Month: December 2013
Outtakes #1: UCF Nightmare Too Close to Home
The phone call was one I never thought I would get from my youngest daughter. “Dad, I’m okay. The campus security has the gunman. He’s…
Carmen Meet the Artists Luncheon RSVP deadline tomorrow
Carmen Meet the Artists Luncheon on Tuesday, January 7th at 11:30 a.m. Pensacola Opera and the University of West Florida’s Leisure Learning Society will co-host…
News story #1: Satoshi Forest
The Independent News has covered homelessness in this area for years. Jesse Farthing touched the hearts of many locals with this article on this unique…
News story #2: Failure to Serve
At September Escambia County Commission meeting, a half-dozen disabled citizens and bus drivers appeared before the commissioners to speak against the extension of the ADA…
News story #3: Talking Trash
Escambia County and Emerald Coast Utility Authority have squared off over the future of solid waste collection, recycling and disposal in the county. The battle…
IN cover #3: Not Invisible Anymore, The Reality of Rape in the Military
Sexual assaults in the military and how poorly the military command has handled them were big national stories. We found that the rapes were also…
Outtakes #4: Sucker USA
Despite concerns about what might eventually be developed on the site, the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority voted this afternoon to take the next step…
News story #4: Calming the Chamber Storm
The Greater Pensacola Chamber imploded during the first half of 2013. Former Pensacola Mayor and House Majority Leader Jerry Maygarden was called in to restore…
IN cover #4: Get Out of Jail Free
This story by Jesse Farthing was largely ignored by mainstream media. An inmate at the Escambia County Work Release Facility checked himself out of lock-up…
Outtakes #5: How Do You Like Us Now
Last year, Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Robertson blasted the local media declaring we were the worst enemy of the county. Most of his ire was…
News story #5: When Love Is Not Enough
The summer of 2013 was too hot and too long for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. The shooting of unarmed Roy Middleton in the driveway…
Another reporter exits daily newspaper
Rhema Thompson, education reporter for the Pensacola News Journal, announced today in a column in the paper that she is leaving the area. Thompson is…
IN cover #5: A Mother’s Pain
The Independent News wanted to show the human toll of the increasing numbers of homicides in our community, many of which were going unsolved because…
News story #6: Into the Sunshine
The control over Escambia County’s tourism marketing and its $5.5 million was moved this fall out of the Greater Pensacola Chamber and into the hands…
IN cover #6: We Are Trayvon
On a hot, sticky Saturday afternoon a small crowd of families and teenagers gathered on South Palafox Street. Within an hour, the crowd swelled to…
IHMC places 2nd in Robotics competition (video)
A team from Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition achieved a second-place finish in the elite DARPA Robotics Challenge, which featured 16 of the…
A year after promises to make schools safer, Thomas starts assessments
In the days after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., Escambia County Superintendent Malcolm Thomas told the daily newspaper, “We’re going…
Cleanup crews picked up 4.6 million lbs. of BP oil and tar balls this year
Gulf Coast Cleanup In Numbers 4.6 million pounds — oily material collected from Gulf Coast shoreline in 2013 106,465 tons — total oily material collected…
Political analyst believes GOP will win control of U.S. Senate in 2014
David Wasserman, editor in charge of House elections for the Cook Political Report, predicted at today’s Panhandle Tiger Bay luncheon that Republicans are likely to…
State unemployment continues to drop
Gov. Rick Scott reported Florida’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent in November, down from 6.7 percent in October. The mark is the lowest for…
