Inweekly dec 26 2015 issue by Inweekly

Independent News | December 26, 2015 | Volume 16 | Number 51 | inweekly.net

FREE â&#x2013;ś

winners & losers

outtakes

news 6, 7

buzz 8

Until we get into it knee-deep, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to know what the answer is.

cover story 11

publisher Rick Outzen

art director Richard Humphreys

editor & creative director Joani Delezen

contributing writers Jason Leger, Jennifer Leigh, Emily Richey, Chuck Shepherd, Shelby Smithey

a&e 16

Independent News is published by Inweekly Media, Inc., P.O. Box 12082, Pensacola, FL 32591. (850)438-8115. All materials published in Independent News are copyrighted. ÂŠ 2015 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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DIFFERENCE MAKERS PENSACOLA CAMELLIA CLUB CONCLUDES 77TH ANNUAL CAMELLIA SHOW WITH 1,700+ ENTRIES The Pensacola Camellia Club’s 77th annual camellia show and plant sale held Saturday December 12 had over 1750 bloom entries from camellia enthusiasts both local and from surrounding states—Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and various cities in Florida. The camellia show is adjudicated by the rules of the American Camellia Society (ACS) and most of the judges in this show are from other clubs. Each variety of camellia bloom is judged separately and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners are selected. Then judges determine if the best bloom for each category is eligible for a higher prize. There are two large categories—blooms grown in greenhouse and those grown outside. “Sweepstakes winners” as those growers having the most 1st place (blue ribbon) winners. Sweepstakes winners and runners-up in the greenhouse category were Jerry and Carol Selph of Quitman, GA and Howard and Mary Rhodes from Tallahassee. Outdoor sweepstakes winners and runners-up were Fred & Sandra Jones of Moultrie, GA and Paul Heuerkamp of Louisiana. Dick Hooton of Pensacola Camellia Club won prize for “Best Bloom of the Show” with a new variety, Jim Smelley. Skip Vogelsang, chairman of PCC Camellia show, won “Best Pensacola Variety” with Lady Laura bloom. Among those entering blooms in the show were current ACS president Jim Campbell of Covington, LA; Forrest Latta, former ACS vice-president; and Roger Vinson of Pensacola, former ACS President. There is a “novice” category for those growers who have not won significant prizes at camellia shows previously. Some of those locals entering in this division include, Christi Hankins ,current PCC president and prominent attorney; Paul Bruno, restaurateur and past president of PCC and Alan McMillan, PCC board member and current Commodore of Pensacola Yacht Club. PCC member Carolyn Pulford won in two of the seven novice categories. One does not need to be a member of the Camellia Club in order to enter blooms. More than 100 camellia plants were sold and nine persons took advantage of the offer of a new camellia plant on joining both the PCC and the American Camellia Society. There was also an exhibit of camellia bonsai and a demonstration of waxing camellias. Mother-daughter team of Bette and Anne Hooton demonstrated the process waxing camellia blooms for beauty and preservation. Waxed camellias will last for up to ten days at room temperature and more than three weeks when refrigerated. Some patrons were able to take home some of the waxed camellias. For those desiring to purchase camellia plants, save these dates: Saturday January 23: PCC Garden Tours (times and locations to be announced) Saturday February 13: Camellia Workshop and Plant Sale 9-noon, YMCA on Langley Avenue Saturday February 27: Community Camellia Show and Plant Sale, West Florida Public Library 239 N. Spring Street, downtown Pensacola. Times to be announced. The Pensacola Camellia Club, established in 1937 is the oldest Camellia Club in the US and antedates the American Camellia Society by eight years. It also serves as camellia information service and, if necessary, can make free advisory “house calls” if necessary. The club has approximately 400 members and, as such, is one of the largest clubs in the U. S. For further information see www.pensacolacamelliaclub.com or the Pensacola Camellia Club Facebook page.

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winners & losers

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Inweekly named dozens of winners this past year. Here are a few who may have fallen under your radar:

STEVE WHITE The Pensacola State College

director was named Florida Emergency Medical Services Director of the Year at the Florida Association of EMS Educators conference in Orlando. He is director of the Emergency Medical Technician and 911 programs, as well as Director of the Bachelor of Applied Science Public Safety Management Concentration at PSC.

JOSH AMERINE Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida named Petty Officer First Class Fredrick “Josh” Amerine as 2014-2015 Military Big of the Year. He was presented the Ron Mobayed award at Corry Station. WILLIAM BLANCHARD The Florida Hospital Association recognized the retired pediatric cardiologist as the 2015 Caregiver of the Year. Dr. Blanchard founded the hospital’s pediatric cardiology program at The Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart 35 years ago. KELLEY BRADFORD The Escambia

County Jail employee was recognized by the Escambia County Sheriff ’s Office with the Civilian Gold Medal of Honor for saving the life of Detention Deputy Chris Hankinson during the April 2014 natural gas explosion at the Central Booking and Detention Center.

SARA CALHOUN The first grade teacher at Molino Park Elementary School was named the 2014 Elementary Reading Teacher of the Year for the state. Her selection was for her significant contributions in teaching

elementary reading, her strong commitment to literacy and her ability to create a learning climate of care and respect.

JEHAN CLARK The Pensacola Runners Association honored Clark with the Lou Gregory Spirit Award, which is named in honor of Pensacola’s world-class runner in the ‘30s and ‘40s who won 19 National championships. The award is given to a runner who has demonstrated great leadership in promoting the sport of running. RANGA RAO KROTHAPALLI Dr. Kro-

thapalli made a $100,000 gift to University of West Florida’s Clinical Lab Sciences program in memory of his wife, UWF Professor Emeritus Swarna Krothapalli. The endowed scholarship will honor and pay tribute to the distinguished faculty member who impacted the lives of thousands of students.

SHAWN SALAMIDA The Florida Coalition for Children Foundation presented Salamida, president of FamiliesFirst Network of Lakeview Center, with the Champion for Children award. He was honored for his tireless work to protect children and better the child welfare system. TERRY STRICKLAND & KEVIN ROBINSON Florida Society of News Editors

awarded the reporters with its Gold Medal for Public Service for their coverage of the 2014 explosion at the Central Booking and Detention facility that killed two prisoners, left a corrections officer paralyzed and injured nearly 200 others.

inweekly.net

New Listings, New Subdivision in Milton

outtakes

by Rick Outzen

FOOD TRUCK PILOT 2.0 On Wednesday, Dec. 16, Mayor Ashton Hayward announced on Facebook that food trucks would be allowed in the city hall parking lot on Thursdays, Friday, and Saturdays, starting Jan. 7. Inweekly has been an advocate for food trucks. The paper felt the trucks offered more dining variety and could be springboards for the area’s next restaurants. However, we also saw the need for reasonable restrictions and limitations, so the established restaurants weren’t negatively impacted. The Facebook announcement is the Hayward administration’s second attempt to create a pilot program. In January 2014, he sent an email to the Pensacola City Council. He voiced his support for food trucks. “Even though food trucks do not have a significant presence in Pensacola,” said the mayor, “it makes sense to have a framework in place that would allow entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this growing business sector.” He said that his staff would work with local food vendors and the community to draft a mobile vending pilot program. Once the pilot program ended, city staff would develop rules for a possible ongoing mobile food vendor program The pilot proposed by his Planning Services department ran for six months in 2014 without any participants. At its end, the mayor made no food truck proposal to the council.

