Rick's Blog

Pensacola, you pick the playground! Vote Oct. 2-23 on the new Fricker Center design: Red, White and Blue or Teal and Green.

Development: Planning Board to Take Up Rezoning for Outlying Fields in Beulah Staff says the changes are consistent with the county’s plans, and three state…

67.1% of Escambia’s 1,152 new September voters didn’t register as Republican. In District 4, it was 76%. See the full numbers.

Pensacola’s mayor just returned from San Diego with a teen safety playbook. A curfew only works if kids have somewhere to go. Hear his plan to make it real.

Nine Pensacola nonprofits are vying for five $25,000 grants. Sunday’s Child members vote Oct. 18 to split $125,000. See the finalists.

Pensacola’s early voting block party hits Oct. 25 with DJs, vendors and rides to the polls. Register by Oct. 5. Hale Morrissette leads the effort.

Escambia County’s Library Board hasn’t met since April. Commissioners voted 5-0 to fill its seats, but key questions went unanswered. BCC lets Moreno off easy.

Escambia school officials already chose to close Warrington and Lincoln Park. The committee only gets to decide where the students go. Who decided, and when?

Katie Dineen won 2026 Best of the Coast Best Musician, married at the Handlebar and just dropped Simmer. Hear her story on Rick’s Blog Live.

Ray Palmer’s last day as CEO of Pensacola Sports ended on Rick’s Blog Live. He’s stepping aside, but not going away.

Will the county dissolve the Library Board of Governance? Library Friends fear so. Commissioners take it up tonight. Public forum starts at 4:30 p.m. Be there!!

ECAT cut off disabled riders Oct. 1 with no notice. One advocate stood waiting for her ride to work. It never came. Why was no one told?

DeSantis’ “Alligator Alcatraz” opened with no federal contract. GAO: Taxpayers paying $249 a bed, 171% above ICE’s median. This is the 2nd federal report blasting the Florida facility!!

No library director since Aug. 10. Two board seats vacant. The board chair learned of a canceled meeting from the blog. Wes Moreno cuts off all communication.

Next week, Pensacola hosts the Civic Leader Summit Oct. 6-8 with Quint Studer and Chuck Marohn. Learn how small, local moves build stronger towns. Register now.

Mardi Gras parades are heading back to Palafox, and paid parking returns downtown Monday with free Sundays and Mondays

No library director since Aug. 10. No board meeting since April. Moreno’s Thursday agenda item offers no plan, no timeline, no names.

Community At the Rafferty Community Center ribbon-cutting, the former Seahawk credited coaches, parents and a grandfather for who he became, then asked Northwest Florida’s leaders…

Healthcare Rick Metzger Named CEO of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola A registered nurse who began as an OR orderly returns to Ascension to lead the…

On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Johnnie Wright to the Pensacola State College District Board of Trustees. Press Release: Wright is the Regional…