News

Pensacola International Airport has reached the 2 million passenger mark this fiscal year, a record for the number of visitors moving through the facility.

At the weekly news conference at Pensacola City Hall, Airport Director Dan Flynn said an airport is actually a barometer of the regional economy.

“Whether it’s the business sector of the regional economy; the leisure/tourism sector of the regional economy, the military sector of the regional economy,” said Flynn. “We work with all those leaders to meet the demands that they have to support the area.”

As of Tuesday, oil prices were falling one day after their biggest single-day jump in years due to the weekend attack on a key Saudi Arabia energy facility, Aramco. But Florida drivers could soon see gas prices move higher.

U.S. oil fell nearly five percent per barrel, after rising more than 14% on Monday in the wake of the attack — which led to the biggest disruption of crude oil in modern history. Mark Jenkins is with AAA South in Tampa.

In the years since Hurricane Ivan, everyone who lived through the storm learned some lessons from the experience. Katie King, a photographer the Pensacola News Journal at the time of the storm and Troy Moon who was a reporter at the paper talked about those lessons.

Every neighborhood in the region was affected by Hurricane Ivan, and telling the stories of those neighborhoods meant finding a way for reporters to travel to those neighborhoods.

Troy Moon was a reporter for the news journal when Ivan hit.

Downtown Pensacola will be an even larger beehive of activity on Sept. 21, when the UWF Argonauts play their 2019 football home opener against Virginia-Lynchburg. WUWF’s Dave Dunwoody looks at a new study by the Haas Business Center on the games’ economic impact.

When the Argonauts took the field at Bayfront Stadium for the five home games in 2018, they generated a total of $9.7 million in sales throughout Escambia County, according to Amy Newburn at the Haas Center. The report, she says, contains multiple types of inputs.

It’s been 15 years since Hurricane Ivan changed the landscape of northwest Florida. Back in 2004, Tom Ninestine was the Metro Editor of the Pensacola News Journal. Today, Tom is the Managing Editor here at WUWF. He recently sat down with a couple of colleagues who were working with him at the PNJ when the storm hit. This is part one of their conversation.

Pensacola City Councilwoman Sherri Myers has been a consistent advocate for environmental change. When she initially pushed for the formation of a climate change task force five years ago, she met some pushback.

“[Climate change] was not a very popular word politically for public officials to talk about, but now that atmosphere is completely changed,” Myers said.

Some small patients with big medical needs got a major investment this week. WUWF’s Bob Barrett reports. “Today we’re here to celebrate a generous contribution of $2.5 million for our children and their families that we serve,” said Carol Carlan, president of the Sacred Heart Foundation. “And in recognition of that, it’s our honor and privilege to name the region’s only level 3 NICU, neonatal intensive care unit, after Pediatrix Medical Group.”

On a bipartisan vote of 248-180, the U.S. House Wednesday passed a measure that would outlaw oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. WUWF’s Dave Dunwoody reports House Resolution 205 now goes to the Senate.

“If drilling off of Florida is going to be the only thing that’s going to keep us from having high energy prices and a reliance on foreign energy, I don’t know why that hadn’t [sic] happened yet,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fort Walton Beach) on the House Floor. “Right now, we are not drilling off the coast of Florida, and we are energy-dominant in the world.”

Keep Pensacola Beautiful is seeking to trigger a revival of North Palafox Street in the downtown area by purchasing and restoring the old Hygeia Coca Cola Bottling Company building.

The non-profit organization has big plans for the historic building, but needs community support to make it happen.

Five months after a multi-faceted, multi-agency summit on homelessness in Pensacola, very little concrete solutions have emerged. But some work is continuing behind the scenes.

According to Waterfront Rescue Mission, roughly 800 people – men, women and children – are homeless in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties at any one time.

“We met with [Escambia] County at the end of August, and we have a fairly good meeting over there,” said Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson. “I think we’re still coming down to the position of what we can do.”