Bob Barrett

A nationwide program that encourages reading will take up residence in Pensacola for a month.

“The Big Read is a program organized by the National Endowment of the Arts and Arts Midwest that encourages communities to all join together with the simple pleasure of reading a good book,” said Anna Wall, the Chief Curator of the Pensacola Museum of Art.

The race for the Florida House seat in District 2 is a contest between the incumbent Republican and a long-time Democratic activist. Today we take a look at the incumbent, Republican Alex Andrade.

The race for the Florida House seat in District 2 is a contest between the incumbent Republican and a long-time Democratic activist. Here we take a look at the challenger, Democrat Dianne Krumel.

“I will fight just as hard as I did for the beach, the two-and-a-half-year battle, I will take that same passion and commitment and work on things that matter to us, to our community.”

The University of West Florida is joining with schools around the country to help give students a head start at being accepted in the Peace Corps. 

“The university has actually been involved with the Peace Corps for many, many years,” said Dr. Karen Smith, assistant director of international programs at the University of West Florida. She says the Peace Corps is involved in the university’s International Education Week each November and in their Study Abroad Fairs in the fall and spring.

Six months of lockdowns and quarantines have some mental health officials worried about a rise in depression and suicides.

The clean-up from Hurricane Sally has opened up some job opportunities in the area. 

“They’re talking about pretty long days, 12 hours a day for seven days a week,” said Andrew Neilson, part of the first group of applicants leaving a job fair at the Escambia County Central Office Complex Monday afternoon. He says this first meeting at the job fair is a screen process for the potential new hires. “They are taking applications right now, just getting some basic information, and then they are going to be sending out an application probably in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

A local art gallery is giving a UWF student some scholarship money, and a chance to make a little more. “It’s really a fantastic opportunity for our students and we couldn’t be more grateful to Blue Morning Gallery for doing this,” said Dr. David Earle, the interim chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of West Florida.

The annual move-in day at the University of West Florida looked a lot different this year.

Republican voters in Florida House District 2 will choose between the incumbent representative and a two-time congressional candidate in the primary election on August 18th.  Incumbent Alex Andrade will face challenger, Cris Dosev.

Yes, Cris Dosev is looking to make a change, but he’s also like things to get back to at least a little bit of normal. “The key issue is getting people back to work safely. Just as important, getting children back to kindergarten to 12th grade.”

Republican voters in Florida House District 2 will choose between the incumbent representative and a two-time congressional candidate in the primary election on August 18.  Today we look at the incumbent, Alex Andrade.

Since being elected to represent Florida’s second district two years ago, Alex Andrade says he is often asked what surprised him about the job. “If I didn’t know what the job entailed. I wouldn’t have run in the first place. So there weren’t too many surprises as far as the job itself.”

Researchers locally and around the country have begun what will likely be years of studies on the spread of the coronavirus. “We have two projects currently going on which will probably take another three years to complete,” said Dr. Ashok Srinivasan, the William Nystul Eminent Scholar Chair and Professor of Computer Science at the University of West Florida.

A new study from the Harvard University School of Education reports teachers in Florida who are hired during an economic slowdown become better teachers.

One of the panhandle’s largest employers is adapting to life with COVID-19. 

“I think going into 2020 all of us have seen our plans upended. To a certain extent we are all adjusting to a new normal.” said Bill Pearson, the Manager of Public Affairs at Navy Federal Credit Union.

Pearson says that once the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic became obvious, 85% of Navy Federal's workforce transitioned to working remotely.

Two local science teachers are among a few dozen chosen for a new program to bring a scientist to every school in the state. 

“The program started as part of the University of Florida’s call for what are called ‘moonshot projects’,” said Brian Abramowitz, the K – 12 Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Scientist in Every Florida School program. He says those so-called moonshot projects are meant to turn big ideas into reality. “These are originally designed to be something that is so big (and) seemingly unattainable that is designed to change the whole state of Florida.”

The Pensacola Museum of Art has reached deep into their in-house collection for an exhibit that symbolizes the mood of the coronavirus pandemic.

“All of the works are from our permanent collection,” said Anna Wall, the chief curator at the Pensacola Museum of Art. “In addition to all of the traveling exhibitions that we bring to Pensacola, we actually have a collection of 700 art works on site that are for exhibition, research, they are really a resource for the community.”