winners & losers winners losers

MOORHEAD LAW GROUP The law firm's Beyond a Reasonable Stout team took home the trophy at United Way of West Florida's Second Annual Battle of the Barristers, beating out teams from Beggs & Lane, Carver Darden, the City of Pensacola and the returning champs, Clark Partington. The event tested team members' knowledge in categories such as sports and presidential history during a trivia contest at Odd Colony. Gulf Coast Trophies created a traveling trophy for the Battle of the Barristers. Moorhead Law Group will keep the trophy for the next year and can defend its title at the next event. Battle of the Barristers raised $3,700 for United Way of West Florida.

Escambia High School Robotics

TEAM Thirteen seniors from the school's engineering academy beat out 48 competitors from eight countries to win first place in the high school division at NASA's Human Exploration Rover Challenge. The team placed second in the combined high school and college division behind the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Their challenge was to design and build a vehicle to conquer a course of obstacles and tasks on an expedition over lunar and Martian terrain.

GULF BREEZE INDOOR

Percussion

UNIT The team marked a significant milestone in its 20-year history, finishing ninth place in the world for its classification at the recent World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. The group made a remarkable comeback, having been ranked about 30th before the competition, then climbing to 15th, 10th and finally securing an impressive ninth-place finish. The 2023 season saw the program rebound from COVID-19 restrictions and quarantines, which had cut short or outright prevented competitive performances over the past two years.

UWF DAY OF GIVING The one-day event raised $218,999.33 and connected more than 1,380 donors from around the world in just 24 hours, resulting in a record-breaking online fundraising initiative for UWF. The '80s decade took the top spot in the "Battle of the Decades" with $53,998.60, and the '20s decade had the most individual contributions with 270.

PENSACOLA BOTTLE CLUBS

The Pensacola City Council passed without discussion an ordinance banning this relic from Pensacola's past that kept sailors partying after the other night clubs closed. City staff and the mayor's office recommended the ban, asserting that "the use has historically been the source of enforcement and public nuisance-related issues not just in Pensacola, but in other jurisdictions as well." The city's last bottle club, The Pelican's Nest, closed last year.

BRIAN G. KOLFAGE The president of We Build the Wall was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to crimes charged in the Northern District of Florida relating to the filing of his 2019 federal income taxes, along with conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York for defrauding donors to the charity. Kolfage admitted under oath to illicitly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple organizations in 2019, including We Build the Wall, Inc., which were deposited into his personal bank account. He failed to report this income to the Internal Revenue Service and spent the money on things, such as personal boat payments, a luxury SUV, jewelry and cosmetic surgery. Kolfage is required to pay restitution to the United States of America in the amount of $143,003 for his tax crimes, along with millions of dollars worth of forfeiture and restitution for his scheme to defraud We Build the Wall donors.

DESANTIS' PRESIDENTIAL DREAMS

A recent national poll conducted by Emerson College showed Donald Trump consolidating Republican support in a potential race for President, with 62% of voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who once appeared to be the frontrunner, trailed the former President by 46 points with 16% support. Former Vice President Mike Pence came in third with 7%. Has DeSantis moved so far to the right with his culture war agenda that GOP voters see Trump as the more moderate candidate? This will be fun to watch.