News Archive

Folks who come to Navarre Beach expecting to see magnificent shorebirds won’t be disappointed. They will likely have close encounters with pelicans, great blue herons, tiny sanderlings and various species of gulls.

But they’re also likely to see a bird that gives them more of an urban vibe than they were expecting.

Navarre Beach is home to pigeons year-around, particularly around the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier.

A 4-year-old foster child with autism drowned Saturday in a pond about 150 yards from his foster home in Jay.

Jameson Ray Willis had been put down for a nap but managed to get out of the house, which was locked and barricaded to prevent him from wandering off, his foster parent told Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office.

UPDATE: This weekend will be the last time the Flea Market in Gulf Breeze will be open for business.

In years past, children would dress up the weekend of Halloween and make their way from booth to booth at the flea market and manager Sandra Pittelko said she hoped the flea market would be able to do that one last time. Unfortunately, everything has to be moved out of the property by the end of October, and if the flea market was open the final weekend of October, the vendors wouldn’t be able to move all of their belongings out in time, Pittelko said.

The Coast Guard medevaced a child Thursday that was experiencing an allergic reaction approximately 23 miles south of Destin Pass.

Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received a report over VHF-FM 16 at approximately 11:15 a.m. of an 11-year-old boy experiencing an allergic reaction aboard a 69-foot charter fishing vessel.

Amid the constant rain Santa Rosa saw recently, and the flooding that comes with it, District 3 Commissioner James Calkins provided possible solutions to fix flooding, stormwater and drainage issues.

Calkins gave the commissioners and staff his ideas on how to improve in these stormwater areas. Possible changes include improving the current Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) taskforce, adding a volunteer group related to stormwater issues, identifying additional funding to improve stormwater issues, and reducing flood insurance costs.