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KEN MORRIS Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida has named Morris the Ron Mobayed Military Big of the Year for 2023. The retired Navy pilot was selected to receive this honor because of his commitment to helping his Little Brother Aundray reach his full potential. BBBS established the award to honor Lt. Ronald Joseph Mobayed, an outstanding Big Brother stationed in Pensacola for flight training in the early 1990s. Tragically, he was killed in the line of duty while responding to a distress signal.

EVELYN RANCIFER During its May 4 meeting, the Escambia County Commission celebrated Rancifer's retirement after 49 years of service. Her employment with Escambia County began on Aug. 6, 1973, as a clerk typist in Record Indexing in the Escambia County Comptroller's Office. She was quickly promoted to recording, then to accounts payable and later transferred to the Engineering Department in 1998, where she served for over 20 years with various job duties.

NAVY-MARINE CORPS RELIEF SOCIETY

The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) received $50,000 thanks to the 23rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament with the support of the Friends of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Inc., facilitated by Pen Air Credit Union. To date, the local community has helped raise more than $600,000 to further the mission of NMCRS at NAS Pensacola. For 23 years, Pen Air has hosted the annual charity golf tournament to raise funds on behalf of the society that cannot solicit its own funding. NMCRS provides financial, educational and other need-based assistance to active-duty and retired Sailors, Marines and their eligible family members and survivors.

Baptist Health Care Foundation

Its ninth annual Casino Royale gala raised nearly $285,000. The proceeds will benefit the new Baptist Hospital campus at Brent Lane and I-110, which will open in September 2023. This year's event theme was based on the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace." More than 300 guests enjoyed an elegant gourmet dinner, a six-piece showband, casino games and a silent auction.

PELOTON

The company has recalled about 2.2 million of its exercise bikes because their "seat post assembly can break during use, posing fall and injury hazards to the user." The voluntary recall is for original Peloton model bikes sold from January 2018-May 2023 in the U.S. Peloton said the affected bikes "can be identified by its PL-01 model number on the label on the inside front fork (near the flywheel)." The free replacement seat can be requested at the company's website. In 2021, Peloton recalled its Tread+ and Tread treadmill machines following reports of several injuries and one. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced in January that Peloton had agreed to pay a $19 million civil penalty over its failure to report safety hazards with its treadmills immediately.

EDDIE SPEIR

The New College of Florida trustee was the only board member who did not receive Senate confirmation last week. He blames Richard Corcoran, New College's interim president, for blackballing him. Speir, a founder of the Christian school Inspiration Academy in Bradenton, was the only one of the seven new trustees who traveled to Tallahassee to appear before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee. Of more than 325 people whose appointments were up this year to offices and boards, Speir was among 10 people who were not confirmed. Three of those people were board members of Enterprise Florida, which lawmakers decided to eliminate.

WENDY ROGERS Judge Howard Grodman dismissed Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers' restraining order against a journalist who had been investigating where she lived. At the hearing in the Flagstaff Justice Court, the judge ruled Arizona Capitol Times reporter Camryn Sanchez's conduct did not amount to harassment. Goodman told reporters, "I don't think there is a series of events directed at Sen. Rogers that would cause a reasonable person to be seriously alarmed, annoyed or harassed even if she in fact was. The strongest point is investigative reporting is a legitimate purpose. It just is."