All Traditional Escambia Students Now Receive Free Meals; Remote Student Meal Locations Updated
September 28, 2020
All Escambia County School District students will receive free meals as of Monday, September 28, and pick up locations for remote learners have been adjusted.
All traditional learning (brick and mortar) students will receive free meals at school at no charge, according to the Escambia County School District Food Service Department.
ECSD’s pick up breakfast and lunch service has now been expanded to include any child 18 and under. Families can continue to pick-up meals for multiple students in one stop.
“If the child is not in the car, parents picking up meals will need to provide the names of the children who will receive the meals” said Jaleena Davis, ECSD director of School Food Service. “Distribution location changes were made based on the numbers of families who have frequented our school sites and comparing our locations with other local sources.”
Some schools were removed the distribution list for remote learners (including Ernest Ward Middle). The new ECSD school distribution sites and times, effective Sept 28, are listed below:
6:15 to 7:00 a.m
Jim Allen Elementary School, 1051 Hwy. 95A North, Cantonment
6:30 – 7:00 a.m
- Bellview Elementary School, 4425 Bellview Ave.
- Brentwood Elementary School, 4820 N. Palafox St. (HWY 29)
- Ensley Elementary School, 501 E. Johnson Ave.
- Ferry Pass Elementary School, 8310 N. Davis Hwy.
- Global Learning Academy, 100 North P St.,
- L.D. McArthur Elementary School, 330 East Ten Mile Rd.
- Molino Park Elementary School, 899 Highway 97, Molino
- Montclair Elementary School, 820 Massachusetts Ave.
- Myrtle Grove Elementary School, 6115 Lillian Hwy.
- Oakcrest Elementary School, 1820 N. Hollywood Blvd
- Pleasant Grove Elementary School, 3000 Owen Bell Lane
- Scenic Heights Elementary School, 3801 Cherry Laurel Dr.
- Warrington Elementary School, 220 N. Navy Blvd.
- C.A. Weis Elementary School, 2701 North Q St.
- West Pensacola Elementary School, 801 North 49th Ave.
At 6:45 – 7:30 a.m. meals may be picked up at:
- Booker T. Washington High School, 6000 College Pkwy.
7:00 – 7:30 a.m.
- Northview High School, 4100 West Highway 4, Bratt
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
- Jim C. Bailey Middle School, 4110 Bauer Rd.
- Beulah Middle School, 6001 W. Nine Mile Rd.
- Ferry Pass Middle School, 8355 Yancey Ave.
- Warrington Middle School, 459 South Old Corry Field Rd.
- Workman Middle School, 6299 Lanier Dr.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Florida Gas Prices Slip A Few Cents
September 28, 2020
Florida gas prices slipped just a little lower last week.
The state average declined another three cents, dropping to $2.10 per gallon; though prices are closer to $2 or below at many stations across Florida.
The average price per gallon in Escambia County Sunday night was $2.13, up slightly from $2.09 a month ago but well below the $2.47 a year ago. In North Escambia, two Cantonment stations were at $2.06 Sunday night, while Pensacola’s low price was $1.90 at two wholesale clubs.
Florida’s average price of $2.10 per gallon is the lowest since August 31. Pump prices are 36 cents per gallon less than this time last year.
Gas prices are following their seasonal trend of declining during the fall,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “With summer over and school back in session, Americans typically begin to cutback on road trips. The combination of lower fuel demand and strong gasoline supply levels is keeping downward pressure on prices at the pump.”
Gasoline demand is 9 percent lower than a year ago, according to weekly fuel data from the Energy Information Administration. Meanwhile, gasoline supplies are holding steady at nearly 5 percent higher than this time last year.
Red Cross Is Offering Financial Assistance To Hurricane Victims Beginning Today
September 28, 2020
The American Red Cross will begin providing direct financial assistance today to those that lost their home during Hurricane Sally.
Households whose home are destroyed or sustained major damage from from the hurricane may contact the Red Cross by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS and selecting option 4 to speak to an agent to complete an application for financial assistance.
Assistance lines are open Monday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. The deadline to apply for emergency assistance is Sunday, October 11 at 10 p.m.
This financial assistance will allow people to make their own decisions and prioritize what their family needs most to start recovering. Funds can help families replace clothes or food, offset transportation costs, or support any other immediate need. Spending these funds locally will also support local communities as they begin recovering, according to the Red Cross.
Century Woman Charged After Burning Laundry Basket Near Her Mom’s Home
September 28, 2020
A Century woman was arrested after allegedly burning a laundry basket directly in front of her mother’s house.
Ashia Latara Brown, 28, was charged with leaving a fire unattended with visible flames and later released from the Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
According an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, deputies had responded to three disturbances related to an ongoing feud between Brown and her mother. On the ECSO’s third trip to East Pond Stree, deputies arrived to find a plastic laundry basket filled with an unknown fabric fully engulfed in flames. A deputy used his fire extinguisher to put out the fire, which was about eight feet from the mother’s residence. There was no one tending the fire.