A food truck ordinance was brought back up by Councilman Charles Bare earlier this year. The Planning Board took two months to draft one, Bare reworked it and Councilman Larry Johnson proposed another one. The process bogged down during the November meeting over concerns about having some setback restrictions to protect established restaurants. Since the mayor controls the city hall parking lot and no restaurants are nearby, the new food truck initiative should work. Some might wonder why it took the mayor so long to come up with this bright idea, but let’s be thankful he and his leadership team thought outside of the box. They realized the food trucks could be places other than near Palafox Street. Denise Shelton of Pensacola Cooks Kitchen will manage the program for the city. She has put on several successful food truck rodeos on Barrancas Avenue, just outside the city limits. The trucks will serve lunch and dinner starting at 11 a.m. from the corner of the parking lot closest to the intersection of Spring and Main streets. Only three trucks will be allowed in the parking lot at a time, and the rotation schedule for the trucks will be managed by Shelton. We look forward to seeing how the new pilot program will work. {in} rick@inweekly.net

Let’s be thankful he and his leadership team thought outside of the box.

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STANDOUT NEWS OF 2015

By Inweekly Staff

Meanwhile, children, the “faces of cannabis,” continue to suffer.

Not every cover story or news article qualifies for a “Top Stories of 2015” list, but Inweekly had several articles that we’re very proud to have published this past year. Here are four cover stories and four news articles that were among our favorites:

A PUNK ROCK TOUR

COVERS THE FACES OF CANNABIS

By Rick Outzen published June 4, 2015 On June 16, 2014, Gov. Rick Scott signed the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, which made Charlotte’s Web and other low-THC cannabis available for children with refractory epilepsy and patients with advanced cancer. Since then, the licenses to grow, produce and distribute the medicine have been tied up in legal challenges and the courts. Meanwhile, children have been suffering. A few have died waiting for Charlotte’s Web to made available. Outzen interviewed the mothers of these children. Bridget Bateman sat in a Jacksonville hospital watching her son Preston, 8, battle another seizure, while the reporter waited on the phone. Dondie Roper was helping her daughter Tiffany, 21, recover from a bad fall that had landed her in the emergency room. He talked with Cymri VanOrsdale who moved with her daughter Chaylynn Rose, 9, to Colorado so that she could get Charlotte’s Web legally. She left her four-bedroom, two-bath home in Broward County taking only a backpack for three kids and herself. Her daughter’s seizures have reduced by 90 percent since taking the medicine. The Florida Department of Health issued five regional licenses in November. Thirteen challenge petitions were filed with the agency. The challenges questioned the panel’s scoring and also accused the department of failing to give due process by not allowing the competitors to defend their presentations before the licenses were awarded. 66

By Scott Satterwhite published June 25, 2015 Pensacola has a punk rock history. Satterwhite wanted to capture that history, prove its importance and show that the history of Pensacola punk is an important part of the historical fabric of the region. He wrote: “Historical markers recognizing opera singers of the last century, dueling grounds of the century before, the area’s first azalea trees and numerous religious congregations decorate the city. Not to take away from any of this history, but a case could be made that Green Day—who were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—playing at The Nite Owl in 1989 is at least as historically significant as Sarah Bernhardt or John Phillip Sousa’s band performing at the Opera House 90 years earlier.” Satterwhite wrote of the Pensacola haunts of the 1980’s to today—McGuigan’s Speakeasy, The Mix, The Nite Owl Bottle Club, Trader Jon’s, Section 8, Subterranean Books, Van Gogh’s Coffee Haus, End of the Line Café, Victor Hugo’s/Sluggo’s and The Handlebar. The article is the best telling yet of this town’s punk past, but Satterwhite says there’s still more to be written, so maybe we will have sequel in 2016.

THE MAN BEHIND THE FEATHERS

By Jennifer Leigh published Sept. 10, 2015 For the past 45 years, Caroll Spinney has taught children important life lessons as one of the most recognizable characters on TV, Big Bird on Sesame Street. In May, a documentary on his life, “I am Big Bird: the Caroll Spinney Story,” was released that garnered positive reviews, both from puppets and people. Leigh interviewed him before his visit to Pensacola for WSRE’s Public Square Speaker Series.

Spinney talked about how he was recruited by Jim Henson for the Muppets. He joined the inaugural cast of “Sesame Street” playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Of his 21 years working with Henson, Spinney said one of the biggest lessons he learned from the legendary puppeteer was to be kind. “He was a very patient man,” Spinney recalled. “The shows would drag once in a while. Once we had a famous actress on the show do her lines 56 times because she couldn’t get it right.” While Big Bird was a Henson creation, Spinney is credited with creating his heart and a loveable presence that has taught children to cope with difficult situations and be kind to one another for more than 45 years. Today, he still provides the recognizable high-pitched voice for Big Bird and told Leigh that he would like to hit the 50-year mark on the show. At 81, he joked that he’s the “country’s oldest child star.”

self—from Scott Stanton the skater/musician to the folk artist who goes by Panhandle Slim. Satterwhite got a rare interview with Panhandle Slim, who currently lives in Savannah, Georgia. They talked about his art, the Charleston, SC shootings, his family and his hometown of Pensacola. The article gave us insights into a true Renaissance man for this age.

AN INTERVIEW WITH FOLK ARTIST PANHANDLE SLIM

By T.S. Strickland published April 30, 2015 On the anniversary of the event, Inweekly interviewed Kelley Bradford, who saved the life of Corrections Officer Chris Hankinson who was thrown in a flooded basement when the Central Booking and Detention Center exploded on April 30, 2014.

By Scott Satterwhite published Sept. 30, 2015 His paintings are everywhere in Pensacola. If you’ve lived here and bothered to step out of your house, there’s a good chance you’ve come across the work of artist Scott Stanton—otherwise known as Panhandle Slim. Often painted on pieces of discarded wood, old maps, and sometimes over other paintings found in thrift shops, his images of iconic figures usually with a quote beside their head are both distinct and ubiquitous throughout the community. A longtime fixture in Pensacola’s subcultures, Stanton first made his mark as a professional skater (sponsored by Zorlac, he even had his own board design). Following that fame in the ‘80s skate scene, he fronted several bands over the next two decades (Plaid Girl, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, and Causey Way to name just a few). He also assisted legendary musician and longtime friend, the late Wesley Willis. Since Willis’s 2003 death, he somewhat reinvented him-

NEWS EARNING THEIR VOTE BACK

By Shelby Smithey published March 5, 2015 Florida is one of only three states in the country that has a lifetime ban on voting for people with prior felony convictions. The ACLU of Florida and Floridians for a Fair Democracy are collecting petitions for an amendment on the 2016 ballot that would end this ban.

A LEGACY OF TRAUMA

A VISIT WITH PENSACOLA’S ADMIRAL HARRY B. HARRIS, JR.

By Christian Wagley published Oct. 21, 2015 Admiral Harris was raised in Pensacola and currently oversees all U.S. military forces in the Pacific region as Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. Another rare interview.

