News Archive

The Santa Rosa County Commission is scheduled to hear a request this morning that, if approved, would allow an RV park on Navarre Beach and, possibly, end a lawsuit against the county.

“I’m going to recommend, if the commission is inclined to grant the lease amendment, that it be conditioned on the plaintiff ending litigation,” County Attorney Tom Dannheisser told Navarre Press on Thursday, Sept. 15. “It all depends on how it plays out at the meeting.”

Special to Navarre Press The Florida Department of Agriculture and consumer Services’ planned closure of thousands of acres of area waters to shellfi sh harvesting is based on continuous high fecal bacterial counts. Ultimately, this will impact many businesses, recreational shellfish gatherers and many more.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a settlement with Wells Fargo and Company and Wells Fargo Bank and GreatBanc Trust Company – a plan trustee – that recovers more than $131.8 million for the retirement plan’s participants after a department investigation found that, from 2013 through 2018, the fund overpaid for company stock purchased for the plan.

With the sea turtle nesting season ending in October, the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center is looking forward to the fall and next year. Over the summer, as she does every summer, NBSTCC founder and director Cathy Holmes has kept track of sea turtles nesting along Navarre Beach through the Navarre Beach Turtle Patrol.

The proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget for Santa Rosa County includes a record investment in capital projects, thanks partly to federal stimulus spending and higher property values.

“This is new for our county to have this much money set aside for infrastructure in the budget process, so it’s a big deal,” Sabrina White, the county’s assistant budget director, said. “It’s exciting times in Santa Rosa County.”

Hurricane Ivan made landfall Sept. 16, 2004, just west of Navarre as a Category 3 storm. Ivan packed winds of 120 mph sustained and a historic storm surge, according to the National Weather Service.

Coastal areas from Mobile to Destin felt the brunt of Ivan’s wrath; aerial photographs taken days after the storm showed much smaller barrier islands (including Santa Rosa Island, which lost virtually all of its dunes and beaches).

At the Sept. 11 Memorial Stair Climb, firefighters had to climb 110 floors worth of stairs in honor of the first responders who climbed the stairwells of the World Trade Center 21 years ago. The firefighters came from across Northwest Florida. Navarre Beach, Holley Navarre, Midway, Pensacola, Panama City, Crestview and a few other fire departments were present.

The City of Gulf Breeze celebrated its new public safety project Wednesday, September 6, by hosting a ceremony at the construction site of the Police Station and City Services Annex on FairPoint Drive.

The new Police Station will include space for dispatch and a city services annex for utility billing and customer service operations. The Public Safety Campus currently includes the fire station, which was redeveloped in 2005.

On Sun., Sept. 25, Preserve Navarre will release updates to its feasibility study and release a city charter which declares home rule for Navarre. Preserve Navarre, founded in 2021, has been working towards incorporating Navarre, something that has failed the past couple times it was tried.

Months after Cassie Carli’s body was found in a barn in Alabama, autopsy results have not been released. For the Carli family, the wait to find out exactly what happened to their loved one has been “agonizing.”

Carli went missing on March 27 following a custody exchange with her ex-boyfriend, Marcus Spanevelo, for their four-year-old daughter, Saylor. The exchange took place in the boat ramp parking lot on Navarre Beach near Juana’s. It was the last place she was seen alive.