News Archive

Santa Rosa County growth pains include garbage and construction materials dumping along roads, land clearing erosion control, and poor maintenance of flood prevention ponds.

To mitigate, if not stop, pollution caused by some homeowners and businesses, one resident at a recent board of county commissioners working session admonished the commissioners to “use the only hammer the county has” – fines.

American Airlines announced Thursday it will begin daily, nonstop service from Pensacola International Airport to LaGuardia Airport this summer. The Texas based carrier says the service is scheduled to begin in June and run through September.

It was one of the first issues Commissioner Bob Cole addressed 18 years ago when he was first voted onto the Board of County Commissioners.
And it’s still going.

Now, though, there is real progress on the construction of a new county courthouse and the disposition of the old building, which has been part of Milton’s historical downtown since 1927.

On Feb. 26, Tiger Point Golf Club will change ownership and the next day, a crew will be inside the old clubhouse, starting renovations.

The building, which will be owned by Scott Zepp, is being transformed into The Pointe, a restaurant serving golfers on one side and family dining on the other.

With a written summary by the Santa Rosa County planning and zoning director as prelude, the county commission engaged in a long debate and absorbed sometimes unsparing criticism from the public about the future of a proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that would allow expanding borrow pits inside the East Milton Wellfield Protection Area.

The Florida Department of Transportation is meeting with local officials at its Milton operations office Thursday at 3 p.m. to discuss plans around reopening the Pensacola Bay Bridge.

Authorities are investigating the discovery of a body found at Gulf Islands National Seashore Sunday.

The body, which has not yet been identified, was found on a sailboat that was anchored in shallow water on the north shore of the park’s Naval Live Oaks area.

Motorists should brace themselves for even higher gas prices in
the days ahead, enhanced by the extreme cold weather hitting much of the country. According to GasBuddy, a travel and navigation app, the national average price of gasoline may jump 10-20 cents per gallon from its current price of $2.54 per gallon over the next two weeks as millions of barrels of refining capacity has gone offline due to the extreme cold in the South, with little relief on the horizon as overall gasoline demand continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the investigation into an alleged animal rescue in Laurel Hill continues, workers at the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society are providing temporary homes for six adult pigs and eight juvenile pigs.

The pigs had been living in a pit of standing water and feces at the “Frye Branch Rescue,” before animal control workers saved them Friday.

After nearly 45 years in the gun sales business, Miles Schuler has learned how to predict the ebbs and flows of the industry. Before COVID-19 even hit, he predicted 2020 would be a volatile year that would lead to increased gun sales at his store Trade Winds Pawn and Gun.