INWEEKLY — Feb. 13, 2025 issue

Rick Outzen

10 months ago

Things We Love (Right Now) We decided once again to use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to declare our love in big, bold print for some of our current favorite people, places and things. We know this isn’t a “traditional” way to celebrate this holiday, but anyone who doesn’t agree that love comes in a variety of shapes and forms hasn’t eaten the right chicken sandwich yet. Read more.

Winners & Losers 2/13/25 Florida State University’s Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research & Education (InSPIRE) has announced the addition of Dr. Ed Meadows to its advisory council. Other winners include Carol Carlan, Brandt & Samantha Hendricks and UWF Nursing. Who are the losers? Find out here.

Outtakes—The Blog Turns 20 In February 2005, I started a blog without realizing how to use it effectively. Reporters nationwide, including those at the Pensacola New Journal, had them, but only a handful were having any impact. Little did I realize that ricksblog.biz would still be making waves two decades later. During its first year, I would post something once or twice a month without much fanfare, but by 2006, platforms like Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal made blogging accessible and multimedia-rich. Alternative weeklies were using blogs to break into daily news coverage, but I didn’t figure out how until I attended the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies in Little Rock, Ark. Read more.

Mercury Canaday’s Art Family Mercury Canaday, an artist originally from St. Louis, Mo., moved to Pensacola three years ago where they dove in to a close-knit arts community and worked up the courage to start their small business, Quiet Meadow Art, in December of 2023. “I have always loved art, and I’ve been making art for as long as I remember. But after working job after job, I wanted to find a career in something I truly loved and that made me happy,” said Canaday. Canaday’s art is for sale daily at Sisi’s Store Sucks, and they often pop up at Pensacola Art Market. Read more.

The Buzz 2/13/25 SALZMAN VS. DESANTIS: Florida House Speaker Danny Perez has appointed Rep. Michelle Salzman of Cantonment to lead the water programs work group that will review line-item vetoes from the current 2024-25 budget Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year. Like most members of the Florida Legislature, Salzman endorsed DeSantis during the GOP presidential primary. Read more.

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