PNJ top news stories: 'A Day without Immigrants,' UWF protest and new downtown townhomes
Here's a roundup of our top stories from the past week.
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'A Day Without Immigrants' reaches Pensacola: A dozen restaurants close in solidarity
Dozens of Northwest Florida restaurateurs joined the nation Monday in 'A Day Without Immigrants,' a day-long demonstration that opposed the immigration crackdown and deportation policies planned by President Donald Trump and highlighted the role immigrants play in U.S. culture and economics.
Grace Resendez McCaffery, owner of La Costa Latina newspaper, said she saw dozens of restaurants spanning from Mobile, Alabama, to Walton County that closed Monday in solidarity.
'A lot of businesses and restaurants are closing today in support of the immigrant community, locally and nationally,' she told the News Journal Monday. 'The point is to feel the impact that our immigrant community has in our community, in our country. I think it's also a sign of support … it's just acknowledgement that it is an immigrant community that feeds them.'
'A Day Without Immigrants': A dozen Pensacola restaurants close in solidarity
49 baseball players to watch during 2025 season from Escambia, Santa Rosa counties
Hot dogs, apple pie, Chevrolet ...
And baseball.
That's not the iconic Chevrolet commercial slogan's correct order, but you get the gist. Baseball season for the Florida High School Athletic Association is here. The preseason began Monday, with the regular season kicking off on Feb. 10.
After a standout 2024 campaign that saw Jay win the Class 1A state championship, and other programs make solid postseason runs like Pace (6A) and Pensacola Catholic (3A), there appears to be some strong contenders once again entering the 2025 season.
Baseball players to watch: 49 baseball players to watch during 2025 season from Escambia, Santa Rosa counties
Escambia Code Enforcement says Offentsive women's camp must close
Lisha Banks, 59, has been staying in a tent behind Offentsive, a homeless and addiction outreach group, since Escambia County shut down the Beggs Lane camp last December. It was in response to a new state law that made camping on public property illegal.
Like many women on the street, Lisha is working to get back on her feet and she didn't have a place she felt safe to go. In response to situations like Lisha's, the year-old not-for-profit allowed women to pitch tents in the fenced in area behind their office on Fairfield Drive in Pensacola.
However, Escambia County now says the camp must close because the tents aren't allowed under a county ordinance recently passed in response to the same state law banning camping on publicly owned property.
'I don't understand,' Banks said. 'They throw us off the street, and now they're trying to put us back on the street. Our only options is jail or a shelter, you know? This is our house.'
Full story: Escambia Code Enforcement says Offentsive women's camp must close
UWF students, community members protest DeSantis' conservative trustee appointments
Students, alumni and community members came together Tuesday to protest a slew of conservative appointments to the University of West Florida Board of Trustees that they fear will change the university for the worse.
About 200 people gathered Tuesday afternoon on Cannon Green on the UWF campus.
Rowan Hoff, a freshman from Pensacola, said he came out to protest new UWF Trustee Chairman Scott Yenor and the other conservative board members' "misogynist agenda."
'The misogynist message that women shouldn't be in STEM, women shouldn't be in college, women shouldn't be educated, and they instead should be focused on being mothers has no place here,' said Hoff, 18, who noted he was shocked that Yenor was even appointed to the UWF Board of Trustees, much less made chair.
'Northwest Florida is a very diverse place with a lot of different views, a lot of beautiful scenery and a lot of beautiful ideas. He does not represent us.'
UWF protest: UWF students, community members protest DeSantis' conservative trustee appointments
New high-end, downtown Pensacola townhomes to begin construction next month
A new downtown townhome development is set to begin construction as soon a March.
Red Feather Townhomes will be an 11-unit, high-end townhome development at the corner of Baylen and Intendencia streets, just a block away from Palafox Street.
The units range between 2,500 square feet and 3,500 square feet. Each one will be three stories and three- or four-bedroom units with a two-car garage. The garages will open on the backside of the units to an internal driveway.
