Local Unemployment Rate Falls Slightly
January 21, 2018
The latest job numbers released Friday show the employment rate falling slightly in Escambia County.
Escambia County’s seasonably adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent in December, down slightly from 3.9 percent in November. There were 5,117 people reported unemployed during the period. One year ago, unemployment in Escambia County was 4.8 percent.
Florida’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly from November to December, as the estimated number of people out of work grew by 5,000 from the state’s workforce of 10.1 million.
The change pushed the jobless rate from 3.6 percent in November to 3.7 percent in December, representing 374,000 Floridians out of work as the year ended, according to numbers posted Friday by the Department of Economic Opportunity. The numbers also indicate 118,000 fewer people were classified as unemployed in December compared to the end of 2016. Fields that experienced the top growth over the past year include the service industry, office jobs and construction.
The jobless numbers released by the state do not include persons that have given up on finding a job and are no longer reported as unemployed.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Price Of Postage Goes Up Sunday
January 21, 2018
The price of postage increased on Sunday.
The price of First-Class Mail Forever Stamps went up from 49 to 50 cents. Postcards climbed from 34 to 35 cents and metered letters went up from 46 to 47 cents.
The prices for single-piece letters being mailed to international destinations or for additional ounces for letters remained the same.
New Shipping Services product prices increased Priority Mail 3.9 percent and Priority Mail Retail an average of 0.8 percent. The new rates are as follows:
- Small Flat Rate Box
- Current price: $7.15
- Price after increase: $7:20
- Medium Flat Rate Box
- Current price: $13.60
- Price after increase: $13.65
- Large Flat Rate Box
- Current price: $18.85
- Price after increase: $18.90
- APO/FPO Large Flat Rate Box
- Current Price: $17.35
- Price after increase: $17.40
- Regular Flat Rate Envelope
- Current price: $6.65
- Price after increase: $6.70
- Legal Flat Rate Envelope
- Current Price: $6.95
- Price after increase: $7.00
- Padded Flat Rate Envelope
- Current price: $7.20
- Price after increase: $7.25
UWF Receives Top Award For Luna Settlement Project
January 21, 2018
The University of West Florida Division of Anthropology and Archaeology recently received the 2018 Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology for the Tristan de Luna y Arellano project. The award was presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology’s annual meeting, held Jan. 3-6 in New Orleans.
“Our Luna Project team has been working for several decades, first on the shipwrecks and recently on the settlement, to explore archaeological traces of Luna’s ships and colonists after a hurricane destroyed the colony’s food supplies, and left the survivors stranded on the shores of Pensacola Bay from 1559 to 1561,” said Dr. Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Division of Anthropology and Archaeology and the Archaeology Institute. “From the beginning, we have reached out to Pensacolians to share our findings through lectures, websites, tours, and hands on opportunities, as we piece together this important story. We are indebted to the support and interest from the community, and especially the Luna neighbors who have allowed us to excavate in their yards. We are very honored to receive this prestigious award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology from the Society for Historical Archaeology.”
The award recognizes the efforts of a large team of faculty, staff, and students from the UWF Division of Anthropology and Archaeology, which includes the Department of Anthropology, the Archaeology Institute, the Florida Public Archaeology Network and Marine Services Center at UWF. The team has been studying the shipwrecks and land settlement linked to the 16th-century Spanish expedition led by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano from Veracruz, Mexico to modern-day Pensacola, marking the earliest multi-year European settlement in the U.S.
The first ship, named Emanuel Point I by archaeologists, was discovered in Pensacola Bay by the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research in 1992. In 2006, UWF archaeologists identified a second shipwreck, Emanuel Point II. In December 2015, the UWF archaeology program identified the location of the Luna land settlement, serving as evidence of Pensacola being home to the first multi-year European settlement in the U.S. The team then discovered a third shipwreck, Emanuel Point III, in June 2016.
Driver In Neck Brace Flees Hwy 97 Accident Scene
January 20, 2018
A driver already wearing a neck brace allegedly fled the scene of a crash on Highway 97 near Dogwood Park Friday afternoon.
