“Bay County Commissioners Join Gov. Scott’s Fight for Florida Jobs”
WMBB (ABC) – Panama City, FL
February 22, 2017
To view the clip, click HERE.
Seminole State celebrates milestone in construction of new $25 million Student Services Center
Construction of Seminole State College of Florida’s new Student Services Center on the Sanford/Lake Mary Campus has reached a milestone. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, students, faculty and staff gathered at the construction site as crews from Charles Perry Partners, Inc. (CPPI), raised the final beam into place as part of a Topping Out ceremony marking the highest point of the building’s construction.
Signatures of students, faculty and staff covered the beam, providing the Seminole State community a unique way to be part of the building’s history.
The Student Services Center will open in January 2018 and will support Seminole State’s vision of being a student-centered college by serving as a one-stop facility for student services and student life.
“This new building will be a one-stop welcoming place for new and current students that will enhance every facet of their student experience at Seminole State – from first-time information through graduation,” said Dr. Joe Sarnovsky, executive vice president at Seminole State.
During the ceremony, the signed beam was hoisted 34 feet into the air by a crane and attached to the building, which is well on its way to become an energy-efficient, two-story, 77,000-square-foot structure.
“We are very excited to be here today flying the final beam,” said CPPI Vice President and Regional Manager Jason Morgan. “A Topping Out ceremony represents the time when you fly the highest point or the last structural piece of a building, and we are all going to be a part of that today.…We do it to thank the design team and the construction workers – all who made the project possible.”
Interesting facts about the construction project to date:
- 368 tons of steel used to construct the frame
- 28 tons of reinforcing bars (rebar) installed
- 2,250 cubic yards of concrete poured
- 38,000 concrete masonry units (CMU) utilized
- 5,000 man hours dedicated to this project
Seminole State students provided their input in the building’s design. Caleb Hylton, president of the Student Government Association at Seminole State College’s Sanford Lake Mary Campus, spoke about how the Student Services Center is a combination of efforts, inputs and opinions from both students and administration.
“As construction on this building continues, remember that it stands as a symbol of what can be accomplished when you have a college that supports and puts its students first,” said Hylton. “And a student body that is eager and willing to make the difference in not only their school but in their community.”
About Seminole State College of Florida
Seminole State College of Florida, established in 1965, serves nearly 30,000 students across six sites in Central Florida. A comprehensive college, Seminole State has awarded nearly 100,000 credentials, from bachelor’s degrees to high school diplomas, and offers more than 200 degrees, certificates and programs designed for success. For more about the college, visit seminolestate.edu, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/seminolestate and follow us on Twitter: @seminolestate.
Flagler College professor’s book takes Silver Medal in Florida Book Awards competition
A Flagler College professor’s in-depth study of the civil rights movement in northwest Florida has earned him a prestigious 2016 Florida Book Award for his book, titled “Beyond Integration: The Black Freedom Struggle in Escambia County, Florida, 1960-1980.” Dr. J. Michael Butler won the Silver Medal in the awards’ “General Non-Fiction” category.
“I am thrilled and honored,” the associate professor of History said. “It indicates that the topic of race relations in Escambia County extends beyond state borders and has regional, and even national, lessons and implications. It is also quite nice to know that my work is having an impact beyond the so-called ‘ivory tower’ in an area that is as important as the continuous struggle for racial justice in America.”
“Beyond Integration” examines how institutional forms of cultural racism persisted well beyond the visible signs of racial integration in the 1960s. According to Butler, the civil rights movement did not end in 1968. The movement in the 1960s targeted segregation by legal statutes, such as overturning voting restrictions. ‘De facto’ forms of segregation still existed.
The Flagler professor was one of more than 200 writers to compete for the awards, which is an annual awards program that recognizes, honors and celebrates the best books about Florida published in the previous year. It is sponsored by Florida State University.
“Such prestigious recognition makes me very happy for my immediate family, Flagler College and the University of North Carolina Press, all of whom supported me at various points in different ways during the project’s completion,” he said. “The fact that I can share the Florida Book Award with all of them makes it even more meaningful to me.”
Butler received both his master’s and doctorate degrees in History from the University of Mississippi, where he specialized in 20th century Southern History with an emphasis on the civil rights movement. He teaches, among others, courses in American History, African-American History, Slavery in the United States and The Civil Rights Movement. He will attend the banquet for Florida Book Awards on April 12 in Tallahassee.
