Daily editionFriday, May 15th, 2026
Good morning, Pensacola.
The Daily Pensacola Team
Here’s your local news at a glance for Friday, the 15th of May.
Community
Escambia County Area Transit and Feeding the Gulf Coast will host a community resource event at Brownsville Community Center’s parking lot from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday (affordable produce from Millie the Mobile Market Program and local vendors will help families access healthy food).
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Culture
After nearly a decade, Pensacola's Umbrella Sky Project returns downtown; installations begin next week in Jefferson Alley with colorful umbrellas expected in 2-3 weeks as part of a collaboration between city, property owners & the Downtown Improvement Board to boost local businesses and pedestrian traffic.
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A special pub crawl—Palafox Pub Crawl: Five Flags, Five Stops, One Historic Street—will take place on May 19 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Palafox Street, featuring stops where archaeologists share Pensacola's colonial past and participants enjoy a drink at each location.
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Third-place American Idol finalist Keyla Richardson shined a spotlight on Pensacola when a video aired on May 11 reached 5.71 million viewers by showcasing Pensacola Beach + a Blue Angels flyby, as confirmed by Mayor D.C. Reeves.
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Education
Schools in Escambia and Santa Rosa are using federal grants (McKinney-Vento Act) to support nearly 2,600 students facing homelessness by providing transportation, supplies, and social worker support to keep them in class.
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Environment
Florida state parks will offer free day-use admission from May 23-25 (some parks are excluded), and on May 25 U.S. citizens can also visit national parks for free, as announced by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
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The Climate Prediction Center forecast a high chance (82%) that El Niño will develop soon and a 96% chance it will remain until February, a shift that could reduce hurricanes during peak season in our area.
Scientists remain unsure if the event will reach super strength.
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Government
Escambia County is eliminating two long blighted properties in Warrington — Blackhawk Asset Management plans to renovate the lodge with 129 rooms after the buyer closes in the coming weeks if repairs are done by Dec. 1 — while the county seeks bids to demolish the former Checkers building.
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Health
On Thursday, University of Florida researchers collected water samples at Pensacola Beach to test an early warning system that could alert visitors about dangerous Vibrio levels a month in advance.
The team will have a prototype within a year if they secure the ($4 million) NOAA RESTORE grant.
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