Dave Dunwoody

If you’re a student at the University of West Florida, you’ll be staying home and firing up the computer beginning later this month.

All classes are going straight online after Thanksgiving, and while it coincides with a rise in coronavirus cases here and elsewhere, it’s actually a pre-planned move.

“When we put together our plan for reopening – that was approved by the Board of Governors – that included how we were going to spend the fall semester,” said UWF President Martha Saunders.

Voters in the Florida Panhandle joined their downstate neighbors to make their pick for president, Congress, and state and local government.

Republican Michelle Salzman is the new state representative from House District-1, garnering 65%  of the vote over Democrat Franscine Mathis. Salzman said the key was defeating incumbent Mike Hill in the August GOP primary.

Early Voting in Florida wrapped up on Saturday, with all counties in the northwest part of the state reporting turnout at 55% or higher. There were more in-person early votes cast than through the mail.

Early turnout in Escambia and Walton Counties were at 55%, with Santa Rosa at 56. Okaloosa led the region at just over 60% as of Monday, according to Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux.

COVID-19 is leading many to order items online from companies such as Amazon, with scammers posing as Amazon employees claiming to need personal information.

Plus, they’re also targeting the Better Business Bureau.

Usually the Bureau is on the outside looking in at scams and other grifting, but this phone number spoofing puts them right in the middle as a victim.

“Because we’re a trustworthy organization and we look out for those types of things,” said Tammy Ward of the Bureau's Pensacola office.

Tuesday afternoon’s briefing at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center reflected the progress, in which the county is rebounding from Hurricane Sally.

They may not be the final figures, but County Administrator Janice Gilley had some numbers on cleanup as the infrastructure gets back on line.

“To date, our assessments have determined that there are $182.6 million worth of damage to the city [of Pensacola], the county, the [Escambia] schools and the ECUA facilities,” said Gilley.

Sixteen years to the day Hurricane Ivan slammed into Gulf Shores, Alabama, Hurricane Sally did the same early Wednesday – also as a Category-2 storm. 

Along with unleashing 105 mile an hour winds on the Panhandle, a slow-moving Sally deluged the Gulf Coast with up to 30 inches of rain from Pensacola Beach westward to Dauphin Island, Alabama — causing dangerous flooding along the coastline and well inland in the days ahead. Now, the cleanup begins.

President Trump’s announcement that he’s extending the moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is leaving some ecstatic, and others scratching their heads.

The president spoke in Columbia, South Carolina, where Trump ally Lindsey Graham is facing a strong challenge for his Senate seat.

“In a few moments I will sign a presidential order extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast; and expanding it to Florida’s Atlantic Coast as well as the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina,” the president said.

Gulf Power Company is partnering with the City of Pensacola, on a solar power demonstration project using public property. And the project is drawing more than just casual attention.

The city has a number of solar projects on the drawing board, according to Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson, to provide a showcase for such energy and how to use it.

Florida’s state House District-1 is getting a new face in Tallahassee, as the race is set for the seat is set for Nov. 3.

Newcomer Michelle Salzman defeated incumbent Mike Hill in Tuesday’s Republican primary, 53-47% in what some are calling a major upset.

The campaign was a rancorous one from Hill’s side, accusing Salzman of, among other things, calling for the defunding of police in the wake of the George Floyd killing. Salzman denied the allegation, and said she expected those tactics.

The first astronauts to ride the SpaceX Crew Dragon into space returned to Earth on Sunday, after a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola.

This was the first splashdown in 45 years for NASA astronauts, since the end of the Apollo program in 1975, and the first in the gulf. Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken spoke to the media in Houston on Sunday.

Following guidance from federal, state and local health experts, Gulf Islands National Seashore is increasing recreational access at the Fort Pickens Campground next week.

The park is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida Department of Health and others to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, along with using a phased approach to increase access on a park-by-park basis. 

Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson covered a number of subjects during Monday’s virtual news conference – including the pandemic, a grant award, and some good news on city layoffs.

First up, the numbers on COVID-19 as of Monday morning, according to the Florida Department of Health. There were 7,000 positive cases in Escambia County, just over 6,200 of whom are residents.

Plans are underway for a couple of bicentennial celebrations next year, honoring both Florida and Escambia County.

