Impact 100 Awards Over $1 Million To Area Non-Profits
October 17, 2017
Local women’s philanthropy group Impact 100 has awarded over $1 million in grants to local non-profits.
Each of the following nonprofitorganizations was awarded $107,700 after a thorough grant review, committee process and membership vote:
ARTS & CULTURE
Pensacola Delta Enrichment Center, Inc.
Project: Young, Gifted, and Underprivileged – Warrington Arts Development Project
West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc. dba UWF Historic Trust
Project: History and Storytelling Circle
EDUCATION
Capstone Adaptive Learning and Therapy Centers, Inc.
Project: Capstone Pet Place
Escambia County School Readiness Coalition, Inc. dba Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County
Project: Grow with Me
FAMILY
Horizons of Okaloosa County, Inc. dba The Arc of the Emerald Coast
Project: IMPACT 100 Dream Wheels For New Beginnings
My Father’s Arrows, Inc.
Project: Mama’s House
ENVIRONMENT, RECREATION & PRESERVATION
Humane Society of Pensacola, Inc. dba Pensacola Humane Society
Project: The Humane Express
Pensacola Lighthouse Association, Inc. dba Pensacola Lighthouse & Museum
Project: Fresnel Lens Restoration
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Feeding the Gulf Coast, Inc.
Project: Serving the Community During Disasters
Santa Rosa Kids’ House, Inc.
Project: Changing for Children
Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Beulah Beltway Public Meeting Scheduled
October 17, 2017
A Beulah Beltway Alternative Corridor Evaluation Public Meeting will be held Monday, October 30 from 6-8 p.m. at Hillcrest Baptist Church at 800 East Nine Mile Road.
The meeting will provide the public an opportunity to review project materials, ask questions of Escambia County staff and provide comments about the proposed Beulah Beltway project. Agenda items include an overall discussion of the project, northern route overview, southern route overview and discussion of future steps for the project.
For more information about the Beulah Beltway project, to access project reports and maps, or to submit comments, visit beulahbeltway.com.
A previous Beulah Beltway meeting in early August saw tempers flare and the air conditional falter asan estimated 250 people tried to pack their way into the public meeting at the Plainview Baptist Church on West Nine Mile Road. That prompted county officials to announce that another meeting would be held in a larger venue.
The Beulah Beltway will serve to connect Nine Mile Road in Beulah to Highway 29 somewhere in the area from south of West Quintette Road to Barrineau Park Road. There’s no funding available yet for the northern potion of the project.
Pictured: An August Beulah Beltway meeting. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Century Fire Visits Camp Fire Learning Center
October 17, 2017
For National Fire Safety Week, crew members of Engine 519 of the Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue visited and shared fire safety tips with the children of the Camp Fire Century Youth Learning Center. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Book Fair At Jim Allen Elementary
October 17, 2017
Jim Allen Elementary School is holding its annual Scholastic Book Fair through Friday in the school’s Media Center. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Portion Of Alabama Hwy 21 Named For Slain Holman Correctional Officer
October 17, 2017
A portion of Alabama Highway 21 near Atmore was named the “Alabama Correctional Officer Kenneth L. Bettis Memorial Highway” during a ceremony Monday.
Bettis, 44, was assaulted and stabbed by an inmate at the Holman Correctional Facility on September 1, 2016, after refusing to serve the inmate an extra lunch tray. He died from his injury on September 16.
Bettis served the State of Alabama Department of Corrections for seven years, with his entire career at Holman. He was a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq with the 142nd Battlefield Surveillance Brigade out of Decatur.
The Alabama Legislature voted to name nearly five miles of Alabama Highway 21 from I- 65 to Smithfield Road as the “Alabama Correctional Officer Kenneth L. Bettis Memorial Highway”. This includes the portion of Highway 21 near the Holman and Fountain correctional facilities.
For additional photos, click here.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Dish Network Takes Florida TV Tax Fight To U.S. Supreme Court
October 17, 2017
Pointing to “protectionism,” a major satellite-television company is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a constitutional challenge to a Florida law that sets different tax rates for cable and satellite TV services.
Dish Network in September filed a 39-page petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, nearly five months after the Florida Supreme Court sided with the state and the cable industry in upholding the law.
The long-running battle focuses on the state’s communications-services tax, which is 4.92 percent on the sale of cable services and 9.07 percent on the sale of satellite-TV services. Dish Network contends the different tax rates are a form of protectionism that violates the “dormant” Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars states from discriminating against interstate commerce.
“In particular, it forbids a state from taxing or regulating differently on the basis of where a good is produced or a service is performed,” said the Dish Network petition, posted on the SCOTUSblog website, which closely tracks the U.S. Supreme Court. “That’s exactly what the unequal Florida tax does. It puts a heavier duty on pay-TV programming that is assembled and delivered without using massive infrastructure within the state.”