The accident happened about 2:15 in the 2400 block of Highway 97, just north of Gibson Road. The vehicle that left the scene was described by a witness as a blue, older model four door sedan of an unknown type driven by a white male who was wearing a neck brace at the time of the crash. It is believed he left southbound on Highway 97.
The driver of the vehicle that remained on scene was not injured.
The crash is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call the Florida Highway Patrol at (850) 484-5000.
Pictured: One of the vehicles involved in a crash Friday afternoon on Highway 97 in Molino. The vehicle was removed from the roadway following the accident. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Woman Sentenced In ‘Flomo Klown’ Terroristic Clown Threat Case
January 20, 2018
A Flomaton woman has been sentenced in the 2016 “Flomo Klown case”.
Makayla Smith of Pecan Leaf Lane in Flomaton was sentenced to the maximum of 120 months in prison after pleading guilty to making a terroristic threat. But that sentence was then suspended and she was placed on probation for 60 months. If she violates probation, she could then be ordered to serve the full 120 month prison sentence. While on probation, Smith if forbidden to use social media.
Multiple Escambia County, AL, schools were were place on lockdown in September 2016 due to the report of possible violence from clown.
A Facebook page entitled “Flomo Klowns” that featured scary clowns with blood and other gore prompted the lockdown at Flomaton High School, Flomaton Middle School and Flomaton Elementary (all located on the same campus), Huxford Elementary north of Atmore, Escambia Academy near Atmore and a partial lockdown of Escambia County High School in Atmore.
The Flomo Klowns Facebook page said that they were from Flomaton and contained statements such as “I kill people for a living” and a Thursday post that stated “It’s going down tonight”.
At least two juveniles were also charged in the case, but information on their cases has not been released. None of the suspects had affiliation with or were attending the public school system.
Execution Date Set For Man That Brutally Murdered UWF Student
January 20, 2018
An execution date has been set for a man convicted of the brutal death of a University of West Florida student 25 years ago.
Eric Scott Branch is now set to die on Thursday, February 22 at 6 p.m. according to a death warrant signed Friday by Gov. Rick Scott.
On the evening of January 11, 1993, Branch attacked Susan Morris as she walked to her car in the campus parking lot of the University of West Florida. Branch dragged Morris into a nearby wooded area where he severely beat her in the face and head, strangled her, and sexually battered her. Branch then left Morris’ body in a shallow grave covered with dirt and leaves, and stole her car to flee out of the state.
An Escambia County jury convicted Branch in 1994 of first-degree murder and sexual battery.
Branch was previously convicted for the 1991 sexual battery and beating of a 14-year-old girl in Indiana, and was subsequently convicted in Bay County for another sexual battery that he had committed 10 days prior to killing Susan Morris.
Registration Going On At Molino, NWE, Century Ballparks
January 20, 2018
Registration is underway at the Century Little League and Northwest Escambia Bradberry Park.
Century Little League
Registration for the Century Little League 2018 baseball and softball season will be held at Showalter Park in Century as follows:
Saturday January 27, 9 a.m. – noon
Thursday February 1, 6-8 p.m.
Saturday February 3, 9 a.m. – noon
The registration fee is $50 for the first child, $45 for each additional sibling. Teams are available for ages 4 and up. A birth certificate copy is needed for sign-up.
Payment by cash or check (payable to “Century Little League”) is due in full at time of sign-up. For more information, contact B.J. Reid at (850) 426- 7592, Nathan Brown at (850) 377- 0962, or Kristina Broom at (850) 305- 6712.
Northwest Escambia Bradberry Park
Online registration is underway at nwebaseball.com until February 3. A late registration fee will be applied after February 3. In-person registration available at the field house as follows:
Monday, January 22, 6-8 p.m.
Tuesday, January 23, 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 24, 6-8 p.m.
Thursday, January 25, 6-8 p.m.
Friday, January 26, 6-8 p.m.
Saturday, January 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Highway 90 Crash Claims One Life Friday Night
January 20, 2018
An Alabama man died in a traffic crash Friday night on Highway 90 west of Beulah.
