Sandra Averhart

The University of West Florida has released details of two reported sexual assaults this month that allegedly took place in a residence hall room. One was reported on Jan. 7; the other reportedly occurred on Jan. 18.

Also, there were two reports of acquaintance or date sexual assault in November.  

Such cases should be reported to the UWF Police Department for investigation. But, there is also an internal probe, which is required for Title IX compliance.

In this week’s Economic Report, Dr. Rick Harper discusses several recently announced economic developments in Northwest Florida.

In Pensacola, the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition announced that it’s ready to resume the planned expansion of its downtown research facility, after a near year-long delay due to the April 2014 flooding.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday will be commemorated Monday with the annual MLK Parade in downtown Pensacola. It’s set for 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19.

Leading the way as Grand Marshal for this year’s parade is Mamie Webb Hixon, Asst. Professor of English and writing lab director for the University of West Florida. Also, Hixon will be the keynote speaker at a program afterward.

In this week’s Economic Report, Dr. Rick Harper provides analysis of Governor Rick Scott’s recommended education budget, the improving housing industry, and Visit Florida’s “Destination 2020” tourism plan.

In his "Keep Florida Working" budget plan for 2015-2016, Gov. Scott is proposing historic per pupil funding of $7,176, an increase of $50 over the previous record for fiscal year 2007-2008. 

UPDATED 1/16/14: Johnny Shane Kormondy was put to death by lethal injection and declared dead at 8:16 p.m. on 1/15/16.

Johnny Shane Kormondy was executed Thursday night at Florida State Prison in Starke for the 1993 murder of Pensacola banker Gary McAdams and the rape of his wife. Cecilia McAdams survived the attack and was on hand to witness the execution.

The execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern, but was delayed for two hours by an eleventh hour appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the appeal was rejected, Kormondy was put to death by lethal injection.

In this week’s Economic Report, Dr. Rick Harper provides analysis of local job growth during last year, which he details in his latest bi-weekly economics column.

The headline is ‘Pensacola-area job growth was better than expected in 2014.’

“What was really good news is that for the most recent twelve months, we actually saw a 3,400 job increase,” said Harper. That’s an increase of about 2.1 percent, which is slightly above the national figure of 2.0 percent, and a bit below Florida’s rate of 3.0 percent.

The historic legalization of same sex marriage in Florida is hitting home for Pensacola couple Sarah Humlie and Lindsay Myers. Although they married out of state in 2012, they were plaintiffs in the ACLU case to end Florida’s long-held ban. Sandra Averhart spoke with Humlie and Myers, who happens to be a colleague at WUWF.

Sandra Averhart (SA): Well, it's been a few days since the news that the stay would end, allowing marriage licenses in Florida to be issued for the first time Tuesday. What are your thoughts now, several days later, on this ruling?

In this week’s Economic Report, Dr. Rick Harper discusses the economic outlook for 2015.

“There’s, hopefully, a lot of good things in store,” said Harper.

Update:  This story was first published on May 23, 2014:

As part of WUWF's Year-in-Review, here's a look back at the movie Belle and its local connections to Pensacola. 

The 2013 British drama was released in select theaters in May and opened in Pensacola over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. 

In this week’s Economic Report on WUWF, Dr. Rick Harper, discusses new initiatives from the University of West Florida Office of Economic Development and Engagement (OEDE) and Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development. 

“There’s a lot of new things happening and among those is an effort to step up publicity that we generate about the sorts of things that we’re doing,” said Harper, who is director of OEDE.