But the Florida Supreme Court, which sided in April with the state Department of Revenue and the Florida Cable Telecommunications Association, rejected the notion that cable was an “in state” interest that was being protected by the law. Justice Peggy Quince wrote, for example, that Florida’s largest cable providers are headquartered out of state, as are the satellite companies.
“Cable is not a local, in-state interest any more than satellite,” Quince wrote. “While it may be true that cable employs more Florida residents and uses more local infrastructure to provide its services, the Supreme Court has never found a company to be an in-state interest because it had a greater presence in a state.”
The U.S. Supreme Court only agrees to hear a relative handful of the thousands of appeals filed each year. Responses to the Dish Network petition are due Nov. 13, according to a court docket.
In the petition, Dish Network argued that the “practical effect of Florida’s unequal sales tax is to benefit local economic interests associated with cable,” including state and local government.
“What possessed the state to adopt this unequal excise on competing services? In a word, protectionism,” the petition said. “Though cable and satellite may be interchangeable from the viewer’s perspective, they have very different relationships with the local economy.”
(Disclosure: The News Service of Florida has a partnership with the Florida Cable Telecommunications Association for the Capital Dateline news show.)
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Free Forestry 101 Workshop For Landowners
October 17, 2017
A workshop will be held October 20 at the Pace Community Center for landowners interested in the foundations of good stewardship of timberland. The workshop will take place 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Pace Community Center at 5976 Chumuckla Highway.
The event will cover road and boundary maintenance, harvest, site preparation, planting, threat of invasive species and certification. Attendees also will have the opportunity to network with forestry professionals. Consulting foresters will lead the workshop as well as Florida Forest Service foresters. This event is sponsored by the Florida Tree Farm Committee and there is no cost to attend. Lunch will be provided.
Pre-registration for this workshop is required by October 17. To register, call Escambia County Forester Cathy Hardin at (850) 587-5237.
Two Killed In Single Vehicle Wreck Near Atmore
October 16, 2017
Two people were killed in a single vehicle accident near Atmore Sunday afternoon.
The accident happened on Dailey Road, about four miles north of Atmore in the Freemanville community.
According to Alabama State Troopers, 32-year-old Timmy Joe Sprinkle of Atmore and 63-year old Susan M. Moore of Hollywood, FL, both died when Sprinkle’s 2005 Ford Focus left the roadway and hit a tree. Both were pronounced deceased at the scene.
Troopers said the victims were not wearing their seat belts.
One Injured In Molino Rollover Crash
October 16, 2017
One person was injured in a single vehicle rollover accident in Molino Monday morning.
The accident occurred about 7:15 a.m. on Highway 95A near Sean Road. The driver apparently ran off the roadway into a ditch, struck multiple culverts and a utility pole as her car overturned multiple times. The vehicle came to rest upright, partially blocking Highway 95A. The driver, a female about 30-years old, was transported to an area hospital by Escambia County EMS with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Molino and Cantonment stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Florida EMS To Expand Coverage, Drop Atmore Ambulance Contract
October 16, 2017
Within the next month, Escambia County will begin providing ambulance service to the Walnut and Bratt areas while ending a nearly 40-year old agreement with Atmore Ambulance.
Escambia County EMS will assume primary medical coverage for the entire north end of Escambia County beginning Monday, November 13. Atmore Ambulance has provided ambulance service for the Walnut Hill, Bratt, Davisville and surrounding communities in the 327 telephone exchange since 1978. The county contract with Atmore Ambulance will expire at midnight on November 16.
Public Safety Director Mike Weaver said an additional Escambia County EMS unit will be stationed at the Walnut Hill Fire Station on Highway 97. An Escambia County EMS unit is currently stationed at EMS Post 50 on Industrial Boulevard in Century. The units will respond to the entirety of northern Escambia County and also provide response to the Molino area along with units stationed further south.
Weaver requested that the Escambia County Commission include 12 new EMT’s in his budget for next fiscal year, including four crews of two to staff the new Walnut Hill unit.
Escambia County EMS plans to attend the annual Walnut Hill Fire Station fish fry on November 4 to meet area residents and allow them to see the county’s equipment and meet personnel.
Escambia County decided to assume the Walnut and Bratt area coverage after service level concerns with Atmore Ambulance.
Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry said in Jul that there were “serious issues” with the response provided by Atmore Ambulance. “They are not responding in any what that we can depend on the response currently, and that’s not much value.”
County officials have discussed ending a contract under which Escambia County EMS provides primary response to Flomaton. For now, that response will continue, Weaver said, as Alabama authorities work on a replacement ambulance arrangement for Flomaton.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
