News - Rick's Blog

City of Margate has 110 firefighters

City of Margate, Florida has 53,284 population. The operating budget for the fire department is $9.69 million and it has 112 employees, of which 110…

Is Pensacola Fire Department top heavy?

Council President Maren Deweese wants to bring back the fire rescue units. If her facts hold up, she has a compelling case. If the rest…

Leaking oil is from Deepwater Horizon

Mobile Press Register reports scientific analysis has confirmed that oil bubbling up above BPâ€™s sealed Deepwater Horizon well in recent days is a chemical match…

LeaP Forward banquet

Over 120 people attended the second annual IN LeaP Forward banquet that was held to honor and challenge the incoming Leadership Pensacola class. They listened…

What I missed of the City Council workshop

PNJ’s Jamie Page had to sit through the entire Pensacola City Council workshop. In reading his article, “Council members leave budget meeting over bickering,” my…

Reggie Dogan leaves PNJ

It appears the daily newspaper let Dogan go for using excerpts from an Education Week article (December 2000) for his Sunday column. Read more.

New Conceptual Redistricting Maps Available Online

Three new Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners redistricting conceptual maps are now available online at www.santarosa.fl.gov/redistricting. The maps were created based on public input…

South has highest divorce rate

The South has the highest rate of divorce and the Northeast has the lowest, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report that based its…

Is Deal Chicken too slow to the gate?

The News Journal is about to unveil the latest Gannett project – Deal Chicken – which is targeted to compete with Groupon, Val-Pak and other…

Percentage taking ACT drops significantly at Pine Forest

State Senator Don Gaetz talks about the importance of encouraging all seniors to attend college, two and four years colleges. He measured it by how…

Go online and see the Pensacola Homeowners Association (with updates)

It looks like the Pensacola Homeowners Association, also known as the Pensacola City Council, has chosen option 1. Sherri Myers says she won’t vote for…

Oops, oil may be leaking from Deepwater Horizon well

Mobile Press Register reports oil is once again fouling the Gulf of Mexico around the Deepwater Horizon well, which was capped a little over a…

City Council has four options for Budget workshop

The Pensacola City Council reboots its budget workshops today at 9 a.m. at Pensacola City Hall. The Pensacola Fire Union may or may not come…

Another abandoned school eyesore

This is the one that you have seen for decades from I-110 Southbound. The building was once a school (J. Lee Pickens School), then the…

CMPA Board approves audit of ‘soft’ costs

Kudos to Councilman Larry Johnson for pressing for a special audit into the Maritime Park expenditures. The citizens have a right to understand how nearly…

Is Pensacola Fire Department top heavy?

Council President Maren Deweese wants to bring back the fire rescue units. If her facts hold up, she has a compelling case. If the rest…

Mayor Hayward responds to City Council

Mayor Ashton Hayward responded Tuesday afternoon to all the information requests from the City Council members. Not surprisingly, he rejected Council member Sherri Myers’ budget…