Brown emerged from the residence next door in a very agitated state and admitted something to the deputy, but her exact statement was redacted from the arrest report.
The mother told deputies that Brown had been walking in the street in front of her residence with a gas can and a hammer while screaming profanities and threats.
Monday: FDOH Reports Six New COVID-19 Cases, No New Deaths In Escambia County
September 28, 2020
The Florida Department of Health reported six new COVID-19 cases and no deaths in Escambia County on Monday
Here is the latest data:
Escambia County cases:
Total cases: 12,249 (+6)
Non-Florida residents: 1,107
Total deaths: 228
Long-term care facility deaths : 107
Current hospitalizations: 47
Number of tests last day: 142
Percent positive last day: 3.4%
Percent positive last week: 3.5%
Escambia County cases by location:
Pensacola: 8,967 (+4)
Century: 931
—-including 773 Century prison inmates
Cantonment: 909 (+1)
Molino: 145
McDavid: 73
Walnut Hill: 18
Bellview: 16
Gonzalez: 7
Perdido Key: 7
Santa Rosa County cases:
Total cases: 5,312 (-2 data adjustment)
Non-Florida residents: 49
Total deaths: 76
Long-term care facility deaths: 17
Cumulative Hospitalizations: 314*
Number of tests last day: 68
Percent positive last day: 5%
Santa County cases by location:
Milton: 2,792 (-1)
Gulf Breeze: 766
Navarre: 665 (+1)
Pace: 433 (-3)
Jay: 148
Bagdad: 12
Florida cases:
Total cases: 701,302
Florida residents: 692,962
Deaths: 14,037
Hospitalizations: 43,606*
*“Hospitalizations” in the statewide and Santa Rosa County totals is a count of all laboratory confirmed cases in which an inpatient hospitalization occurred at any time during the course of illness. Most of these people are longer be hospitalized. The FDOH does not provide a count of patients currently hospitalized. The Escambia County number is current data compiled each day from the local hospitals.
*The Florida Department of Health does not have a clear standard or definition of “recovered” and does not report a number of recovered individuals.
**Data Sources: Florida Department of Health, Escambia County, City of Pensacola, local hospitals.
FEMA Mobile Unit Opens In Atmore For Individual Disaster Assistance For Alabama Residents
September 28, 2020
FEMA opened a mobile intake center in Atmore on Sunday to help Hurricane Sally victims in Escambia County, Alabama, apply for individual assistance.
Homeowners and renters who suffered damage from Hurricane Sally in Baldwin, Mobile, and Escambia counties in Alabama can apply to FEMA for federal disaster assistance. Survivors may be eligible to receive assistance for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses resulting from Hurricane Sally.
Residents of the three Alabama counties were designated eligible for FEMA’s Individual Assistance program under the Major Disaster Declaration signed by President Trump.
The centers are part of FEMA’s and the State of Alabama’s ongoing response and recovery mission supporting hurricane survivors. The MRIC will be operated by FEMA personnel and serve as a point of registration and information for eligible individuals and families.
The FEMA center at the Atmore Farmers Market, next to the Atmore City Hall, will be open Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to assist residents of Escambia, Mobile and Baldwin counties of Alabama only. Another FEMA center is located in Foley at the satellite courthouse.
A federal disaster declaration for Escambia county in Florida and Santa Rosa County does not contain individual or household assistance. Local officials are continuing to push for individual assistance in the Florida counties.
Pictured: A FEMA mobile intake center at teh Atmore Farmer’s Market, next to city hall, on Sunday. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
ECUA Will Collect Recycling Cans This Week, But It Will All Go Into The Landfill
September 27, 2020
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority will pick up both trash and recycling cans this week, with both going into the landfill.
ECUA’s recycling program remain on hold after Hurricane Sally substantially damaged the Materials Recycling Facility at Perdido Landfill.
Recycling collected this week will go straight into the landfill with the regular trash, according to ECUA, but will allow customers to have their recycling can emptied.
ECUA is also reminding customers that storm debris is being collected by contractors working on behalf of Escambia County and that ECUA is not picking up construction or building debris, whether bagged or loose. Construction and building materials are never items that are collected as part of the ECUA residential sanitation service.
The facility sustained about $800,000 in damage to the structure and equipment. A building contractor is already on site, has completed inspections and is ready to begin rehabilitation work. The best estimate right now is that the facility will be in service and ECUA recycling will return at the end of October.
“I want to assure our customers that ECUA is 150% committed to our program, and we are going to work to have the facility back up and running as safely and quickly as possible,” ECUA Public Information Officer Nathalie Bowers said Tuesday afternoon.
Bowers encourage residents to try to stay in the habit of recycling, if possible, by storing clean recyclables in their cans or elsewhere until service resumes.
