News Archive

With the close of 2024 came the close of Jimmy B’s Pizza in Tiger Point. The restaurant, located in a strip mall near the Tiger Point Walmart, had been serving pizza pies and other Italian food for the better part of 18 years. Chelsey Freiermuth, who took over for the restaurant’s namesake upon his retirement in 2023, said the decision to close was a difficult, yet necessary one.

A Santa Rosa County Judge has dismissed a case involving Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law.

The case, which was heard in November 2024, involved two men, one of whom shot the other. According to the order granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss, the incident which sparked the case happened in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, 2022.

A K9 unit with Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office was involved in Dec. 27 crash at the intersection of Edgewood Drive and Highway 98. Deputy D. Hopkins of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office was injured in the crash, sustaining a concussion, head laceration, and other minor injuries from the incident. Hopkins’ K9 Partner, K9 Riggs, had no apparent injuries, according to the agency.

Santa Rosa County is growing well past its infrastructure and in the past year has added more than 1,812 lots to its housing base.

A new year is bringing changes to Foxy Boutique, a store which has anchored Alpine Center in Navarre for over a decade.

Florida Power and Light (FPL) has announced new rates are on the horizon for customers. The company, which supplies much of the electricity to homes and businesses in northwest Florida, plans to file a formal request to set new rates once its current base rate agreement concludes at the end of 2025. The agreement is with the Florida Public Service Commission.

Community Health Northwest Florida, a nonprofit healthcare organization which serves Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, has instituted a new program to promote healthy pregnancies for medically underserved people.

Announced in July of last year, the Baby Bucks program is designed to provide educational materials and supplies to expectant mothers, as well as incentivize them to keep up with their prenatal checkups.

The Next Generation Aircrew Protection team performed innovative vapor purge testing on an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship at Hurlburt Field, Florida, from June 24 to December 6, 2024.

The 96th Test Wing and local emergency response agencies participated in a large-scale aircraft accident response exercise Dec. 11.

Recreational and commercial blue crab traps in all waters from Franklin County to the Florida/Alabama state line must be removed from the water before Jan. 5, the first day of a 10-day trap closure. This closure will give groups authorized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) the opportunity to identify and retrieve lost and abandoned blue crab traps from the water.