Rick's Podcasts

ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers says Biden’s decision to drop out the race surprised the White House staff and his campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware. 

“It was just a stunning turn of events that has sent Democrats scrambling,” Travers said. “The race for the White House was just a couple of weeks before the convention and just over three months until election day. The president still has Covid. He was off the campaign trail since last Wednesday when he tested positive. He is at his beach house in Delaware, and we're told that he started to come to this decision on Saturday.

“He has been huddling in meetings with his closest advisors and some family, and yesterday, he started to make phone calls, including multiple conversations with his vice president, Kamala Harris. At 1:45, he met with just his most senior staff to tell them about this decision and announcement and a minute later released that letter out there on social media. 

 “A couple minutes after that though, he also posted a second message saying he offered his full support and endorsement for his vice president to be the nominee of the party this year. And now you're starting to see Democrats rallying around Kamala Harris to be their party nominee.”

Lincoln Project Chief of Staff Ryan Wiggins says Biden's decision to step away from the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket shows the President's commitment to the nation. She is excited to have VP Kamala Harris carry the torch.

“Kamala is widely undefined for the electorate,” Wiggins said. “She was a VP candidate, but they don't get as much spotlight as the actual candidate gets. This is a woman who was a state prosecutor in California. She turned into the Attorney General in California. This is a woman who has put criminals like Donald Trump behind bars. This is a woman who has illegal immigrants behind bars. This is a woman who has put gang members behind bars. She's used to having to deal with people like Donald Trump.”

She added, “I think what you're going to see here is a woman at the top of the ticket who isn't going to allow a circus, and I think it's going to make for some a plus-TV. I think she has great chances, and as a woman, I'm excited.”

 Wiggins praised President Joe Biden, calling him “a true patriot of this country.”

“Getting to the White House is every politician's dream. And for him to be there and to step down for the good of the country and putting the country and putting democracy ahead of his personal ambitions and his personal desires when he was the nominee, I mean that right there, that is commitment to this country,” she said.

“This man has spent the better part of his life serving in service to this country. And what an incredible legacy for your last major act as a politician in this country to step back so that a younger person with diversity in her blood, allowing her to take the ticket, is impressive.”

IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area  members have contributed $29.8 million to Escambia and Santa Rosa economies over the past 20 years, according to the Haas Center at the University of West Florida. Martha Holden has the details.

Microsoft users Friday morning have reported widespread outages as airlines, airports, banks and media companies have suddenly experienced ongoing disruptions that have upended the daily lives of potentially millions of people. 

American Airlines, United and Delta have asked the FAA for global ground stop on all flights, according to an alert from the FAA on Friday morning. Global IT outages have also been reported in many countries across the world including Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. 

It issue stems from Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm that services numerous industries. ABC News' Mike Dobuski has the very latest.

The Pensacola MESS Hall is hosting a celebration of the first landing of people on the moon on July 18, 2024. Attendees will enjoy out of this world activities as well as a chance to explore the MESS Hall with other adults. In tribute to the age-old myth of the moon being made of cheese, refreshments will include cheese platters and charcuterie boards. Additionally, along with wine, we will serve Moonwalk cocktails, purportedly the first thing Armstrong and Aldrin sipped on their return to Earth. 

Tickets for the event are $30 and will include all activities and refreshments. The event begins at 6 PM on July 18 and is for ages 21+. More information and tickets are available at https://pensacolamesshall.org/national-moon-landing-celebration

 Four Winds Fine Foods has been an iconic Pensacola staple for over 40 years. Temporarily closed for renovations now, Four Winds plans to reopen in late August and will host a grand reopening celebration in October, unveiling a revitalized shopping and dining experience. New owners Carl Spear and Katie Gilbert-Spear share the details.

 Four Winds Fine Foods has been an iconic Pensacola staple for over 40 years. Temporarily closed for renovations now, Four Winds plans to reopen in late August and will host a grand reopening celebration in October, unveiling a revitalized shopping and dining experience. New owners Carl Spear and Katie Gilbert-Spear share the details.

Charter Schools USA has hired Delvin Vick as the new principal for Warrington Preparatory Academy. During his 25 years in education, Vick began his career in the classroom and moved through leadership positions, including assistant principal and principal in district-managed and charter schools. He most recently served as principal at Enterprise High School, a charter school in Clearwater.

Vick said he would approach his new job with passion and from an angle that might seem counterintuitive.

“Oftentimes, when you go in a situation where schools are doing poorly, the focus tends to be on discipline, discipline, discipline when the greater number of your kids, if you look at the school as a whole, are probably doing exactly what you asked them to do,” Vick said. 

“I try to focus on what is right and correct what is wrong, and I think at the base, discipline means to teach. When students are struggling, we have to teach them how to behave, create almost a counterculture to what they're dealing with outside of school.”

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said the Blue Angels Pensacola Beach Airshow ran smoothly with few arrests. He believes his emphasis on technology has helped.

“We had about 16 to 20 extra cameras on Casino Beach and the boardwalk parking lots,” he said. “I like to think that some of that is a deterrence.”

Sheriff Simmons has no plans to bring back the ECSO helicopters. “It's too expensive and just not practical. But there are drones, and we're trying to get a drone on every shift, and now I'm trying to get some new drones per SWAT team.”

He also mentioned the Realtime Crime Center, Shot Spotter and the Bearcat. “I'm trying to get all these tools so that the citizens of Escambia County will have everything that we can provide as a service to the community. And we’ve only just begun.”

Sheriff Simmons has invited the Pensacola Police Department to have personnel in the Realtime Crime Center.

“This is probably the first time that I can remember in my history of the sheriff's office and police department that we actually have employees with the City of Pensacola embedded,” the sheriff said. “We have access to the cameras that are all downtown. And if there's, say there's an event downtown, and they're looking for a certain vehicle, we can put that out throughout the whole county, and they will also have access to every camera that we have access to within the county. I think that it'll help us all. “

The much-anticipated  Beulah Interchange may start construction as soon as mid-2025, thanks to the help of Sen. Doug Broxson.  The Senate Appropriations chair says FDOT has shifted grants from other parts of the state to accelerate the $240 million project. County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh shares the details.