For more information on the full list of winners, visit here. To learn more about “Beyond Integration”, visit here.
Flagler College is a private, nationally-ranked college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 31 majors, 36 minors, two pre-professional programs and a master’s degree in Education of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus in Tallahassee, Fla. U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review regularly feature Flagler as a college that offers quality education at a relatively low cost. A Flagler education is less than half the cost of similar private colleges, and competitive with many state universities. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for its historic beauty. The centerpiece of the campus is the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, a National Historic Landmark built in 1888 by railroad pioneer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler. For more on Flagler College, visit www.flagler.edu.
Gov. Scott Announces 2016-2017 Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Awards
Governor Rick Scott announced today that $765,000 has been awarded through the Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Program to three projects that serve to protect military installations across the state. This year, awards were given to the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, South Florida Progress Foundation of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and the Clay County Development Authority. Florida’s military installations contribute more than $79.8 billion in economic impact, and the defense industry supports more than 774,000 jobs in Florida.
Governor Scott said, “I am proud to announce $765,000 in Florida Defense Support Task Force Grants to help protect, preserve and enhance Florida’s military installations. We are proud to be the most military-friendly state in the nation and this funding not only supports our military members but the thousands of families that have jobs across the state thanks to our military installations. We will continue to do all we can to recognize the many brave military men and women, and their families, whose service and sacrifice keeps our country safe.”
Grant funding will support community projects at Florida military installations that will diversify the local economy, provide support for local infrastructure projects and strengthen Florida’s bases ahead of any potential Department of Defense realignment or closure actions. For more information on the individual grant award for projects throughout the state, see below:
Escambia County: $250,000 in Defense Grants
$250,000 was awarded to the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce through the Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Program for fiscal year 2016-17 to reroute traffic to the Naval Aviation Museum from the main gate to a more direct access point in an effort to enhance protection and base security. Additionally, the project protects the positive economic impact the museum has on the base and the community.
Rear Admiral Don Quinn, USN (ret), Vice Chairman, Armed Service, Greater Pensacola Chamber said, “Pensacola is proud to host the world’s largest Naval Aviation Museum, the historic Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum, and Ft. Barrancas, all located on board the Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola and open to the public. Consolidating civilian visitors to the west gate for those venues allows NAS Pensacola to provide a more efficient flow of traffic while ensuring the security of operational areas of the installation. This grant from the Florida Defense Support Task Force will allow the Pensacola community to educate visitors of the changes to base access while reducing the demands on NAS Pensacola security personnel.
Miami-Dade County: $115,000 in Defense Grants
$115,000 was awarded to the South Florida Progress Foundation of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce through the Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Program for fiscal year 2016-17 to establish the South Florida Defense Alliance. The alliance’s mission will be to unite, champion and represent the local defense community.
Col. Steve Williamson, USA (Ret), Military Affairs Committee, Greater Miami Chamber said, “Our communities are better when we work together. We are honored at the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce to be a recipient of this generous grant that reinforces the importance of the military’s presence in our state. We know that the military in South Florida is one of our great treasures and this funding gives us the opportunity to create a South Florida Defense Alliance to strengthen and lead a united coalition to champion our local defense community.”
Clay County: $400,000 in Defense Grants
$400,000 was awarded to the Clay County Development Authority through the Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Program for fiscal year 2016-17. The funding continues the Clay County Development Authority’s commitment to preserving and protecting the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center (CBJTC) from incompatible land development and encroachment. The funding, in addition to a federal match, will purchase land valued at over a million dollars.
Josh Cockrell of the Clay County Development Authority said, “In accordance with our principal purpose of promoting sound economic development of Clay County, the Clay County Development Authority is pleased to receive this grant that will strengthen the strategic partnership with Camp Blanding Joint Training Center to improve the quality of life for our citizens by securing a buffer from future development and encroachment thus protecting the installation that comprises almost one fifth of the county and is tied to its economic viability. We are pleased to work with Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Defense Support Task Force to support Camp Blanding as a premier regional training center. This is a remarkable opportunity not only to strengthen our part in national security, but promote jobs and economic development at both the local and state levels.”
The Florida Defense Support Task Force was created in 2011 with the mission to make recommendations to preserve and protect military installations, support the state’s position in research and development related to military missions and contracting, and improve the state’s military-friendly environment for service members, military families, veterans and businesses that bring military and defense-related jobs to the state. The Florida Defense Support Task Force Grant Program is administered by Enterprise Florida, and grants are awarded annually, on a project priority basis. For more information on the Florida Defense Support Task Force, visit www.eflorida.com/floridadefense.
