News Archive

A Santa Rosa County woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison on July 27 after pleading guilty to multiple charges related to stealing more than $1 million from a local electrical company.

Baristas at the Starbucks Coffee near Elevate Navarre voted Monday, July 27, to join Starbucks Workers United, a union representing employees of the popular coffee chain.

The move is part of a growing trend of Starbucks baristas organizing. According to Starbucks Worker United, Workers have won, on average, a union election every other day since the campaign began in late 2021.

The Betty J. Pullum YMCA has reopened its newly renovated wellness area, giving members a new space and new equipment to work out.

Completed over a three-month period, the renovations included a 2,122-square-foot expansion of the wellness area. During the renovations, some gym equipment was moved into the multipurpose room, where basketball and volleyball are played.

Dep. Patrick Adam Blackwood has been in law enforcement for 14 years. This August, he will step into a brand-new role.

Blackwood was recently announced as the first school resource officer for Soundside High School.

A Navarre home was recently renovated for a U.S. Air Force veteran living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit focused on helping first responders, veterans and their families, completed the renovation.

Air Force Master Sgt. (Ret.) Pete J. Nikolakakos spent 21 years in the Air Force, mainly working as an aircraft metals technology specialist.

Layloni Engelkens, a nurse at Ascension Sacred Heart’s freestanding emergency room in Navarre, not only helps patients heal, she also boosts their morale.

Engelkens, who has been working at the facility since it opened in 2021, maintains a series of chalk drawings on the glass doors of all 12 patient rooms at the ER.

A distribution company in Milton is looking to expand its footprint in Northwest Florida.

Goldring Gulf Distributing, which currently operates out of 192,000 square foot facility, is looking to build a 76,400 square foot expansion onto their facility in Santa Rosa Industrial Park in East Milton.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the Key ring-necked snake and the rim rock crowned snake as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the listing provides the protections afforded by the act to help conserve two of Florida’s rarest native snakes and support their recovery.

A woman died Sunday, July 19, after being rescued from a house fire Saturday, July 18, in the 2100 block of Villa Street. The fire was reported just before 8 p.m.

The 911 caller told dispatchers the rear porch of a home was on fire and that numerous vehicles were in the driveway. By the time Battalion 40 with the Holley-Navarre Fire District arrived, the fire had already spread into the attic.

A gymnastics coach and social media content creator from Navarre who had moved to Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Monday, July 20, in federal court to multiple charges related to the production, possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, as well as money laundering.

Theresa Mitchell, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce and distribute child sexual abuse material, two counts of production of child sexual abuse material, one count of receipt of child sexual abuse material, one count of possession of child sexual abuse material and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.