News Archive

Tourism losses from COVID-19 in Santa Rosa County were only a fraction of what was projected.

The final tourism tax report for fiscal year 2019-2020 presented Nov. 5 left Tourist Development Council (TDC) members smiling. The year totaled more than $3.5 million of revenue to the county’s tourism promotion arm.

The entrance to Santander Estates welcomes residents and visitors under a canopy of oak trees. A sidewalk runs along the shoulder of the road, complete with a bench, doggy potty station and Little Free Library stand.

Resident Lorraine Nagy lives with her family in the first house on the left. They walk their rescue dogs along the sidewalk each day.

Late on a Friday afternoon, when U.S. Highway 98 would usually be clogged with traffic, the bays at American LubeFast are empty. An employee, holding a large yellow ‘NO WAIT’ sign sits curbside.

The only ones waiting at many Gulf Breeze businesses these days are the folks who work there.

When life, in the form of Hurricane Sally, gave Northwest Florida the lemons of barges bouncing around the bay, a destroyed bridge and hourlong traffic jams from rerouted vehicles, residents responded with humor.

In August, Santa Rosa County Commissioners unanimously approved expanding the nuisance noise ordinance to protect Navarre Beach.

So, when a car alarm started going off repeatedly after 9 p.m. along Gulf Boulevard, residents of the beach called the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office to enforce the new county law.

Navarre Beach Fire Rescue lost plenty of equipment to Hurricane Sally, but Chief Danny Fureigh said that they are still fully operational.

A Milton businessman who is accused of stealing an election sign was called out in a press release from the State Attorney’s Office due to media interest in the case, according to Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille.

A 12-year-old Destin girl is dead following a Sunday morning accident on Interstate 10 in Santa Rosa County. The girl was one of three children in a pickup truck driven by a 26-year-old Destin man.

First Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Eddins said it could be weeks or even months before they unravel what happened early in the morning of Oct. 22 at a local boat ramp.

Elis Hines started the year traveling the West Coast, surfing Pacific Ocean waves and skating big hills with his friends along the way.

He is ending it learning how to walk again.