Harvard Law Professor Discusses “Illiberal Constitutionalism”
The Florida Law Review’s 36th annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law will feature Professor Mark Tushnet, a leading scholar of constitutional law and legal history. Tushnet is currently the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
“Illiberal Constitutionalism” will be held Friday, February 24, 2017 at 10 A.M. in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, Room 180, located at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. The law school is located at 2500 SW 2nd Avenue, Gainesville, Florida 32611. The lecture is sponsored by the Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law Series and is presented by the Florida Law Review. The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking will be available at the law school.
The Florida Law Review’s Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law series was established by the U.S. Sugar Corporation and the law firms of Dunwody, White & Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody & Cole in honor of Elliot and Atwood Dunwody. The honorees were brothers who dedicated their lives to the legal profession and who set a standard of excellence for The Florida Bar. As graduates of the University of Florida College of Law, they labored long, continuously, and quietly to better the social and economic conditions in Florida.
The Dunwody Lecture series is intended to perpetuate the example set by the Dunwody brothers by providing a forum for renowned legal scholars to present novel and challenging ideas.
Media inquiries can be directed to Florida Law Review Executive Symposium Editors Ashlyn Robinson and Cayman Weimer at [email protected] or at 352-273-0670.
For more details, please visit the Florida Law Review’s website at www.floridalawreview.org or contact the office at 352-273-0670.
Distinguished Speaker
Professor Tushnet, who graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, specializes in constitutional law and theory, including comparative constitutional law. His research includes studies examining (skeptically) the practice of judicial review in the United States and around the world. He also writes in the area of legal and particularly constitutional history, with works on the development of civil rights law in the United States and (currently) a long-term project on the history of the Supreme Court in the 1930s.
Secretary Detzner to Induct Four Artists into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame
Secretary of State Ken Detzner invites the press to a ceremony inducting four artists with deep ties to Florida into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 23.
DATE AND TIME: Thursday, February 23, 5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: The Thomas Center
302 NE 6 Ave, Gainesville, Fla.
WHO: Inductees: GRAMMY Award winners Billy Dean and Don Felder; poet Lee Bennett Hopkins; and comedian, musician and singer-songwriter Jim Stafford.
Emcees: Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and Division of Cultural Affairs Director Sandy Shaughnessy.
DESCRIPTION: Four artists with deep ties to Florida to be inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. All four artists will be attending.
Established by the Florida Legislature in 1986, the Florida Artists Hall of Fame is the highest cultural honor bestowed upon Florida artists and recognizes persons, living or deceased, who have made significant contributions to the arts in Florida either as performing or practicing artists in individual disciplines.
For more information on the Florida Artists Hall of Fame and the 2017 Inductees, please visit: dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/.
About the Division of Cultural Affairs
The Florida Department of State’s Division of Cultural Affairs is Florida’s legislatively designated state arts agency. The Division promotes the arts and culture as essential to quality of life for all Floridians. To achieve its mission, the Division funds and supports cultural programs that provide artistic excellence, diversity, education, access and economic vitality for Florida’s communities. For more information, visit dos.myflorida.com/cultural.
Jet-racing team revs up would-be entrepreneurs during speaker series
Lemerand Entrepreneurial Scholarships go to two winning students
Elaine and Chris Larsen, founders of what has become the world’s largest jet-powered racing motorsports company, know what it’s like to start a business from the ground up. The racing superstars shared their story to a capacity crowd on Feb. 21 during the spring installment of the L. Gale Lemerand Entrepreneurial Speaker Series hosted by the Small Business Development Center at Daytona State College and DSC’s School of Business Administration.
“Larsen Motorsports was never meant to be as big as it is today. We were just a couple of Michigan farmers who found a niche,” said Chris Larsen, noting that the company started when the husband and wife team built their first dragster in their garage.
Founded in 1999, Larsen Motorsports today is headquartered in Palm Bay and features multiple jet-engine powered dragsters commandeered by Elaine Larsen and her team of mostly female drivers. The company is partly operated by a constantly cycled group of college interns learning everything from marketing the business side of Larsen Motorsports and maintaining the complex vehicle engines, to fabricating parts and transporting the cars on race days.
