According to FloridaCommerce, the Pensacola metropolitan area recorded the fastest over-the-year job growth rate in professional and business services among all Florida metro areas in May 2025. Data: Pensacola added 1,700 private…
Category: Escambia County
Hofberger opens BCC meeting with written remarks (updated)
Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger opened this morning’s Board of County Commissioners’ special meeting with a statement she read into the record: “Fellow commissioner, staff and residents of Escambia County, as always,…
Daily Outtakes: Oops, no state funds for gateway arch, and the spins continues
Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger announced in a press release to WEAR-TV and the Island Times Thursday afternoon that she learned last Friday that the state had cut the Gateway Project’s funding…
Daily Outtakes: Beach Gateway project pulled from agenda
Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger has pulled her controversial Pensacola Beach Gateway project from the agenda of Friday morning’s special Board of County Commissioners meeting. The agenda had the commissioner offering to…
Beach Gateway Goes Back to the Drawing Board again
Commissioner Hofberger defends decorative arch project amid community backlash and design controversy. Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger found herself defending a controversial $7.5 million gateway project at the June 17 Tourist Development…
Podcast: The Legal Right to Peaceful Protest
The disconnect between political messaging and actual events was stark during last weekend’s protests. While Governor DeSantis suggested people could “run over” protesters they felt threatened by, the reality was peaceful demonstrations…
Beach Gateway Survey: “Not Rigged” version
The Escambia County Tourism Development Council meets tomorrow after its 2 p.m. budget workshop to discuss the Pensacola Beach Gateway. Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger’s survey found her fans liked cartoon #2. However, we’ve…
Block-By-Block graduates HVAC cohort
Building Careers, One Block at a Time: Escambia County Celebrates HVAC Workforce Development Graduates Escambia County recently celebrated a milestone in workforce development as 10 young adults graduated from the Block-By-Block Workforce…
The Tale of the Sale of Old Stinky
The former Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) Main Street sewage treatment plant site, commonly known as “Old Stinky,” has become the focus of substantial redevelopment on Government Street in downtown Pensacola. The…
Top Reads: Week ended June 14, 2025
Readers followed closely the University of West Florida Board of Trustees and the Pensacola Beach Gateway debacle. UWF We posted Manny Diaz’s employment contract before any media in the state. Florida Education…
Baptist: The $2 Million Question
By Addy Ruiz Will the Escambia County Commission contribute $2 million to the demolition of the closed Baptist Hospital? Should it? Background: Two years after closing, the old Baptist Hospital still stands…
Hofberger gaslights local artists on beach gateway
After creating a viral storm on local social media, Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger hinted on her official Facebook page that she would have been open to other ideas if the designers…
Children Trust Chair calls for ‘Civil Discourse’ with BCC
At this morning’s Escambia Children’s Trust board meeting, Chair Dr. Rex Northup made an impassioned plea for what he termed “civil discourse” from the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners (BCC). He…
The importance of community engagement
Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofbergers’s Pensacola Beach Gateway project continues to get roasted on social media. Last Friday, Hofberger released three options for residents to consider. Residents universally dislike each of them….
Children’s Trust offers new deal re:CRA and Youth Services
The Escambia Children’s Trust Board of Directors meets tomorrow to discuss a new proposed interlocal agreement between the Trust and the Board of County Commissioners. The agreement allows the Children’s Trust to…
Top Reads: Week ended June 7, 2025
The stories that attracted the most readers were the ones that the Pensacola News Journal either barely reported or ignored completely: County Clerk Pam Childers’ power play brings tourism to a halt,…
Overnights for Hofberger’s cartoon options not good
Readers are not impressed with Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger’s “new” renderings for her proposed new gateway to Pensacola Beach. The options boil down to Innisfree logo (1), Beach Ball (2), or Dolphin (3)….
Vote on new Pensacola Gateway Design by June 11
District 4 Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger invites the public to provide input on the Pensacola Beach Gateway design, part of her overall improvement project to welcome visitors to Pensacola Beach. She asks residents…
Daily Outtakes: Childers & Visit Pensacola promise to do better
While WEAR-TV reports that Escambia County Clerk Pam Childers has resolved the $2 million reimbursement issue with Visit Pensacola, few people have been willing to go on record about what happened at…
Breaking: Commissioner May secures healthcare on old Baptist campus
During today’s Committee of the Whole, Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May revealed he had negotiated a deal to bring immediate healthcare services to the West Moreno District, the former home of Baptist…