TELLING PENSACOLA

by Jennifer Leigh published Nov. 5, 2015 The Pensacola version of the Telling Project was a moving event in which six local military veterans shared their stories that ran the gamut from PTSD, to alcohol abuse, to rape and overall loss. {in} inweekly.net

THE DREDGE DEBATE

Doug Underhill / Courtesy Photo

By Jeremy Morrison Bayou Chico is nasty. Been nasty for a long time. Everyone knows that. “When you hear someone say ‘Bayou Chico,’ they almost spit it out,” said Escambia County Commissioner Doug Underhill. The bayou has suffered for more than a century at the hands of human progress. Everyone agrees that its bottom of soft sludge is a toxic cornucopia that must be removed. The particulars of such an effort, however, are entirely up in the air. How much will it cost to dredge the bayou? What will be done with the toxic sludge? And how does a proposed wakeboard park in a retired sand pit play into all this? Local environmental non-profit Emerald Coastkeepers sponsored a Dec. 16 public forum to flesh out some of these issues, furthering an ongoing conversation that will likely continue for years.

HOW BAD IS IT?

When Andrew Jackson camped on the banks of Bayou Chico in the early 1800s, it was a different place; clean water, white

December 26, 2015

sandy bottom and plenty of fish to eat. The bayou stayed that way for another hundred years, at which point it began a ravaging decline due to a myriad of reasons--everything from industrial pollution to leeching septic tanks to stormwater runoff. “So, what kind of pollution do we expect to see in the bayou?” Dr. Carl Mohrherr asked attendees at the Coastkeeper forum. Mohrherr, of the University of West Florida’s Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, headed up a 2006 study that looked at sediment and water pollution in Bayou Chico. The findings are not appetizing. There are dioxins and creosote. And pentafluorophenyl. Lots of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyl. And, of course, heavy metals like copper, lead and mercury. “Those are some of the things that our groups and others have found,” Mohrherr said. “And that may not be everything.” This isn’t exactly news. Bayou Chico’s sorry condition has been common knowledge for decades. It’s been on the nation’s list of impaired bodies of water since 1971, longer than any other. “It got on the list of impaired bodies a year before the Clean Water Act was enacted,” explained John Naybor, president of the Bayou Chico Association. “That’s our claim to fame.” Conditions grew so bad, in fact, that mariners at one time reportedly made use of Bayou Chico in lieu of a dry-dock cleaning. “All the barnacles and living organisms on the hull would die,” said Chips Kirchenfeld, a senior scientist with Escambia’s Water Quality and Land Management Division. And while conditions in the bayou are still dire, they have improved in recent years. This is a result of millions of dollars in restoration efforts, notably addressing pol-

lution entering the bayou from feeder streams, as well as stormwater runoff from the basin that drains into the body of water. “It has improved,” Kirschenfeld stressed. “We see dolphins in the bayou now that we didn’t use to see.” Just how much of exactly what types of toxins remain in Bayou Chico’s bottom is unknown. It will require a costly and time-consuming assessment to make that determination. “Until we get into it knee-deep, we’re not going to know what the answer is,” said Naybor. Fortunately, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council earlier this month approved $356,850 for assessing the sediment. The money comes from Clean Water Act penalties associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The work assessing the sediment is expected to begin around March 2016 and take a couple of years. Until such work is complete, we won’t know just what must be done with the sediment that will eventually be dredged out of the bayou.

WHERE DOES THE DREDGE GO?

Whatever is dredged up in Bayou Chico will be dirty. How dirty? That’s the question that determines how the dredged sediment must be disposed of. “Anybody who knows anything about dredging knows that the most expensive part of the process is what you do with the dirt,” explained Naybor. An option is to deposit the sediment—the less toxic loads, anyway—into an old sand pit owned by the county. That’s the plan detailed in a project proposed for Escambia’s local pot of RESTORE oil-spill dollars. Under a plan submitted for RESTORE funding, sediment would be sucked up from the bayou’s bottom and deposited in what is known as Clark’s sand pit. The project has a projected price tag of more than $22 mil-

lion, which is almost a third of the RESTORE money Escambia will receive. This possibility doesn’t sit well with Commissioner Underhill, who represents the area. He’s worried about tossing contaminated dredge into the pit. “We are not going to create Warrington’s Wedgewood on my watch,” Underhood told the group gathered at the forum, referencing pollution problems elsewhere in the county. The commissioner urged people to wait until after the county has studied Bayou Chico’s current condition before deciding what will be done with the dredged sediment. He also downplayed the use of RESTORE dollars for the dredging project. “We are like a bunch of people sitting in front of the Circle K with a fistful of scratchoffs,” Underhill said, arguing that such restoration work should be paid for from sources such as Local Option Sales Tax revenue or ad valorem taxes. The commissioner is looking towards other possible uses for both RESTORE money and the Clarks sand pit. Also on the list of proposed RESTORE projects is a plan to transform the sand pit, which is filled with water, into a wakeboard park. The $930,000 project has raised some eyebrows among residents in the area who think the pit should be used for whatever dredge is relevant as well as containing stormwater. Critics charge that forgoing the use of the sand pit for spoil could dramatically increase the price of dredging. Underhill urged the public to wait until the study was complete. He said he remained open to potentially using the sand pit, but wanted to identify “as many alternative courses of action as possible.” RESTORE projects are currently being assessed by an advisory committee. The Emerald Coastkeepers intends to schedule additional public forums next year in an effort for further dialogue to keep the public informed on this issue.{in}

Grover Robinson RESTORE GOAL SETTING Commis-

sioner Grover Robinson created a stir when he told the Pensacola News Journal that the Escambia Board of County Commissioners had made a mistake by not setting goals for the RESTORE dollars coming to the county. The county’s RESTORE Act Advisory Committee is currently reviewing over 120 projects that have been submitted in order to make recommendations to the county commission on to how to disperse the initial $10.6 million in funds.

Robinson first expressed his concerns at the Dec. 10 agenda review. “I believe one of the problems is our group doesn't really know what we're trying to do, and they're being asked to score projects,” he told his fellow commissioners. “I've asked Jack to schedule a meeting to begin to discuss not individual projects, but individual goals.” He added, “What is it we want to accomplish with the funding? I believe we should have set some goals before we ever looked at projects.” In the newspaper article, Robinson said he came to the conclusion that goals were needed after observing how National Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) allocated BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill money. NRDA identified goals as opposed to projects, according to the commissioner. His statements in the daily newspaper caught a few of the commissioners off guard. On New Talk 1370 WCOA’s “Pensacola Speaks,” Commissioner Doug Underhill said, “To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I've only been on the board

for a year, and, like most citizens in Escambia County, we always refer to Commissioner Robinson as ‘Mr. Restore.’ It certainly did come out of left field.” At the Committee of the Whole on Dec. 17, Commissioner Robinson opened the meeting with an explanation of his statements to the Pensacola News Journal. He said, “The reporter called to ask me why I wanted to schedule a meeting in January. I will say the reporter and the story were fairly accurate. However, the headline that grabbed people was totally untrue.” He said that he went to great lengths to say the committee and the consultant had done just as the BCC had instructed. “However, a project-oriented plan has problems.” “While projects need to be scored, the scoring itself is incomplete without a true plan,” he said. “The scoring criteria are not the same as establishing goals.” Robinson pointed out the Washer Woman’s Creek project, which was scored high by the consultant and the committee “However, for me and other subject experts who I have talked to, it does not