Keep reading: New high-end, downtown Pensacola townhomes to begin construction next month
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Africa's youngest state dismisses deal to host Palestinians from war-torn Gaza
South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has firmly denied claims that it is engaged in talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied allegations of involvement in discussions to resettle Palestinians from Gaza. South Sudan emphasized its priorities are addressing internal challenges, stating these claims were unfounded. Other African nations, such as Somalia, have also previously rejected similar proposals concerning displaced Palestinians. The statement comes in response to an Associated Press report on citing six unnamed sources who alleged that discussions were underway between Juba and Tel Aviv to relocate some Palestinians to the East African nation. South Sudanese officials dismissed the claims as unfounded, stressing that no such negotiations had taken place and reaffirming the country's current priorities lie in addressing its own internal humanitarian and development challenges. In a statement sighted by Reuters, South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry described the claims as baseless and ' do not reflect the official position or policy of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan," The ministry's clarification seeks to put to rest mounting speculation over the reported arrangement, which had quickly drawn international attention due to the highly sensitive nature of the Israel–Palestine conflict and South Sudan's delicate diplomatic posture. African nations take a firm stance on hosting Palestinian refugees This marks the second time an African nation has rejected proposals to host displaced Palestinians from Gaza. In March, both Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland denied receiving any such proposal from the United States or Israel, with Mogadishu stating it categorically opposed the idea. The refusal by African states such as South Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to host displaced Palestinians from Gaza is rooted in a mix of political, security, and geopolitical considerations, all of which intersect with historical sensitivities about sovereignty and foreign influence. Gaza has become almost uninhabitable due to a combination of prolonged conflict, blockade, and the current war's unprecedented destruction. Years of restrictions on movement and goods imposed primarily by Israel and Egypt, have crippled Gaza's economy, infrastructure, and health systems. Water and electricity are scarce, and large parts of the territory lie in ruins after sustained Israeli military operations. These conditions have fueled occasional proposals to relocate some displaced Palestinians abroad. The AP report published in March disclosed that the United States and Israel engaged officials from several East African governments to discuss the possibility of using their territories as destinations for Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump's proposed postwar plan. The outreach to Sudan, Somalia, and the breakaway region of Somaliland highlighted Washington and Tel Aviv's determination to advance a proposal that has drawn widespread condemnation and raised serious legal and moral concerns. Given that all three locations face poverty and, in some cases, ongoing violence, the plan also casts doubt on Trump's stated aim of resettling Gaza's Palestinians in what he described as a 'beautiful area.'
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FBI sending 120 agents into DC streets as Trump targets carjacking and crime in capital
Amid President Donald Trump's crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., the FBI has started sending about 120 agents on overnight shifts to help local law enforcement battle carjackings and other violent crime, according to The Washington Post. This comes as Trump has threatened a federal takeover of the city, even as data shows violent crime plummeting in the nation's capital. The president was recently outraged after a young administration staffer was reportedly assaulted in an attempted carjacking. On Saturday, Trump announced that a Monday press conference would end violent crime in Washington. On Sunday, he took to Truth Social again, this time to call on the city's homeless to 'clear out' 'immediately.' The president compared his crime-battling action to his work restricting illegal immigration at the southern border. The FBI agents from the bureau's counterintelligence, public corruption, and other units are now set to take part in traffic stops, for which they lack the proper training, The Post noted. Trump ordered federal law enforcement agents from a number of agencies to be sent into city streets last week, and he said more juveniles should be charged in the justice system as adults. The paper found that the diversion to local crime has caused frustration at the FBI. Most of the 120 agents authorized by the administration to battle crime alongside D.C. police come from the Washington Field Office. FBI agents usually don't have the authority to conduct traffic stops, and people familiar with the situation told The Post that the agents could be dispatched to support other agencies. Federal land is all across the nation's capital, and local law enforcement often works side by side with federal agents to patrol it. However, these duties usually fall to the U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service, and not the FBI. Anonymous top officials in the D.C. police department told The Post that the Trump administration hasn't asked how to deploy these additional resources. As D.C. is not a state, federal authorities can exert more control over the city even as residents and local elected leaders protest. D.C. residents elect their own mayor and city council following the 1973 Home Rule Act. However, a federal takeover of Washington's police department would be an unusual use of power in a city where local leaders have few ways to resist federal intrusions. On Sunday morning, the FBI told The Post in a statement that 'Agents from the FBI Washington Field Office continue to participate in the increased federal law enforcement presence in D.C., which includes assisting our law enforcement partners.' Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday afternoon to call out the city's mayor. 'The Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive,' he said. Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday, Bowser said Washington was "not experiencing a crime spike." "It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023," she said. "We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low." The capital's police department reported that violent crime in the first seven months of this year was down by 26 percent compared with 2024. Overall, crime was down roughly seven percent. 'If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here,' Bowser added. 'But it won't be because there's a spike in crime.'
