News

To fans of the zombie apocalypse, Michael Cudlitz, who is coming to Pensacon this month, will always be Sargent Abraham Ford on the show "The Walking Dead". Currently he is starring in the CBS series "Clarice", which is shot in Toronto. Cudlitz spoke with WUWF’s Bob Barrett about making a TV show during a pandemic.

As promised, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed an elections overhaul bill that was one of the most-contentious issues of the 2021 legislative session. Also as promised, the signing has prompted the almost-immediate filing of numerous court challenges.

The faith-based organization JUST Pensacola has renewed its call for increased use of the Civil Citation program to reduce juvenile arrests in Escambia County.

For the second year in a row, hundreds of community members from a coalition of Pensacola-area congregations assembled to urge local leaders to take action regarding the high number of youth arrests. The meeting was held Monday via Zoom.

Former Florida senator and new NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is hailing a "new day" for space exploration as the United States seeks to return to the Moon and to go beyond. 

Nelson, who flew aboard space shuttle Columbia in 1986, will become the agency’s 14th administrator. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he said there’s a lot of excitement going on at NASA, both from far away and close-up.

After the Florida Legislature adjourned its 2021 regular session last week, members are now gearing up for a special session on a gaming deal. 

Amid the hundreds of bills proposed each session, only one is a mandatory pass – the state budget. State Sen. Doug Broxson says as time progressed, things began looking better and better for the spending plan.

After a truncated, out-of-the-ordinary regular season because of the coronavirus, it’s playoff time in the Southern Professional Hockey League, with the Pensacola Ice Flyers on the road for their opener Wednesday night.

Pensacola, which finished third in the five-team league’s 42-game regular season, visit the Knoxville Ice Bears in game one of the best-of-three. Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris says because Knoxville is the higher seed at number two, they’ll get the third game if necessary.

A lawman comes home. Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson announced the city’s new police chief during his weekly news conference at City Hall. Add to that the COVID numbers, the Bay Bridge and ferry service.

“With a tentative start date of June 14th, it’s going to be Chief Eric Randall,” said the mayor. “Eric is the individual who’s from Pensacola, who’s been in Newport News [VA], working there as an assistant chief.”

About 20 months after last taking the field, minor league baseball gets underway – albeit later than normal – this week. That includes the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and their Southern League brethren.

The Blue Wahoos are in Pearl, Mississippi to open their 9th season in the Southern League against the Braves this evening. Kevin Randel is the new manager, coming here after managing the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp — now Miami’s Triple-A club. Over Zoom, he said a season in the COVID-19 era will provide additional challenges, starting with pregame.

After a delay from earlier this year, the new 448 area code will arrive here in the Panhandle later this spring. And even if your phone number doesn’t change, the way you make calls will.

“Area Code 850 was introduced in 1997, when the 904 area code needed an area code relief due to substantial growth in demand for telephone numbers,” said Greg Fogleman, a public utilities supervisor with the Florida Public Service Commission with the Office of Industry Development and Market Analysis.

More Americans getting the COVID-19 vaccinations means more Americans getting out of the house for the first time in more than a year. Those planning air travel need to know that scammers are lurking as you book your flight.

Reports of con artists creating fake airline ticket booking sites, or customer service numbers are said to be coming into Better Business Bureau offices.

“1821: A Pensacola Sampler” is a project that seeks to identify every person that lived in the community 200 years ago, when Florida became a U.S. Territory and Escambia County became one of its two original counties. Organizers of the Bicentennial Celebration are now calling for present day residents to take part in the online mosaic phase of the project.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on businesses across the board, both in Northwest Florida and elsewhere. But when it comes to minority-owned firms, the hit is even more devastating. 

One year ago – before the pandemic shifted into high gear – the Pensacola area’s Black and other minority-owned businesses were looking very promising.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a major negative impact on business and commerce nationwide – most acutely felt by companies owned by merchants of color. 

According to the Haas Business Center at the University of West Florida, there are about 58,000 businesses in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties.  Of those, about 3,200 – or roughly 5.5% – are owned by merchants of color.

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19. But you don’t have to be infected to be sick and tired of dealing with the coronavirus.

“We’re all ready for this to be over with,” said Allison Reynolds.

Like many of her fellow students, Reynolds, a senior marketing major at the University of West Florida, misses the normal college experience of in-person classes with lots of student interaction. But she says everyone is doing their best to keep the lines of communication open.

As part of Florida's Territorial Bicentennial Celebration and Escambia County’s 200th Anniversary Celebration, organizers have embarked on a quest to identify every person who might have lived in the Pensacola area when it officially became a U.S. territory in 1821.

Florida is among states whose congressional delegations will grow in the next Congress, according to the first results from the Census Bureau’s 2020 head count.

The decennial survey of America’s population, is what Bureau Director Ron Jarmin calls the smallest shift in any decade in almost a century.

An update on local COVID-19 numbers and what’s on tap for the remainder of his term. Those are among the topics in Mayor Grover Robinson’s weekly news conference at City Hall.

Reminiscent of Robert Frost’s “Miles to Go before I Sleep," the mayor — who announced he would not stand for re-election in 2022 — was asked if he was going to fast-track projects in the 18 months or so remaining in his term.