James Swope, age 46 of Seminole, was driving a 2001 Nissan Maxima west on Highway 90 about 6:10 p.m. as a 1989 Ford dump truck driven by 39-year old Patrick Bundy of Robertsdale was exiting a weigh station. Swope and his Maxima rear-ended the dump truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Swope was pronounced deceased following the crash.
Further details are pending the outcome of the Florida Highway Patrol’s traffic homicide investigation.
Photo courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Tallahassee Grapples With Gambling, Storms
January 20, 2018
Plants froze. Pipes burst. Noses dripped.
Temperatures approached the teens this week in Tallahassee, causing a conundrum for visitors to the Capitol from balmier regions of the state.
But the frost outside didn’t create a chill inside the Capitol, where House and Senate committees sifted through a range of legislation that included Hurricane Irma fallout, gambling and opioids.
The legislative week also gave Rep. Ross Spano, a Dover Republican running for attorney general, an opportunity to burnish his conservative creds with a measure that would declare pornography a public health risk.
According to Spano, research shows a correlation between porn and “mental and physical illnesses, difficulty forming and maintaining intimate relationships,” and a host of other ills.
The only “no” vote on the measure, approved by a House panel Thursday, came from Republican Rep. Cary Pigman, an emergency-room doctor who said the state should focus on real health risks affecting Floridians, such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes.
Objections to pornography have historically been overridden by First Amendment protections, calling to mind Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler and other sexually graphic mags.
“Freedom of speech doesn’t protect speech you like; it protects speech you don’t like,” Flynt, who’s been entangled in several First Amendment fights, once said.
ANTI-GAMBLING PROPOSAL HITS THE JACKPOT
The “Voter Control of Gambling Amendment,” an initiative largely bankrolled by a Disney company and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, would make it harder to expand gambling in Florida by requiring voter approval for any form of casino gambling, an issue now largely controlled by the Legislature.
Backers of the amendment this week topped the 766,200 petition signatures required to get on the November general-election ballot, where it will appear as Amendment 3. The Florida Supreme Court last year approved the ballot language. Like all constitutional changes, the proposal will require 60 percent approval from voters in November to pass.
If ultimately approved, the proposal would give voters the “exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling” in the state. The change would require voter approval of casino-style games, such as slots, in the future.
The amendment pits the state’s gambling industry — and many members of the Legislature — against anti-gambling advocates in what is expected to be a high-dollar campaign before the fall election.
“It’s game over for the Legislature if that (constitutional) amendment gets on the ballot and passes. And at that point, we’ll just be spectators in the world of gaming, which will essentially be a monopoly for the Seminole Tribe,” Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who has been instrumental in gambling-related legislation for eight years, told the News Service on Wednesday.
Industry representatives also foreshadowed dire consequences if the constitutional amendment passes.
“I think it will have a huge impact on our industry, because as opposed to the Legislature regulating us, we’ll need 60 percent of the residents of Florida to regulate us in the future. And, as the most regulated business in the state, that just makes anything we want to do to grow our business in the future more difficult,” Izzy Havenick, whose family owns dog tracks in Naples and Miami, said in an interview.
SENATE ADOPTS NEW SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY
After the resignation of two prominent senators because of sex scandals, Senate President Joe Negron this week released a new sexual-harassment policy outlining do’s and don’ts — mostly don’ts — to guide senators, aides and lobbyists.
Unwelcome physical behavior that could constitute sexual harassment includes “kissing or hugging, unless welcome or clearly not objected to, when made in connection with a greeting or parting, such as a peck on the cheek.”
And “patting, pinching, or intentionally brushing against an individual’s body” are also off-limits, according to the new policy.
The policy also advises members and aides to keep in mind that a single incident may or may not constitute sexual harassment and that “conduct or communications that might have been welcome between two individuals at one time may become unwelcome at any time.”
Negron released the policy after the Senate has been roiled by the resignations of Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens and Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala. Clemens resigned after disclosures about an extramarital affair with a lobbyist, while Latvala stepped down after a highly damaging investigation about sexual harassment.
