Blackwater River State Park near Milton is one of 18 state parks and trails across Florida that has received an upgrade during the past 10 months. The project, to renovate restrooms and install a new pavilion roof, cost nearly $100,000.
Senior fitness had a Hawaiian twist Friday when seniors at the Pullum YMCA wore grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and coconut bras for their weekly Friday fitness class.
Forty-one percent of students take their lunches to school. In February, the Government Accountability Office reported that participation in the National School Lunch Program had declined 3.7 percent over the last three school years.
The Florida Department of Health in Santa Rosa County issued Monday a mosquito-borne illness advisory after receiving a report of West Nile Virus in a Santa Rosa County resident. Health department spokeswoman Deborah Stilphen would not release whether the resident was from north or south Santa Rosa County.
40-year-old Ramon Wade Renfro of Pace was sentenced to 45 years in prison Aug. 13 by Circuit Judge John F. Simon, who also issued a 5-year concurrent sentence for violation of a pre-existing felony probation from 2011.
Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Jim Melvin is pushing Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) officials to consider the county’s proposal to include elevators in a Navarre pedestrian overpass, which could be constructed in 2018.
For the second year in a row, county employees are getting pay raises. Commissioners Aug. 14 approved a 5 percent merit raise for employees with five years or less time on the job. Those who have worked with the county for more than five years will receive 2.5-percent raises.
Students and parents filed in local schools Monday, Aug. 18, to launch the new school year. Lines were long and parking was scarce forcing many back-to-schoolers to get an early morning workout as they hiked varied distances to reach their destinations, many of them hauling school supplies.