meet our economic goals, like economic diversification, workforce development or even environmental goals like water quality and habitat,” he said. “It is not a bad project; it simply means it is inconsistent with our objectives.” He said that he did not wish to discuss projects at the January workshop. “However, I am adamant that we, the BCC, must establish goals that will identify good projects,” said Robinson. “This is why I feel it is critical that we have a true workshop in January rather than discussions. The work the committee has done is good but incomplete without our work on goals.” He added, “I have spent over five years of my life and the majority of my public service on this. I can, with a clear conscience, say, without that effort, we would be like the other four states and not have this opportunity to spend $69,000,000 locally.” Robinson said that it was important that the county fund the correct RESTORE projects. He said, “I will not be silent if I believe we have made a mistake.”{in}

inweekly.net

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inweekly.net

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a year without a year in review? Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our top 15 of 2015 in headlines, politics and pop culture. December 26, 2015

NATIONAL HEADLINES 1. 2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

More than a dozen people — and Donald Trump — have signed up to become the Republican candidate in the 2016 campaign. And Trump is the frontrunner. On the Democrat side, there are only two names most people remember; Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

2. MARRIAGE EQUALITY

With more than half of the 50 states legalizing same sex marriage, the Supreme Court of the United States raised a rainbow gavel and ruled 5-4 in favor of same sex marriage. “No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority.

3. BLACK LIVES MATTER

The death of Freddie Gray, a 25-yearold Baltimore man, who suffered a broken neck and spinal injury in the back of a police transport van, continues to make headlines as a jury determines the officer's guilt. In another courtroom in South Carolina, 21-year-old Dylan Roof pled not guilty over the summer after fatally shooting nine people who were conducting a Bible study inside the Emanuel AME Church.

4. SHOOTINGS

As we approach the end of 2015, here's a scary statistic—there have been more

shootings than days in the year. So far this year, there have been 355 mass shootings in the U.S. The December massacre in San Bernardino, California is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since Sandy Hook three years ago.

5. HURRICANE KATRINA

August marked 10 years since the Category 3 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans killing at least 1,800 people, displacing 400,000 more and causing $100 billion in damages. This summer we looked back at the slow-moving progress and what else needs to be done.

6. PLANNED PARENTHOOD

From the movement to defund it to the tragic shooting at one of its facilities in Colorado, Planned Parenthood has been in the news almost daily since this summer. Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina and some videos—that may or not may exist—get most of the credit for that.

7. MARS

This year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft had spotted hydrated salt minerals on the Red Planet. Translation: There's water on Mars, which adds evidence to the habitability of the planet.

Top 15 Republican Presidential Candidates No matter where you stand politically, you can’t argue that the 2016 Republican presidential primary has been quite a show. And we’ve still got 11 months to go. So in honor of what we think might just be the most entertaining primary ever, we decided to pit the GOP hopefuls against each other in a different type of contest—who we actually like for the job vs. who we like for the jokes.

Electability

Entertainment Value

1. John Kasich 2. Marco Rubio 3. Rand Paul 4. Rick Santorum 5. Jeb Bush 6. Lindsey Graham* 7. Carly Fiorina 8. Mike Huckabee 9. Ted Cruz 10. Ben Carson 11. Scott Walker* 12. Chris Christi 13. George Pataki 14. Rick Perry* 15. Donald Trump

1. Donald Trump 2. Ben Carson 3. Chris Christie 4. Lindsey Graham* 5. Mike Huckabee 6. Jeb Bush 7. Carly Fiorina 8. Rick Perry* 9. Ted Cruz 10. Bobby Jindal* 11. Rick Santorum 12. Marco Rubio 13. John Kasich 14. Scott Walker* 15. George Pataki

*Candidates who have withdrawn from the race as of press time (Dec. 22) 212 1

8. JOHN BOEHNER

In September, John Boehner announced his resignation from Congress after four years with the gavel. The next month, Paul Ryan became the 54th Speaker of the House with 236 votes from Congress.

riages under her belt, was sent to jail and then became a figurehead for bigotry.

15. SHOOTINGS (AGAIN)

Because we all need another reminder that this happening way too often. Here’s hoping for a safer and saner 2016.

9. JIMMY CARTER

The 39th president, Jimmy Carter first revealed he had cancer in August, and the prognosis was not good since the disease had spread to his brain. But the 91-year-old beat all odds and after months of treatment made another announcement that his cancer was gone. Carter is highly-regarded for his nonprofit work with the Carter Center, which works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering.

10. U.S.-CUBA DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS RESTORED

The Cuban embassy in Washington raised its flag, and the American embassy in Havana raised its flag, Friday, August 14. While Congress still controls the economic sanctions, U.S. travelers will be allowed, as of Jan. 1, 2016, to visit Cuba without first acquiring a government license.

11. BP SETTLEMENT ANNOUNCED

REST IN PEACE NOTABLE DEATHS IN 2015 Christian Audigier—Ed Hardy designer and father of the tattoo shirt Yogi Berra—Baseball legend

The Justice Department and five states announced a $20.8 billion settlement on Oct. 5 in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement is the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history and ends five years of legal fighting over the spill.

Beau Biden—Former Delaware Attorney General and son of Vice President Joe Biden

12. IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

Wes Craven—Horror movie writer/ director

Iran signed in July the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France and China—and Germany to monitor Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. GOP leaders in Congress hoped to override the deal but failed.

13. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS AFFORDABLE CARE ACT SUBSIDIES

The Affordable Care Act survived another Supreme Court test. By a 6-3 ruling, the justices stopped a challenge that would have eliminated subsidies in at least 34 states for individuals and families buying insurance through the federal government's online marketplace, which is a core part of the plan.

14. KIM DAVIS

For every party, there's a pooper. In July 2015, Kim Davis, a county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, became infamous when she was videotaped refusing marriage licenses to one gay couple. Davis, who has four mar-

Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown— Daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

Mario Cuomo—Former New York Governor Frank Gifford—Football Hall of Famer B.B. King—Blues legend John Nash—Mathematician Leonard Nimoy—Legendary actor Misa Okawa—the world's oldest woman, died in Japan in April at the age of 117 Stuart Scott—ESPN Anchor Sam Simon—Simpsons co-creator Fred Thompson—Actor-turnedpolitician Scott Weiland—Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver Frontman inweekly.net

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES 1. PARIS ATTACKS

On the evening of November 13, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Paris and its northern suburb SaintDenis. Three suicide bombers struck near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and a music venue in Paris. The attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre, where they took hostages before engaging in a stand-off with police. Seven of the attackers also died, while authorities continued to search for accomplices. The attacks were the deadliest on France since World War II and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq.

2. MIGRANT CRISIS

Due to the rising number of refugees and migrants going to Europe and applying for asylum, a migrant crisis arose in 2015. Vast numbers of migrants have made their way across the Mediterranean to Europe, sparking a crisis as countries struggle to cope with the influx and creating division in the European Union over how best to deal with resettling people. More than 920,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived by sea alone so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. The conflict in Syria continues to be the biggest driver of the migration.