Last Friday marked the county’s 199th birthday, when what’s now Florida was ceded by Spain and became a U.S. Territory. Escambia and St. John’s were Florida's two original counties, covering the entire area within modern state boundaries.

State and local officials are urging Floridians who have recovered from the novel coronavirus to share their blood and plasma for others to be treated.

“Everybody donate your plasma, it’s very, very important; you can make a different in people’s health and in their lives,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking at OneBlood headquarters in Orlando Monday.

When the COVID-19 outbreak reached Florida in March, there wasn’t much information on how to treat it. But DeSantis says a number of inroads have been made since then – including the use of “convalescent plasma.”

The man who was carried across the Pensacola Bay Bridge on the hood of a vehicle is invoking Florida’s self-defense statute in his defense.

On June 7, while helping block the Pensacola Bay Bridge an SUV – later found to be driven by Nathan Matusz, drove into the crowd, forcing Uphaus onto the hood.

Attorney Chris Klotz represents Jason Uphaus, who last month was part of the “Black Lives Matter” protest at the 17th Street railroad trestle and Bay Bridge.

Gov. Ron DeSantis provided an update on Florida’s coronavirus siege in Miami on Monday, and did not escape the wrath of an in-person protester. And, Pensacola-area residents now have a new source for local COVID-19 numbers.

The governor had just begun his remarks, when a protester confronted him from where the media was positioned.

“You are doing nothing; you are misleading the public,” said the unidentified man talking over the governor. “Over 4,000 people have died, and you guys have no plan and you are doing nothing.”

Meeting Tuesday in special session, the Pensacola City Council voted unanimously to both extend the local state of emergency, and to require face coverings inside buildings within the city limits.

Before the vote on mandatory face masks for businesses in the city limits, Council President Jewel Cannada-Wynn gave Pensacolians a pep talk of sorts about complying with what many call the “new norm.”

After a nearly two-month hiatus, Sunday and weekday services with a congregation present resumed early last month in the Pensacola-Tallahassee Catholic Diocese, with protective measures in place against the coronavirus.

Masses have been celebrated online throughout the diocese since March. Reopening its 57 brick and mortar parishes, said Bishop William Wack, was a team decision.

The Saudi Air Force student who opened fire inside a classroom aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, was an operative for al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula. That’s the word from the Justice Department and the FBI.

Second Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani killed three U.S. servicemen and wounded 11 others before he was shot to death by Escambia County deputies on Dec. 6.  In a news conference Monday, Attorney Gen. Bill Barr said the key to why was accessing information from the student’s cellphone.

Floridians are staying put and keeping their money in their pockets during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by UWF’s Haas Business Center.

The economic-impact survey was conducted from March 16 to April 6. Jerry Parrish, who chairs the council of economic advisors at Haas, says it was an online study out of necessity.

Groundbreaking is set for Wednesday for a new partnership between Gulf Power Company and the U-S Navy, aimed at developing, generating, and distributing solar power.

Under a 37-year lease, Gulf Power will use almost 600 acres of property aboard NAS Pensacola, Whiting Field, and two outlying landing fields, Holly and Saufley. Natalie Smith at the utility says plans are to build two large generating facilities.

“Those are some of the details we have to work out, and figure out how much space would be needed,” said 

  Pensacola Police are looking for a suspect who they say was a real-life Grinch who stole Christmas – or at least part of it.

Our story begins around five o’clock Saturday afternoon, in front of Cordova Mall on North 9th Avenue.

“He approached the bell-ringer in front of the mall, and gave him the story that he was there to collect the kettles,” said Pensacola Police Lt. Steve Davis. “That particular bell-ringer was suspicious and asked for ID. The gentleman left and never returned.”

Tuesday marks the kickoff of “Keep the Wreath Green,” a fire safety campaign involving Escambia County Fire-Rescue, Pensacola Fire Department, and departments in Santa Rosa County.

Each year on average, about 400 people die and 16,000 others are injured in holiday fires, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Property damage totals around $1 billion.

That’s where “Keep the Wreath Green” comes in.

“It’s a method to put a visual indicator of fire safety during an important time of the year,” said Pensacola Fire Marshal David Allen.