Weekend Buzz: Possible indictment, another town hall and fundraisers

Are the Feds about to indict a local elected official? That is the rumor that has dominated county politics over the Thanksgiving weekend. The daily…

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Passing of the gavel at Escambia County Commission meeting had humor and gratitude

A standing room-only crowd packed the commission chambers to see the gavel passed from outgoing chairman Gene Valentino and his successor Lumon May. May took…

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Weekend Buzz: Mud, Dollar General, Grover and Stallion

Pensacola’s Mud Island Eighteen months after the Vince Whibbs, Sr. Community Maritime Park opened, the city has a problem with the retention pond at the…

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Commissioner Robinson top local campaign fundraiser in October, followed by Mayor Hayward

The Escambia County Supervisor of Elections has the October campaign finance reports for the 2014 elections on his website. Starting last month, all candidates must…

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Daily reveals who selected Visit Pensacola board

Carlton Proctor wrote in today’s daily newspaper about the selection process of the initial board of directors of Visit Pensacola – the 501(c)6 non-profit formed…

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Why question Visit Pensacola? Because the public has been left out of the process

More than likely Visit Pensacola, Inc. –the new non-profit formed by the hotel industry to be laser-focused on tourism — will be approved today to…

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Visit Pensacola and its bylaws gain approval, final vote may be Thursday…or not

By Jesse Farthing Yesterday’s Committee of the Whole meeting of the Escambia County Commission focused heavily on Visit Pensacola, Inc. and its proposed governance and…

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Visit Pensacola in the Sunshine

This morning Escambia County citizens will get to hear, for the first time in a public forum, about the latest set of bylaws for Visit…

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Musical chairmanships at Escambia County Commission

The part of the BCC Nov. 7 meeting that got me the most text messages wasn’t the Patels protesting their near-arrest. No, people were fascinated…

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Officer report on Patel incident tells a different story

Nash Patel and his wife had an incident with Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday night when he reported an alleged burglary at his brother-in-law’s…

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Commissioner May comes to aid of parade organizers

The daily newspaper has an article on how the volunteers that have organized the Pensacola Veterans Day believe that they have been given the runaround…

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Transit union delays strike

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395 Negotiating team has agreed to postpone the strike it set for next Monday, Oct. 21. The union will meet…

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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell research

Press Release: University of West Florida faculty members with the social work and anthropology departments are currently conducting research regarding life after “Don’t Ask, Don’t…

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Visit Pensacola delivers new bylaws to the county, they decide who minority director is (No surprise)

Hotel lobbyist Ron Ellington has delivered a new set of bylaws for Visit Pensacola to the county attorney. The new bylaws allow for a permanent…

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Ellington had plenty of time to give BCC and public more details (draft Visit Pensacola bylaws)

Ellington’s history with the tourism budget goes back beyond the last few weeks: From: Ron Ellington Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 7:53 PM To: Gene…

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Buzz: ACE requests to make presentation

There really are two tourism issues facing the Escambia Board of County Commissioners: the governance and control of $5.5 million in bed tax dollars and…

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Lobbyist tried to dictate who would represent the arts community on new tourism board

Ron Ellington, paid lobbyist for the hotel industry, apparently has his Visit Pensacola board chosen to run tourism for Escambia County. According to David Bear,…

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Smoke, Mirrors and PowerPoint presentation get $5.5 million from county

Yesterday, the Escambia County Commission approved giving an new group, called Visit Pensacola, $5.5 million in bed tax dollars to run tourism for the county….

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NY Giant talks about his rehab in Pensacola

Maybe the Escambia County Commission should contribute bed tax dollars to the Andrews Institute for all the publicity Dr. Andrews and his patients give the…

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Buzz: County pay raise in final 2014 budget

At last night’s budget meeting, Interim County Administrator George Touart told the Escambia County Commission that he would include a three-percent raise for every county…

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