Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is reporting another drive-by shooting this morning. Darrius Howard and Kary Howard were shot about 9:40 a.m. in the 1100 block of Webster Drive, north of West Fairfield…
College tuition idea catches fire
Council member Maren DeWeese’s idea of starting a fund to pay for the college tuition for local high school students was the talk of the weekend. Parents are excited about the concept…
Psst, School Board has power to raise taxes
The Florida Legislature gave school districts the option Saturday to shift funds intended for capital improvement to day-to-day operating budgets. However, the school boards must raise taxes to replenish their capital funds….
Another Shooting
WEAR TV reports two men are accused of shooting a Myrtle Grove man in the head on Saturday. The victim survived. See video.
Odom does bait and switch
Okaloosa County developer Jay Odom is in trouble again. It was his airplane hangar that Odom got buddies former House Speaker Ray Sanson and ex-college president Bob Richburg to build with state…
Crawfish Festival is booming
Just got back from the Fiesta Crawfish Festival. The IN staff took a break and walked done to Bartram Park. The crawfish are excellent!
Maybe why ECSO K-9 unit suspended
2005 was a very bad year for the K-9 unit…particularly two deputies that cost the ECSO at least two lawsuits. February 2005 Gulf Breeze teen, Addison Salter, is bitten by K-9 after…
Santa Rosa does well on FCAT, too
While 12 out of 38 elementary schools in Escambia County equaled or exceeded the state average for the percentage of students who did 4.0 or higher on FCAT writing test. Santa Rosa…
Looking deeper at FCAT scores
Superintendent Malcolm Thomas’ press release and the PNJ article on the FCAT are based on the percentage of students that did 3.5 or greater on the FCAT writing test. A higher standard…
Jim Paul deserves some FCAT credit
Former Superintendent Jim Paul deserves some credit for the increase FCAT writing scores over the past seven years….but don’t expect Malcolm Thomas to mention it in his press releases. In fact, new…
ECSO dogs shutdown
WEAR TV 3 reported last night that K-9 unit at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has been temporarily shutdown by the Department of Justice. According to WEAR, the Department of Justice –…
“Why we are firefighters”
This comment was posted elsewhere on the blog. I think it deserves more attention: After the pension workshop I had a few thoughts I felt compelled to write down… you; however, are…
Gun Shots
Pensacola shop owner sent me this photo: “I enjoyed reading your article about the shootings in Pensacola. On a recent Saturrday I got to work to discover a bullet hole in one…
Blog stats
Rick’s Blog began in the spring of 2006. To date, I made 4,016 posts – about four per day. We have had 27,386 comments – an average of 6.8 comments per post….
McCollum-early favorite for GOP race
Political analyst Roger Stone reports Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is the early favorite to be the Republican nominee for Governor if Charlie Crist choses to run for the U.S. Senate. A…
College board meets to discuss status of Richburg
The Board of Trustees of Northwest Florida State College meets today to discuss the status of its college president, Bob Richburg. Richburg was recently indicted by a Tallahassee grand jury. He has…
Buzz: Florida Senate passes consolidation
Just got a text message the local bill to form a consolidation commission passed the Florida Senate, YEAS 38 NAYS 0
Fight over Clearasil led to deputies’ death
The Fort Walton Beach Daily News reports that the marital argument that led to the deaths of two Okaloosa County deputies was over a tube of Clearasil. An offense report filed against…
Bruno/Food World has a buyer
The Mobile Press Register reports that C&S Wholesale Grocers of Keene, N.H., the wholesaler that supplies Bruno’s and Food World, is the bidder most likely to seek a large number of stores…
Council moms tackle parks
Council member Megan Pratt is in the PNJ for pushing her idea of creating a natural playground near the new Tryon Branch library. Read more. Council member Maren DeWeese led on Saturday…
