News Archive

Military families are no stranger to homecomings but for one family in Northwest Florida, they had a homecoming 73 years in the making.

On April 4, one family finally got the opportunity to say hello and goodbye to a Korean War veteran who had been missing since 1950. Private First Class Ithiel Whatley, of Pensacola, had been reported missing July 12, 1950, in the vicinity of Choci’won in present day South Korea. He was 19 at the time.

Santa Rosa County District Schools Student Services Department is hosting a Wellness Expo from 6-7:30 p.m. tonight in the Pace High School gymnasium. The expo will feature local agencies and organizations connecting the community to mental and physical wellness resources.

According to information from Florida Department of Transportation, drivers in Santa Rosa County will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.

After months of delay, it appears the Guardian program at Santa Rosa County schools will finally be happening.

At the April 4 school board meeting, the board and the public were updated on where the program is at and when it will be implemented.

A pedestrian was killed Thursday night while walking along U.S. Highway 98 near Johnny Houston’s Grille and Bar.
The pedestrian, a 30-year-old male from Bryceville, Florida, was walking east at about 11:07 p.m. in the westbound shoulder of U.S. 98 when he was struck by a car.

Pete Griffin and Dewayne Vasquez grew up together in Milton. As boys, they built a tree fort from which they hunted guinea hens with pellet guns in a field near their neighborhood.
“We never wound up killing any of them, but we tried for months,” Vasquez remembered last week. “We were 8 or 9 years old; we didn’t really know what we were doing, but we kept at it. We knew we were definitely doing something most kids don’t get to do.”

A Pensacola man sustained serious injuries Thursday morning while riding his motorcycle on State Road 87 South.
At about 8:03 a.m. Thursday, two motorcyclists were travelling south on SR 87 in the inside lane. According to the Florida Highway Patrol report, a white Chrysler New Yorker, with dark window tint and a blue Florida antique license place, was driving recklessly at a high rate of speed.

Residents in the Midway area will have to wait another year longer for a new 195,000-square-foot high school to open.

At the April 4 Santa Rosa County School Board meeting, DAG Architects announced that the new south end school’s opening is being pushed back to August 2026. It had originally be planned to open in Fall 2025.

The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners will hold a day-long public hearing on proposed changes to the LDC from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday, May 8, at the County Administration Building at 6495 Caroline Street in Milton. Staff has scheduled a lunch break between noon-1 p.m.

The teenage son of Rebekah Jones, a data analyst and former Democratic Party candidate for U.S. House, has been charged with intimidation, a second-degree felony.

Jackson Jones, 13, was arrested for allegedly threatening to conduct a mass shooting at Holley Navarre Middle School, where he was previously a student. The threats first came to the attention of Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office March 20, when an East Bay K8 student told school officials about a school shooting threat she saw on social media.