Punch line no more

PENSACOLA — Losses piled up in the last decade for this coastal Panhandle city of 52,000 just east of the Florida-Alabama border.

A crippling hurricane preceded the recession. The recession was then exacerbated by a Gulf oil spill that received global attention. The city's population fell nearly 8% in the 2000s.

But by several measures Pensacola, home to the U.S. Navy's celebrated Blue Angels flight team, is in the early stages of a revival. Local officials call the city's emerging recovery “the Upside of Florida.”