News Archive

A judge has ordered Santa Rosa County and the owners of the “Turner House” to head to mediation before an April court date.

The mediation would attempt to resolve issues lingering from a 2016 lawsuit the county filed against Staci and Gary Turner, live out of state but own the home at 7315 Gulf Boulevard on Navarre Beach. The lawsuit has been amended multiple times in the last five years.

The winter storm that’s hitting northern regions hard is going to be felt in Northwest Florida as well.

Wind chills in the teens, black ice on local roadways and damaging storms are all possibilities for the area.

Northwest Florida residents are being urged to beware of black ice overnight and into Tuesday morning. The thin icy glaze may appear to motorists that the road is simply wet. It may remain until temperatures rise above freezing.

But once temperatures warm enough to eliminate that risk, the area may be looking at severe storms developing Wednesday night into Thursday morning, according to local officials .

For the 44th year in a row, McGuire’s Irish Pub will host its St. Patrick’s Day 5K. This year’s will be on March 13.

But it may look and feel a lot different from previous runs, thanks to safety conditions imposed by the pandemic.

On Friday morning, the beach road, aka J Earle Bowden Way, Highway 399 opened to passenger vehicles for the first time since Hurricane Sally.

Peggy Self, a tourist from Indiana who has been staying on Navarre Beach for two weeks, was walking her dog when park officials opened the gate to traffic at 8 a.m. She said one Jeep and two cars were waiting at the gate to be the first to enjoy the scenic route. The drivers and passengers smiled as they drove through, Self said.

In letters dated three days apart last month, two regulatory agencies offered complementary responses to a proposed change to the Santa Rosa County Comprehensive Plan that would permit more open-pit mining near East Milton water wells.

The wells, which are supplied by a sand-and-gravel aquifer, provide water to tens of thousands of county residents and businesses.

Following resolutions approved Feb. 4, the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners now has rules in place to govern public comment at board meetings.

The matter, first brought up at the Jan. 7 board meeting, initially was strongly opposed by some commissioners and citizens, who argued that it violated First Amendment rights.

Santa Rosa County commissioners will not vote Feb. 25 on whether to repeal key wellfield protections as anticipated. Instead, county staff discussed the matter to the board at the Feb. 9 work session.

Shawn Ward, the county planning and zoning director, confirmed the agenda change Thursday.