Dave Dunwoody

After a dozen years, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan is stepping down, with voters to decide his successor on Nov. 3. The Republican nominee is Chief Deputy Chip Simmons. 

University of West Florida President Martha Saunders delivered the first virtual “State of the University” address Thursday.  It was a classic example of “sulfur and molasses.”

“It’s been quite a year on the good ship, Argo,” Saunders said. “We’ve sailed a lot of rough seas, we’ve survived a number of storms, but we have amassed a great deal of treasure.”

First, the molasses.

With the retirement of David Morgan, the Escambia County Sheriff’s race is between two former Pensacola police chiefs. 

A 32-year veteran of law enforcement, David Alexander headed the PPD from 2015 to 2017, when he was forced to step down when his state DROP retirement program tenure expired. He says DROP does not affect running for public office.

Pensacola’s preeminent storyteller has passed away at the age of 97.

A Chicago native, and lifelong Cubs fan, John Appleyard wore many hats — World War II veteran; advertising executive, storyteller, and author, to name just a few. His persona extended beyond Pensacola and Northwest Florida.

Two years after his first run for U.S. House District-1, Phil Ehr is back to challenge incumbent Republican Matt Gaetz.

In 2018, Ehr — a retired U.S. Navy commander — lost in the Democratic primary to Jennifer Zimmerman, who went on to lose to Gaetz. Ehr says that was then, this is now, he faced no primary challenger this time.

In-person early voting for the November 3 general election kicked off Monday in 52 of Florida’s 67 counties – including Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties.

There are no numbers to reflect the turnout at Escambia County’s 10 early voting locations on day number one, but Elections Supervisor David Stafford says it’s “high.”

“We’ve seen historical levels of vote-by-mail; [Monday] being the very first day of early voting, [it’s] very, very popular as well,” said Stafford. “All signs point to a very robust turnout.”

After voters in Florida cast millions of ballots by mail, early voting began Monday and runs through Saturday, Oct. 31.  There are concerns that groups or individuals may try to intimidate voters and influence the election results. But election supervisors say -- they’ve got this.

“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully; because that’s what has to happen – I am urging them to do it,” said President Trump during the first presidential debate.

There will be a Southern Professional Hockey League season for 2020-2021, but only five of the 10 member teams will be dropping the puck because of the novel coronavirus. 

Plans are to play a truncated 42-game regular season instream of the normal 56, beginning Dec. 26. The Southern Professional Hockey League is truly “southern” this season. The five clubs are the Birmingham Bulls, Huntsville Havoc, Knoxville Ice Bears, Macon Mayhem and the Pensacola Ice Flyers, where Greg Harris is the owner.

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.

In his weekly news conference Monday – Columbus Day -- Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson announced a new observance for the city, honoring those who were already here when Columbus landed in the New World.

“Columbus Day has not provided an opportunity for us to reflect on the colonialization of North America by Europeans,” the mayor said. “Prior to colonization, indigenous people lived and flourished in America —including Florida and right here in Pensacola — for thousands of years.”

Robinson started off his weekly news conference by reading a proclamation to that end. 

Elections supervisors in the Panhandle are urging voters to have their ducks in a row when casting their ballots for the Nov. 3 election.

David Stafford of Escambia County, Santa Rosa’s Tappie Villane and Paul Lux from Okaloosa County appeared together Thursday to go over procedures and rules.

Stafford expects to reach record vote-by-mai levels in Florida — thanks in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, the voting methods were evenly divided statewide.

Panhandle-area officials and representatives from the Florida Department of Transportation met Wednesday, to discuss the needs of residents whose normal travel habits have been disrupted by Hurricane Sally’s damage of the Three Mile Bridge. 

State Senator Doug Broxson was among local leaders meeting with FDOT District-3 Secretary Phillip Gainer on Wednesday at Pensacola City Hall.

“I think some of the things that we want to do is to give the public more confidence that we’re hitting our marks as far as the recovery of the bridge,” said Broxson.

Hurricane Delta is getting bigger fast, and speeding up as it moves towards the Gulf of Mexico. Escambia County is under a state of emergency, as the storm is expected to hit somewhere along the Gulf Coast.

Delta is now a Category-4 storm. Its first target appears to be Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Forecasters at this time are projecting the storm will make landfall Friday afternoon or evening west of New Orleans.

As registration ends Tuesday in Florida, elections supervisors in the Panhandle are urging voters to have their ducks in a row when casting their ballots for the Nov. 3 election.

Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the state’s voter registration deadline an extra day, after heavy traffic crashed the state’s online system, which could have prevented thousands from casting cast ballots in next month’s presidential election.

Fresh from dealing with Hurricane Sally, residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast now have a new storm for which to prepare.

Tropical Storm Delta is moving through the Caribbean, and forecasters say it will hit western Cuba and eventually the Gulf Coast, likely as a hurricane.

“If this sounds familiar, it sounds like a Category-2 hurricane coming to Louisiana that is expected to turn east – sounds a lot like Sally,” said Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson during his weekly virtual news conference Monday.