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Trump's federal forces are ‘hitting the streets' of DC while critics claim takeover is attempted distraction from the ‘Epstein files'
President Donald Trump's federal forces are 'hitting the streets' of Washington, D.C., while critics claim the takeover is an attempted distraction from the so-called Epstein files fallout. Trump announced Monday he was placing the D.C. police department under direct federal control and deploying the National Guard to 'rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,' despite crime figures declining for the past two years. 'This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we're gonna take our capital back,' Trump said during a press conference. 'We're taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I'm officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.' In response, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the administration's plans are 'unsettling and unprecedented,' but she was 'not totally surprised' by them. The White House announced on X Monday evening, 'Multi-agency task forces are hitting the streets of Washington, D.C., cleaning up crime and keeping our neighborhoods SAFE,' adding authorities arrested 37 criminals, seized 11 illegal firearms and issued four narcotic charges. NPR reported small groups from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies were seen on the streets of Washington Sunday. The some 800 National Guard troops, which will be positioned in Washington starting this week, will not perform law enforcement tasks, The New York Times reported, citing Pentagon officials. When pressed about the National Guard's role, Defense Secretary Pete Hegeth said on Fox News Monday evening, 'We're not going to have National Guard just sitting there like this, seeing a crime committed and not do something about it. You can help somebody, interdict, temporarily detain like we did in Los Angeles, and hand over to law enforcement.' Trump's opponents quickly rebuked the administration's operation in D.C. Trump's old foe, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pointed out on X, 'Violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low,' sharing data from January, which stated overall violent crime was down 35 percent from 2023. Another Trump rival, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote: 'Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th [2021] when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake. 'Now, he's activating the D.C. Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education and immigration — just to name a few blunders.' Some of the president's critics believe the move has less to do with crime in D.C. and more to do with the administration's handling of documents related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. Last month, the Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating there was no so-called client list of powerful people who may have partaken in Epstein's crimes, that Epstein did, in fact, die by suicide, and 'no further disclosure [of information regarding Epstein] would be appropriate or warranted.' The memo sparked backlash, notably from Trump's own base, as it left many unanswered questions and concerns the government may be covering up materials that would be of interest to the public. Pete Buttigieg, who was transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, blasted the federal takeover of Washington D.C. policing as 'dangerous, authoritarian actions' in a video posted to X. ' The president is doing this not in order to make the city safer— that's the job of local law enforcement — but to solve his own political problems. He needs to get his base talking and thinking about something besides his refusal to open up the Epstein files because he's mixed up in them,' Buttigieg said. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein or his crimes. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported DOJ officials told Trump earlier this year his name, among others, appeared in the Epstein files. Trump had socialized with the convicted sex offender decades ago and a mention in the files does not mean there was any wrongdoing. Senator Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, also claimed 'wannabe dictator' Trump wants to distract from the Epstein files. 'He's a pathetic wannabe dictator who wants to distract you from his connection to the Epstein files, skyrocketing costs, and his weak job numbers. Don't let him,' Murray wrote of Trump. Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, shared similar sentiments to other Trump critics: 'Trump's federal takeover of D.C. isn't about safety, it's about distracting Americans from, high prices, a bad jobs report, a falling economy, and the Epstein files.' 'I can tell you one thing for sure—crime is WAY up at the White House,' Representative Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote. 'Don't fall for the distraction. Trump could release the Epstein Files right now if he wanted to. Why won't he?' The Independent has reached out to the White House and D.C. police for comment. Trump had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce 'any and all pertinent' grand jury transcripts in the criminal cases of Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but so far, judges have denied most of the requests. A federal judge in New York is still considering releasing testimony in Epstein's 2019 investigation. During his press conference Monday, Trump also suggested he would 'look at' crime in at least two other major cities, New York City and Chicago. Trump called Chicago a 'disaster,' and said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was 'incompetent.' Pritzker - a Democrat - said he took Trump's diss as a 'compliment.' 'Let's not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago. By the way, where are the Epstein files?' he wrote.
