Category: Politics
State Attorney clears Valentino on email issue
The State Attorney’s office has sent a letter to Douglas Underhill concerning whether Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino delivered requested emails to Underhill in a…
House of Sticks: After Shock
This audience, like most groups, will have mixed emotions about my commentary that will range from “ho hum” to angry complacency (powerless to act but…
Hayward sends out newsletter defending the charter
Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward defends the 2010 city charter via his newsletter “Upwords:” Five years ago, I stood with citizens across our community to push…
Context Florida: Here we go again, another Pensacola ‘what-if?’
Shannon Nickinson has written a viewpoint on the Bruce Beach lease for a fish hatchery. City officials are finalizing a lease agreement to build a…
Judge rules in online defamation case, anonymous does not stay anomymous forever
A Philadelphia judge has ordered the owners of Philly.com to disclose the identity of a person who posted a comment online calling the plaintiff a…
Hayward continues to rake in campaign contributions
The Airport Food Concessions and North Hill/DCC controversies had no impact on Mayor Ashton Hayward’s ability to raise funds for his 2014 re-election campaign. Hayward…
Weekend Buzz: North Hill, New County Administrator, More Food trucks Coming
Food trucks coming in May Sherry Morris, the city of Pensacola’s Planning Services Administrator, has sent to the city council a draft document outlining the…
Jack Brown selected new Escambia County administrator
The Escambia Board of County Commissioners voted today to name Jack Brown, Taylor County administrator, its new county administrator. Though the final vote was 5-0,…
House of Sticks: A Slight Diversion…Tongue In Cheek
Last month I had the opportunity to view the movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street” (WWS). What I was hoping to see was a continuation…
County taking ECUA to court
Coming out of its ‘shade’ meeting, the Escambia County Commission voted to go back to court and ask ECUA to be the joint receiver of…
County will discuss resolution of DJJ cost sharing formula, savings $750K annually
The Escambia County Commission will discuss today a settlement with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice that will split the shared detention costs. The Department…
House of Sticks: Accounting with a Twist
Are you familiar with the term “mark-to-market” accounting? Okay…. mosey back into Google and look it up. This term represents where some economists want to…
Notes on Airport Concessions hearing yesterday
Judge Gary Bergosh heard arguments for nearly five hours on a temporary injunction request by Robert de Varona, the airport’s food concessionaire, to prevent the…
House of Sticks: Kneading (or Needing) the Dough
Grab your favorite search engine (Google always works for me) and type in “55 trillion”. A Bloomberg article dated 10-18-11, featuring writers Bob Ivy, Hugh…
Varona tells employees good bye and thank you
Note: Steve Barnes sends in articles occasionally for this blog. His focus has been sports, but he sent me this on Robert de Varona’s final…
Varona attorney confirmed no deal
Jesse Rigby of Clark Partington Hart called to confirm there is no deal between his client, Robert de Varona, and the city of Pensacola. He…
Wait a second. Varona says there is no deal
Just got off the phone with Robert de Varona. There is no deal with the city. “There is no agreement at all,” said Varona. “This…
Varona files suit against City of Pensacola
Mayor Ashton Hayward warned the Pensacola City Council that the city would be sued if it didn’t give the concessions contract to OHM Group. Apparently…
Viewpoint: Pensacola the Bully
by Mark Taylor There is not much I despise more than a bully. We’ve all been around them, in school, at the playground, and maybe…
Hayward continues to play hardball with Varona
Mayor Ashton Hayward has notified Robert de Varona that he wants the company out of the Pensacola International Airport by midnight tonight. If he doesn’t…