3. CHINA EXPLOSIONS

In August, a series of explosions killed over 100 people and injured hundreds of others at a container storage station at the Port of Tianjin in China. The cause of the explosions was not immediately known, but Chinese state media reported that at least the initial blast was from unknown hazardous materials in shipping containers. A total of 173 people were confirmed to have died from the explosions, and 797 others were injured.

4. IRELAND MARRIAGE EQUALITY In May, Ireland’s gay and lesbian community received the right to marry in a historical vote. Ireland became the first country in the world to achieve marriage equality through a popular vote. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Ireland just 22 years ago.

5. SOLAR SYSTEM DISCOVERIES

In September, NASA announced that potentially life-giving water flows across the surface of Mars. NASA researchers, using an imager aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, confirmed the watery flows by looking at light waves returned from seasonal dark streaks on the surface, long suspected to be associated with liquid water. December 26, 2015

6. GREECE DEBT

In June, Greece became the first developed country to fail to make an International Monetary Fund loan repayment. Currently, Greece's government has debts of $414 billion. Greece received its third bailout in three years to avoid expulsion from the Eurozone.

7. CECIL THE LION

The killing of Cecil, a 13-year-old African lion, drew extensive media attention in July after Walter Palmer, a dentist and big-game hunter from the U.S., shot the lion with a rifle in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Cecil was a major attraction in the park and was being studied and tracked by the University of Oxford. The killing drew international media attention and sparked outrage among animal conservationists, politicians and celebrities, as well as a strong negative response against Palmer. Two men in Zimbabwe are being prosecuted in relation to the hunt. Palmer had a permit and was not charged with any crime.

8. NEPAL EARTHQUAKE

More than 9,000 people were killed and 23,000 people were left injured after an earthquake hit Nepal in April. It was the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 19, making April 25, 2015 the deadliest day on the mountain in history. The earthquake triggered another huge avalanche in the Langtang valley, where 250 people were reported missing. A major aftershock occurred in May near the Chinese border between the capital of Kathmandu and Mt. Everest. More than 200 people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured by this aftershock.

mitigating a potential large-scale disaster. The total damage was estimated to be more than $323.3 million, with agriculture and infrastructure comprising the majority of losses.

11. ROYAL PRINCESS

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Kate, welcomed their second child, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge this year. The royal princess was born May 2, 2015 and is the fourth in line to succeed her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, after her paternal grandfather, father and elder brother, 2-year-old Prince George.

12. FIRST WOMEN ELECTED IN SAUDI ARABIA

At least 17 women have been elected to public office in Saudi Arabia, according to preliminary results published in state media. The historic elections for municipal councils marked the first time women in the country were allowed to vote and to run for office. The female winners include Salma al-Oteibi in the Mecca region, Lama al-Suleiman and Rasha Hufaithi in Jeddah, Hanouf al-Hazimi in Al Jouf province, and Sanaa al-Hammam and Masoumah Abdelreda in the Ahsa region. However, female candidates are barred from speaking to male voters and required to segregate campaign offices.

13. WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

The U.S. won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title this year in Canada, beating Japan 5-2. This was the U.S. women’s soccer team’s third World Cup title since the competition started in 1991.

9. EL CHAPO ESCAPES

14. NEW PRE-HUMAN SPECIES DISCOVERED

10. STRONGEST STORM IN HISTORY

15. GERMAN CHANCELLOR TIME’S PERSON OF THE YEAR

Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, escaped from Altiplano Federal Prison through a tunnel in one of the prison’s showers. Guzman, who heads the Sinaloa Cartel, was captured in 2014 and escaped for the second time from the maximumsecurity prison in July 2015. A subsequent manhunt ensued after his escape, but he has yet to be found. This wasn’t his first prison break, as Guzman escaped from prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.

Hurricane Patricia, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded, formed in October and made landfall near Jalisco, Mexico this year. With maximum sustained winds of 200 mph and a minimum pressure of 879 mbar, Hurricane Patricia is the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Western Hemisphere. As a tropical cyclone, Patricia's effects in Mexico were tremendous; however, the affected areas were predominantly rural,

Acting on a tip from spelunkers, scientists in South Africa discovered thousands of bones of a previously unidentified species of human ancestors — Homo naledi. Professor Lee Berger announced in September that besides introducing a new member of the pre-human family, the discovery suggests that some early hominins intentionally deposited bodies of their dead in a remote and largely-inaccessible cave chamber, a behavior previously considered limited to modern humans.

TIME Magazine revealed in December that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been named as Person of the Year. The magazine said that the 61-year-old world leader was chosen as Person of the Year for opening her nation’s border to hundreds of thousands of refugees and managing Europe’s debt crisis. Merkel, who became Germany’s Chancellor in 2005, is the first individual woman to receive the "Person of the Year" recognition since TIME changed its title from "Man of the Year" in 1999. 13

LOCAL HEADLINES 1. WITCHCRAFT MURDERS

Donald Hartung, Sr. was arrested in October and charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his mother, 77-year-old Voncile Smith, and his two half-brothers, John Smith, 49, and Richard Smith, 47. Months earlier, a media frenzy ensued after Sheriff David Morgan said that the murders may have been motivated by witchcraft and the appearance of a blue moon and that the murder appeared ritualistic in nature. The three victims were found dead in their home and had reportedly been beaten with hammers and had their throats slit.

2. JAIL DRAWS CRITICISM

Since Nov.1 2014, Escambia County Jail has had six deaths, which places the county among the highest in the nation for jail deaths. Three inmates died from suicide, while the other three died from medical complications. Escambia County Jail Director of Corrections Michael Tidwell was fired after the string of deaths and replaced by Assistant County Administrator Chip Simmons.

Foundation, Children’s Home Society of Florida, Lutheran Services Florida, Bay Area Food Bank and Re-Entry Alliance Pensacola. Sunday’s Child, a nonprofit which awards grants for significant charitable and economic initiatives that promote diversity, inclusion and equality, awarded two grants totaling $33,125 to ARC Gateway and Legal Services of Northwest Florida, Inc.

6. HUMAN RIGHTS ORDINANCE

Following two workshops this year on a proposed human rights ordinance that would make discrimination in housing, employment or public accommodations in the city illegal, the Pensacola City Councilmembers were in support of bringing the ordinance to a vote at an upcoming city council meeting. North Florida ACLU Director Sara Latshaw said that she and the ACLU will be working to get the ordinance back before the council at a regular meeting as soon as possible.

The groundbreaking of the new downtown YMCA at the corner of Tarragona and Intendencia Streets started in August. More than half of the donations for the new facility came from the Levin, Studer and Bear families. A few streets over, demolition began on the site of the old Pensacola News Journal building to make way for the Studer’s $50 million apartment building on the corner of Jefferson and Romana Streets. The Studers asked for feedback from the prospective tenants on the 260-unit residential structure. Both the apartment complex and YMCA are slated to be completed in late 2016.

