News Archive

The Holley-Navarre Water System (HNWS) held its monthly board meeting on Tuesday night at the board room of HNWS building. This month’s meeting spanned nearly 30 minutes compared to August’s 8-minute meeting.

The present home of the flea market is moving forward to become the future home of a three-story high school in Midway. The purchase of the 35-acre parcel of land was voted on and approved by Santa Rosa County School Board Sept. 21.

A new training center and expanded administrative building for Holley-Navarre Fire District has taken shape behind Station 1 on Esplanade Street. The two-story steel-beamed structure has most of its walls, but the roof is still open to the sky as of Sept. 21.  

About 1,000 gallons of untreated wastewater spilled at the intersection of Alpine Street and Newport Drive Sunday after a sewer main cracked.

In case you missed District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech’s monthly Zoom meeting on Monday, here are the top discussion points:

• Santa Rosa County asked Triumph Gulf Coast Inc., a nonprofit corporation that allocates funds for economic damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, for $15 million to buy nearly 200 acres of land near the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 to spur economic development. County staff have completed the first of three phases for approval.

The Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association held their monthly meeting at Juana’s on Saturday morning. District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech attended the meeting to give updates on the Turner House, traffic signals on the island, and FEMA relief funds for Hurricane Sally debris cleanup.

When Bart Daughtey and his wife go to the beach, they choose the most isolated stretch of sand they can find. Usually, that’s Beach Access 33A, which is in the middle of the Gulf Island National Seashore about midway between Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach.

That’s where, about two weeks ago, they discovered the remains of a raft, constructed out of bamboo and rope. They found it not long after Hurricane Ida kicked up other treasures from the Gulf of Mexico, including the old Jet Ski that washed up near the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier.

UPDATE: The bridge has been cleared as of 10 a.m.

INITIAL REPORT: An 18-wheeler has become lodged on the guard rail of the Blackwater Bridge at Caroline Street (HWY 90).  Law enforcement is on the scene.  Traffic is reduced to one lane only.  Expect significant delays.  Please seek alternate routes, if possible. 

The U.S. Coast Guard ended the search Sunday for a 9-year-old boy who’d gone missing from a Panama City beach Saturday evening. His body was discovered by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission diver, according to a Coast Guard press release.

A tractor trailer jackknifed on the Black Water Bridge on Interstate 10 Sunday afternoon, causing an accident that caused the westbound lanes to be closed for about an hour. The truck, driven by an Orlando man, rear-ended a vehicle in front of it, whose driver had swerved to avoid large debris in the road. It then slid west in the roadway, hitting the bridge concrete barrier.