Winners & Losers 8/26/21

Winners & Losers 8/26/21

>Winners

David Forte

The City of Pensacola's Capital Improvement projects manager has been selected as the next deputy city administrator, responsible for the oversight of the city's community development departments, including Public Works & Facilities, Community Redevelopment Agency and Parks & Recreation. Forte replaces current Deputy City Administrator Kerrith Fiddler, who will be transitioning to his new role as city administrator beginning Friday, Oct. 1. In addition to Public Works, CRA and Economic Development, Forte will oversee Neighborhood Services, Inspection Services and Planning & Zoning for the City of Pensacola.

Amir Fooladi

The president and CEO of ParsCo and a PSC Alumni Lifetime Charter Member has established the Student Constructors Endowed Scholarship at Pensacola State College. His initial gift of $13,500 was matched with $12,500 from the PSC Alumni Association to establish the $25,000 endowment fund for scholarships for students enrolled in a construction industry program.

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

An agreement filed on Aug. 10 at the Florida Public Service Commission between Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), Office of Public Counsel, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Florida Industrial Power Users Group and the Florida Retail Federation will result in a significant acceleration in clean energy development in Florida over the next four years in addition to mitigating the rate impacts to customers of FPL's proposed four-year rate plan filed last March. The agreement doubles FPL's solar development commitment for 2024 and 2025.

Pensacola Humane Society

The organization received a $50,000 Rachael Ray Save Them All Grant from the national animal welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society for its Fielding Dreams partnership program to help Pensacola humanely manage the area's community cats. The Fielding Dreams program will sterilize and vaccinate free-roaming, unowned cats and then return them to their outdoor homes to live out their natural lives without reproducing. The Rachael Ray Save Them All Grant is a grant program, administered by Best Friends and funded by The Rachael Ray Foundation, that provides grants to shelters for euthanasia reduction initiatives.

Losers

Joe Biden

While most Americans have wanted our troops out of Afghanistan for quite some time, it's difficult to find many who are happy with how swiftly the Taliban seized control of the country. The Biden Administration had warning signs that the country's military might offer little resistance as the Taliban advanced on the nation's capital, putting American citizens and those who helped our troops in danger. The chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport are seared in our memory. The withdrawal should have been handled better.

Pam Childers

The Escambia County Clerk/Comptroller has received tremendous positive press from the daily newspaper regarding the county's 401(a) annuity plan. But her story changes from meeting to meeting. We've been told she had researched the issue for a year or more, only to learn last week that she needed more time to complete her analysis. Childers claims she never called the plan illegal, even though she is on video using the word at two different meetings. Her reason for calling it illegal has changed at least three times. And, for some reason, she has refused to join the county in asking for the Florida Attorney General to review the issue.

Escambia County Schools

COVID-19 has hit Escambia County public schools hard, according to NorthEscambia.com. As of Thursday, Aug. 19, there were 81 confirmed COVID-19 student cases in Escambia County schools, with a total of 326 students excluded from school due to a positive test, quarantined due to close contact with a positive case or were waiting for test results. And this was after only one week back in the classrooms. Teachers and parents are doing their best to keep children safe under current protocols.

Ron DeSantis

Florida's governor has gotten the Florida Board of Education to withhold funds from school districts that mandate face masks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, he calls the White House's new requirement that nursing home staff get vaccinated or lose access to Medicaid funding a "massive hammer." Guess we will find out whose hammer is bigger.