Allegations of grade tampering "Die-in" at the MLK parade / photo by Scott Satterwhite at Newpoint Academy and High School prompted an Escambia County School District investigation in March. After several teachers were arrested for violating Florida’s Test Administration Responding to the prevalent deaths of and Security Law, the School Board voted to black youth at the hands of police, the local terminate the charters for Newpoint High movement From Pensacola with Love first and Newpoint Academy in May. organized in solidarity with the anti-police brutality demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. From Pensacola, activists held peaceful gatherings in Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza and spread messages through social media. The Two Escambia County Sheriff’s depumovement, modeled after Black Lives Matter, ties, Mark Smith and Walter Thomas, were was formed to raise awareness of racial profilarrested and charged with sexual offenses ing and to change the conversation surroundagainst juveniles after an investigation ing police violence. determined that the two deputies were associates of swingers Douglas and Leah Manning. The case dates back to 2014 The nonprofit, which has been this when Thomas allegedly visited the couple. area’s top homebuilder over the past few Leah Manning invited the victim into her years, was under fire in March after placing bedroom to engage in sex acts with Thomas over a dozen foreclosed houses and vacant while Douglas Manning recorded the abuse. lots up for sale at prices reported to be Investigators found more than 100,000 below market price to a for-profit real estate images and videos related to the case. The firm. Protesters picketed a Habitat board Mannings, who worked as paramedics with meeting to protest the sale of real estate Okaloosa County, were charged with lewd without giving the public notice or the opand lascivious conduct involving a child and portunity to bid. child abuse charges.

13. FROM PENSACOLA WITH LOVE

The Studers’ proposed UWF School of Entrepreneurship

4. CONFEDERATE FLAG

Pensacola followed suit this year following the nation’s sweep to remove the Confederate flag from government property. The flags were removed from in front of City Hall, the Five Flags display at the foot of the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the post office on Palafox Street and the city-owned Osceola Golf Course per Mayor Ashton Hayward’s and Escambia County Commisioners’ requests. Some residents, however, chose to display their support for the Confederate flag by spray painting the Graffiti Bridge or flying the flag from their truck beds for several weeks in the name of “heritage.”

5. CHARITABLE GIVING

IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area gave away over $100 million in 2015 to 10 grant recipients including Ballet Pensacola, Pensacola Museum of Art, AMIkids Pensacola, Learn to Read of Northwest Florida, Coast Watch Alliance, Veterans Memorial Park 414 1

9. YMCA & APARTMENT COMPLEX CONSTRUCTION

charges, including distribution of a controlled substance, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The two men, who are partners in Heretic Films, were arrested earlier in October in Pensacola on charges stemming from a similar drug distribution indictment from a Virginia federal grand jury. According to the indictment, Ritchie and Galecki formed a company to manufacture spice at a warehouse in Las Vegas in 2012, producing 200 kilograms of the drug.

10. NEWPOINT GRADING SCANDAL

3. FOOD TRUCKS

After three years of debate, an ordinance paving the way for food trucks in the city failed to survive the vote from city council members. The proposed food truck ordinance would have allowed the vendors to operate on city streets after purchasing a permit, except along South Palafox, from Garden to Plaza DeLuna.

dered a stop of flow of debris in May. In October, South Palafox Properties, the bonding company for Rolling Hills Construction and Demolition, opted not to move forward with closure of the landfill in the Wedgewood community and surrendered the bond.

7. STUDER LEASES

This summer, Quint and Rishy Studer withdrew their offer for three parcels of property at the Community Maritime Park. The $20 million development deal fell through after the Mayor’s Office said it would not accept the proposed leases. Studer had planned, in partnership with the University of West Florida, to establish the UWF Center for Entrepreneurship at the park and build a convention center. The City’s only other prospect, a Miami developer, had failed to send in a revised plan for the park.

8. ROLLING HILLS CLOSES

The Wedgewood community finally got some closure after battling with Rolling Hills Construction and Demolition Landfill for years. Residents, citing ongoing health and sanitation problems from the foul odors permeating from the borrow pits, called for closure of the landfill. After failing to comply with several citations, the county or-

11.MANNINGS AND OFFICERS ARRESTED

14. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

12. PENSACON CEO MANUFACTURING SPICE

The legal troubles of Ben Galecki, Pensacon CEO, and Burton Ritchie, former owner of the Psychedelic Shack, magnified when a Las Vegas federal grand jury handed down a 35-page indictment for an array of

15. REX THEATRE RESTORATION

After three decades of dormancy, the REX Theatre underwent a $2 million restoration and reopened early this year. Built in 1910, the theatre was once a popular part of the downtown Pensacola social scene. Harvest Outreach completed the two-year restoration project. inweekly.net

POP CULTURE HEADLINES 3. CAITLYN JENNER

Call Me Caitlyn was one of the biggest headlines of the year when Caitlyn Jenner came out to the world and introduced herself on the cover of Vanity Fair. She followed up her magazine interview with the reality TV show "I am Cait," which follows her life as a transgender woman.

4. ADELE

Chances are you've heard ‘Hello’ once or twice this year and you might have even cried a little. Adele’s latest album, “25,” broke the internet and then broke N*Sync's record, selling 2.433 million albums in its first week.

5. MAD MEN

1. TAYLOR SWIFT

She'll probably be on year-end lists forever, but this year in particular, T-Swift really outdid herself. She added even more celebrities to her squad and brought most of them on stage during her 1989 World Tour. She also put Apple Music in its place when she chided the company for not paying artists properly and got them to pay up. And who can forget Ryan Adams and his “1989” cover album?

2. STAR WARS

The much-anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has been in headlines since The Walt Disney Co. acquired Lucasfilm for $4 billion. Speculations about the latest Star Wars film didn't stop until the very second the movie premiered in December. And the merchandise was everywhere from produce to razors.

The story of Don Draper came to an official end in May with the show's complicated antagonist finding inner peace... and a winning campaign for soda. The Hollywood Reporter notes it's one of the most positively-received finales in recent years.

6. HOTLINE BLING

Drake's ‘Hotline Bling’ might just be the biggest song ever to not reach number one on the Billboard charts. But he made up for that by becoming the first artist to have a diss track get nominated for a Grammy. Good luck topping that, Meek Mill.

7. MASTER OF NONE

More proof that the best TV shows aren't on traditional TV anymore. The Netflix original series created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang explore relationships—between friends, partners, parents—in a smart and humorous way. We're already anticipating Season 2.

8. BILL COSBY

The sales of colorful sweaters and pudding pops plummeted after more than 40 women spoke out about allegations of sexual misconduct by the 78-year-old Bill Cosby. He recently filed a lawsuit against seven of the accusers for defamation and emotional distress, but it seems the damage has already been done for both parties.

9. AMY SCHUMER

Her sketch show, “Inside Amy Schumer,” took home the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Show, she turned Bill Hader into a dreamboat in “Trainwreck” and she's apparently best friends with Jennifer Lawrence. Yeah, Amy Schumer had a good year, and we've enjoyed watching it.

13. THE ‘90S LIVE ON

From the reboots (“Fuller House,” “X-Files,” “Jurassic World” to name a few) to the fashions (Doc Martens and plaid), it seems that the decade of grunge and frosted lips were making a comeback. This year also marked the 20th anniversary of the most ‘90s movie ever—“Clueless.”

