Late last month, a Milton resident posted a picture of a river otter swimming through Annie’s Basin near the Blackwater River. The woman was on her dock when a little furry head stuck out of the water.
While not an uncommon sight, river otters are not exactly the poster child for Florida animals. Despite not being as famed as alligators, manatees and Florida panthers, river otters play an important ecological role.
Holley-Navarre Fire District is no stranger to high-pressure situations. District personnel routinely respond to structure fires, rescues and urgent medical emergencies.
In 2025, that pressure intensified as the district handled 4,349 calls for service across its 53-square-mile coverage area. The majority of those calls — 2,795 — were handled by Station 45 on Esplanade Street East. In 2024, the district responded to 3,995 calls.
A Greyhound bus stop operating out of a convenience store on Navarre Parkway has become the focus of growing community concern, prompting an online petition calling for its relocation away from nearby homes and a school.
A project nearly a decade in the making is still on the drawing board entering 2026.
While the Project Development and Environment Study has been completed for the Navarre Community Access Road, the county is still waiting on the study’s findings.
The cold weather shelter for the homeless and/or heatless will be open on the night of Sunday, Jan. 11, and Monday, Jan. 12 at Ferris Hill Baptist Church, 6848 Chaffin St. in Milton.
A Navarre Beach tenant’s alleged overflow of commercial inventory has led to a multiyear lawsuit involving a condominium association and several defendants.
As the U.S. House of Representatives and the rest of the nation wrapped up 2025, Navarre Press spoke with Jimmy Patronis, the Republican representative of Florida’s 1st Congressional District, about his expectations and legislative priorities for 2026.
The 2025 bear hunt, approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after months of meetings and a comment period, has concluded. In total, 52 black bears were harvested.
The 2025 season was conducted in specified Bear Hunting Zones within four of the seven Bear Management Units across the state. Northwest Florida, which is in the western Panhandle region, was not included in the hunt. The eastern Panhandle, North Florida and parts of Central and South Florida were included in the hunt.
