Opinion
For whom does the bridge toll?
Santa Rosa County has an aptly named department for maintaining and repairing county roads and bridges – called ‘Roads and Bridges.’ They have a budget that includes among other things maintenance of county bridges.
Welcome to Destin…
It is well known that Navarre Beach is a tourist driven destination for families. We have in years past presented ourselves as “family oriented” with activities offered for both adults and children. We are the quieter, more tamed beach than our neighbors to the east and west. The party crowd usually goes to Destin or Pensacola Beach.
Taskforce off to good start
We attended the March 21 meeting of the Land Development Taskforce and were pleasantly surprised by what we heard and saw.
Back in February, we put the county commissioners on blast for selecting a “builder heavy” taskforce. They listened and backed off on some of the choices they made in favor of a more balanced approach. But we were still left with three builders in the end.
Journalism: Risky business
In the latest issue of Editor & Publisher Magazine, they tackle the issue of Freedom of the Press and some of the perils that come with it. Leonard Woolsey, a respected publisher of the Daily News in Galveston, Texas, and the 2025 president of Southern Newspapers, had a lot to say about the perils of reporting the truth. The following is a portion of what was published in the February 2025 issue, with Gretchen A. Peck reporting.
Out and About
Sandi Kemp
April 9, 2025
April 9, 2025
A tariff is a duty (tax) imposed by the government of a country or customs territory, on imports (or, exceptionally, exports) of goods. Let’s have a factual look into Trump’s “Liberation Day” – the day of the Tariff proclamation. After looking into the history of tariff’s, I’m wondering why Trump didn’t impose universal tariffs – that are equal to (at a minimum) what other countries were charging us in 2018. What has been going on for a very long time isn’t fair to American workers and manufacturers. Albeit there are not as many manufacturers as there used to be – because of tariffs and the lack thereof coming into the U.S.A. Hopefully that will change in the very near future especially for necessities – such as pharmaceuticals. Let’s look at what happened in 2018 with the Steel Tariffs. Trumps steel tariffs in his first term led to a gain of thousands of jobs in the metal industry and wage increases. There was a boon to the Minnesota iron ore industry with state leaders crediting them for strengthening the local economy. Steel and aluminum imports decreased and created a wave in investments across the US – with more than $10 billion committed to build new manufacturing facilities. There were reports from local media such as:
Brian Out Loud
Brian Lester
April 7, 2025
April 7, 2025
Baseball and softball in this area seems to be in a great place.
Most of the teams are highly ranked in the region and state and the competitiveness that has been evident is no joke.
Most of the teams are highly ranked in the region and state and the competitiveness that has been evident is no joke.
For God’s Sake
Michael Bannon
April 9, 2025
April 9, 2025
This Resurrection Sunday – my preferred term for Easter Sunday – I will baptize a man in our congregation. This will be the third year in a row that I have had that privilege. He and I will wade out into Santa Rosa Sound until we come to water deep enough to dunk him. Pray for the tide to be high and the weather warm! When you consider the theology behind baptism, baptizing on the day that we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the grave is a beautiful thing.