The Larsens shared some key tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:
- Define your own definition of winning and success, as they are not necessarily the same.
- Don’t compare yourself to others; simply try to continuously improve.
- Make the time of others as valuable as your own.
- Treat the customer paying you $100 the same as you would the customer paying you $100,000.
- Be kind and courteous, and embrace those who work for you.
- Stay out of debt; it can crush your business.
- Start strategically and build your business progressively.
- Count on a beginning, a middle and an end for your business.
Chris Larsen also added, looking to his driver wife of over 30 years, “Things that are forever, embrace them entirely.”
Prior to the Larsen’s presentation, DSC President Tom LoBasso told the audience, most of them DSC and local high school students, that many of the programs offered by DSC, such as associate and bachelor’s degrees in engineering technology and information technology, as well as degree and certificate programs in project management, electronics, CNC machining, automotive technology and automotive collision and repair can be applied to careers in motorsports.
He and the speaker series’ namesake, L. Gale Lemerand, also presented two students with $1,000 Entrepreneurial Speaker Series scholarships. They were Caneshia Bennett (pictured with Dr. LoBasso (L) and Mr. Lemerand (R), a Palm Coast resident studying business administration who also owns a food truck serving Volusia and Flagler counties on weekends, and Keisha Harris, a Daytona Beach single mother of three enrolled in the college’s culinary arts program, who plans to open her own restaurant or bake shop upon graduation.
The Larsens are dedicated to bringing new talent to the sport of drag racing, such as drivers, engineers and fabrication and vehicle-maintenance specialists. They also serve as valuable role models by introducing young women to non-traditional STEM careers.
ICYMI: The Florida Channel: 2/22/17 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award Ceremony
Pam Bondi: “They are out there risking their lives for you every single day, so we need to appreciate our law enforcement throughout this country.”
The Florida Channel
Feb. 22, 2017
To watch the full Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award Ceremony, visit TheFloridaChannel.org
ICYMI: WFTX: Gov. Scott and Tourism Leaders Fight to Fully Fund VISIT FLORIDA
“Gov. Scott and Tourism Leaders Fight to Fully Fund VISIT FLORIDA”
WFTX-FTM (FOX) – Fort Myers, FL
February 21, 2017
To view the clip, click HERE.
Florida panther population estimate updated
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) have updated the estimated number of endangered Florida panthers in their breeding range south of the Caloosahatchee River.
The updated population estimate is 120 to 230 adult and subadult Florida panthers, according to a February 2017 report from the agencies collaborating on conservation and recovery efforts. The previous Florida panther population estimate was 100 to 180 adult and subadult panthers in 2014. These population estimates do not include kittens, which are still dependent on their mothers.
The panther population report is available on FloridaPantherNet.org.
The report emphasizes both the importance and difficulty in obtaining accurate panther population estimates, which is similar to estimating other puma populations in western states. Currently, Florida scientists are evaluating several methods to refine their ability to estimate the panther population size, including the use of trail cameras and panther road mortality data. The current numbers, developed jointly by USFWS and FWC scientists, use annual counts of panthers primarily conducted on public lands. Density of panthers on these areas is then multiplied across the larger area that makes up the primary breeding range in south Florida. Although there are some panthers outside of this range in south Florida and in areas north of the Caloosahatchee River, they are primarily dispersing males and do not significantly contribute to the breeding population.
“This latest Florida panther population estimate is good news, an indication that conservation efforts are on track in helping recover this endangered animal,” said Kipp Frohlich, FWC’s Deputy Director for the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation. “In the 1970s and 1980s, it was estimated only 20 to 30 panthers remained in Florida.”
Larry Williams, the USFWS’s Florida State Supervisor of Ecological Services, believes the new numbers indicate things are trending in the right direction — due in part to a strong partnership with the state of Florida.
“Continued recovery will require a long-term concerted effort by many partners committed to finding common-sense solutions that balance many different and competing interests, yet are grounded in a shared purpose of conserving the lands that support Florida’s native wildlife and its ranching heritage,” Williams said.
The public is encouraged to report sightings of panthers or their tracks, and in particular photos, to MyFWC.com/PantherSightings to help with panther research and management. Biologists are especially interested in pictures of panthers north of the Caloosahatchee River, which runs from Lake Okeechobee to Fort Myers.
Floridians also can help panther conservation efforts by purchasing the “Protect a Panther” vehicle tag from local tax collector’s offices.