14. AND COLORING BOOKS, TOO

There was no escaping the adult coloring book trend this year—or coloring “therapy” if you want to take it seriously. Two books even made their way onto Amazon’s 2015 best-sellers list—“Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Coloring Book” and “Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Pat”, in case you’re curious.

10. NEW HOSTS, SAME SHOWS 15. STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON David Letterman took his Top 10 lists and retired after 33 years, making room for a new host, Stephen Colbert. Not only did this mark the end of “The Colbert Report,” but John Stewart retired from “The Daily Show” after 16 years. We are still feeling out his replacement—South African comedian Trevor Noah.

11. GO SET A WATCHMAN

After more than half a century, Harper Lee, followed up the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” with “Go Set a Watchman,” which was essentially her first draft for the widely-acclaimed novel. Only in this version, Atticus Finch isn't the shining beacon of hope, which caused some criticism and controversy.

12. CHARLIE SHEEN

In November, Charlie Sheen went on “The Today Show” to say that the rumors are true. The television and movie star is HIV-positive. While he kept the status a secret for about four years, the actor told host Matt Lauer "I think I release myself from this prison today."

The wait and the hype turned out to be totally worth it with this N.W.A. biopic, so much so that it grossed over $200 million worldwide and is on most critics’ “Best Picture” shortlist.

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Countdown to New Year’s Eve by Shelby Smithey

To help make a solid plan to ring in the New Year, we’ve compiled a list of all the best events happening around town. From fine dining feasts at your favorite restaurants to fireworks with the kids or even an exciting night out downtown, we’ve covered all of our New Year’s Eve bases to welcome in 2016 right.

ANNUAL EXTRAVAGANZAS THE PELICAN DROP 3 p.m. Downtown Pensacola’s New Year’s Celebration includes fireworks, live music, family fun and a giant lighted pelican at the intersection of Palafox and Garden Streets. When the countdown begins, the Pelican is lowered to the 2016 platform, welcoming everyone in Pensacola to the New Year at the stroke of midnight with fireworks. Downtown restaurants will be open, and street vendors will be providing refreshments. Live performances on two outdoor stages provide ongoing entertainment throughout the evening, along with carnival-style games and other activities. The popular kids' area features games, music and fun up until the special kids' countdown and Pelican lighting at 8 p.m. For a full schedule of events, visit pensacolapelicandrop.com SEVILLE QUARTER 7 p.m. Celebrate NYE with Seville Quarter at the legendary countdown party. The party features live entertainment throughout the evening, while top DJs will be spinning high-energy dance music in Phineas Phogg’s and out on the street. All guests will receive party

favors and enjoy a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are available for all budgets and range from $20 to $150. Seville Quarter, 130 E. Government. sevillequarter.com NYE AT THE ELBOW ROOM 4 p.m. It’s a Pensacola tradition. Whether you stop in for one beer or stay until 2015 is just a memory, bathing yourself in the red light of the Elbow Room is a highly-suggested New Year’s Eve activity. A $5 cover gets you inside one of Pensacola’s signature establishments where party favors and champagne abound. With one of the best bar food menus in town, it’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat. It’s also the one place (and one night) where drinking from a shoe is generally socially acceptable—the bar passes around a champagne-filled shoe as part of the midnight toast, which is probably one of the most unique ways to say ‘Happy New Year!’ The Elbow Room, 2213 W. Cervantes. 434.0300. NYE FIREWORKS ON THE BEACH 8 p.m. and Midnight. Two fireworks displays will light up the sky over Pensacola Beach from the end of the gulf pier. pensacolabeachchamber.com

DINING THE GRAND MARLIN Ring in the New

Year with a three-course dinner and Pensacola Beach fireworks on display from the Grand Marlin deck, 8 p.m. and midnight shows. Menu includes Steak Tartare, Wild Mushroom Ravioli, Gorgonzola Crusted Veal

Chop or Baked Lobster Thermador. Dessert options include a Smoked Sea Salt Caramel S’mores Bar or White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. Cost is $79.95 per person. The Grand Marlin, 400 Pensacola Beach Blvd. thegrandmarlin.com JACKSON’S Dinner will feature the culinary creations of Chef Irv Miller with a fixed-price, three-course menu and bottomless champagne. Seatings for the evening will be at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Cost per person is $125 with complementary favors and valet services included. Jackson’s Steakhouse, 400 S. Palafox. jacksonsrestaurant.com THE FISH HOUSE New Year’s Eve Celebration includes a five-course food and wine dinner with two seatings at 6 and 9 p.m. The Fish House annual New Year’s Eve wine and food event will feature the culinary creations of Chef Billy Ballou. The cost per person is $100 with complimentary favors included. Walk-in service all evening throughout the complex serving the standard menu is available. The Deck Bar will be tented and heated with a DJ playing your favorites to ring in the New Year. The Fish House, 600 S. Barracks St. fishhousepensacola.com RESTAURANT IRON Chef Alex McPhail is preparing a fixed-price, five course tasting menu. Courses include American Paddlefish Caviar & Cornmeal Blinis, House Cured Bacon and Kale Salad, Lobster Cappuccino, Foie Gras Injected Veal Tenderloin,

Buttermilk Panna Cotta and Fernet-Branca Truffle. Seating times will be at 5 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tables are limited to a sixperson maximum for the event. The cost per person is $125, which includes a complimentary glass of champagne. An optional wine pairing and cocktail pairing is available, each for $40 per person. Restaurant IRON, 22 N Palafox. St. restaurantiron.com

H20 HILTON PENSACOLA BEACH

5-10 p.m. H20’s New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner includes appetizer, salad, an entrée of Wagu ribeye, Blackened Redfish or Bone-in Braised Short Ribs and dessert. Pricing of $75 per person (plus 20 percent service charge) includes wine pairings with every course. Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front, 12 Via De Luna Dr. hiltonpensacolabeach.com.

MUSIC THE PIANO MEN AT THE SAENGER 7

p.m. A long-standing Pensacola tradition, but this time with a twist. Pensacola Symphony will be hosting one of the hottest shows making the orchestral circuit this season, The Piano Men: Music of Elton and Billy. The Music of Elton and Billy is a tribute to the amazing songs of Billy Joel and Elton John. The orchestra, in combination with a four-piece pop group, will feature arrangements from the '70s heyday of Elton’s and Billy's hit albums. Tickets range from $22 to $90 depending on seating. Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox. pensacolasymphony.com {in}

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Ears & Fingers: Top 25 of 2015 by Jason Leger

25. Deafheaven-New Bermuda 24. Majical Cloudz-Are You Alone? 23. Dilly Dally-Sore 22. Earl Sweatshirt-I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside 21. Deerhunter-Fading Frontier 20. Youth Lagoon-Savage Hills Ballroom 19. Courtney Barnett-Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit 18. Neon Indian-VEGA INTL. Night School 17. Sleater-Kinney-No Cities to Love 16. Jim O’Rourke-Simple Songs 15. Destroyer-Poison Season 14. Grimes-Art Angels 13. Beach House-Thank Your Lucky Stars 12. HEALTH-Death Magic 11. Viet Cong-Viet Cong

on their elegiac songwriting. In other words, this album is a strong return to form for Beach House, and it stuck with me considerably more than the immediate follow up, “Thank Your Lucky Stars.” Top Track: ‘Bluebird’

