Dave Dunwoody

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

If you’re browsing the Web to find that next furry addition to your family, the Better Business Bureau advises you to watch out for scams that are popping up online.

Unlike other stings that involve money, property, or merchandise, this “puppy scam” is pulling at the heartstrings of many – because, says the BBB’s Tammy Ward, someone really wanting an animal who goes online could lose thousands of dollars – and end up empty-handed.

Season four of University of West Florida football kicks off this evening against Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The Argonauts are picked to finish fourth in the Gulf South Conference preseason coaches' poll.

“I love our team; we’ve really spent a lot of time getting to know each other but also a  lot of time figuring out who can do what,” said UWF Head Coach Pete Shinnick. “Every head coach will tell you, ‘first game, and now let’s go see what we’ve got.’ And I’m excited to see what we’ve got.”

Hurricane Dorian’s full impact on Florida’s east coast has yet to be felt, but agencies from across the state – including the Panhandle – are gearing up to help.

An engine company from the Pensacola Fire Department is among the vehicles being deployed to potential trouble areas. Chief Ginny Cranor says they’re assisting with Dorian recovery by contributing to one of the Engine Strike Teams pre-staged around the state as part of the State Emergency Response Plan.

With Labor Day 2019 upon us, WUWF’s Dave Dunwoody looks back at the history of the holiday, and how Americans have come to celebrate it on the first Monday of September.

Labor Day is just that – a day set aside to honor the American labor movement and its workers’ contributions in areas such as prosperity, productivity, laws, strength and well-being of country, among others. It’s a three-day weekend in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. possessions, and at the federal level.

Question: how do you feed more than 40,000 children two to three meals per day, five days a week, for 180 school days? WUWF’s Dave Dunwoody recently visited the Escambia County School District to find out.

Lunch time at Ferry Pass Middle School is where more than 1,000 students are served daily. The kids come to the cafeteria in separate waves – rather, shifts.

Funeral services are set for 11:00  Thursday morning for Pensacola City Councilman Gerald Wingate, who died August 13 at age 73 after a lengthy fight against cancer. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery. Meanwhile, the work to find Wingate’s successor begins next week.

Florida is joining a national electronic center to exchange voter registration data with other states – an effort that’s been long-sought by the 67 counties’ supervisors of elections.

“Election security, obviously, is important, but so is the integrity of our voter registration rolls,” said the governor. “And one of the best ways to do that, I think, is for Florida to join the Electronic Voter Registration Information Center which is known as ERIC.”

Consumers in Florida are getting a heads-up about a new phishing scam, which is targeting people already victimized in a data breach of the credit monitoring company Equifax.

“I’m Ashley Moody; Florida’s Attorney General,” the online announcement begins. “We are issuing a consumer alert about scams targeting the victims of the Equifax data breach; the largest credit reporting data breach in our history.”

If it’s mid- to late August, then we’re heading into the busiest time of the hurricane season. Coastal residents are urged to stay alert from now until at least the end of the season on Nov. 30.

“There had been some notable adjustments that have been made by some of the lead forecasters in our circles,” says Meteorologist Jeff Huffman at the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network – FPREN. That includes NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Twenty-eight films are in the lineup, for the eighth annual Stamped LGBTQ Film Festival in Pensacola.

The event runs Thursday-Sunday, August 22-25; it has grown since its beginning at the University of West Florida in 2012.