Round-up, 11.08.09

A few items we wanted to highlight today:

There’s a storm a-comin! Hurricane Ida is hanging out around the Yucatan Peninsula right now and is set to head north over the next few days. Current projections show Ida strengthening to a Level 2 storm before dropping back down to a Level 1 and making landfall in south Baldwin County sometime Tuesday.

More PNJ charter coverage. Today’s Sunday News Journal features pieces on the charter from Mark O’Brien and Carl Wernicke, as well as pro-charter and anti-charter viewpoints.

OK without Southwest? PNJ business reporter Carlton Proctor argues that Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport will be just fine without Southwest Airlines. He’s probably right. The airport remains the largest in the region, putting both MOB and VPS to shame, and the arrival of United Airlines and new service from American Airlines and U.S. Airways will only bolster our position. But Southwest would have been nice.

Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival. This year’s Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival was fantastic. Huge crowd. This festival is one of Pensacola’s premier events and has a great economic impact. From the looks of it, Dharma Blue, Tre Fratelli, Hub Stacey’s and even restaurants up and down Palafox did brisk business.

Jeff Miller, RPOF chair tussle. The Republican Party of Florida is pretty much continually in a state of drama and disarray, and it’s gotten better lately as a growing number of prominent Florida Republicans are calling for the ouster of RPOF chair Jim Greer. The latest is northwest Florida’s very own Jeff Miller, Republican Congressman for Florida’s first congressional district. Congressman Miller is upset about the RPOF’s and Mr. Greer’s thinly-vailed support of Governor Charlie Crist in next year’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate, who is challenged by Miller-backed conservative Marco Rubio. In a statement released yesterday, Congressman Miller calls on Mr. Greer to resign, and cites Mr. Greer’s “long list of management failures.” Ouch.