Number 8. One for each year between albums for Modest Mouse. Isaac Brock took his time to breathe life into this album, and it’s obvious that the process was painstaking and worth all the work. The product offers everything that has made Modest Mouse rise above most other altrock bands working today. Top Track: ‘The Best Room’

“Multi-Love” is UMO’s most striking and dimensional album to date. Funk, disco, pop, and soul cover some very heavy themes of love and infidelity on this album. It becomes painful to know what frontman Ruben Nielsen went through, but it remains very fun to listen to. Top Track: ‘Like Acid Rain’

9. BEACH HOUSE “DEPRESSION CHERRY”

The first of two proper full lengths from Beach House this year was a sprawling recoil to minimalistic instrumentation and concentration

7. MEWITHOUTYOU “PALE HORSES”

MewithoutYou has been so many places creatively in the 13 years since their posthardcore masterpiece debut “[A B] Life” was released. From the yearning and ambitious “Catch for us the Foxes” to the nearly purely folk “It’s all Crazy, It’s all False, It’s all a Dream, It’s Alright” to the pretty-much perfect “Brother, Sister,” the band has covered a lot of musical territory. “Pale Horses” shows a confident and comfortable side of the band, combining all of the ground they have covered retroactively and claiming their own place in the music world. Top Track: ‘D-Minor’

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Beach Slang is a band that grew on me aggressively this year. From the first time I heard them, I connected to the catchy riffs and angsty feel. Their debut has so many of the things which made ‘90s grunge so timeless and will carry it on eternally. Top Track: ‘Noisy Heaven’

5. FATHER JOHN MISTY “I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR”

8. MODEST MOUSE “STRANGERS TO OURSELVES”

10. UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA-“MULTI-LOVE”

6. BEACH SLANG “THE THINGS WE DO TO FIND PEOPLE WHO FEEL LIKE US”

I feel like I’ve written a lot about Josh Tillman over the past year. I also feel that he deserves it. His two albums under the Father John Misty name have been pretty well flawless. “I Love You, Honeybear” focuses on love, anger, and self-loathing, whereas 2012’s “Fear Fun” focused more on drugs and self-destruction. I’d call that a step in a right direction. Top Track: ‘Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow’

4. KENDRICK LAMAR “TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY”

more R&B elements among the psych rock and bits of neo-disco. Top Track: ‘Eventually’

2. KURT VILE “B’LIEVE I’M GOIN’ DOWN”

This is easily my most pleasant surprise of 2015. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting a boring or somber or phoned in album from Vile. What surprised me were the huge leaps and advances on this album, namely the piano, the banjo, the tongue-in-cheek, rambling delivery, and the subsiding reverb make this a landmark album for Vile. Top Track: ‘Dust Bunnies’

1. SUFJAN STEVENS “CARRIE & LOWELL”

From my very first listen to ‘No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross,’ the single that was released a few months prior to the album, I knew that “Carrie & Lowell” would be an album that would be hard to top for me. When I finally heard the whole work, it crushed me. This is Sufjan’s most honest and affecting collection of songs since “Illinoise,” and I think I would have to make a rare complete agreement with Pitchfork in calling it his best. Top Track: ‘Fourth of July’ {in}

Between making waves on statements of police brutality, becoming friends with Stephen Colbert, and putting out an across-the-board masterpiece, Kendrick Lamar has had a monumental 2015. “To Pimp a Butterfly” is a series of interlocking stories of reality and truth, as gruesome and ugly as they may be. This album is an instant classic. Top Track: ‘King Kunta’

3. TAME IMPALA “CURRENTS”

Kevin Parker has often spoken about failed relationships and loneliness. On “Currents” he doesn’t take a break from that, but he spells out a painful breakup under the guise of his most well developed and cohesive album yet, exhibiting

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news of the weird ONE-MAN ARSENAL According to the flabbergasted sheriff of rural Chesterfield County, South Carolina, "This has completely changed our definition of (what constitutes) an 'ass-load' of guns." Brent Nicholson, 51, had been storing more than 7,000 firearms (most of them likely stolen) in his home and a storage building on his property. Every room of the house was stacked with weapons, and it took four tractor-trailer trips to haul everything away, with help of 100 law-enforcement officers. Nicholson also had 500 chainsaws, at least 250 taxidermied deer, elk, and alligator heads, and more. No motive was obvious to deputies. (Nicholson would still be living in the shadows today if he hadn't run that stop sign on Oct. 21 with bogus license plates on his truck.) POLICE REPORT The Human Fanny Pack: Brandon Wilson, 26, was arrested in November in Cedar Rapids, Iowa—his second bust of 2015 in which a substantial number of crack cocaine "baggies" were found in his rectum. Fifty-one were recovered this time (counting the ones with marijuana), down from the 109 discovered in his February arrest. Police in November also found $1,700 cash on him (but just in his pocket). LEADING ECONOMIC INDICATORS Following the release of Apple's yearly financials in October (and based on sales of its iPhone 6), the company announced that, apart from other assets, it was sitting on $206 billion in cash—about like owning the entire gross domestic product of Venezuela, but all in cash. Another way of expressing it: Using only its cash, Apple could buy every single NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL team, plus the 20 most valuable international soccer teams—and still have plenty left. Or, as the BGR.com blog also pointed out, it could instead simply give every man, woman and child in America $646 (coincidentally, about what a new iPhone 6 sells for).

by Chuck Shepherd

THE CONTINUING CRISIS In November in Harare, Zimbabwe, Mison Sere, 42, was judged winner of the 4th annual "Mister Ugly" contest after showcasing his seemingly random dental arrangement (some teeth there, some not) and "wide range of grotesque facial expressions," according to an Associated Press dispatch. However, many in the crowd thought their favorite was even uglier and threatened to riot. "I am naturally ugly," said a jealous (former winner) William Masvinu; "He (Sere) is ugly only when he opens his mouth." WAIT, WHAT? Kuala Lumpur International Airport took out ads in two Malaysian daily newspapers in December to find the owners of three Boeing 747-200Fs parked there for months (one for at least a year) and threatening to auction them off in 14 days if not claimed. Two are white, and one is "off-white" (if the reader is checking his inventory). The planes' last listed owner said it sold them in 2008. UPDATES Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky, 31, has devoted his career to getting on the government's nerves and succeeded once again in November. (News of the Weird last mentioned him in 2013 when he nailed his scrotum to the floor in Moscow's Red Square to protest police oppression.) In his latest event, he set fire to the front door of the headquarters of Russia's security service (the FSB, formerly KGB) and has been detained -- though from his cell, he demanded his charge of "vandalism" be changed to "terrorism." A member of the Russian band Pussy Riot called the door fire "the most important work of contemporary art of recent years." Pavlensky once sewed his lips together protesting arrests of Pussy Riot. {in}

Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla., 33679 or weirdnews@earthlink.net, or go to newsoftheweird.com

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Independent News | December 26, 2015 | inweekly.net