News Archive

Navarre’s snake wrangler, Caesi Williamson, was arrested Oct. 12 after a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer talked with her about releasing venomous snakes on the Eglin Reservation without a permit.

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.

The Florida Department of Health in Santa Rosa County (DOH-Santa Rosa is reminding residents and visitors to use caution when on the beach or in waters with high concentrations of red tide. Low levels of red tide have been detected in sampling conducted from Navarre Beach Pier.

Multiple tax capital funding project applications were addressed at the Oct. 7 Tourism Development Council meeting.

Gulf Breeze is a particular hotspot for 5G towers with more than half the county’s towers within the city limits.

Because a long-disappeared memorial plaque for Lenny James Tolbert is yet to be replaced since its uprooting during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the Board of County Commissioners voted to rename Holley Ball Park to Lenny James Tolbert Memorial Park.

Santa Rosa County District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech spoke at last Wednesday’s NYSA board meeting about a future sports complex that is still in the early stages but provides hope it will help one day alleviate field space issues on the south end of the county.

August bed tax numbers have been released, once again showing a strong increase over previous years.

U.S. 98 lane shifts and temporary overnight road closure near Hurlburt Field pedestrian bridge in Okaloosa County will take place Saturday, Oct. 23 as crews remove the bridge for repairs.  Crews will shift the westbound traffic near the Hurlburt Field pedestrian bridge to the eastbound roadway and transition eastbound lanes to handle two-way traffic (one lane eastbound, one lane westbound) from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. This will allow preparations to be made for the temporary road closure.  At 10 p.m. both east and westbound lanes will be closed to traffic near the pedestrian bridge until 8 a.m., Sunday.