Pictured: Damage to the ECUA Material Recycling Facility at the Perdido Landfill. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Guest View: Please Help Our Citizens Recover Now
September 27, 2020
by Steven Barry, chairman Escambia County Commission
Thousands of Escambia County residents are hurting as a result of Hurricane Sally and there is help out there, but it’s just out of reach to them.
As a board, we are relieved and appreciative of the FEMA Major Disaster Declaration which came Thursday, including approval for all Public Assistance (PA) categories available. Unfortunately, it did not include the Individual Assistance (IA) component for our citizens.
While we understand the inclusion of the IA does not guarantee direct assistance to any specific person, it does allow any person to apply for the same type of assistance that their neighbors to the west in Baldwin, Mobile, and Escambia Counties, Alabama are able. The inclusion of IA allows for citizens to receive direct assistance from FEMA for expenses incurred due to temporary housing needs, housing repairs, housing replacement, permanent housing construction, and a category for other needs assistance. The last category could include expenses for medical, personal property, transportation, moving and storage, and any other expenses FEMA approves.
In 2014, we also received the Major Disaster Declaration, but it included the IA portion. Hurricane Sally was a category 2 hurricane with 105 mph sustained winds and inundated us with even more rain than the flood of 2014, over 30 inches, but now our citizens wait for what they rightfully deserve, and that is not fair.
In 2014, there were over 7,000 IA applications approved by FEMA, exceeding 35 million dollars. People are in a remarkably similar situation today, only with dramatically different resources available to them. Between the hurricane-force winds and deluge of rain, our citizens have suffered over 100,000,000 dollars of damage to their homes and private property. A large portion of those losses are not covered by insurance, and our community cannot absorb this type of loss of financial resources, especially when the help exists.
Over 30% of our population survives at a household income of less than 40,000 dollars, for a household consisting of three people. In five days following the storm, at only a handful of distribution sites throughout the county, 36,000 vehicles were served 60,000 cases of water, 21,000 bags of ice, and 37,000 meals ready to eat (MRE) were provided to them. Additionally, non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, and kind neighbors volunteering have served 80,000 meals and distributed 30,000 tarps to hungry and hurting people. People would not wait multiple hours in line, which they did, for basic and only life-sustaining items if they have a multitude of choices, so clearly, they do not.
These are the citizens whose lives are on hold, just waiting for a process most do not understand to work through the bureaucratic process.
We understand the COVID-19 issues affecting the FEMA personnel response and other national disasters occurring in other parts of the country, but our citizens should not be penalized for factors completely out of their control.
Also, based on feedback from our state and federal partners, we have taken the additional step of asking people to take the time and make the effort to email us pictures and narratives outlining their losses. This is an unprecedented request, but as expected, people responded tremendously, with 1,000 emails in barely 48 hours.
In addition to the other aspects of IA mentioned previously, the inclusion of IA will also entitle our homeowners to access the SBA Home Repair low-interest program loans, and without direct assistance or access to these low-interest loans collateralized by these severely damaged properties, many people simply do not have the resources to repair or rebuild their homes.
We held multiple board meetings this week and every County Commissioner eloquently outlined heartbreaking stories from their districts.
This is not a north end of county issue, nor is it a barrier island issue. The problem is not confined to any socioeconomic area, nor any racial demographic.
This is an Escambia County issue, and the help our constituents need and deserve exists. Please help our citizens begin to recover now.
Opinion submitted by Escambia County Commission Chairman Steven Barry on behalf of Escambia County.
Church Food Giveaway Thursday On Nine Mile Road
September 27, 2020
There will be a 10,000 pound food giveaway Thursday at St. Luke UMC on Nine Mile Road.
The parking lot will open at 8 a.m and registration will begin shortly thereafter. The food will be distributed about 9:30 a.m. on a first come, first served basis. There must be an identification per household; for Escambia (FL) and Santa Rosa County residents only.
St. Luke United Methodist Church is located at 1394 East Nine Mile Road.
Washington Beats Tate; Other Saturday Scores (With Photo Gallery)
September 27, 2020
The Washington Wildcats defeated the Tate Aggies 44-0 Saturday afternoon.
The first half saw the Wildcats score five touchdown on their first five possessions at Sherman Robinson Stadium, along with a safety. Washington was up 37-0 at the half, with a running clock for the remainder of the game. The Hurricane Sally delayed game was the season opener for both Tate and Washington.
The Tate Aggies (0-1) will be at Pensacola High School (0-0) next Friday night. The Washington Wildcats (1-0) will be on the road next Friday night at the Crestview Bulldogs (1-1). For a photo gallery, click here.
Other Saturday games:
- Escambia 24, West Florida 20
- Pensacola Catholic 12, Pine Forest 7
For Friday night scores, click or tap here.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Jennifer Repine, click to enlarge.
