportunities while engaging students and public and private landowners in important conservation work,” Kimberly Blair, Gulf Power spokesperson. “We have a long history of environmental stewardship and these grants will further strengthen the restoration efforts of the longleaf pine forests in Northwest Florida and the native wildlife it supports.”
Pensacola Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Bayview Park Cross Case
September 18, 2018
The City of Pensacola is asking the U.S Supreme Court to hear the case of the Bayview Park cross.
A wooden cross was first placed in Pensacola’s Bayview Park in 1941 by the Jaycees, a local community service group, as the U.S. prepared to enter World War II. The cross has been a popular gathering place for over 75 years and is one of over 170 displays in Pensacola’s parks commemorating the city’s history and culture, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
In 2016, an atheist organization sued the city, claiming that the cross is “offensive” and establishes a government religion.
The appeal comes as the Supreme Court is considering a similar case involving the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a World War I memorial in Maryland. Pensacola has asked the Supreme Court to join the two cases together and decide if historic symbols like the cross are permitted in the public square.
“Religious symbols aren’t like graffiti that the government has to erase as soon as someone complains,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, which is representing the city. “The Constitution lets the government recognize the important role of religion in our history and culture.”
The court of appeals based its ruling on the notorious “Lemon test”, which has been criticized by scholars and Supreme Court justices as inconsistent with the historical meaning of the Constitution. Nevertheless, the court said the Lemon test hasn’t been “directly overruled,” so “our hands are tied.” Two of the three judges said the law should be fixed and the cross should remain.
“Pensacola is a diverse city that welcomes people of all faiths and none,” said Ashton Hayward, mayor of Pensacola. “The cross is a valuable part of our history; tearing it down would needlessly signal hostility toward religion. The city looks forward to a victory in the Supreme Court.”
Becket is representing the City of Pensacola free of charge together with Stanford Law Professor and former Tenth Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell. The city is also represented by J. Nixon Daniel, III, and Terrie L. Didier of Beggs & Lane.
Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Traffic Light At 297A And Kingsfield Now Active
September 18, 2018
A new overhead traffic light was activated Monday at the intersection of Highway 297A and Kingsfield Road in Cantonment.
Other intersection work underway includes lane improvements, pedestrian amenities and drainage upgrades. The project is anticipated to be completed within the next few weeks. All activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Escambia County said the project will greatly improve general and school traffic along the two roadways.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.