IRMA, REDUX
The House Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness inched forward this week with recommendations based on lessons learned from Hurricane Irma, the historic storm that swept through the state in September.
Requiring nursing homes to have adequate backup power, blocking storm-damaged properties from being rebuilt in “high-risk” areas and looking into changes in highway traffic flow during evacuations are a few of the proposals advanced by the select committee.
The suggestions focused on Hurricane Irma recovery, the impact on Florida of people fleeing Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and how to better prepare for future storms. They will be distributed to various committees and subcommittees to determine the potential impacts on the next state budget as ideas are converted into bills.
Select committee Chairwoman Jeanette Nunez, R-Miami, whittled down the list of proposals and called them a “starting point” for short-term and long-term measures.
Meanwhile, the state’s largest utility had some good Irma-related news for its customers.
Florida Power & Light said Tuesday that savings from the federal tax overhaul will allow it to avoid billing customers for the $1.3 billion cost of restoring electricity after Hurricane Irma.
FPL had initially planned to start billing customers in March for the restoration costs but put those plans on hold after Congress and President Donald Trump last month approved the overhaul, which cut corporate tax rates and made numerous other changes in the federal tax code.
In the announcement Tuesday, FPL said a 2016 agreement that set the utility’s base electric rates allowed it to “leverage” the tax savings to deal with the Irma costs.
“The timing of federal tax reform, coming on the heels of the most expensive hurricane in Florida history, created an unusual and unprecedented opportunity,” Eric Silagy, FPL’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “We believe the plan we’ve outlined is the fastest way to begin passing tax savings along to our customers and the most appropriate approach to keeping rates low and stable for years to come.”
NO (STATE) LOVE FOR AMAZON
After playing the key role in reducing and revamping Florida’s economic-development programs last year, House Speaker Richard Corcoran said Thursday he has no interest in developing a state incentive plan to bring Amazon’s new headquarters to Florida.
Florida suddenly became a contender for the giant online retailer’s second headquarters — dubbed HQ2 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — after Miami emerged as one of 20 finalists for the project, which could generate some $5 billion in spending and lead to 50,000 jobs.
Miami, which was competing with 238 other cities, was the only finalist in Florida, although the Miami bid also includes sites in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Gov. Rick Scott, who’s pushed state funding to lure businesses to Florida, tweeted that it was “great news” that Miami made the cut.
But Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, didn’t share the love.
In an interview with the News Service, Corcoran said he was doubtful that Florida would end up as the location for the Amazon project, citing remarks by Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Esteban “Steve” Bovo, a Hialeah Republican who formerly served in the state House.
Bovo told The Miami Herald in October that Miami-Dade’s transportation challenges would ultimately eliminate Miami from contention.
“What was the reason?” Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, asked. “There’s not enough money? We didn’t throw enough incentives? No, (it’s) because of their infrastructure and their transit issues.”
Corcoran listed the items he said “site selectors” consider when relocating.
“Here’s what we ought to do as a state. I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face,” Corcoran said. “There are five things that site selectors look at. The most important being having a great educational system.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: The anti-gambling “Voter Control of Gambling Amendment” made it onto the November ballot.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Quite simply, advising clients to grow their own marijuana based on a fake doctor’s advice is wrong and cannot now be said to be subject to interpretation based on the evolution of medical marijuana law.” — Carlos Alberto Leon, a Florida Bar lawyer who served as referee in a disciplinary case against Ian Christensen, who was disbarred Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court. Christensen and a colleague charged clients $799 for a patient identification card that they said could keep the patients out of trouble for having or growing marijuana.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Brush Fire Threatens Two Mobile Homes In Cantonment
January 19, 2018
A brush fire Friday afternoon in Cantonment threatened two mobile homes.
The fire was reported just after 2:30 near the intersection of Nowak Road and Booker Street. The brush fire burned about an acre of land and extended underneath at least one of the mobile homes. Firefighters were able to quickly bring the fire under control.
There were no injuries and no major property damage reported.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
