News Archive

Games, pep rallies, signing days and even photos with the homecoming court. If there is something going on at Navarre High School, Brian Noack is usually there.

For more than a decade he’s been the principal of the school and now he’s moving on, taking over as the Santa Rosa County Director of High Schools starting Dec. 1.

Residents of the Inn at Summerwind Resort’s eastern tower evacuated around 4 p.m. Nov. 19 due to a roof fire, visible from the beach below.

The blaze broke out on the northeastern corner of the roof sending a pillar of smoke over the beach. Petra Francis of Navarre Properties, whose office is located in the tower, said work crews have been making repairs to the roof area after Hurricane Sally caused damage in September.

The sun is rising on home solar panels in Santa Rosa County with 80 to 100 applications a week for permits estimates county Development Services Coordinator Jennifer Tilden.

For 20 years, District 3 County Commissioner Don Salter has been a force moving Santa Rosa County forward. Nov. 12 will be the last time he takes a seat at the Board of County Commissioners long table.

The swearing in of new commissioners midmonth will also mark the end of his fifth term as chairman of the board.

Nearly three in every four Santa Rosa County voters cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 election, the highest voter turnout in the county since 1976. This year’s ballot had no shortage of hot button topics, including local taxes, state constitution changes and, of course, deciding the president of the United States. Here’s a breakdown of what the results mean.

Tourism losses from COVID-19 in Santa Rosa County were only a fraction of what was projected.

The final tourism tax report for fiscal year 2019-2020 presented Nov. 5 left Tourist Development Council (TDC) members smiling. The year totaled more than $3.5 million of revenue to the county’s tourism promotion arm.

The entrance to Santander Estates welcomes residents and visitors under a canopy of oak trees. A sidewalk runs along the shoulder of the road, complete with a bench, doggy potty station and Little Free Library stand.

Resident Lorraine Nagy lives with her family in the first house on the left. They walk their rescue dogs along the sidewalk each day.

Late on a Friday afternoon, when U.S. Highway 98 would usually be clogged with traffic, the bays at American LubeFast are empty. An employee, holding a large yellow ‘NO WAIT’ sign sits curbside.

The only ones waiting at many Gulf Breeze businesses these days are the folks who work there.

When life, in the form of Hurricane Sally, gave Northwest Florida the lemons of barges bouncing around the bay, a destroyed bridge and hourlong traffic jams from rerouted vehicles, residents responded with humor.

In August, Santa Rosa County Commissioners unanimously approved expanding the nuisance noise ordinance to protect Navarre Beach.

So, when a car alarm started going off repeatedly after 9 p.m. along Gulf Boulevard, residents of the beach called the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office to enforce the new county law.